Was Mai About To Defeat Marik? [Mind Game: Mai Vs. Marik]

● 2nd Channel: / samdickens
● VOD Channel: bit.ly/37gSw8g
● Twitch: / tgsanime
● Twitter: / tgsanime
● Instagram: / samdickenstgs
#Yugioh #TradingCardGame #TGSAnime

[@MrShukaku1991]

You know what would have been hilarious in this duel? If the destruction of Makyura caused Marik to forget the Pharoh. Just, his entire motivation, gone.

[@SoulGizmo]

"What am I doing here again? Oh yea playing this girl I guess"

[@rhamztajarros4335]

This should've been a funny scene in the abridged series haha!

@@rhamztajarros4335 To be fair I didn't expect Mister Tweetums.

[@Greil9]

Not so sure, Pharaoh was Marik's objective. But unless they changed it in the anime, Yami Marik just wanted to destroy everything around himself for no greater reason than he wanted to. Yea, Pharaoh may have been higher on the list of "things that I most want to destroy" but if he was gone Marik would just destroy everything else.

[@MereImitation]

He’d go full Brick from Anchorman. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!!!”

[@TrevorAllenMD]

Mai vs Marik is one of those frustrating yugioh moments where “Only the main character can beat the big bad guy no matter what.” Behind the king of examples, Joey vs Marik.

[@Sachi10007]

Well it makes sense for the main character to be the one to beat the final boss.

[@Sakurasan2023]

Plot armor

[@DuskoftheTwilight]

If it wasn't for how Marik was framed in these duels, I'd think they were trying to make a point that he's actually a terrible duelist being carried by Ra's power.

[@Silphanis]

Honestly I think that's part of the point. Pegasus didn't play fair either, literally reading minds to get the upper hand. It's meant to feel unfair, such that their eventual downfall feels like karmic punishment, instead of "just" being outskilled by the MC. I mean Takahashi could have written these duels to have Marik win fair and just be a dick about it, but he chose to do it this way, and I definitely think it's intentional In the Joey duel, also, it's made explicit that Marik isn't really playing optimally, he's forgoing opportunities so that he can cause Joey more pain through the mechanics of the shadow game. It's his cockiness that almost costs him, and it's the beginning of his villainous breakdown that leads to Marik Prime being able to take over, at least in my reading I definitely feel similarly, he's a great big cheating bastard, I just don't think it's bad writing, necessarily

[@Samsapopin]

That's more like a common trope that a lot of common animes do. In the latest season of SAO, Asuna (the female lead) almost beats 1 of the main villains of the season, but she lets him regain his power back, only for Kirito to beat him in the next episode.

[@ivanbluecool]

Clearly mai should have taken more ancient Egyptian language classes. She could have won the duel

[@years-ti7xl]

Yeah, probably should've brushed up on her Egyptian language before the duel.

[@ivanbluecool]

​@@years-ti7xlor ask Tristan to take one for the team and duel marik so he can use ra on him. Record the duel and boom just repeat the phrase. Ra

[@Beejay-ef5kp]

I mean you’re not wrong

[@TayGlass92]

Kaiba never took any Egyptian language class, and he could read it as if it were in English. Even he was surprised by it

[@theonewhowatches869]

​@@TayGlass92 That's because he's the reincarnation of the Millennium Rod's original user, Kaiba could only read it because of his own past life, Mai doesn't have that benefit

[@rickyl3819]

I have to say that I've always liked that this Duel's Shadow Game rules are different from Joey's, because it makes Yami Marik seem like he puts more thought into how his games harm his victims and makes each of them unique. Mai: Talks about not needing anybody and being able to be on her own, so Yami Marik attempts to isolate her completely. Yami Bakura and Less Evil Marik: Two spirits inhabiting a body, so Yami Marik takes it away from them. Joey: Wants to be a tough guy, so Yami Marik makes the Duel as physically painful as possible. Yami Yugi: Wants to save Less Evil Marik, so Yami Marik sets it up so that Less Evil Marik dies if Yami Yugi wins. He also fixes it where he can kill both Yugi and Yami Yugi together. While this one superficially resembles the Bakura match, the two key twists are Yugi being painfully eroded away as they lose life points, while Yami remains whole, and that Less Evil Marik is acting as a hostage because Yami promised Ishizu that he'd save the guy who led a terrorist cell, enslaved people, kidnapped his friends, and tried to kill Yugi and his friends on multiple occasions. Come to think of it, is that one actually a "Less Evil Marik" at all?

[@DamianQualshy]

There's Marik and then there's a Psychopath 🗿

[@geminia999]

I do dislike how the rules play out though in this. Oh, Mai loses memories of two people who taught her important lessons about needing support, Marik loses memories of two mooks he had probably already forgotten. I know Yami Marik really doesn't have anyone close to him, but it would probably be more impactful if it was Ishizu and Odeon he lost memories of.

[@igorlopes8463]

Makes me wonder what he would have done if were to face Seto instead of Yugi

[@DamianQualshy]

@@igorlopes8463 maybe forget how to play the game? Lol Either that or it could be about Mokuba again, but that's repeating Mai's duel, kind of.

[@XXMatt0040XX]

You should(n't) find out what she suffers through in the manga...

[@roninwarriorsfan]

There is now only one battle city finals duel to cover, Joey vs Odion

[@silverwolf9396]

Odion would have won but listened to Marik about summoning fake Ra and thus he got knocked out by Ra allowing Marik's living dark side to break free from the confinement Odion held him in.

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Ehh it's decent but not my favorite. Yeah I get that they wanted to show that making fake egyptian god cards was not a good idea. But it resulted in making Joey look weaker than he actually was at that point, and it is not lost on me that this happens while Kaiba is present too. And the writers seemed to have had a habit of nerfing Joey whenever Kaiba was around to keep the status quo, it's the reason I don't like their first duel at all. The only real exceptions were his duels with Johnson and Marik. Kaiba was watching but Joey was performing how he should've at both duels. Point is the duel with Odion is a bit sloppy in how it got to where it wanted to by the end, it would've been much better for him to put up a fight the whole way through and push Odion to the point of using Ra ontop of his accusation that Odion was'nt really Marik.

