Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 195

One Step Ahead - Part 2, entitled Valkyrie vs. Blue Eyes White Dragon in the Japanese version, is the 195th episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! television series.

=Summary= Seto Kaiba and Zigfried von Schroeder continue their Duel. After Seto destroys one of Zigfried's Valkyries with his "XYZ-Dragon Cannon", Zigfried manages to draw "Nibelung's Treasure" and equip Seto's Cannon with "Nibelung's Ring", preventing it from attacking and also destroying Seto's Deck with each passing turn (due to "Nibelung's Ring's" effect). Using Zigfried's "Fortune Chariot", "Valkyrie Zwei" attacks Kaiba and whittles down his Life Points.

Zigfried removes Kaiba's first "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from play with his 3 Goddess cards and destroys another with the effect of "Nibelung's Ring", but Kaiba makes a comeback when he summons his second "Blue-Eyes" back from the Graveyard (using "Monster Reborn").

However, Zigfried believes Kaiba's strategy is in vain, because then, he summons his "Valkyrie Brunnhilde" and removes Seto's "Blue-Eyes" from play with "Enchanted Sword Nothung". On his next turn, Kaiba manages to avoid the effect of "Nibelung's Ring" with "Graceful Charity", allowing him to put his third "Blue-Eyes" in the Graveyard so he can remove it (along with "Pitch-Dark Dragon") from play to summon "Chaos Emperor Dragon". Seto's new monster destroys every card the players control on the field and in their hand, inflicting 1500 damage to Zigfried. However, he regains them all when he uses his "Magical Alms" and "Final Light" cards.

Seto makes another come-from-behind move when he draws himself a brand-new hand with "Card of Demise". In the end, his three "Blue-Eyes", his "Luster Dragon #2", and "Chaos Emperor Dragon" are summoned back to the field through "Dimension Fusion". Zigfried's "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" destroys "Luster Dragon #2" and "Chaos Emperor Dragon", then avoids destruction from Kaiba's first "Blue-Eyes". However, she is eventually destroyed by Kaiba's second "Blue-Eyes", paving the way for his third "Blue-Eyes" to attack Zigfried directly. Kaiba is able to win, but Zigfried declares it isn't over.

=Featured Duel: Seto Kaiba vs. Zigfried von Schroeder - Part 2= Duel continues from previous episode.

Seto Kaiba's Turn

 * Instead of a normal Draw Phase, "Nibelung's Ring" forces Seto to draw two cards: if any monsters are drawn, one must be discarded to the Graveyard. Neither of Seto's cards are monsters, so he keeps both.
 * Sets a card.

Zigfried von Schroeder's Turn

 * Thanks to the effect of "Fortune Chariot", Zigfried cuts his Zwei's ATK in half ("Valkyrie Zwei": 1600 → 800 ATK / 1600 DEF) and uses it to attack Seto directly.
 * Seto activates Trap Card "Attack Guidance Armor": he redirects "Valkyrie Zwei's" attack to Zigfried's "Valkyrie Erste".
 * Zigfried activates Counter Trap Card "Wotan's Judgment": he switches the top card of his Deck with a Spell Card from his Hand and shuffles his deck; his Battle Phase immediately ends.
 * Activates Continuous Spell Card "Goddess Urd's Verdict", Continuous Spell Card "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance", and Continuous Spell Card "Goddess Skuld's Oracle".
 * Activates "Goddess Skuld's Oracle's" effect: Zigfried looks at the top three cards in Seto's Deck (and almost loses his nerve at discovering they are Seto's three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons").
 * Activates "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance's" effect: Zigfried guesses "Monster Card". It is correct. Seto Special Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in face-down Defense Position.
 * Activates "Goddess Urd's Verdict's" effect: Zigfried selects Seto's face-down card and guesses "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". It is correct. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is removed from the game.

Seto Kaiba's Turn

 * Instead of a normal Draw Phase, "Nibelung's Ring" forces Seto to draw two cards: if any monsters are drawn, one must be discarded to the Graveyard. Seto draws two "Blue-Eyes White Dragons". He keeps one and discards the other.
 * Activates Spell Card "Monster Reborn" and Special Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF) back from the Graveyard in Attack Position.
 * Uses "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to attack Zigfried's "Valkyrie Zwei", but Zigfried allows "Fortune Chariot" to be destroyed in his Valkyrie's place (Zigfried: 2500 → 1100 Life Points).

