Ignore 29:17 I went crazy in the brain and swapped Warrior Returning Alive with Monster Reborn in my head.

21:52 lol. I can almost imagine a scene in YGOTAS after the duel “Congrats Mai. You defeated the half-dead guy that loved you and didn’t even want to win. You truly are the greatest duelist.”

Joey automatically wins for his iconic creepy chin

The real reason why Joey refused to use his time wizard in the first duel is because he knew Mai was depressed already and didn't want to hit her with his time wizard luck. What a nice guy!

If I had a nickel for every time Joey couldn't finish a duel because he physically collapsed, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

If you think Joey having Fiber Jar is crazy, Jaden plays Solemn Judgment in his duel against Jinzo.

Fun Fact: Mai is the only duelist in Waking the Dragons to win a duel using The Seal Of Orichalcos.

The reason why Joey didn’t get back Guildford is because “The Warrior Returning Alive” returns a warrior to the hand and not the field.

Personally, I never had a problem with Joey trying to throw the duel in order to get through to Mai. What I did have a problem with this was the fact that Joey was effectively removed from the final act of the Waking the Dragon Arc. I would've loved to see Yugi, Kaiba and Joey team up together to take on Dartz. Especially since Joey is supposed to be the wielder of the Claw of Hermos, one of the three dragons who fought Dartz 10,000 years ago. What I think they should've done was, if the events of the Waking the Dragon arc has to stay the same, where Joey loses to Mai, and then have Mai lose to Rafael, is have Rafael undo the effects of the Orichalos, by pulling out the souls of Joey and Mai and place them back in their respected bodies. After all, Rafael has been shown to do that, as he did return the souls of Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor. So why couldn't he do the same thing with Joey and Mai? And no, I don't think the answer is that he no long posseses the powers of the Orichalos, as Rafael did accidentally tapped into that power when he discovered that it was Dartz who murdered his family and made him the man he was. Plus, it's not like he couldn't have had the two cards containing Joey and Mai's souls, as Mai would've most likely had Joey's card on her person when she attempted to defeat Rafael, and then Rafael claiming the two cards that contained Joey and Mai's souls after he defeated her.

Basically: Joey: Alright, I'm about to beat Marik! The Plot: *Are you sure about that?* (ONE SEASON LATER) Joey: Alright I'm about to beat Mai! The Plot: How many times do I have to teach you this lesson Brooklyn man?!

Joey didn't just push Mai out of harm's way, he tore the Oricalcos stone off of her, something we know affects a person's mental state. He was looking out for her to the last.

The fact Joey was able to duel at all, let alone reasonably well given the circumstances, while DYING and literally having his senses failing him, makes him such a top tier duelist just for that determination alone

Joey really is a tough guy. I mean, 2 duels in a row is the most gruelsome thing in the Yugi-verse.

My main problem with Mai being angry at the gang for "leaving her behind" is that there's no implication that she every reached out to them for help with her trauma and her inferiority complex. Had she done so and they ignored it her anger would be far more justified

Joey has gone through it in so many duels. Struck by lightning, burned by a god(+more) and this now being the second time he collapsed. He lost his soul too. I swear if he has kids someday he’ll have some nuts stories.

Fun Fact: When Joey, Kaiba and Yugi first used their respective legendary Dragon cards, we get all 3 duel results except win: Joey got No Result, Kaiba got Draw and Yugi got Loss. Was Syrus about to defeat Zane? I will continue to request this until it happens, Sam.

Idk why, but the way he did the nonchalant spongebob imagination rainbow arch when he said, "picture this" makes us so happy. I love how expressive you are with your videos. Also, love these duel breakdowns! So exciting ^_^

29:17 Warrior returning alive adds a Warrior to the hand. Joey had no way to summon Gilford the Lightning.

Holy shit that shot of Joey setting a spell/trap and missing the slot is so clever

The Waking the Dragons arc was awesome. And, because I’m a weirdo hopeless romantic like that, I feel like Mai started to realize she had feelings for Joey when she cancelled her attack, literally rushing over to catch him mid collapse.

