"Power Plays", known as "The WRGP Commences, Team 5D's VS Team Unicorn" in the Japanese version is the ninety-eighth episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime. It first aired in Japan on February 24, 2010 and in the United States on March 26, 2011.
The WRGP's preliminary rounds finally start. Team 5D's first match is against Team Unicorn. Their first runner Jack, faces Andre. The plan from Team 5D's is that, having seen Andre use a Fast Power Deck earlier, Jack should be able to win with his more overwhelming power.
Their first surprise comes when Jack and Andre are racing for the first turn. Andre triggers an overboost system, which causes an acceleration Jack cannot match and forces him to settle for the second turn, which he plans to use for a powerful attack.
Andre then begins his strategy, summoning a Tuner and a non-Tuner right away. This brings the next surprise to the 5D's pit crew: Andore does not conduct a Synchro Summon, even though his non-Tuner would have allowed him to do so with no loss of field presence.
Jack pushes on regardless by summoning Red Dragon Archfiend, but Andre reveals a multiple-card combo that saves his monsters while preventing Jack from cancelling his attack. He drives in the stake by using a Trap to inflict damage to Jack equal to his monster's ATK -- a whopping 3000 points all at once.
Andre's next move adds insult to injury by defeating Red Dragon Archfiend in a contest of ATK. If that wasn't enough, Bruno finds another problem: the air intake system of Jack's D-Wheel is showing signs of malfunction.
Despite the fact that it would mean a loss of Speed Counters, the team calls for Jack to make a pit stop. He refuses, insisting on defeating Andre. But though he makes a counterattack that defies Andre's defenses, it's still within Andore's plan.
The team realizes how severe their mistake was: Andre isn't a power duelist, but he used a power Deck before as a lure. The truth is that his Deck takes advantage of attacks and by going for a contest of strength, they played into his hands.
Yusei And Bruno Discover The Error In Jack's Runner
Andre prepares his next turn and despite his opponent's strong words, he delivers the finishing blow with ease. But when Jack's D-Wheel activates the usual braking procedures, part of the mechanism bursts, causing the vehicle to spin out and start breaking apart. The team is struck with terror, helplessly watching Jack get thrown from the flying crash.
Featured Duel: Jack Atlas vs. Andre
Turn 1: Andre
(Andre's SPC: 0; Jack's SPC 0)
Andre draws "Uni-Horned Familiar" and subsequently Normal Summons it (0/1000) in Defense Position. He then removes from play "Speed Spell - The End of the Storm" from his hand to Special Summon "Monoceros" from his hand (1000/1000) in Defense Position. Andre then places 2 cards face-down in his Spell & Trap Card Zones and ends his turn.
Turn 2: Jack Atlas
(Andre's SPC: 1; Jack's SPC 1)
Jack draws. Since Andre controls monsters but Jack doesn't, Jack Special Summons "Vice Dragon" from his hand (2000/2400) in Attack Position, but its original ATK and DEF are halved ("Vice Dragon": 2000 → 1000/2400 → 1200). He then Normal Summons "Dark Resonator" (1300/300) in Attack Position. Jack then tunes his two monsters together to Synchro Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" (3000/2000) in Attack Position. "Red Dragon Archfiend" attacks "Uni-Horned Familiar", but Andre activates "Uni-Horned Familiar's" effect, removing "Monoceros" from play to remove "Uni-Horned Familiar" from play and force "Red Dragon Archfiend" to attack. "Red Dragon Archfiend" attacks Andre directly, but Andre activates "Different Dimension Barrier - Lost Force" to negate the attack and inflict damage to Jack equal to the ATK of "Red Dragon Archfiend" (Jack 4000 → 1000 Life Points). Jack places 3 cards face-down in his Spell & Trap Card Zones and ends his turn.
Turn 3: Andre
(Andre's SPC: 2; Jack's SPC 2)
Andre's hand contains "Dimension Trap". Andre draws. During the Standby Phase, "Uni-Horned Familiar" returns to the field (1000/1000) in Defense Position via its own effect. Andre then Special Summons "Monoceros" to the field (0/1000) in Defense Position to Special Summon "Unicorn Knight" from his hand (1800/900) in Attack Position. Andre the tunes "Monoceros" with "Uni-Horned Familiar" to Synchro Summon "Thunder Unicorn" ([2200/1800) in Attack Position. Since "Monoceros" was sent to the Graveyard for a Synchro Summon, its effect activates, allowing Andre to Special Summon "Uni-Horned Familiar" from the Graveyard (0/1000) in Defense Position. Andre activates the effect of "Thunder Unicorn", reducing the ATK of "Red Dragon Archfiend" by 500 for every monster Andre controls except "Thunder Unicorn". Andre controls two other monsters, so "Red Dragon Archfiend" loses 1000 ATK ("Red Dragon Archfiend": 3000 → 2000/2000). Since Andre activated the effect of "Thunder Unicorn", no monster besides "Thunder Unicorn" can attack this turn. "Thunder Unicorn" attacks and destroys "Red Dragon Archfiend" (Jack 1000 → 800 Life Points). Andre places 1 card face-down in his Spell & Trap Card Zones and ends his turn.
Turn 4: Jack Atlas
(Andre's SPC: 3; Jack's SPC 3)
Jack draws. He then Summons "Mad Archfiend" (1800/0) in Attack Position. Jack then activates "Powerful Rebirth" to Special Summon "Dark Resonator" from his Graveyard (1300/300) in Attack Position with its ATK and DEF increased by 100 and its Level by 1 ("Dark Resonator": 1300 → 1400/300 → 400; Level 3 → 4). He then activates "Rage Resynchro", allowing Jack to send his two monsters to the Graveyard and Special Summon a Synchro Monster from his Graveyard that has a Level equal to the total Levels of the sent monsters. Jack chooses to Special Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" (3000/2000) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Rage Resynchro", "Red Dragon Archfiend" gains 500 more ATK ("Red Dragon Archfiend": 3000 → 3500/2000). "Red Dragon Archfiend" attacks "Thunder Unicorn", but Andre activates "Dimension Trap", removing "Uni-Horned Familiar" and "Different Dimension Barrier - Lost Force" from play in order to activate the effect of "Different Dimension Barrier - Lost Force" as the effect of "Dimension Trap". Jack activates"Overpower", negating the effect of "Dimension Trap" and destroying it. The attack continues, destroying "Thunder Unicorn" (Andre 4000 → 2700 Life Points). Andre activates "Parallel Selection", allowing him to add "Speed Spell - The End of the Storm" from the Removed from Play Zone to his hand and draw one card.
Turn 5: Andre
(Andre's SPC: 4; Jack's SPC 4)
Andre draws. He then activates the effect of "Speed World 2", reducing his Speed Counters by 4 (Andre's SPC 4 → 0) to inflict 800 damage to Jack for each Speed Spell he has in his hand. Andre reveals "The End of the Storm", so Jack takes 800 damage (Jack 800 → 0 Life Points).
Andre wins.
As per the rulings of the WRPG, it goes to Andre's End Phase. During the End Phase "Red Dragon Archfiend" is destroyed due to the last effect of "Rage Resynchro".
Featured Cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted in this episode.
Differences in adaptations
- The image of Jack being thrown from his Duel Runner as it crashes is cut from the English dub.
Errors
- Andre says the effect of his "Thunder Unicorn" wrong in the dub.
- When "Vice Dragon" was Summoned it was shown as WIND instead of DARK in the dub.
