Called By Army Wins Master Duel World Championship 2026

The Master Duel World Championship has concluded, and for the first time in history, we have an OCG-territory team holding the trophy. South Korea’s Called By Army took down Japan's Glory Future in a nail-biting 5-3 Grand Final in Tokyo. It was a massive redemption arc for team captain Sana (Minsung Kim), who has been grinding these events for years and finally got his moment on the tournament's biggest stage alongside teammates subaduck (Jisuk Kim) and cutesnail (Hyunsoo Lee).

Getting to the podium was an absolute horror show of a run. After starting the Swiss stage with a demoralizing 0-2 record, Called By Army had to reverse-sweep their way back, clawing through three consecutive wins to squeeze into the semi-finals by a single tiebreaker point. Once they got there, the variance gods tested their resolve by handing them a brutal seven consecutive second-turn games. But instead of folding to the going-first meta, they put on a masterclass in break-and-entry, riding subaduck's Zoodiac Radiant Typhoon and cutesnail's K9 Vanquish Soul to survive.

The Grand Final against Japanese powerhouse Glory Future, led by the legendary nine-time Duelist Cup champion Tasuku (Tasuku Kobanawa), Freedume (Shinji Hasegawa), and Yuki (Yuki Imamura), had everything. In the end, it all came down to a perfectly timed Super Polymerization from Sana in the final set. He ripped the board apart to secure the deciding fifth duel, cementing Called By Army's place in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.