In regards to Mai's fear of a card like Fiber Jar in the first duel, I can't really blame her. One monster that comes to mind that would be right at home in Joey's deck and would be EXACTLY what Mai doesn't want to walk into is Cyber Jar. With how many low level monsters Joey has, it would do wonders in his deck. Furthermore, it would be awful for Mai because while she does have level 4 or lower monsters, she would be down two of her copies of Harpie Lady and she runs way fewer monsters in her deck than Joey does. And after seeing a card like Fiber Jar in his deck, I don't think you could argue against the possibility of him having something like Cyber Jar, especially seeing as we know that it has been in the anime's version of the card game since before Battle City.

During the first duel Joey had Monster Reborn in his hand so he could have revived any monster from the grave after Time Wizard's effect goes off and won.

The mystery card Mai drew on her last turn in the first duel could’ve been the Equip Spell, Rose Whip. Since there was not a Harpy Lady on field to equip it to, this was basically a dead draw.

9:45 If I did the math right in my head, then Joey could have: 1) Special summon Fiend Mega Cyber first with its effect 2) Normal summon Time Wizard and gamble with its effect to clear Mai’s Monsters 3) Activate Monster Reborn to bring back a Harpie Lady 4) Attack directly with all 3 monster to deal exactly 4000 damage and Joey wins

It’s cool that Joey used all three of his ace monsters in the rematch duel: Flame Swordsman, Red-Eyes and Gilford the Lightning. Don’t see that a lot where a main character gets out all of their aces in a single duel.

Compensation Mediation is probably one of the most situational anime only cards in the game that it’s kinda laughable and really stretches Joey’s luck which also makes more fun to watch. I mean, it makes for good tension and might be fun to play or collect (if ever released) if you’re a Joey fan but given it’s a 1 in 3 chance of ending the battle phase and your opponent gets to put their chosen cards back in the deck, you might have just play Negate Attack instead. Negate Attack in DM is probably a very rare card which is why only Kaiba has it at this point and Joey remember is quite poor so he likely pulled Compensation Mediation out of a random pack he got using his allowance from his part time job and put it in his deck.

Mai was so underrated with the Seal. She was a really really good duelist, and the extra abilities she gained was exactly her harpies needed at the time. Joey in this arc on the otherhand proved to every Kaiba fan that he was a top 5 duelist. Still never top 3 but he really grew

Mais arc in this season is absolutely heartbreaking. It's a really powerful representation of severe PTSD and how people can act out, in her case overcompensation for being so vulnerable and seeking to trying to prevent this from happening by pushing to be stronger, even to the point of completely rejecting the people who are truly there for her, because all that will do is leave her vulnerable again. Both Joey and Valon knew this, and wanted to help her in their own ways, Valon looking to protect her without respecting her desire to be independent, and Joey standing to remind her of who she is, and that it is ok to feel how she is feeling and to not let her trauma become her, nor allow her to be taken advantage of by Dartz. This is actually the kind of subtext that seems to get missed a lot of the time regarding yugioh and especially in season 4, and I genuinely love the show for it.

They should have made Mai the same age as Joey.

Was Zigfried about to defeat Kaiba? Was Allister about to defeat Kaiba? (Both duels) Make it happen TGS!!

TGS, since you’ve looked at duels for Yugi & Joey from the Waking The Dragons Arc, you should also look at Kaiba’s duels with Alister. The first one ended in a draw, so you could see if either could’ve won that one. Kaiba won their second meeting on the plane and you could look at if Alister could’ve won that one. They’re both really interesting duels and I think you could have fun breaking them down.

Joey's plan was to force a draw, but I don't even know how he could have done that with the cards we know he has, unless I'm forgetting something.

I think the last card Mai drew was the Field Spell Harpies' Hunting Ground, which would have been useless on her last turn considering all the Harpie Ladies were still banished. Or, ya know, maybe it was Hysteric Party which is insane, but needs a discard to work.

I love that Joey has this jank combo luck deck that just randomly has, easily, one of the most OP cards ever printed

9:11 And right here, Atems lack of understanding others in seeing the benefits of losing. Only seeing pride in winning at all cost is more important regardless of the reason why.

