Introduced in Tournament of Shadows, these are fifty professional duelists sponsored by Lessiux Media Unlimited, and make up half of the contestants in the second Duelist Kingdom Tournament. They seem to come from all walks of life, and other than their profession and affiliation with Lessiux, have very little in common. Note that Kyon Rokudai is a member of this group, but he is included in the Non-Shadowchaser Protagonists and Allies character page.
Insector Hakata
- Ascended Extra: Sort of. He was first mentioned in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds as one of Mukuro Enjo's former opponents, and never made an actual appearance in the series.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies/Sentai: Uses an Inzektor Deck.
- Muggle: Clearly, the only reason he's in the tournament is to have a shot at Ember (see Unknown Rival, below). When Bruno mentions that McGuiness is a satyr, it's obvious he's blind to the existence of Shadows.
- O.C. Stand-in: Considering the only canon information about him is just a name and that he lost to Mukuro Enjo.
- Rule of Symbolism: Ember's duel with him takes place in the same area where Yugi first defeated Insector Haga back in the original Duelist Kingdom tournament. Ember is even quick to notice the symbolism of the place. Like Haga before him, Hakata uses Insects (though a great deal stronger than Haga's) and loses in an all-or-nothing duel against Ember in the first duel of the tournament.
- Sore Loser: And how. In Chapter 13, he, Serket and McGuinness devise a plot that would involve kidnapping and murdering Ember, Gomi and Bruno just because they handed them losses that resulted in their elimination.
- Small Name, Big Ego
- Smug Snake: He scoffs at Ember's victory over Mukuro Enjo when they first meet, thinking that Enjo must have let himself go. He later eats those words when the tournament starts.
- Take That!: In many ways, he is intended to be a strike against the Inzektor archetype, a broken strategy that dominated the game during the March 2012 format (which is what is used in the fic). In Hakata's defense, his deck, while somewhat broken, is not as much so as most real players who used such a deck, and he shows much more creativity.Gomi (after Hakata's Inzektors gain the upper hand on Ember with their effects): A loop-destruction combo combined with a swarming combo… It seems sportsmanship in this game died when Pegasus did…
- Terrible Trio: With Serket and McGuinness in Chapter 13.
- Unknown Rival: To Ember, Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, and anyone else who has beaten Mukuro Enjo, if there is any. He feels that in order to be successful he has to defeat everyone who defeated the duelist who defeated him.
Deanu
A mysterious member of the Blue Knights who might be the most powerful member, she seems to be working for the same strange entity as Zanth and Xander. (Zanth does not like her much, however.) She was only seen briefly, fighting off some trespassing members of a cult who tried to disrupt the tournament.- Gaia's Vengeance: Exactly how her deck works is unclear, but this seems to be the theme. She is seen using an incredibly powerful Synchro Monster named Kiganjou which takes the form of a titanic elemental; it has 2,900 base ATK, plus 200 for every non-Tuner used to summon it (and she summons it by Tuning five monsters).
- Red Baron: "The Force of Nature"
'Dinosaur' Hakozaki
- Ascended Extra: Same as the deal with Hakata.
- Genre Savvy: At least compared to his anime counterpart, he is, as Nichole notes. He's far more careful in making his moves than Ryuzaki ever was. Best example: Nichole has a Monster with zero ATK, but it's not a legit target so long she has as three other Monsters - one of which is Amazoness Swords Woman - in play. He has a Monster with five-thousand ATK, and has drawn Forbidden Chalice. Most players would use the Spell on the Monster with zero ATK to nullify its effect and make it vulnerable, but he's smart enough to consider her set card, and wait until she triggers it. (A smart choice, because it turns out to be Staunch Defender, which she planned to use to draw his attack to Swords Woman, causing him to lose if he had taken the obvious choice.)
- O.C. Stand-in: For the same reasons as Hakata.
- Straight Man: To Hakata. (In fact, while Hakata has a lot in common with his counterpart in the original anime, Hakozaki has very little in common with his.)
Pirates Keith
- Ascended Extra: Same as the deal with Hakata and Hakozaki.
- Berserk Button: He gets serious quickly when Leroy mentions his loss to Jack Atlas, something he clearly did not take well. (Especially as he was one of two duelists who won against Mukuro Enjo before Atlas did).
- Homage: His attitude and syntax has a lot in common with that of Lobo; he even calls himself "the main man". (
7th Librarian admits this was intentional.) - Large Ham: Even when he isn't dueling. (And he hasn't done so in-story yet.)
- O.C. Stand-in: Same reasons as Hakata and Hakozaki.
- Pet the Dog: Despite his overall cocky and slightly condescending attitude, he does show some sincere sympathy for Leroy's Game-Breaking Injury effectively disqualifying him from the tournament.
