Favorite Duels in Each Yu-Gi-Oh Series?

[~Faytl~]

So I've been rewatching DM a lot lately and I've been rediscovering some duels that are really great and exciting that I had forgotten about. So I thought I'd come here and ask what your alls favorite duels in each of the Yugioh series are. List however many you like, whether it just be one duel or rank ALL of them (though that could get out of hand :P )

 

My personal ranking (WARNING: EXTREME FANBOY RANT AHEAD):

 

DM:

Yugi vs Raphael (the first one)

This duel is one of the most emotionally charged ones of the series. I know a lot of people like the Kaiba vs Yugi duel in the Battle City finals as their top DM duel, and that's a good duel (bar the terrible pacing), but this duel has a lot going on for it. I love how Raphael and Yugi actually have similar ideologies and how Raphael uses that to his advantage to expose the Pharoah's own hypocrisy, giving him the Seal and forcing him into playing it not only to serve the ends of Dartz, but to also prove his point about how humanity is evil and will always destroy itself. It also was great in how the Pharoah really didn't even need to activate the Seal at all; Without it it's just a regular duel that he would have lost with absolutely no consequence, and how he ultimately loses Yugi just because he can't take a blow to his ego. The entire Orichalcos arc was about how the Pharoah is not an infallible ideal to live up to, and I love the direction; It's why Yugi's duel with Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom would also rank higher than their duel at Battle City for me. And the payoff to this duel is a gut-wrenching, lasting one.

 

GX:

Chazz vs Tsar

To be honest, GX was the series I watched the least of, mainly because it's my least favorite of all five. This is mainly due to how irritating I find most of the characters (and lets not even mention the dialogue. This was the last series I watched dubbed, lets leave it at that), but I always liked Chazz. Sure, he may be a weird Joey/Kaiba hybrid wannabe, but he was fun because of it, and his character development was honestly one of the more interesting aspects of the show. That being said, this duel is pure cool factor for me. I almost put Jaden's first duel with Atticus when he was a Shadow Rider, but I ultimately will rewatch this duel more (it's one of the few episodes I DO rewatch of GX). I honestly probably owe it to GX to go back and watch it subbed, I might like it more.

 

5Ds:

Rua & Ruka & Jack vs Aporia

Too many to even count. 5Ds is probably my favorite of all the series. There were so many duels I considered placing here, inclusing Crow vs Bolger, Jack vs Yusei at the Fortune Cup, Jack vs Yusei in the finale, Yusei vs Kiryu, Yusei and Kiryu vs Loten, Team 5Ds vs Team Sun, Carly vs Divine, Yusei vs Aporia, Yusei vs ZONE... I could go on. But ultimately this duel won out because ONE: stakes were higher than ever in this arc, TWO: Aporia is a living embodiment of awesome, THREE: He was just utterly dominating three main characters at once with an absolutely brutal burn strategy, FOUR: Said strategy was actually an extremely effective way to take on a bunch of Synchro-users (they'll lose more than half their LP to summon ONE Synchro Monster in most cases), FIVE: Rua finally coming into his own and proving why he should have been the Signer all along (Rua is the weakest main character in 5Ds, and she wasn't the one the writers kept around because her deck was making all the moneys, cough cough Crow). His summoning of Life Stream Dragon was extremely cool (while also tying up a bit of a plot hole), not to mention his sheer balls-to-the-wall determination to save his sister, even at the cost of himself. It really redeems how annoying his character was at the beginning of the series. SIX: JACKU ATLUSU!!!! SEVEN: ZETSUBO!!