If I remember correctly it was her who collected Pegasus' soul, off-screen, so technically wasn't she one of the more successful seal users with two souls?

Joey's goal was to Save Mai, not defeat her. Even if he won the duel, then when Dartz was defeated Mai would've sought out another dangerous power to defeat Joey. By sacrificing himself Joey should Mai that he was always going to be there for her, so as far as I'm concern Joey is a winner in the end. Joey was able to prevent Mai from becoming a dangerous version of Rex & Weevil.

i believe joey could have beat mai if he wanted to but that wasnt his goal it was to rescue her from the darkness and get her back joey isnt top 4 for a reason

Little related to the duel, what's interesting when Valon's & Joey's soul gets taken away, they're the only ones shown they've accept the imprisonment in the carvings instead of reaching out their hands for help.

I always thought Mai was a really cool character when I was a kid and I hate how shafted she was. To this day, the Harpie archetype is still one of my all time favorites!

29:29 (Justine Courtney voice (i ran out of prosecutors)): Objection! Sheep Tokens can't be used for tribute summons, even with Joey summoning Paladin of Dark Dragon, he needs 2 more monsters for the destruction effect. If he wasn't going for the destruction effect, he would have to forgo using Red-eyes & Hermos together since Gilford the Lightning requires 2 tributes (he needs his Ritual monster to bring Red-eyes out, or use said ritual monster & blue flame swordsman as sacrifices for Gilford. Joey doesn't have monster reborn in his hand to do everything)

11:41 you said cleanest card throw? what about my boy kaiba STOPPING A GUN FROM FIRING BY THROWING A CARD!

I love this serie. Keep up the great work!

Idk why but I just like these videos. As an anime fan, just playing this in the background while doing something is just fun

Weird that Joey doesn't know the effects of the Hermos fusion he makes in his first duel with it but, he knows every time after despite it being entirely different each time. Even more so for the fact that Atem and Kaiba knew every time what their legendary dragon fusion effects would be.

Joey was at his prime during this filler (even if he held back against Mai and Rex). The Joey respect during this arc is 💯 Sadly, he was butchered again during his fight with Pink Hitler!

Man, we need more of these duel analysis including Sevens and Go Rush, congrats @TGSAnime :)

I need more of these Ive watched them all find us more. Ur the goat bro

Ignoring my desires to see a marathon video focusing on the Big Five Duels (AKA, Yugi vs. Gansley, Teá vs. Crump, Joey vs. Johnson, Serenity, Duke and Tristen vs. Nesbitt, Kaiba vs. Lecter, and finally Yugi and Joey vs. the Big Five,) I would also like to see the Kaiba vs. Allister duels in the near future.

0:00 intro 1:06 Duel 1 episode 151 20:07 Conclusion duel 20:29 Duel 2 episode 172 32:39 Outra

I love listening to these not only as a stategy analysis but also an awesome duel breakdown

Yugi: "Never Surrender Joey!" Also Yugi: "I surrender Rebecca, you win"

Awesome video as always Sam!!!! I know you're probably not going to see this, but I just wanted to say that even though I don't play Yu-gi-oh anymore, I still keep watching your videos all this time. Not only are they fun, sometimes funny, but almost always entertaining and relaxing. Never saw you cursing, throwing a tantrum or being just overall a shill for anything, especially not getting yourself involved with controversies or drama. Recently I have been going through some major stressful days with family's health and my own, but things seem to be getting better and your content really helped me get through it. Keep doing what you do buddy, you deserve every single sub and view that you have. ✌

“Was bakura going to defeat yugi” I’m taking about the REALLY epic duel between them in season 5 of course, that seems like a good one.

Best series is back! Lets see what you were cooking this time Sam

I love this duel series! This is like my 5th one. Subscribed!

