Death Analysis: Yugi Muto

Death Analysis: The Children's Card Game Winning, Mind Crushing, Ridiculous-Haired Heart of the Cards-Wielding Egyptian Pharaoh, he's the King of Games: Yu-gi-oh!

Backstory:

3,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, the evil of men's spirits incarnated as horrible monsters who threatened the safety of all the lands. But the Priests of Egypt, led by a nameless Pharaoh with crazy hair sealed them away in stone tablets. That is until one fateful day when the Thief King Bakura, looking for revenge laid siege to Egypt with his forces of darkness. The Pharaoh sealed himself and the Thief King away in Two of the Mystical 7 Millennium Items. During the battle the Millennium Puzzle shattered to never be re-assembled.

Or so it would seem. For in the modern times, a young schoolboy named Yugi, bullied and beaten, with no confidence or strength to call his own but brimming with kindness managed to solve the Puzzle and forever entwine his spirit with the Pharaoh's.

Together these two proceeded to save the world from the dark forces that plagued it, particularly other wielders of the Millennium Items......also, A LOT of card games.

Canonicity:

Yugioh Canon is not too bad. Basically everything written by the original writer, Kazuki Takahashi is primary canon and everything approved by him to be within the same canon but not written by him is Secondary Canon, which can be counted so long as it doesn't conflict with the primary canon.

Primary Canon consists of the 343 chapters of the original manga, the Newest Yu-gi-oh! movie, Dark Side of Dimensions which was written by Kazuki Takahashi specifically to be within the Manga continuity, and the two manga chapters written by Kazuki Takahashi to link the original manga with the Movie.

Second Canon consists of the Mangas for every subsequent Yu-gi-oh! series as well as the actual physical Duel Monsters cards which are canon so long as they weren't changed for balance reasons as Kazuki himself mentions.

Millennium Puzzle:

The primary source of Yugi's powers come from his mystical Puzzle, one of the 7 Millennium Items. The Puzzle gives it's user Dark Wisdom and Strength. The Book of the Dead proclaims the one who has the Millennium Puzzle will dispense justice to all,and judge evil. It's most famous ability is that Yugi can use this to switch between Hikari Yugi (Little Yugi) and Yami Yugi (The Spirit of the Pharaoh) at will. By using this he can take advantage of his two minds to resist telepathy. (1) (2). However it has a number of other abilities.

Twice the Puzzle shows the ability to give Yugi Clairvoyance, the ability to see distant events (1) (2). The Puzzle can curse people to die and will automatically activate to protect Yugi from danger (1) (2). The Puzzle can also bfr people to it's interior dimension (1) (2)

Inside the Puzzle is the endless maze of Yami Yugi's soul containing various traps and pits that can trap people forever.

The Millennium Puzzle, like all the Millennium Items can also initiate a shadow game. A Shadow Game is essentially a normal game brought to life by the powers of darkness. It is also a recreation of the duel of magic done by the Ancient Egyptian Magicians. Anything can be a shadow game; Yugi turns a puzzle into a shadow game, "blood-soaked wars" are a form of game, and indeed an entire world is turned into the final Shadow Game between Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura. No normal human can withstand a shadow game for a shadow game can swallow the body and soul in darkness. While most people can not even observe the nature of a shadow game, they are potent enough to shape destiny. Yami Yugi can control the level of his shadow game at will.

If Yugi's opponent loses or cheats at a shadow game, they will be open to Penalty Game, in which they are afflicted by a horrible ailment usually befitting their sins. However, Yugi does not need to win a Shadow Game to inflict a Penalty Game.  With Penalty Game Yugi can trap his enemies in illusions or alter their senses (1) (2). He can also just make someone outright die from Penalty Game (1) (2). However his most famous Penalty Game is "Mind Crush" which destroys his opponent's mind, leaving them comatose until they rebuild it. 

