"Let's split the deck we've been using this whole time, and then fill in the gaps with other cards of our choosing" "Sure Pharaoh, that sounds great" "Excellent" *grabs all 3 Egyptian gods* "Now you can pick three :)"
@@BritishTeaFGCyou say that. But yugi actually picked first. Meaning, not only did he pass over the gods, but the knights and the dark magician and support.
But it makes sense. He needs/wants to leave, sure.... but he also wants to make sure Yugi is ready before he passes on. It's basically a big brother's final test for his little brother... if the little brother doesn't pass, big brother will sacrifice his freedom to continue protecting his little brother. Remember, Atem WANTS to lose.... but he won't hold back for Yugi's sake...
I like to imagine Obelisk just choking the life out of Slifer while they’re all in the graveyard. “YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP SHOOTING AT THEM DIDN’T YOU YOU STUPID NOODLE!?!”
I was today’s years old when I realized that Yugi negated Monster Reborn to win the duel that sent Atem back to the afterlife... denying Atem’s rebirth. It’s a clever end to the duel.
While absent in the manga, it's Kaiba's confession that really gets me - and Joey's subsequent reaction. Kaiba: "Yugi may have fewer Life Points, but he somehow found a way to defeat all three Egyptian God Cards. I've never seen anything like it. I can see now that I was wrong about him. He truly is the King of Games." Joey: "SAY WHAT?! Am I goin' nuts or did Kaiba just admit that he was wrong?!?"
@@kingdomofentertainment5513 The anime doesn't have Duke's clown dad in it, except for his necklace and the outside of their game shop but those are either easter eggs or leftovers from the manga, so the movie can't be a sequel to the anime either way, filler or no filler.
Reminds me of the finale of DBZ (Buu saga). While watching Buu and Goku fight, Vegeta smiles and says, "I was wrong, Kakarot. You are better than me, Kakarot. You are the best..."
I just realized something. Silent magician could be seen as a mirror of yugi. Always silent, bullied, and unsure of himself. But through “leveling up” or going on his journey with atem he becomes more confident, mature, and stronger as a person much like how as silent magician levels up she matures and could be seen having a more confident look on her face. It’s an interesting idea that I like
@@A_Bottle-Of_Orange_Crush I love how her expression in this scene. It seriously looks like she was wondering what she’s going to have for dinner before realizing she’s being attacked by 2 magicians point blank.
You are correct, and it also applies to Silent Swordsman. In the manga, the chapter "The Silent Duelist" features Yugi summoning Silent Swordsman and highlights how Yugi has grown as a person.
Misplays in the duel aside, I'm choosing to be of the belief that when Yugi & Atem were negotiating on which of their shared Deck's cards they'd each be taking for their own when constructing the Decks for the ritual duel, they couldn't come to an agreement on who got to take custody of Kuriboh and Kuriboh loved both of them too much to possibly choose between them, so they agreed to instead leave their adopted furball out of the this one.
@@darkknight5541 It's exactly how I'd imagined it after the thought had lingered a couple seconds, so if it's wrong, I'm right there with you under that burden
@@sgprailfan that's actually only for their other half, they split their original but we dont know if they picked who got what half (while checking the cards in each half) or if it was just random
@@realizedpotential6640 Likely not random considering Atem got all seven cards considered his staples from the core deck that being Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, The gods, Bahfomet, and Gazelle whereas Yugi got all the Magnet Knights and Buster Blader.
@@RazielTheUnborn yeah I thought about this too for Atem anyway with him having the 3 god cards and dark magician/girl. The others you mentioned I didnt think about
I had a 40 turn game last night, Yubel was the only thing protecting me for 25 of those turns xD my heavy hitters were removed, it was still in the beta phase and I now have two of each heavy hitter in my deck... but damn it was a long 40turns...
I loves the symbolism in yugi's deck so much. How the silent monsters show his growth personality wise during his journey. The gadgets showing his teamwork with his friends, how so many of his effects drain his life to protect his monsters (which I think is like all his life threatening fights to save his loved ones) ,even the whole gold sarcophagus play had a even deeper meaning with slifers original name being Osiris. Just thinking about it now gandora could be a reference to atem when he was in his indiscriminate mind crush days, a little bit of a stretch but kinda a neat thought. It's just a perfect representation of his growth from the meek little kid to a confident and strong person.
If I’m not mistaken I think they mention yugi’s use of gandora was him symbolically destroying all ties to the pharaoh, with the whole destruction of everything on the field by paying half your life points (may or may not be intentional since he’s losing half of himself)
“The souls of the dead must not linger in the world of the living.” Every meta deck ever: I’ll pretend to not hear it and just use the dead as a resource then
To anyone watching this (again) after July 6, 2022… It is with a heavy heart I tell you that anyone watching this should know that the creator of Duel Monsters, of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a card game, an anime, and so much more, has pass on. Never forget Kazuki Takahashi!! He gave us something amazing! A card game that’s able to stand alongside the other titans of card games and have just as many fans!! We will miss you, great Creator!!
That anime was my childhood. I loved watching it. I still have my very first deck I ever bought. Joey's Starter Deck. I didn't have friends so I never really dueled. I'm still upset all these years later that my Red Eyes Black Dragon was stolen. I'm told they gave it to someone who ripped it up. I very much doubt that. It was holographic. My mom wrote my initials on that card in Sharpie. They even cheated me in duels. They got away with it cause I didn't really know the rules. They summoned any card they wanted regardless of level without any special, tribute or ritual summoning but told me I couldn't do that. ...Damn it! Why didn't I remember that back in high school? I could have asked the kid if he still had it. That being important cause I transferred (twice) and didn't see him again until high school. Oh well it's not like I've been losing sleep over it.
Indeed But in the end, his goal was to unite people through his adoration of games, and....that is what he did, to many of us who still care for yugioh, we are united solely because of him, and all of got to say to that, to all the friends I've made, to the people who held me together in possibly our darkest hour( yes, i mean 2020)..... Is a big thank you, for this incredible duel
One thing I wanted to add to this video is that as Atem was making his deck, he stated he need more power, if we look back at the entire series, it shows that it’s more important to have the right balance of cards that work together, Yugi had his deck built entirely around that, Atem mainly focused on power and not as much teamwork in his deck, which could also show that Yugi knows teamwork wins, not power!
So many nuances in this duel! Also notice how the pharaoh ends up using a lot of Yugi's grandpa's cards while Yugi mostly uses monsters he added later or completely new for this duel. Basically showing that he was prepared to win relying on himself this time.
I think it's more telling that Atem used the deck he and Yugi built together, perhaps showing that he himself, still had his doubts on if he was ready to let go of that bond between him and Yugi. Also another reason is because a lot of the signature cards in the deck Atem uses, are actually more connected to him then they are to Yugi. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are the card symbols of his two best friends from when he was alive. Black Luster Soldier seems to have been his own Ka, much like Blue Eyes was originally Kisara's. And the Egyptian God cards have always been Atem's. Yugi's deck however, seems designed to show his maturation from a child who relied on those stronger then him, Joey and Atem, to being someone who can stand up for himself. He starts out using child like monsters like the coloured gears but later goes onto more serious and dangerous looking monsters, but his two signature monsters in this duel are the ones that really tell that. Silent Swordsman and Silent Magician both start out as adorable, unassuming kids that share a lot of physical similarities with Yugi himself and it's over time they grow into the powerhouses that became key to him winning. I think those two monsters are PERFECT for Yugi and PERFECT counterparts to Atem's Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl and honestly I wish there was a way to link the Dark Magician and Silent archtypes.
Also I feel another drawback is it seems to only really activate once Atem really NEEDS an advantage. Like, some of the duels he lost he genuinely had some pretty shit draws, prolly cuz he didn't feel pressured to use his ability
@@brianforsyth2225 I think its more like atem summons the card he wants, he just wanted the wrong card i guess. Watch atem vs weevil and you will notice that he doesn't even look at the card after a while. He's vicious in that duel
@@cliffphps7447 I think it's a bit of both. Knowing the top card is his power, but the power to will cards into his hand is the puzzles power. It is said that the puzzle contains power, and most people just think hey that means Atem. But nah, if he was buried with it and sealed his soul in the puzzle, who knew about it since the puzzle was never completed from then until Yugi gets it? Pretty sure it's cap. Every other millennium item has a power. The scales can judge truth and souls, the eye can read minds. The puzzle sways probability. I don't see it as so far fetched.
Atem's misplays are actually in character for him. Since the time he showed Yugi he was willing to let Kaiba die to win a duel back in Duelist Kingdom, he always played overcautiously, and for good reason. Think about it - the next time he overextended, he lost Yugi's soul in the Dartz arc. He held back as a habit, never launching an offensive that was anything more then what he thought he needed to stay just barely ahead.
The Dartz arc is not canon and is just filler sadly. It actually made sense since it had nothing to do with Atem and the Egyption theme of the show however it blew my mind when i realized that since i like that arc a lot.
@@touchingisjustthefirststep I mean, if we're doing manga Canon, then the duel went quite differently. Instead of discarding Gaia to summon Tricky, Atem discarded Slifer. And when Obslisk and the Silent Swordsman battled, both were destroyed. Everything between that and setting Marshmallon didn't happen.
@@makiroll218 I hate to break it to you but… the shadow realm is entirely a 4kids fabrication. Those “sent to the shadow realm” were actually just dead or comatose in the manga
Yugi sacrificing life points to activate his card effects is a metaphor for him losing a part of himself to grow as a duelist and person. In my head, Yugi and Atem are always consulting eachother in a duel, making every win a combined effort. We just see whenever Atem is in a pinch - mind shuffle vs Pegasus and Yugi noticing Marik has properties of a monster by fusing with Ra. Atem would always control the body because Yugi was not as confident during his duels. Yugi is capable in theory and deck crafting, but did not have the confidence to pull it off. Always think of this duel while revisiting moments in Darkside of Dimensions. Yugi is so much more confident in that movie. I love the English dub and bless Dan Green for his voice of Yugi, but the Japanese dub is much better at conveying how much Atem influenced Yugi. He is still himself, but just a little bit more like Atem.
The fact that yugi predicting both atem AND kaiba would use monster reborn in this duel and dark side of dimensions only to end up negating both of them speaks SO loudly about the theme of those duels
@@restmyloves With Atem, negating Monster Reborn was a way of saying "No, Atem, you cannot continue to stay here." With Kaiba, it was to say, "He's not coming back, Kaiba. Let him go."
@@andredunbar3773 Tribe King(MMSF2)Can Beat Atem,Yugi,And Kaiba,With The Egyptian God Cards Of Star Force:LeoKingdomGX(Ra),PegasusMagicGX(Obelisk),And DragonSkyGX(Slifer)!And The Exodia/Horakthy:Le Mu!Love That Game!I Have The Heart Of The Battle Cards!
Am I the only one who started to tear up a little at the end when Yugi defeated Atem? I followed this series when I was a kid and loved it to bits. Being reminded of this end. Having saying goodbye to Atem. Who's both the cast and by proxy my friend. Great video on an amazing duel. And thank you for having me experience this once again
Of course you're not the only one who teared up. I did too, and I wasn't even watching the show as a kid! (Watched it for the first time on Netflix in my mid-twenties. Heh, had no idea when I started the show it was going to become my new favorite obsession. And it's still going strong 3-4 years later.)
Eh, i feel its moreso the monsters obey the will of the pharaoh. Hes not even the only person in the series with this type of thing to happen, kaiba can force blue eyes because it responds to his will.
not really, the puzzle doesn't let you draw what you need all the time and you can only tap into it's power if you're already good at the game. plus joey's got no millennium item, nor does he, in the anime, have a past life with any connection to egypt and he pulls plenty of heart of the cards moments. the heart of the cards is simply more about trusting the deck you've built but also trusting yourself that you've built it right and you've put an out for whatever situation you're in, in that deck.
@@duo1666 Obelisk seems to follow Kaiba too, just look at the movie where he freaking draws the monster from the ground, not the card, the actual Obelisk...
As a kid I always liked how the result is based on how well they knew each other with yugi knowing Atem would use monster reborn. I didn't realise the metaphor of negating monster reborn (makes more sense with it being called Resurrection of the dead) to show Atem he can now lay to rest.