Mai was built up to be this great duelist but almost all of it is offscreen..the little that we see her legitimately win or even do well without some dark magic assistance/magic friendship assistance is agaisnt Tea but she faked a loss..also..Tea barely knew what she was doing and still almost won..relaitsiclaly..Tea is kind of interesting. Despite being downplayed so often, she pretty much comes out on top of the few times we see her duel. The reality is that she is pretty darn good..I would love to see a version of Tea more like Joey. One who was genuinly emotionally interested in developing herself as a duelist over just being mildly invested indirectly through her friendships with dueling fanatics. I feel she would have the potential to easily surpass Joey and Yugi withing a much shorter time than Joey was building up to. She gebuinly seems much more naturally skilled and capeable, even at a disadvantage. Mai is not the worst, but it does seem she had hit a wall by Duelist City. Tea was already nearly beating her on what is one if her earlier duels. Not her first but clearly before she even fully undersrnads all the basic rules.

2:31 Yeah, Mai probably knows Joey has Jinzo, which would completely hose those traps, so I'd actually say to keep them in hand was a good call

11:38 When Joey tried to do an impression of The Mask lol

Thank you for doing this one. You're videos are always awesome!!

The absolute madlad Joey is to achieve what he wanted even after going through 2 rough duels and at the cost of his own soul. His devotion to his friends is truly his greatest strength. P.S. TGS, if it's okay to credit the background music for your videos, it'd be very much appreciated. The music is pretty cool, but it's hard to find them without knowing their names.

Mai had nothing left in the end of thier first duel here. XD Please do the Big 5 duels someday

I was looking for this on KZfaq and noticed no one covered this thanks for covering this duel

Great vid as always! I'm gonna say that 3rd mysterious card from the 1st duel was Cyber Shield.

Tbf on Mai overthinking or being too safe..this did happen before in Duelist Kingdom when she dueled Yugi. She choose not to attack him for game because she was too cautious of his facedown when it was revealed that had she did attack she could’ve won..so it makes sense for it to happen again

Will there be a video on Seto Kaiba vs Zigfried? That may have been Kaiba's best duel.

There was a period where they would throw "ending the battle phase" into effects of cards a lot. I think it was an experiment toward a detrimental, non-cost effect and shorter text. Since ending the battle phase typically came last it was just an additional affect of a card rather than a cost so there were unique advantages/disadvantages to balancing effects like that. It also restircted battle but didn't nessisarily restrict all battle in a turn and was shorter to put in a card than "your monsters can't declare an attack this turn.". It was a period between really early and more structured Yugioh where they were refining some game mechanics.

I love this series, please NEVER STOP

I was completely shocked that Mai joined darts and his gang, I mean it’s was unjustifiable, she didn’t even call them for help, she just assumed they forgot about her!! But it was a pretty close duel

8:23 (Klavier Gavin voice): Objection! Mai destroyed 1 sheep token, and Joey sacrificed 1 for panther warrior's effect (leaving 2 sheep tokens left), if Joey wants to attack with Panther Warrior in your scenario (where she attacks 2 tokens & ends her turn), he'd have to sacrifice Megacyber, Mai wouldn't have been able to win with Phoenix Formation in that case

My favorite part about watching these videos is waiting and listening for that added line of, "and the penultimate turn of the duel."

How Fiber Jar is described in the dub (definitely from a dub error) is even more crazy. From what I remember it’s described that it forces both players to shuffle the cards on their fields and graveyards into one pile and both players draw five from the pile

Joey couldn't have Summoned Gilford back during the turn he makes REBDS, as the warrior returning alive returns the card to the hand, and does not summon it. He normal Summoned blue flame swordsman and then ritual Summoned knight of dark dragon

Honestly, you can't blame Mai for being insecure (only amplified by PTSD) about her abilities. She's more than qualified to be a Regional Champion even as of Duelist Kingdom which is probably what drew I2's attention to her and gained her the invitation to Duelist Kingdom but the problem comes when she tries to duel at the National or World level especially since in the show or manga the characters at that level generally have magic and/or fate on their side (probably why I love the duel between Kaiba (a former World Champion) and Siegfried (a National Champion) so much since its a world-class duel where there is no supernatural shenanigans or cheating going on).

