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.

Seto Kaiba pits his "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" against the Valkyries of Zigfried von Schroeder (formerly known as "Zigfried Lloyd"), ultimately having to go up against the seemingly invincible "Valkyrie Brunnhilde".

SummaryEdit

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 SchroederEdit

Duel continues from previous episode.

Turn 10: Kaiba
Instead of conducting his normal draw, Seto is forced to draw 2 cards by the effect of "Nibelung's Ring". If 1 or both of those drawn cards is a Monster Card, Seto must discard 1 of them. Since the drawn cards are "Monster Reborn" and "Attack Guidance Armor" though, he keeps both of them. Seto then Sets a card.

Turn 11: Zigfried
Zigfried draws. Since "Fortune Chariot" is equipped to a monster, Zigfried activates its effect, halving the ATK of the equipped "Valkyrie Zwei" for this turn ("Valkyrie Zwei": 1600 → 800/1600) to allow it to attack Seto directly this turn. "Valkyrie Zwei" attacks Seto directly, but Seto activates "Attack Guidance Armor", redirecting the attack to "Valkyrie Erste". In response, Zigfried activates "Wotan's Judgment", switching the top card of his Deck with a Spell Card from his hand (which is "Nobleman of Crossout") to negate the attack and end the Battle Phase.^{[Notes 1]} Zigfried's hand is shown to contain "Gryphon's Feather Duster" and "Goddess Skuld's Oracle" at this point. During his Main Phase 2, Zigfried activates "Goddess Urd's Verdict", "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance", and "Goddess Skuld's Oracle". He activates the effect of "Goddess Skuld's Oracle", which will let him look at the top 3 cards of Seto's Deck and rearrange the order if he so likes. After looking at those cards, Zigfried leaves the order unchanged, as they are 3 copies of "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Zigfried activates the effect of "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance" next, which will him to guess the card type of the top card of Seto's Deck. If he is right, Seto must Set that card face-down on the field. Zigfried guesses that the top card of Seto's Deck is a Monster Card. It is correct, so Seto Special Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in face-down Defense Position. Zigfried finishes the combo by activating the effect of "Goddess Urd's Verdict", which will allow him to select 1 face-down card Seto controls and declare a card name. If he's correct, that card will be removed from play. Zigfried declares that Seto's face-down monster is "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". It is correct, so "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is removed from play. During the End Phase, the ATK of "Valkyrie Zwei" returns to normal ("Valkyrie Zwei": 800 → 1600/1600).

Turn 12: Kaiba
Instead of conducting his normal draw, Seto is forced to draw 2 cards by the effect of "Nibelung's Ring". Since Seto drew two copies of "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" by this effect, he is forced to discard 1 copy. Seto activates "Monster Reborn", Special Summoning the discarded "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000/2500) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" attacks "Valkyrie Zwei", but Zigfried activates the effect of "Fortune Chariot", destroying it to prevent "Valkyrie Zwei" from being destroyed by the attack, however Zigfried still takes Battle Damage (Zigfried 2500 → 1100).

Turn 13: Zigfried
Zigfried draws. He activates the effect of his "Goddess Skuld's Oracle", looking at the top three cards of Seto's Deck ("Shrink", "Cave Dragon" and "Luster Dragon #2), and choosing to place "Luster Dragon #2" on the top of the Deck. Zigfried then activates the effect of "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance" declaring Monster Card. It is correct, so Seto Special Summons "Luster Dragon #2" in face-down Defense Position. Zigfried finishes the combo by activating the effect of "Goddess Urd's Verdict", declaring Seto's face-down monster to be "Luster Dragon #2". It is correct, so "Luster Dragon #2" is removed from play. Next, Zigfried activates "Gryphon's Feather Duster", destroying his "Goddess Urd's Verdict", "Goddess Verdandi's Guidance", and "Goddess Skuld's Oracle", and gaining 500 Life Points for each Spell and Trap Card destroyed this way, for a total of 1500 Life Points (Zigfried 1100 → 2600). He then Tributes "Valkyrie Zwei" and "Valkyrie Erste" to Tribute Summon "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" (1800/2000) in Defense Position. Since there is 1 Dragon-Type monster on the field ("Blue-Eyes White Dragon"), the effect of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" increases its own ATK by 300 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 2100/2000).

