Regular Gameplay
- Summoning any of the God Cards or the Wicked God cards, or really, anything on this list.
- Watching your opponent summon a huge field, then get destroyed by a simple Mirror Force
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Tournament Play & Championships
- During a Top 32 match at the 2012 European Championships, Thibault Giordan may have ultimately lost the match, but he made the crowd go absolutely berserk in game three when he Tribute Summoned Dark Magician.
- And Thibault continued the awesome the next turn. His opponent summoned an XYZ monster with whom he attacked Dark Magician. Cue "Forbidden Chalice", which boosted Dark Magician's attack to 2900, culminating with it overpowering the XYZ! The crowd goes wild again!
- In the finals of YCS Columbus in 2011, Billy Brake played against Alistar Albans in a Plant mirror match, with Brake looking to take his second YCS in two months. During the third and final game, Brake has the misfortune to draw into all 3 copies of Reborn Tengu, a card that is powerful, yet only useful so long as you don't draw multiple copies, and still ended up winning the match and therefore the tournament, despite playing with effectively a 3 card handicap for the entirety of the 3rd duel.
- Game 3 of the 2016 European Championship final, Samir Bacher, playing Pendulums, had to deal with his opponent opening an absolutely perfect opening hand, most importantly including Anti-Spell Fragrance, a card that stops him from being able to play at all. It looked like Samir was going to lose without being able to play a single card, but, off the top of his deck he draws Mystical Space Typhoon as his sixth card destroying the Anti-Spell Fragrance that would have prevented him from playing the game, and because of it, he takes the game and the tournament.
- In Round 4 of YCS Indianapolis 2023, Jeffrey Leonard manages to beat his opponent Justin, who was playing Tearlaments, in a 2-1 match by using a deck that usually doesn't see tournament play. That deck? Exodia! You can hear the crowd getting hyped as he starts getting out each piece of Exodia, culminating in chants of "ONE MORE PIECE!!!" when the win condition is close to being met, and the announcers shouting out "Exodia, obliterate!" when it finally is.
Scripted Duels
Starting in 2011, official tournaments have started hosting "scripted duels": a non canon duel narrated by the original voice actors live with a video feed of the cards being played to accommodate. They are all epic, with characters using new cards they haven't before:
- This scripted duel narrated by the VAs for Yugi and Yusei. For fans of the original series and of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, a real treat seeing the protagonists duke it out, exactly as one would expect (especially with all the old-school cards Yugi unleashes that are currently banned from the metagame).
- This VA scripted duel is a tag team duel that has Yugi, Joey, and Mai versus Pegasus and Bakura. It is the definition of epic. Pegasus defeats Mai and Joey, but loses to Yugi, and Yami Bakura takes over Ryou as his turn begins, turning the duel into a shadow game.
- This scripted duel has Kaiba versus Pegasus, the latter using a Wind-Up deck provided by one of the real-life players instead of his usual Toons. Pegasus demonstrates a mastery of the archetype's ability to facilitate Xyz Summons, and Kaiba keeps up while showing off the upcoming Blue-Eyes support.
- This scripted duel is between Joey and Kaiba. While Joey loses, he puts up quite a fight.
- Another scripted duel is between Yugi and Mai. When Yugi activates Multiply, a pile of Kuriboh cards is tossed between the two to mimic what Multiply does on the show.
- Then there is the one between Yugi and Astral. Easily one of the best matches, filled with constant gambits from both eras.
- This one is between Pegasus and Marik. Pegasus wins by using Comic Hand to take control of the Winged Dragon of Ra and turn it into a Toon!
- This duel is between Joey and Pegasus. Joey takes Pegasus down to 300 LP before losing and earns his respect as a duelist.
- This one is Yusei versus Yuya. Yusei defeats Yuya with his Stardust Charge Warrior, attacking all of his monsters at once.
- This duel is between Yugi and Kaiba. It's down to the wire as the Egyptian God cards get played along with the duelists' signature monsters, and new support cards. The duel itself is a combination of their duel in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, their Battle City duel, and Yugi's duels in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, alongside new summoning methods and old favorites.