[@royalty843]

Joey could've won if he played better with what he had.

[@kyuubinaruto17]

​@@Cloud-dt6xb I feel that it misses the point. The English dub has Joey more rude and dismissive even towards the end, but the original Japanese and the English manga establish that Joey really came to respect Odion during their duel. THAT'S how he knew it wasn't Marik, not just the vague feeling he had in English. Even after he briefly wakes up after being knocked out by Ra he tells Joey it was an honor to duel him, and Joey returns the sentiment. Unlike all the cheaters using underhanded tactics to win, Roba, Weevil, Marik, Pegasus, etc. Odion faced his opponents head on honestly. Plot armor made Joey win, but I feel it really fits with the theme of the show that the one who came closest to winning against the heroes is one who played fair the whole time. In that regard it's not showing Joey as weak. It's showing that playing with honor is a strength and that he's basically a better duelist than his boss even without the magic and God cards.

[@DrakeSilver]

there is also the marik vs bakura duel as i don't think he has done that one yet

[@Yugigreg]

Technically Odion, Mai, and Ishizu should’ve all won their duels. Imagine that battle city finals

[@danieltodorov7753]

Ishizu defeating Marik would have been a better story for sure.

[@janette2691]

​@@danieltodorov7753agreed

[@if7723]

Ishizu lost because she flat couldn't do anything outside of her gameplan.

[@firewolf950tfwgaming7]

Would have been interesting to have Ishizu vs Marik and Kaiba vs Mai over what we got. Yes the idea for Ishizu was for her to reclaim obelisk and use that as her sword, but it would have given her a bit more prominence than a Kaiba stepping stone. Plus you could introduce Yami Marik’s whole “Immortal god Phoenix” plan earlier with Ishizu choosing to destroy his deck to only find out that helps him as Marik wouldn’t use Ra that way

[@PixieHunted]

@@if7723i mean I understand that, she saw that if she plays these certain cards, she has a guaranteed win, her fault for over relying on ancient powers but also not her fault that Kaiba had mind armour

[@thedarknight307]

You forget Yami Marik also lost the memories of Mr.Tweetums, his only Best Friend

[@aksonnolasco4763]

Right? The worst mistake Mai has done. Probably things would be different if she didn't erased Mr. Tweetums

[@thedarknight307]

@@aksonnolasco4763 Marik lieklt would’ve showed Mercy if Mr.Tweetums wasn’t erased. He was just the cutest little guy!

[@ugochukwunyere3196]

Abridged

[@bladersmosh]

I think the reason why Mai didn’t attack with her Harpies is because the anime/manga effect of Elegant Egotist makes the monsters summoned by it not able to attack the turn they’re summoned. The same applied when she used it back in Duelist Kingdom if you recall and I think she said so.

[@TGSAnime]

I thought I saw something about that, thanks for the info! Luckily though Marik only had 1050lp left. So Mai could have won had she chosen not to use it and just attacked with the one Harpie Lady she already had on the field.

[@SuperSayianWarrior]

It actually doesn't have that negative effect. Maybe in DK it did but not for BC

[@BmanTheChamp]

Even if that were the case she had 3 monsters, Marik could only summon one monster at a time so he'd have to pull some serious BS out in order to survive and still win.

[@christopherb501]

​@@SuperSayianWarrior Right...in her VERY last duel, she used the card and immediately attacked with all three resultant monsters. That filler episode only further undermined her plays here. They just needed to establish the damn shackles as untargetable...it would have been so damn simple...

[@mehdidelteil3672]

​@@TGSAnime She had a one epsiode duel versus a guy in love with her using ninja deck during this tournament, and she used "Élegant egotist". No restrictions on the first turn for harpie sister, she didn't attack because of plot 😉

[@roninwarriorsfan]

Also I'd just like to point out: after Mai's Joey memories were wiped, Yugi used the puzzle to help Mai overcome Marik's mental attacks

[@kenganmmvs8615]

Which always made me mad why he didn’t do that earlier

[@kingdeegalang]

​@@kenganmmvs8615 don't forget it was "tension" between her and the group

[@rainbowdragon168]

Sadly Mai forgot to take the Ancient Egyptian Language Class so that she could summon Mega Ultra Chicken 😂

[@Vile-MKII]

Shhh, he is legend.

[@tarikkash4282]

@@Vile-MKII I'd love to see Megan Hollingshead react to this video!

[@rainbowdragon168]

@@Vile-MKII Who?

[@jay-stag]

@@rainbowdragon168 The Voice Actor (I think?)

[@rainbowdragon168]

@@jay-stag Oh ok

[@mr2oxking]

The thing I liked best about this duel is how in the beginning Mai destroys strategies previously used by marik’s minions so easily

[@TheKpa11]

With basic backrow destruction and trap countering

[@luminica_]

14:00 Marik is not attacking because he knows Mai is gonna summon Ra, so he plans to take it back to inflict maximum pain. Also interesting how all memories lost are people who appear in the series. It would have been very funny if some random people were forgotten.

[@emreekinci4258]

Like the random bird Marik forgot in the abridged series

[@JoeyLamontagne]

Or Miho from Season 0

[@dreamcream3738]

​@@emreekinci4258wait, no! Mr. Tweetums!

[@High.Priest]

It's funny how in this duel Marik lost his memories of Strings, however in dub when he summoned Revival Jam against Yugi, he reminds him that Yugi already encountered Revival Jam against Strings, although Marik should've forgotten that

[@christopherb501]

Maybe since he won he got them back...? ...or it was always temporary and just intended to fu** with his opponent in the moment?

[@live22morrow]

"Strings" was just a puppet body that Marik was using. Even if he forgot the specific person, he would still remember his own deck and duel moves.

