History Characters / YuGiOhDuelists

In Duel Monsters, he uses a Machine deck, which is later augmented with many rare cards by Marik. His trump cards are Metalzoa, Barrel Dragon, and Slot Machine; while under Marik's control in the anime, Machine King and rare Fiend monster Zera The Mant are added to his arsenal.

* CharacterDrivenStrategy: Bandit Keith keeps multiple decks based around different types and strategies. While this ''might'' imply that he is a professional who knows what he's doing, he is also shown to be a cheater, routinely pulling cards out of his cuffs or his sleeves or pulling dirty moves (like pretending to drop a card to reveal what he has so that he can manipulate his opponent, as he tried to do in his duel with Joey). This reflects his shallow motivations and personality, perfectly willing to do whatever it takes to win for greed or pride.
** He seems to have a particular affinity towards Machine-type monsters, hinting at how he sees other people as tools to be used without remorse. In his battle against Joey Wheeler in the Duelist Kingdom finals, his signature card "Metalmorph" is used to turn the Fiend-type monster "Zoa" into a Machine-type, reflecting his dehumanizing behaviour.

* DarkIsEvil: Most of his stronger cards, including Revolver Dragon, Zoa, Slot Machine, and Zera the Mant are Dark.

* {{Foil}}: Keith's short-temper, {{Smug Snake}}ry, and use of physical force makes for a pretty strong contrast with ManipulativeBastard and GentlemanSnarker Pegasus.
** Also serves as an EvilCounterpart for Jounouchi/Joey for being both duelists that rely on gambling and offensive strategies. Their two ace cards are even about time travel. But Keith's card Time Machine, is about resetting the field to the turn before. Symbolizing his obsession with his past. While Jonouchi's card Time Wizard, moves time forward. Showing Jonouchi's desire towards improvement and to duel for tomorrow.

* HateSink: His main purpose is to be an asshole the audience can hate.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In his duel against Jonouchi, he ended up losing because he played the Sword and Shield card, causing his and Jonouchi's monsters to have their attack and defense points swapped. But because Jonouchi had a trap card that allowed him to sent his Red-Eyes back one turn, it ended up with Keith losing the duel. For bonus points, that trap is Graverobber, which allows Jonouchi to play one of ''Keith's'' card in graveyard (Time Machine) which he used to sent back Red-Eyes.

** BackFromTheDead: Revived by Yako in the ''R'' spin-off manga for his EvilPlan. It's implied that he's still actually dead, but his hatred was so strong he lived on as an animate corpse.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Does it to Jonouchi and Pegasus.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the anime, it's not clear what happened to him after he was freed from Marik's mind control. He simply rushes past Jounouchi and Honda to escape the warehouse, and that's the last that is ever seen of him. The closest to an explanation that is ever given is his role in ''Reshef Of Destruction'', which isn't canon.
** Interestingly, in the Doma/Waking the Dragons arc he cameos as one of many Lost Souls, which suggest someone DroppedABridgeOnHim at some point.

* EvilCounterpart: To Jounouchi, something that Pegasus explicitly points out in their Duel. They're both blonde, arrogant, short-tempered, lower-class, and strong-willed. They both use decks that rely on straightforward assaults. Both use gamble-based cards, time-based cards, and thief-based cards. Neither of them were official entrants into Duelist Kingdom, and had to obtain their entry passes from other people. Their Duel is essentially Keith using a strategy, and then Jounouchi copying it and doing it better, and they have monsters with the same ATK and nearly-identical LP at multiple points. The big difference between the two is that Jounouchi is completely selfless and has a sense of honor, meaning he's largely able to do what he does through the support of his friends, while Keith is completely selfish and has no scruples at all, meaning he cheats his way to the top and makes countless enemies along the way. Additionally, at the time of their duel, Keith was long past his prime and wallowing in hatred, while Jounouchi was stepping onto the world stage for the first time and more hopeful than he'd ever been. In the anime, Pegasus reads their minds during their duel to see what they're fighting for. He discovers that Jounouchi is fighting for the money to get his sister the operation she needs, while Keith is simply out for revenge on Pegasus and money he'll keep for himself.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Even though he never manages to make it to the same level of dueling fame that Yugi and Kaiba have reached, [[ThrowTheDogABone he and Haga still manage to remain household names in the dueling world and never fade into obscurity]].

