Was Marik About To Defeat Yugi/Kaiba/Joey? [Back To Battle City]

[@Zetact_]

The dub's line of Joey telling Kaiba he's going down and then Kaiba saying, "Well you're going up and in case you haven't noticed that means you're losing this duel" has stayed rent free in my head for decades.

[@BmanTheChamp]

He actually says "Well, you're going UP, Wheeler. And in this duel, that's worse."

[@isaacbrummett7926]

​@BmanTheChamp you're right

[@coolunusual]

Psh didn't even remember the quote right. Fake fan

[@tomadough]

I tried to use this line. Didn't apply to any of my situations 😢

[@maniacalmurderer4123]

Like this version of the quote better

[@bemybff205]

The reason Kaiba didn't activate Pot of Greed is that he didn't know what it does, nobody ever explained it to him

[@goldenmatrix9987]

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure it allows you to discard 2 cards.

[@reecequirk8620]

LittleKuriboh reference, I love it

[@Pausenmacher]

It allows you to lose 2 Pride Points from your Attribute and gain 2 Points into Empathy.

[@isabella_elisa]

I'm pretty sure you have to be a warlock and use it as a 3rd level spell slot.

[@timothyskidmore1554]

It allows joey to "win" the four-way duel

[@ryhi5]

It’s so hilarious to watch him have a mental breakdown over Kaiba constantly refusing to activate Pot of Greed

[@armandolira107]

Ya he's not the only one 😂

[@nathandunn4782]

Yeah ITS FUCKING FUNNY!

[@the1magageneral323]

It is not important

[@gabudaichamuda2545]

You would too if you beat your opponent knowing they had Pot of Greed in their hand and never used it.

[@thedarkspirit5084]

Joey probably could use it with his Grave robber. But then again Joey didn't know he had that. Still... Maybe it's a kaiba flex..

[@bladersmosh]

You gotta love how Joey’s one of if not the most realistic duelist of the series with the amount of times he bricks. It’s kinda hilarious and even funnier when Vrains would do the same years later.

[@Amitlu]

"I HAVE DRAWN THE PERFECT HAND!" 'YEAH ME TOO BUSTER!"

[@JzanderN]

When someone relies on luck as much as he does, they're eventually going to get some dead rolls. Joey just happened to get a couple on his starting hands too.

[@flochforster88]

Tbf he also has ridiculous luck lol

[@LightBringer666]

pretty sure Takahashi did that intentionally, Joey always felt like the character that's meant to represent us the audience, what with him always striving to get better than Yugi in good spirits (unlike kaiba's bitter rivalry), and all the luck shenanigans he constantly goes through like bricking. on that note, it was really cool when i realized this as an adult, and even cooler reading the manga back and seeing that joey and yugi had an off-screen duel after battle city, which i didn't remember seeing in the anime (the scene is there but i must have missed it as a kid). dope part about that is that after that duel isn't shown to us, the next arc (not counting the anime orichalcos stuff cause it was filler), Joey uses Red Eyes against bakura in the memory world... he has the card after dueling Yugi. so homeboy must have won his card back fair and square. when you think about Joey representing us, narratively speaking it's pretty smart to not show his win, keep it ambiguous for people to notice the little details in the character and story writing, and maintain the dynamic of yugi being "the best" while joey represents us striving to be like him. if the hero loses, even to a friend, it breaks the illusion of unbeatable... that or yugi made sure joey kept it a secret :P that little bit of detail in YGO is one of the reasons it forever sits in my top 5 stories/manga/anime

[@cyberquasar2267]

Vrains? With who?

[@jamesturner6979]

Because Kaiba knew what the rules would be beforehand, it's my headcanon that he deliberately added Des Gardius (a card he otherwise couldn't use) to his deck in order to guarantee he went first without disrupting his deck's balance too much. Also I once saw someone point out that Marik's flaw is that his sadism causes him to try and lock down and then burn his opponent for game, which while extremely effective in 1v1 duels, meant that he couldn't set up his control strategy since too many things were going on at once with having three opponents who all are trying to take you down. This allowed the otherwise undefeatable Marik to be the first person to lose in this very unique battle royale duel which is what made it so memorable to me.

[@Jaknize1]

Undefeatable? Marik pretty much lost every duel he ever played. He took yugi to the edge with Slifer in the first one, but after that he was never in control of the duels. Against Mai, she totally dominated him. She was never really on the back foot. She countered all of his moves. She only lost because Marik had plot armor and Ra had abilities she didn't know about. Then there's Bakura he pretty much countered marik at every turn. He burned a lot of life points to basically get Ra, but again He lost because marik had plot armor and another ra ability that he didn't know about.. If he had known about Ra's fusion ability he would have won because he never would have let marik take his monster reborn. Then there's Joey. He did push joey a bit further but joey basically won he only lost because of the shadow game taking a toll on him. Marik was very defeatable and only won 3/4 of his games becausae of plot armor and shenanigans outside of his opponents controls. Marik is a pretty weak duelst inn all honesty.

[@_Vengeance_]

Kaiba was just flexing he created the rules, since he didn't even need to abuse his insider knowledge of the rules. He could've just shown Obelisk, because let's be honest here, was he seriously expecting to use Obelisk this duel?

[@xfighters3913]

​@@Jaknize1 couldn't agree more. Mariks cards are actually kind of weak and he only wins due to shinangens outside of the duelling itself.

[@xfighters3913]

J

[@marchmelloow]

@@_Vengeance_ In the manga, he did show Obelisk

[@BlackStar-Pavel-ui8ij]

It's true that Yugi didn't want to face someone in particular, but he did not want Joey to face Marik. That was the one outcome he didn't want to happen.