Cards:

Along with his Puzzle Yugi carries as standard equipment his duel disk and his duel monsters deck. Duel Monsters is a card game developed by Eccentric and Cartoon Enthusiast Maximillion Pegasus based on the Magical Duels of Egypt. Given it's resemble to the games of his past life, Yugi is most comfortable playing this game over all others.

Given that the point of a Shadow Game is that it brings the game to life, right down to recreating the mechanics, it would seem that the Duel Monsters Mechanics would be completely fair game for any modern shadow game Yugi gets into using his Duel Monsters Deck.

Monster-Scaling:

Just some important monster feats, generally from card descriptions, for comparison.

Giant Soldier of Stone (1300 ATK): Destroys the Moon. Konami even released a card referencing it

Megasonic Eye: (1500 ATK): Traveled from the edge of the universe (requires speed in excess of 10,000 c)

Deep-Eyes White Dragon (Alternate Blue Eyes White Dragon, which has 3,000 ATK): Travels to Earth from another solar system in 10 seconds (speed of over 13,000,000 c)

Three God Cards (Varies, usually ~ 3,000-4,000 ATK): Can destroy the world and remake it into a world of darkness

Sun-Eater: (3,200 ATK): Can Consume a Star


Superdimensional Robot Galaxy Destroyer (5,000 ATK): Can Destroy a Galaxy

HEAVILY Boosted Blue-Eyes White Dragon: (19,900 ATK): Many times said to be able to Illuminate an infinite darkness

Monster Cards:

Non-Tribute Monsters:
These monsters may be summoned once per turn normally without any sacrifice. (ATK/DEF)

• Kuriboh (300 ATK/200 DEF): Originally the weakest monster in the game to the point that the creator of the game couldn't believe someone used it.  Kuriboh has the ability that when he is attacked or comes into contact with an enemy, he explodes. He represents Hikari Yugi, being the small innocent creature no one takes seriously but who can save the day and indeed when combined with multiply Kuriboh is quite the threat. 
• Sangan (1000 ATK/600 DEF): Originally called "Critter"
• Big Shield Gardna (100 ATK/2600 DEF)
• Marshmallon (300 ATK/500 DEF): Can only be damaged by spells and special abilities
• Silent Swordsman (1000 ATK/1000 DEF): Goes up 500 ATK every turn it remains in offense mode
• Silent Magician (1000 ATK/1000 DEF): Everytime an enemy draws a card, Silent Magician gains 500 ATK
• Silver Fang (1200 ATK/800 DEF)
• Mammoth Graveyard (1200 ATK/800 DEF)
• Dark Dragon (1500 ATK/800 DEF)
• Griffor (1200 ATK/1500 DEF)
• Louise, The Beaver Warrior (1200 ATK/1500 DEF)
• Feral Imp (1300 ATK/1400 DEF)
• Giant Soldier of Stone (1300 ATK/2000 DEF): Can destroy the moon
• Holy Elf (800 ATK/2000 DEF): Can use a chant that combines monsters' atk together, also has the power of being a straight woman
• Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400 ATK/1700 DEF)
• Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700 ATK/1800 DEF)
• Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500 ATK/1800 DEF)
• Green Gadget (1400 ATK/1600 DEF)
• Red Gadget (1300 ATK/1500 DEF)
• Yellow Gadget: (1200 ATK/1200 DEF)
• Blockman (1000 ATK/1500 DEF): Can be divided into pieces equal to the number of turns it's been since it's been summoned
• Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts (1500 ATK/1200 DEF)
• Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress (1400 ATK/1200 DEF): Has a 35% chance of dodging enemy attacks
• Celtic Guardian (1400 ATK/1200 DEF)
• Queen's Knight (1500 ATK/1600 DEF)
• King's Knight (1600 ATK/1400 DEF): When Queen's Knight and King's Knight are both on the field together, Jack's Knight is special Summoned
• Jack's Knight (1800 ATK/1200 DEF)

1-Tribute Monsters: 

These Monsters require one monster sacrifice to summon:

