Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 011

Tag Team Trial, Part 2, known as '''Judai and Sho! Tag Duel, Part 2' in the Japanese version, is the eleventh episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' anime.

Summary
Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale are down to 1700 Life Points in their Duel with the Paradox Brothers, who still have 7000. If they lose this Duel, they will be expelled. Alexis Rhodes and Bastion Misawa discuss the situation, though their interaction differs between the versions. Dr. Crowler asks Chancellor Sheppard if they can just expel Jaden and Syrus now rather than prolong their suffering. Jaden continues the Duel, and tells Syrus that there's a card in the latter's Deck that can defeat the "Gate Guardian". Jaden Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" and equips it with "Spark Blaster", using its effect to switch "Gate Guardian" to Defense Position. Jaden Sets a card to end his turn, while Dox draws and also Sets a card. With some further encouragement from Jaden, Syrus regains some of his confidence, and realizes what card he can use to beat "Gate Guardian". He draws, and then Summons "Drillroid", which can destroy a Defense Position monster it battles regardless of stats. He uses it to destroy "Defense Wall" and then plays "Shield Crush", destroying "Gate Guardian". Syrus Sets a card to end his turn.

Para, however, plays "Dark Element", which allows him to pay half of his team's Life Points to Special Summon "Dark Guardian" from his Deck so long as "Gate Guardian" is the the Graveyard. He attacks "Drillroid", but Jaden activates his face-down "Hero Barrier" to negate the attack. Syrus falls to his knees, frustrated that all he did was make the situation worse by destroying "Gate Guardian". Jaden plays "Pot of Greed" to draw two more cards, and then activates "Fusion Gate", which allows both teams to fuse monsters without "Polymerization" provided they remove the Fusion Material Monsters from play. He uses it to fuse "Sparkman" with the "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" and "Elemental Hero Avian" in his hand to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Tempest". He then activates "Skyscraper". He attacks "Dark Guardian" with "Skyscraper" raising "Tempest's" attack power by 1000, equal to "Dark Guardian", which can't be destroyed in battle. Jaden sends Syrus' face-down card to the Graveyard to prevent "Tempest's" own destruction via its effect. Dox begins his turn, activating his face-down "One-on-One Fight", which forces the two strongest monsters to do battle. "Dark Guardian" battles "Tempest", with Jaden sending "Skyscraper" to the Graveyard to prevent his monster's destruction.

Syrus Tributes "Drillroid" to Summon "UFOroid". He then plays "Power Bond" to fuse it with Jaden's "Tempest" to Fusion Summon "UFOroid Fighter", whose attack becomes 4000 - equal to the combined attack of the monsters used as Fusion Materials. "Power Bond" doubles its attack points, and an attack on "Dark Guardian" reduces the brothers to zero Life Points. Crowler is shocked, and Chancellor Sheppard honors the agreement, lifting their expulsions. Jaden tells the brothers that they should have a rematch someday, and that he had fun. However, this doesn't mean that their punishment is lifted altogether, and Sheppard assigns them a ten-page paper (thirty pages in the Japanese version).

Featured Duel
Duel continues from the previous episode.

Jaden's turn


 * Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" (1600/1400) in Attack Position.
 * Equips "Sparkman" with "Spark Blaster", allowing it to change the Battle Position of a monster three times.
 * Uses "Spark Blaster" to shift "Gate Guardian" to Defense Position.
 * Sets a card.

Dox's turn


 * Sets a card.

Syrus' turn


 * Summons "Drillroid" (1600/1600) in Attack Position.
 * Attacks "Defense Wall", with "Drillroid's" effect activating, destroying "Defense Wall" (Jaden/Syrus 1700 → 1200).
 * Activates "Shield Crush", destroying "Gate Guardian".
 * Sets a card.

Para's turn


 * Activates "Dark Element", paying half of his team's Life Points (Paradox Brothers 7000 → 3500) to Special Summon "Dark Guardian" (3800/3800) from his Deck in Attack Position.
 * Attacks "Drillroid", but Jaden activates his face-down "Hero Barrier" to negate the attack.

Jaden's turn


 * Activates "Pot of Greed", drawing two cards.
 * Activates Field Spell Card "Fusion Gate", allowing both teams to fuse monsters without "Polymerization" by removing the Fusion Material Monsters from play.
 * Uses "Fusion Gate" to fuse "Sparkman" with the "Elemental Hero Avian" and "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" in his hand to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Tempest" (2800/2800) in Attack Position
 * Activates Field Spell Card "Skyscraper".
 * Attacks "Dark Guardian", with "Skyscraper" increasing "Tempest's" attack by 1000 and sending Syrus' face-down card to the Graveyard with "Tempest's" effect. Thus, neither monster is destroyed in battle.

Dox's turn


 * Activates his face-down "One-on-One Fight", which forces the two strongest monsters on the field to battle.
 * "Dark Guardian" battles "Tempest", with Jaden sending "Skyscraper" to the Graveyard to prevent his monster's destruction, though this leaves "Tempest" without the ATK bonus. (Jaden/Syrus 1200 → 200)

Syrus' turn


 * Tributes "Drillroid" to Summon "UFOroid" (1200/1200).
 * Activates "Power Bond", fusing "UFOroid" with "Tempest" to Fusion Summon "UFOroid Fighter" (?/?) in Attack Position, whose attack is equal to that of the total of its Fusion Material Monsters (4000/4000). "Power Bond" doubles its attack to 8000.
 * Attacks "Dark Guardian" (Paradox Brothers 3500 → 0).
 * Jaden and Syrus win.

Differences in adaptations
Misawa comments that the brothers have tuned their Decks specifically to complement one another in a Tag Duel, while Judai and Sho have not, and they have been unable to function well as a team. Asuka agrees with him. In the English version, Alexis generally responds to Bastion by telling him to be more positive, or to stop speaking altogether.

After the Duel, Alexis states she's glad that Jaden will get to stay at the Academy, with Bastion responding that she must have meant Jaden and Syrus. This adds to the implied romantic interest that Alexis has in Jaden, which was not present at this point in the Japanese version. In that version, she states she would have felt bad if they had been expelled because of her, as they went to the Abandoned Dorm to save her.

In the English version, when Jaden sends "Elemental Hero Tempest" to attack "Dark Guardian", Alexis is confused by this move, wondering if Jaden was hoping for a draw. Only in the Japanese version is this move eventually explained: Judai was dropping a hint to Sho without breaking the ban on discussing strategies with the partner. More specifically, Judai wanted the follow-up attack on "Tempest" to occur so Sho could see that, even when a monster isn’t destroyed by battle, damage can still occur. Sure enough, Sho caught the hint, which let him accept "Power Bond" as the right move to make.

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