[@some_shitposting_idiot3023]

Then Joey goes on to basically humiliate Marik

[@rich355]

​​@@some_shitposting_idiot3023 he also got even Kaiba to respect Joey as a result. Moving Joey from a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck to a second duelist with a third rate deck lol

[@timothyskidmore1554]

Joey definitely should have won his shadow game

[@blackchibisan8116]

@@rich355 I adore this comment because I believe it is the most Kaiba response.

[@wowgek7]

@@some_shitposting_idiot3023 not realy yes joey could have won but marik never dueled him seriusly he just bet on joey passing out from ra's attack which almost costed him the duel but he wasnt realy trying either

[@BlackStar-Pavel-ui8ij]

One of the most unique duels in the series. Wish they tried more duels like this more often.

[@donutplays9124]

Yeah like the Umbra and Lumis duel too was one of my favorites

[@ManuelRiccobono]

cross duel shows this mode is not funny

[@razielzakary4989]

​@@ManuelRiccobono as cross duel is essentially dead now, I'm sure you mean "showed", however, I hated when everyone seen I was practically empty (for a reason, I was getting resources) seeing a Blue-eyes, a Stardust and a Neos all headed you way, looking for blood .. not gonna lie, my ass was clenched 😅😂

[@Joji047]

There one like that in arc v

[@Amitlu]

@@razielzakary4989 The Extra Zone kinda ruined battle royal dueling for fun as well.

[@strongerthanever2039]

The reason for so many missplays was probably because no one was playing to win, all of them tried to rig the duel to get the results they wanted.

[@cristianovogt5586]

If that's the case, nobody was playing to win during the entire series.

[@Shazam1998]

@@cristianovogt5586 No? What do the rest of the duels have to do with this?

[@amateraceon5202]

To be fair, Kaiba sandbagging/flexing the entire duel by choosing not to use Pot of Greed _would_ be in character for him

[@shadowbladezorru2748]

It's not about making sense, it's about asserting dominance

[@ncr_ranger96]

He also had Blade Knight out. It gets a decent boost by Battle City standards when your hand is at 1 card or less and even better when it is empty.

[@Toruma]

Kaiba not activating Pot of Greed might be more of a play of not drawing too much attention to himself especially on the first turn where the other three could see him as an early game threat if he drew cards.

[@the1magageneral323]

And it was not needed.

[@Succulent_Pomegranate]

This! I had to scroll THIS far down to see this underrated comment! Giving you a subscription, btw!

[@FabricatedPheonix]

Doesn't explain why he keeps refusing to use it

[@TheGreatSalsaMan]

To be fair, this is a valid point. Typically if someone has more advantage in a free for all people will be more inclined to gang up on you to use/waste your resources. Like if both my opponents were to have a BLS out and no other cards down BUT one player has a few more cards in hand, I’m going to be more inclined to use a remove the BLS of the player with more advantage then save the player with less resources for later.

[@TheGreatSalsaMan]

@@FabricatedPheonixDidn’t need it, he had everything he needed to achieve his goal. Besides playing 3 backrow, you’re going to want to trick your opponents if you get heavy stormed. Plus blade knights effect doesn’t work if you have more than 1 card in your hand.

[@314walker]

Imagine that Marik made this a shadow game Trying to destroy everyone at once right now and then losing first

[@bryantromero9033]

Lmao I’d pay to see that

[@digimon9989]

yeah but it would cause all three to probably attack marik

[@314walker]

@dalekchu9989 Except Kaiba Who doesn't believe in any of this

[@williampinkley1842]

​@314walker i mean he was attacking marik anyway cause he wanted to duel yugi

[@williampinkley1842]

​@314walker i mean he was attacking marik anyway cause he wanted to duel yugi

[@ukotoa1639]

The biggest error any dullest can make is standing on the left side of the arena

[@christopherb501]

That, or going first in the Rush era with time left in the episode.

[@DragoSonicMile]

But every duelist is standing to somebody's left in this arena.

[@williamfalls]

Ah yes. Let me avoid the left side of a square.

[@felipeparente3053]

Or not activating Pot of greed like Kaiba in this duel lol

[@papersonic9941]

@@christopherb501 really, in any 1-episode duel after 5D's. Because duels average 4 turns per episode, the player going first is near-guaranteed to lose.

[@sandeepmahal-kp5em]

This duel was so fun to watch especially when Yugi and Kaiba go up high at the end of the episode. so funny when Kaiba said this. Kaiba: I can't lose a duel on purpose.

[@mattbartels]

If you ask me Kaiba should have put his pride aside and used his double ring combo to destroy Yugi's Beast of Gilfer, wipe out the rest of Yugi's life points and conceded the match afterwards so they would face each other in the first semi final match and Joey and Marik would go second.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

​@@mattbartels I respect Kaiba for not wanting to lose on purpose. Kaiba may be a pompous arrogant rich guy but he respects the game of duel monsters and always duels with all his effort and sees conceding or losing on purpose as insulting. You have to respect that about Kaiba.

