Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 072

"Not Playing With a Full Deck", known as "Destruction of Deck Destruction!" in Japan, is the seventy-second episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. It aired in Japan on February 15, 2006, and in the United States on October 10, 2006.

Summary
Jaden Yuki is forced into a Duel against Professional Duelist and Society of Light member Howard X Miller, who the English version calls Sartorius' lawyer. X plays a Mill Deck, and his strategy revolves around destroying his opponent's Deck and causing them to lose when they can't draw a card.

Jaden ultimately thwarts X's strategy using "Neo-Spacian Glow Moss" and ironically wins the Duel when X himself can't draw a card.

Featured Duel
A count of the cards remaining in each Duelist's Deck is provided during the Duel, so it is also listed here.

X's turn
(Jaden's Deck: 40 → 35 cards, X's Deck: 40 → 34 cards)
 * Activates "Card Destruction", discarding and redrawing both player's hands (Jaden's Deck: 35 → 30, X's Deck: 34 → 29). This activates the effect of the "Elegant Light LV4" that X discarded. He Special Summons "Trap Sluzer" (800/1300) from his Deck in Attack Position (X's Deck: 29 → 28).
 * Sets two cards

Jaden's turn
(Jaden's Deck: 30 → 29)
 * Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" (1600/1400) in Attack Position.
 * X activates Continuous Trap "Monster Register", paying 1000 Life Points, sending four cards from the top of Jaden's Deck to the Graveyard (X's Life Points: 4000 → 3000, Jaden's Deck: 29 → 25)
 * Jaden attacks "Sluzer" with "Sparkman"
 * X stops the attack with "Threatening Roar"

X's turn
(X's Deck: 28 → 27)
 * Sets a monster
 * Sets two cards

Jaden's turn
(Jaden's Deck: 25 → 24)
 * Activates "Polymerization", fusing "Elemental Hero Avian" and "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix" to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Flame Wingman" (2100/1200) in Attack Position. "Monster Registers" send the top six cards of Jaden's Deck to the Graveyard (Jaden's Deck: 24 → 18).
 * Attacks and destroys X's face-down monster. It is "Level Jar". All monsters on the Field return to their owner's Decks, and both players draw cards equal to the combined levels of the returned monsters. Jaden draws 9 cards and X draws 4 (Jaden's Deck: 18 → 9, X's Deck: 27 → 23). X takes 500 damage via "Flame Wingman's" effect (X's Life Points: 3000 → 2500). "Sparkman" is one of the cards Jaden drew, so Jaden keeps his hand. X discards four of his own cards since he drew none of the monsters returned.
 * X activates his face-down "Purse with a Hole", making Jaden randomly discard cards until he has five left. Also, Jaden cannot Set/Summon/activate any more cards for the remainder of the turn.
 * X activates his face-down "Soul Connection", adding "Trap Sluzer" back to his hand.

X's turn
(X's Deck: 23 → 22)
 * Activates "Pot of Greed", drawing two cards (X's Deck: 22 → 20).
 * Summons "Trap Sluzer" (800/1300). "Monster Register" sends four cards to the Graveyard from the top of X's Deck (X's Deck: 20 → 16).
 * Sets three cards.

Jaden's turn
(Jaden's Deck: 8)
 * X activates "Gachi Battle!" Jaden Summons "Neo-Spacian Glow Moss" (300/900) from his Deck (Jaden's Deck: 7). "Monster Register" sends the top three cards of Jaden's Deck to the Graveyard.
 * Equips "Glow Moss" with "Neos Energy", increasing its attack points by 800.
 * Activates "Glow Moss's" effect, forcing X to draw a card. Since its a Spell Card, "Glow Moss" attacks directly (X's Deck: 15).
 * X activates his face-down "Compulsory Evacuation Device", sending "Glow Moss" back to Jaden's hand.

X's turn
(X's Deck: 14)
 * Activates "Super Guard", its effect prevents his monsters from being destroyed, but ends his turn after its activation.

Jaden's turn
(Jaden's Deck: 3)
 * Activates "Common Soul", Special Summoning "Glow Moss" (300/900) to X's side of the Field, with its attack points being added to "Trap Sluzer".
 * Activates "Miracle Fusion", removing "Avian", Burstinatrix", "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" and "Elemental Hero Clayman" in his Graveyard from play to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Electrum" (2900/2600). The rest of Jaden's Deck is sent to the Graveyard. All removed cards are returned to the Decks and shuffled, so Jaden's Deck now contains four cards (Jaden's Deck: 4).
 * Summons "Sparkman" (1600/1400) in Attack Position. The remainder of Jaden's Deck is sent to the Graveyard.
 * Attacks "Glow Moss" with "Electrum", but X activates his face-down "Recycle Barrier", reducing the Battle damage to zero. "Glow Moss's" effect activates, but cannot, so X must send the top two cards of his Deck to the Graveyard (X's Deck: 12).
 * Attacks "Glow Moss" with "Sparkman". X sends two more cards to the Graveyard via "Glow Moss's" effect (X's Deck 10)
 * Jaden activates "De-Fusion", splitting Electrum into "Avian" (1000/1000), "Burstinatrix" (1200/800), "Clayman" (800/2000) and "Bubbleman" (800/1200), all in Attack Postiion.
 * Attacks "Glow Moss with all four monsters. X's Deck loses eight cards (X's Deck: 2).
 * Activates "Instant Fusion", fusing his four monsters back into "Electrum".
 * Attacks "Glow Moss" with "Electrum". X's Deck loses the last two cards (X's Deck: 0).

X's turn

 * X cannot draw a card
 * Jaden wins.

Differences in adaptations
In the Japanese version, X is a Pro League Duelist who is ranked higher than Edo Phoenix. In the English version, he is Sartorius' lawyer, and claims he wanted to be a pastry chef when he was a child. As such, he makes many puns based on court terms.

In the Japanese version, Edo explains that no one has ever beaten X the first time they've Dueled him. Duelists seem to lose their very will to continue to play after they are defeated by them, and he describes X's strategy as severing the bond between Deck and Duelist. In the English version, X tricks Jaden into signing the "guest list", which was actually a contract that said that if Jaden loses, the Slifer Red dorm will be demolished.

The English version changes numerous cards seen in Jaden's hand whose pictures are obscured to cards that Jaden was never shown to have.

Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.