When I think of points in the duel where characters could have acted on something like an attack or a "misplay", I think that they're actually trying to anticipate situations ahead of time. For instance; Atem not using pot of greed when it seems obvious might have been because if Yugi's face-down was possibly a card to counter and destroy it in some way then Atem would be placed in an even worse situation than before. If that happened then not only would pot of greed not get him 4 cards but he would lose pot of greed lowering him to only 2 cards and, thus, leaving him at a severe disadvantage. I think that would explain why he plays it after Yugi reveals his face-down. The two of them are probably not used to being unable to tell what the other is thinking and in that scenario they know they are up against somebody that knows them inside and out. To me I believe they're simply giving each other the most possible credit when approaching any interactions with one another.
Someone else in the comments also comented that if he played pot of greed at the start, he could have potentially drawn jack's knight and king's knight wouldnt have activated, hence why he waited until the end to play the card
He also didn't know that Yugi has time jump facedown, so wasn't planning to summon Slifer just yet, he only activated it then to capitalize on the effect. Also, Pot of Geed isn't a speed spell, so he couldn't have played during the battle phase.
I’ve always been obsessed with the intelligence of this duel. Yugi understood that Atem was a strategist and would always play chess when his opponents played checkers going for moves and effects that would hit them where it hurt the most when it was only critical to pick opponents apart piece by piece. Yugi used that against him FlAWLESSLY and that instantly made it my favorite duel period.
Honestly, I love how this duel perfectly illustrates yugi's skill while still keeping the whole underdog mentality. He's constantly putting himself at a lifepoint disadvantage, but it's always for a good reason, sometimes being the only play he could have made. And he follows this up with careful consideration of how to manage his lifepoints, knowing that he can use slifer as a sort of health boost to further this burning of lp. It's just brilliant, and till the very end of the duel it stays at a constant back and forth of who's gonna win!
I like “The Tricky” aesthetically, it’s a cool card with neat artwork. It just felt weird seeing Atem whip something like that out, it looks like something Arkana would use
I actually really like the Yugioh R manga because of this. Its set between the end of Battle City and the Start of season 5 and has Yugi/Yami duel with a couple of cards that only show up later in the ceremonial duel.
@@sternguard77 - I didn’t even know Yugioh R existed til recently and it made sense of so many random unknown cards in later games that I never seen like the Wicked Gods.
I love this duel and this video on it. Great work. I have one point I want to make. In the dubbed, Yugi actually predicts or guesses that it was Mirror Force face down. He has a line saying something like "Wait, why hasn't Atem played his face down. I've done everything but attack. Oh wait, The face down must be something that must happen in the battle phase, like Mirror Force".
All they had to do to fix Slifer’s “plot hole” was to say that Summoning Clock allows you to *normal* summon a monster in addition to your regular normal summon/set without tributes.
Yeah, the effect doesn't even make sense , the only way the effect of not tributing matters is if you have a card that says something like to summon this card you must tribute n monsters, but the God can be special summon without the tributes, it just make them fall in the EP
The image of the card he showed on turn one even says at the end (This summon is treated as a normal summon), though admittedly I'm not sure where he got that image from.
I just love how lucky each of them got with their draws. Imagine the odds of getting all 3 magnet warriors and valkyrion back to back. Same goes for berfomet and gazelle etc.
It's not that unlikely if we assume they had those cards next to each other when they built their decks, and then just didn't shuffle thoroughly enough to properly randomize them.
Its litterally cannon that People can draw what they want if they are good enough. Heart of Cards, Destiny Draw, Shining Draw. It was always mentioned incredible Duelists can get the cards they need
@@ArcNine9Angel Well we have that circus looking guy that fought Atem during battle city that riffle shuffle the deck. But as a magician, I can confirm that sometime magician fake shuffle even if its riffle shuffle.
The reason he didn’t use Pot of Greed is because the turn skipping card took place during the battle phase, so he wouldn’t have been able to summon Slifer before. Turn Jump took place during the battle phase, he didn’t know Slifer would be coming out, and it usually feels like a decent move to keep important cards that could have made Slifer stronger in the back until it was needed.
Also the reason why slifer didnt go to the graveyard is because the special summon is treated as a normal summon Idk if the card texf is correct but thats what it says
@@pharaohkai1During Battle City. That case is special because all spell cards act as quick play spells there. I do see where you’re coming from about that, because things became very inconsistent, but that’s the way that was for those instances.
What's silly about the Pot of Greed thing is the writers could've left Atem with Poly/Gazelle/Berf and then had him top deck PoG later instead. Easy fix.
I think atem not emptying his hand as much as possible and then activating card of sanctity was an even bigger misplay than you're giving it credit for because of his opponent. If atem had activated it on turn 1 instead, he would have only given yugi 1 card instead of 6, and that would have 100% changed the outcome.
@@LucasBR702 All the main characters had a deck that wasn't balanced, if joey changed his to q full red eyes deck like Kaiba changed his to a full Blue eyes Yugi turned his to a dark magician deck he may be way better
@@michaelaburns734 Well, Mai basically threw the second duel. All she had to do was attack and it would have been game. And the Orichalcos apparently decided that was sufficient. The first duel was a DNF. It could have gone either way when it stopped.
After rewatching Marik vs Yugi, I find it funny that Ra gets affected by Slifer's effect here. With Marik it goes like "Naa fuck you" but here, Ra just dies.
Plus the “hierarchy” system of the manga doenst exist in the anime )(where Ra in inherently unaffected by the other two gods effects). Marik outright had to use the anime only “class system” spell for Ra to survive Obelisk effect.
If I recall correctly, Obelisk had destroyed an activated Mirror Force in the anime, which would mean the God Cards are immune to non targeting effects as well, and there was the hierarchy system which would have prevented Ra from being blown up by Slifer's effect, but they needed some way for Yugi to win and Atem to have a happy ending, so I think they just threw God Card rules out the window, still a fantastic duel though
May I recommend Yugi and Joey vs The Big Five? There are a few instances where the 5 could’ve won but failed due to misplays or just idiocy and whereas Yugi and Joey could’ve won the duel sooner if at one point they summoned their deck masters. I’ve gone deeper into this on your recent community post if you want more detail. I think it be nice to cover a duel with the deck master format. What do you think?
I feel like that's not necessarily a fair analysis since Yugi, Joey, and the other protagonists didn't fully understand the Deck Master rules. There's probably plenty of times where you could point out "Oh they could have done this and won a lot more easily" but then have the counterargument of "They literally didn't have any reason to know they could do that."
I think the problem with that duel (and really any of the deck master duels in general) is there's too many shenanigans with the deck master rules. Even just the question 'could the duelists have picked better deck masters?' pretty much just applies to all of those duels and we have no answers to that since we don't know how each deck master ability is picked or what other possibilities there were.
The way you explained the will to draw the card you need is perfect! I tried to explain this concept to my wife and could not articulate it the way you did. Amazing 👏 👏 👏
That last duel always brings tears. I grew up with this show and the card game, they were such a big part of my life. The ending is like an ode to all of us, that it’s time for us to take care of ourselves and grow.
The duel was a bittersweet moment to end the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. One soul could finally rest in the afterlife, while the vessel grew up to become the best of all time. The next duel analysis could be between *Yuki Judai vs Yubel.*
What an amazing video! Nostalgia hit the hardest in the "thumbs up" scene, while it was escalating in the entire fight. Thank you for your awesome work ❤️
@@Saiyangoddess72 Yeah, I think it's a bit of Atem just wanting to have fun in his final duel. While he certainly intended to win, he didn't have to do it right in the first two turns like Kaiba attempted to do. In the end, the whole final duel was meant to be a test for Yugi to see how he'd grown, and steamrolling him right at the start wouldn't have proven anything. It's kinda like two martial artists having a warm up before seriously going at it.
I think Atem bricked in that moment. He had enough to stall a turn & get to his MR & call Slifer but he knew Yugi probably had an out to it & he’d lose anyway because he knows his deck & what he has left. So, in his second main phase, he tested Yugi (since this is the whole point) that if he outed it, he’d lose anyway the next turn, thus confirming Yugi was ready. 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
@@AzureRoxe I don't think it was on purpose. He wanted to win but he was going all out because Yugi had to prove he was ready and Atem couldn't just lose on purpose; he most likely subconsciously went easy in some parts, not on purpose but because he wants to lose and he likes Yugi it may cause him to reflexively go a bit easy
My opinion? I think that Atem was going for other play. He didn't lose on purpose. I'm pretty sure he KNEW that he must leave the battle phase to play Monster reborn. So I guess mayyyyyybe a play that let's you target or either tribute a monster and deal damage to your opponent equal or half its attack points. I dont know. Just an idea
I remember when there was a rerun of the Duel Monsters series. Me and my friend group decided to watch it. (We were much younger and we didn't know any spoilers about it.) Me and one of my other friends were huge Muto stans who would get psyched every time he dueled. My other friends were Yami stans. When the time came for the finale, we were all getting psyched to see who would win. When we finally met with each other back at school, I vividly remember me and my other friend boasting like dumb idiots. *Man, those were the days.*
I have to admit that Magnet Force + Valkyrion combo was actually pretty interesting, and it showed that Yugi actually prepared for the fight with his opponent in mind. It seemed like Atem didn't really prepare his deck, just kind of brought his God engine and some random Dark Magician support.
I used to won backyard school games with the Magna Warrior deck against meta decks like heroes and beast/tech. The Magna Warrior decks are really underrated.
Random dark magician support? The Dark Magician is Mahad, Atem's closest and most faithful servant. There was nothing random about that. It's pretty telling actually. Maybe you missed the brief exchange between them right after DM was summoned to the field.
We all know Zane is made to be the greatest duelist ever... Even the manga proves it if you read it, he is unstoppable there and his deck Cyber Dragons is also top tier in our world tho. The only way why Zane didnt won that duel is because it's Jaden, he is the main character and Zane played so much better. But still Jaden never defeated Zane in a duel even if Zane got robbed in that duel
Atem did pretty much the same thing in his duel against Kaiba in Battle City during the clash between Slyfer and Obelisk, so I think it was not the most astonishing moment of the series. I think that revealing that Monster Reborn from Gold Sarchofagus was indeed the number one (with Atem destroying Golden Castel of Stromberg having exactly 1 card in his deck being a close second IMHO)
I really enjoy this video! Nice pace, nicely translated the anime rules in the real world rules. I liked your humor and choice of scenes you showed as well!
I love how Yugi has Summoned Skull, his and Yami's original ace before getting Dark Magician. It's a nice way of showing Yugi basically expanded on what he used before meeting Atem with what he learned during that journey.
Regardless of the verdict, this video has made me respect this duel thematically more than I could have imagined. The Sanctity is a little shakey, but I feel each move represents that player's minds sets perfectly. Making the Gods eliminate themselves, Yugi using collective/co-operational summons like stronghold, using monsters that grow over time, switch hitting with magnet trio, and of course disabling Monster Reborn. Atem's moves might seem a little off, but I think it shows his matter a fact form of play. His luck power isn't always OP because he routinely thinks hes safe, and that's the same with his plays. If a move is sufficient he doesn't stack up even if he could, meanwhile Yugi is more than happy to go with an empty hand and give up life points if it means setting up more counters. Atem didn't even want to give Obelisk or the other gods the sacrifices they desired. The irony is that even though Yugi set more defensive plays, Atem's choices for overwhelming power shows how much just the concept of playing Yugi put him in a corner. So yeah, he really fucked up, but in a way that seems poignant? I don't know, its a kids show about card games, it just seems more meaningful than Pikachu getting his ass kicked for the thousandth time and Ash crying, "you can do it buddy."
You can mind game yami out of realizing he is in dire straits, and also confuse him into desiring the wrong card. The weakness of the puzzle is increasing the difficulty required to solve it
This is a major thematically gripe solely because he didn't "defeat them all at once." The animators decided that Obelisk would die first from Valkyrion, then after Yugi split them up Ra would get hit twice and Slifer once from the bounced attacks, instead of Ra getting hit, and the final 3 bounced attacks would destroy one god each. It SHOULD be super epic, but the separation between the destruction of Obelisk and the other 2 makes it so unsatisfying.
