Yugi Muto and Bandit Keith's Duel

Yugi Muto and Bandit Keith, controlled by the arc's yet to be revealed antagonist Marik Ishtar faced each other in a game of Duel Monsters, before the Battle City arc, in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. It is based on Yugi Muto and Keith Howard's Duel from the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. This duel takes place before the Battle City arc officially begins.

Prior Events
Yugi and Téa Gardner head to school with Yugi sporting a chain instead of a rope to tie the Millennium Puzzle, fearing for it's safety. Yugi and Tea are interrupted by an arcane fortune teller who steals Yugi's puzzle. Yugi goes after the thief and Tea goes to find Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor to tell them what happened. She bumps into Bakura and informs him of what happened. Hearing this, The dark spirit of Bakura's Millenium Ring seeks out the puzzle for himself.

Meanwhile Yugi heads to an abandoned warehouse where he finds a duel stadium and his puzzle nailed down on the blue side. The thief reveals himself and challenges him to a duel for the puzzle. He also informs Yugi he is someone who can control his destiny just like he can control the destiny of others. With the bond between Yugi and his alter-ego fading, Yugi would have to fight on his own. Yugi accepts the terms.

Featured Duel: Yugi Muto vs. "Bandit" Keith Howard (Under the control of Marik Ishtar)
Turn 1: Yugi

Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Attack Position.

Turn 2: Keith

Keith draws. He then Sets a monster.

Turn 3: Yugi

Yugi draws. "Celtic Guardian" attacks and destroys Keith's Set monster, "Cyber Jar" (900/900). The Flip effect of "Cyber Jar" activates, destroying every monster on the field. After that happens, the Flip Effect of "Cyber Jar" lets both Yugi and Keith excavate the top five cards from their respective decks and Special Summon any Level 4 or lower monsters them drew in Attack Position or face-down Defense Position before adding the remaining cards to their respective hand. Yugi Sets a monster while Keith Special Summons "Mechanicalchaser" (1850/800) and "Ground Attacker Bugroth" (1500/1000) in Attack Position.

At this point, Yugi deduces that the thief is Bandit Keith and he takes off his hood to reveal he is partially right. "Keith" tells him he is not Bandit Keith and only speaks through him since he is his mind-controlled slave. Keith resists but the person controlling him regains control.

On Yugi's End Phase, he discards four cards in his hand as his hand surpasses the hand size limit.

Turn 4: Keith

Keith draws. He then Normal Summons "Machine King" (2200/2000) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Maching King", it gains 100 ATK for each Machine-Type monster on the field. There are currently three ("Machine King": 2200 → 2500/2000). "Machine King" attacks and destroys Yugi's Set monster, "Silver Fang" (1200/800). On Keith's End Phase, he discards two cards as his hand surpasses the hand size limit.

Turn 5: Yugi

Yugi draws. He then Sets a monster.

Turn 6: Keith

Keith draws "Megasonic Eye" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1500/1800) in Attack Position ("Machine King": 2500 → 2600/2000). "Machine King" attacks and destroys Yugi's Set monster, "Giant Soldier of Stone" (1300/2000).

Turn 7: Yugi

Yugi draws "Curse of Dragon" and subsequently Normal Summons it (2000/1500) in Attack Position. Yugi then Normal Summons "Gaia The Fierce Knight" (2300/2100) in Attack Position. He then activates "Polymerization" to fuse "Curse of Dragon" with "Gaia The Fierce Knight" and Fusion Summon "Gaia the Dragon Champion" (2600/2100) in Attack Position. "Gaia the Dragon Champion" attacks and destroys "Mechanicalchaser" (Keith 2000 → 1250) ("Machine King": 2600 → 2500/2000).

Turn 8: Keith

Keith draws. He then switches "Megasonic Eye" and "Ground Attacker Bugroth" to Defense Position. Keith then activates "Machine Conversion Factory" to increase the ATK and DEF of every Machine-Type monster he controls by 300 ("Machine King": 2500 → 2800/2000 → 2300; "Ground Attacker Bugroth": 1500 → 1800/1000 → 1300; "Megasonic Eye": 1500 → 1800/1800 → 2100). "Machine King" attacks and destroys "Gaia the Dragon Champion" (Yugi 2000 → 1800).