• Catapult Turtle (1000 ATK/2000 DEF): Can launch another monster as a projectile
• The Tricky (2000 ATK/1200 DEF): You can discard one card to special summon this card from the hand
• Baphomet the Demon (1400 ATK/1800 DEF)
• Archfield of Gilford (2200 ATK/2500 DEF): When this monster is destroyed, one monster on the field can be reduced by 500 ATK
• Curse of Dragon (2000 ATK/1500 DEF)
• Summoned Skull (2500 ATK/1200 DEF): Originally called Daemon and was one of the top 5 strongest cards in the game. Wet things are more susceptible to his lightning.
• Dark Magician Girl (2000 ATK/1700 DEF): The Dark Magician has an apprentice that inherited his vast powers, she gains 500 atk for every Dark Magician in anyone's graveyard, she's fast enough to save her master Dark Magician from Diabound's attack (1) (2)

2-Tribute Monsters:

These Monsters require two monster sacrifices to summon:

• Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300 ATK/2100 DEF)
• Buster Blader (2600 ATK/2300 DEF): Gains 500 ATK for each Dragon the opponent controls
• Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction (???/???): By paying half of your life points, destroys and removes from the game every monster on the field
• Dark Magician (2500 ATK/2100 DEF): Dark Magician is Yugi's most iconic monster and his ace. One of the Pharaoh's Priests, loyal to the end, as he was dying infused his soul into the card (1) (2). Able to sacrifice his soul to protect Yugi (1) (2) (3). Dark Magician was able to defeat Diabound, a semi-divine monster (1) (2) and was able to damage him even after his massive boost to divine level. Dark Magician and his apprentice Dark Magician Girl working together were able to defeat even Ra, the strongest of the Egyptian Gods (1) (2). Dark Magician is also able to destroy ghosts and use spatial manipulation (1) (2)

Fusion Monsters:

These monsters are created by fusion of 2 or more pieces:

• Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast (2100 ATK/1800 DEF): Made by fusing Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts and Baphomet
• Gaia the Dragon Champion (2600 ATK/2100 DEF): Made by fusing Gaia the Fierce Knight and Curse of Dragon
• Dark Paladin (2900 ATK/2600 DEF): Made by fusing Dark Magician and Buster Blader. Has both their abilities
• Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500 ATK/3850 DEF): Made by Fusing Alpha, Beta, and Gamma the Magnet Warriors

Ritual Monsters:

These Monsters are created by sacrificing a few monsters with a spell card and a certain monster on the field

• Black Luster Soldier (3000 ATK/2500 DEF): Summoned by transforming Gaia the Fierce Knight with Black Luster Ritual
• Magician of Black Chaos (2800 ATK/2500 DEF): Summoned by transforming Dark Magician with Dark Magic Ritual

Exodia:

Exodia is a series of 5 monster pieces, 4 of which has 200/300 or 300/200 ATK/DEF, and one of which has 1,000/1,000. However if assembled, the 5 pieces form a monster called Exodia the Forbidden One, who has INFINITE attack power, making it easily scale-able to any monster with finite attack power.

However Haga threw the pieces into the ocean, and so he no longer can use this strategy.

Egyptian Gods:

Osiris, Obelisk, and Ra form the trinity of the Egyptian God Cards, monsters with the power of the gods. Yugi acquired these and they form his true powerhouses. To summon they require 3 sacrifices. 

• Osiris (X000/X000): Osiris' attack and defense is equal to the number of cards in hand. Whenever a monster is summoned by the opponent, Osiris reduces it's power by 2,000
• Obelisk (4000/4000: By sacrificing two monsters further, Obelisk's power rises temporarily to infinity
• Ra (???/???): Supreme in Rank among the Egyptian Gods, Ra can only be used by one who can use the mystical chant in Egyptian on his card. Ra's power is equal to the total of the monsters used to summon him. The Player may offer lifepoints to Ra to boost his power further. If the player gives up 1,000 life points, Ra will turn into phoenix mode and destroy any monster on the field. In this form Ra can absorb attacks.

