Just take a look at Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Ancient Gear Golem, or Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, just to name a few… and you’ll see just how powerful level 8 monsters can get. Now slap two of those together and imagine the power. Rank 8 monsters take the strength of 2 level 8 monsters and put ‘em into one. So these cards are some of the strongest in all of Yu-Gi-Oh! If your deck has level 8 monsters and you’re looking to spice up that extra deck, well look no further than our picks below for the best rank 8 monster cards.
15. Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand
If the power of a card was related to how badass the artwork looks, then this card would practically be an Egyptian God card. Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand is an amazing multi-purpose XYZ monster. Here’s how it works: You can detach an XYZ material from it to target any face up monster on the field. That monster has its own effects negated, while being impervious to other card effects. This is amazing for two totally different situations: You can either use this ability to shut down your opponent’s powerful monster effects by negating them (at the cost of being indestructible to card effects), or you can use this ability to protect your own monsters from destructive card effects (at the cost of having its effect negated for the rest of the turn).
14. Number 23: Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld
Want to sink a whole bunch of damage into your opponent while they’re left utterly defenseless? Then this guy’s got you covered. While this card has XYZ material, it can attack your opponent directly. With an attack stat of 2000, that kind of damage will rack up pretty quickly – and before you know it the game could be yours. And we have even more (which is aided by that first effect): Whenever you inflict battle damage with this card, you can target any face-up monster your opponent controls and destroy it. As if this wasn’t good enough, it also comes with quick-effect negation, allowing you to negate the activation of any spell, trap, or monster effect by detaching an XYZ material. Seriously, what can’t this card do?!
13. Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon
While you can summon this card for an exorbitant 3 level 8 monsters, you can also XYZ summon Galaxy Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon by using any Galaxy Eyes XYZ monster you control as the entire material. And with a whopping 4000 attack points, this guy is a force to be reckoned with. It only takes a couple of attacks from this card to completely wipe out your opponent. Even the best of duelists can’t take 8000 damage to the face and survive it. But you can detach an XYZ material from this card to destroy any face-up card your opponent controls. That’s spells, traps, and monsters – as long as they’re face up, they’re at your mercy.
12. Thunder End Dragon
Thunder End Dragon is a little more specific to summon than most rank 8 monsters on this list, requiring 2 level 8 normal monsters. For most modern decks that wouldn’t dream of running a normal monster, this is pretty unachievable. But for decks like Blue-Eyes which can spam the field with more level 8 normal monsters than I could ever count, this card is a dream come true. You can detach an XYZ material from this card to destroy every other monster on the field. While this does destroy any other monsters you may have, it leaves your opponent entirely defenseless – all while a 3000-attack dragon stares them down. In the right situations, this can easily be game winning. And in most situations it’s just damn powerful!
11. Number 68: Sanaphond the Sky Prison
Number 68 turns the graveyards into a powerful weapon, while also ensuring your opponent can’t touch it! This card gains 100 attack for every single card in each player’s graveyards. With a pretty decent base attack stat of 2100 to begin with, it won’t be long before this card becomes unstoppable. If your opponent is running a combo deck that heavily utilizes the graveyard, this guy will be stronger than the God cards before you know it. Number 68 also comes with its own in-built protection: By detaching an XYZ material from this card, you can prevent it from being destroyed by card effect, while also preventing either player from special summoning monsters from the graveyard. This means your attack stat will stay high, and your opponent’s combos will be stopped – two great outcomes for the price of one!
10. Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder
Gimmick Puppets are hands-down one of the creepiest archetypes to ever come out of Yu-Gi-Oh. Dolls are creepy enough, let alone ones with dead-looking eyes that are definitely possessed. One of the boss monsters of this nightmare-inducing deck is Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder. Up to twice per turn, you can detach an XYZ material from this card to target and destroy a monster your opponent controls. If that monster happened to be an XYZ monster, you can inflict damage equal to its attack to your opponent’s LP. Even though we’ve had both Links and Pendulums since the XYZ era, XYZ monsters are still an incredibly popular type of card. They’re incredibly easy to summon, and there’s a huge card pool to choose from – there’s truly an XYZ monster for every deck. The odds of you getting this burn damage off are pretty decent, making Number 15 an incredibly reliable way to burn your opponent for some serious damage.
9. Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon
If you thought 4000 attack was a high attack stat, just wait ‘till you see this guy. Number 62 starts out with 4000 attack as a base, which is strong enough to get over pretty much any monster in Yu-Gi-Oh. And by detaching an XYZ material from this card, you can have this monster gain attack equal to the total rank of all XYZ monsters on the field multiplied by x200! At the bare minimum, with just this card on the field, you’re looking at a 5600 attack monster. Once you and your opponent start having other XYZ monsters on the field, then you’re looking at attack stats that can’t be rivaled by much of anything else in the game. Just make sure your opponent hasn’t got a Magic Cylinder…
8. Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
This is one of the best pieces of removal you can get with an XYZ monster. You can detach a material from this card to tribute any number of cards from your hand or field, to destroy an equal number of cards on the field. The sky is seriously the limit to how good this card can be! If you’ve got a field full of a Scapegoat tokens, or a few useless monsters left waiting in your hand, then you can get a lot of destruction all at once. Another great thing about this card is how generic the destruction is – you can destroy spells, traps, or monsters from either side of the field. While getting rid of your own cards may at first sound counterintuitive, there are a whole bunch of effects that trigger when they’re destroyed by card effect. Meaning you can turn this destruction into a combo that finishes off your opponent for good.
