Yugi's Deck in Duelist Kingdom - EXPLAINED! | Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yugi didn't really have a "theme" for his deck in season 1- Duelist Kingdom, did he?...Actually he did! So let's break it down and explain what it is!!

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[JanjoZone]

What's YOUR favorite monster in Yugi's Duelist Kingdom deck?

[UrLeingod]

I think an important thing to keep in mind is that, back in Duelist Kingdom, Duel Monsters was basically half card game, half tabletop RPG (which is why the rules are basically "anything you can explain in a way that sounds like it could logically occur is legal"). And the latter is basically Yugi's "theme;" his deck is mostly all tabletop RPG stuff. He's got wizards, demons, elves, mythical beasts, a big stone golem, a few dragons, some knights, etc.

And even before that, the game was essentially presented as being "you're two powerful sorcerers battling by summoning monsters to fight for you, " essentially. Yugi's deck is the one that best plays into this idea; his monsters aren't very strong, but he proves himself the better sorcerer by powering them up or using spells and magic-themed traps to overcome the gap in strength. Note just how many of his spells and traps are basically things that could be a wizard's spell (which is why so many of them are used in tandem with Dark Magician and it looks like he's casting them on the field; this is also why DM is his boss monster).

[squalace_]

His duelist kingdom deck is actually fitting for a king of games, because for the rules at the time, it was actually pretty busted.
It was basically a stall deck whose win condition was either Exodia, or a game-winning combo between a made-up spell effect plus one of his monsters; we see this with cards like Burning Land, Mystic Moon, Living Arrow, and Multiply. In a format with no direct attacks, where you only lose if you run out of monsters, and where spells can pretty much do whatever you want, his deck was unbeatable.

[salem]

my man Sugoroku really said "I put my soul into this deck" and gave his grandson the most 10 year-old-at-playground deck imaginable

[Mochi_Madness]

Yugi's deck was always an anomaly. It was also low key used to advertise new cards. His deck also had ALOT of potential bricks.

[mrflores]

The thing about Yugi's deck is that it was based on DnD and Magic the gathering from Wizards of the Coast. Summon skull is the best example. Watch the toei adaptation of Yugioh. It was based on the first 50 chapters of the manga.

[bassgx]

Black Luster Soldier didn't came out of nowhere. The reason why he runs a lot of weak monsters in his deck is because they're mean to be used as fodder for the ritual cards.
The Black Luster and Dark Magic Ritual work differently in the original source than in real life, the requiment is two monster with 1500atk or less so basically Atem builds his deck around ritual summoning, buffing weak monster with equip cards and some other shenanigans like Exodia.

[Dooodle]

2:00 I'd actually say the most consistent deck is in DSoD leaning into the dark magician/magician girls

[darthjoe]

Yugi's deck in duelist kingdom was more of a fantasy deck. Elf and beast knights and mages, undead beasts, imps, a white wolf, his dragons, even a mounted knight that becomes a dragon knight that becomes his ultimate knight of light and darkness. Then there's his favorite/ace Dark Magician and a few cards thst revolve around it.

[felixnow]

Originally in Manga the stars/level ment rarity. Most players played the cards they can get.

[jijowajaknxanma]

I thought yugis grandpa’s deck had the strongest monster of each type, (before blue eyes got torn up)

[NitroNEXT]

Obviously in reality it's just a way to show off a large variety of cards as a form of advertisement.
But for a more in-story answer... I feel Yami's signiture monsters are more or less reincarnations (or retrains) of monsters that he used in ancient games. In the tablet of lost memories you can obviously see the Dark Magician, as well as a horseman which presumably was some sort of prototype that would eventually become Gaia the Fierce Knight in 'modern' Duel Monsters. Since They didn't have knights in ancient Egypt it makes sense that the monsters would take on different forms based on the context of the time but their 'spirit' remained the same throughout history. It's similar to Yami himself inhabiting in a similar yet different body in Yugi, or Dark Magician and DMG being the spirit of Mahad and Mana etc. Another explanation is that the modern cards seem familiar to him for reasons he can't explain, but in actuality it's because they simply remind him of his ancient monsters, so he instinctively picks those that are similar. I'm more partial to the former explanation though.

Also, about Black Luster Soldier... It's less that it "came out of nowhere" and is more to do with the fact that it's another form of his horseman from ancient times (Gaia). In the manga it's heavily implied that Gaia is the same warrior as BLS, only transformed by chaos.

But the question is then; how is the Pharoah able to retain the spirits of his ancient monsters throughout time? Well, it most likely has something to do with the magic of the Millenium puzzle and whatever allows him to manipulate chance to his own will (Destiny draw ability) but on a grand scale and having minor influence over thousands of years. That's my theory at least, another explanation is just predetermined destiny but that's a little boring.

One other detail I've always taken note of is that Yami seems to have more of an inclination for Darker monsters wheras Yugi seems to be the source of a lot of the lighter and more innocent cards put in the deck. My headcannon is that this has something to do with Yami being dead as well as it being a remnant of his dark personality from the early manga (before Yugi's influence lightened his personality). I suspect if Yami was building a deck initially without Yugi's influence it would be mostly dark spellcasters and fiends but due to Yugi and Grandpa's cards, along with modern additions from booster packs like the magnet warriors, Buster Blader etc, it becomes this mish mash of seemingly random cards, which is somewhat fitting considering his memories are also a mess, but with Yami's destiny draw and skill at all games, he manages to make the deck work regardless.

[kskda]

Toolbox is the description of yugi's deck

[cmrobbins]

Kaiba didn’t have much of a theme either. Yeah he had his Blue-Eyes and Crush Card stratagems, but he also had a mish-mash of Dark and Earth Monsters like Swordstalker, Battle Ox, Hitotsoumei Giant, Judge Man, and Rude Kaiser. And good ol’ Saggi the Dark Clown lol.

[iBenjamin]

love love love love summoned skull. basically the archfiend aesthetic of huge muscles meeting with huge skeletal structures mkae them look scary and demon-y but also very imposing and powerful.

[DragonmasterSK]

Loved the video. The only thing I'd recommend is matching the cards you mention.with the ones that show up so it's not distracting. I have a hard time trying to picture Gaia while a center HD pic of great white pops up LOL
I think you nailed it while talking about the deck representing the 2 faces of Yugi. The Dark Magicians are Atem cards alongside with all the Royal themed cards. (Gaia, The Knights, The tricky (joker) and of course the Chaos cards. While Yugi uses the Magnet warriors, Curse of Dragon, Marshmallon, Silent Magician (Which is probably the best way to represent him). It stars like a nimble wizard, just like how Yugi was before, and will eventually surpass the Dark Magicians or "Atem". That's a very good analogy they placed on their Duel

[DensetsuDBL]

He read too much into this. Atem didn’t have any effect on yugis deck at the time. They only really started to work together during the duel with Pegasus

[herohut]

I like the idea that Yugi's cards went their own ways and that most cards got support to make their own archetypes.

[weelzneal]

Dark magician & sage were doing black luster ritual along with black magic ritual, sacrificing beaver warrior, feral imp, gazelle (or whatever) + chimera. Gaia & curse of dragon watch over them while celtic guardian & soldier of stone are front line. May seem like kuriboh is just doing whatever dogs do but hes actually making a perimeter, ready to sacrifice himself at a moments notice. Oh mystical elf & summoned skull are off bangin

[MrShinori]

His final deck are actually really strong.
Dark magician and supports, gaia, good traps and spells, a lot of seachers.