[@caiusdrakegaming8087]

@@live22morrow Well that and Marik's kind of known to rig the shadow games so they're far less harsh on him. Probably got the memories back when he won

[@High.Priest]

@@live22morrow yeah, he could remember that duel, but Marik shouldn't have mentioned String's name in that sentence

[@rhamztajarros4335]

Or maybe because he won the shadow game, all his memories are back? not sure haha!

[@jackbauer6543]

What I love about this duel is how Marik uses the same strategy that nearly broke Yugi (revival jam defender) only for Mai to defeat it with a simple Harpies Feather Duster. This is why you play backrow removal.

[@roncerjani9063]

If Joey had some backrow wipers, he'd be much more of a threat

[@singleplayermoments]

To be fair, Yugi has Mystical Space Typhoon and Dust Tornado. It’s just the plot didn’t allow him to draw them.

[@unnamed12346]

Ah yes. The Duel that, while painful to watch, the original manga had an even darker alternative where duelists actually had the same damage that the monsters had (Basically the meant when say, Mai's Amazoness monster cuts the head off a monster with how the Duel Disk projected it, Marik's head actually falls off his body because he also took that damage. Yes, he lived, but he actually held his head Dullahan Style for a moment and it was metal as hell)

[@GeteMachine]

Gotta love how dark Yugioh was back when its original writer was doing it.

[@sonicgen20]

I actually do like that the anime chose not to repeat any of the shadow game rules. With Mai every time a monster is destroyed their memories of someone is erased. With Bakura each time they lose life points a portion of their bodies disappear. With Joey each time a monster is destroyed or weakened the owner feels its pain. With Atem each time they lose life points a portion of their soul partner is erased. Also note that Marik’s duel with Bakura and Joey were the only duels where they were on an even playing field. With Mai and Atem Marik gave himself the advantage as he doesn’t care about any of his henchmen or his partner soul.

[@unnamed12346]

@@sonicgen20 Perhaps, but I feel like it does split things differently to tell the story. Marik in the manga was about physical harm the most and actively causing bodily damage, which stays consistent with his backstory when he chose to not just stab his Dad, but actively carve the Runes off his back and drop them onto Rishid's back, as well as in his Duels with Mai, Jounouchi and Atem, alongside the Penalty Game being not just sand that erases the memory, but actual parasites that eat your Soul while you watch your friends live on without you in Mai's Case, while the anime was more about causing psychological pain with Mai and Atem. Weirdly enough Bakura was most tame out of both types, and the Dub's use of the Shadow Realm works better with how much of his focus in the anime is on psychological torment of his opponents before sending them to the Shadow Realm.

[@mightymanatee5342]

Also, the punishment Mai received from Marik was slightly different. Instead of an hourglass of sand that takes away Mai's memories... It's an hourglass of carnivorous insects. Likely Scarabs. *Edit* I just saw the above reply after commenting this.

[@lovethatdarkness]

I love that despite all of these shenanigans, the Ref only stepped in and commented on Yugi setting a card without looking at it.

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Well this is because Kaiba's in charge and any obejctions will be met with "But I want the god cards soo I don't care"

[@norabellerose8560]

And this duel actually has one of my favorite scenes in the whole series, and that’s when Atem shielded Joey and Mai from Raw’s attack.

[@renatoramos8834]

Dammit, Joey! What did I just tell you about being careful?

[@MegaRogash]

@@renatoramos8834 "Yes! Burn, Pharao! BURN!"

[@dockkid]

And apparently their school uniforms are fireproof!

[@brandonscott5544]

AGREED 🤝

[@Sanyotho]

​@@dockkid or it's just a virtual augmented reality instead of real fire

[@iml908]

20:23 Here's an interesting hypothetical to defend Mai's decision. Assuming Holding Arms' invincibility was actually three of Marik's turns, and thus Mai wouldn't be able to attack it with her Harpies, maybe she thought summoning Ra would bypass the invincibility? The God cards effects are infamously vague in the anime, so I don't think it'd be unreasonable for Mai to think Ra would be able to attack and destroy Holding Arms.

[@7swordquanta459]

I doubt it. Recall how Atem used the Slime Monster to block against Osiris/Slifer. Given the set-up with the Slime, even the Egyptian God card couldn't penetrate it. Going back to your case, the same thing applies. The only difference is that the only thing keeping Holding Arms alive is its own effect. Not even Ra will penetrate it.

[@if7723]

@@7swordquanta459 but it acted to the effect, it doesn't have piercing it just attacks your opponents monsters to reduce unless it destroys. That's what Slifer did. Ra should just obliterate.

[@floodinmon14]

Mai's strategy of going into this with Chain Master was such a good idea. imagine her dueling like this in Battle City and stealing Obelisk or Blue-Eyes or Dark Magician for the win; but, no. She unlucky ran into a card that was theft-proof. Shame, really.

[@roncerjani9063]

However, Gods can be controlled by worthy people with relations to Ancient Egypt, which Mai isn't. So it's safe to assume that stealing Slifer and Obelisk to use is like firing a jammed gun. And as we saw with Joey, stealing a BEWD against Kaiba won't do much against him.

[@gothicbutterfly013]

​@roncerjani9063 hey, stealing one of Kaiba's Blue Eyes and using it against him does plenty! Specifically, it majorly pisses him off like very little else can lmao

[@santosic]

@@gothicbutterfly013 I'd pay good money to see an animated duel between Mai and Kaiba in which at one point, perhaps as her winning play, she uses the same trick she used on Marik to steal his Winged Dragon of Ra and steals one of Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon and uses it to either gain a massive advantage over Kaiba, backing him into a corner, or perhaps even straight up winning the duel because of it. In the latter outcome, nothing would piss him off more than a move like that lmao. His pride would be beaten down.