7. Number 107: Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon
Just when you thought that Galaxy Eyes monsters couldn’t get better, another one comes along and blows them all out of the water. At the start of the battle phase you can detach an XYZ material from this card to negate the effects of every single other monster on the field. On top of that, all attack stats on the field return to their original values, meaning if your opponent has used some attack-boosting effects then they were all wasted. If you did activate this effect, and your opponent’s card effect resolves after this, you can have Number 107 gain 1000 attack, and allow it to attack again! That’s 7000 damage coming right at your opponent. All because they activated a single card effect.
6. Dingirsu, Orcust of the Evening Star
Now here’s a rank 8 monster you’ll definitely recognize if you’ve played modern Yu-Gi-Oh! You can XYZ summon this card using any Orcust link monster as the sole material, meaning if you can’t quite scrape together those level 8 monsters, you can still access this card’s incredible power. When this card is special summoned, you can either attach one of your banished machine monsters to this card as an XYZ material, or you can send a card that your opponent controls to the graveyard. The key word here is “send”, which makes this card incredibly useful. This wording gets around monsters who can’t be destroyed or targeted by card effects, meaning there are very few monsters that can survive this sort of removal, if any.
5. Number 22: Zombiestein
Sometimes the strongest monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh are just those with the biggest attack stat. And that’s something Number 22: Zombiestein has certainly got. This guy comes in with a whopping 4500 attack, easily enough to best any monster in combat. His effect isn’t anything to write home about, though: It allows you to negate one face-up card on the field at the ludicrous cost of detaching an XYZ material, discarding a card, and turning this card to defense position (where it has a pitiful 1000 defense). But if you’re looking for great big beat sticks, this card’s for you. For good card effects? Not so much.
4. D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kaliyuga
D/D/Ds are an archetype that have mastered every summoning mechanic (Except Ritual monsters, because they’re always forgotten about). And so it’s no wonder they have some of the best XYZ monsters in the game. D/D/D Duo Dawn King Kaliyuga is the go-to rank 8 for D/D/D decks, and for good reason! On the turn it’s summoned, all other cards on the field are negated, nor can new cards or effects be activated. This puts a complete lockdown on the board, meaning your opponent is entirely prevented from responding to this card’s summon. And once per turn, at quick effect speed, you can detach an XYZ material from this card to pretty much Heavy Storm the board (destroying all spells and traps). Heavy Storm is so good itself that it’s still a banned card to this day! Plus King Kaliyuga also allows you to bring back your “Dark Contract” cards, the continuous spells and traps that are the heart and soul of D/D/D decks – making it an amazing way to add some consistency to your deck.
3. Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon
Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon is truly the king of Galaxy Eyes monsters. It allows you to steal your opponent’s monsters and convert them into copies of this card, changing their attack stats to 3000 and their names to Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon. While the name change may be an odd thing to specify, it’s actually incredibly useful for a Galaxy Eyes deck. Now that the stolen monster counts as a Galaxy Eyes, you can use it for all sorts of card effects that specify a “Galaxy Eyes” monster. This includes certain XYZ summons, spell effects, and monster effects. So there’s a lot to like here.
2. Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy
Look at any deck that consistently plays level 8 monsters in it, and I can guarantee you’ll see this card. It’s an incredibly versatile rank 8 monster, worthy of a spot in any extra deck! Here’s what it does: Whenever a spell card of effect is activated, you can negate it and attach it to this card as an XYZ material, providing an amazing way of taking your opponent’s spell cards away from them (and ensuring they won’t get them back). Number 38 also allows you to benefit off of the destruction of your other XYZ monsters, allowing an XYZ monster you control to permanently gain the attack of that destroyed monster. Personally my favorite strategy with this is to pile it all onto one big beat stick of a monster.
1. Aegaion the Sea Castrum
Who’d have thought one of the best rank 8 monsters out there would be released as a simple common card? Here’s what it does: During either players’ turn you can banish 1 random card from your opponent’s extra deck, to have this card’s attack become equal to that of the banished monster’s. This is a pretty solid gamble. While your opponent’s extra deck may contain some weaker monsters, it’ll definitely contain some of their strongest, giving you a great chance to get a high attack monster out on the board. You can then detach an XYZ material to target one of those banished extra deck monsters, return it to the extra deck, then destroy a monster on the field with the same type (i.e. synchro, xyz, or fusion). This is fantastic in decks that focus around one of the summoning mechanics, such as synchro or fusion decks. Because now you’ll be able to get some insanely consistent removal every turn. The fact Aegaion can shut down so many decks all by itself makes it my #1 pick for this ranking.