Zigfried von Schroeder's Turn

 * Activates "Goddess Skuld's Oracle's" effect: Zigfried looks at the top three cards in Seto's deck and re-arranges them, putting "Luster Dragon #2" on top.
 * Activates "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance's" effect: Zigfried guesses "Monster Card". It is correct. Seto Special Summons "Luster Dragon #2" in face-down Defense Position.
 * Activates "Goddess Urd's Verdict's" effect: Zigfried selects Seto's face-down card and guesses "Luster Dragon #2". It is correct. "Luster Dragon #2" is removed from the game.
 * Activates Spell Card "Gryphon's Feather Duster": it destroys all his Spell and Trap Cards and increases his LP by 500 × the number of cards destroyed. Zigfried's "Goddess Urd's Verdict", "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance", and "Goddess Skuld's Oracle" are destroyed and he gains 1500 LP (Zigfried: 1100 → 2600 Life Points).
 * Tributes "Valkyrie Zwei" and "Valkyrie Erste" to Summon "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" (1800 ATK / 2000 DEF) in Defense Position.
 * "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK for every Dragon and Warrior-Type monster on the field: since Seto controls 1 Dragon, it gains +300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 2100 ATK / 2000 DEF).

Seto Kaiba's Turn

 * Instead of a normal Draw Phase, "Nibelung's Ring" forces Seto to draw two cards: if any monsters are drawn, one must be discarded to the Graveyard. Seto discards "Cave Dragon".
 * Uses "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to attack Zigfried's "Valkyrie Brünnhilde".
 * Zigfried activates "Valkyrie Brünnhilde's" second special ability: he reduces its DEF by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2100 ATK / 2000 → 1000 DEF) to prevent its destruction. Damage Calculation is still applied normally but since Zigfried's monster was in Defense Position, his LP are safe.
 * Sets a card.

Zigfried von Schroeder's Turn

 * Switches "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" to Attack Position.
 * Activates Equip Spell Card "Enchanted Sword Nothung":
 * "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 400 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2100 → 2500 ATK / 1000 DEF).
 * Seto's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is removed from play ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2500 → 2200 ATK / 1000 DEF).
 * Activates Spell Card "Pegasus Wings": by halving "Valkyrie Brünnhilde's" ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2200 → 1100 ATK / 1000 DEF), Zigfried can uses it to attack Seto directly.
 * Seto activates Quick-Play Spell Card "Shrink": it halves "Valkyrie Brünnhilde's" ATK further ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1100 → 550 ATK / 1000 DEF). Seto still takes damage (Seto: 1100 → 550 Life Points).

Seto Kaiba's Turn

 * Instead of a normal Draw Phase, "Nibelung's Ring" forces Seto to draw two cards: if any monsters are drawn, one must be discarded to the Graveyard. Neither of Seto's cards are monsters, so he keeps both.
 * Activates Spell Card "Graceful Charity": he draws 3 cards, then discards 2 ("Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and his "Cloning").
 * Activates his "Chaos Emperor Dragon's" first special ability, removing "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Pitch-Dark Dragon" in his Graveyard from play in order to Special Summon it (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF) from his Hand in Attack Position (NOTE: in the real game, "Chaos Emperor Dragon's" full name is "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End").
 * Sets a card.
 * Activates Quick-Play Spell Card "Emergency Provisions": Seto sends his Set card to the Graveyard to gain 1000 LP (Seto: 550 → 1550 Life Points).
 * Activates his "Chaos Emperor Dragon's" second special ability: Seto pays 1000 LP (Seto: 1550 → 550 Life Points) to send all cards in both players' hands and on the field to the Graveyard (including Seto's dragon). For every card destroyed by this, Zigfried loses 300 LP: with 2 cards on his side of the field and 3 on Seto's, he loses 300 × 5 = 1500 LP (Zigfried: 2600 → 1100 Life Points).

Zigfried von Schroeder's Turn

 * Activates Spell Card "Pot of Greed" to draw 2 cards.
 * Activates Continuous Spell Card "Magical Alms": he gains 1000 LP (Zigfried: 1100 → 2100 Life Points). Also, at the beginning of each turn each player must predict how many Spell Cards he will use that turn: both players immediately gain Life Points equal to the number of Spell Cards predicted × 500; If a player uses less or more Spell Cards than predicted, that player will suffer damage equal to the number of Spell Cards used × 1000 at the end of the turn.
 * Due to the effect of his "Magical Alms", Zigfried predicts he will use one Spell Card this turn. Both players gain LP equal to 1 × 500 = 500 LP (Zigfried: 2100 → 2600 Life Points) (Seto: 550 → 1050 Life Points).
 * Activates Spell Card "Final Light": Zigfried pays 1000 LP (Zigfried: 2600 → 1600 Life Points) to Special Summon "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" (1800 ATK / 2000 DEF) back from his Graveyard in Attack Position; Seto is allowed to Special Summon "Cave Dragon" (2000 ATK / 100 DEF) back from his Graveyard in Attack Position.
 * "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK for every Dragon and Warrior-Type monster on the field: since Seto controls 1 Dragon, it gains +300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 2100 ATK / 2000 DEF).
 * Uses "Brünnhilde" to attack and destroy Seto's "Cave Dragon" (Seto: 1050 → 950 Life Points).
 * With one less Dragon on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2100 → 1800 ATK / 2000 DEF).

