Card Appearances:Dark Magician

Duelist Kingdom/Pre-Duelist Kingdom Arc

 * This card is Yugi's signature monster in all story arcs. It was first used in the DEATH-T Duel of the manga and first series anime (the first duel of the second series anime is based on the DEATH-T Duel.). Yugi destroyed Kaiba's Judge Man with this monster, but it was later defeated by the 3rd Blue-Eyes White Dragon of Kaiba.


 * In Kaiba's first appearance in the first series anime, he is shown stealing this card from a student at another school before transferring to Domino High.


 * During Yugi's first duel against Maximillion Pegasus, Yugi played this card without looking at it to counter Pegasus' Millennium Eye. It destroyed Koumori Dragon, which was under Pegasus' Dragon Piper's control, but fell under the control of Pegasus' Eye of Illusion, and destroyed Yugi's Celtic Guardian.


 * In Yugi's duel against Weevil Underwood at Duelist Kingdom, Yugi played this card in defense to lure Weevil into attacking. Weevil attacked with Basic Insect, strengthened with Laser Cannon Armor and Level 2 Power Boost, but Yugi activated Mirror Force, destroying all of Weevil's monsters. It was eventually recalled into Yugi's deck with Monster Recovery.


 * It appeared next in Yugi's duel against the The Death Imitator, where it destroyed Hitotsu-Me Giant. Yugi later hid it from Blue-Eyes White Dragon with Magical Hats, and used it to destroy the dragon after it had been weakened with Spellbinding Circle. It was later destroyed by a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon.


 * Yugi himself was transformed into this card during Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura's shadow duel. The Dark Magician Yugi destroyed Bakura's Morphing Jar on the turn he was summoned, activating its effect. Dark Magician Yugi was later on goaded into attacking a face-down defense position Electric Lizard, which paralyzed him. Near the end of the duel, Bakura attempted to take control of him using Change of Heart, but was stopped by his other half before he could do so.


 * During Yugi and Joey's tag-team duel against the Paradox Brothers, Yugi summoned this card to accompany Joey's Axe Raider and Flame Swordsman as well as his own Celtic Guardian into the Labyrinth Wall. Later, Yugi used Mystic Box to destroy the brothers' Jirai Gumo and move the Dark Magician into the monster's position, where it destroyed the brothers' Labyrinth Tank. Yugi later moved it to the edge of the labyrinth and used Shift to swap its position with B. Skull Dragon, winning the duel.


 * When Seto Kaiba dueled Yugi atop Pegasus' castle, Yugi used shift to swap this card with the Curse of Dragon he had on the field, which resulted in Kaiba's Swordstalker attacking it instead and destroying itself. On his next turn, Yugi used Dark Magician to attack Kaiba's La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, but Kaiba activated Ancient Lamp, reflecting the Dark Magician's attack onto Yugi's re-summoned Curse of Dragon and destroying it instead. Later, Yugi used Dark Magician in a combo with Mystic Box to destroy Ancient Lamp. It was destroyed when Kaiba activated Crush Card Virus, along with every other card in Yugi's deck with 1500 ATK or more.


 * In the first match of the Duelist Kingdom Finals (inside Pegasus' Castle), Yugi summoned the Dark Magician in face-down Defense Position, but Mai Valentine destroyed it by luring it out with Shadow of Eyes, cutting its ATK in half with Mirror Wall, and attacking it with Harpie's Pet Dragon.


 * When Yugi dueled Joey in the final match before Pegasus, Yugi used Magical Hats to hide this card from Joey's B. Skull Dragon for several turns. After weakening it with Spellbinding Circle and increasing Dark Magician's ATK to 2800 with Magic Formula, Yugi managed to destroy B. Skull Dragon with this card. Later, Joey attempted to weaken this card with Time Wizard, but strengthened it into the Dark Sage instead.


 * In his duel with Pegasus in the final match of Duelist Kingdom, Yugi hid this card from Pegasus' Toon Summoned Skull with Magical Hats. When Pegasus brought the duel into the Shadow Realm, Yugi attempted to use this card to destroy Relinquished, but since it was using Curse of Dragon as a shield, Curse of Dragon was destroyed instead. Afterward, Relinquished absorbed Dark Magician as a shield, and used its attack power to destroy Feral Imp and Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress 1. Later on, Pegasus attached Jigen Bakudan to Relinquished in an attempt to destroy the Dark Magician, but Yugi rescued it with Mystic Box, and used it, along with a Relinquished under Brain Control, as sacrifices for Dark Magic Ritual.


