i like the duel with the pharaoh vs malik’s mime because they get so wrapped up in the mythology of what they’re doing – destiny, the power of the egyptian god cards, atem is paralyzed with fear when osiris the sky dragon is summoned, he’s about to give up bc of the ~ infinite combo – that they forget they’re also playing a highly structured, orderly game with mutually agreed-upon rules like “you lose if you have no more cards left to draw.” like, that’s what happens when your villainous plot to murder the pharaoh relies almost entirely on card games
i also like this duel because kaiba shows up halfway through yelling GET UP AND FIGHT GOD!!!!, and then in the next duel, the tag team duel, atem is like, very level-headed, “kaiba, calm down. remember, teamwork. we’ll win if we cooperate and work together. as a team.”
