Card Trivia:Summoned Skull

• In the manga, this card functioned as Yugi Mutou's ace monster before he received his grandfather's Deck that contained "Dark Magician".

• This card's first Konami OCG/TCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Duel 9: "Demon Lightning", specifically from the panel showing this monster being Summoned.

• This card's third Japanese artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Duel 56: "The Beautiful Trap!", specifically from the panel showing this monster being Summoned. However, its appearance is flipped horizontally.

• This card has several counterparts.
  • Fusion: "Manifested Skull"
  • Red-Eyes/Gemini: "Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning"
  • Retrained: "Skull Archfiend of Lightning"
  • Ritual: "Advent Skull Archfiend"
  • Toon: "Toon Summoned Skull"
  • Upgraded/Advanced: "Archfiend Commander"
  • Zombie: "Archfiend Zombie-Skull"
  • Synchro: "Beckoned Skull Archfiend"
• This monster possibly appears in the artworks of "Ring of Fiendish Power" and/or "Level Tax", though it may be confused with "Skull Archfiend of Lightning" instead.

• The Bandai version of this card has 1800 DEF and the monster is colored violet; the Konami version is typically colored white and has 1200 DEF in contrast.
  • The new artwork of this card in the Anniversary Pack features it with a new look similar to the Bandai style; it appears with red skin, no eyes, larger un-horned wings, five-fingered claws (as opposed to its three-clawed hands featured in the anime and the artwork of "Skull Archfiend of Lightning"), bony feet, a tail, and a scythe as its weapon (not featured in previous artworks).

• According to Master Guide 1, the alternate artwork of this card (the 2nd Konami artwork) released at the Asia Championship 2001 in Japan qualifies as the rarest card ever released, as well as the other alternate artwork promotional cards released at that same conference.

• As its card text implies, this monster has the second highest ATK of all Fiend Normal Monsters, behind only "Zoa".

• In its original manga artwork, "Summoned Skull" looks almost identical to the artwork of the Magic: the Gathering card Lord of the Pit. The two also are both extremely rare and powerful demons, and "Summoned Skull" was Level 7 in the manga, much like Lord of the Pit's Converted Mana Cost of 7. Its Japanese name, which translates to "Summoned Demon", is similar to Lord of the Pit's printed type line of "Summon Demon". Given the strong similarities between Magic: the Gathering and the early form of Duel Monsters (then called Magic and Wizards), this was likely intentional on Takahashi's part.