[@solidzack]

You gotta admire Joey's starting hand though. This is the kind of hand you'd get by selecting auto-deck building

[@jamieholmes4751]

Let be known that Joey Wheeler technically owns a win over Marik Ishtar 😃😃😃

[@orpheustelos23]

He should own two but he was ROBBED

[@RedTheWeeb]

​@@orpheustelos23 I agree but it's always understandable why he lost. At the end of the day it was the most genius way of having a "side" character basically beat / lose to the main antagonist of an arc because it made joey look utterly impressive and bad ass and marik a narcissistic person who starts to freak out over joey winning. Plus we can all assume joey beats yugi a later duel anyway

[@solidzack]

First off, Joey shouldn't have been in the Semi-Finals at all because he got utterly destroyed by Odion before and only because Odion decided to BM with (a fake copy of) Ra did Joey win. Second, Marik chose not to attack Joey in multiple cases. Imagine his shadow game powers like a Duellinks skill: Marik Ishtar essentially introduced a new winning condition which would be winning by killing your opponent/making them faint. And as such Marik's goal was to prologue Joey's suffering for as long as possible and with that in mind Marik did indeed win against Joey. Sure, it's not fair because Marik is much more tolerant to pain and Joey's monster don't nearly do as much physical damage as Ra does. But still, Marik won by sticking to his initial strategy, although Joey still standing after Ra's attack was impressive enough that he even earned the respect of Kaiba and made Marik almost puke because of the stress he felt when realizing he's about to lose to someone as "unworthy" as Joey.

[@RedTheWeeb]

@@solidzack Odion literally runs a trap deck and joey had a monster that shuts that shit off so I think making it was fine

[@marquisthomas7756]

​@@orpheustelos23 he was gonna be the one to beat Marik but the story was changed

[@Yojimbo16]

I remember the Yugioh Wiki mentioning this duel when it brought up how Marik relies heavily on Ra and Shadow Games to win and that in the one duel where he didn't use either prior to the Finals, he lost.

[@lamarpray5324]

Yeah his deck revolves around dumping ra from the hand/deck then using monster reborn shenanigans to bring it back and otk someone. He even has cards to recycle said monster reborn if ra fails a first or 2nd time

[@frearcher8246]

I don't get why people meme on Marik for being a bad duelist without Ra when that is the point. He gets carried by a God only he can use to its full power and other duelists screw themselves over trying to steal it.

[@DarthPyrusTheVirus]

​@Frearcher It's not like he made the rules. Pegasus made the card. Marik was just playing by what the card said. He wasn't the one who came up with the concept of people needing ties to Ancient Egypt to wield a God Card either. With the strongest card in existence, hell yeah, he's going to use it to its fullest. He's not afraid of its potential to hurt someone like Yugi is. Besides that, Marik isn't a bad duelist according to Kazuki Takahashi, who wrote the guidebooks for the manga. Marik is ranked right next to Yugi and Kaiba in the Gospel of Truth book.

[@darksideofevil13]

I just don't get why this is bad? So what if his strategy revives around Ra if it works?

[@Ty17V]

@@darksideofevil13 It's honestly no different than people trying to get their Savage Dragons and World Chalice Ace monster win-cons on the board. Marik is just really good at getting his win-con out, and Kaiba does the same with his Blue Eyes like Yugi does with his Magicians.

[@jasiahgranizo4516]

I was always so surprised to see Kaiba play des gardius because it means that Kaiba mugged two corpses when he beat Umbra and Lumis.

[@brynjolfsigrunson5220]

Battle City Rules. I doubt he took the locator cards and left lol. Especially not after seeing Des Guardias. He needed it for his briefcase of rare cards

[@rynobehnke8289]

I believe only Dark mask died on Yugi's plea was Light Mask left a life. Also fun fact in the Manga at least does Kaiba reveal that Des Guardias was the only card he actually took after winning during any of his battle City duels.

[@gamester512]

Or Kaiba simply owned copies of his own. Remember the first episode when he's trying to get Solomon to hand over the fourth Blue-Eyes? He pulls out a briefcase full of "rare cards", some of which may have been comparable to Des Gardius. Kaiba likely owns at least three copies of any non-unique card (like the three Egyptian Gods) in existence.

[@ncr_ranger96]

@@gamester512 The problem with that otherwise reasonable suggestion is that Kaiba specifically says that he won it by ante via internal monologue.

[@edg810]

@@ncr_ranger96 Exactly. A lot of people don't know this since they've only watched the dub. I know I was surprised when I found out that he actually took that card from Lumis.

[@MMAddict39]

I always found it funny that whoever ends up dueling Joey in the semi finals is statistically going to be at a disadvantage in the finals. Joey doesn't have a God card so whoever beats him gets (I'm assuming) Gilford the Lightning and has to go up against the other finalist who would have two Gods in their deck.

[@l.n.3372]

But Marik obviously didn't take Guilford because Joey has it during season 4. Did Marik take any card from Joey in the semifinals?

[@TheSimmus]

​@@l.n.3372I think the Legendary Fisherman and Whale Fortress are the last Non-God cards that change owner via the ante rule. Kinda silly after they made such a big deal about it.

[@l.n.3372]

@@TheSimmus Well I suppose for some it's not too silly because it fits with their goals in the arc. Yami Marik only really wants the millennium puzzle and the god cards. Kaiba only really wants the god cards. Kaiba took that masked card from winning the double duel, but he never plays it in any duels. Yugi probably didn't take anything from Bakura cuz he felt guilty for knocking Bakura unconscious. I'm guessing the same situation happened for Joey re: feeling guilty about Odion as well. I can't remember if Marik even bothered to take anything from Mai. I doubt Kaiba took any card from Ishizu. But yeah it goes against the point of the card ante for Battle City. Joey got 3 rare cards from his 3 opponents and Jinzo always comes in clutch. But the ante rule helped Joey inherently cuz he lacked access to good cards. Kaiba and Yugi don't really need this concept except for the god cards.

[@roninwarriorsfan]

"A four way!? I've never even been in a three-way, how am i supposed to know what to do?" " it's easy Joey, pretend you're in a two-way, and focus on me, your instincts will do the rest. " "Does everything have to be a sex joke with you guys." "Yes" "Kaiba's just jealous cause he hasn't been in anything more than a one-way." "Ha-ha, virgins."