* AdaptationalBadass: The duel with Marik is a lot more one-sided in the Manga. Also, her appearance in the Doma Arc.

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: The Brawn.

* CompressedHair: She can somehow keep all of her hair into a normal-sized motorcycle helmet.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Jonouchi starts this when he beats her in a duel. Yugi continues the process when he duels Panik to get her star chips back.

** She also uses her looks to sneak Honda, Bakura and Anzu past the security guard at Duelist Kingdom (in the anime, at least - the manga version just has Jonouchi beating the snot out of him), and to trick Dinosaur Ryuzaki into giving up his deluxe room on the cruise to her.
* EveryoneHasStandards: She starts out as an antagonist, but even then she's visibly shocked when Jonochi punches Honda during an argument, and shares her food with the group despite not being on good terms with them at the time.

%%* GamerChick

* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Her signature monsters, and they're ladies.

* OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a ''corset''.

* ParentalAbandonment: In the anime, her parents died when she was little (in the [=4Kids=] version, they never had time for her) and left her alone to rely on herself.
* PunnyName: In English. Mai Valentine being a play on "my Valentine".
* PhonyPsychic: She pretends she has these at the start of Duelist Kingdom with her "aroma tactics", which involves knowing what her cards are without looking at them because of having them sprayed with various perfumes. This backfires on her in her duel with Jounouchi when he figures it out, however, and she drops them later on.
* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Jounouchi's red. (One of three)

* StatuesqueStunner: At 5'9, she's easily the tallest female character in the series.

* {{Tsundere}}: Shifts from a Type A to a Type B over the course of Duelist Kingdom.

* BreakTheHaughty: Tries it on Kaiba and to a degree, suffers it herself.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: His insect monsters are huge.

* LetsGetDangerous: His second battle with Dark Yugi in the anime.

* NerdGlasses: He's very smart and cunning.

* TheWorfEffect: In the anime, he's introduced in the second episode as a professional duelist who wins a championship. Then Dark Yugi beats him within minutes of arriving in Duelist Kingdom and sends him home on the first boat back. Then on the Grand Prix, he is easily beaten by Siegfried in one turn.

* VillainousBreakdown: Every time he loses.

* BigBadWannabe: In the anime he attempts to become a major threat during several filler arcs, only to end up as a lackey or an easily humilliated loser all times.

* BoisterousBruiser: A big friendly guy.

* AdaptationalVillainy: He may have been a jerk in the manga, but at least he was helpful and doesn't team up with Haga. In the anime he ''does'' team up with Haga and is a straight antagonist in the Doma filler arc.

In the ''Duel Monsters'' card game, she uses a Sand Fairy (Fairy monsters with an Egyptian theme) deck, along with cards that cycle her opponent's cards into the graveyard and her cards into her deck. Her trump card is Reversal of Worlds (Exchange of the Spirit).

He uses a Water deck filled mostly with sea monsters like sharks and krakens. His trump cards are The Legendary Fisherman, which he says is identical to his father, and the Fortress Whale (he loses both to Jounouchi via the ante rules of Battle City).

* InformedAbility: Unlike Ryuzaki, he ''has'' won a duel on-screen... But only against the aforementioned Ryuzaki; yet according to everyone else, he's supposed to have been the Duel Monsters Regional Champion once.