Seto Kaiba's Turn

 * Due to the effect of Zigfried's "Magical Alms", Seto predicts he will use four Spell Cards this turn. Both players gain LP equal to 4 × 500 = 2000 LP (Zigfried: 1600 → 3600 Life Points) (Seto: 950 → 2950 Life Points).
 * Activates Spell Card "Card of Demise", drawing until he has five cards in his hand (since he had none, he draws five cards). Five turns after "Card of Demise's" activation, Seto must discard his entire hand (NOTE: this is Spell #1 for "Magical Alms's" count).
 * Activates Spell Card "Soul Release": Seto targets "Chaos Emperor Dragon" in his Graveyard and removes it from play (NOTE: this is Spell #2 for "Magical Alms's" count).
 * Activates Spell Card "Spell Reproduction": Seto discards two Spell Cards ("Spell Absorption" and "Cost Down") to add "Dimension Fusion" from his Graveyard to his hand (NOTE: this is Spell #3 for "Magical Alms's" count).
 * Activates Spell Card "Dimension Fusion": Seto pays 2000 LP (Seto: 2950 → 950 Life Points) so that both players may Special Summon all their monsters removed from play. Seto Special Summons his 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF), his "Chaos Emperor Dragon" (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF), and his "Luster Dragon #2" (2400 ATK / 1400 DEF) back to the field in Attack Position (NOTE: this is Spell #4 for "Magical Alms's" count.)
 * Zigfried's"Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK for every Dragon and Warrior-Type monster on the field: since Seto controls 5 Dragons, it gains +1500 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 3300 ATK / 2000 DEF).
 * Seto uses "Luster Dragon #2" to attack Zigfried's "Valkyrie Brünnhilde". "Luster Dragon #2" is destroyed and Seto takes 900 points of Battle Damage (Seto: 950 → 50 Life Points).
 * With one less Dragon on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3300 → 3000 ATK / 2000 DEF).
 * Seto uses "Chaos Emperor Dragon" to attack Zigfried's "Valkyrie Brünnhilde".
 * Zigfried activates "Valkyrie Brünnhilde's" second special ability: he reduces its DEF by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3000 ATK / 2000 → 1000 DEF) to prevent its destruction.
 * Seto's "Chaos Emperor Dragon" is destroyed. Since the monsters' ATK powers were equal, no Battle Damage is inflicted to either player.
 * With one less Dragon on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3000 → 2700 ATK / 1000 DEF).
 * Seto uses his first "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to attack Zigfried's "Valkyrie Brünnhilde".
 * Zigfried activates "Valkyrie Brünnhilde's" second special ability: he reduces its DEF by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2700 ATK / 1000 → 0 DEF) to prevent its destruction. Damage Calculation is still applied normally and Zigfried is dealt 300 damage (Zigfried: 3600 → 3300 Life Points).
 * Seto uses his second "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to attack Zigfried's "Brünnhilde". Since its DEF is depleted, Zigfried can no longer use Brünnhilde's special ability to prevent its destruction. (Zigfried: 3300 → 3000 Life Points).
 * Seto uses his third "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to attack Zigfried directly (Zigfried: 3000 → 0 Life Points). Seto wins.

=Errors=

In the Japanese version, when Kaiba displays his 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" they all use the newer layout, but later when 1 of them is shown in his hand it uses the old layout. Another thing most people do not notice is when Zigfried uses Pot of Greed it also has the old layout.

In the Japanese version, Zigfried's Life Points go from 3300 to 3000 twice: once when Blue-Eyes White Dragon destroys Valkyrie Brunnhilde's shield, and again when the next Blue-Eyes destroys Brunnhilde. They should have gone from 3600 to 3300 the first time.

An error in the dub: When listening to one of Kaiba's main workers when talking about kicking Zigfried out, the man says "Should I have Security remove him from the fark?" instead of park.