Trivia / Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

• Content Leak:
  • Whenever a big update happens, the animations of upcoming boss monsters, upcoming packs, duel fields, duel mates and upcoming events will also leak accordingly. Of note, the "Scapegoat" mate was leaked in release, in January 2022, but it was released in June 2022, over 5 months later.
  • Rather infamously, content creator Dkayed consistently leaks information for upcoming Selection Packs and card updates on his streams via what is assumed to be an inside source in Konami. It's rumoured that Konami of America has banned him from official events because of this.
  • "Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames", a card from the Core Booster Phantom Nightmare that received an advance release in Master Duel to promote the box's release in Japan, was accidentially revealed a few days prior to its official announcement due to her artwork appearing on a banner ad in the Japanese PS5 PlayStation Store.
• Follow the Leader: This iteration of the digital card game borrows some inspiration from Hearthstone (the card attack and player defeat animations) and Legends of Runeterra (purchasable playing fields and pets).
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.":
  • The game's release schedule for new cards closely follows the OCG, and thus some cards appear in the game in English before their translated TCG counterparts are physically printed. A few examples include "Odd-Eyes Wing Dragon" and "Shell Knight", which were both included in the base game before they were imported to the TCG in 2022, and the November 2022 "Battle Trajectory" set included many cards from the OCG "History Archive Collection" booster that weren't printed until 2023's "Maze of Memories" booster in the TCG, including "Soul of the Supreme King", "Performapal Classikuriboh", and "Performapal Duelist Extraordinaire". "Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames" is a special example as she was released into Master Duel just two days after her card was physically printed in the OCG.
  • On the flipside, some World Premiere archetypes get released in Master Duel before they are printed in the OCG in their annual "World Premiere" boosters. So far, the "Beetrooper" and "Ghoti" archetypes as well as single cards like "Garura, Wings of Resonant Life" have been released in Master Duel prior to their respective OCG releases.
  • "Power Pro Lady Sisters" and "Power Pro Knight Sisters", special cards printed in the OCG in collaboration with the Live Powerful Pro Baseball mobile game, were released in both this game and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links despite lacking a TCG print.
  • "Snake-Eyes Poplar" was released in the game two days prior to its TCG release in Phantom Nightmare.
• Milestone Celebration: For the game's 1st Anniversary, a special 3000 Gem bundle was distributed, which not only includes 30 Master Packs but also a suite of cosmetics based on the first anime series, such as a Duel Field based on the Ceremonial Duel, a Millennium Puzzle card protector and deck box, a profile icon and frame based on Dark Magician, and a copy of Dark Magician (Alt. Art) in Royal Finish. 1st Anniversary Tickets were also distributed, which can be exchanged for one of eight random Secret Packs in the game and a guaranteed Royal Finish UR of one of the UR cards in that pack.
• Newbie Boom: Master Duel's traits as a free-to-play and conveniently accessible form of Yu-Gi-Oh! that allows players to play the same game as paper play with an extremely lenient monetization model and a relatively high level of polish compared to unofficial simulators and even competing CCG simulator games lead to the game becoming an entry point for a large number of new Yu-Gi-Oh! players, with the game quickly becoming the single most played Yu-Gi-Oh! format in the world and dramatically boosting revenue for the multimedia franchise as a whole.
• What Could Have Been: The description for the "Pledge of Sword" Secret Pack mentions "Amazoness" monsters as part of the pack's contents^note "The ten 'X-Saber' warriors unite under the leadership of Gottoms, and the wild 'Amazoness' warriors follow their Queen. Both warrior clans turn their bonds of friendship into raw power!", but instead it has Poker Knight support alongside the "X-Saber" monsters. "Amazoness" was combined with "War Rock" in the "Warriors Unite!" Secret Pack for the finalized game, instead.

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