* MustHaveLotsOfFreeTime: As a professional duelist, she does have quite a bit of free time on her hands-- hangs out with TrueCompanions eight-to-ten years younger than her. She also falls in love with [[LikesOlderWomen one of them]]. {{Justified}} because her little friends are champion duelists too, so they all ran in the same circles. She first meets them in a tournament they are all competing in.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the manga, Jonouchi kicks his ass in a fistfight. In the anime, Keith catches his punches and beats up Kozuka, Takaido, and Satake all at once. Despite being shown as the first puppet of Marik later on in the anime, after Bakura interferes with the mind control powers of the Millenium rod and inspite of still showing obvious signs of mental agony, Keith resists long enough to resist's Marik's psychic manipulation long enough to ruin his plans by smashing the Millenium Puzzle and flee while refusing to succumb to any further attempts by the Millennium Rod's brainwashing. He's even more awesome in the video games; in ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'', he takes over the Rare Hunters/Ghouls after Marik's HeelFaceTurn and leads them in invading and occupying Domino City. When you duel him as a boss, he even summons the Winged Dragon of Ra against you! [[spoiler:Okay, he summons it stuck in Sphere Mode since he doesn't know the chant to unlock it, but it's the thought that counts.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Fitting with his love of swimming and fishing, he's usually either barefoot or wearing sandals.

* {{Keigo}}: In the Japanese version, she always communicates in very formal linguistics.

* BeMyValentine: In the [=4Kids=] version. The "Mai" adds to it as a pun.

%%* DarkChick: In Doma's.

* DarkActionGirl: During the Doma Arc, after she becomes corrupted by the Orichalcos and starts working for Dartz.

* BadassNormal: No Millennium Item or connections with ancient Egypt, but she's skilled enough to make it into the finals of Duelist Kingdom and the top eight in Battle City.

* GracefulLoser: In spite of the fact that it means she's out of the running to confront Marik herself, she takes her defeat to Kaiba rather well. In fact, it brings her hope that the future can be changed and that either Yugi, Jonouchi, or Kaiba can save her brother.

%%* ShipTease: With Jonouchi.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: In ''The Sacred Cards'', a video game adaptation of Season 2-3, she duels Kaiba in the Battle City finals instead of Marik.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jonouchi, both in the manga and anime. The two develop a mutual attraction, which they admit to each other in the conclusion of the Battle City storyline, but never actually become a couple onscreen because of other events separating them.

* StarterVillain: Ryuzaki is the first antagonist duelist Jonouchi defeats on his own. During his first match with Mai, Joey got some advice from Yugi, but when she arranged the duel between him and Ryuzaki, Mai added the condition that Yugi couldn't intervene.

* StartMyOwn: He's the only duelist aside form Jounouchi who has an actual plan for the prize money in Duelist Kingdom; he wants to buy his own boat and become a professional fisherman like his father. The series finale shows him at the helm of an impressive fishing trawler, implying that he succeeded.
%%* WalkingShirtlessScene

Roba uses a deck of cards that emulate psychic powers (this was before the Psychic type was invented in the game). His trump card was Jinzo, which Jounouchi won via the ante rules of Battle City.

* CheatersNeverProsper: His brothers spy on his opponent's cards, but Jonouchi beats him.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He's taken down by Jounouchi's Roulette Spider and his own Reflect Bounder card, which reflects opponents attacks back at them. Thanks to the effects of Roulette Spider, and all the boosts he gave Jinzo, Jinzo ends up destroying both the Reflect Bounder and itself, wiping out Roba's life points. For added irony, ''Roba'' was the one who had to tell the Roulette Spider to stop moving.

%%* RealMenWearPink
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's a minor character Jounouchi faced in Battle City, but the Jinzo card he wins due to the ante rule ends up becoming a key card that he regularly uses, unlike the cards he won from Haga and Kajiki which only showed up in his fight with Rishid [[note]]In the manga, Legendary Fisherman appears noticeably more often, due to it being a level 4 monster there.[[/note]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Takes losing ''hard'', even for a Yu-Gi-Oh duelist, because his reputation as unbeatable means everything to him, for the reasons mentioned above. He snaps out of it when his brothers calm him down and he parts with Jounouchi amicably.

* BeMyValentine: In the dub. The "Mai" adds to it as a pun.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The Blonde to Anzu’s Brunette and Shizuka’s Redhead.

