Card Trivia:Dark Magician

"Dark Magician":

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• This is the cover card of Starter Deck: Yugi and Structure Deck: Illusion of the Dark Magicians, and the TCG version of Structure Deck: Yugi Muto, and is also one of the cover cards of EX-R Starter Box, the Promotional Pack, Retro Pack, Starter Deck: Yugi Reloaded, Beginner's Edition 1 (2011), Premium Pack 4, the OCG version of Structure Deck: Yugi Muto, Duelist Saga, Duel Power, Speed Duel: Streets of Battle City, 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes and High-Grade Collection.
• This monster appears in the artworks of "Bond Between Teacher and Student", "Card of Fate", "Dark Burning Magic", "Dark Magic Attack", "Dark Magic Expanded", "Dark Magic Twin Burst", "Dark Magic Inheritance", "Dark Resonance Burst", Dark Spiral Force", "Destined Rivals", "Dimension Explosion", "Draw of Fate", "Eternal Soul" (as an engraving), "Illusion Magic", "Legacy of the Duelist", "Magicians' Combination", "Magician Navigation", "Magician's Salvation", "Magician's Selection", "Magician's Sense", "Soul Servant", "Speed Spell - Speed Fusion", "Spell Card: "Monster Reborn"", and "The Dark Magicians" (in slightly different robes).
  • This monster's spectral form appears in the artwork of "Magician's Robe", "Magician's Rod", and "Magicians' Souls".
    • "Magician's Robe" serves as the monster version of this monster's robe, while "Magician's Rod" serves as the monster version of this monster's staff.
  • This monster's staff appears in the artworks of "Black Illusion".
• This card appears in the artworks of "Exchange" (in two of its artworks) and "E☆HERO Pit Boss".
• "Dark Magical Circle" appears in several of this card's artworks.
• This card has several counterparts.
  • A retrained counterpart: "Magician of Dark Illusion";
  • An alternate counterpart: "Dark Magician (Arkana)";
  • Two advanced counterparts: "Dark Eradicator Warlock" and "Sorcerer of Dark Magic";
  • A female counterpart: "Dark Magician Girl";
  • A Ritual counterpart: "Magician of Chaos";
    • Two upgraded ritual counterparts: "Magician of Black Chaos" and "Magician of Black Chaos MAX";
  • A "Chaos" counterpart: "Dark Magician of Chaos";
  • A "Kuriboh" counterpart: "Magikuriboh"
  • A "Statue" counterpart: "Statue Dark Magician";
  • A "Toon" counterpart: "Toon Dark Magician";
  • A Warrior counterpart: "Dark Magician Knight";
  • An Aged counterpart: "Dark Sage";
  • Nine Fusion counterpart: "Dark Flare Knight", "Dark Paladin", "Amulet Dragon", "Dark Magician the Dragon Knight", "Dark Cavalry", "Dark Magician the Knight of Dragon Magic", "The Dark Magicians", "Master of Chaos", "Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon";
  • Two Xyz counterparts: "Ebon High Magician" and "Ebon Illusion Magician";
    • A Match winner Xyz counterpart: "Legendary Magician of Dark".
  • A Match winner Effect countetpart: "Masterful Magician, Servant of the Sanctuary"
  • A Match winner Link counterpart: "Noritoshi in Darkest Rainment"
  • A "Palladium" counterpart: "Palladium Oracle Mahad"
  • An Illusion counterpart: "Nightmare Magician"
  • Two 25th anniversary counterparts:
    • Manga anniversary: "Chronicle Magician" (with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon")
    • OCG anniversary: "Magicians of Bonds and Unity" (with "Dark Magician Girl")
  • A Shining Sarcophagus counterpart: "Dark Magician the Ebon Sorcerer"
• "Donpen & Donko" are dressed as this monster and "Dark Magician Girl respectively.
• The protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, Yuma Tsukumo, has a card called "Gagaga Magician", who is very similar to "Dark Magician" in appearance. He also has a female card called "Gagaga Girl", who is the apprentice of "Gagaga Magician" like how "Dark Magician Girl" is the apprentice to the "Dark Magician".
• This card, along with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Red-Eyes B. Dragon", have the most alternate artworks.
  • After "Token", this card has the most alternate artworks in the OCG/TCG with eight in total, tied with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". This excludes "Dark Magician Girl", who technically has the most artworks, due to small censoring differences between the Japanese and international versions.
• This card is both the signature card of Yami Yugi and the favorite card of Yugi Muto, as seen on the Tablet of Lost Memories, and Arkana; as such, in the Duel between Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, Yugi's soul was infused with that of this card.
• This card is arguably one of the most iconic monsters in the game, along with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", mainly because they were the signature cards of the the main characters of the first TV series anime.
• This card's ATK of 2500 established the ATK value of the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series' protagonists' ace cards, including "Elemental HERO Neos" from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, "Stardust Dragon" from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, "Number 39: Utopia" from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" from Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V and "Firewall Dragon" from Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.
  • All of those monsters have 2000 DEF as well (except for "Firewall Dragon"). Even though this card has 2100 DEF, the Bandai version of this card has 2000 DEF.
  • This card has the same ATK of 2500 as the signature cards of other manga main protagonists, which are Jaden Yuki's "Elemental HERO Terra Firma", Yusei Fudo's "Stardust Spark Dragon", Yuma Tsukumo's "Number 39: Utopia", Yuya Sakaki's "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon".
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, this monster features blue-colored skin, white hair, and a dark blue rod and robe. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, this monster features pink-colored skin, purple hair, a purple-and-blue robe, and a green rod, based on the color scheme used in its early appearances in the full-colored version of the manga.
• This is most likely the single most supported card of all, with fifteen cards specifically stating "Dark Magician" as part of their effect, in addition to the "Magician" theme its design has inspired.
• The lore text of this card may not refer to its ATK and DEF, but to its high amount of Spell and Trap Cards it has access to. Many of its support cards give "Dark Magician" high offensive power and defensive power, if they may not alter this cards stats.
• This card can be seen as a magical counterpart and partner to "Buster Blader".
  • Both cards are used as Fusion Material for "Dark Paladin".
  • Both cards are supported by "Miracle Restoring".
  • Both cards are supported by the parallel members of the Skilled Magician series: "Skilled Dark Magician" (which supports this card) and "Skilled White Magician" (which supports "Buster Blader").
• 