 

Zexal:

Nasch vs IV

A bit of a toughie, as there aren't too many duels in Zexal that left any lasting impact on me. Really, the duels in Zexal were by and large monotonous just because of the really boring and repetitive focus on playing established ace monsters. Any new cards were a gateway to those. ESPECIALLY Utopia. This got old REAL fast. But this duel had me from the get-go. First off, it had Shark at the apex of his descent into the Barian side, and he was my favorite character in the series, as well as IV, who was extremely cool and had a great relationship with Shark, given their history. This duel goes a long way in showing the philosophies the two have, with Nasch repeatedly coming back to easily regain an advantage in his struggle to better life for Barian World, and IV being the spokesperson for humanity's improvement by using Argent Force to match up to Nasch's C101 (which was ANOTHER major cool factor in this duel, finally seeing Number 101 and it's extremely powerful ace). Also, this duel didn't have too many BS plot-devicey cards, maybe not ANY, actually, aside from that card that let Nasch topdeck Silent Wobbe. All in all a great duel I still go back to rewatch.

 

Arc-V

Sora vs Shun

Not a lot to choose from right now, but my current choice is pretty easy to make, despite the lack of bad duels this series has so far. Judging from the discussion thread on this series, I get the impression a lot of people agree with me on this one. The duel is great at developing Shun, Sora as well. It really gives you a good look into their psyche and how they think, which any good duel in the Yugioh series should. Not even mentioning how much the animation bump those episodes had helped set the mood, you feel the frustrations of these two as Sora constantly has his monsters destroyed and his moves countered against this opponent he considers completely inferior, while Shun fights back to stop this friggin maniac who destroyed his home and hunted him and his friends. It's hard to watch for all the right reasons.

 

Sorry I gabbed so long about my choices. What do you guys have as your favorite duels across the franchise?

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

DM: Probably Yugi v Rafael, 1st one. Shows that Yami can break to his own darkness, and actually lose; but he does win in the rematch.

Also Yami v Weevil, because of Berserker Soul (and that scene's become memetic now, hasn't it?)

 

GX: Jaden v Nightshroud (Season 4) and Jaden/Supreme King matches (Season 3)

TBH, I didn't watch a chunk of Season 2, so...

 

5Ds: Rua / Ruka / Jack v Aporia [141 - 143]

 

If only for Rua finally becoming a Signer; too bad 4Kids cut out this scene because of marketing. Maybe if they didn't screw up shit when dubbing the other episodes, fans might've still liked the show and we'd see this. Or if ZEXAL wasn't that much of a marketing scheme at the time. I feel sorry for my friends who watched the dub and hoped Rua would become a Signer.

 

Yusei v Antimony/Dark Glass/Bruno [144 - 145]

 

For the feels, since Dark Glass died at the end of this; we see an Accel Synchro and basically stuff.

 

Yusei v Jack [153 - 154; finale]

 

Last duel is always epic, and this really is no exception to that rule.

 

tl;dr, I liked most of the matches in 5Ds; which probably explains why it's still my favorite series in the franchise.

 

ZEXAL: I really don't have too many that I like in this series, but suppose stuff in the Barian Emperor arc takes it. Can't name specifics though, but guess anything with Shark in it is cool; along with Kaito. Oh yeah, and Mizael v Kaito, because of 62.

 

Arc-V: Not much I like in this series so far, probably because it's still new. I guess Yuya vs Sawatari, rematch, if only to promote cards that actually exist in the real world at the time.

[evilfusion]

DM: Yugi vs Rafael, for the reasons you said. Mostly because Dan Green's over-the-top delivery, while a bit overused in regular Duels, is done to AMAZING effect during this Duel, when he's Seal-possessed. And that one evil laugh he does when Rafael's down to 100 LP. Love it. It's also one of the few Duels where Yugi is legit losing the entire time.

 

GX: Jim vs Supreme King. Mostly because I love the Supreme King, and Axel's Duel was...a bit lackluster considering the bar Jim's Duel set. The latter Duel just felt so RUSHED.

 

5Ds: Good god, this series had a ton of amazing Duels. Yusei vs Kiryu (first match) because of the Earthbound God, plus a rare Duel where Yusei was legit going to lose, plus Hundred-Eyes Dragon being awesome. And Infernity before they got stupid. Yusei vs Kiryu (Crashtown) was also pretty epic. Yusei/Kiryu vs Lotten was awesome, mostly because of Kiryu being badass. Aporia vs Yusei was ridiculously epic. Yusei vs ZONE. Aporia vs ZONE. And many more.