I think kuriboh was in yugi's deck especially seeing as his deck was filled with monsters that at face value seem weak but when used properly can be devastating powerful
@@TayGlass92Gandora and Valkyrion: Yeah motherf#cker, who is the weak? Also, Gadgets were meta much longer than all cards Yami used in that Duel combined
I agree! I did think that Atem could more of “outright powerful cards” while yugi probably got Kuriboh in the split (yugi got swords of revealing light)
I always passively enjoyed the anime duels but mostly wrote them off as entirely plot rather than duel mechanics driving plot. It’s been surprisingly enjoyable and cathartic to watch your commentary on the duels. Commiserating at the plays that you confirm to just be misplays but more importantly reconsidering the ones you find justification for. Very engaging and ended with me binging a ton of these in the last couple days
I would say that Atem wanted to flex to Yugi by playing all 3 god cards and see how he would ultimately handle the situation. In which Yugi responded with the whole redirecting Slifer's effect. Yes he could of ended with jacks knight but showing dominance is what was important lol. However the not using pot of greed at beginning of turn kinda threw that ngl
I come back to this video occasionally, It's very well made! Atem is heavily implied that he wanted to lose so he could move on to the Afterlife. One thing I always questioned that I haven't seen being brought up is this: Atem can will the card he needs most with destiny draw, right? Well, he did! Monster Reborn! The one card Yugi planned for to be negated so he could win the duel and Atem can finally go to the afterlife! Yugi was played from the start and was always meant to win. Atem willed it. Atem did win, just not the duel. He could've won the duel earlier but didn't. Like others have said, Atem most likely was testing Yugi to give him a final challenge but he absolutely was in control of this duel from the start.
I could never get over how Atem has Destiny Draw and still somehow lost the Duel with four bricks in his hand. FOUR!! Four cards vs. Seven. Not saying that Atem could have easily turned the situation around, but both players still had loads of gas.
@@Spartan-sz7km Atem clearly activated Destiny Draw at least several times in this duel when he was on the backburner. Ishizu/Isis commented on this as Atem was manifesting it: "The Pharaoh just now guided the course of his destiny [the card that he draws] with his own will."
Are you forgetting yugi did the same thing. Also he wasnt wearing the puzzle and thus didnt gain its effects. The puzzle only grants luck in games you "need" to win.
Would have been fitting if the duel lasted until they both basically ran out of cards imo, they even put the effort into showing their decks reducing in size.
Perhaps it wasn't necessarily 4 bricks, but just Atem accepting his defeat with dignity. Yugi had defeated all 3 God cards, his most powerful spellcasters, then negated Atem's comeback mechanic in Monster Reborn. The purpose of the duel was to test if Yugi was willing to "take up the Pharoah's sword" and be his successor, so with Yugi having wiped out every one of his most powerful cards and with no way to get them back, he CHOSE to embrace defeat and not make any more plays, going out on his own terms. I mean, it's even WORSE in the manga version, where Atem had the full 6 cards in hand. If Atem had 0 plays to make with SIX cards that's crazy, and makes it even more likely he chose to concede gracefully.
That's the weird thing with how just about everyone shuffles their decks in this series, most of the time the way shuffling is animated it looks like they're just moving the top third or even half of their deck to the bottom over and over. Considering a freshly built deck likely still has all of its cards organized according to the owner's thought process, this is a rather ineffective method of breaking up a planned strategy. It's especially odd considering that anime duelists don't typically use anywhere near as many duplicate or "search" cards as competitive players do IRL, so shuffling the deck effectively would actually make a huge impact on the course of the duel.
@@goji3755 aside from Kaiba, it seemed like the only person to play 2 of a card that was one dude with 2 Dark Magicians. Everyone else is like, “nah man. 40 unique cards.”
@@orangeapples And Mai, with her Harpie Ladies. Though on the mention of Arcana, the dude with the 2 Dark Magicians, I seem to recall Yugi taking one of his and promising to use it more respectfully in the future, but we never see him do that. I get that ONE of the Magicians was trimmed to ensure it would be part of Arcana's opening hand, and so Yugi wouldn't take that card, let alone play it, but wasn't the other one left untrimmed? Would have been nice to see regular Yugi fulfill that promise here against the Pharaoh.
This year I have been rewatching anime from my childhood/teen years. Over the past 6 weeks or so, I have watched all of the classic Yu-Gi-Oh and gotta say I did tear up a bit when Yugi declared his final attack. What a amazing anime.
Great video! It's interesting. This was one of the most memorable duels in the series, but you make a number of good points here, to the extent that the duel is a bit of sham now. It's an unusual number of misplays from Yami, but even in his preparation for the duel he planned for the Egyptian Gods to be defeated. For this duel to be fair, for Yugi to truly earn his title and release Yami, Yami needed to be ruthless, and he wasn't. From this video, the strings of contrivance in the duel have been brutally revealed. I'm not disappointed, though. It's still an entertaining duel and a great spectacle, even if looking deeper reveals how contrived parts of it unfortunately were. Still one of my favourites.
"The first possible shenanigan." Well, after Yugi drawing literally all of the Magnet Warrior cards in one Card of Sanctity pull, at the same time Atem draws both of the remaining God Cards in the same pull, but if we got on the anime's case for every unrealistic draw this would be six hours long, eh?
I love the symbolism at the end. The final card was monster reborn that was negated. I mean Atem was resurrected too. And the one who negated monster reborn was the same person who brought him back to life. The end of the duel is same as the end of the Atem story.
As for why Slifer didnt go to the GY after being Special Summoned, there is an important rule that is being misunderstood. Its not that God cards cannot be permanently special summoned. Its that they are only affected by spell cards for 1 turn and leave the field once they are “no longer affected by something like Monster Reborn”.
So if the Millenium Puzzle grants a luck boost in dire situations, what if Joey got it instead of Yugi ? Think it affects coin flips and dice rolls too?
Now I suddenly wanna see a Yami Joey AU where he completed the Millennium Puzzle during the very start of the original series and became the main character. Yugi probably would still have a talent for games making him a friendly rival to Joey (let's say while Atem is giving Joey his power and luck, Yugi being his reincarnation still has a similar amount of luck and talent on his own but not as insane or broken as his canon counterpart, while Kaiba and everyone else is basically the same.
Yes. I'm not sure if it was shown in the anime, however when Joey used time wizard in the manga (against Bandit Keith I thing) there was a panel focused on the puzzle before the effect was shown.
@Tyler it literally is a luck boost. He doesn't pull whatever card he wants whenever he wants. Read the manga/watch the anime again. This extreme version of this power comes ONLY when Atem is 100% sure he'll lose. Look at the final battle itself. When he knew he was in trouble but not outright losing he topdecked Big Shield Gardna who wasn't really that amazing of a topdeck but did save him for a turn. On the other hand when he needed Dark Twin Burst Magic or whatever that spell was he was literally gonna lose in his own attack declaration. This is also the reason he bricked after trying to resummon Slifer with Monster Reborn. He was 100% sure he had game with that God summon so his other cards were probably birck ritual monsters or Multiply with no Kuriboh.
I love how this isn't the only 26 turn long duel in yugioh. I don't know why I know this but Team 5ds vs Team Taiyo is also a 26 turn long duel, but each turn is considerably shorter on average so it wouldn't be as bad to cover.
I consider that one duel interesting since Team Taiyo kept protecting the Level One Normal Monster Key Mage (😂 can't remember the real name) over 20 turns in order to summon a monster that hasn't being used for years by anyone during the 5Ds Era. It was good.
I wonder how long Kaiba vs Yugi went. Don't know about the anime, but In terms of length in the manga it got about 1 and 2/3 books, while the ceremonial duel got about 5-6 chapters, so Yugi vs Atem got really extended in the anime, while Atem vs Kaiba only really got extended by the Slifer vs Obelisk battle (and some really boring filler from Joey's coma dream.)
While I vastly prefer the manga version of the duel due to pacing (and the epic long play of Atem discarding Slifer to revive later), the Magnet combo they gave Yugi in the anime to destroy the Gods was still a hype moment.
Reasons why i prefer the anime one : - Atem summoning all 3 Gods was so badass and epic - We see a back and forth of their monsters battling each other - We saw more strategies , more combos , and more plays - Down to the wire with 200 LP left on both players , while the manga Yugi got 1000 LP left and Atem over 2000LP.
@@henryreturns1397 Valid reasons. I ultimately found it to feel more bloated, especially with how much the peanut gallery slowed episodes down further. Plus, I do like that Atem was more of an overwhelming wall of skill for Yugi throughout the duel in the manga, as shown with the LP difference. Thus, the turnaround Yugi grasps feels more satisfying for me.
When Yugi activates Ambush Shield, he tributed a monster which changes the number of monsters on the field. This would cause a replay to occur, so Atem would cancel Slifer's attack anyway. So not a misplay, even if you do account for his grander plan to have Slifer remain on the field!
Just to play devil's advocate, since Ambush Shield is a trap that manipulates monster atk stats, it could have been activated during the Damage Step. So no replay would have occurred
Funny part about all this is that all these arguments don’t matter because he couldn’t activate PoG because they were still in the battle phase lol unless he just did it before the battle phase but how would Atem know that summoning clock was going to trigger that turn
Yugi : "Okay, this is gonna be tough, but I have a plan ! Let's leave all three gods on the field for a few more turns..." Yami : *Slowly draws Horakhty*
I think horakthy was never a card in duel monsters (in our real life it was oddly enough, but not in the anime or manga to my knowledge) and was a shadow game/old Egyptian style duel exclusive thing used with the help of the past pharaohs. So, atem wouldn’t have it here and probably couldn’t summon it in this non-threatening ceremony. But yeah if he did yugi would kinda just be like 👀💀
There's also something to be said about Yugi and Atem knowing each other very well, and them knowing it was going to be a long duel. Atem was playing the long game from the very beginning and didn't want to go through too many resources at once.
Technically, the "Egyptian god cards" aren't gods. In the original Japanese, each of the god cards have「の」("no," meaning "of") in their names: Heavenly Dragon *of* Osiris (オシリスの天空竜), Winged Dragon *of* Ra (ラーの翼神竜), and Giant Soldier *of* Obelisk (オベリスクの巨神兵), stating that these monsters are property of the gods, not the gods themselves. This is fitting, as the one who summons them is the Pharaoh Atem; in Egyptian mythology, the pharaoh is believed to be a living god, and therefore the pharaoh being a god and commanding the servants of the gods. Also, fun fact: Seto Kaiba is named after the Egyptian god "Set," brother of Osiris, descendant of Ra, and uncle to Horus, the god of kings. Hence why Atem and Seto are eternal rivals. Likewise, Set being a god allows him to call upon the servants of the gods as well.
Really neat, but the original japanese refer to the god cards as "kami" meaning god. Even if they are templated as property, they're still treated as gods themselves--perhaps just minor gods in comparison.
@@theolast9727 Here's an easier explanation, but you're right. Obelisk is called "Hakaioshin" (something like that.) So if you're familiar with Dragonball, "Hakai" is all you really need to know to figure out Obelisk is a God of Destruction or an aspect of one.
It's interesting too because isn't Seto (Egypt) Atem's cousin? So in that vein Atem could be seen as a reflection of Osiris and why he got Slifer first?
It's interesting to see how if Atem hadn't misplayed, he effectively would have the game won on the very first turn. Since he could have dumped his hand almost completely during his first turn, used Card of Sanctity to get full then just go from there.
This duel proved a lot of things. Yugi was finally ready to continue on his own without Atem, even though it would’ve been an emotional farewell for everyone involved. Atem was ready to finally move on and the mission was completed. All of Yugi’s friends had not only become great friends to Atem, but they had grown so much along the way as well, that they were also able to find the strength to let go in the end, except for maybe Seto Kaiba. Lol We were all emotional to see the journey come to an end, but were also thankful for whatever adventure might’ve come next. I personally would’ve loved to see some sort of aftermath season to kinda tell us what the gang was gonna do after Atem’s departure, though I think we got a glimpse of that in the movies. Also, I wonder why Mai, Pegasus nor a good few others weren’t there to see this duel in person? 🤔 This still stands as my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! Series to date. I’ve seen the others as well, but I’ll have to watch them back some more before I can really rank those, though I think 5D’s and GX would round up my Top 3. Truly nostalgic and still fun to watch. Watching it all back really helped revamp my love for Yu-Gi-Oh! and I’ve even been able to kinda get my girlfriend, Angel into it as well, so that’s a plus.
