The world of Duel Monsters is tough and unforgiving. At least, it certainly was in the original series, where many battles resulted in the loss of one’s soul, or a chance that the main villain was going to plunge your best friend into the ocean if you didn’t throw a duel and give him a card he wanted.

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These kind of stakes made an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning kid’s show entertaining, and it’s what made the series stick with us twenty years later. So for this list, we’re looking at ten of the best episodes from that series, and ranking them according to IMDB.

10 BEST OF FRIENDS, BEST OF DUELISTS PART 2 – 9.2

This match happens at the tail end of Duelist Kingdom. After a couple dozen episodes involving character development and Star Chips, finally it all comes down to the last of the finals, in which our main character faces off against his best friend, Joey.

Joey lays it all on the line, but ultimately this match comes down to some Yu-Gi-Oh BS, as Joey uses Time Wizard to weaken Dark Magician...except Dark Magician when aged apparently becomes an even more powerful card known as Dark Sage. Something literally no one could know because this card never existed before this episode...derp.

9 CHAMPION VS. CREATOR, PART 1 – 9.3

Kaiba faces off against Pegasus in Yu-Gi-Oh

Despite never really putting in work during the entire tournament, Kaiba manages to collect ten Star Chips to challenge Pegasus by taking advantage of Yugi’s better nature. This leads to him getting a match against Pegasus, but it isn’t at all what he expected going in.

Kaiba has both one of the most powerful monsters in the game in Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and one of the best traps ever in the original Crush Card Virus, but as it turns out, none of that matters when facing someone who can read minds.

8 FRIENDS TIL THE END, PART 1 – 9.3

Not only was Marik a vicious jerk, but he was such an upgrade from Pegasus as a main villain. Pegasus just thought it was enough to shove Yugi’s grand-dad into a Betamax, and he could get what he wanted in battling Yugi to win the Millenium Puzzle.

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But Marik was out here mind-controlling Yugi’s friends to get him into a duel where the loser would get yanked into the see by a giant anchor and drown to death. He even figured out a way to keep Yugi from using the one god card he had! Pegasus should’ve taken lessons from this guy.

7 THE DARK ONE COMETH – 9.4

The last arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh series is spoken about the least, which is why we don’t normally hear from the “true” villain of the series, Zorc Necrophades. Zorc was the being powering Yami Bakura the entire series, and with The Dark One Cometh, we get to see some of how he affected the world in the past.

At the same time, Kaiba also battles against Zorc in the modern day with not merely the power of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but his ultimate fusion Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. It’s an intense episode that has action going on with nearly every important character in the series.

6 TOMB OF THE NAMELESS PHAROAH – 9.4

Tomb of the Nameless Pharoah begins the last story arc of the original Yu-Gi-Oh series. On top of being incredibly creepy with it’s beginning (the introduction of Zorc Necrophades), it also features a young Solomon Muto as he attempts to solve the Ultimate Game of the Nameless Pharoah.

An episode which hearkens back to the old days of Season 0, there’s not much in the way of card games happening here—but rather games of chance and puzzles which involve solving with sheer ingenuity rather than effects of traps and spells.

5 FRIENDS TIL THE END, PART 2 – 9.5

Despite Marik’s ability to make even Joey’s closest friends work on his side, that doesn’t mean he’s capable of winning the day.

After a close duel where Yugi not only has to figure out how not to lose, but how not to lose while also keeping Joey from being plunged into the ocean, it’s their ability to work together and their selfless friendship that breaks Marik’s mind control. As a result, Marik fails to break Yugi once more and they narrowly survived to go on to face him in the finals.

4 MIME CONTROL, PART 3 – 9.5

Strings vs Yugi

Mime Control Part III is perhaps the most epic episode of Yu-Gi-Oh ever. After multiple failed attempts to take down Yami, Marik finally lands on something with this combination he uses, bringing out the full power of Slifer the Sky Dragon. It’s such an impressive collection of cards that even Yugi himself is unable to stand against him, and falls to his knees in defeat.

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Fortunately, Kaiba inspires him to keep on fighting, which leads to this episode, where he comes up with his own way to interrupt the combo...that can’t actually work, but is an impressive watch nonetheless. This episode features one of the rare times an opponent loses without their life ever hitting zero.

3 THE FINAL DUEL PART 1 – 9.7

Everything comes down to this final match here. After finally beating Zorc, the last opponent doesn’t happen to be yet another villain, but rather Yami himself! For Yami to finally move on, Yugi has to finally defeat him in combat without either of them holding back.

The stakes are high, but if anyone’s thinking Yami would hold back even against his other half? Well, he starts this duel out by summoning all three of the Egyptian god cards at the same time. Yeah, they aren’t holding anything back here.

2 THE FINAL DUEL, PART 2 – 9.8

Everything looks pretty bleak for Yugi, as he manages to look down all three of the Egyptian god cards which Atem was able to summon in a single turn. They play a little fast and loose with how the god cards can’t be affected by the effects of spells and trap cards, as Yugi manages multiple times to protect his Silent Swordsman and Valkyrion the Magna Warrior despite the Pharoah’s attacks.

But ultimately, Yugi manages to get rid of all three god cards by the usage of the one trap, which tops all of them: Mirror Force. It’s a bit hilarious considering it took one trap to get rid of three powerful monsters, but that’s also the closest the game’s ever been to real life.

1 THE FINAL DUEL, PART 3 – 9.8

As absurd as it sounds, Yugi’s battle to defeat Yami doesn’t begin until this episode. Because despite all the work he’s put in, the first two episodes feature Yugi working from behind, trying to catch up and defeat his opponent’s multiple god cards. This episode is the first one he’s able to deal any damage to Yami’s life points.

This episode is filled with multiple callbacks to cards both Yugi and Atem have used over the course of the series, from Gazelle to Curse of Dragon all the way to Gaia and Dark Magician himself. This episode helps us learn just how far Yugi has come, while also showing Atem’s status as King of Games is real.

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