Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 198

"Sinister Secrets - Part 3", known as "KC Grand Prix Ends" in the Japanese version, is the one-hundred and ninety-eighth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. It first aired in Japan on March 31, 2004, and in the US on October 8, 2005.

Summary
As the final Duel of the KC Grand Championship continues, Zigfried reveals one of the effects of "Golden Castle of Stromberg": it forces both parties to battle, and when the opponent's monster is destroyed, the opponent shall suffer Battle Damage equal to half that monster's ATK points.

Meanwhile, Kaiba and Mokuba reach the control center and begin working on halting the virus program. Mokuba vows that he won't let Ziegfried get away with betraying his brother's trust.

Another effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" is soon revealed: the maintenance cost of this Field Spell Card forces the opponent to send half of their Deck to the Graveyard. However, Ziegfried has edited it so that the opponent had to pay the cost instead of the controller.

Elsewhere around the world, Duel Disk systems begin to malfunction as a result of the virus.

Yami barely survives an attack which would've cost him the Duel, and Special Summons an Effect Monster with an effect of destroying all of the opponent's cards. Unfortunately, it too fails, since Zigfried foresaw that possibility. However, Yami was aiming for something else: he's used all but 1 card in his Deck. Since the cost rounds down, he can only discard 0 cards, which is not actually considered paying the Field Spell Card's maintenance cost. "Golden Castle of Stromberg" is destroyed.

The virus is finally halted, and Kaiba realizes Yami found the weakness of the card. He orders for all systems to be linked to the backup ones and reboot it.

Despite getting rid of the Field Spell Card, Zigfried points out that almost all of the gaming data in KaibaCorp has been deleted thanks to the virus. He also points out that Yami has only one card left in his Deck and when he becomes unable to draw a card from his Deck, Leon wins by default. Leon does not want to defeat Yami due to what his brother did, so he tries to surrender the Duel, but Yami convinces they should continue the Duel now that the "Golden Castle" is gone. Even though Leon manages to Tribute Summon a very powerful monster, Yami, by Special Summoning "Dark Magician" and using a combo of "Necromancy" and "Diffusion Wave-Motion", wins the Duel.

Yami consoles Leon: he fought his best and didn't give up until the very end. He tells him that he's a "true Duelist". Leon breaks down into tears. Zigfried, being the sore loser he is, claims that the virus program has already managed what he sought. Kaiba comes in and claims that he's already restored the main computer to normal.

Leon tries to reason with him: he tells him that he knew the whole thing was pointless. Zigfried collapses and mutters that, in the end, he can't win over Kaiba. Kaiba claims not just him, nobody can. Leon tries to explain what he's learned: if you give up, all's over. But if he keeps on moving forward with high spirits, someday, he can accomplish something. He wants to help him, and pleads of him to share his pains with him. Yami and Yugi are glad that things are finally resolved.

Yami's victory is announced as Alister, next to the Pisa Tower of Italy, watches. Valon, near Barcelona's "Sagrada Família" also watches. Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor curse in Tokyo, and Mai Valentine looks on from another location.

After the victory, Mokuba fulfills his promise: he arranges for Yugi and co. to return to Japan with a KC plane. When Duke comment he'd like to meet Serenity, both Joey and Tristan hold him in place and tell him off. The Professor tells Solomon "not to do anything reckless". Solomon plays strong, but his waist ache comes back. Rebecca tells Yugi that they must have a new Duel in the future.

Featured Duel: Yami Yugi vs. Leon von Schroeder
Duel continues from previous episode.

Turn 10: Yami Yugi

Yami draws. The fourth effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" forces Yami's "Dark Magician Girl" to attack. It attacks Leon's "Pumpkin Carriage". The fifth effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" activates at this time, destroying "Dark Magician Girl" before she completes her attack, and inflicting damage to Yami equal to half his monster's ATK, which was 1000 at the time (Yami 2200 → 1700). The effect of "Glass Slippers" activates, equipping itself to "Cinderella". The effect of "Cinderella" activates when it is equipped with "Glass Slippers" from another monster, increasing her ATK by 1000 ("Cinderella": 300 → 1300/600). Yami Sets a card.

Turn 11: Leon von Schroeder

Leon draws. During his Standby Phase, the first effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" requires him to send half the cards in his Deck to the Graveyard. However, the last effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" transfers the cost to Yami (Deck: 14). (To see a run-through of how Yami's Deck reaches this point, click here.) Leon Normal Summons "Forest Wolf" (1800/300) in Attack Position. The third effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" forces "Cinderella" to attack. It attacks Yami directly (Yami 1700 → 400). The third effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" forces "Forest Wolf" to attack. It attacks Yami directly, but Yami activates "Dark Magic Retribution", allowing him to Special Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from his Graveyard. He chooses "Dark Magician Girl", which blocks Leon's attack, destroying "Forest Wolf" (Leon 2100 → 1900). During the End Phase, the effect of "Dark Magic Retribution" destroys "Dark Magician Girl".

