Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)/Metaplot/Duel Terminal

The Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game is no stranger to Metaplots (as listed on this page), with many cards having connections with each other conveyed through their artworks, descriptions of Normal Monsters, or supplied information from Konami. However, with the release of the Duel Terminal arcade game, a set of cards were printed that took the tradition Up to Eleven by introducing large-scale world building and elaborate lore unlike the game had ever seen before.

This tradition of large-scale world building would later continue even outside the Duel Terminal lore, such as with the "True Draco", "World Legacy" and "Abyss" storylines.

The Duel Terminal plotline itself spans through 9 years' worth of card releases, starting from the OCG's Duel Terminal-specific set "Duel Terminal - Synchro Awakening!!" in 2008, and concluding in "Maximum Crisis" in 2017. And despite the story itself had already reached its end, cards related to the plotline were still released after that, mostly to fill in the gaps or expand upon the world they were built upon.

The plot is generally divided into 3 Parts, with each parts having a few subparts that denote major plot progressions (usually when a new threat appeared after the heroes subdued the previous one).

Part 1

Invasion of Worms

In a certain planet, tribes fought each other for supremacy. However, their little war games came to an abrupt end when demise fell from the sky. An alien monstrosity they would call the Worms emerged and started spreading over the lands. Each tribe fought the invaders individually to their fullest extent, with the Ice Barrier tribe even unsealing one of their imprisoned dragons, Brionac. Despite all that, the Worms' absurd mutation and adaptation capabilities drove the tribes into a corner, with some smaller ones even getting wiped out entirely. Seeing that they wouldn't last longer individually, most of the remaining tribes signed a truce and formed the Ally of Justice, an alliance led by four of the strongest tribes; Flamvell, a proud warrior race of flame manipulators; Ice Barrier, a tribe famous far and wide for their ice prison magic and the three sealed dragons; Mist Valley, a reclusive tribe in-tune with nature; and X-Saber, a big band of mercenaries who had mastered the ways of becoming one with their swords; with their main purpose being to destroy the Worms using the tribes' combined power and knowledge. Using their combined technologies, the Alliance managed to create mechanical constructs specifically to exterminate the Worms. While most of these early machines were a bit wonky, one of them, the Catastor, is a success and managed to become a mainstay weapon throughout the war.

One day, the Alliance confirmed the existence of the Genex, a mysterious group of inorganic beings that generate energy and seem to influence the environment around them in accordance to their element. They can also manipulate elemental energy to grow stronger by synchronizing with their primary unit, the Controller. The Genex saw the Worms as a threat to the environment, and fought against them. Seeing the potential in these machine people, the Alliance decided to do research into their capabilities.

The X-Saber, who had previously lost their (admittedly unpopular) leader Souza reorganized themselves under their new leader, Gottoms. They rebranded themselves as the XX-Saber, and switched tactics from Souza's "use your allies as sacrifice when necessary" to Gottoms' "unite with your comrades", with the double X denoting teamwork. Advancements in the Alliance's technologies also allowed the XX-Sabers to implement hi-tech devices into their arsenal. However, one day, a mysterious amnesiac man arrived on X-Saber territory, going only by the moniker of "M-X-Saber Invoker". His lost memories aside, his sword and armor are of an unknown technology that's "not of this world", and his individual strategy of using comrades as pawns seemed familiar...

Meanwhile, the Worm invasion had reached the Naturia Forest, home to the peaceful Naturias. Despite their harmless appearance, the Naturias fought bravely and managed to stall the Worms' advances. Leodrake, one of the strongest Naturias, would be remembered as one of the bravest warriors who ever fought in the war.

After extensive research in the powers of the Genex, the Alliance finally succeeded in making their first large-scale anti-Worm weapon, the Field Marshal. However, the huge mechanical construct couldn't move properly with the current extent of Ally of Justice technology, so they captured Genex Spare and installed it into the Field Marshal as a living battery. While the Field Marshal performed greatly, it was still damaged beyond repair after its debut battle, and so the Alliance decided to just collect the combat data and abandoned it on the battlefield alongside the broken Genex Spare.

After the fall of the Field Marshal, the Alliance gained interest in researching the Worms to harness their power and thus focused their resources in capturing the Worms instead of killing them. The research bore fruit in many fronts, but most importantly in the creation of the Ally Mind, an outstanding power source made by using traces of Worms. The Mist Valleys, who were already pissed by the Alliance's exploitation of the Genex people, grew to distrust the rest of the Alliance. Due to an influence from a mysterious third party, distrust turned into despise, and the Mist Valley tribe bowed out of the Ally of Justice.

Revival of the Fabled

All the chaos of the Worm war had attracted the attention of a chaos-craving tribe from beyond this world... The Fabled, a race of malicious demons had emerged from their dimension and into this world, sowing chaos all around. After using their power to psychically amplify the hatred in the hearts of the Mist Valley people toward the Alliance, the Fabled rode forth into war with their beasts and minions, attacking the planet life and Worms alike.

(Under construction)

Interlude 1

After the Storm

(Under construction)

Part 2

The Vylon Descends

(Under construction)

Sacred Star Knights

(Under construction)

Interlude 2

The Thereafter of the World

(Under construction)

Part 3

Sinister Shadow Strings

(Under construction)

Purgatory

(Under construction)

Tropes used in the Duel Terminal saga include:

Big Bad: The Worms in Part 1, with Sophia and Tierra serving as ones for the overall myth.
Big Damn Heroes: The Dragunity to the Mist Valley.
Big Good: The Vylons, at least before their corruption.
The Corruption: The lswarm virus
Dark Is Not Evil: The Allies of Justice are all dark attribute.
Hate Plague: How the lswarm virus works.
Light Is Not Good: The Worms and the Fabled. Also the Vylon, after their corruption.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: How the Ice Barrier almost destroyed the world by unleashing Trishula.
Starfish Aliens: The Worms.
The Quisling: Gishiki Noelia.

Back to Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)