The Shadow Duelist in 'Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duelist' Is *This* Former One Direction Member

Just as games like Pokémon leapt from Nintendo consoles to phones to reach an even wider audience, Yu-Gi-Oh! underwent a similar transformation with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, which was first released on all major gaming platforms in January 2022.

The online free-to-play game is a simulated version of the popular monster-based trading card game from Konami. It's gotten regular support and expansions since its launch and features multiple gameplay modes and a ranked system.

The game also hosts special online events, one of the most notable of which was the introduction of the Shadow Duelist known as Nocturne. This masked player was initially teased as a YGO-loving celebrity and players got the chance to compete in a tournament to win his elaborate mask after beating all other competitors.

The tournament took place between Aug. 29, 2024, and when the dust settled, the Shadow Duelist's identity was finally revealed. The duelist behind the mask turned out to be none other than...

That's right! Award-winning musician and former One Direction band member Zayn Malik was the Shadow Duelist Nocturne all along! Since the announcement of the Shadow Duelist event on Aug. 12, his identity was teased with cryptic clues that referred to his many accomplishments in music.

He remained masked during the majority of the Shadow Duelist tournament livestream, in which he presided over the many players trying to win his helmet. After the tournament, he unmasked himself to the audience.

"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," Zayn stated on the stream.

He then proceeded to autograph the inside of the mask to be received by the tournament's winner, who ended up being YGO player fictinium. Afterward, he spent some time with stream hosts Steven Kangas and Billy Brake revealing how the former One Direction member got into the game and how much he's enjoyed it over the years.

Zayn revealed that he first started playing when he was about 7 years old. He first played the game through a version of the game on the Game Boy Advance before collecting physical cards.

Like many YGO fans, he was also invested in the first anime series and fondly remembers Seto Kaiba as one of his favorite characters. He also plays Master Duel on many of his gaming consoles. Zayn even pulled out an old card binder from his childhood and showed off his years-old collection.

Interestingly enough, this is far from YGO's first brush with stardom in 2024. Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles previously went viral at the Summer Olympic Games for, among other reasons, flashing his Yu-Gi-Oh! cards like the Blue Eyes White Dragon and Exodia: The Forbidden One to cameras whenever he was qualifying for the Paris 2024 games.

It truly doesn't matter how old you are or how famous you are. It's always time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!