 * When Shadi entered Yugi's mind immediately after the Duelist Kingdom tournament, this card appeared as one of the guardians of Yami Yugi's mind. Shadi attempted to conjure the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to defeat it, but Yugi convinced it that they meant no harm.


 * When Yugi dueled Rebecca Hawkins, he set this card in Defense Position, but Rebbecca forced it into Attack Position with Stop Defense and destroyed it with Shadow Ghoul, whose attack had been bolstered by all the monsters in her Graveyard. Yugi revived it with Monster Reborn and destroyed Rebbecca's Defense-Position Cannon Soldier. Had Yugi played Soul Release, Dark Magician could have destroyed the powered-up Shadow Ghoul, but Yugi surrendered the duel to teach Rebbecca a lesson about respecting one's sacrifices.


 * While in Kaiba's prototype Virtual Reality Game during the Legendary Heroes storyline, Yugi briefly summoned this card to destroy a graveyard full of Zombie-type monsters.


 * Yugi summoned the DDM version of this monster toward the end of his DDM match with Duke Devlin. It destroyed Duke's Orgoth the Relentless. Duke then attempted to destroy it by launching Dark Assailant at it with Monster Cannon, but Yugi activated its Special Ability, using Magical Hats to hide it. Yugi then used two Magic Crests to activate its second Special Ability - Mystic Box, which he used not only to destroy Yaranzo, but move Dark Magician in front of Duke's remaining Heart Point as well. Dark Magician then destroyed the Heart Point, winning Yugi the match.

Battle City/Virtual World Arcs

 * This card's first appearance in the Battle City arc was during Yugi's duel against Johnny Steps. Johnny believed that Metalmorph would raise his Heavy Metal King's ATK above that of Dark Magician's, but since it was Dark Magician who declared the attack, the bonus was not received, and Dark Magician destroyed Heavy Metal King, winning the duel.


 * When Yugi registered for the Battle City tournament, this card was listed as his rarest (i.e. the one that is wagered in all his duels).


 * During Yugi's duel against Arkana for the title of the "Master of Magicians", Yugi summoned this card by sacrificing Arkana's Legion the Fiend Jester (under Brain Control) and his own Alpha The Magnet Warrior. It attacked Arkana directly the turn it was summoned, and was later trapped by Tragedy (under the Japanese name, Mystical Guillotine, as well as the Japanese artwork), but Yugi saved it using Magical Hats. Arkana then launched Thousand Knives to destroy it, but Yugi used De-Spell to negate it. It was destroyed in a battle against Arkana's Dark Magician, but was immediately resurrected with Monster Reborn. Arkana later used Beckon to the Dark to destroy this card, but Yugi countered with Mystical Rift Panel. Unfortunately, Arkana retaliated with Nightmare Chains to remove this card from play. Later on, this card was used as a sacrifice through Ectoplasmer to block Arkana's own Ectoplasmer through Doll of Demise, but its presence in the Graveyard helped empower Dark Magician Girl. After this duel, Yugi's Dark Magician didn't appear for a long while.


 * During Tea's duel against Crump in Noah's virtual world, this card was summoned from Yugi's deck onto Téa's field with Sage's Stone. It destroyed Crump's Defender Iceberg.


 * When Yugi and Joey tag-team dueled against the Big 5 (all taking turns possessing Tristan's body), Yugi selected this card as his Deck Master. Toward the end of the duel, Yugi used Polymerization to fuse it with Joey's Deck Master, the Flame Swordsman, in order to summon Dark Flare Knight. Afterwards, Dark Flare Knight sacrificed itself to summon Mirage Knight, and when Mirage Knight disappeared from the field per its effect, this card returned. Yugi later hid it using Magical Hats, and used its Deck Master ability to do the same for Joey's Flame Swordsman. Towards the end of the duel, Yugi transformed this card into Dark Magician Knight using Knight's Title.


 * When Yugi picked up Kaiba's duel against Noah, he summoned this card by sacrificing Sangan and Gamma The Magnet Warrior, and it attacked Noah directly. Noah later used its presence to activate Next World, allowing him to summon Yamata Dragon and destroy this card. Its presence later helped empower Dark Magician Girl, though this was negated when Yugi resurrected it with Dark Renewal, using his own Big Shield Gardna and Noah's Inaba White Rabbit as tributes. Noah later took control of it using Change of Heart and used it as a tribute to activate Vessel of Illusions.