The Nature of the Gods puts him above the other Duel Monster Cards:

• Each God symbolizes two extremes in the world
• If someone who is not the proper user tries to use an Egyptian God or a copy, it will anger them
• Mere Copies of the Gods can cause insanity or kill outright
• Magic only lasts an instant against the Gods
• Dark Side of Dimensions suggests effects also don't work on the Gods and also can be summoned by someone with enough will even if they aren't in their deck as Kaiba did with Obelisk.

The Power of the Gods also is exceedingly great:

• As mentioned above the Gods can destroy the world and create a new world in it's place
• The Whole Word shakes when Osiris Moves
• Invoking the power of Obelisk makes the Earth Tremble
• Ra in his sealed form shakes the sky with his presence
• Ra changes night to day
• Malik could use Ra to enshroud the Earth in darkness
• The collision of Osiris and Obelisk creates a large explosion and shockwave before releasing the powers of chaos and ripping a hole in spacetime so Yugi and Kaiba can see the distant past. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Horakthy:

With the knowledge of his true name, Yami Yugi/Atem fused the three Egyptian God Cards to form the strongest being in the world, The Creator of Light. Horakthy is able to easily destroy Zorc, the Demon God who was stronger then Exodia and created all darkness. She is the Ultimate God, the Creator. When played, this card immediately wins the game. 

Spell Cards:

Spell Cards are magical effects that can be activated during Yugi's turn. 

• Monster Reborn: Revives a Monster from Death
• Swords of Revealing Light: Prevents attacks from the opponent for 3 turns and reveals all their monsters
• Horn of the Unicorn: Increases ATK and DEF by 700 points
• Monster Recovery: Takes monsters you control, brings them back to the deck, which is shuffled and you draw 5 new cards.
• Burning Land: Destroys any field magic
• Polymerization: Fuses two monsters to form a fusion monster
• Magic Mist: Surrounds the field with water vapors
• Mystical Moon: Raises the power of beasts. Increases area of tidal waves
• Magical Hats: Covers cards with 4 hats forcing opponents to guess where they are
• Mystic Box: Switch the position of a Dark Magician you control with a monster your opponent controls, their controller doesn't change. The opposing monster is destroyed.
• Shift: Switches the position of two monsters you control. Can switch a monster on the field with one in the hand.
• Eye of Truth: Reveals the cards in the opposing player's hand.
• Multiply: Causes a monster with less 500 ATK to multiply without stop. Usually used with Kuriboh to create a wall of living mines. It can create hundreds of copies, strongly implied to be at least 1,000 based on covering all the eyes of "Thousand-Eyes Restrict"
• Magic Arrow: Allows the player to use a spell on a target they normally can't. Somehow used to fuse Mammoth Graveyard with Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, decaying it from the inside. 
• Light-Sword of Card Sealing: Removes one card at random from your opponent's hand from play for 3 turns.
• Card Destruction: Both players discard their entire hands and draw cards equal to the cards discarded from their deck.
• Brain Control: Gives one control of an opponent's monster for one turn
• De-Spell: Negates the effect of one spell in play
• Defuse: Returns one fusion monster to it's component pieces
• Magic Cylinder: Negates and Reflects an attack sent by an opposing monster
• Magic Formula: Increases the power of a spellcaster by 500 points. 
• Exchange: Each players select one card from their opponent's hand and add it to their own
• Double Spell: Casts any Magic spell played by an opponent this turn
• Diffusion Wave-Motion: Pay 1,000 life points and a Spellcaster you control can attack every monster your opponent controls
• Devil's Sanctuary: Given to Yugi by Kaiba to stop Ra, Devil's Sanctuary special summons a Metal Devil who's ATK is equal to the opponent's life points and when destroyed deals battle damage to the opponent instead of controller. Requires 1000 life points per turn to maintain
• Dimension Magic: If a Spellcaster is under your control you can sacrifice two monsters to special summon another spellcaster from your hand. The two of them can then combine their power for the turn
• Marshmallon Glasses: Summons glasses that forces the monster to target Marshmallon for all it's attacks and effects
• Turn Jump: Moves 3 turns into the future
• Magic Barrier: Creates a barrier against magic, able to stop not just spells but magical monster effects
• Rebellion: Causes one of the opponent's monsters to attack them
• Bond of the Fellowship: Allows special summoning of two monsters of the same type from the deck.
• Magic Move: Transfers a spell from one target to another
• Tricky's Magic 4: Pay 1,000 Life Points and sacrifice The Tricky. Summon Tricky Tokens equal to the number of monsters your opponent controls
• Golden Sarcophagus: Put one card in the great puzzle box. If the opponent plays a magic with the same name, that card is negated.