GOD DAMMIT TGS!!!! Its 11 pm and im just about to go to sleep but noo you just had to post a banger half hour video why do you treat me so

"Whoever loses this duel will now lose their soul. Never gets old. I love saying that!" You and Tristan Taylor both.

I am rewatching Yugioh 5DS, and in duel beetween team 5DS and team Unicorn, Jack made so big misplay on his first turn, that he lost, and 5DS won, only thanks to plot armor.

Consider this, Joey fought a death duel, was half dead, still pulling punches, and Mai almost lost again….😂😂😂

You got me wheezing with that "I know you are about to die but... Miss play..."

Bruh I was watching your old “Could _____ have won?” because I was bored and right at this moment there spawns a new one. Love and appreciate all your work! ♥️♥️

While Mai's experience against Marik was traumatizing no matter how you slice it, I kind of wish the anime used the manga version of her duel with Marik instead. It would justify her anger and fear of losing MUCH more than simply feeling "Left behind", since she literally had several near death experiences both in the duel and in her resulting Penalty Game.

Hot Take! I always thought Serenity could have joined Dartz instead of Joey needing to rescue Mai AGAIN! The virtual world arc was all about Kaiba Family Drama. The orichalcos arc could have focused on Wheeler Family Drama.

These are such a great hit of nostalgia. Yu-Gi-Oh! Was a fond memory of my childhood even though i never got into the card game very seriously

I think the neko mane king play was due to the fact that Joey wasn't trying to win, only stall out the duel for a solution to present itself( and it actually does), but also because Joey knows Mai, and how she's unsure of her own abilities, and would go for the safest play. That way he knew that she wouldn't just attack for game, as he already used fiber Jar.

Honestly, the way mai threw the card was clean, but you can't say the way Joey caught the card wasn't badass

Raises the question on if Fiber Jar would have removed the Seal of Orichalcos or not.

Man, coming back to this vid kinda illustrates how absolutely GOATed Joey became after Battle City (before the KC Grand Prix knocked him back down). Like, he gets two dedicated rivals from Doma and could’ve beaten one of them (who is admittedly Mai) on two separate occasions without his dragon if he really felt like it and beat the other guy on his first try (contrast Yugi losing to Rafael despite having his dragon AND The Seal of Oricalcos or Kaiba needing his dragon to force a tie on the first go).

Thanks for making this video!!!!

The fact that Joey has stood up to some of the heaviest hitters in the series like Mai, Kaiba, Marik etc... with, let's be honestly, a pretty damn awful deck, is just insanely impressive. Edit: To all the comments replying how Mai is a jobber, yeah definitely in the series but she has a history of being an ace duelist and winning lots of competitions. Just because it's not shown in the show doesn't mean she didn't have skill. Just terrible writing 😅

Pls analyse 5ds duels

Finally! I have waited years to get an in-depth Mai Valentine video!

14:25 In both dub & sub, "Mane" in "Neko Mane King" is pronounced "Ma nay"; Name from "nekomaneki" (cat invitation) + "king", appearanced on a maneki-neko or lucky cat statue. As for the useless cards speculation, besides Amazoness Spellcaster, there's Cyber Shield, Dark Witch (AKA, Valkyrie), & Dramatic Rescue, I think. Anyway, neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading this great video!

Please make a Judai VS Cronos vid.

bro I'm begging you can you please make a video about team5ds vs team unicorn and team ragnarok please man its like my 8th time asking

Love your videos!

I Love watching your vids of these. Huge Yugioh fan myself, and when I watch your vids I always look forward to you saying 'shenanigans' 😂 your accent w/ it just makes it more Awesome🤙🏿

Mai is one of the OGs and therefore is immensely powerful. Also plotwise Joey was supposed to not be good yet whereas Mai was already a beautiful cool skilled duelist. It may have been close but Mai always had it.

ahhh damn it. nothing like the old yugi days; great video as always from this series

2:22 Oh don't worry Sam. We love hearing you say it as well lol

funny enough I thought you did a video on this so I was looking for it yesterday but couldn't find it