Magnificent Bastard/Multimedia/Yu-Gi-Oh!

Some antagonists in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise don't just play games, they play their games exceptionally well.

Maximilian Pegasus from the original series is one of it's most fondly remembered Big Bads by reason of this trope. He displayed magnificence in his bastardry as a Laughably Evil but Not-So-Harmless Villain who successfully pitted Yugi and Kaiba against one another through manipulations and underhanded dealings, then clobbered Kaiba in a duel, using the mind reading powers granted to him by his Millennium Eye to maintain an edge, and brutal sarcasm to unnerve him. In his duel with Yugi, he overworks Yugi to the point of failing unconscious and nearly pulled off a win, only ever losing his cool for fractions of a second whenever he appeared to be getting crushed in the duel. In the end he's proven to have an honorable streak, and releases his prisoners as part of his deal with Yugi. Only narrowly defeated by Yugi and Yami's tag-team dueling strategy, Pegasus set a high bar for subsequent villains to aspire to, and whether as a duelist, corporate raider, or user of Shadow magic, always seemed to be holding all the cards. While in the manga he gets killed off by Yami Bakura, in the anime he lives on to do more business in this series, GX, and at least two movies.
- Yami Bakura, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring from the original series, is perhaps an even bigger example. In his debut appearance, he's shown to be the Pharaoh's equal in being a master of all games and he manipulates all events to fit in with his "game." Afterwards, he begins a Gambit Roulette that lasts for the remainder of the series that could bring his master and other self, Zorc Necrophedes the Dark One into the living world. He has no set plan for this and just plays Xanatos Speed Chess as opportunities present themselves; he attacks a weakened Pegasus to take the Millennium Eye, he cuts deals with Marik to get his hands on the Millennium Rod, and infuses a piece of his soul in the shattered Millennium Puzzle so he can enter its complete form. He does all this while either faking a Heel Face Turn and fooling even his own host Ryo Bakura into letting him help, or pretending to be his host so well almost no one realizes which Bakura they're talking to. Any defeat or setback he suffers never sticks, Yami Bakura always finds his way back from the shadows and gets his Ring about Bakura's neck to take control of him again and keep scheming. He's such a good schemer that he ends up being the true final villain of the series, surviving up to the final story arc when he initiates his final game against Yugi and his friends, the Shadow RPG, almost destroying all of them and almost succeeding in bringing about the world's destruction. All while being gleefully, deliciously and charismatically evil the whole way through.
- Seto Kaiba could be one in the original manga. While before he was a bully of the week, albeit a formidable one, upon his return he was a dangerously intelligent literal Chessmaster of a villain who is the CEO of his own mega corporation and comes very close to defeating Yugi at the end. While his mental instability and petty asshole tendencies could classify him as a high functioning Smug Snake at best, he retained many of his formidable traits and skills in his Anti-Villain role in the arc he reappeared in and evolved into a full-fledged Magnificent Bastard, once again coming dangerously close to defeating Yugi in their rematch and then still technically winning the duel by playing Yugi's sense of morality and concern for other's well being against him, though he gets Out-Gambitted by Pegasus afterwards. He keeps this up in the Battle City Tournament, which he organizes in order to claim all three Egyptian God cards, only starting to lose his cool and fall back on his worse habits after being defeated by Yugi, but he manages a recovery and emerges in a Blue Eyed White Dragon shaped jet from his father's now destroyed island (which he self-destructed) in a truly magnificent style, setting off to veer his life in a better direction by focusing on making new innovations with his company for the enjoyment of needy children around the world.
  - In Dark Side of Dimension, Kaiba is determined to resurrect the Pharaoh by any means necessary, developing highly complex technology in his attempts. When he excavates the Millennium Puzzle, Diva attempts to kill him with the Quantum Cube, but Kaiba repels the attack without effort. Kaiba turns the ensuing duel around by summoning Obelisk the Tormentor, and while Diva escapes, he's unworried. When Kaiba learns Diva stole two of the Puzzle pieces, he kidnaps him and agrees to Yugi's demand to duel Diva at an exhibition. He only briefly loses composure when Yugi reassembles the Puzzle to confirm the Pharaoh cannot return, and his reaction to seemingly losing their duel is a smirk. When Diva returns as a corrupted monster, Kaiba sacrifices himself to keep Yugi in the game, imploring him to call the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh returns and saves everyone, taking the Puzzle with him to the afterlife. Kaiba decides to follow him there, using the Quantum Cube and his own technology to breach through to the afterlife, prepared to duel. Throughout the movie, Kaiba is in control and weathers any setbacks to succeed in getting what he wants.