- The Rival: He seems to know Leroy from somewhere, and they do not like each other.
Serket
- Arrogant Pro League Duelist: Oh so very much. She's more interested in boosting her career by defeating Jalal than winning the money for charity.
- Berserk Button: Being compared to Cleopatra (who, contrary to media portrayals, was not beautiful at all, but ugly, not to mention being a gold digger. Gomi sarcastically calls her out on this, pointing out that her skimpy costume isn't very historically accurate either. She doesn't seem to care.)
- The Fighting Narcissist: Very much so. Bruno calls her a "sore winner" after the way she gloats after defeating Baba Yaga. She also acts this way after she defeats Douglas, not to mention mocking his kilt.
- Muggle: Much like Hakata, she can't perceive Shadows at all; while she knows that the Shadowchasers are important enough that defeating their leader would be a great boost for her reputation, she's unclear on their purpose.
- Mummy: The general theme of her deck.
- One-Hit Kill: Her deck has this sort of strategy (and is described as "brutal") that involves her using 2 Endless Decays with 4000 or more ATK in order to eliminate all of her opponent's Life Points in one blow.
- Only Sane Woman: Amongst the trio of her, Hakata and McGuinness in Chapter 13.
- Red Baron: "Serket" is a stage name, and she certainly has that sort of reputation in the Pro League.
- Signature Card: Endless Decay
- Sore Loser: When she loses to Gomi. In Chapter 13, she teams up with Hakata and McGuinness in a plot to outright murder their Shadowchaser rivals after their losses.
- Streisand Effect: In-Universe reference. After Gomi chastises her for swearing in live television (see below), she replies by asking him if he really thinks that putting a TY-MA rating on a show would actually prevent kids from watching it when it actually does the opposite instead (which Gomi reluctantly agrees with).
- Squash Match: Her duel with Baba Yaga was like this, sort of. Baba Yaga didn't exactly seem helpless, but the point was to prove that reports of how lethal Serket's strategy was were clearly not lies or exaggerations.
- Stripperific: Her costume. Very revealing, with an Egyptian theme.
- Terrible Trio: With Hakata and McGuinness in Chapter 13.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: She does this after Gomi gets her mad enough during their duel and after she summons The Minion of Set.Serket: You make me angry... then I show what a real bitch I am!
- Time for Plan B: Her back-up plan, in case her OTK strategy fails, is to summon a Fusion Monster called The Minion of Set, summoned by Fusing two Endless Decays. Its scores are both equal to her starting LP of 8,000 minus the amount she has when it is summoned.
Jill Chambers
- Headless Horseman/Losing Your Head: She's a dullahan. Her helmet conceals the fact that she has no head, and she uses a cellular phone to speak. (Note that she seemed a little offended when actually compared to the Headless Horseman.)
- Hot Witches: Uses a Fortune Lady Deck.
- The Fair Folk: But friendlier than most.
- Shout-Out: To Celty Sturluson from Durarara!!
Leslie McGuinness
- The Alcoholic: He is a satyr...
- The Hedonist: Again, something his species is known for, unfortunately.
- Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: His ace card is Harpie Empress, an Xyz Monster that depicts Kujaku Mai as a Harpie. He thinks she would be flattered by this, but everyone else disagrees.
- Jerkass: Too many reasons to list.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: And he proves capable of actual murder later.
- Loophole Abuse: The tournament is supposed to be charity event. However, McGuinness cleverly chooses his fraternity program as the charity so that his fraternity can keep the money and do whatever they want with it. (He doesn't get away with it, however, seeing as his fraternity likely won't be around much longer; he admits during the duel that its members have been using illegal drugs for months, completely forgeting that the duel is being televised.
- Lust: Very much so, being a satyr and all. He even uses the original, uncensored Harpie Lady cards in his duels just so that he could enjoy staring at them whenever he duels.
- Really Gets Around: Starting to see a trend here? He's even starred in a few X-rated movies, apparently.
- Signature Card: Harpie Empress
- Sore Loser: After losing to Bruno. In Chapter 13, he even teams up with Hakata and Serket in a attempted murder plot against their Shadowchaser rivals.
- Terrible Trio: With Hakata and Serket in Chapter 13. (Unfortunately for them, he pretty much turns them into a Goldfish Poop Gang.)
- Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: Inverted. In this case, he learns that such actions tend to have consequences.
Nikolov Chariot
A Russian duelist and Kenshin's first opponent.- Arrogant Pro League Duelist: Not as much as Serket, however.
- The Casanova: According to Pirates Keith.
- Cultured Badass
- Graceful Loser: Despite his arrogant personality towards Kenshin during their duel, he accepts his loss to her, even wishing her good luck in the rest of the tournament and saying he'll be cheering for her in the audience.
- Green Thumb / Royals Who Actually Do Something: Uses a Plant/Royalty Deck.
