Number 39: Utopia – Yu-Gi-Oh! Review

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Number 39: Utopia is the Throwback Thursday choice this week.

One of the first Rank 4 monsters we got, and still a pretty decent one, considering support and alternate forms behind it. Most recently the “Utopia Double Cheese” you can pull on your opponent either ends the game or makes it nearly impossible for them to come back with how much damage you do. While the game is certainly dominated by effect monsters and graveyard effects/use of the graveyard nowadays, Utopia still is a 2500 Rank 4, still can stop up to two attacks, then be used for a Link Summon, or rank it up if you play card(s) or a strategy that would facilitate that.

Better now than in the beginning, but not as important as it was in the beginning.

Advanced-3.5/5     Art-4/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

Who is ready for the ace monster that has more forms than the Number archetype actually has Numbers, even after Numbers 1-4 arrive? Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but this card has tons of forms. I’m talking about Number 39: Utopia.

Utopia is a Rank 4 LIGHT Warrior Xyz with 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. The protagonist stats are honestly impressive on a Rank 4, plus being a LIGHT Warrior is nice. The summoning requirements are any 2 Level 4 monsters, which is probably the easiest thing to do in the game. Its effect is that when a monster declares an attack, you can detach a material from this card to negate an attack. A Negate Attack on legs you don’t have to draw is ok, far better when Xyzs were brand new and we didn’t have much options. This effect funny enough is used more now to negate Utopia’s own attack to get off Double or Nothing to go for an OTK with Number 39: Utopia Double. If not that, then you’re using this to climb into Number S39: Utopia the Lightning. Those are only if you aren’t running a dedicated Utopia Deck. They know you don’t want Utopia on the field for long though, because if it is attacked when it doesn’t have Xyz Materials, Utopia destroys himself and this will allow a replay to occur and for you to take a direct attack if Utopia was your only monster. It was a card you wanted to use to stall until you can get into a good position, if not win the game, when it was first released and now you use it to win ASAP with Utopia Double, use a Rank-Up-Magic to summon a Number C39 form, discard a Rank-Up-Magic for Utopic ZEXAL, or just slap a Number S39 on top of it. Only one of those uses Utopia for what it actually does, though. It’s a card you play still, just not because you’re overlaying 2 Level 4s into the Number 39: Utopia to keep it on the field though.

Advanced Rating: 3.25/5

Art: 4.25/5 for the original and 3.75/5 for the alternate art. Utopia has my least favorite art at its best for the protagonist aces probably, but still better than some Dark Magician forms, which is another thing the number of Utopia forms actually outnumber.

Alex
Searcy

And in a twist of fate a blind man saw coming, we have Number 39:  Utopia for Throwback Thursday today.  One of the first, and most easily available Number and XYZ cards, it certainly hasn’t achieved the prominence Dark Magician has.  Nor does it have the support it, or Elemental Hero Neos does, nor has withstood time as well as Stardust Dragon.  

Now, let’s not say Utopia is bad.  It’s a generic Rank 4, Light/Warrior, and a solid 2500 attack are lots of benefits to this card initially.  It has many variants and specific support (vis a vis Dark Magician and Neos) and being able to negate an attack by discarding an XYZ Material IS a good thing.  That being optional makes it a better effect, even if it suicides itself if it’s attacked without Material.

Making Utopia a fairly balanced card requiring an equally fair amount of thought when playing and using said effect.  Much like Level manipulation, there are plenty of ways these days to add and attach new Material to an XYZ Monster, so the latter effect there might not be as bad as it once was.  Honestly, I think Utopia is a card that just isn’t (maybe wasn’t) ever quite there.  It had seen use, sure, but we’ll see what comes next.

Rating: 3/5

Art:  Given art 3.5/5 I mean, I enjoy the space and the wings are cool, the sword is nice if not especially bold or stand out

Solember
YouTube

Number 39: Utopia has a history of some creative combos (Double or Nothing OTK comes to mind), but isn’t individually anything impressive. It isn’t even necessary in decks built around cards that list it (think a Dark Magician deck that didn’t actually use Dark Magician).

It’s effect is irrelevant most of the time. It has a lot of support, but it’s mostly clunky and creates vulnerabilities. When it was released, the novelty of XYZ summoning made Utopia reliant, though he was quickly replaced with more consistent cards.

Now that the Extra Deck has 5 different summoning methods (will it be 6 in the near future? Maybe we’ll get bigger extra decks soon), he has even less playability.

He is an over-handicapped card in a lot of ways. His self-destruction effect is unnecessary now, though when he came out I’d say it was a fair balance.

He has been given great artwork twice now, each of which works fantastic with the black XYZ card frame; very well done.

Versatility – 2
– While he could fit in a lot of decks, he doesn’t have much appeal.

Rogue Plays – 5
– Double or Nothing; need I say more?

Art – 5
– Imagine if every card looked this good.

Balance – 1
– It’s too restrictive to be good on its own.

Uniqueness – 1
– There are plenty of ways to negate attacks.

I give Number 39: Utopia a 2/5

(Bonus Throwback score! I’d have given it a 4/5 back in 2011, geeze… 9 years already?)