Yu-Gi-Oh is one of the bigger anime franchises out there, but you would not expect it to be big enough to enter the Super Bowl. The annual game is the highlight for NFL lovers the world over, and this year saw the Kansas City Chiefs take the trophy home. Now, it turns out fans are praising the team for the win, but Yu-Gi-Oh lovers are throwing in their support for a different reason. After all, it turns out one of the team’s players is a big fan of the series and dabbles in dueling when he’s not at practice.
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For those curious, the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom learned about Ryan Hunter and his love of the cards fairly recently. The info was shared on Reddit when a video of the offensive lineman was shared featuring him at a TCG competition. The Canadian player was down to Earth during his match, and his humble attitude has got fans feeling all mushy.
As you can see here, the video showcases Hunter’s competitive deck during a Spring 2019 tournament in Kansas. It turns out the athlete came in 12th place at the regional event, and he was ready to show off his favorite cards. As Hunter points out, not even he can afford some of Yu-Gi-Oh‘s top cards despite his NFL salary, but he does has a Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon to keep him company.
Now, Hunter is sitting high as part of the team which won Super Bowl LIV. Hopefully, the player can get whatever cards he needs to complete his Yu-Gi-Oh deck, and you can be sure his next tournament opponents will be a bit starstruck by his Super Bowl ring.
Would you want to take on Hunter in a duel? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally created by Kazuki Takahashi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and ran from September 1996 to March 2004. The series follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy who solves an ancient puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian pharoah. Being skilled at deadly games, the Pharoah goes on to create and solve problems for Yugi based on deadly games of chance.