Zanth
A dark elf who seems to be interested in Ember (and Jetta the Bronze-Hearted) for some plan. Quite likely, he is up to no-good.- An Ice Person: His deck focuses on ice-themed monsters and ones that use Ice Counters.
- Berserk Button: And very easy to press. It's all Sarah can do to keep him from flying into rage.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: All we know about his plan (which is a "contingency plan" in case another one fails) is that it involves a "device" which he needs Jetta for. Using Ember as a hostage to lure Jetta into a trap has been suggested as a means to do it. He also mentions that he is working for someone, but just who is not known. He later says that this unnamed employer is insistent that he prevent any casualties among tournament contestants.
- Mean Boss: Towards Sarah, although as it turns out, she can be far meaner to him when his boss is angry.
- Ritual Magic: He can summon Duel Spirits via alchemy, but not all are competent.
Sarah
An associate of Zanth who seems to be his secretary (at least that's what Xander calls her).- Affably Evil: She seems rather polite, often meek and shy; anyone who didn't know her true nature might not assume she was evil.
- An Ice Person: She is a yuki-onna, a powerful undead spirit with powers over ice and cold, presumably becoming one after Zanth summoned her.
- Betrayal Insurance: She seems to be this, as it is eventually revealed Zanth's fiendish patron can override his control of her - and assert his - any time he desires should he mess up.
- Deadly Hug: Standard MO of a yuki-onna; they use seductive looks to lure a man into an embrace and then freeze them solid. (She claims this is an addiction. Hakata almost falls victim to it, but Zanth catches her in the act.) The Game Face seems to be optional.
- Game Face: When her true yokai nature is shown, her eyes glow menacingly, her teeth become vampiric fangs, and her nails become claws. She also seems able to inspire supernatural terror in a victim this way.
- Familiar: Described as a "dark familiar", to Zanth. Given the background given, this type of familiar is clearly very different than standard ones like Sorsha.
- Leonine Contract: Probably one with the worst conditions ever. She gets rescued from Hell after her soul is damned (for whatever reason, it isn't clear, but there's no evidence it was undeserved) and in return, she pretty much has to do whatever Zanth wants. He reminded her once that he could send her back at any time if it doesn't work out; not the sort of agreement you want to mess up.
- No Name Given: "Sarah" is simply a name that Zanth gave her. It isn't known what her real name is.
- Restraining Bolt: After she almost kills Hakata (which she was clearly told not to do), Zanth shackles her hands together with chains that apparently serve this purpose before he yells at her. (These appear to be the same restraints that devils use on damned souls in Hell; at least she remembers them as such.)
- Sexy Secretary: This is what Xander calls her. (In truth, as far as Zanth is concerned, she's an infernal familiar, a special type of familiar that's stronger that the average type.) Sexy, most definitely.
Xander Garren
An associate of Zanth. He appears to be human, and works for the same employer as Zanth.- Affably Evil: Rage and anger dominate most of his thoughts, but he is nonetheless polite to Maddie when they first meet and even after he defeats her in a duel.
- Born of Magic: Given how he describes himself, he was created via alchemy by an infernal wizard researching plasomancy, a theoretical form of Blood Magic crossed with Necromancy via use of alchemy, making him something of a homunculus
- Humanoid Abomination: He looks human on the surface (somewhat odd, but still human) but his duel with Maddie hints it may be a disguise. She briefly sees something monstrous when she looks at him, suggesting his appearance on the surface may not be what it seems.
- Canis Major: His entire deck theme revolves around Silver Fang, a very old, rather weak card, which are preludes to...
- Dire Beast: Ishara the Moon Eater, two Synchro monsters based on a legend of a moon-devouring wolf, and...
- Olympus Mons: ...possibly the Ur-Example of this Trope, a monster with the Divine Attribute who can match Obelisk the Tormentor in terms of size.
- Straight Man: To Zanth. He believes that the "contigency plan" is an obsession, and that the chances of capturing Jetta alive are slim, insisting that they focus on the actual plan. (Which remains unknown, but apparently involves competing in the Tournament).
Xiaomu Lei-Fang
A regional champion from Hong Kong, she is Ace's first opponent in the tournament.- Anime Chinese Girl: More or less.
- Braids of Action
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: A very potent in-universe example. A large part of her strategy uses the F.G.D., not just the OCG/TCG version, but the Ritual Monster version used by the Big Five, summoning both at once (using Dragon's Mirror after making the Ritual Summon). If this trick works, the Ritual version can destroy every card on her opponent's field, letting the Fusion version make a direct attack (which the Ritual version cannot, due to its drawback.)
- Genki Girl: Seriously. If she were Japanese, it would be a very literal case.
