Predictions and Observations:
The Edge of Elimination III

Episode Aired: April 23, 2011
This Post Posted: April 29, 2011

Was Harmony Crystal Akiza's card? I have this feeling it was; it's been around since Yusei took the field, and it was a card someone else left behind for him and there's a certain weight to that (a la Match of the Millennium).

Yusei's having a facedown from the start means it's a card he's planning to win with...? Well, that is another pattern of his. Shard of Hope in Dark Signs is the example I tend to think of, even though he didn't win; what he wasn't counting on was something beyond Hundred-Eyes Dragon and that's why he got completely blindsided. It's true also that we'll often see Yusei's winning facedown in his opening hand. Jean was expecting Yusei to try one of those sweeping sort of wrapups he does do kind of a lot. I think from now on we'll know our serious opponents by whether they last out such a facedown from Yusei; I seem to recall Jack almost did, in the Fortune Cup.

"Fortunately, I probably won't have to answer that question..." Jean doesn't *want* to have to pick which of his dozens of strategies to finish off Yusei with? Well, remember at this point he's planning to just let Yusei's cards whittle away, again going for the slow and painful defeat he wanted Team 5D's to have earlier.

Jack can be completely pigheaded, but can also be a huge source of wisdom; remember, he's the guy we see reading *Yusei's* mind often. I think he's right on the money here, and that his showing up on the sidelines made a big difference for Yusei. Now, we all know Jack and Yusei so well, I feel I have nothing to write that won't sound droll. Their connection is deep; we just have to watch this moment and we'll understand how deep it is.

Yusei declares this battle to be worth fighting to the end, no matter what, "because it's *our* fight", because they worked hard to reach this point and have this chance. I think one of the reasons Jean decided not to win by forfeit in the end was that same sense that fighting the duel they came here to fight, truly and for real, is valuable regardless of the outcome. That gives even defeat value, which is a theme we've been having lots of fun with this season, especially in Crash Town.

So, usually we'll see Stardust take the field after Junk Warrior does, or after Yusei synchro-summons another warrior. Here we went straight to Stardust, but we came back to Junk Warrior here for the fusion summon, and it was with Junk Warrior that we went to a higher level than we were at with just Stardust. I sorta got this sense of going back to basics; Junk Warrior is the first synchro monster of Yusei's we knew well, before he even got Stardust back. That was when he was just barely hanging on; I mean, Yusei's first onscreen line was a vow of revenge! On Your Mark always blows my mind these days; we've come so far, and it's such an odd moment at which we were introduced to the 5D's timeline. But anyway, I have in mind the 'junk' archetype's sense of stability, solidity, inertia; firm foundations, a loving home and enclosing fortress; that is also reflected in the Old Satellite itself. Stardust's high-soaring and self-sacrificing nature represents Yusei a great deal, but so, too, does Junk Warrior's stability and alliance with weaker monsters than itself; Yusei is someone with his head in the clouds *and* his feet on the ground, to borrow the cliche. And both of those traits support and reinforce his connection to his team, his opponents, the past, and the future, but all in different ways. What I'm trying to get at here, and sort of managing to miss, is why the fusion of Stardust and Junk Warrior was such a big deal.

Warrior + Dragon = Awesome. This is a familiar equation. When Yugi and Kaiba tag-team, we see Dragon Master Knight. Joey's deck combines mere mortal warrior-types with his power cards, Red-Eyes and Thousand Dragon. Jaden duels with warriors, but fused his own soul with that of Yubel, who has draconic qualities. Yusei's deck also has mostly warriors except for Stardust, and here he combined dragon with warrior to great effect. That seems to be a bit of an overarching theme in the canon.

What does equiste mean? I googled it, and found mostly YGO sites; probably an obscure variation. The word root "equ-", as in "equine" or "equestrian", generally has to do with horses. Knights, I guess, are often named as associated with horses, such as the French term "chevalier" ("cheval" means horse), or the chess piece for a knight. Dragon Knight, Draco-Equiste. In a way, sort of a redundant name, like "Sahara Desert" (the word "sahara" means desert), not that I'm complaining. That *was* freakin' *awesome*, by the way!

Remember how the twins wondered when they first met Yusei if he was like a knight in shining armor? Well, he was already a superhero...