* BrokenBird: In the beginning, she's an ex-LonelyRichKid who had lived by and relied on herself since her parents had passed on (or in the dub, were always too busy to spend time with her), acting cynical and disenchanted until Jounouchi calls her out on her treatment of her opponents, Yugi wins back the star chips she lost due to the Player Killer, and (in the anime) Anzu duels her for Yugi's sake. After she defrosts, she reverts because Dark Marik put her into a coma where she was trapped in an hourglass, slowly forgetting everyone who ever loved her (only in the anime - in the manga, she was being eaten by scarabs and she actually managed to come back from that experience emotionally stable) and has recurring nightmares about the experience. Then, despite all her efforts to improve her skills (even winning tournaments), she is still unable to escape Yugi's and Jonouchi's shadows. This leads to her joining Doma, because the Orichalcos' power makes her feel more powerful.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In the very beginning of the series, she's pretty aggressive, sarcastic, and a bit mean-spirited, though significantly less so than other duelists like Weevil or Bandit Keith. [[CharacterDevelopment Mai softens up after hanging out with Yugi's gang a bit.]] During Duelist Kingdom, Mai lets Anzu use her portable shower unit and stands guard to rout any peeping tom's, she hands her copy of "Honor of Kings Right" [[note]] a card that qualifies a duelist to compete in the Duelist kingdom finals. [[/note]]to Jonouchi when his copy gets stolen. During Battle City, she rescues Honda, Shizuka and Otogi who were fleeing the Ghouls.

* ParentalAbandonment: In the anime, her parents died when she was little (in the dub, they never had time for her) and left her alone to rely on herself.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the subs, he knew about the field power bonus rule in Duelist Kingdom because Pegasus told him about it as a "special preview" for winning the Japanese championship. In the English dub, he brags about "stealing" the secret to said rules.

* BerserkButton: In the dub, being laughed at angers him quite a bit, as shown in his first duel with Dark Yugi. He'd been mostly calm and shown little more than irritation up until Dark Yugi started laughing at him. At first, he was confused, then ''enraged'' into shouting. Indeed, most of his [[{{Jerkass}} jerkish]] behavior then on seemed to be motivated by the mocking he received from former fans after the events of Duelist Kingdom.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Much like plenty of the manga's early villains, when Yugi first met Haga, he seemed like a ''very'' nice guy, nicer than Ryuzaki ironically enough. He was very polite overall, gave some advice to both Yugi and Jounouchi, and seemed pretty tame to the GenreBlind. Yugi liked and admired him right after meeting him, which was why he trusted the complete stranger with handling his grandfather's cards despite their not being water-proof and a large body of water being nearby. It was more noticeable in the Japanese version than in the English dub, in which he sounded unbelievably sarcastic the entire time. Now, of course, fans know [[{{Jerkass}} what]] [[SmugSnake he's really like]].

* RedOniBlueOni: At first, the Blue to Ryuzaki/Rex's Red. [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Color-coded]] even, with Haga's hair and Ryuzaki's hat! Haga seems more calm and composed early on, relying on strategy over brute force. However, curiously enough, they keep to their respective tactics but switch attitudes over time. Ryuzaki doesn't exactly become "calm," but Haga seems to become more HotBlooded and irritable by the time the Doma Arc rolls around.

* WarmUpBoss: For the Duelist Kingdom Arc. He demonstrates to Yugi in their duel just what the new rules for the tournament are and how they work, such as the field power bonuses. He's also the first duelist we see to lean into archetypal play, something that becomes common as the arc continues. Ultimately though, he's only a threat to Yugi because he cheated both to learn these rules and lure Yugi to the Forest Field to begin with. Compared to Yugi and Joey's other opponents, Weevil comes off as small fry.

He lost to Haga in the finale of the Japanese National Tournament. Just like Haga, he was also invited to Duelist Kingdom, but he loses to Jonouchi and forfeited his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He later appears in the Battle City arc when Jonouchi battles Espa Roba during the tournament, and in the anime, the filler arcs (most notably Doma).

