"The Gauntlet is Thrown", known as "The Trap of Illusionist No Face" in the Japanese version, is the second episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. It first aired in Japan on April 25, 2000 and in the United States on October 6, 2001.
With his victory over Seto Kaiba already earning him a reputation, Yugi is sent a package by the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. Yugi is then forced into a game of real magic as Pegasus challenges Yugi to a Duel. Pegasus sees all of Yugi's cards and strategies with his Millennium Eye. In the end, Yugi loses the Duel and Pegasus steals the soul of Yugi's grandfather.
Summary
School
In class Joey plays Duel Monsters against Téa. He Summons "Rock Ogre Grotto #1, claiming it will rock her block off. However Téa flips over her face-down "Happy Lover". Joey laughs that wimpy card doesn't stand a chance against his giant rock guy and urges her to give it up. Téa agrees that she doesn't stand a chance, unless she plays the "Breath of Light" card, sliding it onto the field as she does so. Startled, Joey asks Yugi if she can do that. Yugi replies that the "Breath of Light" card wears down Rock-Type monsters and reduces them to rubble. "Rock Ogre Grotto" is hit and falls apart, stunning Joey, whose Life Points hit 0. Téa celebrates over defeating Joey yet again and Tristan tells Joey he stinks at this game. Joey moans and buries his head onto the desk.
Afterwards outside school, Joey hangs out with Yugi and admits that Tristan is right, he does stink at the game and couldn't win a game of Duel Monsters to save his life. He asks Yugi for help, so Yugi decides to take a look at Joey's Deck, and finds it is made up entirely of Monster Cards. Joey explains that he filled it with the most powerful monsters he could find, but Yugi tells him that's not how the game works; Duel Monsters about combining Monster Cards with Magic Cards to make them stronger. Without Magic Cards, his monsters will get creamed every time, Yugi says. Joey rushes over and seizes Yugi excitedly, saying that's the kind of advice he needs and Yugi has got to help him more.
Game shop
Yugi takes Joey home to his Grandpa's game shop. His grandfather is the real game expert in the family, Yugi says, maybe he can help. (In the English version, the words "Kame Game", which are written in katakana, are removed from the sign at the shop). Inside, Yugi's grandfather, Solomon Muto is on a ladder, putting up a poster, advertising an upcoming National Duel Monsters tournament with a 3,000,000 yen prize. In the Japanese version, the poster contains "Elf Swordsman" ("Celtic Guardian") and "Hercules Beetle". In the English version, it contains "Black Luster Soldier" and "Harpie's Pet Dragon".
Joey's all excited about the tournament, and wants to enter it and win the money. Grandpa says if Joey thinks he's going to win that tournament, it's just an illusion. Yugi asks Joey if it's true. Joey falls to his knees and bows to Yugi, telling Yugi he really wants to win that tournament. Yugi protests that there's not even a month until the tournament, and Grandpa says he'll help. Yugi tells Joey that Grandpa's a great duelist, despite how he looks. Grandpa's not impressed with that, but says that he's a great trainer. Joey asks him for help, and Grandpa says he must start by changing his attitude. He shouldn't want to win for the prize. Grandpa will teach him about the Heart of the Cards. They begin training and Joey screams, while Grandpa orders him to try again.
(In the English version, the conversation between Yugi, Joey and Grandpa is rewritten. Yugi tells his Grandpa he's brought him a new student. Since Grandpa knows more about Duel Monsters than anyone, Joey says he was hoping that he'd teach him. Grandpa climbs down from the ladder and states that Duel Monsters is a very complex game. Joey agrees, say Téa beat him in three games in a row. Yugi corrects him, saying that it was five. Joey looks up at the poster and Grandpa says that he could teach Joey to be a great tournament duelist, but only if he's willing to spend endless days and sleepless nights training. "Piece of cake", Joey says and Grandpa says that with an attitude like that, teaching Joey may not be worth his effort. Joey withdraws and Yugi sarcastically compliments him. Joey drops to his knees and bows to Yugi, begging him to help convince Grandpa to teach him, promising to work hard. Yugi starts to argue that his grandpa can't do it, reversely affecting Grandpa, who decides he can do it. If he agrees, he tells Joey he must hard. Joey promises, and Grandpa says they'll begin immediately. He cracks his fingers, saying under his tuition, Joey will learn. He asks Joey if he can name the most powerful and weakest Duel Monster and if he knows what a Trap Card is, but Joey has no idea.)
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Featured Duels
Téa Gardner vs. Joey Wheeler
The beginning of the Duel is skipped.
Joey's turn
Joey Normal Summons "Rock Ogre Grotto #1" in Attack Position (800/1200). Joey attacks Téa's set monster. It is flipped face-up and revealed to be "Happy Lover" (800/500). The attack doesn't destroy it for some reason.
Téa's turn
Téa activates "Breath of Light" to destroy Joey's "Rock Ogre Grotto #1" (Joey ? → 0).
Téa wins.
Rex Raptor vs. Weevil Underwood
The beginning of the Duel is skipped.
Rex's turn
Rex draws "Two-Headed King Rex" and subsequently Normal Summons (1600/1200) it in Attack Position (1600/1200).
Weevil's turn
Weevil Normal Summons "Basic Insect" (500/700) in Attack Position.