Here’s why Slifer doesn’t leave the field after Summoning Clock: Gods never had the restriction of being destroyed after special summoned, that was TCG and OCG only. They were only sent to the Graveyard in the anime because the effect of Monster Reborn wore off Gods were only affected by certain Spells for ONE TURN. That is their anime and manga effect. Spellbinding Circle counts as a “Spell” effect which worked on Slifer for only one turn in Strings/Marik vs Yugi There was never a case in the original manga where a God card was special summoned by a Trap card, because Monster Reborn was considered the only option for revival. They were also heavily restricted with Monster Reborn, because no Special Summoned Monsters could attack the turn they are summoned(which we saw with Fusion Monsters). This is why in the GX finale, Slifer will not go to the Graveyard after being Special Summoned by Dark Renewal despite a decade of people incorrectly saying that Slifer will go to the Graveyard.
It's always interesting to see this duel when you know how it ends since it's heavily implied that, as you said, Yugi specifically wanted to set the field so all 3 Gods were on it and he could stop them all at the same time. It's also very interesting how certain cards seem to have been designed SPECIFICALLY to counter the Egyptian Gods [like a card that affects the monster ZONE instead of the monster, which allows it to counter Obelisk, a card that doesn't target the Gods, but re-directs their already made attacks/effects, which counters Slifer, etc].
I'd guess Yugi had Kuriboh in his own deck, so he knew Atem couldn't have it in his hand. Because for some reason these people don't have multiples of their cards.
One of the greatest duels in the whole franchise if not The Greatest 🙌! No matter how many times I have watched this duel and how old I am It really makes me shed tears!
Edit:Debunked As for the reason slifer didn't go to the grave at the end of the turn The end of that specific turn never came, it was skipped by the trap I do the same thing with buster dragon in relay duels, if you defeat an opponent you skip to the draw phase of the next player which completely bypasses the end phase and any effects that activate then
@@druid_zephyrus i have no idea what RAW is but it's indeed beautiful, the whole ordeal is basically traveling through time and in the same duels i also do a heckin accel synchro summon so just call me yusei cause time is just a mechanic to be abused
Wasn't the turn skip resolved before Slifer was special summoned, though? The trap that special summoned Slifer only had its counters because of the multiple turns passing, so the end of the turn where Slifer was summoned wasn't skipped.
Also atleast for the real Egyptian God cards the effect of destroying them at the end phase of special summoned activates every turn which is why you couldn't stop it with something like forbidden chalice iirc
Video suggestion: Could Yusei have beaten Jean from Team Unicorn in the WRGP "legitimately"? Yusei won, but only because Jean foolishly decided to attack Yusei instead of simply ending his turn and beating Yusei by deck out. The duel is really awesome, but the anime logic ending irks me. Yusei should have lost that duel in my opinion.
I’m pretty sure at the end, the whole idea of that final turn was that Jean was a master strategist and was actually able to outplay Yusei, but Yusei was able to bluff him out and win through a mind game
@@jonathangeorge3789 I also think that, but I think then they should have showed Jean having a bit of doubt on whether to end his turn or attack, and then deciding to attack because it was the better move in case Yusei had an effect in the end phase to turn things around. Personally, I feel this would have completely legitimized the ending instead of Jean just wanting to beat Yusei like a true duelist because he considered Yusei to be a rare worthy opponent.
My question is what would of had happened then if yusei lost to Jean yeah sure team 5ds got kicked out of the grand prix but would team new world illiaster had won and destroyed the world cuz team unicorn didn't know about the new treath what was happening
And still primo Lester and Jakob wouldn't have fused together into Aporia 😂 all because of the yusei vs Jakob duel yusei would of had won i believe the reason of that was shooting star dragon
Atem may have not thought about using Pot of Greed after playing Card of Sanctity. Remember, he Summoned Obelisk, and chose to Enter his Battle Phase. Atem doesn't like using all of his resources in one turn, especially not knowing what Yugi had face-down. He only chose to play POG after to keep his hand advantage for Slifer's effect.
With the ammount of times Mirror Force was used in the show, I wouldn't be surprised if every turn both Atem and Yugi wouldn't want to attack each others monsters fearing that Mirror Force would kick in
So, with Summoning Clock, there's also the matter of King's Knight. It must be Normal Summoned to pull out Jack. Therefore, Summoning Clock actually NORMAL SUMMONS the monsters. EDIT: Another point to my case, in the OCG cards, "Summon" is only used to refer to a NORMAL SUMMON, hence halting the requisite for a tribute.
Which perfectly fits the slifer issue. Seems a lot like that was what it should have been and the anime accidentally added an issue with that one word.
Actually, King's Knight worked when Summoned in any way in the anime/manga. It's only the real-life card that requires it to be Normal Summoned (otherwise, it could be seen as broken for that time all those years ago).
![Was Kaiba About To Defeat Yugi? [Clash in the Coliseum]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EWDVpwTPykA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Was Kaiba About To Defeat Yugi? [Clash in the Coliseum]](/img/tr.png)
![Was Dartz About To Defeat Yugi/Kaiba? [A Duel with Dartz]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7bcInDUvHRg/mqdefault.jpg)
This was such a great duel. “Yugi, a champion doesn’t belong on his knees.” Man, what a great line
What if the champion likes the peen?
@@hardspumoni6940 very good point
Dan Green really did the line justice
I thought Monica Lewinsky was a champion
But ya mum's a champ n she loves it. 😏
Just messing bruh
"Let's split the deck we've been using this whole time, and then fill in the gaps with other cards of our choosing"
"Sure Pharaoh, that sounds great"
"Excellent" *grabs all 3 Egyptian gods* "Now you can pick three :)"
That’s the most “big brother” thing to happen in this show
@@BritishTeaFGCyou say that. But yugi actually picked first. Meaning, not only did he pass over the gods, but the knights and the dark magician and support.
@@TheDark4lightit's honestly such a good call back to Shadi entering their soul room.
But it makes sense. He needs/wants to leave, sure.... but he also wants to make sure Yugi is ready before he passes on.
It's basically a big brother's final test for his little brother... if the little brother doesn't pass, big brother will sacrifice his freedom to continue protecting his little brother.
Remember, Atem WANTS to lose.... but he won't hold back for Yugi's sake...
@@TheDeathmailyou must be a sibling 😂
I like to imagine Obelisk just choking the life out of Slifer while they’re all in the graveyard. “YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP SHOOTING AT THEM DIDN’T YOU YOU STUPID NOODLE!?!”
Slifer: It’s an mandatory effect, you tall skinny heap of stone!
It's a good thing monster reborn temporarily saved him then, huh?
@@RedDragonForce2and Ra is just watching this all go down, not bothering to get involved
@@dragonstouch1042Bruh, Ra is furious at the Pharaoh for never using his unlimited on the fly bs effects.
@@RedDragonForce2”I’ll put a mandatory foot up your ass you spiked sausage!”
It's crazy how many times yugi pays half his life points in this duel. Very symbolic of how he feels about the duel.
I never noticed that before
"HALF!"
I was today’s years old when I realized that Yugi negated Monster Reborn to win the duel that sent Atem back to the afterlife... denying Atem’s rebirth. It’s a clever end to the duel.
Yeah in the Japanese dub Ishizu actually makes that point but guessing talking about life and death was too intense for a 4kids show
@@digitaladventurer2142 It doesn't make sense really because they kill someone every 5 episodes
yeeh its poetic
,,,,,,,,,
Damn that's poetic
While absent in the manga, it's Kaiba's confession that really gets me - and Joey's subsequent reaction.
Kaiba: "Yugi may have fewer Life Points, but he somehow found a way to defeat all three Egyptian God Cards. I've never seen anything like it. I can see now that I was wrong about him. He truly is the King of Games."
Joey: "SAY WHAT?! Am I goin' nuts or did Kaiba just admit that he was wrong?!?"
Which is the reason why this scene is considered filler. Kaiba in the movie doesn't accepts Yugi Muto until both duel each other.
@@kingdomofentertainment5513 the movie is based off the manga where kaiba wasn't there to see the ceremonial duel.
@@kingdomofentertainment5513 The anime doesn't have Duke's clown dad in it, except for his necklace and the outside of their game shop but those are either easter eggs or leftovers from the manga, so the movie can't be a sequel to the anime either way, filler or no filler.
Reminds me of the finale of DBZ (Buu saga).
While watching Buu and Goku fight, Vegeta smiles and says, "I was wrong, Kakarot. You are better than me, Kakarot. You are the best..."
@@genyakozlov1316 Where's Majin buu?
I just realized something. Silent magician could be seen as a mirror of yugi. Always silent, bullied, and unsure of himself. But through “leveling up” or going on his journey with atem he becomes more confident, mature, and stronger as a person much like how as silent magician levels up she matures and could be seen having a more confident look on her face. It’s an interesting idea that I like
That face at 24:34
@@A_Bottle-Of_Orange_Crush I love how her expression in this scene. It seriously looks like she was wondering what she’s going to have for dinner before realizing she’s being attacked by 2 magicians point blank.
Knowing Kazuki was most likely intentional
You are correct, and it also applies to Silent Swordsman. In the manga, the chapter "The Silent Duelist" features Yugi summoning Silent Swordsman and highlights how Yugi has grown as a person.
Yeah the silent cards are kind of a reflection of little Yugi and I like it
Misplays in the duel aside, I'm choosing to be of the belief that when Yugi & Atem were negotiating on which of their shared Deck's cards they'd each be taking for their own when constructing the Decks for the ritual duel, they couldn't come to an agreement on who got to take custody of Kuriboh and Kuriboh loved both of them too much to possibly choose between them, so they agreed to instead leave their adopted furball out of the this one.
Is it wrong that it made me think of a married couple going through divorce trying to decide who gets custody of their children?
@@darkknight5541 It's exactly how I'd imagined it after the thought had lingered a couple seconds, so if it's wrong, I'm right there with you under that burden
@@sgprailfan that's actually only for their other half, they split their original but we dont know if they picked who got what half (while checking the cards in each half) or if it was just random
@@realizedpotential6640 Likely not random considering Atem got all seven cards considered his staples from the core deck that being Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, The gods, Bahfomet, and Gazelle whereas Yugi got all the Magnet Knights and Buster Blader.
@@RazielTheUnborn yeah I thought about this too for Atem anyway with him having the 3 god cards and dark magician/girl. The others you mentioned I didnt think about
knowing now how yu-gi-oh is, a 26 turn duel is pretty legendary.
Can you imagine having a 26 turn duel today?
No, mystic mine is banned
I had a duel go almost that long in duel links.
I had a 40 turn game last night, Yubel was the only thing protecting me for 25 of those turns xD my heavy hitters were removed, it was still in the beta phase and I now have two of each heavy hitter in my deck... but damn it was a long 40turns...
Nah the game is way too fast paced now heavy hitters get summoned way early
@@camharknessI lied to my friend about having Blazing Mirror Force for 35 turns until I blasted him.
I loves the symbolism in yugi's deck so much. How the silent monsters show his growth personality wise during his journey. The gadgets showing his teamwork with his friends, how so many of his effects drain his life to protect his monsters (which I think is like all his life threatening fights to save his loved ones) ,even the whole gold sarcophagus play had a even deeper meaning with slifers original name being Osiris. Just thinking about it now gandora could be a reference to atem when he was in his indiscriminate mind crush days, a little bit of a stretch but kinda a neat thought. It's just a perfect representation of his growth from the meek little kid to a confident and strong person.
There's also Yugi using more toy inspired/cute monsters, small beings that are more dangerous than they appear, much like himself.
@@DaPopeANata I didn't even think about that but yeah you're right.
Legitimately that's why I love the Yugioh animes, the narrative within a Duel and the things individual cards represent with their duelists
If I’m not mistaken I think they mention yugi’s use of gandora was him symbolically destroying all ties to the pharaoh, with the whole destruction of everything on the field by paying half your life points (may or may not be intentional since he’s losing half of himself)
Didn’t Yugi get the Puzzle from a box of similar design? Atem found new life in the box, and Yugi sealed new life away with Monster Reborn.
“The souls of the dead must not linger in the world of the living.”
Every meta deck ever: I’ll pretend to not hear it and just use the dead as a resource then
I know you a queef
Monster reborn
Just me playing PK xD
*Laughs in Skull Servant*
@@scarab7633 Revolver: i choose to use the dead as ammunition
To anyone watching this (again) after July 6, 2022…
It is with a heavy heart I tell you that anyone watching this should know that the creator of Duel Monsters, of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a card game, an anime, and so much more, has pass on.
