For his first Battle City duel, Joey faces Espa Roba, a duelist who just defeated Rex Raptor by using what he claims are psychic powers that allow him to read his opponents' minds. Joey gets off to a bad start, not fully understanding the new rules of Battle City, but manages to hang on. Tristan visits Serenity at the hospital and narrates the duel for her on the Battle City website, though he lies and says that Joey is winning, not wanting to upset her.
Meanwhile, Yugi watches the duel from afar and spots Espa Roba's brothers spying on Joey's hand and relaying him the information. Thanks to their misreading two of the cards in his hand, Joey also figures out he's a fraud and uses those two cards to expose him. Mokuba arrives to bust Espa Roba's brothers and intends to disqualify him for cheating, but their story of how he protects them from bullies convinces him to let Espa Roba finish the duel, though he sticks around to make sure they don't cheat anymore. Joey begins to really turn things around and almost wins the duel, but Espa Roba saves himself at the last second with a trap card that lets him take control of Joey's monster, which he then sacrifices to summon his rarest monster, Jinzo, a powerful android that nullifies all trap cards. How will Joey stand up to it?
Tropes
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The dub changes the color of Skull Dice from a Quick-Play Spell Card to a Trap Card.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Joey facing down Espa Roba's newly summoned Jinzo.
- Oh, Crap!: Espa and his brothers have this appropriate reaction when Joey catches onto their act. Doubly so for the brothers when Mokuba, the tournament commissioner, shows up.Espa's Brother: Busted!
- Priceless Paperweight: In the dub, Espa Roba remarks that the Serpent Night Dragon he won from Rex doesn't deserve a spot in his deck, but it would make a good coaster for his drink. Keep in mind that it was a prize card Rex got from being second in a regional championship, and well kept versions of those cards can go for thousands of dollars in real life.
- Spotting the Thread: Joey realizes that Espa's ESP is an act because Espa claimed he had two Graceful Dice cards in his hand when he actually had a Graceful Dice and a Skull Dice card, meaning that Espa couldn't see his cards, but someone else could and misidentified them.