- Dartz, ancient ruler of Atlantis, had 10,000 years to complete his master plan, and it shows. He's set everything up so that no matter whether he and his minions win or lose, he still wins. He is the richest and most powerful man in the world owning a tiny piece of every company on Earth, and has enough capital to buy out Kaiba-Corp for no other reason than to provoke Kaiba. He has supernatural powers that outshine anything Yami Yugi has in his arsenal (The Power of Friendship excluded, naturally), has assembled the most broken deck in the series, and survived monster armies, Egyptian Gods and the loss of his own soul before he was defeated.
- In Dark Side of Dimension, Diva was once a student under Shadi, and one of the children that could wield the dimensional powers of the Plana. After Shadi was killed by Dark Bakura, Diva swore revenge on the killer's host, adopting the identity of "Aigami" to get close to him and Yugi. Upon learning of Kaiba's quest to bring back Atem, which would result in the Plana and it's power disappearing, Diva dueled Kaiba in an attempt to stop him, and when that failed stole two pieces of the Millennium Puzzle. Confronting and banishing Bakura to another dimension, Diva was forced into a duel with Yugi by Kaiba, where he attempted to coax Yugi into joining him before trying to kill him. Though the events that transpired resulted in Atem's brief return and the Plana vanishing, Diva ultimately accepted his loss.
Sartorius Kumar in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the head of the Society of Light, corrupted to evil by the Light of Destruction. Born with the power to see the future, he seeks out promising duelists with the power to defy fate and turn them to his cause so they can't stand in his way and derail his plans. He does this through a combination of lectures and brainwashing, telling his victims that only he can help them get what they want, convincing them they want to join the Society. Through these methods he takes over the top dorm of Duel Academy, makes all of its students his loyal followers, and plans to use a Kill Sat to destroy the world (mind control humanity in the English dub) in the name of cleansing, purifying light.
- Yubel is a demonic Duel Spirit and the mastermind behind the seeming main villain of Season 3, Professor Viper. Making a deal with Viper to revive his dead son in exchange for gathering Duel Energy to regenerate her body, she disposes of Viper and transports Duel Academy to another dimension to continue her plans herself, possessing the body of student Marcel as a host. She orchestrates Jaden's horrific Trauma Conga Line in order to awaken his dormant alter-ego, the Supreme King, so Jaden can complete the Super Polymerization card and then she can take it for herself and use it to fuse the twelve dimensions into one. Why? Because she was in love with Jaden's alter-ego in his past life, and she will do anything to rule over the multiverse with Jaden and keep him all to herself. Yubel is what happens when a love sick Stalker with a Crush decides to conquer what they see in the name of proving their love to someone.