 

Zexal: Hmm...there were definitely good Duels in this, but a lot were really bland and not memorable, too. Kaito vs Yuma (first match and rematch at the end of Zexal I). EPICNESS. I was a Kaito fanboy from the start of episode 13 and never stopped. Kaito vs Mizael (No.62) was awesome and gutwrenching. Yuma vs Vector was good, due to how emotional and shocking it was, and even though it was ridiculous Zexal BS, Limited Barian's Force transforming was hilarious because of how Vector reacted.

 

Of course, Nasch's Duel with IV is easily one of my favorites.

 

Arc-V: Shun vs Sora is my favorite Duel, although I liked Sawatari's rematch with Yuya because of how intense it was. But Shun vs Sora was just SOOOO cool. I felt like it really made Sora an awesome character, rather than his earlier insufferably obnoxious traits in his earliest episodes.

[JessicaMuddy]

DM: I'm not up to Yugi vs Rafael, so yeah. One really interesting duel I didn't expect to see was Duke/Tristan/Serenity vs Robot Dude. That was a cool and weird duel. (Not my fav though. Have no idea about that.)

 

GX: Haven't watched :P

 

5Ds: Haven't watched :P (I know, I know.)

 

Zexal: Mizael vs Don Thousand. There were a lot of great duels in Zexal. But as stated before, Nasch vs IV is clearly the best. IV is a great character, and Gimmick Puppets are some of my favourite cards. Also, those few episodes were some of the saddest, since all the good characters die.

 

Arc-V: I personally wasn't too excited during the Sora vs Shun duel. Maybe Yaiba vs Gongenzaka, since it showed off some cool stuff (Like how spamable XX-Sabers can be). Again, not too sure.

[Phantom Roxas]

DM: Joey vs. Valon. I know you can joke about how the Armor cards basically just give you an excuse to punch your opponent, but I thought it added to the spectacle. Not to mention that, given how the duel was ultimately about Mai, it makes the physical confrontation during that duel all the more meaningful.

 

GX: The final duels between Yubel and Jaden are probably tied to me, mostly because both of them use Rainbow Neos amazingly well after the escalation on both sides in each duel.

 

5D's: Team 5D's vs. The Three Emperors. I liked the idea of the team battles in the WRGP, but that one was it for me. I agree that the duel with Rua, Ruka, and Jack against Aporia was great, primarily because it finally made Rua a Signer and brought us Life Stream Dragon, but again, this is about escalation for me. While I loved the summoning of Shooting Quasar Dragon in the final battle with Z-One, the battles against the Meklords that finally resulted in Mekanikle was fantastic.

 

I stopped watching Zexal right before the WDC, and I have yet to watch Arc-V, so I can't comment on either of those.

[Shradow]

Honestly for me, nothing is more memorable than the very first Exodia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxw-f9ywORc

 

I don't remember enough about GX to have a favorite duel and I haven't watched any other series.

[Astro Dude]

DM: Yugi vs. Atem. This is one of those cases where a duel between selves can have a purpose. This was the best way to end this iteration of the series. Atem is using half of Yugi's signature monsters against him, like the Egyptian Gods and Dark Magician. A great way to end the series.

 

GX: Alexis vs. Titan. I could've picked Light Alexis vs. Jaden but I like this duel better. Before Alexis was a pawn used by Titan to scare Jaden, now she's the one dueling him and he is creepier than ever. Definitely brings closure to the whole Atticus went missing scenario.

 

5d's: I wanted to put Jack Atlas vs. Dark Carly here, but I really can't. So insted here is Yusei, Jack and Crow vs. Dark Signer Rex Goodwin. This epic three part duel has it all, a dramatic build up, an unexpected plot twist, great cards and a satisfying conclusion, at least for the first season.

 

Zexal: Yuma vs. Astral. A case similar to Yugi vs. Atem. Astral's using all the numbers and the stakes are really high, plus, it's a good way to end this iteration of the series.

