Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel surpasses 50 million downloads, with new Branded, Zombie, and Labyrinth cards on the way

Get ready for the next wave of meta cards to hit soon.

Image via Konami

Despite a continued decline in players on PC, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel continues to draw players back into one of the most popular card games in the world across all platforms—surpassing 50 million lifetime downloads. 

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This is an impressive total for any game to achieve, let alone a game that launched less than a year ago on Jan. 19. Mobile likely accounts for a majority of those downloads as it has proven to be the most successful market for other Yu-Gi-Oh! titles in the past, but being available on PC and consoles too has helped it reach the broad market Konami was aiming to hit with its digital platform. 

Not only does this milestone mean players can claim a free 1,000 Gems and new Five-Headed Dragon card sleeves, but it also means a new update is coming soon. This next update will add a brand new Secret Pack—Alba Abyss—to the game that focuses on adding new support and reprinting key cards for the Branded archetype. 

Some of those new cards include Alba Lenatus the Abyss Dragon, Albaz the Ashen, and Branded Banishment. 

Konami also accidentally leaked two additional upcoming products coming to the game before pulling the details down from Master Duel’s servers. This includes a new Zombie-themed Structure Deck and the next Selection Pack—which will add plenty of cards from Dimension Force and Tactical Masters to the game on Dec. 8.

Structure Deck Immortal Glory will feature Zombie-Type monsters and a Synchro-centric strategy featuring powerful boss monsters like Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord, Skeletal Dragon Felgrand, and Immortal Dragon. 

The new Selection Pack will excite meta-fiends, as Mysterious Labyrinth will introduce Runicks, Labyrinth, and additional support for archetypes like Predaplant to the game for the first time. It will coincide with the next ban list too, so expect some interesting changes to the meta.

Author
Image of Cale Michael
Cale Michael
Lead Staff Writer for Dota 2, the FGC, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and more who has been writing for Dot Esports since 2018. Graduated with a degree in Journalism from Oklahoma Christian University and also previously covered the NBA. You can usually find him writing, reading, or watching an FGC tournament.