[@Jay_The_Sannin]

I feel like for Joey to be erased I think maybe the winged dragon of Ra should’ve instead destroyed her ace which would be harpie lady, it would’ve hit that much harder imo, like for him to be erased with one of her monsters we never see again just feels insulting

[@lorddukfoxyzeppeli7921]

but her ace is harpy drago

[@RedDragonForce2]

One thing I found most interesting with this duel and Joey’s duel against Odion: Joey manages to counter the Powers of the Shadow Realm. Combine that with Joey managing to fully throw off the Millenium Rod’s mind control effect, and you have a recipe for a great power within Joey. I do a bit more Headcanon in a fanfic I’m writing, but suffice it to say, Joey overcoming the Millenium Rod’s Power over erasing memories to have Mai actually remember him is something no one else has ever been able to do. Not even Yami. Yami managed to keep Mai in the duel after she lost her memory of Joey, but he couldn’t restore her memories. In season 1, the Puzzle managed to reverse the Ring’s effect and swapped Bakura with Yami Bakura, but not even Yami could undo Marik’s memory manipulation. Joey is amazing in all sorts of ways, but he has the favor of the luck god to the point he can override a Millenium Item’s Power. That is a level of Awesome Kaiba can’t comprehend.

[@caiusdrakegaming8087]

That's why I'd say Joey could have gained Ra's respect if he beat Marik. His deck is centered quite a bit on luck to get out strong monsters or to make some fights more in his favor. Ra's effects all require luck to get the most out of them especially when it comes to what monsters you use to summon it. Joey would have had the strongest version of Ra in BC

[@RedDragonForce2]

@@caiusdrakegaming8087 he does still need to read the ancient text. But since Jono exists in Forbidden Memories… that might be enough.

[@caiusdrakegaming8087]

@@RedDragonForce2 Yugi would be able to help him with that, so not a big problem.

[@Dragonite43]

@@RedDragonForce2 I could see Jono just making it up on the spot, but because it's close enough to the text, Ra allows it. XD

[@RedDragonForce2]

@@caiusdrakegaming8087 true. Best friends and all that.

[@RandomParkShots]

I no longer watch Yugioh but can’t describe the joy I get when I see videos in this series come out

[@guywhoateallthepizza1031]

Why does losing memories of someone = unable to see them? Wouldn't it be like "who the hell is that?"

[@DragoSonicMile]

It's a shadow game. If the memories are lost in shadows, then you can't see them. ... Yeah, I know it's stupid. I can't think of a better explanation for why they showed it that way.

[@Modie]

I think, Mai summoning Ra isn't really a bad thing. It's a story point. She wants to prove herself to the others. If I remember correctly, Yugi even tries to give her advice when Marik plays his slime combo and she refuses it. So what better way to prove yourself than using an egyptian god card? Therefore, I think, it's fine, especially since there was no mention of ancient egyptian texts in the duel before (between Odion and Joey). Mai even references that duel when Marik asks her if she wants to play Ra with that rescue card and she says she understands that Ra would have 0 ATK then. So I think, overall, it shows her to be a good duelist while also giving you enough reason to understand why she did it. Of course, you could add a few rules that just make it even more logical. Like for example, that Holding Arms is still invincible, but God Cards would be able to destroy it, to just name the easiest fix. But then again, I would also say it would make the story worse as Mai would have to use Ra. And the reason why Joey feels responsible for her being trapped is that he wasn't honest with her and therefore, Mai felt she had to prove herself in the first place.

[@johnfairweather7012]

Pot of Greeds effect is so complex the even had to have the duel disk simplify it

[@ShamankingZuty]

I want to see one of these where you say "Was {character} about to defeat {other character}? ... No, of course not." and then the Full House ending theme and credits roll.

[@blazep4652]

Well, he did do “Was Weevil about to defeat Yugi?”

[@tarikkash4282]

@@blazep4652 YES!

[@SakuraAvalon]

Man, this duel has a lot of personality and life in the animation. Mai's movements have a lot of personality, like her activating Grave Hand, or Amazoness Spellcaster. Even the Monster battle animations are great, like The Unfriendly Amazon doing a back flip through the air, and then swinging her blade to the side to kill Makyura.

[@alzayia164]

Desgardus attaching to Dark witch and moving her to Marik’s side of the field. Fighter getting trapped by nightmare wheel..

[@TheKpa11]

Lot of posing and action moves yes.

[@Steveman27]

Mai's movements, or her cards' effects?

[@gothicbutterfly013]

​@@Steveman27both, really. That graceful charity draw had some unique flair.

[@emreekinci4258]

The episode is animated by Kagami, basically the best animator of Yugioh series.

[@gigaguy200]

If I remember correctly, in older rules, turn count used to be based per player, not in total. By that, I mean “turn 1” was both the first turn and the second turn, because it was turn 1 for each player, then turn 2 was third and fourth, etc. That’s at least what I remember from older yugioh games because it changed how Final Countdown worked.

[@Sonicgott]

Marik’s goal wasn’t only to win, but to torture. The idea of prolonging the duel is to make his opponents suffer.

[@_Vengeance_]

This is really 1 of those duels that suffered from being brought from the manga to the anime. The purpose behind the Holding Arms play was that it would torture Amazoness Chain Master each turn, therefore torturing Mai, but that's completely lost when the whole Shadow Game has been changed (the duel itself was identical, except it started with The Unfriendly Amazon and Makyura, skipping the part where Marik uses the cards of his henchmen). Similarly, Grave Arm just painlessly pulls a monster down, so to keep its secondary purpose of avoiding the Shadow Game's rule they invented this rule of this not wiping out a memory (ironic how this only became inconsistent because they added the Dunames Dark Witch vs Unfriendly Amazon part to the duel). 1 more interesting thing to mention is that Harpie cards were lvl 5 in the manga, so Mai was waiting for something that would spring her Dramatic Rescue trap so she could bring out Cyber Harpie without tribute. Also, I think the 3 turns invincibility counts Marik's Standby Phases just like how Viser Des does, and that The Winged Dragon of Ra bypasses this invincibility because of god card deus ex machina. Also, I think the talk about destroying Amazoness Chain Master within 3 turns is an inaccurate translation and he's actually talking about how Amazoness Fighter will be dying in 3 turns (in the context of being tortured by Holding Arms).