- This scripted duel is a double-event of Jack Atlas vs. Pegasus, and then Jack vs. Aster Phoenix. Jack beats Pegasus in a single turn, prompting Aster to duel and defeat Jack while Pegasus commentates.
- For 2018, we get a matchup between two characters no one expected: the anime exclusive Ziegrfried von Schroder and Jean-Claude Magnum. An odd combo, but still epic all the same.
- For the one between Joey and Ishizu, Joey displays amazing tenacity despite a number of things, including his own chance-based cards, not going his way. One standout moment involves his board getting blown up only for him to rebuild it right away, and this happens twice in a single Battle Phase.
- This scripted duel in 2019 is, once again, between Yugi and Kaiba.
- It begins with Kaiba summoning all three Blue-Eyes White Dragons on his very first turn, and then proceeds into a back-and-forth swing as both Yugi and Kaiba keep destroying the other's field and rebuilding their own, bringing their aces back each time. This culminates in Yugi and Kaiba both summoning a colossal Fusion Monster — Quintet Magician and Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon — and both getting defeated in a Double Knockout, leaving the path clear for a humble Sangan to finally inflict the first instance of Battle Damage.
- Kaiba then triggers his Crush Card Virus after Yugi wipes out his Giant Germ with his Blue-Eyes (again). This destroys every monster Yugi can draw with 1500 ATK, leaving him with no field and no hand, and little in the way to stand up to Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon or Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon. The final turns comes down to a Call-Back to the very first episode:
Kaiba: Draw your last pathetic card, Yugi...
...
Yugi: I've told you once and I'll tell you again, Kaiba: My deck has no pathetic cards! But once again, it does contain... The unstoppable Exodia! Come forth, Exodia the Legendary Defender!
Kaiba: Exodia? How can this be?!
- Thanks to the power of technology, 2020 was able to get a scripted duel held remotely with Pegasus challenging Yugi using the Speed Duel format. Many one liners abound.
- For GX fans, Jaden vs Aster in 2022 Illinois brings back the major HERO players to show off the new cards from the Power of the Elements pack. Aster pulls out the infamous Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer and entraps Jaden during Jaden's own Standby Phase, but Jaden uses his new cards, culminating in Shining Neos Wingman to clinch the win.
- In late 2023 we have Gong vs Jack, with Jack boasting that he can smash through Gong's defenses within just five turns. Gong puts up a good fight and holds out for five of his turns through Jack's new and improved Synchro Monsters, which impresses the Master of Faster. However, Jack still delivers the finishing blow at the last minute, with the help of his signature card and Absolute Powerforce.
Storylines
- The entire Gagagigo storyline is an absolutely epic tale told slowly over the release of several different card sets. Seeing the tiny and timid Gigobyte grow into a powerful and badass adult form is cool enough, but then he gets cybernetically augmented into an even more powerful yet also evil cyborg form and ultimately loses himself as he grows stronger and stronger... before finally finding his true self in an even cooler new form that ends the whole saga on an uplifting and happy note. Not bad for a fun and silly children's card game.
- The backstory for Revendread Slayer gets fleshed out in Master Duel, and details the story of a man who was initially a subject to the zombie infestation. He discovers a pendant that belonged to his deceased lover, snapping him out of his stupor and inspiring anger and grief strong enough for him to overcome his infestation. This transforms him into Revendread Slayer, and he proceeds to enact a one-man Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Vendread horde. After countless fights, including clashes with Vendread Chimera and Battlelord, he succeeds, breaking the eternal night over his city that accompanied the zombie invasion. With his goal fulfilled, he is content to disappear into the sunlight, but the hope he inspired in the survivors that he saved allowed him to be reborn as a true hero Avendread Savior.
- In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the franchise, Konami Animations presents Yu-Gi-Oh! CARD GAME THE CHRONICLES, an anthology of short animations representing some of the most recognizable archetypes and monsters, all set to various remixes of Passionate Duelist.