Trap Cards:

Trap Cards are set facedown and activated on an opponent's turn, usually in response to something.

• Mirror Force: Reflects an attack back on all of an opponent's attack mode monsters
• Spellbinding Circle: Traps an opposing monster and reduces their power by 700. Can use the trapped monster as a shield
• Chain Destruction: When a monster with less 2000 ATK is summoned, Chain Destruction can destroy them and every copy of them from the opponent's deck. 
• Magical Rift Panel: Activates when the opponent casts a spell, takes control of the spell
• Soul Rope: Activates when a monster of yours is destroyed, pay 1000 life points and summon a level 4 monster from the deck
• Stronghold, the Moving Fortress: Activates when attacked by an opponent, turns into a powerful fortress to protect the player with 2000 DEF.
• Crumbling Axe: Lowers an enemy monster's power by 500 for each turn this was set.
• Magician's Circle: Triggered when an enemy spellcaster attacks. Both players play one spellcaster monster from their decks. 

Atem's Power:

Yami Yugi, the Pharaoh Atem has certain innate powers and magic as the Pharaoh, the physical avatar of the Gods on Earth.

Physically, Atem is able to superleap since the first chapter. He has tanked the power of the shadow games which no normal man could survive, survived the dark magic of one of the strongest dark sorcerors and he even protects Mai and Jono from a direct attack from Ra! It's not a mechanic of the shadow game either, he wasn't even in that duel. Not really sure how to interpret that.  He has twice displayed intangibility (1) (2). He is fast enough to just materialize behind someone and was able to react Summoned Skull's lightning attack moving through the water at lightning speed over a relatively short distance 

Atem has notable psionic abilities. His Third Eye can see what's inside others' hearts. He can sense the presence of strong monsters, his mind being read, or the pulses of the soul. He can telekinetically split a die thrown at him and more impressively, his will protects the palace stopping trespassers even intangible ones. He can control what number a die rolls with his mind and causes an illusion without penalty game. Also he might have telepathy.

Atem has a number of other abilities. He can create matter from nothing, channel power from his friends, and seal monsters in stone tablets. The Power of his name is strong enough not only to fuse the Egyptian Gods into Horakthy, but also to create a forcefield strong enough to fend off Zorc himself. And then there is his most well known ability. Due to his strong will and his connection with the spirits of his deck, he has the ability to change probability and draw what card he needs, an ability known to most English-Speaking Yu-gi-oh! fans as "The Heart of the Cards". 

Hikari Yugi

Hikari Yugi is for the most part a normal human but he does have the power of kindness. This allows him to tell when people are lying and also his bond with his friends has grown strong enough that even illusions of his friends won't fight him.

Also while he isn't exactly superhuman he has come a long way from being the weakling everybody picked on. He was able to dexterously chase a thief through the city and survived unconscious being engulfed in flames.

Intelligence/Feats:

Yugi is really, REALLY good at games.