  SP Deck Challenge description mentioning "Dark spellian" in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
  On multiple occasions, this card has been mistakenly referred to as "Dark Spellian" in official media, presumably due to a naive use of find-and-replace to rename Magic Cards to Spell Cards.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004, "Dark Magician Girl's" text mentions "Dark Spellian" and "Spellian of Black Chaos". The game was released shortly after Magic Cards were renamed to Spell Cards.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, an SP Deck Challenge referred to "Dark Magician" as "Dark spellian" in its description.
• In the first TV series anime, this card's name is "Dark Wizard".
• As its card text implies, this monster has the highest ATK and DEF total combined sum for a Normal Monster "wizard" (male Spellcaster). "Cosmo Queen" is a Normal Spellcaster with higher combined ATK and DEF, but as a female, she is not a "wizard".
• The alternate-art "red" "Dark Magician" used by Arkana in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga may be seen here. Despite having the same name, he is not the same card as the "purple" "Dark Magician" always used by Yugi Mutou, as it features a different eight-digit passcode.
  • Three of the artworks of "Dark Magician" (LOB/SYE, SDY and Arkana version) depicts its staff green, whereas in one version (SD6/PCY) and on "Dark Magic Attack" his staff is red and blue.
  • The artwork in the Weekly Jump Magazine Promo version looks similar to that of a Final Fantasy character, in particular Cecil from Final Fantasy IV. This artwork was drawn by Kazuki Takahashi.
  • In some Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS Yu-Gi-Oh! games, it is possible to have six copies of "Dark Magician" in the same Deck, as the games do not recognize alternate artwork cards as being the same.
• On the French Champion Pack: Game Five print of "Thousand Knives" (and in the French dub of the anime), this card is called "Magicien des Ténèbres". All French TCG prints of "Dark Magician" and all other French prints of "Thousand Knives" call it "Magicien Sombre".
• This card along with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" are the only 2 cards to have had an official Chinese print before the release of Duel Starter Deck standardized Chinese as an OCG language. Its Chinese version originated in Japan, therefore its Chinese name includes the character "黒" (black) which is an exclusive one to Japanese, compared to the Chinese counterpart, "黑".
• This card's first OCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 62 (Duelist Duel 3): "Countdown!!", specifically from the panel where Dark Yugi declares an attack on "Koumori Dragon" with this monster.
  • This card's second OCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 94 (Duelist Duel 35): "The Magic of the Maze!", specifically from the panel showing this monster being Summoned, albeit with minor changes in detail.
  • This card's third OCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 162 (Duelist Duel 103): "Magic vs. Magic". However, it is derived from 2 separate panels showing Pandora's copy of "Dark Magician". The first panel is where the 2 "Dark Magicians" are shown together with their displayed ATK values, after Pandora Summons his copy of "Dark Magician" for the first time. The second panel is on the same page, showing the same "Dark Magician".
    • For this artwork, the upper body of Pandora's "Dark Magician" from the first panel (barring his head) is flipped horizontally, while the head from the second panel is used as is, barring minor details.
  • This card's fourth OCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 161 (Duelist Duel 102): "The Fatal Duel!", specifically from the panel showing this monster being Summoned.
  • This card's sixth OCG artwork is taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 341 (Millennium World Duel 63): "The Master of Servants", specifically from the panel showing this monster being Summoned.