 

Arc-V: Even though I'm waiting for the dub... Yuzu vs. Masumi, the rematch. These girls went at it and the latter won but the former wins this.

[Azure Wolf]

DM - Joey vs Valon and Yugi vs Atem.

Anime only cards with interesting gimmicks interest me which is why Joey and Valon's duel is one of my favourite duels. Yugi and Atem's duel is because of said reasons.

 

GX - Fujiwara vs Fubiki

My favourite duel out of the entire yugioh franchise. It was well done and demonstrates the extent of how much villians can go against non-protaganists by turning back time. I also enjoyed the gimmick of clear monster and Clear world as well as the attribute related cards.

 

5Ds - Ruka/Rua/Jack vs Aporia

Basically fro the reasons said above.

 

Zexal

Basically most of V's duels and Nasch vs IV

 

Arc-V

Sawatari vs Yuya and Shun vs Sora.

DM - Joey vs Valon and Yugi vs Atem.

Anime only cards with interesting gimmicks interest me which is why Joey and Valon's duel is one of my favourite duels. Yugi and Atem's duel is because of said reasons.

 

GX - Fujiwara vs Fubiki

My favourite duel out of the entire yugioh franchise. It was well done and demonstrates the extent of how much villians can go against non-protaganists by turning back time. I also enjoyed the gimmick of clear monster and Clear world as well as the attribute related cards.

 

5Ds - Ruka/Rua/Jack vs Aporia

Basically fro the reasons said above.

 

Zexal

Basically most of V's duels and Nasch vs IV

 

Arc-V

Sawatari vs Yuya and Shun vs Sora.

[~British Soul~]

DM: Yugi vs Rafael (1st duel)
I would've said Yugi vs Kaiba from Battle City because of how climatic it was, but Yugi vs Raphael was deinitely one of the better duels of DM, showing how humanity will end up destroying itself, in this case Atem succumbing to his own darkness and activating the Seal.

GX: Jaden vs Yubel
Mainly based on bias, but the duel itself was great. Learning more abut Jaden and Yubel's past and how the two of them were tied together back then, and also Yubel wanting to make Jaden suffer in the same way he made her suffer when he was a kid.

5Ds: Aporia vs Jack, Rua and Ruka
Alot of duels in 5Ds were pretty good. (Honourable mentions going to Yusei vs Aporia, Yusei and Jack's final duel, Yusei vs ZONE, etc) This one won out because, the stakes were high, Aporia's strategy taking a toll on the three main characters by limiting their options, Rua finally becoming a signer to protect Ruka and FINALLY giving the original 5th Signer Dragon some screentime and filling up a plothole.

Zexal: Nasch vs IV
Again so many great duels in Zexal, but this one takes it for me. We get to see Shark battle his long-time rival in a climatic match, but ofc as he is just embracing his Barian side and with the fusion between the human and Barian worlds, the stakes were high as they fought for the sake of their respective worlds. It was also nice to finally see 101 and C101 in action.

Arc-V: Shun vs Sora
Out of all of the duels in Arc-V so far, this one is pretty amazing. We get to see Sora's true colours with his slasher smiles as well as developing Shun as a character, and showing the frustrations of Sora as he fought hard whilst having his moves countered.

[CommanderVolt]

DM - Doma Arc  - Joey Vs Valon. This duel was awesome and Psychic Armor, when I was much younger was the coolest fking thing ever. And then Joey dropped Lord of the Red and I shat my self.

 

GX- Back then, I really liked the episode where The Winged Dragon of Ra appeared, strictly for that reason. Otherwise, My favorite duel is probably rematch of Jaden Vs Aster. The duel pretty much played perfectly into Aster's hands without making it 100% obvious.

 

5Ds- Man, there are alot of awesome duels here. Favorite one favorite one.. hmm...  There are to many, I can't decide. But, I will say the duel of Aki and Crow against Sherry was very intresting. I love Field-Spells in general and Sherry came packed with 2 very powerful and unique field-spells that tied in flavorwise and made the duels that much awesomer.