[@Shantae1188]

Is Marik saying that last line?

[@roninwarriorsfan]

@@Shantae1188 no, yugi...have you never watched ygotas?

[@Shantae1188]

@@roninwarriorsfan No.

[@suii9677]

​@@Shantae1188watch it trust me you will not regret watching it its so funny

[@the1magageneral323]

There's no other way for Marik to win. Kabia controlled the flow of the duel since the first turn.

[@brynjolfsigrunson5220]

Fun fact. Kaiba using attack guidance armor got Yugi and Marik (the biggest threats to him) to play up their back row card while doing absolutely nothing to him. Kaiba had plans A - Pot of Greed

[@HighPriestFuneral]

Come to think of it, may he not have wanted to play Pot of Greed in case he got some cards he couldn't play, ergo Blade Knight couldn't use its effect? Granted, he still didn't use its effect anyway...

[@1Masterevil1]

If anything I think Joey talking to Yugi and attacking Kaiba (thus using him and Graverobber to set himself up to face Marik) might've been done on purpose to show that Joey was most in control in the end. Kinda like a swerve of how it was the unchoosen one, the one without a god of his own, that decided the fates of all three of his opponents.

[@blitz4779]

Joey does feel like more of a protag then yugi in this duel. Hell, he got the results he wanted and didn't even fully throw the duel like kaiba thought of doing. Yes his play did leave him open, but it did take out marik before him, so even if he "lost" he didn't go out first and made a legit solid play Hell, this means that joey has a proper win on marik

[@m.o.l.a6812]

@@blitz4779 It was exactly that message that this duel. The thing is to prove that Joey deserved to reach the semi-final just like Malik, Kaiba and Yugi, he was the "outsider", the only one who didn't have a god card in his favor. Joey was the one who made his strategy bear fruit, by defeating Malik and then waiting for Kaiba to defeat him to define the matches: Kaiba vs. Yugi, Joey vs. Malik. Kaiba got what he wanted thanks to that.

[@atomato5884]

i love how kaiba made this rule to decide who goes first, then adds a card he couldn't even use just to go first.

[@masterripper5409]

After rewatching this duel I just realized that no one attacked Yugi directly.

[@some_shitposting_idiot3023]

Well yeah he always had something on the field

[@beastirick]

Everyone else were pretty much more juicy targets and since Kaiba and Marik wanted to face Yugi they had no reason to attack him since they didn't plan to lose. Joey just didn't have time to attack Yugi because he was busy trying to just survive.

[@danielhenrique4466]

He has the better field/hand the entire duel. In a duel like this with a great defense/great traps you are garantee When he summons Gilfer is pretty much done

[@kyreebankz6518]

Prolly mostly cause he always had a monster or face down card plus everybody was looking to duel him except Joey makes sense to keep him in and eliminate everybody else

[@ryantaylor8398]

No one attacked Yugi at all haha

[@RedTheWeeb]

I love how everyone actually interacts in this duel. I mean it's mostly marik and kaiba bullying joey with yugi originally wanting to protect joey but then everyone eventually is treated "equally" with the person everyone is most threatened by being defeated by the person everyone was doubting who actually gets what he wanted

[@jacobwilliams1223]

Would've been fun to see more duels in such a style. Free for all has a lot of fun potential.

[@saltyk9869]

I used to play Battle Royal styles games with friends all the time. We had a few rules to avoid people getting screwed over, though. Biggest one being that no one could attack you after your Monsters were wiped out. It was quite fun. Encouraged a different play style. You couldn't simply play the biggest card. That was a recipe for getting double or triple teamed.

[@roncerjani9063]

​@@saltyk9869The biggest problem with this kind of dueling is the fact that people can gang up on one another. That'd remove quite a bit of fun out of the Duel, you either have to play low or you're fried.

[@BozzLightyr]

One reason to not play pot o greed in a 1v1v1v1 is perhaps if he did, his opponents would see as the leading player and the threat. If anyone plays commander, it's a similar situation with sol ring

[@KidShadow101]

One duel you could analyze is Yami Bakura vs Yami Marik. One of my favorite duels in Battle City, one of the few duels between two villains in the series. Plus Yami Bakura summoning Ra with the help of Marik, and Yami Marik making it useless was hilarious. Along with Marik's and Bakura's constant arguing.

[@ron2millionare972]

What irritated me was that Kaiba continued to call Joey a loser when he beat Marik in this duel. I wish you included the part where Yugi and Kaiba suddenly rocket to the top when the duel is over. They don’t comment on it in the original, but in the Abridged Series, Yugi goes all, “Whoa!”

[@ToaArcan]

He just found out what going Number 3 is!

[@JzanderN]

Then there's Mokuba who acted like Joey messed up in his final turn by attacking Kaiba, even after his combo defeated Marik because it left his field open so Kaiba would attack him the next turn. Even though it was pretty obviously Joey's strategy to lose and face Marik. And he's supposed to be more friendly with the team.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

​@@JzanderN Mokuba for some odd reason didn't fully respect in the series.

[@ron2millionare972]

@@isaacalexander5286 What does that have to do with this duel?

[@tomato2517]

@@JzanderNthat was my favorite moment, mokuba was so confident joey didn’t know what he was doing and showed his ass up

[@hiddenflare6169]

Marik: “My life points went to 0? I hardly got to do anything!” Marik just looked like every duelist there who wasn’t paying attention for 5 seconds.

[@Mr_Wholegrain]

That little interaction Joey and Marik had when Joey went up after him was gold.