- Muggle: Not only does she seem ignorant of the existence of Shadows, she doesn't seem to have ever heard of the Shadowchasers at all, and goes so far as to accuse Ace of belonging to some evil organization simply because of the name.
- Our Dragons Are Different: She uses a Dragon Deck, but with a twist: Most of her Dragons are based on Oriental dragons rather than western ones, belonging to an odd archetype called Orochi Dragons.
Nie Junlong
A Chinese astronaut turned duelist. His deck is never seen, because he is eliminated very early.- Cheaters Never Prosper: He sprays his opponents with nitrous oxide, making them woozy and unable to duel properly. The tournament security immediately figures out what he is doing and disqualifies him on the spot.
CARDTECH =/= Johanna Jonsdottir
An advanced robot and dueling AI.- Combat Tentacles
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Not only is it a subversion of the Trope, Johanna pretty much explains why the Trope is so unrealistic.
- Claustrophobia: Inverted. Johanna has the opposite, agoraphobia, and is afraid to leave her house, requiring her to duel via remote control.
- Fantastic Racism: Has a very low opinion on humans.
- Fun with Acronyms: CARDTECH stands for Clever Allower for Recreational Dueling Through Electronic Controls from Home.
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Kill Sat: Uses a Satellite Cannon deck.
- Machine Monotone: However, while its voice is synthesized, it still displays a lot of emotion.
- The Man Behind the Curtain: The robot is really controlled by a scientist named Johanna Jonsdottir, who has severe agoraphobia.
- Robot Master: Johanna originally built CARDTECH for battling robot competitions like BattleBots, but the cost of maintaining, fueling, and transporting it made using it for such purposes unfeasible. Her whole reason for competing in a charity tournament is to gain publicity for it and hopefully spurn interest in someone who can use it.
- Shout-Out: The others comment in their minds that it looks like the Pokémon Metagross.
Tohru
A member of a powerful and ancient race called the reigar and presumably a pro from South Korea, Tohru and Gomi have known each other since Gomi arrested him for some rather serious crimes which Tohru got little more than a slap on the wrist for. The two seem to be rivals in every sense of the word.- Affably Evil: He's a horrible man, but he seems very polite most of the time, never losing his temper.
- Attention Whore: His whole species is like this. His bizarre clothing, tattoos, and shining aura of light surrounding him that seems to change color with his moods keeps him in the center of attention, which is how he likes it. He even goes so far as to choose the Make-a-Wish Foundation for his charity, knowing such an easily recognizable organization will draw attention to him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The reason Tohru holds a grudge against Gomi is because he took offense at being called a "predator" and "pedophile" (even though he never denied it). His ego just wouldn't allow such things to be said about him in public, even though it was the truth.
- Karma Houdini: In this case it's an in-story example that happened in the past. His crimes were very serious: multiple counts of statutory rape, providing alcohol to minors, and possession of child pornography (all involving the same three victims). However, his lawyer, who Gomi described as "the best lawyer and worst human being in Seoul" got him off with no prison time, without even having to register as a sex offender. (The biggest irony is, the lawyer has since been disbarred for legal malpractice for an unrelated case, but Tohru remains virtually unpunished for his crimes.)
- Mad Artist: His whole species is like this, seeing the whole universe as their canvas. Most are decent folk, who improve landscapes, create new forms of life, and even alter their own bodies to create art.
- Man of Kryptonite: Because each Zen-Sacred needs a Sacred of a different Attribute on the field to use its effect, this makes a perfect foil for Gomi's deck, seeing as Gomi's deck is composed of "regular" Sacreds.
- Shadow Archetype / Eastern Zodiac: His deck is a splinter group of the Sacreds based on the Eastern Zodiac, rather than the Western one. In contrast to "normal" Sacreds which are all Light but have a variety of Types, Zen-Sacreds, as they are called, are a variety of Attributes, but are all one Type, Psychic.
- Olympus Mons: The Xyz monsters in his deck are modeled after the Eight Immortals of China, but there seems to be nothing magical about these cards.
Juarez Oscuro
Champion of Spain and paranormal investigator, he is Bruno's final opponent in the preliminary round.- Agent Scully: While he studies cryptids, he does not believe in them, stating that much of his research goes towards debunking them. (He was actually kicked out of a resort near Loch Ness for speaking such opinions.)
- Bilingual Bonus: His last name is Spanish for "dark". Doubles as Dark Is Not Evil.
- Occult Detective: Subverted. He states that the job is rarely exciting and pays poorly, but does it out of passion. Most of his investigations are in backwoods towns putting on hoaxes to attract tourists.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: His cards are all based on well-known cryptids, who due to the reclusive nature of cryptids in general, vanish (ie, return to the users hand) quickly after appearing.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Standing only a meter in height, he is still a champion duelist. He also claims to have broken a bully's jaw when he was a kid.