• Defeated the Three Tests of Shadi, including a nigh-impossible riddle, in a short timespan
• Twice defeats Mokuba Kaiba, the Champion of Capsule Monsters, at Capsule Monsters despite Mokuba getting 5 monsters of high level and Yugi getting low-level monsters
• Outwits the Meikyu brother's variation of the truth-teller and liar riddle
• Catches a criminal the police couldn't with good old fashioned logic
• In an RPG defeated a Buffed Up Level 15 Monster with Four Level 1 Characters, and One Level 13 Character
• Figured out the new rules of Duelist Kingdom simply by looking at one of the battlefields
• Nearly beats Pegasus in their first duel, despite Pegasus using cheating, a time limit, and cards Yugi had never heard of.
• Easily defeats Haga, who won championship in Duel Monsters Japan's National Competition. 
• At the end of Duelist Kingdom Yugi defeats Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, despite him using cheating and completely broken cards exclusive to him.
• Hikari Yugi defeats Ryuji Otogi, the Creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters, at Dungeon Dice Monsters in his first game of it with a combination of dice essentially picked at random, without Yami Yugi's help.
• Defeats Osiris, an Egyptian God, and a supposedly unbeatable strategy of 5 invisible cards, by turning Osiris' power against the wielder and forcing them to draw until they lose their entire deck.
• Yami Yugi defeats Priest Seto's Strongest Monster at the time in ancient Egypt using just Kuriboh and Multiply
• Defeats Yami Bakura and foils his plan to control the world, despite Bakura have millennia to plan out this exact plan
• In the Ceremonial Duel, Hikari Yugi defeats Yami Yugi, freeing his soul
• In Dark Side of Dimensions, defeats Yami Aigami, using godlike monsters from a higher dimension, with just one card and one turn without difficulty

Weaknesses:

Individually, Yami Yugi and Hikari Yugi both have their own weaknesses. Yami Yugi is proud and competitive to the point of foolhardiness while Hikari Yugi is underconfident and physically weak. However together they generally cancel out each other's weaknesses.

The only really shared weakness they have is that they are bound by the rules of Duel Monsters and never cheat; Hikari Yugi because he considers it immoral and Yami Yugi because it hurts his pride as a duelist and because he considers it to weaken his dueling skills

Personality:

Hikari Yugi is a sweet, sensitive boy who believes in the power of friendship and tries to develop his pride and strength so he can help his friends as they help him. He represents the future, brimming with potential, which is why his cards like the gadgets and blockman which represent the potential for the future, and why he uses cards like Silent Swordsman and Silent Magician, creatures which start out weak and little but develop stronger with each turn like Little Yugi.

Yami Yugi is a proud regal man who seeks the betterment of his kingdom and later his own soul's freedom. He seeks to gain the empathy to understand why people care for their enemies and what causes this power called "Friendship". He represents the past, full of ancient wisdom and dignity, but inflexible in thinking, which is why his monsters are archaic simple powerhouses like Magicians, Knights, and Dragons. 

The Union of these two souls allows them to learn from and develop from each other, their two opposite styles working to balance each others' weaknesses. 

Summary:

+Superhuman Strength (Can superleap high into the air), Moon Level DC with Most of his Summons, Planet to Star Level with his God Cards, Universe Level with Exodia, Boosted Obelisk or Horakty

+Superhuman Durability, Higher with Forcefields formed from his name, Can turn Intangible

+Superhuman Speed, Massively Hypersonic Reflexes

+Summoning

+Can attack the mind and souls of his opponent

+Mind and Soul Resistance

+Can Induce Death

+Destiny Manipulation

+Sealing

+Spacetime Manipulation

+Dimensional BFR

+Attack Reflection

+Resurrection

+Shields

+Stat-Boosting

+Telekinesis and Telepathy

Potential Opponent:

This match was suggested to me by one of my friends:

Yugi Muto vs. Jace Beleren: Yu-gi-oh! vs Magic: The Gathering. Time to see which nerd card game hobby was truly the best ;)      

Next Time:

Thanks so much to my friend Thor who made this next time that completely blew my mind.