[@dellosayshello5405]

Honestly the gimmick of this duel alone makes it memorable even if some moments probably aren’t that memorable Also:your going down Kaiba Well your going up wheeler and in this game that’s worse is a good line

[@gldni17]

Kinda interesting how Kaiba claimed that Joey had no plan immediately after he was used by Joey. The same kind of arrogance that would keep someone from playing Pot of Greed for no good reason is the kind of arrogance that causes you to underestimate your opponent.

[@dellosayshello5405]

Joey getting one over both Kaiba and marik was gold

[@nikothegoddess]

I wish we had more battles like this.😊

[@christopherb501]

More multi-player in general, PLEASE.

[@eggrm]

Kaiba’s only misplay being a card no one has any idea how to play is somehow the funniest thing ever.

[@IamNster]

Now imagine if Kaiba refused to attack Joey during that last turn, denying him his spot against Marik. Petty King!

[@blitz4779]

While it'd be funny, it would go against what he wanted

[@brandonkoeller7478]

@@blitz4779 i dont even see WHY kaiba wanted yugi first i honestly dont even see marik being able to dent kaiba so it would have went as follows from here. kaiba beats marik next picking up ra (maybe even due to the millenium rod betraying merrick for its old owner) and then a power crazed kaiba faces off against the winner of yugi and joey and attains slifer becoming the true king of games!

[@snowboundwhale6860]

He might be above activating Pot of Greed but he isn't above extreme pettiness, classic Kaiba. I think there's a weird sense of appropriateness that Marik, a gravekeeper, loses & doesn't get his desired result due to Joey's Graverobber card.

[@JzanderN]

I didn't expect this duel to be analysed, it's so different from normal duels. It contains one of the few brick hands in all the series, ironically two of which are Joey's. I also love that Kaiba considers losing on purpose when Yugi's life points become the lowest but is so prideful that he dismisses the idea even if it ultimately wouldn't matter.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

I think it's cool Kaiba is offended by the idea of losing on purpose.

[@ChargeQM]

I love how, despite a sorta brick-y hand, Joey manages to formulate and execute a plan that gets him what he wants. If he had followed what was said in the video, he'd have done it risk-free too.

[@the1magageneral323]

@9:47 Thanks for explaining that rule, because I've had that card for years and misinterpreted "tribute to keep card in effect" the same thing as tribute summoning a monster to keep the cost as well.

[@Prince19912]

You know what video I'd like to see? A genuine deep dive into the decks of both Yami Marik and Seto Kaiba during Battle City with the goal of the video being to determine who would be most likely to win had Marik and Kaiba faced each other one on one

[@AustinD_YT]

I mean its no deep dive, but we do know Joey almost beat Marik if he didnt pass out to tye point even Marik could realize it. And in the actual final duel, Yugi uses a card kaiba said he had gotten SPECIFICALLY to fight Marik, (Ragnarok spell), which is tye exact thing that lets Yugi change the tide and save the good Marik's soul while destroying Yami Marik. Going deeper, Yugis biggest players in that duel WERE the god cards, which Kaiba would have earned had he beat Yugi. And we know that most of the time, Yugi beats Kaiba and Kaiba beats Joey, so if Joey was just a literal second from winning, and Yugi did win, its fair to believe Kaiba absolutely could have beaten Marik. I think the cool thing about this part of the series was the idea that anyone of them had the potential to beat each other, but it was just a matter of surviving long enough to see it to the end.

[@Prince19912]

@@AustinD_YT The card Kaiba gave Yugi wasn't Ragnarok, it was the card that summoned tokens to his field that Marik would be forced to attack

[@tk24life]

I would have thought Yugi would have wanted to face Malik in the semi-finals to protect Kaiba and Joey from a shadow game.

[@Prince19912]

I'm gonna be honest, I think somewhere deep down Atem and Yugi would have faith that Kaiba could take on Marik and whoop his ass himself. Dunno about Joey, I think they'd be more worried about him

[@pinolyzerproductionsinc.1062]

@@Prince19912 true given how well kaiba dueled yugi, and without some misplays or plot armor kaiba could have beaten yugi

[@Prince19912]

@@pinolyzerproductionsinc.1062 Its usually plot armor that saves Yugi from losing to Kaiba, those two are equals if we're not putting Kaiba ahead for most of the show's duration(due to Atem helping Yugi being a bit of an X-factor). Though Dark Side of Dimensions(which follows up on the manga, not the anime) helps clarify that Yugi is himself an incredible duelist and Takahashi let us know that after the events of that film Yugi and Kaiba work together in game development thru Kaiba Corp and such so its all good in the end

[@RenaldyCalixte]

​@@Prince19912 The final duel of the anime showed Yugi defeating Atem's Egyptian God Cards and Kaiba admitting Yugi (not Atem) was the true King of Games.

[@Prince19912]

@@RenaldyCalixte And in the manga Kaiba wasn't there for that duel so he never got closure with Atem; he admits the same thing about Yugi when Yugi beats him in DSoD but realizes he needs to duel Atem anyway to get his closure(I like to think Kaiba beats The Pharaoh clean as a whistle after the film allowing him to move on)

[@Dkgow]

The pain of Kaiba not going +1 is insane.

[@ThespianDevil]

“Thanks for waiting” Is a wild thing to say to someone you just defeated not even a minute ago💀

[@SpecsTube]

We’ve had 2 consecutive Duel Monsters duels. We need a GX analysis next and I’m trying once again to direct Sam to his favourite character. I’m requesting Syrus vs Zane or Zane vs Aster. I really want to know 2 things: I want to see if Syrus could’ve beaten Zane at all and/or if Zane could’ve beaten Aster and prevent his descent into darkness? If we get 5D’s next, I’d like to see the rematch of Yusei vs Dark Signer Kalin - arguably the best duel of the Dark Signer arc. If we get Zexal next, I’d like to see Yuma vs Nash - arguably the best duel of Zexal. If we get ARC V next, I’d like to see Sora vs Shay - arguably the best duel of ARC V.