Notice how when Voltic Bicorn was destroyed on the last turn it didn't matter; Yusei loses when he can't *draw* a card, not when he can't discard one. The rulebook verbatim reads, "(You win when) your opponent is unable to draw a card when they are supposed to draw." (Official Rulebook version 7.1, p24-25) Now, I'm wondering, if Jean had played a card like, say, Upstart Goblin, or Miracle Locus, something that forces Yusei to draw out of turn after his deck has been depleted of its last card, would Yusei have lost if he couldn't negate the effect? Or would the card have had no effect on him because he couldn't draw? There's probably a card ruling about that somewhere...

So now let's talk about the end of the duel. Pretty sure none of us were quite expecting that. Now, superficially this is a bit deus ex machina even for us. But ignoring that interpretation, how come? I submit that it's because even though we've been seeing this whole time that Team Unicorn has a grasp of team strategy we're only just catching onto, we as Team 5D's already have a lot going for us; Yusei, Jack, and Akiza are the real deal, "true duelists", as the expression goes. More on that later. Team Unicorn misses out on a lot by not battling like true duelists, and I think they just realized that they'd rather be true duelists and lose than win by selling out. They want a victory they can be proud of and are done settling for less than that. Jean owes it to his team to duel in a way they can all be proud of. I keep thinking of Mai vs. Yugi in Duelist Kingdom; Mai could've let Yugi keep playing less than his best, but being proud of her conduct in the duel mattered more to her than just the victory. In other words, it isn't whether you in or lose, but how you play the game. That'll be another overarching theme in this canon, as I'm sure we've all realized by now.

So when Jean *did* attack, Yusei *was* able to defend himself, and that's why he won. That'll be because Yusei is a bit better at acting like a true duelist than Jean, Andre, or Breo is, and because Yusei's hanging in there to the end was truly a defense of what dueling like a true duelist is worth. In the WRGP we've seen all this foul play and shenanigans, but Yusei's winning out in the end here reasserts the innate value of fair play that makes the YGOverse's version of Duel Monsters more than just a game. It reasserts that other teams can pull the wool over our eyes, predict our moves, and aim for our weak points all they like, if they aren't packin' the heart and soul of true duelists, none of that will be enough to take down our heroes, and anyone who tries it might just discover themselves in the attempt, like Team Unicorn did.

Still, all else aside, that was close. Yusei would've lost, if Team Unicorn hadn't had a change of heart. But I think it says something about Yusei's dueling far beyond the content of his deck, that they *did*. It's going to look to a lot of WRGP fans on the street that Team 5D's didn't earn their slot in the bracket, though.

I always look for how my own life mirrors what I'm working on, especially during a week like the one I've just had. It's been just one of those weeks. It started with this episode not getting uploaded 'til Sunday, not to mention some extremely frozen feet, and it's not gotten much better. I've been sick, during tech week, taking care of my younger sister while my mom's out of town, my homework's slipping, I had a couple exams this week I'm not particularly proud of, and one of 'em wasn't even mine. I swear this sinus congestion is impairing my brain, and I keep making rookie mistakes even at the things I do best; I've been working very hard this week and getting shouted at or embarrassed for my trouble. As I said, it's just been one of those weeks. So I found myself wondering, why do I do this to myself? Why don't I just take a day off to rest and kick this bug? And in this I found myself relating to Team Unicorn more than ever. They continue to show us what it means to be on a team, to be in a cast, to have people counting on you and to have that be what you fight for; not for the rest of the world because goodness knows it can be heartless, not because it's fun, or because you're good at it, or even for any motive you have to win. Jean was fighting for Andre and Breo, and in the end he practically threw by picking up the fight for real, because that picking up the fight that he did for all three of them, meant more for them than any victory. It means a lot just that I keep working and trying for those who rely on me, even if that means sometimes I look like a fool, and trust that they'll keep on relying on me anyway. Jean asserted this week that fighting for real means you take your licks sometimes, but it's never too late to do that, never meaningless, and it's worth it.

Team Unicorn are minor characters, a few weeks from now they'll be another wacky twist on the road to victory, but this past month and a half has been their moment in the spotlight for us, and They deserve the credit they're due as characters and as part of a larger narrative of how duelists live and thrive (or not) through victories and defeats. As our opponents go (hello, saved the world) they don't really impress me much, but they've brought us to a new level as our first WRGP opponents.