Never forget Kazuki Takahashi!! He gave us something amazing! A card game that’s able to stand alongside the other titans of card games and have just as many fans!!
We will miss you, great Creator!!
That anime was my childhood. I loved watching it. I still have my very first deck I ever bought. Joey's Starter Deck. I didn't have friends so I never really dueled. I'm still upset all these years later that my Red Eyes Black Dragon was stolen. I'm told they gave it to someone who ripped it up. I very much doubt that. It was holographic. My mom wrote my initials on that card in Sharpie. They even cheated me in duels. They got away with it cause I didn't really know the rules. They summoned any card they wanted regardless of level without any special, tribute or ritual summoning but told me I couldn't do that. ...Damn it! Why didn't I remember that back in high school? I could have asked the kid if he still had it. That being important cause I transferred (twice) and didn't see him again until high school. Oh well it's not like I've been losing sleep over it.
😭
Oh thats why yu gi oh card game sucks so badly lately we dont need link pendelum and such on.
Indeed
But in the end, his goal was to unite people through his adoration of games, and....that is what he did, to many of us who still care for yugioh, we are united solely because of him, and all of got to say to that, to all the friends I've made, to the people who held me together in possibly our darkest hour( yes, i mean 2020)..... Is a big thank you, for this incredible duel
@@rtchooligan0469 excuses
What is pendulum nowadays? One or two decks
Links? Bro they are useful for everyone
One thing I wanted to add to this video is that as Atem was making his deck, he stated he need more power, if we look back at the entire series, it shows that it’s more important to have the right balance of cards that work together, Yugi had his deck built entirely around that, Atem mainly focused on power and not as much teamwork in his deck, which could also show that Yugi knows teamwork wins, not power!
In other words, consistency vs. power, where consistency always triumph.
@@skybattler2624 not really you’re missing the point
@@codyhug26 no that's a decent summary. Yugi has a more balanced deck while atem went with more of a power deck
@@blitz4779 right, also in the duel where Atem realized it was difficult to face Yugi without the support he provides
@@codyhug26 makes sense really. Atem brings the power, yugi provides support
So many nuances in this duel! Also notice how the pharaoh ends up using a lot of Yugi's grandpa's cards while Yugi mostly uses monsters he added later or completely new for this duel. Basically showing that he was prepared to win relying on himself this time.
The ones that Atem used were mostly also old ass cards stating how he’s just not that used to the new strategies
Yugi built his deck with the purpose to counter Atem's deck which is pretty unfair. His whole strategy would not have worked against someone else
I think it's more telling that Atem used the deck he and Yugi built together, perhaps showing that he himself, still had his doubts on if he was ready to let go of that bond between him and Yugi.
Also another reason is because a lot of the signature cards in the deck Atem uses, are actually more connected to him then they are to Yugi. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are the card symbols of his two best friends from when he was alive. Black Luster Soldier seems to have been his own Ka, much like Blue Eyes was originally Kisara's. And the Egyptian God cards have always been Atem's.
Yugi's deck however, seems designed to show his maturation from a child who relied on those stronger then him, Joey and Atem, to being someone who can stand up for himself. He starts out using child like monsters like the coloured gears but later goes onto more serious and dangerous looking monsters, but his two signature monsters in this duel are the ones that really tell that.
Silent Swordsman and Silent Magician both start out as adorable, unassuming kids that share a lot of physical similarities with Yugi himself and it's over time they grow into the powerhouses that became key to him winning. I think those two monsters are PERFECT for Yugi and PERFECT counterparts to Atem's Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl and honestly I wish there was a way to link the Dark Magician and Silent archtypes.
@@fabiocarvalhodossantos857 almost like that's the point of the battle..
@@fabiocarvalhodossantos857 Dude he had 3 fucking Egyptian gods
That final thumbs up and the last panel of the manga showing Atem walking into the light always tugs at my heart strings
Simply put, Atem's ability gives him what he THINKS he needs, not what he actually needs.
Every ability has its weakness, and this is his'.
Also I feel another drawback is it seems to only really activate once Atem really NEEDS an advantage. Like, some of the duels he lost he genuinely had some pretty shit draws, prolly cuz he didn't feel pressured to use his ability
I thought he could just know the top card whenever he wanted to, this is a plot point because of True Name.
@@brianforsyth2225 I think its more like atem summons the card he wants, he just wanted the wrong card i guess. Watch atem vs weevil and you will notice that he doesn't even look at the card after a while. He's vicious in that duel
@@cliffphps7447 I think it's a bit of both. Knowing the top card is his power, but the power to will cards into his hand is the puzzles power. It is said that the puzzle contains power, and most people just think hey that means Atem. But nah, if he was buried with it and sealed his soul in the puzzle, who knew about it since the puzzle was never completed from then until Yugi gets it? Pretty sure it's cap. Every other millennium item has a power. The scales can judge truth and souls, the eye can read minds. The puzzle sways probability. I don't see it as so far fetched.
@@brianforsyth2225 nono.
He literally chooses what card appears
I think so long as he "possesed" it somehow.
Not necessarily a card he put IN the deck
Atem's misplays are actually in character for him. Since the time he showed Yugi he was willing to let Kaiba die to win a duel back in Duelist Kingdom, he always played overcautiously, and for good reason. Think about it - the next time he overextended, he lost Yugi's soul in the Dartz arc. He held back as a habit, never launching an offensive that was anything more then what he thought he needed to stay just barely ahead.
The Dartz arc is not canon and is just filler sadly.
It actually made sense since it had nothing to do with Atem and the Egyption theme of the show however it blew my mind when i realized that since i like that arc a lot.
@@touchingisjustthefirststep I mean, if we're doing manga Canon, then the duel went quite differently. Instead of discarding Gaia to summon Tricky, Atem discarded Slifer. And when Obslisk and the Silent Swordsman battled, both were destroyed.
Everything between that and setting Marshmallon didn't happen.
That’d be cool if Kaiba died lol maybe he’d go to the shadow realm and somehow come back to get revenge on Atem
@@makiroll218 I hate to break it to you but… the shadow realm is entirely a 4kids fabrication. Those “sent to the shadow realm” were actually just dead or comatose in the manga
Destiny draw is powerful
Yugi sacrificing life points to activate his card effects is a metaphor for him losing a part of himself to grow as a duelist and person. In my head, Yugi and Atem are always consulting eachother in a duel, making every win a combined effort. We just see whenever Atem is in a pinch - mind shuffle vs Pegasus and Yugi noticing Marik has properties of a monster by fusing with Ra. Atem would always control the body because Yugi was not as confident during his duels. Yugi is capable in theory and deck crafting, but did not have the confidence to pull it off.
Always think of this duel while revisiting moments in Darkside of Dimensions. Yugi is so much more confident in that movie. I love the English dub and bless Dan Green for his voice of Yugi, but the Japanese dub is much better at conveying how much Atem influenced Yugi. He is still himself, but just a little bit more like Atem.
Back to GX for the next one!
What duel would you like analysed?
Jaden vs yubel
Jaden vs Zane graduation duel?
Atem could had summon horahkty creator of light instant win
Chazz vs the cloud guy
Could the first duel between Chazz and Jaden go different?
The fact that yugi predicting both atem AND kaiba would use monster reborn in this duel and dark side of dimensions only to end up negating both of them speaks SO loudly about the theme of those duels
Wait, what does it means?
@@restmyloves With Atem, negating Monster Reborn was a way of saying "No, Atem, you cannot continue to stay here."
With Kaiba, it was to say, "He's not coming back, Kaiba. Let him go."
@@andredunbar3773 ohhh that makes so much sense now. omg I'm so dumb. Thank you for explaining! Have a safe day
@@restmyloves Don't sweat it. You stay safe, too.
@@andredunbar3773 Tribe King(MMSF2)Can Beat Atem,Yugi,And Kaiba,With The Egyptian God Cards Of Star Force:LeoKingdomGX(Ra),PegasusMagicGX(Obelisk),And DragonSkyGX(Slifer)!And The Exodia/Horakthy:Le Mu!Love That Game!I Have The Heart Of The Battle Cards!
This was a great video ☺️
😁
He went BAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLSSSSSS DEEEEEPPPPPP in his analysis..
Hello there
@@Potato_MassacreGENERAL KENOBI
Am I the only one who started to tear up a little at the end when Yugi defeated Atem?
I followed this series when I was a kid and loved it to bits.
Being reminded of this end. Having saying goodbye to Atem. Who's both the cast and by proxy my friend.
Great video on an amazing duel.
And thank you for having me experience this once again
It's hard not to since if you followed the series the whole way then the memories of the series come flooding back all at once when the duel ends
I teared up too, I think if I were watching the actual episode I would have cried. I never saw the final seasons of the show....
Of course you're not the only one who teared up. I did too, and I wasn't even watching the show as a kid! (Watched it for the first time on Netflix in my mid-twenties. Heh, had no idea when I started the show it was going to become my new favorite obsession. And it's still going strong 3-4 years later.)
Always thought it was ironic that Yugi's "Heart of the Cards" faith turned out to be him unintentionally cheating via the Millennium Puzzle.
Eh, i feel its moreso the monsters obey the will of the pharaoh. Hes not even the only person in the series with this type of thing to happen, kaiba can force blue eyes because it responds to his will.
"Uninentionally"
not really, the puzzle doesn't let you draw what you need all the time and you can only tap into it's power if you're already good at the game.
plus joey's got no millennium item, nor does he, in the anime, have a past life with any connection to egypt and he pulls plenty of heart of the cards moments. the heart of the cards is simply more about trusting the deck you've built but also trusting yourself that you've built it right and you've put an out for whatever situation you're in, in that deck.
@@duo1666 Obelisk seems to follow Kaiba too, just look at the movie where he freaking draws the monster from the ground, not the card, the actual Obelisk...
@@ZenoDLC THAT WAS EPIC!!!!
As a kid I always liked how the result is based on how well they knew each other with yugi knowing Atem would use monster reborn.
I didn't realise the metaphor of negating monster reborn (makes more sense with it being called Resurrection of the dead) to show Atem he can now lay to rest.
I was just about to say that. It makes so much sense that way.
When I think of points in the duel where characters could have acted on something like an attack or a "misplay", I think that they're actually trying to anticipate situations ahead of time. For instance; Atem not using pot of greed when it seems obvious might have been because if Yugi's face-down was possibly a card to counter and destroy it in some way then Atem would be placed in an even worse situation than before. If that happened then not only would pot of greed not get him 4 cards but he would lose pot of greed lowering him to only 2 cards and, thus, leaving him at a severe disadvantage. I think that would explain why he plays it after Yugi reveals his face-down. The two of them are probably not used to being unable to tell what the other is thinking and in that scenario they know they are up against somebody that knows them inside and out. To me I believe they're simply giving each other the most possible credit when approaching any interactions with one another.
Someone else in the comments also comented that if he played pot of greed at the start, he could have potentially drawn jack's knight and king's knight wouldnt have activated, hence why he waited until the end to play the card
Not for nothing but has anyone hard countered a pot of greed in the show? I really can't recall an instance of this. It's been a while mind.
@@Earthboundmike yugi has mystic refpanel. Never used on pot of greed, but it could.
A wise duelist wouldn't underestimate their opponent and make a risky play without a good reason.
Calculated risk.
also he could've just went "welp im going for game" and didnt think he'd need it
I can explain the pot of greed plot hole, he didn’t want to draw jacks knight accidentally so he waited until after king summoned jack from his deck
This is probably the best explanation. When you're running Garnets, the last thing you want to do is draw them.
This exactly, he already had the play, more cards would haver ruined the combo.
He also didn't know that Yugi has time jump facedown, so wasn't planning to summon Slifer just yet, he only activated it then to capitalize on the effect. Also, Pot of Geed isn't a speed spell, so he couldn't have played during the battle phase.
Well that's what the heart of the cards is for isn't it? Just don't draw Jacks Knight LOL
@@Avatarbee he wasn’t in a dire enough situation to use his luck boost ability
I’ve always been obsessed with the intelligence of this duel. Yugi understood that Atem was a strategist and would always play chess when his opponents played checkers going for moves and effects that would hit them where it hurt the most when it was only critical to pick opponents apart piece by piece. Yugi used that against him FlAWLESSLY and that instantly made it my favorite duel period.