[@danieltodorov7753]

Nope, anime duels are always better.

[@bignewsmorgans93]

@@danieltodorov7753 No they're not. Just take the ceremonial duel for example. In the manga Yugi was outplaying Atem at every point, showing just how much he'd grown, and how he deserved to be the king of games. In the manga Yugi and Atem both make a ton of stupid plays just so old ass monsters could be brought back because nostalgia, and Atem even had to encourage Yugi to keep going when Yugi became sad and dejected.

[@a.t.6610]

"1 more interesting thing to mention is that Harpie cards were lvl 5 in the manga" This is so crazy to me, btw lol They were on crack

[@filipvadas7602]

Its really sad that this was the last time Mai does something relevant in-canon Also, Marik did missplay with Mirror Wall since its established that, if set, spells in Battle City can be used as Quick Plays. And since he set it early on, he could have used Trap Removal and attacked sooner. It wouldn't have changed the end result but he would have secured his victory more confidently

[@Amitlu]

Thats what happens when an anime writer writes an insert turn

[@steampunkfox4932]

Considering if I remember correctly this is the first time anyone has seen Marik duel I think it would make sense for her to not play her traps on her first turn so she doesn’t know how he’ll play and doesn’t want to potentially lose the traps, or potentially take up trap or slots that she might need.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

I mean, by this point in the series we've already seen a card that destroys cards in hand, so that's not playing cautiously at all, it's choosing a different gamble and hoping it pays off.

[@steampunkfox4932]

@@dontmisunderstand6041 either way it’s a gamble

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@steampunkfox4932 Yeah, that's what strategy is. There's no strategy in any situation with a correct answer.

[@SowaraAkther1]

Lesson of the day: You should be scared when TGS Anime wears the glasses. He is smarter than we can comprehened.

[@supersonicheroes]

I think it is worth noting that when Mai lost her memories of Tea from destroying Diane’s Dark Witch, she destroyed it by battle. But when she destroyed Amazon Chain Master it was via Grave Arm’s effect. That could explain why she kept her memories, since she was willing sacrificing her monster via a card effect. Same reason she didn’t lose any memories from tributing her Harpies to summon Ra.

[@MatthewSP117]

God card tunnel vision was Mai's detriment upon getting it since she had some knowledge of how Ra works from Joey/Jounouchi's duel with Odion/Reshid when he summoned the fake Ra card. Throughout the duel she was in control before the Game of darkness/Yami no Game/Shadow game which did off set her a bit but then she had a small reprieve thanks to Yugi and the Millennium Puzzle then she made a move that she shouldn't have made and its the very card Marik had that was a trap her taking Ra was the biggest misplay because its even shown in the Manga and anime when Mai stole Ra using her Chain Masters effect Marik was unfazed which is a red flag. Her summoning it was a mistake thinking it was her end game but its not because of the Hieratic Text which only appears when Ra is played. Had she just attacked with her Cyber Harpies or regular Harpie lady in the manga she would have won and Ra would have been hers and even if she stole through the chain masters effect and didn't summon it she would have it reguardless. Sadly she doesn't and the play she made ultimately is her own demise

[@giovanniorellana2200]

Forget Pot of Greed, who knows what Holding Arms does!

[@djt08031996]

Nah. The real mystery is Negate Attack

[@TheKpa11]

And Holding Legs 🦵 🦵

[@goldenhydreigon4727]

Pretty sure Holding Arms attaches itself to an opponent's monster and prevents them from attacking as well as prevents Holding Arms from being attacked as long as the monster being trapped by Holding Arms is on the field.

[@Steveman27]

If Holding Arms and Holding Legs are both real cards, then if you play duel monsters with someone and you put them in play, what are they supposed to do?

[@djt08031996]

@@Steveman27 get chained to the tablet if udjat. Didn't you see those secret effects?

[@sasir2013]

Marik really is the king of "Could X have won", isn't he? so many dubious fights. Could we have shun vs sora? They have two complete duels, with pretty complex plays that can be entertaining to analyze

[@gamezx]

To be fair, marik did infact give mai an accurate translation of the chant, but that's what gave ra back to him =P

[@michaelnally2841]

I think the whole “lose memories when monster is destroyed” is meant for if the monster is destroyed in battle. Given Mai destroyed her dark witch in battle vs using a card effect for her chain master.

[@dogboyton3166]

I swear that was actually addressed in the dub, but it’s been a while so it might just be a phantom memory

[@michaelnally2841]

@@dogboyton3166 that’s where I think I heard it from. But it’s been a long time since I watched Yugioh and if that’s the case. Point for the dub for fixing a mistake the sub did.

[@SowaraAkther1]

Can we admit that Joey and Yugi are great people considering they took an attack from a GOD! And they did it with no hesistation.

[@TheBerchie]

Mai flew too close to the sun, and her wings were destroyed.

[@JunkoEnoshima.]

This is not even a question, from a normal dueling rules perspective Mai should have had Ra and win BUT the fact that not only she couldn't use Ra but MARIK was allowed to despite Mai summoning it made her lose. How could have she know such a bullshit would happen ?

[@yugiohfan7906]

It's called plot armor...

[@Sakurasan2023]

Plot armor

[@younasdar5572]

If we go by normal dueling rules, ra is actually the one god card whos text, as it was translated by Kaiba, was most closely followed. Yes the effect had not appeared before that duel but it was followed through the manga - and the parts of the anime adapted from it - quite closely. Saint Dragon - The God of Osiris, I'm reading their manga versions to get the effects and that includes the names, however stated only that X is the number of cards in the players hand. And: When the opponent summons a creature , the point of the player's card is cut by 2000 points. - Nothing about destroying it if it goes down to or below 0. The God of Obelisk has probably the most space for misunderstanding: "The player shall sacrifice two bodies to the God of Obelisk" is so far so clear, though it does not specify if those "bodies" must be on their field or if they can discard monsters from their hand or I mean with how the characters act especially in shadow games just murder 2 bystanders, and "The opponent shall be damaged" has similar concerns and additionally even when assuming it only applies to ingame damage it does not specify any amount (It is appearantly 4000 wich is equal to a direct attack by Obelisk), "And the monsters on the field shall be destroyed" at least specify that it does mean the field, and only in game objects finally, but whos monsters and how many and no part of that includes gaining infinite ATK for a Turn. The Sun of God Dragon in its first line does mention "[...] However God shall only follow those who offer the ancient incantation to the heavens." so saying that the first player who says the text in their turn gets control of it sounds like a comparatively reasonable conclusion. And Kaiba had translated and spoiled the other 2 effects in the original before they were used, he just didn't feel like sharing with the rest of the class.