 * During the Battle City finals, Yugi used Monster Reborn to resurrect this monster from the Graveyard against Kaiba (it had previously been discarded by Card Destruction). Yugi attacked Kaiba's Lord of D. with this card, but Kaiba activated Magical Trick Mirror, stealing Yugi's Monster Reborn to resurrect Obelisk the Tormentor, which blocked the attack. Kaiba later attempted to destroy this card with Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but Yugi activated Magician's Selection, negating the attack and destroying Lord of D. Yugi later used Polymerization to fuse this card with Buster Blader, creating the Dark Paladin.


 * Its final appearance in the Battle City arc was when Yugi summoned this card with Magical Dimension in the final duel of Battle City against Marik Ishtar, using Obelisk the Tormentor and Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts as tributes. It, along with Dark Magician Girl, activated Ragnarok which destroyed The Winged Dragon of Ra in exchange for removing every monster in Yugi's hand, deck, and Graveyard from play.

Doma/KC Grand Prix Arcs

 * In his duel against Grerimo, Yugi summoned this card with Dark Renewal, using his own Watapon and Grerimo's Warrior Dai Grepher as tributes. Yugi attempted to attack directly with this card, but Grerimo activated Shield Wall, resulting in Dark Magician attacking a token instead. It was later destroyed by Warrior Dai Grepher, resurrected by The Warrior Returning Alive and its ATK bolstered by The A. Forces.


 * It next appeared in Yugi's duel against Rafael, where it was summoned by sacrificing Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts and Berfomet. Its ATK was bolstered to 3000 by The Seal of Orichalcos, and it attacked Rafael's Backup Gardna, but Rafael negated the attack with Aid to the Doomed. Yugi later launched it at Rafael with Catapult Turtle.


 * When Yugi had a rematch against Rafael, he summoned this card using Dark Magic Curtain and attacked Guardian Elma with it. However, Rafael activated Guardian Formation to move Guardian Elma to his Spell/Trap Zone instead, causing the attack to miss. Yugi then hid this card with Magical Hats, and eventually fused it with The Eye of Timaeus to summon Amulet Dragon.


 * Its first appearance in the KC Grand Prix was against Vivian Wong. It was summoned off-screen, and destroyed by Vivian's Dragon Lady, but was brought back into Yugi's deck by Monster Reincarnation, and summoned onto the field by Skilled Dark Magician's effect. Yugi then fused it with Buster Blader to create Dark Paladin.

Millennium World/Ceremonial Battle Arcs

 * During this arc, it is revealed that the Dark Magician is the reincarnation of Mahad, a servant of Atem (Yami Yugi), fused together with the Illusion Magician. He was the owner of the Millennium Ring before he was killed by Zorc (Bakura).


 * This card's last appearance in the original series was during the duel between Yugi and Atem, where Atem summoned this card using Dark Magic Curtain. Atem bolstered its ATK with Book of Secret Arts, then used it to destroy Yugi's Curse of Dragon. He later equipped this card with Dark Spear and attempted to attack Yugi's Blockman, but was negated by Yugi's Soul Shield. Yugi later tried to destroy it using Gandora the Dragon of Destruction's effect, but Atem protected it with Dark Illusion. Later on, Yugi attempted to attack this card with Silent Magician, but Yami activated Magicians Unite, bringing Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl together as one monster with 3000 ATK that, while destroyed, reduces the damage that he takes.

Capsule Monsters

 * In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters saga, There is a Duel Armor that uses this card. It gives the user the ability to use Spell Cards or Trap Cards to attack or defend the user.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

 * When Syrus is telling his scary story in episode 5, this is the card at the bottom of the underground lake.


 * Dimitri summons this card with Dark Renewal during his duel with Jaden Yuki by sacrificing his own Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts and Jaden's Dark Catapulter. Dark Magician attacked Jaden directly after activating Thousand Knives to destroy Elemental Hero Thunder Giant, and destroyed Wroughtweiler the turn after. It was then sacrificed to Dedication through Light and Darkness to summon Dark Magician of Chaos.

Miscellaneous

 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Yugi summoned this card to the field in his duel with Sage's Stone during his second duel with Kaiba, then sacrificed it alongside Dark Magician Girl to summon Sorcerer of Dark Magic.


 * In the original manga, the first series anime and through Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Dark Magician is clearly shown to be a Level 6 monster. Nonetheless, its summoning required two Tributes on those series. Perhaps Kazuki Takahashi wanted to keep in conformity with the OCG on this respect, but no explanation was given for this within those series (and there are no other examples of such behavior).


 * He is voiced by Kazunari Kojima in the Japanese version.


 * The attack of this monster is called "Dark Magic Attack" ("Black Magic" 「 黒・魔・導(ブラック・マジック) 」 in the original version).