I always liked Summoned Skull over DM so the fact that it was much better in the actual game was consolation that it didn't get as much attention in the anime
Yeah, but you got way less support until modern Archfiends... So you were only useful as a beatstick, which was only useful in like the first few matches in the game. Duelist Kingdom and onwards you needed more than just a big beatstick
Look, I was like 12 playing with other 12 year olds who also couldn't afford cards. We weren't thinking any of that. Hell we all probably shit ourselves the first time we saw a Blue Eyes in real life.
To be fair, the reason Summon Skull was more competitive in early YGO is because at the time of the game's release, Dark Magician didn't yet have that support.
Early YGO was basically a race to be the first to pull out summon skull and then protect him with magic/trap.
I think this is why they kept adding support to Dark Magician over the years.
But also Summon Skull was in his deck as well.
It definitely suggests that someone had his inaccessible memories screaming at him about who the Dark Magician was. Yugi/Atem played with cards he liked in his deck, not with the most well built deck. Probably why people were always so shocked he kept winning.
Also, he probably just had one of both and Summoned Skull kept ending up at the bottom of the deck.
