Yugi's Batman Gambit

Joey Wheeler never had a chance to win Duelist Kingdom. He was doomed from the start. And I'm sure you're thinking,

"Well, yeah. Yugi's the main character. Of course he wasn't gonna win..." But, I'm talking about in universe, Yugi had set Joey up to be his final opponent so he could beat him easily.

Let's remember that in Duelist Kingdom, Joey was not only a novice, but a novice who couldn't afford to get many good cards. So him having to get past Professional Duelists was less likely than Yugi, who had more training and the help of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. So, it's understandable that Joey needed a little help in his duel with Mai. And how did he win that duel again?

Time Wizard. The card that Yugi gave him. And as Joey slowly started to become a good duelist in his own right, does nobody ever seem to question...why would Yugi give him a Time Wizard? Or, more importantly, why would he have a Time Wizard card with him?

Let's answer the former. Why would Yugi give Joey the card? You'd think Yugi would put that in his deck. Despite the risk that comes with Time Wizard, it IS a powerful card in it's own right. And Yugi would have a GOOD reason to: he needs to win to recover his grandfather's soul. Sure, you can say because he's a nice guy and Joey needed all the help he could get, but would YOU in trust a rookie like Joey with a potentially powerful card when YOU need it just as badly? Doesn't make much sense, so you'd probably chalk it up as "Yugi just being a good friend".

Unless, like me, you question why he'd have the card to begin with. We see Yugi carry no other cards but his grandfather's cards, because his grandfather, being a 'Game Master', must have built a great deck-which, in universe, it is. Wouldn't putting Time Wizard in it make it better to use in a pinch. And Yugi even seemed to have known about the Time Wizard/Baby Dragon combination, as in Joey's duel with Mai, he seemed to encouraging Joey to play the card-and Joey even showed Yugi Baby Dragon while on the boat. But it doesn't answer the question: why does he have Time Wizard?

To turn Dark Magician into Dark Sage.

That's why Yugi wanted Joey to make it into the final round. He knew he'd use Time Wizard against him and he knew Thousand Dragon was weaker than Dark Sage. Yugi's guaranteed endgame to reach Pegasus was to help Joey into the finals with him, who was a much less experienced duelist and didn't know of the Time Wizard/Dark Magician combination.

edited 9th Jan '16 10:10:07 PM by HydraGem

While you make a good case here, it falls apart as such a thing is entirely out of character for Yugi to do. As much as he wanted to win his grandfather's soul back, he probably didn't have it in him to set Joey up to fail like that. Let's break down the implications for if this were the case: First off, it's a manipulative and backstabbing thing to do, and Yugi is neither of those. At the time maybe Atem had those qualities, but from what we saw in their Duel he had nothing but respect for Joey's Dueling skill at the time. He even let Joey savor his victory after defeating his Dragon Champion.