Turn 14: Kaiba
Instead of conducting his normal draw, Seto is forced to draw 2 cards by the effect of "Nibelung's Ring", which are "Cave Dragon" and "Shrink". Since Kaiba drew "Cave Dragon", he is forced to discard it. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" attacks "Valkyrie Brünnhilde", but Zigfried uses the second effect of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" to reduce its DEF by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2000/2000 → 1000) in order to prevent it from being destroyed by battle. During his Main Phase 2, Seto Sets a card.

Turn 15: Zigfried
Zigfried draws. He then switches his "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" to Attack Position. Next, Zigfried activates "Enchanted Sword Nothung", equipping to "Valkyrie Brünnhilde", increasing its ATK by 400 as well as destroying and removing from play all Dragon-Type monsters on the field; "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is destroyed and removed from play ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2100 → 1800 → 2200/1000). Now if Kaiba attacks "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" with a Dragon-Type monster, "Enchanted Sword Nothung" will destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step without applying Damage Calculation. Since "Fortune Chariot" is in his Graveyard, Zigfried activates "Pegasus Wings", halving the ATK of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" during this turn ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2200 → 1100/1000) to allow it to attack Seto directly this turn. "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" attacks Seto directly, but Seto activates "Shrink", halving the ATK of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" until the End Phase ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1100 → 550/1000). The attack continues (Seto 1100 → 550). The ATK of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" returns to its original boosted amount at the end of the turn ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 550 → 2200/1000).

Turn 16: Kaiba
Instead of conducting his normal draw, Seto is forced to draw 2 cards by the effect of "Nibelung's Ring", which are "Graceful Charity" and "Emergency Provisions". Since neither is a Monster Card, he keeps both of them. Seto activates "Graceful Charity", drawing 3 cards, then discarding 2 cards from his hand, which are "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Cloning". He then removes from play 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from his Graveyard (which are "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Pitch-Dark Dragon") to Special Summon "Chaos Emperor Dragon" (3000/2500) from his hand in Attack Position.^{[Notes 2]} Since there is now a Dragon-Type monster on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2200 → 2500/2000). Seto Sets a card and then he activates "Emergency Provisions", sending the Set card to the Graveyard to gain 1000 Life Points (Seto 550 → 1550). He then activates the effect of "Chaos Emperor Dragon", paying 1000 Life Points (Seto 1550 → 550) to send all cards in both players' hands and on the field to the Graveyard, and inflict 300 damage to Zigfried for each card sent. Since Seto controlled 3 cards, Zigfried controlled 2 cards, and neither player had cards in their hands, Zigfried takes 1500 damage (Zigfried 2600 → 1100).

Turn 17: Zigfried
Zigfried draws "Pot of Greed", and subsequently activates it to draw 2 cards. He then activates "Magical Alms", gaining 1000 Life Points upon its activation (Zigfried 1100 → 2100). Now during each player's turn, the turn player can guess how many Spell Cards they will activate for the rest of that turn. Both players will then gain 500 Life Points for each Spell Card guessed. If the turn player activated less or more Spell Cards than he had guessed though, that player will take 1000 damage for every Spell Card guessed, during their End Phase. Zigfried proceeds to use the effect of "Magical Alms", predicting he will activate one more Spell Card this turn. Both players gain 500 Life Points (Zigfried 2100 → 2600, Seto 550 → 1050). Zigfried then activates "Final Light", paying 1000 Life Points (Zigfried 2600 → 1600) to Special Summon 1 LIGHT monster from his Graveyard, at the additional cost of allowing his opponent to Special Summon 1 monster with 2000 or less ATK from their own Graveyard. Zigfried Special Summons "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" (1800/2000) in Attack Position and Seto Special Summons "Cave Dragon" (2000/100) in Attack Position. Because there is 1 Dragon-Type monster on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 2100/2000). "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" attacks and destroys "Cave Dragon" (Seto 1050 → 950). Since "Cave Dragon" is no longer on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2100 → 1800/2000).