Honestly, I love how this duel perfectly illustrates yugi's skill while still keeping the whole underdog mentality. He's constantly putting himself at a lifepoint disadvantage, but it's always for a good reason, sometimes being the only play he could have made. And he follows this up with careful consideration of how to manage his lifepoints, knowing that he can use slifer as a sort of health boost to further this burning of lp. It's just brilliant, and till the very end of the duel it stays at a constant back and forth of who's gonna win!
I like “The Tricky” aesthetically, it’s a cool card with neat artwork. It just felt weird seeing Atem whip something like that out, it looks like something Arkana would use
I actually really like the Yugioh R manga because of this. Its set between the end of Battle City and the Start of season 5 and has Yugi/Yami duel with a couple of cards that only show up later in the ceremonial duel.
Rrrright I also thought that
Idk it kind of fits with the queen king knight etc. he’s like the joker of the deck lol
@@sternguard77 - I didn’t even know Yugioh R existed til recently and it made sense of so many random unknown cards in later games that I never seen like the Wicked Gods.
Speaking of, I wonder why he never played the copy of Dark Magician he won from Arkana.
I love this duel and this video on it. Great work. I have one point I want to make. In the dubbed, Yugi actually predicts or guesses that it was Mirror Force face down. He has a line saying something like "Wait, why hasn't Atem played his face down. I've done everything but attack. Oh wait, The face down must be something that must happen in the battle phase, like Mirror Force".
All they had to do to fix Slifer’s “plot hole” was to say that Summoning Clock allows you to *normal* summon a monster in addition to your regular normal summon/set without tributes.
Yeah, the effect doesn't even make sense , the only way the effect of not tributing matters is if you have a card that says something like to summon this card you must tribute n monsters, but the God can be special summon without the tributes, it just make them fall in the EP
Well, you could also argue that the monster Atem sacrificed to use the card could have been considered an "offering" for the god
i thought it only went back to grave if they were summoned from the grave
@@rogerwinters4958 they go back to whichever place they were special summoned from.
The image of the card he showed on turn one even says at the end (This summon is treated as a normal summon), though admittedly I'm not sure where he got that image from.
I just love how lucky each of them got with their draws. Imagine the odds of getting all 3 magnet warriors and valkyrion back to back. Same goes for berfomet and gazelle etc.
To go even further since they both got these hands from card of sanctity, kings and queens knights at the same time too
It's not that unlikely if we assume they had those cards next to each other when they built their decks, and then just didn't shuffle thoroughly enough to properly randomize them.
Its litterally cannon that People can draw what they want if they are good enough. Heart of Cards, Destiny Draw, Shining Draw.
It was always mentioned incredible Duelists can get the cards they need
I think there's a decent argument out there that most people in the anime are bad shufflers.
@@ArcNine9Angel Well we have that circus looking guy that fought Atem during battle city that riffle shuffle the deck. But as a magician, I can confirm that sometime magician fake shuffle even if its riffle shuffle.
The reason he didn’t use Pot of Greed is because the turn skipping card took place during the battle phase, so he wouldn’t have been able to summon Slifer before. Turn Jump took place during the battle phase, he didn’t know Slifer would be coming out, and it usually feels like a decent move to keep important cards that could have made Slifer stronger in the back until it was needed.
Also the reason why slifer didnt go to the graveyard is because the special summon is treated as a normal summon
Idk if the card texf is correct but thats what it says
He has used pot of greed in battle phase before though
@@pharaohkai1During Battle City. That case is special because all spell cards act as quick play spells there. I do see where you’re coming from about that, because things became very inconsistent, but that’s the way that was for those instances.
What's silly about the Pot of Greed thing is the writers could've left Atem with Poly/Gazelle/Berf and then had him top deck PoG later instead. Easy fix.
I think atem not emptying his hand as much as possible and then activating card of sanctity was an even bigger misplay than you're giving it credit for because of his opponent. If atem had activated it on turn 1 instead, he would have only given yugi 1 card instead of 6, and that would have 100% changed the outcome.
That's honestly true...
He wanted to lose. And succeeded
@@daraghokane4236
Lol he certainly didn't make it easy if that's the case.
@@godsman00 I'm pretty sure he wasn't allowed to make it easy
@@Saiyangoddess72
Fair enough, in fact that's why I think he just genuinely misplayed here.
"Yugi is the true king of games."
Joey, who actually got to where he is without cheating: "Am I joke to you."
Kaiba
Yes Wheeler you will always be a joke to me
Kaiba: "Yes. Yes, you are."
I mean to be fair,Joey deck suck
@@LucasBR702
All the main characters had a deck that wasn't balanced, if joey changed his to q full red eyes deck like Kaiba changed his to a full Blue eyes Yugi turned his to a dark magician deck he may be way better
@@game84cube
Joey: Well, I walked right into that one.
I love it when the little magnet warriors repel the effect of a god card like they're super cool.
Man o love this series so much !!!! How about a "was Joey about to defeat Mai (orichalcos)"? 7w7 love ur videos my man 👌
A spicy duel indeed, I shall add it to the list!
@@TGSAnime could you do Yuma vs Kite round 1, and see if Yuma could have won before the interruption?
Which one? The first or second duel in Season 4?
@@TGSAnime Atem vs Joey? Duelist kingdom. You know you wanna
@@michaelaburns734
Well, Mai basically threw the second duel. All she had to do was attack and it would have been game. And the Orichalcos apparently decided that was sufficient.
The first duel was a DNF. It could have gone either way when it stopped.
After rewatching Marik vs Yugi, I find it funny that Ra gets affected by Slifer's effect here. With Marik it goes like "Naa fuck you" but here, Ra just dies.
Ra was in Phoenix Mode in that duel, which makes it immortal. This Ra was in battle mode. Also plot.
Plus the “hierarchy” system of the manga doenst exist in the anime )(where Ra in inherently unaffected by the other two gods effects). Marik outright had to use the anime only “class system” spell for Ra to survive Obelisk effect.
If I recall correctly, Obelisk had destroyed an activated Mirror Force in the anime, which would mean the God Cards are immune to non targeting effects as well, and there was the hierarchy system which would have prevented Ra from being blown up by Slifer's effect, but they needed some way for Yugi to win and Atem to have a happy ending, so I think they just threw God Card rules out the window, still a fantastic duel though
The hierarchy system was taken out of anime canon. Obelisks Infinity attack would have worked against anime Ra, had it not been for Class System.
@@Amitlu not enteilry slifer didn't work on ra against Marik and kabia said that his God weren't and Yugi could use they effect on ra
He turned the effect of the slifer into a trap card effect that how avoid breaking the hirrsvyr
Tbf the god rules are bs anyways so why take them seriously
Set marshallon facedown, set ground trap, set 1 anti trap, anti spell and 1 trap hole
-> draw exodia, gg wp
May I recommend Yugi and Joey vs The Big Five? There are a few instances where the 5 could’ve won but failed due to misplays or just idiocy and whereas Yugi and Joey could’ve won the duel sooner if at one point they summoned their deck masters. I’ve gone deeper into this on your recent community post if you want more detail. I think it be nice to cover a duel with the deck master format. What do you think?
That one is going to be long.
Misplays and idiocy makes sense as the big 5 weren't duelists
I feel like that's not necessarily a fair analysis since Yugi, Joey, and the other protagonists didn't fully understand the Deck Master rules. There's probably plenty of times where you could point out "Oh they could have done this and won a lot more easily" but then have the counterargument of "They literally didn't have any reason to know they could do that."
I think the problem with that duel (and really any of the deck master duels in general) is there's too many shenanigans with the deck master rules. Even just the question 'could the duelists have picked better deck masters?' pretty much just applies to all of those duels and we have no answers to that since we don't know how each deck master ability is picked or what other possibilities there were.
Interestingly, that was the only duel where I felt that Joey actually outdueled the Pharaoh. A.k.a. played better.
The way you explained the will to draw the card you need is perfect! I tried to explain this concept to my wife and could not articulate it the way you did. Amazing 👏 👏 👏
That last duel always brings tears. I grew up with this show and the card game, they were such a big part of my life. The ending is like an ode to all of us, that it’s time for us to take care of ourselves and grow.
The duel was a bittersweet moment to end the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. One soul could finally rest in the afterlife, while the vessel grew up to become the best of all time. The next duel analysis could be between *Yuki Judai vs Yubel.*
this!
What an amazing video!
Nostalgia hit the hardest in the "thumbs up" scene, while it was escalating in the entire fight.
Thank you for your awesome work ❤️
By activating card of sanctity later, he also allowed Yugi to replenish his hand. Just two bad moves in one.
that also should have just been corrected by having it be the next turn’s draw instead
Pretty sure Atem wanted that to happen
@@Saiyangoddess72 Yeah, I think it's a bit of Atem just wanting to have fun in his final duel. While he certainly intended to win, he didn't have to do it right in the first two turns like Kaiba attempted to do. In the end, the whole final duel was meant to be a test for Yugi to see how he'd grown, and steamrolling him right at the start wouldn't have proven anything. It's kinda like two martial artists having a warm up before seriously going at it.
problem is, if he did it earlier, he likely would've pulled random cards and not anything strong
I think Atem bricked in that moment. He had enough to stall a turn & get to his MR & call Slifer but he knew Yugi probably had an out to it & he’d lose anyway because he knows his deck & what he has left. So, in his second main phase, he tested Yugi (since this is the whole point) that if he outed it, he’d lose anyway the next turn, thus confirming Yugi was ready. 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Brick? Dude in this duel Atem using destiny draw over and over
It's kinda implied that Atem WANTED to lose, so a lot of his mistakes could've been done on purpose to test if Yugi would notice them.
@@AzureRoxe I don't think it was on purpose. He wanted to win but he was going all out because Yugi had to prove he was ready and Atem couldn't just lose on purpose; he most likely subconsciously went easy in some parts, not on purpose but because he wants to lose and he likes Yugi it may cause him to reflexively go a bit easy
My opinion? I think that Atem was going for other play. He didn't lose on purpose. I'm pretty sure he KNEW that he must leave the battle phase to play Monster reborn. So I guess mayyyyyybe a play that let's you target or either tribute a monster and deal damage to your opponent equal or half its attack points. I dont know. Just an idea
@@arifmaulana97 but its also proven he cant do it every turn whenever he wanted
I remember when there was a rerun of the Duel Monsters series. Me and my friend group decided to watch it. (We were much younger and we didn't know any spoilers about it.) Me and one of my other friends were huge Muto stans who would get psyched every time he dueled. My other friends were Yami stans. When the time came for the finale, we were all getting psyched to see who would win. When we finally met with each other back at school, I vividly remember me and my other friend boasting like dumb idiots.
*Man, those were the days.*
I like how they always have the perfect card for the perfect rebuttal. Even though the cards are randomly shuffled
Idk gotta trust in the heart of the cards ig 🤷♂️
Yeah and that's withour playing 3 copies of each lol
Ofc. Where would the *drama* be if one of them just bricked
Master Duel’s shuffling system would like to have a word with you.
Heart of the cards like @BizVlogs said lol
I have to admit that Magnet Force + Valkyrion combo was actually pretty interesting, and it showed that Yugi actually prepared for the fight with his opponent in mind. It seemed like Atem didn't really prepare his deck, just kind of brought his God engine and some random Dark Magician support.
This comment just reminded me of my opinion that Little Yugi is the most skilled protagonist out of them all.
I used to won backyard school games with the Magna Warrior deck against meta decks like heroes and beast/tech. The Magna Warrior decks are really underrated.
Random dark magician support? The Dark Magician is Mahad, Atem's closest and most faithful servant. There was nothing random about that. It's pretty telling actually. Maybe you missed the brief exchange between them right after DM was summoned to the field.
What I love the most about the duel was seeing Yugi and Atem in the start try to end the duel in the first few turns, but both being unsuccessful
I’d like to see you analyze the Graduation Match between Zane and Jaden. Could either of them have won or was it always destined to end in a draw?
I'm genuinely surprised he hasn't done with one yet.
Actually the reason it's draw because Jaden. Case closed...
Weren't both Zane and Jaden about equal in skill?
We all know Zane is made to be the greatest duelist ever... Even the manga proves it if you read it, he is unstoppable there and his deck Cyber Dragons is also top tier in our world tho. The only way why Zane didnt won that duel is because it's Jaden, he is the main character and Zane played so much better. But still Jaden never defeated Zane in a duel even if Zane got robbed in that duel
@@bazo8275 nope, of Jaden don't activating final fusion. Zane is winner...
