My favorite thing about Yugioh (and something that a lot of people miss) is that Yugi *is* the king of games from the start. He's always been every bit as good as the pharoah at games, in fact, he's probably better, and the pharoah knows it. Yugi does too, but only deep down. The pharoah duels for the both of them because he has the confidence, not the ability. The mind switch strategy they use on Pegasus at the end of Duelist Kingdom only even works because they're on the same level as players.
The final duel isn't about proving Yugi became better at a card game than the pharoah, it's about proving he can make it on his own without his partner standing in front of him.