It's so annoying; I try to stick to text as many of my thoughts about each episode as I can, but a few slip under my radar even though I'm thinkin' 'em. I had this feeling Jack would try to get out of bed before he was supposed to. Can't believe I forgot to mention that. The other thing I forgot to mention is how Tricorn's ability would let Jean resurrect Voltic Bicorn as an additional threat to Yusei's deck.

Our ending this episode with the end of the duel, that abruptly, is something we also saw in, to name one, Clash in the Coliseum. In this instance particularly, having been battling Team Unicorn pretty much nonstop for a good seven episodes now, I predict this is going to need some wrapup, and enough that it won't fit into its standard thirty-seconds-at-the-end-of-the episode slot. We've really developed a relationship with Team Unicorn, developed them a lot as characters in these few episodes, and this will probably be their biggest appearance, even if they come visit us again sometime. All that was culminating in the end of this duel and will require some denouement.

I predict next episode contains that, and also transitions us back into a mellower plotline after having gone part by part through the same duel for a month; it's a post-huge-duel episode, an "Aftermath", "Shadow of a Duel", "Battle For the Bronze I", "One For the Road", or "A Web of Deceit I". It's what happens after what we've been thinking of during the duel and possibly even before that as 'the end'. In this case, I think we're about to transition into a layover period; we just got past our first of two Prelim duels, and the tournament has about forty more of these things scheduled for the rest of the Prelims, let alone the bracket itself. We may also be transitioning into watching one of our other known teams' duels. We might see Sherry demolish the cheerleaders she mentioned next, or see who else is on Trudge's team. We may be starting to meet who we're up against next, and have another "Natural Instincts" coming up soon. Jack is in need of some rest and his runner's in need of some repairs; we may also see Team 5D's shift gears a bit now that they've learned a thing or two about how this tournament rolls from their first experience of it, and how to be a well-oiled team from Team Unicorn. We may see a fuss over Yusei since he's a big WRGP hero now and all, which, as I mentioned earlier, he'll really enjoy. He might even have fangirls now, poor guy. We might see more shady hijinks, especially since Team 5D's has just pulled off such an incredible win-- if I were their next opponent, I'd be freaking out, and if I were Yusei, I'd watch my back in case someone tries to take the person who definitely looks like Team 5Ds' strongest link, out of the equation.

Another thing we might be seeing soon is another appearance from our buddy Visor. We hadn't really seen Yusei attempt to imitate what Visor showed him yet before now, and I'd been kind of waiting for it. Before, I think, his engine wasn't up to the challenge until he got the new one working, and they barely did get it working in time for the tournament so he hasn't had much else on his mind, but now Yusei's got some free time between matches and the new engine's up, so especially since it was starting to experiment with it that took him so far here, now might be when Yusei starts attempting accel-synchro-type strategies. I have a feeling Visor will show up again once Yusei's done all he can on his own, once he's earned it; when they raced, he led the way but Yusei had to find the willpower in himself to follow in order to learn what Visor was trying to teach him. But if Yusei takes some time to practice accel synchro speeds and track down the right cards during this layover period I'm predicting, we may just see Visor put in an appearance.

What next for Team Unicorn? Are they out for good? Bruno said earlier that Team 5D's had to win *twice* in order to advance to the Bracket; since one win isn't enough to guarantee anything, probably neither is one loss. It's possible that Team Unicorn will get another chance, and if so we'd better watch out, because next round they'll be dueling for real all the way, and all the stronger for this moment of doubt.

As I mentioned, last week it was terribly difficult to get ahold of this episode. I encourage those with access to the CW4Kids every Saturday morning to help the rest of us without it to see our favorite show, and record the episodes and post them online; Dailymotion.com seems fairly tolerant, while YouTube usually removes the uploaded material and possibly bans you. Support your fellow fans!

That does it, I'm starting a new section of the post; every week I will honor here whoever gets the episode uploaded online first; and believe me, I always know who that is. Special kudos this week to YouTube uploader ebassane for being the first to upload this episode online. It's only a gnarly camcorder recording, but I've been using it to transcribe from all week. Thank you very much for making it available!

This Saturday's new episode is "Party Crashers", everyone! A victory celebration gone awry? 'Til then! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THE EDGE OF ELIMINATION III