23:10 - 24:18
That Spell Textbook play is, for me, the best/most-clutch play in the whole original series. Incredible moment.
Atem did pretty much the same thing in his duel against Kaiba in Battle City during the clash between Slyfer and Obelisk, so I think it was not the most astonishing moment of the series. I think that revealing that Monster Reborn from Gold Sarchofagus was indeed the number one (with Atem destroying Golden Castel of Stromberg having exactly 1 card in his deck being a close second IMHO)
I really enjoy this video! Nice pace, nicely translated the anime rules in the real world rules. I liked your humor and choice of scenes you showed as well!
I love how Yugi has Summoned Skull, his and Yami's original ace before getting Dark Magician. It's a nice way of showing Yugi basically expanded on what he used before meeting Atem with what he learned during that journey.
Regardless of the verdict, this video has made me respect this duel thematically more than I could have imagined. The Sanctity is a little shakey, but I feel each move represents that player's minds sets perfectly. Making the Gods eliminate themselves, Yugi using collective/co-operational summons like stronghold, using monsters that grow over time, switch hitting with magnet trio, and of course disabling Monster Reborn. Atem's moves might seem a little off, but I think it shows his matter a fact form of play. His luck power isn't always OP because he routinely thinks hes safe, and that's the same with his plays. If a move is sufficient he doesn't stack up even if he could, meanwhile Yugi is more than happy to go with an empty hand and give up life points if it means setting up more counters. Atem didn't even want to give Obelisk or the other gods the sacrifices they desired. The irony is that even though Yugi set more defensive plays, Atem's choices for overwhelming power shows how much just the concept of playing Yugi put him in a corner. So yeah, he really fucked up, but in a way that seems poignant? I don't know, its a kids show about card games, it just seems more meaningful than Pikachu getting his ass kicked for the thousandth time and Ash crying, "you can do it buddy."
You can mind game yami out of realizing he is in dire straits, and also confuse him into desiring the wrong card. The weakness of the puzzle is increasing the difficulty required to solve it
I will never not love that scene were Yugi defeats the three God Cards all at once. It's such an epic moment
Yugi defeating yami
Goku defeating frieza
Petamon defeating devimon
These are the best moments of my childhood.
This is a major thematically gripe solely because he didn't "defeat them all at once." The animators decided that Obelisk would die first from Valkyrion, then after Yugi split them up Ra would get hit twice and Slifer once from the bounced attacks, instead of Ra getting hit, and the final 3 bounced attacks would destroy one god each.
It SHOULD be super epic, but the separation between the destruction of Obelisk and the other 2 makes it so unsatisfying.
@@mudit_mathur absolutely, 100% agree om that. They were such exhilarating moments to watch/read
Trash scene , plot armor over 9000
@@blazer2486 L take from a Naruto pfp
I think kuriboh was in yugi's deck especially seeing as his deck was filled with monsters that at face value seem weak but when used properly can be devastating powerful
Buster blader and summoned skull: who you calling weak?
I've always thought they both decided not to draft Kuriboh as they didn't want to force it to split it's loyalties between them
@@TayGlass92Gandora and Valkyrion: Yeah motherf#cker, who is the weak?
Also, Gadgets were meta much longer than all cards Yami used in that Duel combined
I agree! I did think that Atem could more of “outright powerful cards” while yugi probably got Kuriboh in the split (yugi got swords of revealing light)
I always passively enjoyed the anime duels but mostly wrote them off as entirely plot rather than duel mechanics driving plot. It’s been surprisingly enjoyable and cathartic to watch your commentary on the duels. Commiserating at the plays that you confirm to just be misplays but more importantly reconsidering the ones you find justification for. Very engaging and ended with me binging a ton of these in the last couple days
I find it sad how Pegasus wasn't there for Atem's farewell, considering Pegasus plays a big role in the series.
-in an AU-
good job yugi boy, against... yugi boy? *thousand eyes confusion*
Pegasus is dead
He was dead in the manga
@@kazemizu REALLY?!!!what happened?
@@wild4934 Bakura killed him when he took the millenium eye
I would say that Atem wanted to flex to Yugi by playing all 3 god cards and see how he would ultimately handle the situation. In which Yugi responded with the whole redirecting Slifer's effect. Yes he could of ended with jacks knight but showing dominance is what was important lol. However the not using pot of greed at beginning of turn kinda threw that ngl
I come back to this video occasionally, It's very well made!
Atem is heavily implied that he wanted to lose so he could move on to the Afterlife.
One thing I always questioned that I haven't seen being brought up is this:
Atem can will the card he needs most with destiny draw, right? Well, he did! Monster Reborn! The one card Yugi planned for to be negated so he could win the duel and Atem can finally go to the afterlife! Yugi was played from the start and was always meant to win. Atem willed it.
Atem did win, just not the duel. He could've won the duel earlier but didn't. Like others have said, Atem most likely was testing Yugi to give him a final challenge but he absolutely was in control of this duel from the start.
I could never get over how Atem has Destiny Draw and still somehow lost the Duel with four bricks in his hand. FOUR!!
Four cards vs. Seven. Not saying that Atem could have easily turned the situation around, but both players still had loads of gas.
I think you have to wield the millennium puzzle to utilize desitny draw. The millennium items were in the stone tablet now I think
@@Spartan-sz7km Atem clearly activated Destiny Draw at least several times in this duel when he was on the backburner. Ishizu/Isis commented on this as Atem was manifesting it: "The Pharaoh just now guided the course of his destiny [the card that he draws] with his own will."
Are you forgetting yugi did the same thing. Also he wasnt wearing the puzzle and thus didnt gain its effects. The puzzle only grants luck in games you "need" to win.
Would have been fitting if the duel lasted until they both basically ran out of cards imo, they even put the effort into showing their decks reducing in size.
Perhaps it wasn't necessarily 4 bricks, but just Atem accepting his defeat with dignity. Yugi had defeated all 3 God cards, his most powerful spellcasters, then negated Atem's comeback mechanic in Monster Reborn.
The purpose of the duel was to test if Yugi was willing to "take up the Pharoah's sword" and be his successor, so with Yugi having wiped out every one of his most powerful cards and with no way to get them back, he CHOSE to embrace defeat and not make any more plays, going out on his own terms.
I mean, it's even WORSE in the manga version, where Atem had the full 6 cards in hand. If Atem had 0 plays to make with SIX cards that's crazy, and makes it even more likely he chose to concede gracefully.
I think Yugi needs to shuffle his deck better. He drew all three magnet warriors and Valkyrion back to back
That's the weird thing with how just about everyone shuffles their decks in this series, most of the time the way shuffling is animated it looks like they're just moving the top third or even half of their deck to the bottom over and over. Considering a freshly built deck likely still has all of its cards organized according to the owner's thought process, this is a rather ineffective method of breaking up a planned strategy. It's especially odd considering that anime duelists don't typically use anywhere near as many duplicate or "search" cards as competitive players do IRL, so shuffling the deck effectively would actually make a huge impact on the course of the duel.
@@goji3755 aside from Kaiba, it seemed like the only person to play 2 of a card that was one dude with 2 Dark Magicians. Everyone else is like, “nah man. 40 unique cards.”
@@orangeapples And Mai, with her Harpie Ladies.
Though on the mention of Arcana, the dude with the 2 Dark Magicians, I seem to recall Yugi taking one of his and promising to use it more respectfully in the future, but we never see him do that. I get that ONE of the Magicians was trimmed to ensure it would be part of Arcana's opening hand, and so Yugi wouldn't take that card, let alone play it, but wasn't the other one left untrimmed? Would have been nice to see regular Yugi fulfill that promise here against the Pharaoh.
Yugi and Atem shuffled each others deck at the start so it was Atem who stacked the 4 Magnets next to each other
This year I have been rewatching anime from my childhood/teen years. Over the past 6 weeks or so, I have watched all of the classic Yu-Gi-Oh and gotta say I did tear up a bit when Yugi declared his final attack. What a amazing anime.
Pls what is the site to download Yu-Gi-Oh
@@chukwukaifezuliike9452it's free to watch the first season on RUclips, and I believe it's all on Netflix and crunchryoll
Great video!
It's interesting. This was one of the most memorable duels in the series, but you make a number of good points here, to the extent that the duel is a bit of sham now.
It's an unusual number of misplays from Yami, but even in his preparation for the duel he planned for the Egyptian Gods to be defeated. For this duel to be fair, for Yugi to truly earn his title and release Yami, Yami needed to be ruthless, and he wasn't. From this video, the strings of contrivance in the duel have been brutally revealed.
I'm not disappointed, though. It's still an entertaining duel and a great spectacle, even if looking deeper reveals how contrived parts of it unfortunately were. Still one of my favourites.
"The first possible shenanigan."
Well, after Yugi drawing literally all of the Magnet Warrior cards in one Card of Sanctity pull, at the same time Atem draws both of the remaining God Cards in the same pull, but if we got on the anime's case for every unrealistic draw this would be six hours long, eh?
Remember the duel between Zone and Aporia in 5D's? That ending where Aporia bricks at his lowest point should've been normal for all the series lmao
@@limonbattery I still need to finish GX, never mind 5D's. :P
@@OneTrueNobody The episode I was referring to was never dubbed so I can get not watching it. It also was in the very last arc.
Imagine if he never lost Exodia
I love the symbolism at the end. The final card was monster reborn that was negated. I mean Atem was resurrected too. And the one who negated monster reborn was the same person who brought him back to life. The end of the duel is same as the end of the Atem story.
As for why Slifer didnt go to the GY after being Special Summoned, there is an important rule that is being misunderstood. Its not that God cards cannot be permanently special summoned. Its that they are only affected by spell cards for 1 turn and leave the field once they are “no longer affected by something like Monster Reborn”.
Are you certain, I remember it being that god cards when special summoned went to the graveyard when then the turn ended.
@@Unknown-gn8gn yeah
@@Unknown-gn8gn I think that's just the real life card's interpretation of how Monster Reborn works on god cards.
Exactly!
So if the Millenium Puzzle grants a luck boost in dire situations, what if Joey got it instead of Yugi ? Think it affects coin flips and dice rolls too?
Dear God, are you TRYING to make jonouchi untouchable?!
Now I suddenly wanna see a Yami Joey AU where he completed the Millennium Puzzle during the very start of the original series and became the main character. Yugi probably would still have a talent for games making him a friendly rival to Joey (let's say while Atem is giving Joey his power and luck, Yugi being his reincarnation still has a similar amount of luck and talent on his own but not as insane or broken as his canon counterpart, while Kaiba and everyone else is basically the same.
Yes. I'm not sure if it was shown in the anime, however when Joey used time wizard in the manga (against Bandit Keith I thing) there was a panel focused on the puzzle before the effect was shown.
@@djt08031996 he already would be if he just topdecked Berserker Soul
@Tyler it literally is a luck boost. He doesn't pull whatever card he wants whenever he wants. Read the manga/watch the anime again. This extreme version of this power comes ONLY when Atem is 100% sure he'll lose. Look at the final battle itself. When he knew he was in trouble but not outright losing he topdecked Big Shield Gardna who wasn't really that amazing of a topdeck but did save him for a turn. On the other hand when he needed Dark Twin Burst Magic or whatever that spell was he was literally gonna lose in his own attack declaration. This is also the reason he bricked after trying to resummon Slifer with Monster Reborn. He was 100% sure he had game with that God summon so his other cards were probably birck ritual monsters or Multiply with no Kuriboh.
I really liked how they played some of og cards for this final duel; summoned skull, curse of dragon, and Gia
I love how this isn't the only 26 turn long duel in yugioh. I don't know why I know this but Team 5ds vs Team Taiyo is also a 26 turn long duel, but each turn is considerably shorter on average so it wouldn't be as bad to cover.
I consider that one duel interesting since Team Taiyo kept protecting the Level One Normal Monster Key Mage (😂 can't remember the real name) over 20 turns in order to summon a monster that hasn't being used for years by anyone during the 5Ds Era. It was good.
I wonder how long Kaiba vs Yugi went. Don't know about the anime, but In terms of length in the manga it got about 1 and 2/3 books, while the ceremonial duel got about 5-6 chapters, so Yugi vs Atem got really extended in the anime, while Atem vs Kaiba only really got extended by the Slifer vs Obelisk battle (and some really boring filler from Joey's coma dream.)
