The Mystery Duelist, Part 1, known as Challenge from the Past - The Terrifying Zera in the Japanese version, is the fifty episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. It first aired in Japan on April 10, 2001, and in the United States on November 16, 2002.

An arcane fortune teller steals the Millennium Puzzle and Yugi must defeat him in a Duel to win it back. Can Yugi beat him all alone without the help of his friends or the spirit inside the Puzzle?

SummaryEdit

Yugi Muto now has changed his Millennium Puzzle brown rope to a chain to keep his Millennium Puzzle safe. Yami explains that this change is vital since the Millennium Puzzle connects the two and that faith has more in store. Then Yugi Muto and Téa Gardner are rushing to the soccer game when they come across a fortune teller who Yugi beileves can help him see what is in the future for him. The fortune teller asks for a personal item and suggest the Millennium Puzzle which, once in hand, he steals it. Téa runs into Yami Bakura who wants the Millennium Puzzle and uses his Millennium Ring to find the Millennium Puzzle. The fortune teller then alarms Yugi the only way to get the puzzle is to win it in a Duel. But the catch is since the Millennium Puzzle isn't close or on Yugi then he would have to do this Duel without Yami Yugi's help. During the Duel Yugi realizes that only one person has a lot of machine cards and that is Bandit Keith. His guess is right but it is not truly Keith since he is now the host of someone else, Marik Ishtar.

Meanwhile,Téa, Joey Wheeler, and Tristan Taylor search for Yugi.

Major EventsEdit

• Keith is under the control of Marik Ishtar, who cheats during this Duel.
• Whoever wins this Duel gets to keep the Millennium Puzzle, which Keith stole earlier disguised as a fortune teller.
• Yugi is forced to Duel without Yami. In the English version, this is because the Puzzle is not within Yugi's reach, weakening his bond with Yami. In the Japanese version, Marik staged the Duel so Yami would take over to protect Yugi, giving Marik a victory over the pharaoh as well as possession of the Puzzle. However, Yami senses the trap and holds back.

Featured Duel: Yugi Muto vs. "Bandit" Keith HowardEdit

Turn 1: Yugi
Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Celtic Guardian" in Attack Position (1400 ATK / 1200 DEF).

Turn 2: Keith
Keith draws. He then Sets a monster.

Turn 3: Yugi
Yugi draws. "Celtic Guardian" attacks and destroys Keith's Set monster: "Cyber Jar" (900 ATK / 900 DEF). "Cyber Jar's" Flip effect activates since it was flipped face-up, destroying every monster on the field. After that happens, the Flip Effect of "Cyber Jar" lets both Yugi and Keith draw five cards and Special Summon any Level 4 or lower monsters they drew in Attack Position or face-down Defense Position. Yugi Sets 1 monster. Keith Special Summons "Mechanicalchaser" (1850 ATK / 800 DEF) and "Ground Attacker Bugroth" in Attack Position (1500 ATK / 1000 DEF). On Yugi's End Phase, he discards four cards in his hand as his hand surpasses the hand size limit.

Turn 4: Keith
Keith draws. He then Normal Summons "Machine King" in Attack Position (2200 ATK / 2000 DEF). "Machine King" gains 100 ATK for each Machine-Type monster on the field. Since there are 3, "Machine King" gains 300 ATK ("Machine King": 2200 → 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF). "Machine King" attacks and destroys Yugi's Set monster: "Silver Fang" (1200 ATK / 800 DEF). On Keith's End Phase, he discards three cards as his hand surpasses the hand size limit.

Turn 5: Yugi
Yugi draws. He then Sets a monster.

Turn 6: Keith
Keith draws "Megasonic Eye" and subsequently Normal Summons it in Attack Position (1500 ATK / 1800 DEF). With another Machine-type monster on the field, "Machine King" gains 100 more ATK ("Machine King": 2500 → 2600 ATK / 2000 DEF). "Machine King" attacks and destroys Yugi's Set monster: "Giant Soldier of Stone" (1300 ATK / 2000 DEF).

Turn 7: Yugi
Yugi draws "Curse of Dragon" and subsequently Normal Summons it in Attack Position (2000 ATK / 1500 DEF). Next he Normal Summons "Gaia the Fierce Knight" in Attack Position (2300 ATK / 2100 DEF). Yugi then activates Magic Card "Polymerization", fusing "Curse of Dragon" with "Gaia the Fierce Knight" to Fusion Summon "Gaia the Dragon Champion" in Attack Position (2600 ATK / 2100 DEF). "Gaia the Dragon Champion" attacks and destroys "Mechanicalchaser" (Keith 2000 → 1250 Life Points). With one less Machine on the field, "Machine King" loses 100 ATK ("Machine King": 2600 → 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF).

Turn 8: Keith
Keith draws. He then switches "Megasonic Eye" and "Ground Attacker Bugroth" to Defense Position. Next Keith activates Magic Card "Machine Conversion Factory" to increase the ATK and DEF of every Machine-Type monster he controls by 300 ("Machine King": 2500 → 2800 ATK / 2000 → 2300 DEF) ("Ground Attacker Bugroth": 1500 → 1800 ATK/ 1000 → 1300 DEF) ("Megasonic Eye": 1500 → 1800 ATK / 1800 → 2100 DEF). (NOTE: In the real game Machine Conversion Factory is an Equip Spell Card and it would have increased the ATK and DEF of 1 Machine-Type monster by 300 points). "Machine King" attacks and destroys "Gaia the Dragon Champion" (Yugi 2000 → 1800 Life Points).

Turn 9: Yugi
Yugi draws "Summoned Skull". He then activates Magic Card "Makiu" to revert every Machine-Type monster ATK and DEF to their original stats ("Machine King": 2800 → 2500 ATK / 2300 → 2000 DEF) ("Ground Attacker Bugroth": 1800 → 1500 ATK / 1300 → 1000 DEF) ("Megasonic Eye": 1800 → 1500 ATK / 2100 → 1800 DEF) (instead of destroying them). He then Normal Summons "Summoned Skull" in Attack Position (2500 ATK / 1200 DEF). "Summoned Skull" then gains 750 ATK for this turn due to "Makiu" ("Summoned Skull": 2500 → 3250 ATK / 1200 DEF). "Summoned Skull" attacks and destroys "Machine King" (Keith 1250 → 500 Life Points). On Yugi's End Phase, the effect of "Makiu" wears off, returning the ATK of "Summoned Skull" to normal ("Summoned Skull": 3250 → 2500 ATK / 1200 DEF).

Turn 10: Keith
Keith draws Magic Card "Graceful Charity" and subsequently activates it to draw 3 cards and then discard 2 cards (He illegally placed three cards on top of his Deck right before drawing through Graceful Charity's effect). Next, he activates Ritual Magic Card "Zera Ritual", Tributing "Ground Attacker Bugroth" and "Megasonic Eye" to Ritual Summon "Zera the Mant" in Attack Position (2800 ATK / 2300 DEF). "Zera the Mant" attacks and destroys "Summoned Skull" (Yugi Muto: 1800 → 1500 Life Points).

Duel concludes next episode.

Changes to the English Dub Edit

• Cut from the beginning of the episode are scenes of Yugi's mom.
• All the writing on Domino City is erased from the dub.
• "Zera the Mant" slicing off the arms and wings of "Summoned Skull" are obscured in the dub.
• The words "TO BE CONTINUED" are added at the end of the dub episode.
• The gun is removed from the flashback.

MistakesEdit

• After "Cyber Jar" is played face-down, it is seen face-up from behind Keith.

Featured cardsEdit

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