- Adrian Gecko, the champion of East Academy, had a desire for power since he was a child. Infiltrating Viper’s lab after a series of manipulation, Adrian finds out about Yubel. Agreeing to spy on Jaden for her in exchange for a portion of her power, Adrian eventually finds the seal of Exodia, intending to make it his servant and betray Yubel. Upon finding out that the sacrifice of a loved one is required, Adrian convinces his childhood friend, Echo, to sacrifice herself to break the seal. Adrian later takes the opportunity to duel a weakened Yubel, declaring that he’ll become the king of the alternate dimension. During the duel, Adrian reveals that his motive is to create a utopia where nobody has to suffer. Cunning and adapting to almost any setback, Adrian proved to be willing to go through any length to rule as a benevolent king.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's brings us Rex Goodwin; a very different villain given the genre. He rose to this position after being stranded and forgotten in the slum of Satellite, and has single-handedly turned Neo Domino City into a classist technological utopia under his control. For all of the first season, he operates behinds behind the scenes, manipulating the Five Signers in order to force them to reveal themselves and awaken their powers, then, while maintaining a calm, friendly demeanor, he presents himself to them as a mentor and benefactor who would aid them in their war against the Dark Signers led by his brother Roman. However, Rex is playing both groups against each other to make his own play for power, allowing Roman to kill him so he can become a Dark Signer, and then using Roman's severed arm bearing his Signer Mark to make himself a Signer. Transforming himself into a Yin-Yang Bomb with the power of both groups, Godwin seeks to destroy the world and remake it in his image, and almost succeeded if not for The Power of Friendship overriding his willpower to force the Signer marks to obey him.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Vector was behind most of the plot from the show's beginning, but the second season has him play near the entire main cast for saps for about 20 episodes as Shingetsu, give no fucks when his plan to turn Astral evil backfires and creates Dark Zexal (he almost wins because of it, too), show his utter dedication to absolutely burying the main cast for beating him last season and eventually obtaining the Numbers in order to destroy the Astral World, and realize that using friendship against Yuma is most likely the best way to beat him. And even after all that, he's still a likeable villain because of the sheer respect you have to have for his dedication to his plans and his hammy, entertaining personality.
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V gives as an antiheroic example in Declan Akaba, who is behind most of plot involving the heroic side. He has good intentions and is anything but a jerk, but he would go so far as to appear like one to recruit Yuya to his team. Oh, and he suspected Dennis when no-one else did.
- Dennis Mackfield manages this not only for his style and charm, but for being a blatant Mole who somehow didn't arouse the suspicions of the other Lancers except for Declan. Fans often joke about him being either a professional in averting suspicions or his natural charisma being so powerful that it makes the other characters too stupid to notice all the red flags.
Lightning is the true mastermind behind the entire plot of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. During the Lost Incident he mentally tortured his then 6 years old Origin Jin Kusanagi, and made him the Empty Shell he is today, then he implanted a computer virus on his creator Dr.Kogami and made him think SOL was responsible for putting him comatose, avoiding punishment. Years later he destroyed his home world using Bohman to prevent himself from being suspected and rewrote the pure Windy's program and forced him to become his loyal ally. After imprisoning Aqua he implanted a computer virus on her Origin Miyu so that the former can't join forces with her, he then stole Jin's consciousness and turned him into lifeless puppet and uses him as a meat shield whenever he is in a disadvantage situation. Even after being on death's door from his duel with Revolver, Lightning was able to empower Bohman, his creation, which grants him a desirable outcome despite his condition.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories: Priest Seto, the Egyptian version of Seto Kaiba, started out as a minion of Heishin and subdues Prince Atem for his boss to murder both the Pharaoh and his wife. Giving the Millennium Items to Heishin's guards, Seto intends on manipulating the vengeful prince to defeat and claim them, only for Seto to then defeat the prince and take them for himself. Planning on betraying Heishin to conquer Egypt for himself with the use of DarkNite, Seto gives the prince hints to stop DarkNite when it turns them both into cards, never losing his charm or ability to adapt through all the challenges he faces.
- His descendant in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses, C. Seto Rosenkreuz, is the leader of the Yorkist army, and his tactics are the primary reason for their military success at the beginning of the game. His goals are to combine his side's White Rose Cards with the opposing Lancastrians' Red Rose cards, summoning a Physical God to renew a pact that will ensure his rule over the world forever. When the Lancastrians summon the Rose Duelist to aid the war effort, Seto offers a well-thought-out argument for the Rose Duelist joining his team instead. Should they accept, he leads them in dismantling the Lancastrian army, and should they refuse, he's unworried and works it into his plans. The climax of Yugi's campaign has him successfully summon Manawyddan fab Llyr regardless of the player's victory in a duel with him; in Seto's campaign he quickly realizes the spirit isn't the one he's looking for and gives instructions on how to send it back. Afterwards Seto escapes and vows to continue looking for the true Card Guardian, additionally honoring his promise to the Rose Duelist to send them home and giving them a pendant as thanks for their service. Regardless of which side the player chooses, Seto's goals are realized, and he stands out as the most charismatic, intelligent character in the game.