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Sooo… random little Yugioh thing that’s been bugging me for a little while:

I don’t think it’s appropriate for Yugi to be playing Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl or even most of Yami’s iconic monsters post-series and after Atem/Yami passed on.

I was looking at the recently-released ‘Shining Sarcophagus’ set, which is an archetype of cards based around the cards Yugi used in both his solo duel against Yami Bakura and of course the Ceremonial Duel against Atem at the end of the series. And for the most part, it’s actually pretty cool.

Like it’s got retrains of Silent Magician and Swordsman, Marshmallon, the Gadget Trio plus Stronghold the Moving Fortress, and Gandora the Dragon of Destruction, as well as a couple of magic cards referencing Card of Sanctity and Turn Jump.

And it’s all tied together by the titular new Shining Sarcophagus, which references Yugi’s use of Golden Sarcophagus in the Ceremonial Duel. And in particular how he used it to secure the win against Atem by negating his attempt to revive Slifer the Sky Dragon.

So for the most part, this set it pretty cool…

…except for the fact that it ALSO includes its own versions of Dark Magician and Summoned Skull, plus a new Dark Magician-focused version of Mirror Force.

And like, that doesn’t seem appropriate, you know?

Obviously it REALLY doesn’t work in the context of this set being meant to represent Yugi’s deck in the Ceremonial Duel against Atem. Since, you know, Yugi didn’t USE Dark Magician in that duel and was actually DUELING AGAINST THEM.

And looking more broadly, for example at Yugi’s post-series duels in Dark Side of Dimensions, I feel like Yugi playing Dark Magician and other similar monsters kinda does a disservice to his character. When you get down to it, Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are intrinsically tied to ATEM. As in, they are literally the present-day incarnations of two of Atem’s closest friends from their lives back in ancient Egypt.

So when we consider how the culmination of Yugi’s character arc in the series is him stepping OUT of Atem’s shadow and standing on his own, to the point that he is even able to ultimately DEFEAT Atem himself, it makes Yugi using Atem’s iconic monsters feel just a bit regressive don’t you think?

Like it makes Yugi using Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl and Gaia the Fierce Knight in his DSOD duels feel more like fanservice at the expense of character-development.*

Though funny enough, with that said I do actually think Yugi’s use of Atem’s monsters in the movie can work… with ONE specific change.

For one, Yugi DOES still use a number of his Ceremonial Duel monsters in his duels against Aigami and Kaiba, like new versions of Marshmellon, the Gadget monsters, a new Moving Fortress and Gandora X.

And notably when Yugi first brings out Dark Magician against Kaiba, he gets beaten pretty early by Kaiba’s new Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, and it is Yugi’s Gandora X that takes down Kaiba’s new superboss Deep-Eyes White Dragon.

Which brings us to the ONE change that I think would make the end of this duel so much better for Yugi’s character and just be REALLY cool narratively in general:

In the movie, after Gandora X and Deep-Eyes White Dragon destroy each other, Kaiba tries to revive his Deep-Eyes (with a Monster Reborn that Yugi gave him earlier), but Yugi is able to negate this and bring back Dark Magician who is able to finish Kaiba off for good, or at least is ABOUT to when the new and improved Super Ring-Possessed EVIL-Evil Yami-Aigami (or ‘Yamigami’ as I like to call him) shows up to crash the party.

BUT! What if INSTEAD of Dark Magician, Yugi was able to bring out Silent Magician to deal the final blow to Kaiba?

I mean, how fucking PERFECT would that be symbolically? For one, it would complete the parallels to the Ceremonial Duel, with Kaiba trying to revive a powerful dragon with Monster Reborn just like Atem, only for Yugi to negate it and finish him off with Silent Magician.

But more than that, it would be a positively BRILLIANT slap-in-the-face for Kaiba. Throughout the entire duel, Kaiba has done his best to be utterly dismissive of Yugi, viewing him as nothing but a roadblock between him and his REAL goal. Kaiba doesn’t want to duel Yugi, he WANTS to duel ATEM.