[@SuperNeos2]

I know for a fact that Aster outplayed Zane in that duel. They both used their cards the best they could and Aster beat him soundly. Syrus vs. Zane could be interesting.

[@mattbartels]

I also am routing for Syrus vs Zane but if we do get arc V there are two duels I'm keen on and they both involve Zuzu - her first duel with Julia and her match against Sergey in the Friendship Cup quarter finals.

[@TheKpa11]

If we get Zexal I’d like Trey and Quattro vs Kaito and Yuma Quattro vs “Nasch” Or Vector vs “Merag” and Durbe

[@CartoonKarma]

Yeah this duel has major “unknown manga hands getting filled in with non-bricks” syndrome which totally changes the plays. Even for Joey, as noted with the early Foolish Burial combo with Graverobber (though him otherwise having his three Battle City wins - even saying in the dub, “This hand is the pits!”), was a very good moment. Personally, had they put in Graceful Dice in place of Foolish Burial for Joey, and Polymerization in place of Pot of Greed for Kaiba, most misplays would have been fixed. Also, very curious that rather than the usual “we don’t know what this card is” blanks from opening hands, Sam instead slots in his personal choices for two cards each for Yugi and Marik here, but doesn’t say that, leading us to think they were shown in the episode. Being honest, there were quite. A few observations and commentaries more that could have been made here I think - earlier duel analysis videos had more of that. A desire to get them in under certain runtimes? Or just to pump them out quicker? I digress, but I might have liked a little more lingering here and there. These are still super fun, of course. Keep them going!

[@alphawolff519]

I love this duel analysis. It's funny. As a kid I always wanted to know,what cards all the duelists had

[@ManuelRiccobono]

so... basically... joey won, because the duel went all according to plan

[@tyrelllowery2074]

The first televised game of YuGiOh Commander

[@eldartaghiyev8422]

09:38 let gusse Yugi’s card was Berfomet. 16:20 Dragon’s rage and the 2 cards he would get if he would use pot of greed (Hyozanryu and Polymerization).

[@GraySkies-wj6pc]

Been in love with the “Was X about to defeat Y?” series ever since I found your channel, and this duel was one of my favorites from when I was younger. Thanks for covering this one! Been catching up on your journey with the Gravekeeper’s Deck as well, and that has been awesome to watch. Would love to see more GX and 5D’s duels in the future! Either way, consider me a new fan!

[@MiguelAnton1994]

I love the way you present duels: The music changes (like 6:23), the phrases ("like "and the penultimate turn of the duel!"), everything is epic and interesting.

[@markgel9510]

I like how Joey the luckiest duelist is the only one to brick in the original series and one of the few to brick ever in the series unfortunately for him this one isn’t his last but will get to that duel later

[@rwbyab7423]

You’re an absolute mad lad for breaking this down and I really enjoy these videos when they remember to pop up in my timeline. Really gotta respect the effort that goes into checking into all the card effects, predicting what could happen with alternate plays, and just the general presentation of it all

[@filipvadas7602]

Funny thing is that if Joey had just revealed Insect Queen, a card that really hasn't done him any favors throughout Battle City, not only would he have gone second but he also *probably* wouldn't have bricked *as hard* this Duel as, with Insect Queen gone, his chances of drawing into one of his lower level monsters increased significantly, especially since he plays a ton of them anyway.

[@adrianawilliams4810]

This was such a cool concept , it was definitely something they should/could revisit

[@acebesttheiris134]

Personally I think Joey could of used his insect queen as a card to go second. Seeing how he never really uses it. Edit: This also the second or third time Kaiba didn't use a Blue eyes

[@MrPerfect2000Z]

Also because his deck really doesn't benefit from it being in there. Same with Legendary Fisherman

[@InvaderWeezle]

@@MrPerfect2000Z Fun fact: Legendary Fisherman actually appears in this duel in the manga. Legendary Fisherman is only level 4 in the manga so Joey summons it only for Kaiba to Ring of Destruction it. The anime changed it to Axe Raider

[@MrPerfect2000Z]

@@InvaderWeezle If it was a Level 4 in the anime, Joey would have use for it in the same way Axe Raider has use. As a Level 5, it's worthless...I can hear the sound of a harpoon being thrown in my direction right now lol

[@adamloga3788]

Seriously, Joey, DROP INSECT QUEEN. IT. DOES. NOT. FIT. YOUR. DECK!

[@JzanderN]

Ironically, if he took Weevil's Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth and added it to his deck specifically for this duel, he could have gone first above Kaiba. But that would have taken some serious foresight (or lackthereof) and it would have been useless everywhere else.

[@jj209th6]

3:15 I think Kaiba didn't use pot of greed because, if he happened to lose, he would be in the first duel of the semifinals, with no way to edit his deck. He's better off not revealing his strategy if he can avoid it, so he makes sure he does draw those extra cards, in case he draws a key combo piece and one of his opponents happens to see it.

[@anthonythomas305]

It is one of the most unique duels in the series. Great analysis. Looks like you're almost done with every duels in the Battle City arc, including Semi-Finals, 3rd place match, and Final👍🏾

[@isaacalexander5286]

​@@RenaldyCalixte Hey already did that one.

[@OmnicidalClown1992]

I just love watching these duel analysis videos. I'm personally hoping that the duels against the Big Five will happen in the not-so-distant future. These duels consist of; Yugi vs. Gansley Tea vs. Crump Joey vs. Johnson Serenity, Duke and Tristan vs. Nesbitt Kaiba vs. Lecter And finally, Yugi and Joey vs. The Big Five.