As his name suggests, he uses a Dinosaur deck, [[DinosaursAreDragons though his trump cards are all Dragons]]: Serpent Night Dragon (which he lost to Espa Roba via the ante rules of Battle City), Red-Eyes Black Dragon (which he lost in a wager to Jonouchi), and Tyrant Dragon, which he gains in the Doma filler arc.

* {{Determinator}}: See Weevil/Haga's description for the trope. Downplayed in the manga.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Even though he never manages to make it to the same level of dueling fame that Yugi and Kaiba have reached, [[ThrowTheDogABone he and Weevil still manage to remain household names in the dueling world and never fade into obscurity]].
* RedOniBlueOni: In the Anime he is the Red to Haga/Weevil's Blue at first. They switch dynamics later on. See Haga/Weevil's entry.

* TheWorfEffect: Every time he duels someone in the manga he's defeated either by cheating (Mai and Esper) or dumb luck (Jonouchi). While nothing definitively says Haga cheated to beat him, it's not unlikely that he did considering Haga's tactics (it's also worth noting that he's introduced alongside Haga as a tournament finalist, so he obviously has ''some'' number of dueling wins under his belt). Since Rex is only ever beaten in the series by people who cheated or got lucky, its possible he's a great duelist whose bad luck paints him as a worse duelist than he actually is.

A fisherman by trade who duels in honor of his father, who was lost in a shipwreck (in the dub-version, he thinks his father is still alive). He faces Yugi in Duelist Kingdom and Jounouchi in Battle City.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Mako doesn't accompany the protagonists during their journeys, but he becomes good friends with Yugi and Joey despite losing both his duels to them.

* KrakenAndLeviathan: Some of Mako's most powerful monsters are these.
* MakingASplash: Several of Mako's trap and spell cards involve using the water to protect him and his monsters or to hinder his opponents.

** Jounouchi even lampshades this in the dub, pointing out that Keith's cheating will only get him so far, until he runs into an opponent who's dueling for something more than winning for winning's sake.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: His ejection from the tournament in the anime dub. When he hits the water, he simply says "Ouch."

"Ghost" Kozuka is first introduced as one of Bandit Keith's henchmen, alongside his friends Satake and Takaido (Zygor and Sid in the dub). Seeking to scope out the competition, Keith sets Kotsuzuka and Jonouchi/Joey against one another; when Kozuka is defeated, Keith beats him up and steals his Star Chips. Kozuka resurfaces alongside Takaido and Satake during the Battle City arc, where he makes the fatal mistake of [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame challenging Dark Bakura in a Shadow Game]].

!!'''Espa Roba (エスパー絽場; ''Esupā Roba'')'''

* AdaptationalJerkass: For the most part, his original and dub personality aren't too different, but he doesn't come off as the nicest guy when he's first introduced in the dub, right after beating Rex Raptor and winning his Serpent Night Dragon. In the original, he says it's an okay card, but doesn't fit with his Psychic deck (which is true), while in the dub, he says it's worthless and only fitting to be used as a coaster.

--> Voiced by: Creator/DaisukeNamikawa (JP), Andrew Rannells (EN, ''Duel Monsters''), Daniel J. Edwards (EN, ''Duel Links''), Iván Muelas

* CameBackWrong: In ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', Keith was revived from his deck, which was missing a card that Jonouchi took. Because of this, he's a bit underweight, ''very'' unhinged, and it's heavily implied that he's still dead and lives on as an animate corpse.

* {{Eagleland}}: Type 2. He is thuggish, selfish, smug, and a total jerk.

* MechanicalMonster: Both Metalzoa and Barrel Dragon.

* ThePowerOfHate: In ''Yu-Gi-Oh R'', his grudge against Jonouchi is so strong he came back from the dead and refused to die until his hatred was sated.

** DarkActionGirl: During the Doma Arc, after she becomes corrupted by the Orichalcos and starts working for Dartz.

* DistractedByTheSexy: An implied reason for her choice of outfits is to try to distract her opponents.

