The first season of the Anime of Yu-Gi-Oh! may have been seen by some of you in the midday program of RTLZWEI. But have you ever counted who was actually the best duelist from Season 1?
Yu-Gi-Oh! is not only a successful anime, but also a popular card game, for which major tournaments are still held today. The journey began in 2003 on RTLZWEI, at least in Germany. We could witness numerous duels, in which the rules of the official trading card game were not always taken very seriously – similar to real life.
What was the ranking based on? MeinMMO examined all duels from the anime and created a top 5 of the best duelists. We chose the absolute total number of victories as the ranking. Only duels from the original anime, including its fillers, were considered. Therefore, there are no characters that appear in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any subsequent anime.
For some duelists, we could not provide an exact number, as the circumstances of a victory or defeat were ambiguous. One example is the duel between Mai Valentine and Tea Gardner: Mai voluntarily surrendered, but she would have won the duel under normal circumstances.
Initially, we considered making the win rate dependent on the placement. However, that would have put Tea Gardner with 100% in first place, as she won all three of her duels (if you count Mai’s surrender). But that would be unfair to the other characters who had to duel much more often.
The 5 best duelists from Yu-Gi-Oh!
5th Place: Yami Marik
- Victories: 3
Yami Marik is the personality formed from the hatred of Marik Ishtar. He is the main antagonist in the Battle City arc and unlike Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, is not bound to a Millennium Item. His best card is The Winged Dragon of Ra.
If we do not count the duel with Tea, in which Mai Valentine would actually have won, Yami Marik already has 3 victories in 5th place. He won his duels during the Battle City Finals, including against Mai, Yami Bakura, and Joey Wheeler.
However: In reality, Joey Wheeler would have also won the duel, but he became unconscious before the decisive attack command. Depending on the perspective, Yami Marik would have to share 5th place with Tea.
4th Place: Mai Valentine
- Victories: > 5
Mai Valentine undergoes a strong transformation in the anime. At first, she is arrogant, egocentric, and fixated on the prize money of the tournament. Over time, however, she learns to appreciate her friends more and becomes a loyal companion. In her duels, she relies on a Harpie deck.
Some of her victories were not directly shown in the series, but took place in the background. At the beginning of the series, for example, she tricked Rex Raptor out of his luxurious cabin on the ship by winning a duel.
She was able to achieve further victories when she won her star chips or qualified for the final rounds of the Battle City tournament. Therefore, the number of her victories is difficult to estimate, but in any case, she is the strongest female duelist from the anime.
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