Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 058

"Espa Roba - The ESP Duelist, Part 1", known as "Esper Roba - Terror of the Psychic Deck" in the Japanese version, is the fifty-eighth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. It first aired in Japan on June 5, 2001 and in the US on January 25, 2003.

Summary
It is day two of the Battle City Tournament and Joey Wheeler is still looking for an opponent to fight his first Duel with.

Wanting to find a worthy opponent to defeat, he arrives just in time to watch Espa Roba, a Duelist claiming to have psychic powers, defeat Rex Raptor. As per the Battle City Rules, Rex had to give up his "Serpent Night Dragon" to Espa as it was his rarest card. Espa, knowing Joey was the runner-up in Duelist Kingdom, challenges him to a Duel and Joey accepts.

In the hospital, Tristan visits Serenity and brings a laptop with him, so he can watch the Duel online and tell Serenity how it is going. However, he has trouble figuring out how to make the computer work and has to get a nurse to help him.

The Duel does not start off very well for Joey, as he still does not know some of the Battle City rules (including Tributes) and is intimidated by Espa's psychic powers.

Yugi is watching the Duel from a rooftop and sees Espa's brothers spying on Joey's cards, revealing that Espa is actually cheating. Yugi decides to just watch and let the Duel take its course.

When Joey draws, Espa's brothers see the card and tells their brother it appears to be another "Graceful Dice". Espa, using his "psychic powers", then claims this to Joey. Joey however sees that something is up as the card he drew was "Skull Dice". Joey decides that this is his chance to turn the Duel around in his favor. Joey sets two cards and summons "Swordsman of Landstar".

Espa, assuming that Joey has two set "Graceful Dice" decides that won't matter for his next move. Espa summons "The Fiend Megacyber" and uses it to attack "Swordsman of Landstar", but Joey activates "Skull Dice" and "Graceful Dice" when Espa thought he had 2 "Graceful Dice" set. This allows Joey to surprise Espa and make a comeback.

At this point, Joey points out to Espa that due to how he held his cards, Espa knew he had two "Dice" cards, but he couldn't tell which ones. Joey then states this means that Espa is cheating and someone is telling him what cards are in his hand. Espa becomes shocked he figured that out. Rex realizes that Espa must have used the same cheating method on him too. Espa's brothers realize they're busted for sure. Yugi congratulates Joey on his efforts as he is now in control of the Duel.

Mokuba soon finds out about the cheating, dashes in and tackles the wicked accomplice up on the roof. He threatens to expel Espa from Battle City, but the brothers talk him out of it after telling him their sad story about being orphans and having no one but Espa to protect and care for them.

Mokuba, having been in a similar situation, is convinced to let the Duel continue as long as they stop cheating. He stands by to be sure they don't start doing it again.

Joey appears to have regained control of the duel, bringing Espa's Life Points down to 1440. However, Espa activates "Mind Control" to take control of Joey's "Swordsman of Landstar".

He then Tributes it to Summon "Jinzo", which makes all Trap Cards useless, putting Joey in a tight spot.

Rex Raptor vs. Espa Roba
Most of the Duel is skipped. Espa controls "Jinzo" (2400/1500) in Attack Position while Rex controls "Serpent Night Dragon" (2350/2400) in Attack Position. Espa Roba has just activated "Mesmeric Control" to negate the attack of "Serpent Night Dragon" and reduce its ATK by 800 ("Serpent Night Dragon": 2350 → 1550/2400).

Turn ?: Espa Roba

"Jinzo" attacks and destroys "Serpent Night Dragon" (Rex 50 → 0 Life Points).

Joey Wheeler vs. Espa Roba, Part 1
Turn 1: Joey


 * Joey's opening hand shows "Swordsman of Landstar", "Graceful Dice", "Battle Warrior", "Giltia the D. Knight", and "Flame Swordsman".
 * Attempts to Normal Summon "Giltia the D. Knight" in Attack Position. However, since the Summoning Conditions in Battle City are different than those in Duelist Kingdom, a Level 5 or higher monster requires at least 1 tribute. Since this is an illegal move, "Giltia the D. Knight" is removed from play.

Turn 2: Espa


 * Espa draws.
 * Normal Summons "Cyber Raider" (1400/1000) in Attack Position.
 * "Cyber Raider" attacks Joey directly (Joey 4000 → 2600 Life Points).

Turn 3: Joey


 * Joey draws "Skull Dice".
 * Joey's hand contains from left to right: "Swordsman of Landstar", "Graceful Dice", "Skull Dice", "Battle Warrior", and "Flame Swordsman".
 * Normal Summons "Swordsman of Landstar" (500/1200) in Attack Position.
 * Sets 2 cards.

Turn 4: Espa


 * Espa draws.
 * Tributes "Cyber Raider" to Tribute Summon "The Fiend Megacyber" (2200/1200) in Attack Position.
 * "The Fiend Megacyber" attacks "Swordsman of Landstar", but Joey activates Quick-Play Magic Card "Graceful Dice", rolling a die. Depending on the result, the ATK of "Swordsman of Landstar" will be multiplied by the result. The result is a three, so the ATK of "Swordsman of Landstar" is tripled ("Swordsman of Landstar": 500 → 1500/1200).
 * Joey activates Quick-Play Magic Card "Skull Dice", rolling a die. Depending on the result, the ATK of "The Fiend Megacyber" will be divided by the result. The result is a five, so the ATK of "The Fiend Megacyber" is divided by five ("The Fiend Megacyber": 2200 → 440/1200).
 * "Swordsman of Landstar" destroys "The Fiend Megacyber" (Espa 4000 → 2940 Life Points).
 * At this point, Joey points out that Espa Roba was cheating and Commissioner Mokuba catches Espa Roba's brothers helping him. Mokuba is about to expel Espa from the Duel and Battle City, but Espa's brothers explain to Mokuba why they were doing this and after a little argument, Mokuba decides not to cancel the Duel.
 * Sets 1 card.

Turn 5: Joey


 * Joey draws "Alligator's Sword" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1500/1200) in Attack Position.
 * "Alligator's Sword" attacks Espa Roba directly (Espa 2940 → 1440 Life Points).
 * "Swordsman of Landstar" attacks Espa directly, but Espa activates Trap Card "Mind Control" to take control of "Swordsman of Landstar".

Turn 6: Espa


 * Espa draws. He then passes.

Turn 7: Joey


 * Joey draws. He then Sets "Chasm of Spikes".

Turn 8: Espa


 * Espa draws "Jinzo".
 * Tributes "Swordsman of Landstar" to Tribute Summon "Jinzo" (2400/1500) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Jinzo", Joey's Set Trap Card "Chasm of Spikes" is destroyed. While Jinzo is on the field, its effect prevents the activation of Trap Cards and no Trap Cards can be Set either.

Duel continues next episode.

Differences in adaptations

 * A close-up of Honda with a big sweat-drop on his forehead is cut out from the dub.
 * Cut from the dub, Joey thinks about Yugi, saying that he doesn't know the future but he knows that somewhere in the city someone is waiting for him. He has to keep going until he finds him.
 * "Swordsman of Landstar" slicing "The Fiend Megacyber" in half is obscured in the dub.

Errors

 * Joey has "Battle Warrior" and "Flame Swordsman" in his hand, however in the next episode, one of those two cards are replaced with "Time Wizard".

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