 

Zexal - Fffs Like 5Ds there are alot of duels here that I like. hands down though, the duel against Chaos Dark Mist is my favorite. Chaos World is ridiculous, sure. But it was f**king awesome. and that zexal combo come back was golden as well.

 

Arc-V - There haven't been alot yet so far. Though I did like the duel of Yuya vs Gogenzaka, and I look forward to seeing them duel again. I also really liked the duel of Yuya vs Hokuto because.. Sacreds are on my all-time favorite archetypes,

 

[BANZAI!!!!]

DM- Tie between Joey vs. Valon for reasons stated above and Little Yugi vs. Dark Bakura in the millenium world. The latter is awesome because we get to see Yugi finally come into his own and duel with his own deck (which is full of awesome cards, btw). That last turn Gandora stole the show.

 

GX- I didn't really watch a lot of GX, but of what i did see my favorite duel would probably be the fist season finale against Zane.

 

5D's- Yusei Vs. Jack 1 and 2. I really wish they did more with the rivalry instead of dropping it for most of the show and picking it back up for the final episodes.

 

Zexal & Arc-V- Haven't seen either show.

[Sleepy]

DM:
Yugi vs Atem. It was tons of the plays we've seen the characters do as well as some of my favorite monsters in the franchise: The Silent Swordsman and Magician.

Plus it wasn't like in most other mirror match situations in the franchise where one is a copycat or stole card or an enemy. Also, little things like turning a Mirror Force in your favor were pretty epic. Not to mention the emotional load of seeing a long term main character from one of my favorite childhood shows say goodbye... after years of following them it always seems unreal that they'll someday end.

Other runner ups for me here were the Battle City finals of Yugi vs Kaiba even though the Red-Eyes play was bull and the filler dialogue was insufferable in the dub, Joey vs Valon, and Yugi vs Rafael game 1. 

 

GX:

I enjoyed the comedy in this series and the casual tones. I'd say Chazz vs his brothers, because I always enjoyed watching decks that were actually used IRL on the time being used (from the brothers' side, and yes, King Draguun was a popular deck at some point even if you might have never seen it topping anywhere), and random common "weak" cards being used as well (from Chazz's side). Though most of what Bastion or Chazz were involved in was always fun to watch for me.

Jaden wins the runner up here though if we count the anniversary movie. His plays in there were more creative and interesting than Yugi's or Yusei's IMO.

 

5Ds:

Team Ragnarok's duel for me was by far the most epic of the series. We got a good crow duel, a good Jack duel, and a Yusei duel that was so great that for once even though I was pretty annoyed with him always winning no matter what to not care about that. It just felt so satisfying. Besides, there was a Savior Dragon cameo and the game-state made a good scenario where it wasn't good enough to win him the game. Neither could Shooting Star on its own btw, so Yusei needed to show some cleverness rather than rely on upgrades.

Not to mention it was so epic, having opponents that essentially had god cards and were practically like sort of main characters of another region (if that makes any sense).

I don't really think Aporia's debut was up to par for the finals there, IMO. Aporia was a newly introduced character that just didn't have the same build up as the 3 pieces that formed him. To me its like they just tossed those aside in a very anti-climatic way. For some Aporia makes up for that. For me it doesn't at all. 

 

Aporia's game with Jack, Ruka, and Rua? sure why not? It's not in my favorites because I'm not a big fan of just giving burn specific to what the opponent might do. However, I give that game recognition because he dueled 3 on 1 with zero advantages and it takes guts to do that AND he was winning.

 

ZeXal:
III vs Yuma for me was the best. III's strategy got a little out of the usual ZeXal formula of Xyzing into an Ace and it did so while implementing III's favorite monster getting very graphically squashed and shot at Yuma repeatedly without hesitation. To me that was a great scene for once. They did build up the impact of it during the episode and did expand on III's character. He stopped being "one more of the new bad guys" there. 