Rex's turn
Rex attacks "Basic Insect" with "Two-Headed King Rex", but Weevil activates "Vortex" to negate the attack and prevent "Two-Head King Rex" from attacking as long as "Vortex" remains face-up.
Weevil's turn
Weevil activates "Insect Armor with Laser Cannon" to equip the latter to "Basic Insect" and increase its ATK by an unknown amount. "Basic Insect" attacks and destroys "Two-Headed King Rex" (Rex ? → 0).
Weevil wins.
Yami Yugi vs. Maximillion Pegasus
This Duel has a fifteen minute time limit. The player with higher Life Points at the end of the time limit will win.
Turn 1: Pegasus
Pegasus draws. He then Sets a card.
Turn 2: Yugi
Yami draws. He then tries to summon Koumori Dragon, but Pegasus anticipates his move by activating "Dragon Capture Jar", which traps "Koumori Dragon" within it. Pegasus explains that he will anticipate every move he makes. "Quite an advantage.", he says.
Turn 3: Pegasus
Pegasus draws. He then Sets a monster.
Turn 4: Yugi
Yami Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Silver Fang" (1200/800) in Attack Position.
Turn 5: Pegasus
Pegasus Flip Summons "Dragon Piper" (200/1800) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Dragon Piper", "Koumori Dragon" is released from "Dragon Capture Jar" and is placed onto Pegasus' side of the field (1700/1200) in Attack Position. "Koumori Dragon" attacks and destroys "Silver Fang" (Yugi 2000 → 1500). Pegasus then Sets "Sun Shower".
Turn 6: Yugi
Yami's hand contains "Beaver Warrior", "Horn Imp", "Breath of Light", "Zombie Warrior", and "Book of Secret Arts". Yami is about to summon "Zombie Warrior", but stops himself from doing so. Yami Yugi draws a monster and subsequently Normal Summons the said monster in Attack Position without looking at it. Pegasus activates his face-down "Sun Shower", thinking that Yami would Summon "Zombie Warrior". The monster is revealed to be "Dark Magician" (2500/2100), who is not affected by "Sun Shower". "Dark Magician" attacks and destroys "Koumori Dragon" (Pegasus 2000 → 1200).
Turn 7: Pegasus
Pegasus draws "Illusionist Faceless Mage" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1200/2200) in Attack Position. He then activates "Eye of Illusion" and equips the latter to "Illusionist Faceless Mage". "Illusionist Faceless Mage" attacks "Dark Magician". The effect of "Eye of Illusion" then activates, negating the attack and equipping itself to "Dark Magician" without Yami knowing that.
Turn 8: Yugi
Yami draws "Celtic Guardian". During the Standby Phase, Pegasus gains control of "Dark Magician" via "Eye of Illusion" without Yami Yugi knowing. Yami Normal Summons "Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Attack Position. "Celtic Guardian" attacks "Illusionist Faceless Mage", but the effect of "Eye of Illusion" redirects the attack to "Dark Magician". "Dark Magician" destroys "Celtic Guardian" (Yugi 1500 → 400).
Turn 9: Pegasus
Pegasus Sets a card.
Turn 10: Yugi
Yami Normal Summons "Summoned Skull" (2500/1200) in Attack Position. "Summoned Skull" attacks "Illusionist Faceless Mage", but time runs out before the attack is completed.
Since Pegasus had more Life Points than Yami Yugi when time ran out, Pegasus wins by default.
Differences from the TCG
The Duels in this episode followed the earlier Duel Monsters rules, so 2000 Life Points were used, Tributes were not required for Level 5 or higher monsters and players could not attack each other directly.
Differences in individual cards included:
- "Infinite Dismissal" is named "Vortex". It negates the attack of 1 monster and seems to be a Normal Trap Card.
- "Koumori Dragon" has 1700 ATK instead of 1500.
- "Dragon Capture Jar" "seals" Dragon-Type monsters within itself and is a Monster Card rather than a Trap Card.
- "Dragon Piper" can destroy "Dragon Capture Jar" without being flipped.
Differences in adaptations
- The poster in the dub that Yugi's Grandpa was putting up was "Black Luster Soldier", a reference to Episode 30 and "Harpie's Pet Dragon". In the Japanese version, it's an advertisement for an upcoming National Duel Monsters Tournament with a 3,000,000 yen cash prize. (The Japanese poster shows "Elf Swordsman" and "Hercules Beetle".)
- In the dub Pegasus tells Yugi about Egypt, the Shadow Realm and the Millennium Items. In the Japanese version he was telling Yugi about the tournament.
- When Pegasus tells Yugi that the world they're in is called the Shadow Realm, a pyramid is added over the shot of Pegasus in the US version.
- After he defeats Silver Fang, Pegasus giggles, saying the monsters are quite real, and quite dangerous! He tells "Yugi-boy" that he's quite entertaining—so defiant yet helpless, and completely ignorant of the power of his Millennium Puzzle. (In the Japanese version, Pegasus says that he's glad he came to Japan, then giggles, saying "Joke! It's a joke!," in English. In the Japanese, Pegasus is an American, and often speaks heavily-accented English.)
Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.
Mistakes
- In the dub, after "Dark Magician" attacks and destroys "Koumori Dragon", Yami Yugi states that "Dark Magician" is one of the most powerful Magic cards in the game. This is in error as said card is a Monster card.