[@Alice_Haukea]

It's also worth noting that even though Ra doesn't respond to Mai, it should still be considered "summoned to her field".

[@younasdar5572]

Well if you consider that it didn't have stats and wasn't going to stop a direct attack it was apparently not treated as a monster on her field. So it would either be considered a non monster card like a backrow crystal beast or not on either players SIDE of the field, in either case it would cause a rules nightmare if after its summon a player got to 5 on field monsters and then read its effect.

[@TheSuperHendo]

Fun fact about the Wing Dragon of Ra he does have visible card text. The card text is shown to only those who have connection to the ancient scriptures for example Yami, Kabia, and Marik can see the “invisible ancient scriptures” on Ra. Mai has no connection to the the ancient scriptures so therefore she can’t see or read the text to summon Ra

[@wsibradio8304]

i love how you left out the part where yugi took a blast from RA and survived

[@1slayer959]

15:40 Gotta love those situational traps that would never work in real life lol

[@SuperSayianWarrior]

Fun fact, Card of Last Will is an actual trap in real life, came out in I believe a Legendary Collection set, it though has the Match Winner YCS clause of cannot be use in a duel written on it

[@mehdidelteil3672]

Card of last will would be broken, given that the print card mention when the attack of one of your monster become 0, meaning you Can activate it after you reduce the attack yourself.

[@lastwarrior07]

Wow. The depth, detail and little tidbits here and there. Thank you for doing this. Nostalgia galore. Very much earned 👍🏻 & sub

[@DarthMater]

Marik doesn't go for the early win when he has the chance because he is not interested in that he wants to play with his food, slowly tormenting people with both the shadow game and the actual game and wear them down before he summons ra for the big finisher. He often has chances he could go for early wins and that is just never something he's interested in. It's not exactly the most meta play style, but it fits his role as a big bad very nicely.

[@ManuelMerzinger]

The duplicate draw at 6:01 could be intentional for a commercial break. Cut after Marik gets the monster and reestablish Mais turn with her Draw step. Just a hunch though, any thoughts?

[@shadexvii3975]

19:03 I think in defense to Marik here, Pegasus wasn’t able to finish translating all 3 Egyptian god cards because his people kept vanishing. Therefore I assume he simply had to leave the card text in its original script and created the effect over it? That or the Winged Dragon of Ra itself did that. Either way, there exists no translation for it because it’s the only copy

[@igorlopes8463]

No, they straight up say Pegasus couldn't decypher the text and copied whatever was written there

[@shadexvii3975]

@@igorlopes8463 yeah, that’s what I said? The effect of it not being visible was what I was saying may have been done by Ra

[@aliesterus1.023]

19:36 This would only matter if these weren't the only versions of the cards in-universe, and that there are implications that the card game is played worldwide and there's no requirement for language to match. On top of this, Pegaus owns the IP in-universe, and if he says the cards are officially part of the game, they're part of the game. _Even further on top of this, Seto Kaiba is the person running the tournament, and he personally legalized the God Cards for its use._

[@TheLordofMetroids]

Would be funny if Kaiba came up and was like "woah woah woah, that card has a SECRET effect? Yeah it's banned from my tournament." Save the world via DQ.

[@ManuelRiccobono]

I love tbe fact that holding harm effect was so confusing they just trow away the "3 turns" clause when the card was made real

[@legend3454]

I like to imagine this duel ending in Marik's disqualification. "Ref! Marik's card isn't in Japanese!" "Marik Ishtar! Please provide a translation reference!" "I don't have a translation reference." "Well, you're disqualified then." "Shadow Games dont have disquali-!" *Shadows start slowly dragging Marik away.*

[@themasterofw4295]

What the F - Abridged Marik

[@randomduelist5]

This always botherd me about mai, she was always put in situations where she had to lose otherwise the show would be over, the fact that her only on screen wins were the one filler episode against that actor and joey in the orichalcos arc where the latter could barely stand says something, at least she won against tea (yes I consider that a win for her if only on a moral level) she deserved better

[@alexandercharizard3617]

against tea/anzu mai lost on purpose. I feel it's similar to yugi surrendering to Rebecca in the filler episode

[@randomduelist5]

@@alexandercharizard3617 I know, some people just say those wins are actuall wins, it just depends on you look at it

[@christopherb501]

Aoi Zaizen knows her pain.

[@perrytran9504]

Mai had a pretty good deck by DM standards. I dunno if she could beat Odion, but I'd still rank her ahead of everyone else in the finals except Yugi and Kaiba.

[@emilstoqanov3270]

Didn't she also Beat Rex while on the boat?no wait..that was due to perfume cheating

[@andorichards]

I do love how Sphere Mode was born from this into a card.

[@rollingpingamers2785]

knowing Kaiba with the foreign language thing he'd put the responsibility on the duellist to know the language 😂

[@eastsidereviews727]

So if Mai didn't try and flex on Marik and everyone else, she could have won. Damn.

[@gast321]

I wanna see Playmaker vs Revolver next

[@otroweonllamadoseba]

Revolver has violins on his side.

[@echowolf4230]

May I suggest a bunch of duels that I would love to see analyzed? - Odion vs Joey - Yubel/Jesse vs Adrian Gecko - Yusei vs Kalin Kessler (rematch during Dark Signers arc and crash town duel) - Any duel the protagonist lost, especially Yuya vs Jack Atlas - Maybe some more Yu-boys and bracelet girls?