Also, although cool, Yuma's first ZeXal transformation during the duel with Kaito was a bit of a Deus Ex Machina that time, but since thanks to that time it now existed, it wasn't as much out of nowhere when it happened against III. The first half of ZeXal I consider that used the transformation little enough to have an impact.

Another duel I thought about mentioning would be Yuma vs Tron, but the fact that Tron's deck literally wouldn't have functioned without the Sphere Field helping him set up what he did, that pulls me back from it a lot, and there's also the horrible CGI of that duel's climax (then again, Yugioh has that problem too much from 5Ds onwards, but still).

 

Nash vs IV might have been a good duel on itself, but the issues I had with so many other things happening in the show at the time prevented me from enjoying it as much as I could have.

 

Arc V:
Shun vs Sora was great on Sora's end and on the Rank-ups of Shun, but I have issues with Shun so when the series is done this duel will probably not be close to the best they have. I'd personally pick Reiji vs that bodyguard of Serena. That's just me.

[ななし]

DM: Yami vs Strings will always be my fav duel, how Yami pulled of the loop really influenced my love towards the game, Battle City Yami vs Bakura comes close second.

GX: Errr, don't really have a fav one since most of the duels is the same, Jaden winning with variation of fusions, maybe the Underground Duel of Mad Dog vs Zane, since Mad Dog used Slime, reminding me of Strings :P, also Chimeratech was awesome, Dark Zane vs Atticus and Jaden vs Bastion are also great, also I don't really remember the duels from Season 3, the plot took all my attention, best season I've watched of the franchise.

5D's: Right now watching this series (on 28th episode now), and the first Yusei vs Jack is my fav until now.

ZEXAL: haven't watched.

ARC-V: haven't watched.

Special spot for the best duel (but my most hated one): Marik vs Joey :D, you know why

[mshends]

DM: Yami vs Strings, only time a deck out works in Yu-Gi-Oh anime history

 

GX: Sartorius vs Aster, two of my favorite archetypes facing each other in a epic duels.

 

5D: The last Yusei vs Jack duels, there are lots of thing to say about this duel, like how Yusei finish Jack off with Junk synchro or how they both summon different synchro monsters to combat with each other  

 

Zexal: Yuma vs Astral, Astral summoning off different Hope while Yuma using his own strength to finally defeat him other self  

 

Arc-V: Shun vs The LDS trio, OTK those fuckers like a badass!

 

Since no one here says anything about the manga, I will be the first one to do so!

 

GX manga: Jaden vs Aster, first introduction of the Mask Hero

 

5d manga: Evil Ruka/Rua vs Yusei,that duels was just amazing, having crazy Ruka trying to murder Yusei while Yusei using his new found ace monster to destroy their combo, plus the ideas behind Ruka's field spells is cool

 

Zexal manga: Kyoji Vs Mr Heartland, that duel have Kyoji (favorite Villain) doing a Re-Contract Universe like-thing on his numbers cards, and that duel give the reader a better understand on the relationship between Mr Heartland and Dr Faker

[Cobax]

I liked Yami Marik vs Yami Yugi. That duel had gotten every character on the edge. Yugi did said if he had not receive that card seto gave him, he would have lost.

 

Jaden vs Kaibaman, Kaibaman demonstrates Seto strategy against Jaden

[Sleepy]

I liked Yami Marik vs Yami Yugi. That duel had gotten every character on the edge. Yugi did said if he had not receive that card seto gave him, he would have lost.

 

Jaden vs Kaibaman, Kaibaman demonstrates Seto strategy against Jaden

 

I recommend to you the manga version of that duel. It flat out states that mostly every turn of Marik during that duel is an OTK turn that Yugi survives somehow. The anime had pretty much the same plays including the weird De-Fusion dodge, but things like blatantly stating what Marik is going for every turn makes his plays have more of an impact.
And OTKs on anime standards during that time were pretty unusual or too exact so the term wasn't as casual. If is pretty much finally a duel where Marik is menacing and it isn't because "real pain" but because he actually also put attention to the regular aspect of the game for once.