[@Totaldramawwe]

I would also like to see this.... if only for him to facepalm at the misplays from the Joey/Johnson and the Nesbit/Serenity/Tristan/Duke duels.

[@OmnicidalClown1992]

@@Totaldramawwe Or how Joey could've easily stomp Johnson at multiple points in the duel, if it weren't for Johnson cheating and rigging Joey's luck-base cards?

[@darksideofevil13]

Johnson had the most broken deck master ability.

[@Dragonite43]

Yugi vs. Gansley. Gransley wins. Tea vs. Crump. Crump wins. Joey vs Johnson. Joey wins. Serenity, Duke and Tristan vs. Nesbitt. I don't really remember any misplays. Yugi and Joey vs. The Big Five. I don't really remember any misplays.

[@darksideofevil13]

@@Dragonite43 Why do Gansley and Crump win?

[@oski1500]

This "It doesn't really matter" card must be very powerful to grant Kaiba victory

[@arashijoe7681]

I kinda love these tag/royale duel analyses. It's been ages since I've seen the Lumis/Umbra duel(s); kinda wondering what you'd have to say about 'em and totally makes me wanna see a new video about it from ya.

[@Treasure_hunter_21]

I bet Kaiba didnt activated pot of greed to annoy you specifically.

[@AYoutubeName]

This duel had 4 players' worth of moves and it still didn't take as long to analyze as Noah's duel, lmao

[@Hero1922]

These are always interesting videos and i have to say this is probably my favorite so far just because of what Joey could have done that was some good reading of the field and game, nice work :)

[@devoutchaos375]

Plot twist, all of the mysterious cards were Pot of Greed.

[@dvader2004]

The reason why he didn use pot of greed is because the plot needed him to

[@velvetbutterfly]

This is one of the funnier episodes of this series so far. I don't know if it's better or worse but it's fun once in a while

[@lucarioknightb7685]

I always forget how BROKEN Skull Dice was in the anime. A small attack cut is NOTHING compared to halving attack being the worst outcome

[@Eric6761]

1/6 times you get nothing but imagine the swag of just halving a monster attack to 3000 to 500

[@DragoSonicMile]

@@Eric6761 Half of 3000 is 1500. If you want 3000 to turn into 500, you need to divide by 6.

[@Eric6761]

@@DragoSonicMile what's the term to diving a number to 6 then?

[@Flygoniaks]

It's a bit of a shame that you didn't include the iconic meme line from the dub: *"Why have MY life points gone to zero?!"*

[@syklic88]

16:38 What was that laugh? 😂

[@thatrandomsquad1418]

Watch it in 2x speed its hilarious

[@alexfrost4359]

Kiba was so overconfident he didn't think he needed pot of greed

[@bladersmosh]

I’d love to see a Vrains duel next. I know those duels are quite hard to do because of the amount of effects to cover in single turn would be difficult to keep up but there’s lots of great duels to cover. I recommend either Playmaker vs Ai, Soulburner vs Revolver or Playmaker vs Revolver (all 4 matches back to back.

[@joshthomas-moore2656]

4:40 i do feel i can launch a defence for Joey here, hes a bit of a chancer so he might be taking a chance that Yugi is going to defend him, he may also be chancing that everyone is going to ignore the guy with a single face down card because they have people with actual cards on the field, plus Joey is the underdog here hes the only one without a God card so its not inplausable for him to think "they are going to try and wipe each other out and ignore me" as they may want to face him with his God cardless deck so they would have an easier time in their dual, much like Marik thought he would have when he actually faced Joey.

[@ManaLeak13]

Man i love this series, youre doing an increadible job !

[@kap1618]

I really wish we got an official Yugi vs Joey rematch.

[@freetoplayking7362]

we did... in the manga

[@blitz4779]

​@@freetoplayking7362what happened?

[@freetoplayking7362]

@@blitz4779 nvm, I am reading the manga, but I haven't personally reached that point in the manga When I posted the comment, I heard that the duel happened in the manga as an off-comment, but when I looked it up for your question and went online to see the chapter, it just ended with them starting the duel, so my previous statement was sorta wrong. However, in DSOD (which the sub takes place in the manga continuity), Joey has his Red Eyes back, so either Joey lost, but Yugi gave him Red Eyes because it was so close, or Joey beat Yugi (which is what I believe happened since the wording in the English manga implied more that Joey will only accept it back if he won, and I believe that in character, Joey wouldn't brag about beating Yugi, not even to Kaiba to set him off, since Yugi (both he and the pharaoh) is his friend) Edit: I've found a fan made version that's cool kzbin.info/www/bejne/opXZdIOVfK1mjtk

[@Courageous91]

​@@freetoplayking7362- See the thing is. The manga never implies that Joey needed to beat Yugi to get Red Eyes back. Joeys entire journey in Battle City is to become a true duelist because he felt he had become too reliant on Yugi to help him. That's why Joey went off on his own during the arc with the promise that the next time Joey and Yugi met in a duel, it would be as equals and he would take Red Eyes back then. The whole "Joey must have beaten Yugi to get Red Eyes back" is a dubism. At least, that's always been how I've read it

[@Masterblader158]

This duel also really shows the true order of power/skill among the 4. Marik without a Shadow Game to inflict real pain to end duel early or to mess with opponents head alongside no Ra which carries him with its insane effects is the weakest. Joey while having the weakest opening hand and being a target for his opponents is able to still play into a situation that benefits him and is left open by his explosive playing. His position here is further backed up by how without Shadow Game pain he would have beaten Marik. Kiaba has a clear set plan going in, with his choice of monster in play order being the best in how it has no benefit to his gameplan and didn't take away a non-tribute normal summon out of his deck, and has control for a large section of the duel but his trollish nature and looking down on Joey reveals his inner weaknesses. And Atem is Atem, only loses LP from own effect and got out the biggest monsters.