[@haggersa21]

please make more of these! i would watch a breakdown of any battle city duel tbh

[@jahirgalvan5873]

I remember watching this episode so many times and saying please don’t sacrifice the harpy lady sisters all you have to do is attack directly and you win

[@mehdidelteil3672]

Saaaaame 😂😂😂 Used to not even finish the duel, and stop at that iconic invocation of harpie sisters.

[@Yojimbo16]

"End your turn Jean!"

[@ynwajosh9363]

Is it just me or do they really need to do another series with the original cast members like I’d love to see yugi and joey battleing todays cards

[@XJackSkeleton]

0:46 those zoommies were totally necessary to captivate the insensitivity of the battle (⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)

[@samfenster3243]

Canonically, Yami Marik isn't much of a duelist. He's a sadist spirit first and foremost, and it influences his play. A common trend in his duels is him having game on board without finishing the job, because he wants the shadow game to take it's toll. He realizes his own stupidity in dragging it out during the semi-finals vs Joey (who severely outplayed him), but his *strategy* ends up working out in the end due to the fact that he essentially gives Joey a near heart-attack from all the mental and bodily stress the shadow game inflicts on him. It's a neat touch that both the sub and dub manage to translate well.

[@thevideo-beast122]

I want you to analyse more recent duels again, like Yuya vs Declen/Reiji or Soulburner vs Revolver

[@masterripper5409]

I like how Marik plays some cards from duelists that were on his side.

[@g.n.a4871]

The slime monster are originally his and masked beast is probably just a side ace for him

[@TheKpa11]

I thought that too, but then that idea of the rare hunters came to my mind when was rewatching one day years ago, and I was like “Oh right. They copy and print cards, so he might have been the one to give them such monsters”

[@Kris2005isMine]

I was actually just contemplating this match a couple of days ago after watching the Joey vs Mai video. Glad we're on the same page.

[@thefirespecialist9007]

This guy is my favorite Yugioh content creator, hands down. His analysis of duels especially the og Duels, are so fun to watch. Especially since I love "what if" scenario's. But there is 1 duel he needs to do... Yugi and Kaiba vs Lumis and Umbra, The 1st time they dueled. 😂 I'd love to see his genuine thoughts and reactions to how bs that opening turn was. Plus, it'd be a quick one for him to do!

[@strongerthanever2039]

I still can't believe there are canonically BDSM cards in Yu-Gi-Oh and the villain of the series uses them against waifu cards and even a real girl. Like, 🤨

[@carlosmiravete1159]

Mai could’ve just attacked marik directly with her 3 cyber harpies and she would’ve won the duel, so stupid 😤

[@darknesswave100]

Marik should have lost to Mai and Joey both but didn't because of bs plot armor

[@hadrianhexe9603]

It's not her being stupid, it's the show having her lose for the sake of plot.

[@carlosmiravete1159]

@@hadrianhexe9603 you’re right, plus NO one would miss the chance to use an Egyptian god card, wish she could’ve finished marik with it

[@Valerian945]

So happy to see one of these again! :)

[@anthonythomas305]

If Mai just used 3 of her Harpie Ladies without using Ra, she would have won that duel against Marik

[@SSG_Gogeta]

That’s what I said

[@a.jperez202]

No, because of the restriction of Elegant egotist. The harpies could not attack on the same turn elegant egotist is played.

[@roninwarriorsfan]

​@@a.jperez202Cyber Harpie could still attack Holding Arms

[@a.jperez202]

@@roninwarriorsfan Assuming elegant egotist wasn't played, sure. It wouldn't have done any good though. TGS is wrong. It still had its invincibility on that turn, and for one more as well.

[@CadenH0219]

​@@a.jperez202 the literal duel earlier vs Zean Claude Magnum she does Egotist into attacking

[@MagusFlorren]

these videos are so engaging. Really enjoy them! 🎉

[@chronolucario4842]

Funny enough, when a real world version of The Winged Dragon of Ra Sphere mode was released, your able to summon it to your opponents field by tributing three monsters and during the end phase, changes controller of the card.

[@EllroyOne]

Feels good to see you drop something, you're a must see to me now !

[@kuroibail2498]

Marik is so washed. He would've lost against Joey and Mai. I mean against Mai is nothing to be ashamed of since she did beat John Claude Magnum, but Joey? Come on Marik

[@austinsmith6014]

I’m so happy to see this one! I actually requested this one a while back but thought it wouldn’t since someone reminded me of certain parts I forgot about, but man it feels good knowing that I was right that Mai could’ve won without Ra. Thanks for looking into this duel. 😁 As for another duel I’d like to see you look at, could you possibly take a look at Yuma & Astral vs Nash (Shark)? It’s where Nash used CXyz Barian Hope, and I noticed that he never used his own Barian Number monster’s effect while Hope was out (it used all the other Barian Numbers’ effects but not Silent Honor Dark), and Silent Honor lets him turn one opponent’s monster into an overlay unit. Should he have won, or was there some effect preventing him from doing this play?

[@arinewsome1777]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this, reliving this duel and getting an answer to my almost 20 year question 😭😭

[@kap1618]

All that I learned from this was that it would have been smarter to keep Marik away from his God card. Either keep it in your hand or remove it from play. Just don't use it or send it to the graveyard.

[@mkulchar]

Brightened my day with anither dual analysis. Thanks

[@69Bloodstreaks]

15:51 This is not a chain link 2. This is the start of a new chain. Card of last will resolves, then Makyura activated

[@StandishtheGreat]

I love this duel, great coverage, I always watch and love this series. I must say that I totally disagree with the Holding Arms take though. 3 Turns of "invincibility" comes across like with Swords of Revealing Light, so I don't think she could attack so soon. If that's the case, then Summoning Ra would be the superior play, ending your turn with Ra as apposed to the 3 Harpies. She probably felt that Summoning Ra would be a game winning move, and that Ra may have an ability to take out the Holding Arms card as a bonus, guaranteeing a victory that turn. That's how I interpreted it anyways, much love, great video 🤠

[@nazimkhan6322]

Someone should make an edit version of the duel where Mai does somehow know the Egyptian language, recite the chant, summon Ra and attack for game. It would be hilarious.