 

The Kaibaman duel I had an issue with long ago. The Kaiba I had always known would spit on Jaden's pride after the win, much like he did with Joey all the time, but instead he gave Jaden a lesson and pretty much respected him.
Though to be fair, years later, I found out that the DM Kaiba in the non-dub version wasn't actually even half as much of an ass as the dub had made him out to be.... So yeah, it was good to see it.

[evil cucumber]

DM: havent watched

GX: jaden x kagemaru

5ds: akiza x knight guy whose name i dont remember

Zexal: yuma x OOParts guy (i think his name is III)

ARC V: Sora x shun (watched it like 20 times...no lie)

[ShootingStardust]

DM: Yugi and Kaiba vs Dartz - The intensity of the duel really made an impression on me. Even after their duel, the "duel" between Dartz and the Leviathan vs Yugi, Kaiba, and Jonouchi and the "duel" between Dartz and the Leviathan vs Yugi and the 3 Egyptian Gods had me going back to watch it. In fact, I just went back to it and watched it today. Duels like these really make an impression on me.

 

        Yugi (Atem) vs Yugi - When Atem summons all 3 Egyptian Gods, I knew that this duel would be a duel I would be watching over and over again. It was a really great way to end this series.

 

GX: To be honest, I do not have a favorite duel. I hated this series. It had a few good and memorable parts, but I think it was not as captivating as it could have been.

 

5Ds: My Absolute Favorite series. I agree with all of the duels mentioned with 5Ds (Yusei vs Jack in their final duel, Ruka and Rua and Jack vs Aporia, Team 5Ds vs Team Ragnarok, Team 5Ds vs Team Taiyo, ect.). All of the duels in this series are duels that I would go back to watch, especially Ruka and Rua and Jack vs Aporia. My all-time favorite duel. It was captivating and attentive. It really draws you in because a lot is at stake. I could go on and on about how much I LOVE this duel.

 

Zexal: I can't choose my favorite out of the many duels I love. Those duels are: Droite vs Tron, Kaito vs V, Tron vs Kaito, Rio (Controlled by Abyss) vs Shark (I loved when they showed their memories during the duel and when Rio summoned Abyss Splash, The memories and the music played, then the music stopped while she was talking, then the music started again and the summoning of Abyss Splash continued), Kaito vs Misael (Final Duel), Durbe and Merag vs Vector, Nasch vs Vector, Yuma and Nasch vs Don Thousand (I didn't like the whole duel , but I loved most of the duel), and Yuma vs Astral. 

 

ARC-V: Sora vs Shun - This duel was sooo intense with its graphics and summons. It was spectacular!

 

              There was another duel I was going to put here but I don't remember it. When I remember, I'll edit this and put it on here. 

 

Duels that have a lot at stake such as Ruka and Rua and Jack vs Aporia, Yusei vs Z-ONE, Nasch vs Vector, and Yugi and Kaiba vs Dartz are duels that I absolutely love and would go back and watch everyday if I had the time. Also, Thank you Faytality for posting this amazing topic!

[Cobax]

I recommend to you the manga version of that duel. It flat out states that mostly every turn of Marik during that duel is an OTK turn that Yugi survives somehow. The anime had pretty much the same plays including the weird De-Fusion dodge, but things like blatantly stating what Marik is going for every turn makes his plays have more of an impact.
And OTKs on anime standards during that time were pretty unusual or too exact so the term wasn't as casual. If is pretty much finally a duel where Marik is menacing and it isn't because "real pain" but because he actually also put attention to the regular aspect of the game for once.

 

The Kaibaman duel I had an issue with long ago. The Kaiba I had always known would spit on Jaden's pride after the win, much like he did with Joey all the time, but instead he gave Jaden a lesson and pretty much respected him.
Though to be fair, years later, I found out that the DM Kaiba in the non-dub version wasn't actually even half as much of an ass as the dub had made him out to be.... So yeah, it was good to see it.