While I vastly prefer the manga version of the duel due to pacing (and the epic long play of Atem discarding Slifer to revive later), the Magnet combo they gave Yugi in the anime to destroy the Gods was still a hype moment.
Reasons why i prefer the anime one :
- Atem summoning all 3 Gods was so badass and epic
- We see a back and forth of their monsters battling each other
- We saw more strategies , more
combos , and more plays
- Down to the wire with 200 LP left on both players , while the manga Yugi got 1000 LP left and Atem over 2000LP.
@@henryreturns1397 Valid reasons. I ultimately found it to feel more bloated, especially with how much the peanut gallery slowed episodes down further. Plus, I do like that Atem was more of an overwhelming wall of skill for Yugi throughout the duel in the manga, as shown with the LP difference. Thus, the turnaround Yugi grasps feels more satisfying for me.
@@SWad250 so long as we all agree that this duel, regardless of its iteration, is top tier I think we'll all get along
Your narration is nice bro 💯💯💯 i was locked in just like if i was whaching the original lol
When Yugi activates Ambush Shield, he tributed a monster which changes the number of monsters on the field. This would cause a replay to occur, so Atem would cancel Slifer's attack anyway. So not a misplay, even if you do account for his grander plan to have Slifer remain on the field!
Just to play devil's advocate, since Ambush Shield is a trap that manipulates monster atk stats, it could have been activated during the Damage Step. So no replay would have occurred
iirc replay didnt exist in the anime, or did it?
@@DavidIn But it isn't a Counter Trap, so it couldn't be activated during the Damage Step
Funny part about all this is that all these arguments don’t matter because he couldn’t activate PoG because they were still in the battle phase lol unless he just did it before the battle phase but how would Atem know that summoning clock was going to trigger that turn
Yugi : "Okay, this is gonna be tough, but I have a plan ! Let's leave all three gods on the field for a few more turns..."
Yami : *Slowly draws Horakhty*
I think horakthy was never a card in duel monsters (in our real life it was oddly enough, but not in the anime or manga to my knowledge) and was a shadow game/old Egyptian style duel exclusive thing used with the help of the past pharaohs. So, atem wouldn’t have it here and probably couldn’t summon it in this non-threatening ceremony.
But yeah if he did yugi would kinda just be like 👀💀
18:00 “You thought you outsmarted me, but I outsmarted your outsmarting!”
My favorite thing to imagine about this duel is if Atem drew Sparks in that final Card of Sanctity.
There's also something to be said about Yugi and Atem knowing each other very well, and them knowing it was going to be a long duel. Atem was playing the long game from the very beginning and didn't want to go through too many resources at once.
Technically, the "Egyptian god cards" aren't gods. In the original Japanese, each of the god cards have「の」("no," meaning "of") in their names: Heavenly Dragon *of* Osiris (オシリスの天空竜), Winged Dragon *of* Ra (ラーの翼神竜), and Giant Soldier *of* Obelisk (オベリスクの巨神兵), stating that these monsters are property of the gods, not the gods themselves. This is fitting, as the one who summons them is the Pharaoh Atem; in Egyptian mythology, the pharaoh is believed to be a living god, and therefore the pharaoh being a god and commanding the servants of the gods.
Also, fun fact: Seto Kaiba is named after the Egyptian god "Set," brother of Osiris, descendant of Ra, and uncle to Horus, the god of kings. Hence why Atem and Seto are eternal rivals. Likewise, Set being a god allows him to call upon the servants of the gods as well.
Really neat, but the original japanese refer to the god cards as "kami" meaning god. Even if they are templated as property, they're still treated as gods themselves--perhaps just minor gods in comparison.
@@theolast9727 Here's an easier explanation, but you're right. Obelisk is called "Hakaioshin" (something like that.) So if you're familiar with Dragonball, "Hakai" is all you really need to know to figure out Obelisk is a God of Destruction or an aspect of one.
It's interesting too because isn't Seto (Egypt) Atem's cousin? So in that vein Atem could be seen as a reflection of Osiris and why he got Slifer first?
Joey VS Yami Yugi in Duelist Kingdom and Atem VS Yugi were the most emotionally charged duels of the series.
It's interesting to see how if Atem hadn't misplayed, he effectively would have the game won on the very first turn. Since he could have dumped his hand almost completely during his first turn, used Card of Sanctity to get full then just go from there.
This is why its better to not just show cards in a players hand all the time. Instead we now get the mistaken idea that Atem misplayed on purpose.
I just realized that Yugi used Slipher’s power against Yami like how Yami used Slipher power against Marik. Clever
The GX Graduation Match would be cool to see. I wonder if either Zane or Jaden could have swung for game instead of Final Fusion shenanigans.
I think Jaden might have had a chance had he played like normal and didn't try to duel in a way that was unlike himself
@@soulsavior2037 Agreed.
Yugi to Atem while looking at door to afterlife: "You gotta get in there!"
This duel proved a lot of things.
Yugi was finally ready to continue on his own without Atem, even though it would’ve been an emotional farewell for everyone involved.
Atem was ready to finally move on and the mission was completed.
All of Yugi’s friends had not only become great friends to Atem, but they had grown so much along the way as well, that they were also able to find the strength to let go in the end, except for maybe Seto Kaiba. Lol
We were all emotional to see the journey come to an end, but were also thankful for whatever adventure might’ve come next. I personally would’ve loved to see some sort of aftermath season to kinda tell us what the gang was gonna do after Atem’s departure, though I think we got a glimpse of that in the movies.
Also, I wonder why Mai, Pegasus nor a good few others weren’t there to see this duel in person? 🤔
This still stands as my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! Series to date. I’ve seen the others as well, but I’ll have to watch them back some more before I can really rank those, though I think 5D’s and GX would round up my Top 3. Truly nostalgic and still fun to watch. Watching it all back really helped revamp my love for Yu-Gi-Oh! and I’ve even been able to kinda get my girlfriend, Angel into it as well, so that’s a plus.
Hey have you seen Yu Gi Oh bonds beyond time
It’s a film where 5D,Gx and the og series’s main characters meet
@@AJD07L3 , yes I believe I have.
Here’s why Slifer doesn’t leave the field after Summoning Clock:
Gods never had the restriction of being destroyed after special summoned, that was TCG and OCG only. They were only sent to the Graveyard in the anime because the effect of Monster Reborn wore off
Gods were only affected by certain Spells for ONE TURN. That is their anime and manga effect. Spellbinding Circle counts as a “Spell” effect which worked on Slifer for only one turn in Strings/Marik vs Yugi
There was never a case in the original manga where a God card was special summoned by a Trap card, because Monster Reborn was considered the only option for revival. They were also heavily restricted with Monster Reborn, because no Special Summoned Monsters could attack the turn they are summoned(which we saw with Fusion Monsters).
This is why in the GX finale, Slifer will not go to the Graveyard after being Special Summoned by Dark Renewal despite a decade of people incorrectly saying that Slifer will go to the Graveyard.
So Call of the Haunting could bring one back indefinitely?
Or “A hero emerges” from GX could summon one out too. Though the best one for that would be Obelisk
@Mister Perfection that's true!
Weren't thay also explained as being immune to traps, with spell cards only affecting them for one turn?
It's always interesting to see this duel when you know how it ends since it's heavily implied that, as you said, Yugi specifically wanted to set the field so all 3 Gods were on it and he could stop them all at the same time.
It's also very interesting how certain cards seem to have been designed SPECIFICALLY to counter the Egyptian Gods [like a card that affects the monster ZONE instead of the monster, which allows it to counter Obelisk, a card that doesn't target the Gods, but re-directs their already made attacks/effects, which counters Slifer, etc].
An easy explanation for that. "Kaiba being Salty."
@@adamloga3788 is he ever not?
@@adamloga3788 But Industrial Illusions makes the cards, not Kaiba Corp.
@AlHasan Sameh isn't that.... like... this entire show?
I'd guess Yugi had Kuriboh in his own deck, so he knew Atem couldn't have it in his hand. Because for some reason these people don't have multiples of their cards.
Maybe not of monsters, but they each had a Pot of Greed, a Monster Reborn and a Card of Sanctity.
One of the greatest duels in the whole franchise if not The Greatest 🙌! No matter how many times I have watched this duel and how old I am It really makes me shed tears!
Edit:Debunked
As for the reason slifer didn't go to the grave at the end of the turn
The end of that specific turn never came, it was skipped by the trap
I do the same thing with buster dragon in relay duels, if you defeat an opponent you skip to the draw phase of the next player which completely bypasses the end phase and any effects that activate then
Oooooh that is beautiful abuse of RAW. Mmmm I love it.
@@druid_zephyrus i have no idea what RAW is but it's indeed beautiful, the whole ordeal is basically traveling through time and in the same duels i also do a heckin accel synchro summon so just call me yusei cause time is just a mechanic to be abused
Wasn't the turn skip resolved before Slifer was special summoned, though? The trap that special summoned Slifer only had its counters because of the multiple turns passing, so the end of the turn where Slifer was summoned wasn't skipped.
@@naoremonth hmmmmmmmnnnnmmm right my bad
Also atleast for the real Egyptian God cards the effect of destroying them at the end phase of special summoned activates every turn which is why you couldn't stop it with something like forbidden chalice iirc
Thanks!
Thankyou so much 😀
Video suggestion: Could Yusei have beaten Jean from Team Unicorn in the WRGP "legitimately"? Yusei won, but only because Jean foolishly decided to attack Yusei instead of simply ending his turn and beating Yusei by deck out. The duel is really awesome, but the anime logic ending irks me. Yusei should have lost that duel in my opinion.
I’m pretty sure at the end, the whole idea of that final turn was that Jean was a master strategist and was actually able to outplay Yusei, but Yusei was able to bluff him out and win through a mind game
@@jonathangeorge3789 That’s just stupidity though, that was the easiest victory yet, and he just threw it away.
@@jonathangeorge3789 I also think that, but I think then they should have showed Jean having a bit of doubt on whether to end his turn or attack, and then deciding to attack because it was the better move in case Yusei had an effect in the end phase to turn things around. Personally, I feel this would have completely legitimized the ending instead of Jean just wanting to beat Yusei like a true duelist because he considered Yusei to be a rare worthy opponent.
My question is what would of had happened then if yusei lost to Jean yeah sure team 5ds got kicked out of the grand prix but would team new world illiaster had won and destroyed the world cuz team unicorn didn't know about the new treath what was happening
And still primo Lester and Jakob wouldn't have fused together into Aporia 😂 all because of the yusei vs Jakob duel yusei would of had won i believe the reason of that was shooting star dragon
Keep up the content bro really interesting concept I've seen the others and the depth u go through to do this is incredible 😂
Thanks this video nearly killed me with the length. The original unedited version was an hour 😅
Really appreciate the kind words!
I feel that yugi learned how to use the Shining draw through the melinium puzzle while Atem worked with him.
Atem may have not thought about using Pot of Greed after playing Card of Sanctity. Remember, he Summoned Obelisk, and chose to Enter his Battle Phase. Atem doesn't like using all of his resources in one turn, especially not knowing what Yugi had face-down. He only chose to play POG after to keep his hand advantage for Slifer's effect.
With the ammount of times Mirror Force was used in the show, I wouldn't be surprised if every turn both Atem and Yugi wouldn't want to attack each others monsters fearing that Mirror Force would kick in
rewatching this after kt died hits harder. the banishment of monster reborn already got to me but MAN does it hit different after kt's passing
So, with Summoning Clock, there's also the matter of King's Knight. It must be Normal Summoned to pull out Jack.
Therefore, Summoning Clock actually NORMAL SUMMONS the monsters.
EDIT: Another point to my case, in the OCG cards, "Summon" is only used to refer to a NORMAL SUMMON, hence halting the requisite for a tribute.
Which perfectly fits the slifer issue. Seems a lot like that was what it should have been and the anime accidentally added an issue with that one word.
@@FFKonoko not the first time the dub botched the writing tbf
Actually, King's Knight worked when Summoned in any way in the anime/manga. It's only the real-life card that requires it to be Normal Summoned (otherwise, it could be seen as broken for that time all those years ago).
@@HalfDemonInuyasha Maybe.
But it could be used to explain.
Also explains why it says without tributes.