Yu-Gi-Oh!: The "Joey Clones," Ranked | ScreenRant
In every Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, there are three main character archetypes that persist: a big-hearted protagonist, a gritty main rival, and a best friend to the protagonist. These three archetypes have been nicknamed "Yugi Clones," "Kaiba Clones," and "Joey Clones" by the community, after the dub names of the original main cast.
A "Joey Clone" doesn't necessarily have the same personality as the lovable Red-Eyes user, but they usually fulfill his role in the story in some way. They aren't initially as talented as the main character or rival, but manage to win duels on grit and usually have the most character growth by the end of the series. What separates them from others of the same archetype is their character development and what unique cards they helped introduce to the game.
7 Sogetsu
The "Joey Clone" from Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens is committed to his own "Sogetsu" style of dueling, following a trend started by Gongenzaka of the sidekicks having their own unique style.
As a character, Sogetsu can be a bit of a one-trick pony at times. He heavily plays into his student council gimmick, functioning as a bit of a "hall monitor" that makes sure the protagonists aren't getting into too much trouble. In a way, despite him being in a similar role, he has the exact opposite personality to Joey. That's fine in and of itself, but unlike Joey, Sogetsu doesn't leave his most basic character traits often. His ace monster is "Fiendish Commander Yameruler," which is a fairly unfun Rush Duels monster that isn't entirely memorable either.
6 Gongenzaka
Often remembered just for his humorous dub name "Gong Strong," Gongenzaka is known for his "steadfast" style of dueling where he plays without spell or trap cards. Gong gets credit for the homage to Joey's early episode persona, who would only use monsters in duels.
Gong got some good moments in season 1 but really falls by the wayside as the series progresses. His "Superheavy Samurai" deck also didn't impact the actual trading card game much, especially in an era dominated by powerful pendulum monsters like Performapals and Performages.
5 Crow
Crow was a child from the Satellite who joined Yusei, Jack, and Kiryu on Team Satisfaction, their very first duel team that got them in constant trouble with Sector Security.
Crow introduced the fan-favorite Blackwing archetype to the game, but it felt like it was at the expense of other characters like Aki and the twins. Crow didn't grow a great deal, he was mostly there to be the fiery Satellite character that foiled Yusei's cool persona. However, Crow and his cards certainly made an impact on both the community and competitive side of the game throughout the 5DS era.
4 Sho
The younger brother of Duel Academy's best duelist and Jaden's greatest rival, Sho felt like an odd mix of Joey's role in the story with Mokuba's personality throughout most of season 1. As a duelist, he was never much more than Kaiser's brother, but he was a great friend to Judai from day one.
After being a punching bag for much of the series, Sho finally had his own iconic Yu-Gi-Oh! moment when he used his brother's signature card, Power Bond, to summon Cyberdark Dragon. Sho didn't introduce many fan-favorite cards, and his Roid deck was pretty underwhelming. However, Sho's growth as a character was tremendous. He went from a sniveling boy in his brother's shadow to a terrifying duelist in his own right.
3 Soulburner
Soulburner didn't appear until far later in the series, but his role in the final two arcs of Vrains made him one of the key characters in the story. Similar to Playmaker, Soulburner was the partner of one of the six Ignis.
Soulburner's dueling ability was among the best in the series. In fact, he was the only sidekick to ever beat the protagonist's main rival in a duel. The relationship between Revolver and Soulburner was another fascinating aspect of the final season, and both of the boys learned a great deal from one another. The "Salamangreat" archetype, "Salamangreat Gazelle" in particular, influenced the actual card game's meta greatly on release. Competitive players and anime fans alike recognize Soulburner thanks to how intrinsically linked he is with the Salamangreat deck.
2 Jonouchi/Joey
Jonouchi (Joey in the dub) started off as Yugi's bully before he became his best friend. After learning a great deal from Yugi's grandfather, Joey went to Duelist Kingdom with the hopes of affording an operation that would save his young sister's sight.
Joey is widely celebrated as one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! characters of the original series. In many ways, he's the heart of the first series and has many of the greatest duels in the show. His development to become the type of person who could defeat Marik makes him worthy of his iconic status. His "Red-Eyes" cards have been popular from the beginning, and his trademark "Scapegoat" has warped entire competitive decks around it from as early as 2004 all the way to 2020.
1 Shark
There are a lot of flaws with Zexal, but Shark isn't one of them. Yuma's first-ever rival eventually became his friend as Kaito took over the rival role later in the first season. Eventually, Shark became arguably the most powerful duelist in the entire series. There was an argument that by the end of the show and had surpassed Kaito, and regardless of the outcome of their final duel, it was clear to both parties that Yuma wasn't as skilled as Shark.
Shark is unique in that he's simultaneously the first rival, the protagonist's best friend, and the best villain in the series. After going from a normal high schooler to becoming Nash, the king of the Barians, Shark introduced "Number 101: Silent Honor ARK" to the game. He also introduced a card that, while not exactly meta-defining, was the most iconic card in all of Zexal: "Rank-Up-Magic: The Seventh One."