* MysteriousVeil: Appears with one while on the Battle City blimp up until her first duel.

* AwesomeButImpractical: His "Fortress Whale", a 7-star normal monster in the manga (which requires two tributes) and a ritual monster in the anime (which cannot be summoned without the ritual card), is too slow and Kajiki needs several backup cards to properly uses this monster. even with "Umi" power-up is active on the field.

[[Characters/YuGiOhMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/YuGiOhYamiYugi Yami Yugi]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhYamiBakura Yami Bakura]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhSetoKaiba Seto Kaiba]]) | [[Characters/YuGiOhDominoHighSchool Domino High School ]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhDominoCityResidents Domino City Residents]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhKaibaCorporationAndDeathT Kaiba Corp]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhIndustrialIllusions Industrial Illusions]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhGhoulsAndRareHunters Ghouls and Rare Hunters]] | '''Other Duelists''' | [[Characters/YuGiOhAncientEgypt Ancient Egypt]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhGamingPieces Gaming Pieces]] | [[Characters/YuGiOhOriginalSeriesCards Cards]] -]]]]]

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: The Exodia cards would have trivialized the plot for Yugi, so ''something'' needed to separate the two. Why not make it an EstablishingCharacterMoment for the series' HateSink?

* BreakThemByTalking: Gives one to Dark Yugi in the anime on his reckless use of the Seal of Orichalcos; it actually almost works.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Notably [[AvertedTrope averted.]] His cheating, from what we've seen, is always clearly planned out and calculated prior to a duel. It never directly hinders him because, for all [[DirtyCoward his]] [[SmugSnake flaws]], he ''is'' a lot more clever than your average cheater. In fact, he never actually cheats DURING the duels that are shown, but he uses underhanded methods outside of them (sneaking an insect card in an opponent's deck, throwing out a future competitor's ace card while he had his trust) to gain an edge.

* HateSink: To the point where he's in a duel, you are actively ''cheering'' for him to lose.

* InformedAbility: Unlike Ryuzaki he has won a duel on-screen... But only against the aforementioned Ryuzaki yet according to everyone else, he's supposed to have been the Duel Monsters Champion once.
* {{Jerkass}}: Haga is a colossal jackass who is shown to be willing to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means sabotaging, cheating and lying his way to the top. Notably, in his first appearance he makes Yugi lose the Exodia pieces by pretending to be a friendly figure that wants to check them out before tossing them into the ocean so that Yugi and friends won't ever retrieve them.
* JerkassHasAPoint: During the Doma FillerArc, when Dark Yugi calls him horrible, Haga points out that Dark Yugi had used the Seal of Orichalcos in order to win despite knowing that he'd be putting his friend in danger, and that Yugi paid the price, saying that while he was indeed an asshole at least he didn't use the Seal despite knowing that he could endanger his friends. Even though he tries not to show it, Dark Yugi is visibly affected by his words.
** During his Duel against Jonouchi in Battle City, he reveals the kid who temporarily stole the latter's Deck had done so in order to sneak in a Parasite Paracide card and not from desperation at having his own Deck stolen. Jonouchi and his friends condemn Haga as a cheater. Haga retorts that Jonouchi could have avoided his predicament at having all his monsters turn into insects from the parasite's infection, if he'd simply checked his Deck before challenging Haga. While Haga really is a dirty cheater and SmugSnake, his retort isn't wrong either.

* MoralMyopia: Normally, his and Ryuuzaki's grief at having been called has-beens by the community would make the character sympathetic, especially with the way they tell their tale when they each confront Dark Yugi and Jounouchi in the DOMA arc. Unlike with Ryuuzaki, though, any sympathy you would have Haga would be squashed by him conveniently ignoring the fact that all we've ever seen of him is that he's a selfish, self-centered cheater, who treated everyone beneath him like dirt when he had his fame, and yet thought of the masses as unfair for crapping on them for having not having gotten very far in the last two tournaments. Haga immediately proves after the tale is told that, unlike Ryuuzaki, he deserves every bit of that karmic mistreatment.