Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the second sequel to the legendary Yu-Gi-Oh! series, featuring the exciting and worldwide-popular monster dueling game. The GX sequel's story no longer focuses on Yami Yugi and his friends, but instead centers on a young duelist named Jaden Yuki and his adventures at Duel Academy.
Duel Academy is a specialized academy that trains young duelists until they reach the Pro stage and enter the Pro League. This school was originally created by Kagemaru and later purchased by Seto Kaiba's company. The academy boasts many talented dueling students.
So, this time, we would like to share a the best duelists appearing in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series. Let's take a look at the list below.
10. Bastion Misawa
To start, there's Bastion Misawa, an analytical duelist from the Ra Yellow dormitory at Duel Academy. He is exceptionally gifted in mathematics and obsessed with numerical formulas. Bastion's fanaticism makes him believe that everything can be measured mathematically.
As a duelist, Bastion is meticulous and calculating in constructing his decks. He claims to have six decks with various attributes, but only two are ever shown in the story: the Water deck and the Earth deck. Besides being good friends with Jaden Yuki, Bastion also considers Jaden his greatest rival.
9. Tyranno Hasselberry
This character, similar to Rex Raptor, has a Dinosaur-type deck. While Rex's card arrangement is quite messy, Tyranno's Dinosaur deck is more sophisticated and focuses on stronger evolutions. Tyranno himself is a duelist from Ra Yellow who entered Duel Academy in his second year.
Initially, Tyranno led a gang that stole Duel Disks from those who lost their duels. However, everything changed when he was defeated by Jaden. He gradually began to admire Jaden Yuki. Some of Tyranno's favorite Dinosaur cards are Super Conductor Tyranno and Ultimate Tyranno, which he always summons to the duel arena.
8. Alexis Rhodes
This beautiful girl is one of the talented duelists at Duel Academy. She hails from the Obelisk Blue dormitory and is one of Jaden's close friends. Alexis has an older brother, Atticus Rhodes, who mysteriously disappeared. Therefore, Alexis is constantly trying to find her brother throughout the story.
In duels, Alexis uses a Cyber Girl deck that focuses on dancing-based monsters. She also frequently uses fusion card abilities to summon monsters to the arena and deal greater damage to her opponents. In later episodes, Alexis changes her dueling strategy and uses a Cyber Angel archetype deck that focuses on ritual summoning.
7. Axel Brodie
Next, there's a newcomer arriving in the second half of the series: Axel Brodie, a mercenary from the overseas West Duel Academy. He initially serves as Professor Thelonious Viper's right-hand man and eventually becomes a member of Jaden Yuki's main group.
Axel has a very unique deck style because he uses a volcanic deck that focuses on attacks with a high level of damage. Furthermore, Axel's deck also allows him to mitigate the damage he takes during duels. This makes Axel quite difficult to counter. He's rarely seen dueling compared to other characters, so his losses aren't as significant.
6. Yubel
This monster is the main antagonist of the Dimension World arc. Yubel was a monster card owned by Jaden as a child. In the past, Yubel also had a special relationship and developed a crush on Jaden. Although initially enemies, Yubel eventually reconciled with Jaden and became partners, much like the relationship between Yugi and Atem.
As a duelist, Yubel is very difficult to defeat. She even managed to defeat many other duelists and even drew with Jaden Yuki. Furthermore, she uses a variety of decks, such as the renowned Exodia and Sacred Beast decks. For these reasons, Yubel is well-suited for this role.
5. Jesse Anderson
Jesse Anderson is a transfer student from North Academy who entered Duel Academy in his third year. He goes by the nickname Jess and has a very kind and sometimes shy demeanor. Not only that, he is also very friendly and good friends with Jaden. In the story, he was possessed by Yubel.
As a duelist, Jess is arguably very strong and has only seen defeat a few times. He has an equally unique deck, the Cyber Beast deck, which contains monsters based on the seven gemstones from around the world that Julius Caesar used to create lithographs during the Roman Empire. One of Jess's strongest monsters is the Rainbow Dragon, which he always relies on.
4. Zane Truesdale
Zane Truesdale was a top duelist at Duel Academy during Jaden's freshman year. Zane served as one of Jaden's friendly rivals throughout that year. However, Zane began using a rather extreme approach after he developed a heart condition. He wanted to find a truly formidable opponent on par with him for his final duel.
In the GX arc, Zane was one of the people who managed to defeat Jaden Yuki in a duel. He used the Cyber Art deck in his duels, and his favorite monster card was Cyber Dragon. However, in the Society of Light arc, Zane switched strategies after obtaining the Underworld deck, which contrasted with the darkness and further enhanced his dueling abilities.
3. Aster Phoenix
Aster Phoenix is a highly talented and world-renowned professional duelist. He has a devoted fan base and has successfully attracted many people to the Duel Monsters game thanks to his popularity, earning recognition from Pegasus. He appears in the second season of the GX storyline and is initially sent to Duel Academy to defeat Jaden.
After defeating Jaden in a duel, Aster becomes closer to Jaden and plays the role of an anti-hero. In duels, Aster uses a Mishmash deck, a combination of eight random Booster Packs. His deck also includes several spawn cards that allow him to summon his signature monster, Archiod Zero.
2. Princenton Chazz
Princenton Chazz is a student at Obelisk Blue and a talented duelist at Duel Academy. He was initially an arrogant duelist and Jaden Yuki's main rival.
The relationship between Chazz and Jaden is similar to that of Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou. Initially, Chazz was obsessed with powerful cards, but he later learned his lesson after being defeated. He came to believe that each card has its own effectiveness.
Throughout the season, Chazz has dueled Jaden Yuki numerous times. Not only that, but he also frequently changes his deck and strategy as the story progresses. For example, Chazz initially used a Hell deck containing Fiend and DARK monsters.
He later switched to the VWXYZ series to defeat Jaden. Clearly, Chazz has improved significantly over time, making him the second-best duelist on this list.
1. Jaden Yuki
The best duelist in the GX story is, of course, Jaden Yuki, the main character of the series and the reincarnation of The Supreme King. Jaden is passionate, stubborn, and loves dueling. Besides being talented in dueling, Jaden also cares deeply about his friends.
While at Duel Academy, Jaden was placed in Slifer Red, the lowest dormitory. There, Jaden dueled with many powerful duelists and emerged as the best. Furthermore, Jaden has saved the academy from various threats, such as Kagemaru and Shadow Riders.
In dueling, Jaden uses his signature Elemental Hero deck. This deck has been very useful for Jaden and has often saved him in various situations, especially with the fusion monster abilities in his deck. Throughout the GX story, Jaden wins almost every duel and only loses a few.