[@totalwartimelapses6359]

I think it can be done through AI imitation of voices

[@itstrentabitch]

Lowkey my favorite (and one of the most frustrating) duels of the original series. Mai is one of my favorite duelists and to see her keep up with and even outplay the villain really felt like a girl power moment. I also loved her deck. In my eyes, the BC Semifinals would've been Yugi Joey Mai and Ishizu if plot armor did not exist.

[@Jaknize1]

I dislike all of marik's duels. He's never really shown as being a good dualist. He usually wins through plot armor. Mai was incontrol the entire duel. Everything he did, she basically countered, but then oops plot armor kicks in. Same with his dual against bakura and joey. The other big bads at least showed that they could control a duel by fielding powerful monsters. Pegasus dictated the pace of the duel with yugi for instance. Here it's just marik playing into mai and losing. He doesn't have a game plan or show anything worthwhile. If you need mai to lose fine, but make marik out duel her not be on the backfoot all game until the last turn.

[@TheLordofMetroids]

Yeah, he's a pretty poor big bad. Lots of grandstanding, but never was a real threat. Hell he almost lost to Yugi when Yugi was trying to LOOSE. (When he controlled Joey).

[@joel2628]

Another awesome video, Sam. Please cover the final Jack vs. Yusei duel in 5Ds.

[@a.t.6610]

It's obviously unfortunate that Mai could have won and didn't, but in a way, it's quite realistic, how often do we (as players) over-commit when we initially had game on board? As someone who does actually play Harpies casually, it's relatively easy to swarm the field with individual Harpies. Depending on the state of the game (obviously not turn 2 when you've done zero damage yet), even with their relatively mediocre stats, you can still win the game by attacking your opponent due to sheer numbers. But it's obviously always a little tempting to "over-commit", "tribute them" and go for big boss monsters in the extra deck and then get punished in one way or another. In a way, this is very similar. I really liked this duel overall. I do wish it had been even longer and with more back and forth. Quite a few extra Harpies card that could have made an appearance here. One of my favorite interactions with the Amazon Dramatic Rescue card is that it lets you special summon any card from your hand than can be so. So when I used to play Anime decks, I would often summon Mai's Harpie Pet Dragon through this interraction - as it's a decent card, but not really worth the two tributes. Dramatic Rescue totally eliminates that cost. Could have been fun to see in this duel.

[@Shadowespeon17]

Marik was the definition of ass-pull. Ra had either a new effect or gimmick with every battle it was involved in.

[@SCH292]

Yep.

[@jackmcdonnell8505]

Please Do Joey Vs Weavel and Joey Vs Mako next time

[@saviorlemons]

13:35 maybe Mai forgot someone but someone she doesn't really have an emotional attachment to, like Tristan or Kaiba 😂

[@gm2030]

Amazing content! Hopefully next stop is Bakura vs Marik. The best two antagonist of the entire manga YuGiOh

[@Leon.The-Aesthetic_37]

Please do at least one of these video ideas: what if Zarc (yugioh arc V) faced off yugi, Judei, Yusei, Yuma everyone vs Zarc (yugioh arc v). Would Zarc would’ve won the duel

[@SuperSayianWarrior]

Yes! The last year I've been Asking for Z-Arc vs Everyone

[@jamesmiranda617]

Man is evil marik a bad duelist? I i mean the guy almost lost several times through battle city and plot saved him

[@silvertongue-242_99]

I love the drawing animation in this episode and unique each character draws ❤

[@tarikkash4282]

Takahiro Kagami drew the second part of this duel! Too bad he didn't do season 5!

[@cloudkitt]

@@tarikkash4282 *THIS* I was so excited for the conclusion of this storyline and have always been bummed what a dip in animation quality the Memory World arc is.

[@mattbartels]

This duel was the start of Marik’s reign of terror and where things got way out of hand. Just when Yugi and the gang thought they had Marik figured out he goes and becomes twenty times more evil than he was before. Like I said in a previous video the last quarter final pairings should’ve been Ishizu vs Marik and Mai vs Kaiba. Not only would the former be the first sibling battle we’d get instead of Chazz vs Slade in GX but even if Mai lost to rich boy at least she would be able to watch the rest of the finals from the sidelines instead of being trapped in the Shadow Realm. Plus even if Ishizu lost to her brother’s dark side she would be safe from his wrath thanks to her Millennium Necklace.

[@larrytod9790]

So yugi kaiba marik and mai all suffer from god card tunnel vision

[@wsibradio8304]

god card tunnel vision?

[@nicholaswashingtonsoto8588]

?

[@larrytod9790]

It's when someone has any of the Egyptian god cards becomes so obsessed with getting one on the field they ignore the other cards in hands and deck that can win them the game. Sam here came up with term

[@Justin3Santiago]

As soon as you said "foreign language card", I immediately knew where you were going with that, 😂

[@michaelolynyk4319]

13:45 But his voice gives her super strength!

[@RedDragonForce2]

@ 13:45 Card effect destruction compared to battle destruction. That may be the nuance here.

[@Netherwolf6100]

I believe for certain Mai overextended. There was no need to summon Ra. She would have won by simply keeping it in her hand and away from Marik. But of course, plot.

[@tarikkash4282]

Not just in yugioh, many anime girls can't catch a break!

[@minicle426]

​@@tarikkash4282The Inner Senshi in Sailor Moon Crystal/Eternal/Cosmos...

[@tarikkash4282]

@@minicle426I don't watch Sailor moon!

[@gunchar06]

@@minicle426 That's a quite bad example though, cause Sailor Moon is still full of anime girls who succeed.

[@-AirKat-]

Mai would have won if she took ancient Egyptian in college