Turn 18: Kaiba
Seto draws "Card of Demise". He then proceeds to use the effect of "Magical Alms", predicting he will activate four Spell Cards this turn. Both players gain 2000 Life Points (Zigfried 1600 → 3600, Seto 950 → 2950). He then activates "Card of Demise", drawing until he has 5 cards in his hand. Five turns after the activation of "Card of Demise", Seto must discard his entire hand. Seto activates "Soul Release", removing from play his "Chaos Emperor Dragon" from his Graveyard. He then activates "Spell Reproduction", discarding 2 Spell Cards ("Spell Absorption" and "Cost Down") to add "Dimension Fusion" from his Graveyard to his hand. "De-Fusion" is shown to be the only other card remaining in Seto's hand at this point. Seto finally activates his 4th Spell Card, "Dimension Fusion", paying 2000 Life Points (Seto 2950 → 950) to allow both players to Special Summon as many of their removed from play monsters as possible. Since Zigfried has none, only Seto proceeds to do so, Special Summoning his 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" (all three "Blue-Eyes": 3000/2500), his "Chaos Emperor Dragon" (3000/2500), and his "Luster Dragon #2" (2400/1400), all in Attack Position. At this point, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" gains 300 ATK for each Dragon and Warrior-Type monster on the field; since Seto controls 5 Dragon-Type monsters, it gains 1500 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 1800 → 3300/2000). "Luster Dragon #2" attacks "Valkyrie Brünnhilde"; "Luster Dragon #2" is destroyed since it is weaker (Seto 950 → 50). Since there is 1 less Dragon-Type monster on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3300 → 3000/2000). "Chaos Emperor Dragon" attacks "Valkyrie Brünnhilde", but Zigfried reduces the DEF of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3000/2000 → 1000) to prevent it from being destroyed by battle, so only "Chaos Emperor Dragon" is destroyed. Since there is 1 less Dragon-Type monster on the field, "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" loses 300 ATK ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 3000 → 2700/1000). The first "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" attacks "Valkyrie Brünnhilde", but Zigfried reduces the DEF of "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" by 1000 ("Valkyrie Brünnhilde": 2700/1000 → 0) to prevent it from being destroyed by battle (Zigfried 3600 → 3300). The second "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" attacks and destroys "Valkyrie Brünnhilde" (Zigfried 3300 → 3000). The third "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" attacks Zigfried directly (Zigfried 3000 → 0). Seto wins.

Differences in adaptationsEdit

• Cut from the dub is a shot of Mokuba cheering for his brother
• Cut from the dub is a sequence of first a pan of the field, and then Zigfried telling Kaiba laughing about how long he has waited for this day.
• The woman on Soul Release is given a dress to wear in the dub
• Spell Reproduction has been redesigned in the dub.

ErrorsEdit

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.

Featured cardsEdit

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

NotesEdit

1. ↑ The Japanese lore of "Wotan's Judgment" says that the Deck must be shuffled after the cards are switched. Zigfried is not shown shuffling his Deck after he switches the cards, as he immediately activates his "Goddess" Spell Cards afterwards. The shuffling occurs offscreen at some point, since Zigfried never draws "Nobleman of Crossout" again. This is verified after Zigfried activates the last card in his hand later in the Duel, "Pegasus Wings".
2. ↑ In the TCG/OCG, "Chaos Emperor Dragon" is actually called "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End".
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} This card was in Kaiba's hand.
4. ↑ This card was dropped by Zigfried after he lost.
5. ↑ This card was in Zigfried's hand.