Number 87: Queen of the Night ———————————————— 3 Level 8 monsters Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then activate 1 of these effects. ● Target 1 Set Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; while this card is face-up on the field, that Set card cannot be activated. ● Target 1 Plant-Type monster on the field; change that target to face-down Defense Position. ● Target 1 face-up monster on the field; that target gains 300 ATK. ———————————————— Can Be Found In: Number Hunters (NUMH-EN034)
Cards with a variety of effects to choose from places them in a more flexible position over other effects at cost of a single card. While one of these options might become more recurrent than others, the freedom to take a different approach depending of the circumstances in a Duel makes them quite reliable under any scenario. Even if their outcomes aren't as devastating as cards with a single yet efficient purpose, they still can turn the tables against a variety of opponent by just picking the right ability.
"Number 87: Queen of the Night" is a Xyz Monster with quite spectacular stats, yet kinda average effects. "Queen of the Night" allows us to activate one of three effects at cost of detaching a material from herself: Lock the use of a Set Spell or Trap as long this monster stays face-up on the field, flip to face-down Defense Position a Plant on the field, or give a permanent 300 ATK to a target. While these abilities might seem underwhelming or even situational, the fact "Queen of the Night" can activate them during any turn gives them some great liberties when answering certian threats as well support our own field against opponent actions.
The main struggle this Xyz Monster will face is her cost, as three Level 8 monsters is quite expensive for the abilities she provides. Fortunately there's a good number of builds that can welcome this monster to its Extra Deck, as usually Rank 8 summons often require a big investment on their setups to summon their Xyz Monsters. Archetypes such as Gagaga and Gimmick Puppet combines gathering materials from early to late game with the ability to manipulate their monsters' Levels, while a combination of Dragons and Normal Monsters gives them various tools to constantly summon materials like "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" without much effort. However, with one of "Queen of the Night" abilities interacting with Plants it might be preferable to play her arround her Type, so we cna play with summoning options like "Gigaplant" and "Lonefire Blossom" cheaply summon Level 8 monsters and/or gain the help of cards like "Galay Queen's Light" to change our materials' Levels.
The true power of "Queen of the Night" comes from proper timing of her effects, as although overall plain they are still able to turn the tables if played properly. Locking down Set cards wil mostly come to use as soon the opponent's turn is about to end, making sure some potential threats aren't activate as long "Queen of the Night" remains on the field (If she's flipped face-down the effect will disappear). Meanwhile, the ATK boost will clearly become handy as a small push in the middle of a battle, as either we counter an incoming attack with this stat increase or we try to catch the opponent offguard during our Damage Step.
The ability to change the position of Plants is left last as is the trickiest to obtain some value depending of a variety of circumstances. By default "Queen of the Night" can target herself with this ability, become a defensive ability when facing targetting effects such as "Fiendish Chain" or some Link Monsters' arrows. This ability has no limitations on which monsters to target besides the Type so is able to aim towards opponent monsters, quite effective to place powerful creatures or archetypes like Aroma in a good position to easily defeat them in battle. On the other hand, the same way "Queen of the Night" targets herself same goes with any other monsters on our field, ranging from Flip Monsters potentially reusing their abilities to just avoiding some damage by placing them in Defense Position. But if you want total liberty of which monsters can be affected by this ability, "DNA Surgery" will turn all of them into Plants ready to be flipped down whenever this ability is needed.
"Number 87: Queen of the Night" is a Xyz Monster that had incredible potential with her list of chainable abilities, but is severely damaged by one yet severe flaw. As a Rank 8 monster asking for three materials for her arrival, "Queen of the Night" easily becomes overshadowed by a massive quantity of alternatives, ranging from Galaxy monsters quickly becoming "Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon", to "Coach King Giantrainer" and "Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand" having valuable roles under various builds. On the bright side "Queen of the Night" has enough tools for an immediate arrival, but even so is undeniable that for the same or cheaper effort we could obtian more powerful Xyz Monsters in return. "Queen of the Night" is far for being one of the best Xyz Monsters out there, but her diverse abilities gives her some chances to stand out under and against the right build.
Personal Rating: B-
+ Chainable effects to choose from + Can nullify the activation of a Set Spell or Trap Card + Flips to face-down Defense Position any Plant on the field + Provides a permanent ATK boost
- Very expensive Xyz Summon - Subpar abilities when compared to many other Xyz Monsters - Ability to target Plants is either situational or only able to target herself