Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 079

"Shadow of a Duel"

Names
English	Shadow of a Duel
Japanese name Japanese ゴーストデッキｖｓオカルトデッキ Rōmaji Gōsuto Dekki Vāsasu Okaruto Dekki Translated Ghost Deck vs. Occult Deck
Series
Series	Yu-Gi-Oh!
Number	79
Season	2
Music
Japanese OP	"S H U F F L E"
Japanese ED	"The Afternoon of that Day"
English OP & ED	"Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 2 Theme"
Staff
Screenplay	Shin Yoshida
Air dates
Japanese	October 30, 2001
English	August 16, 2003
Chronology
Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes (season 2)
Previous	"Friends 'Til the End, Part 4"
Next	"Lights, Camera, Duel"

"Shadow of a Duel", known as "Ghost Deck vs. Occult Deck" in the Japanese version, is the seventy-ninth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. It first aired in Japan on October 30, 2001, and in the United States on August 16, 2003.

Yami Bakura and Bonz Duel in a Shadow Game. Whoever wins goes to the finals, while the loser goes to Hell (or the the Shadow Realm in the English dub).

Summary

After Marik's attempt to defeat Yugi and the Pharaoh by using his Millennium Rod to control his friends backfired, he sets his sights on defeating the Pharaoh at the Battle City Finals. Within Bakura's mind, Marik convinces Yami Bakura to also enter the Battle City Finals.

Yami Bakura takes over his vessel, the good Bakura's body, steals a Duel Disk and Locator Card from a random duelist and heads to a graveyard, following a rumor there are Duels being held there. Because Yami Bakura disliked the deck that the random duelist had and threw the cards back to him, it is unknown how he got his ghostly deck, although stealing it from another random duelist is the main possibility. There is also the possibility that when Yami Bakura and Marik first met and made their deal, Yami Bakura created a deck before injuring himself and kept it in his pocket, since Marik asked him how good his Dueling skills were while making their deal.

He finds Bonz, Sid and Zygor dressed in Halloween costumes, terrorizing random duelists in order to obtain Locator Cards without even dueling.

Even though they'd already obtained five Locator Cards this way, Yami Bakura is not impressed and challenges Bonz to a duel in the Shadow Realm. Not knowing any better, Bonz accepts. By losing the Duel, Bonz, Sid and Zygor are sent to Hell (banished to the Shadow Realm in the English dub). Yami Bakura obtains his sixth Locator Card, qualifying for the Battle City finals.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Joey Wheeler have both qualified for entry into the Battle City Finals. By putting the Locator Cards on the Duel Disk (5 in the Monster Card Zones and the last in the Field Spell Zone) they receive instructions to go to an unfinished stadium which would be the location of the finals.

Featured Duel: Yami Bakura vs. Bonz

Turn 1: Yami Bakura
Yami Bakura draws "Headless Knight" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1450/1700) in Attack Position. He then Sets a card.

Turn 2: Bonz
Bonz draws "The Snake Hair" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1500/1200) in Attack Position. "Snake Hair" attacks and destroys "Headless Knight" (Yami Bakura 4000 → 3950).

Turn 3: Yami Bakura
Yami Bakura draws. He then activates his face-down "The Shallow Grave" to allow both players to Special Summon a monster from each Graveyard in Defense Position. Yami Bakura Special Summons "Headless Knight" (1450/1700) in Defense Position, but Bonz Special Summons nothing as his Graveyard is currently empty.

The Earl of Demise is summoned.

Yami Bakura then Tributes "Headless Knight" in order to Tribute Summon "The Earl of Demise" (2000/700) in Attack Position. "The Earl of Demise" attacks and destroys "Snake Hair" (Bonz 4000 → 3500).

Turn 4: Bonz
Bonz draws "Dragon Zombie" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1600/0) in Attack Position. He then activates "Magic Burial" to pay 800 Life Points (Bonz 3500 → 2700) and revive "The Snake Hair" (1500/1200) in Attack Position. Bonz's hand, at this point, contains "Armored Zombie", "Polymerization", "Skull Invitation", and "Crass Clown".

