Last week, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel championship came to an end after an extensive livestream run. It would have been a normal tournament, but fans were compelled to watch it to the very end because the organizers had been teasing a Shadow Duelist dubbed Nocturne, and stated the duelist’s identity would be revealed at the end of the tournament. The reveal indeed surprised everyone: world-famous singer and former One Direction member Zayn Malik is the celebrity that was under disguise the whole time.
Malik didn’t play any duels, but had been accompanying the last leg of the tournament and providing commentary during the matches of the final four duelists. In order to keep his identity hidden, the pop star wore a creepy mask and altered his voice. As soon as he took off the mask, Malik revealed that he’s been a long-time fan of Yu-Gi-Oh!. He stated:
“Yeah, I’m a big, big ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ fan. I’ve been into ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ for a long time, since I was a small kid, so it’s an honor to be here, to do this, and it was very exciting. I’ve been looking forward to it for a few weeks.”
Malik also revealed that he started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! on GameBoy when he was around six or seven years old (he’s now thirty-one). He stated that, even though it’s cliché, his favorite card is the Dark Magician — a Season 1 card that was the ace monster of the title character. He reminisced about the early episodes of the series and mentioned he was thrilled to accompany the rivalry between Yugi (voiced by Dan Green) and Seto Kaiba (Eric Stuart) in the anime series. The singer congratulated the tournament winner Fictinium and gave the master duelist the mask he wore to disguise himself with an autograph he gave live.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Continues To Run At Full Throttle On Its Seventh Spin-Off
The “Shadow Duelist” aspect of the Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament is a common trope from the anime series. In pretty much every season, a character comes along to challenge the main characters and holds off on revealing their identity until the proper — and most dramatic — time. One of the earliest versions of this trope happened in Season 1, when a duelist revealed himself to be a Seto Kaiba clone.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is currently rolling out its seventh spin-off series, titled Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!. Just like in previous spin-offs from the franchise, it is a standalone adventure that features little to no connection with the original show that made the franchise and card game popular throughout the world. The series keeps franchise creator Kazuki Takahashi‘s memory alive after his premature death in 2022. You can stream the original series and other spin-offs on Crunchyroll.
Check out the full Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel championship livestream above (Malik is revealed at 1:18:30).
Watch on Crunchyroll