Got me wondering if yugi did not use exchange just to get Marik Monster Reborn in place of De-Fusion, What option would he do to stop marik from summon ra back. The spell card Fiend Sedentary that yugi got from kaiba allow yugi to survive that last OTK. But since Yugi still got that token on the field, he was able to get Obelisk. I think this is sounding like Yugi is just getting lucky from Ra's attack hoping for a miracle which happen. Marik other duel's, did not seem he was not focusing whats on stake, just wanted to focus on causing more pain on both Mai and Joey

[Cobax]

Honestly for me, nothing is more memorable than the very first Exodia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxw-f9ywORc

 

I don't remember enough about GX to have a favorite duel and I haven't watched any other series.

[Sleepy]

Got me wondering if yugi did not use exchange just to get Marik Monster Reborn in place of De-Fusion, What option would he do to stop marik from summon ra back. The spell card Fiend Sedentary that yugi got from kaiba allow yugi to survive that last OTK. But since Yugi still got that token on the field, he was able to get Obelisk. I think this is sounding like Yugi is just getting lucky from Ra's attack hoping for a miracle which happen. Marik other duel's, did not seem he was not focusing whats on stake, just wanted to focus on causing more pain on both Mai and Joey

 

I don't remember the duel in detail though I remember one OTK was stopped by reviving Obelisk somehow. Another was stopped by Kaiba's card, and there was definitely another one somewhere. Mostly Yugi never tried stopping Ra's Summoning. Against Kaiba they both repeatedly stopped each other's plays to provoke wasted setups required for them (like Lightforce Sword against Obelisk, but with Marik, Ra was a 1 card Summon so it was harder to pin-point what to stop other than stealing Monster Reborn.

 

and yeah, during the DM era we mostly have no searchers in the anime so people are stuck with what they draw into. Yugi's deck gets especially "lucky" compared to most other decks in the show, since other decks like Kaiba's variations or Marik's Slifer and Ra builds have a clear focus of what they do but Yugi is a bunch of stuff all over the place. So yeah, Yugi was more than anything getting lucky.

[Cobax]

I don't remember the duel in detail though I remember one OTK was stopped by reviving Obelisk somehow. Another was stopped by Kaiba's card, and there was definitely another one somewhere. Mostly Yugi never tried stopping Ra's Summoning. Against Kaiba they both repeatedly stopped each other's plays to provoke wasted setups required for them (like Lightforce Sword against Obelisk, but with Marik, Ra was a 1 card Summon so it was harder to pin-point what to stop other than stealing Monster Reborn.

 

and yeah, during the DM era we mostly have no searchers in the anime so people are stuck with what they draw into. Yugi's deck gets especially "lucky" compared to most other decks in the show, since other decks like Kaiba's variations or Marik's Slifer and Ra builds have a clear focus of what they do but Yugi is a bunch of stuff all over the place. So yeah, Yugi was more than anything getting lucky.

I would have said that Rafeal was really nailing Yugi badly. Going to lose either way, pining the legendary Dragon in ice. 

[Sleepy]

I would have said that Rafeal was really nailing Yugi badly. Going to lose either way, pining the legendary Dragon in ice. 

 

Dat Pharaoh's ego gave stakes to the duel. 

Also interestingly enough, the legendary dragons got owned quite often during the arc. They were definitely no gods.

 

Though I'm confused, when did we skip from Marik vs Yugi to Raphael vs Yugi?

[Cobax]

Dat Pharaoh's ego gave stakes to the duel. 

Also interestingly enough, the legendary dragons got owned quite often during the arc. They were definitely no gods.

 

Though I'm confused, when did we skip from Marik vs Yugi to Raphael vs Yugi?

idk but we should turn the topic back to where it was about "Favorite Duels in Each Yugioh." cuz this is turning to some conversation lol

[Sleepy]

idk but we should turn the topic back to where it was about "Favorite Duels in Each Yugioh." cuz this is turning to some conversation lol

Nah I think it's fine.

Raphael vs Yugi is not my top for DM but it IS one of my favorites still.

Besides, it is good to have some conversations. Just having everyone talk about theirs and not mention about the posts from the others can only go so far.

 

IMO we are still on topic.