Turn 12: Yami Yugi

Yami draws. Since it is Yami's third turn since "Spinning Wheel Spindle" has been activated, "Queen's Knight" is Special Summoned to Yami's side of the field. Yami Sets 2 cards, then activates "Card of Sanctity", forcing both players to draw until they both have 6 cards in their hands (Deck: 7). Yami Normal Summons "King's Knight" (1600/1400). Since Yami controls "Queen's Knight", the effect of "King's Knight" allows him to Special Summon "Jack's Knight" (1900/1000) from his Deck (Deck: 6). Yami activates "Royal Straight", Tributing "Queen's Knight", "King's Knight" and "Jack's Knight" to Special Summon "Royal Straight Slasher" from his Graveyard (2400/1350) in Attack Position. Yami activates the effect of "Royal Straight Slasher", sending "Kuriboh" (Level 1), "Old Vindictive Magician" (Level 2), "Giant Soldier of Stone" (Level 3), "Big Shield Gardna" (Level 4) and "Curse of Dragon" (Level 5) from his Deck to the Graveyard to destroy all cards Leon controls (Deck: 1). "Golden Castle of Stromberg" remains on the field because it cannot be destroyed by card effects. Yami activates "Time Travel", removing his "Royal Straight Slasher" from play until Leon's next turn.

Turn 13: Leon von Schroeder

Leon draws. During his Standby Phase, the first effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" requires him to send half the cards in his Deck to the Graveyard. However, the last effect of "Golden Castle of Stromberg" transfers the cost to Yami. Since Yami cannot pay the cost with 1 card left in his Deck, this destroys "Golden Castle of Stromberg". "Royal Straight Slasher" returns to Yami's side of the field in Attack Position via the effect of "Time Travel". Leon activates "Monster Reborn", Special Summoning "Cinderella" from his Graveyard. When it is Summoned, the effect of "Cinderella" activates, Special Summoning 1 "Pumpkin Carriage" in Defense Position. Leon Tributes "Cinderella" and "Pumpkin Carriage" to Tribute Summon "Hexe Trude" (2600/ 1800) in Attack Position. It attacks and destroys "Royal Straight Slasher" (Yami 400 → 200). Since it destroyed a monster by battle, the effect of "Hexe Trude" activates, increasing its ATK by 400, for a total of 3000 ATK.

Turn 14: Yami Yugi

Yami draws (Deck: 0). He Sets a card, then activates "Emergency Provisions", sending his Set card ("Chain Destruction") to the Graveyard to gain 1000 Life Points (Yami 200 → 1200). Yami activates "Monster Reborn", Special Summoning "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. He then activates one of his Set cards, "Necromancy". It Special Summons 4 random monsters from Leon's Graveyard to Leon's side of the field in Defense Position, which are "Little Red Riding Hood", "Forest Hunter", "Iron Hans" and "Iron Knight". Yami activates his other Set card, "Diffusion Wave-Motion". He pays 1000 Life Points (Yami 1200 → 200) to allow his "Dark Magician" to attack all of Leon's monsters once each. It attacks and destroys Leon's "Little Red Riding Hood", "Forest Hunter", "Iron Hans" and "Iron Knight". The effect of "Necromancy" decreases the ATK of "Hexe Trude" by 600 for each monster destroyed that was Special Summoned by its effect. As a result, "Hexe Trude" is left with 600 ATK. "Dark Magician" attacks and destroys "Hexe Trude" (Leon 1900 → 0). Yami wins.

A Run-through of Yami's Deck Depletion

 * Turn 1: Draws standard 5 cards (Deck: 35)
 * Turns 2, 4, & 6: Conducts his normal draw (Deck: 32)
 * Turn 8: Conducts his normal draw and activates "Pot of Greed" (Deck: 29)
 * Turn 10: Conducts his normal draw (Deck: 28)
 * Turn 11: "Golden Castle of Stromberg" mills half his Deck (14 cards) to the Graveyard (Deck: 14)
 * Turn 12: Conducts his normal draw, activates "Card of Sanctity" (drawing 6 cards), Special Summons "Jack's Knight" from his Deck with the effect of "King's Knight", and sends 5 Monster Cards from his Deck to the Graveyard by the effect of "Royal Straight Slasher" (Deck: 1)
 * (By turn 13, "Golden Castle of Stromberg" cannot send "half" of 1 card to the Graveyard, so it destroys itself.)
 * Turn 14: Conducts his normal draw (Deck: 0)

Mistakes

 * When Yugi activates the effect of "Royal Straight Slasher", the shot of him drawing six cards from the effect of "Card of Sanctity" is reused (with the cards on his duel disk changed appropriately) when he was only supposed to draw 5 cards.


 * During the scene when “King’s Knight”, “Queen’s Knight” and “Jack’s Knight” put their swords together, all three monsters’ ATK are shown; the ATK of “King’s Knight” is incorrectly shown as 1900 when it is really 1600.

Differences in Adaptations

 * Hexe Trude's dress was made less revealing in the English version.
 * Cut from the dub is a bit of two kids dueling in a park, using duel disks. One kid orders his "Ruiz" ("Beaver Warrior") to attack, but the hologram starts to flutter with static. The other kid's "Gremlin" ("Feral Imp") does the same, and the kid says something's wrong.
 * Cut also is a shot of Rebecca saying that Yugi's deck will be halved every round.

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