So how PERFECT would it be if Kaiba winds up facing defeat NOT at the hands of Atem’s iconic magician, but instead YUGI’s? Effectively FORCING Kaiba to recognize that it is NOT Atem who is about to defeat him, but YUGI.

I just think that would be REALLY cool XD

--

*Though I will freely admit that I love that the movie introduced a proper ‘Magician Girl’ archetype for DMG. I guess I just wish the movie could have introduced them without Yugi using them? Maybe by contriving a duel for Tea to be involved in where it’s revealed that SHE’S using Dark Magician Girl now along with the new Magician Girls? I think that would be fun XD

ladydevoir

Ok so I wanna throw my hat into the ring on this one, because im also a big yugioh fan and I feel like playing devils avocate. Because while everything you've said is true, no arguments here, I think its wrong to suggest that Yugi himself has no ties to the Dark Magician, because i'd argue theres multiple instances in the series we see that Yugi has just as much to do with Dark Magician as Atem does. (for the context of this I will be avoiding the idea that Yugi could be the reincarnation of Atem in modern day, much like Kaiba and Bakura, as it's never official stated in the show, only implied twice, though I will be bringing up one of those times.)

First of all, in terms of the card itself, we have to ask, who was it who gave Yugi/Atem the card in the first place?

Yeah, it was Yugi's grampa. The card originally belonged to him, given to Yugi along with his whole deck in the first episode. And while his deck has changed over time, its clear that Yugi himself still keeps many of his gramps cards (or upgraded versions of them) in his deck, in this way, the Dark Magician represents Yugi's bond with his gramps, the very man who raised him, and the man who gave Yugi the Millenium Puzzle in the first place.

Secondly, in the episode where the gang are turned into duel monsters in a shadow game by Yami Bakura, Yugi himself is the one who says the monster he identifies with the most is Dark Magician, so even early on, Yugi had his own strong connection towards the Dark Magician.

Thirdly, there are multiple times in the show where Dark Magician is seen upgraded through a card effect, and in all but 1 instance, its done so via a card from Yugi:

In the duel with Joey, it's through the effect of Time Wizard that evolves Dark Magician into Dark Sage, with Time Wizard being a card that Yugi himself specifically gave to Joey.

In the final battle with Pegasus, Dark Magician is evolved into Magician of Black Chaos through Dark Magic Ritual, the very last card that Yugi played in the duel before passing out and leaving Atem to continue the duel.

In the duel with Kaiba in Battle City, it is fused with Buster Blader to become Dark Paladin, and fast forward to the Cerimonial Duel at the end of the series, its shown that Yugi claimed Buster Blader in the duel, using it in his deck against Atem

Fourthly, in the aftermath of Duelist Kingdom, Shadi and Yugi, while inside Atem's mind, are attacked by Dark Magician. Shadi believes the only solution is to defeat it, but Yugi is able to effortlessly convince the Dark Magician to stand down, much to Shadi's surprise. The fact that the Dark Magician would listen to Yugi's words would also imply the two share a bond, though clearly different to the one shared with Atem.

So I dont think Yugi using the card is in any way a regression is his character arc, as Dark Magician has just as much of a connection to Yugi as it does to Atem, but I would also like to add in a theory, something I did think about while writing this;

What if the Dark Magcian that Yugi uses in DSoD isnt the same Dark Magician that Atem uses?

We know, thanks to Arkana in battle city, that there are different Dark Magician cards out there:

And we all know the iconic look of the Dark Magician that is connected to Atem, with its striking purple colours.

So lets look at the Dark Magician that Yugi uses in DSoD:

Huh.

Now that certainly doesnt look like the Dark Magician that Atem uses and that we all know and love from the original series, does it?

And doesn't it seem strange that Dark Magician is the ONLY one of Yugi's cards to get a complete redesign? Almost as if they wanted to emphisise that this ISN'T the same one as Atem uses?

I fully understand the idea of Yugi coming into his own at the end of the series and no longer being in the shadow of Atem, but I think its wrong to suggest that Yugi using Dark Magician is a regression of his character. Dark Magician is just as much a Yugi card as it is an Atem card.

logicaltips

I see. Well written

anthurak