Bonz then activates "Polymerization" to fuse "Dragon Zombie" with "The Snake Hair" and Fusion Summon "Great Mammoth of Goldfine" (2200/1800) in Attack Position. Under Battle City Rules, Fusion Monsters cannot attack during the same turn they are Fusion Summoned. Bonz Sets a card. He intends to use his set card once "Great Mammoth of Goldfine" attacks and destroys "The Earl of Demise".

Turn 5: Yami Bakura
Yami Bakura draws. Bonz activates his face-down "Skull Invitation". Now whenever a card(s) goes to the Graveyard, the owner of that card(s) will automatically take 300 damage per card. Yami Bakura then activates "Spiritualistic Medium" to discard his entire hand and increase the ATK of "The Earl of Demise" by 500 for each card discarded. There were four discarded ("Earl of Demise": 2000 → 4000/700). The effect of "Skull Invitation" then activates (Yami Bakura 3950 → 2750).

"The Earl of Demise" attacks and destroys "Great Mammoth of Goldfine" (Bonz 2700 → 900). The effect of "Skull Invitation" then activates (Bonz 900 → 600). At the End Phase, the effect of "Spiritualistic Medium" expires ("The Earl of Demise": 4000 → 2000/700).

Turn 6: Bonz
Bonz draws "Nightmare's Steelcage" and subsequently activates it. Now no monsters can attack for two turns. Bonz then Sets a card.

Turn 7: Yami Bakura
Yami Bakura draws "Ectoplasmer" and subsequently activates it. Now both players, during each of their turns, can choose up to two types of monsters to be converted into ectoplasm, with half of the turn player's Tributed monsters' ATK being inflicted as damage to their opponents. Yami Bakura activates the effect of "Ectoplasmer" and selects "Fiend" for its effect, which causes "The Earl of Demise" to be Tributed (Bonz 600 → 0).

Featured cards

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

Bonz
Main Deck Monster Cards Normal Monsters Armored Zombie Dragon Zombie The Snake Hair Effect Monsters Crass Clown Magic Cards Nightmare's Steelcage Polymerization (Alternate version in the dubs) Magic Burial Trap Cards Skull Invitation Fusion Deck Fusion Monsters Great Mammoth of Goldfine

Cast

Japanese character name	Japanese voice actor
Yugi Mutou	Shunsuke Kazama
Anzu Mazaki	Maki Saito
Katsuya Jonouchi	Hiroki Takahashi
Hiroto Honda	Hidehiro Kikuchi
Seto Kaiba	Kenjiro Tsuda
Ryo Bakura	Rica Matsumoto
Mai Kujaku	Haruhi Terada
Sugoroku Mutou	Tadashi Miyazawa
Marik	Tetsuya Iwanaga
Shizuka	Mika Sakenobe
Ghost Kotsuzuka	Masami Suzuki
Satake	Norihisa Mori
Takiado	Eiji Takemoto
Gallery	Iori Hayashi
Gallery	Yuki Masuda
Other	Reiko Fujita
	Mika Ishibashi

Differences in adaptations

• Cut from the dub are two I-Spy-esque scenes (the first depicting a space environment with planets and spaceships and the other showcasing things like people, land vehicles and doll) before Bakura speaks with Marik.

• The blood on Bakura's arm wound is removed from the dub.
• Cut from the dub is a scene of Yami Bakura ripping the IV needle out of his arm after he knocks out Solomon.

• "The Earl of Demise" slicing "The Snake Hair" in half is obscured in the dub.
• In the dub, Bakura identifies the dark creatures in the cemetery as lost souls who were sent to the Shadow Realm. In the original version, they are "death gods" (the Japanese equivalent of the Grim Reaper).
• The shadows that consume Bonz, Sid and Zygor are made glowy in the dub.
• Cut from the dub is the last scene in the episode where Yugi and the group are traveling to the location of the finals in Mai's car, and Kaiba flies overhead in his helicopter. The dubbed episode ends with Yami Bakura monologing his plans.
• In the original broadcast of the episode, after they learn of what their fate will be, Sid tells Bonz "Don't you bloody lose!". Future airings of the episode and the DVD versions change the line to "Don't you dare lose!", as the word bloody is a minor obscenity in the UK.