Turn 9: Yugi

Yugi draws "Summoned Skull". He then activates "Makiu, the Magical Mist" to decrease the ATK and DEF every Machine-Type monster by 300 ("Machine King": 2800 → 2500/2300 → 2000; "Ground Attacker Bugroth": 1800 → 1500/1300 → 1000; "Megasonic Eye": 1800 → 1500/2100 → 1800). He then Normal Summons "Summoned Skull" (2500/1200) in Attack Position. "Summoned Skull" then gains 750 ATK due to the effect of "Makiu, the Magical Mist" ("Summoned Skull": 2500 → 3250/1200). "Summoned Skull" attacks and destroys "Machine King" (Keith 1250 → 500). On Yugi's End Phase, the effect of "Makiu" expires ("Summoned Skull": 3250 → 2500/1200).

Turn 10: Keith

Keith draws "Graceful Charity" and subsequently activates it to draw three cards and discard two cards (he illegally placed three cards on top of his Deck right before drawing through the effect of "Graceful Charity"). Keith then activates "Zera Ritual" to Tribute "Ground Attacker Bugroth" and "Megasonic Eye" in order to Ritual Summon "Zera the Mant" (2800/2300) in Attack Position. "Zera the Mant" attacks and destroys "Summoned Skull" (Yugi Muto 1800 → 1500).

Yugi has 1500 LP remaining and controls no cards. Keith has 500 LP remaining and controls "Zera the Mant" (2800/2300) in Attack Position and no Set cards.

Turn 11: Yugi

Yugi draws "Koumori Dragon" and subsequently sets it.

Turn 12: Keith

Keith draws "Seiyaryu" and subsequently Normal Summons it (2500/2300) in Attack Position. Keith's hand contains "Solemn Judgment", "Ground Attacker Bugroth", "Curse of Fiend", and "Stop Defense". Keith secretly uses the mechanical claw in his hand to swap "Ground Attacker Bugroth" with "Magic Jammer". He then Sets "Magic Jammer" and activates "Stop Defense" to switch Yugi's Set monster, "Koumori Dragon" (1700/1200) to Attack Position. "Zera the Mant" attacks and destroys "Koumori Dragon" (Yugi 1500 → 400).

Turn 13: Yugi

Yugi draws. He then Sets a monster.

Turn 14: Keith

Keith draws. "Seiyaryu" attacks and destroys Yugi's Set monster, "Mystical Elf" (800/2000). Keith then Sets two cards and switches "Zera the Mant" to Defense Position.

Turn 15: Yugi

Yugi draws "Mirror Force". He then sets one card and Normal Summons "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) in Defense Position. Yugi then activates "Magical Hats" to create four hats and hide his "Dark Magician" in one of them.

Turn 16: Keith

Keith draws. Keith then activates his face-down "Magic Jammer" to negate the effect of "Magical Hats" and destroy it by discarding one card from his hand. This removes the hats created by the effect of "Magical Hats". On Keith's Standby Phase, he activates his face-down "Curse of Fiend" to switch the Battle Position of every monster on the field; "Seiyaryu" is switched to Defense Position while "Zera the Mant" and "Dark Magician" are switched to Attack Position.

"Zera the Mant" attacks "Dark Magician", but Yugi activates his face-down "Mirror Force" to destroy all Attack Position monsters Keith controls, however Keith activates his face-down "Solemn Judgment" to negate the effect of "Mirror Force" and destroy it by paying half of his Life Points (Keith 500 → 250). "Zera the Mant" destroys "Dark Magician" (Yugi 400 → 100).

Turn 17: Yugi

Yugi draws a card and subsequently sets it. He then sets a monster.

Turn 18: Keith

Keith draws. He then secretly swaps a card in his hand with "Tribute to the Doomed". Keith then activates "Tribute to The Doomed" to discard a card from his hand and destroy Yugi's Set monster, but Yugi activates his face-down "Living Arrow" to change the target of "Tribute to the Doomed" to "Zera the Mant", destroying the latter instead.

The Duel, at this point, ends due to Yami Bakura's interference.

Aftermath
Bandit Keith is freed from his superior's control over him and shatters the Millenium Puzzle (In the dub, the antagonist briefly regains control of Keith and smashed the puzzle). As Yugi frantically puts the puzzle back together, Bakura infuses his spirit in one of the pieces and gives it back to Yugi. As the antagonist tries to regain control over Keith, he uses a metal bar and inadvertently smashes a control box, setting the warehouse on fire. Joey and Tristan arrive and Save both Yugi and the puzzle, with Yugi being hospitalized as a result.

Trivia

 * This duel serves as a prelude to the Battle City arc. It also introduces the new antagonist Marik Ishtar.