[@bladersmosh]

This has to be shortest gap between new duel analysis vids yet. Literally just two weeks since the last one. Nice one, Sam.

[@darkphoenix2745]

10:19 Curiously, most of the time a duelist that isn't Yugi uses mirror forces the effect of it is negated somehow. I remember this also happening when Crow duel a filler character in 5DS.

[@NetSaverHQ]

The last card Kaiba drew was Mushroom man.

[@RIH80]

Another fun video! Really hoping you get around to Yami Marik vs Yami Bakura soon.

[@AlexTheOilersFan]

I don’t know what’s more impressive. Joey and Kaiba both wanting the same outcome, or the fact that all four somehow know the ATK of the cards they revealed, despite covering up the ATK number

[@devinnall2284]

1:32 Kaiba definitely had an unfair advantage since it's his tournament he knew the rules beforehand and could easily have placed a strong monster in his deck that he had no intention of using

[@sidecharacter397]

I haven't even gotten to watch this in full but I already like the different approach to accomodate to the more unique rules (being "could Marik have faced Yami" instead of "could Marik have won"). Granted, due to the rules, nobody could've "won" unless they pre-errata Ring of Destruction'd all 3 others at once (or going shopping for Exodia), but still. There's more to this duel than reducing LP to 0.

[@ransoma325]

Sam the effort to comprehend this duel deserves so much more credit. You truly are one of the many kings of this game!

[@leonkenedy2988]

Your funny obsession with Pot of Greed in this video is right on point for how hilarious it is.

[@TheFallenJ]

My man yugi is still running feral imp lmfao

[@dantespekken3549]

I think it could be said that Joey did not completely miss-play, but it is complex. Had he done the grave-robber move before, yes he would have killed Marek, but because he cannot hold back he would still have to attack Kaiba, not knowing if Kaiba could actually defend himself, so he might kill Kaiba too, or have that be the eventual outcome. This way he could first see Kaiba's response and then decide if he was going to defeat Kaiba and Yugi or defeat Marek and get defeated himself. (also it is completely ridiculous that the losers and winners would face-off in this way in the semi's)

[@xroyalprincessx2318]

You know he forgot to say yugi could have used his seven tools of bandit to destroy kaiba attack guidance armor then kaiba wood have taken 2200 damage and then Joey's turn summoned is gearfried the iron kight to attack kaiba life points directly dealt 1800 damage and lost The duel that could have been an ulter play then it would have came down to Joey yugi and marik

[@raxy1996]

3:10 nah man giga chad kaiba didn't want to be a stereotypes and have to explain what it does

[@psychicnecrosis8376]

My theory is that for the lack of pot of greed play, that Kaiba didn't want to get 3v1'd if everybody decided he had too much card advantage and needed to be dealt with.

[@IPLayedVR42Long]

I feel like we need to add a missplay counter to the corner of each video from here on lol (Maybe toss in a little ding sound for each missplay). Great vid as always TGS!

[@bongchoof]

Holy shit. Kaiba using Shrink on Joey is probably the funniest move in the whole series. It's so great.

[@bobkolterjahn4266]

I wouldn't call it a troll move on Kaiba's part since he was doing what the 4 way duel was intended. Basically, anything goes.

[@pagananarchist4723]

It's interesting that throughout this entire duel, nobody summons any monsters that are 2500 atk or higher, despite Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba all having monsters with 2500 or more attack points in their hands.

[@craigyeah1052]

One of my favorite duels due to the unique dynamics of a 4-way duel where it's unfair yes but the consequences aren't tournament elimination so it doesn't upset the viewer too much. With that said, the viewer and players both do care a lot about the stakes as they will greatly affect the story. My one criticism as a viewer is that Yugi not having much of a goal is boring... but as a writer I bet that was fun because all the other duelists can (and do) attempt to influence him.

[@marcuswillbrandt5901]

Everyone always: Oh, I love Kaiba! He is on of the only characters really playing good Kaiba: Does not know what Pot of Greed does

[@easternwoyer3876]

Isn't it said in Joey's duel with Kiba later that shrink can't effect gearfread. Like I remember you even mentioning it in your recap of the duel

[@roninwarriorsfan]

No, equip cards don't work on it in general. Joey was just plain wrong in the bronze medal duel

[@alster724]

Shrink is a quick-play spell, not equip. Also, Kaiba used it on his Ryu-Kishin Powered on purpose to meet the criteria for Crush Card Virus. His misplay here was playing the Monster in ATK instead of DEF mode.

[@easternwoyer3876]

@alster724 in the anime it's all spells not just equips

[@RaylinKHD]

12:10 I wouldn't classify that as a misplay because Blade Knight only gets his attack bonus when you have one card in hand

[@shuckeegaming]

You cam hear the pain in his voice when he reminds you and himself that Kaiba still hasn't activated Pot of Greed 🤣🤣

[@Dseagles14]

I would love to have seen a duel between Marik and Kaiba

[@RenaldyCalixte]

Me too. You think there is fanfiction of this hypothetical duel?

[@timothyskidmore1554]

Marik"it's time to get us into the shadow realm" kaiba "as president of kaiba corp, I declare that invalid"

[@limonbattery]

@@RenaldyCalixte There's a lot of scripted duels on KZbin with matchups like this. No voicelines or anything but still a fun watch.