The Orichalcos Warriors

[Pyro]

I've been rewatching some of the duels from the Orichalcos arc, and it's been occurring to me that the three fighters on Dartz's side weren't as tough as I thought.

I'll start with Alister. During his first on-screen duel with Kaiba, he did seem like a credible threat and would've beaten Kaiba had Seto not pulled his deus ex machina in Critias. But, Kaiba went into the duel thinking he was battling Pegasus, which is a huge factor in any duel, anime or real life. Imagine if Kaiba was told he was going to duel at a local tournament with only local kids, and when he was halfway into the duel, the kid turns into Yami Marik and totally changes his strategy. That would throw anybody off, because they went in prepared for something completely different. So to sum up this point, Kaiba was unprepared for a duel with someone he'd never met or seen before, and had already gotten well into the duel, thus wouldn't be at the top of his game. There's also a difference between the situation described, and if Kaiba had known he was about to fight Alister before beginning the duel.

Secondly, Alister had studied Kaiba's strategies, so he already had two advantages over the CEO in the duel. This was most evident when he used Royal Decree right away to stop Kaiba's Crush Card strategy dead in its tracks. Kaiba in general isn't that great when it comes to his cards being used against him (Ishizu pulling a reverse Crush Card comes to mind), and Alister used all of Kaiba's monsters against him in their first duel.

However, watching their second duel, Alister looked like a chump to Kaiba. Seto appeared more worried about the plane going with and killing Mokuba rather than anything Alister did. When Alister brought out his KC-1 Crayton, Kaiba took care of that right away with XYZ-Dragon Cannon. Alister's Air Fortress Ziggurat didn't bother Kaiba, who promptly countered with Critias and Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon, winning the duel. Compared to his first duel, Alister looked like a little bitch. Is this the best representation of Alister's standing compared to Kaiba, when all surprise is taken away and it's fairly one-on-one? I'd say so. Both knew exactly what was about to happen, and Alister must've considered his robot deck superior to his fire deck to use it in the second duel, so I'm inclined to argue that Alister wasn't much to speak of in the long haul. I'd put him as the weakest of the three Orichalcos warriors.

As a side note, Mai wasn't that great either. Sure, she stomped Pegasus (the tail end of their duel showed her with all 4000 LP as opposed to his 100) and her Phoenix Formation is broken, but she lost to Joey twice (sort of). Their first duel Joey was holding back and didn't do anything until he was down to 2200 LP, after which he still held back and played defensively, trying to get her to realize her mistake and end the duel in a draw. Admittedly, he pulled some BS with his Compensation Mediation luck, but still. Her second duel with him was basically a repeat, except replace holding back with beat to shit Joey. To give her some credit, though, Yugi did state that her deck was "much better" than it was in Battle City and she had gotten "much stronger" since then.

I don't have time right now to assess Valon and Rafael, but it's pretty obvious the latter is tough as shit.

For reference, here's my most updated tier list for the first series.

<div class='spoiler_toggle'>KEY</div><div class="spoiler" style="display:none;">DK = Duelist Kingdom
BC = Battle City
WTD = Waking the Dragons/Orichalcos
GC = Grand Championship
MW = Millennium World/Ceremonial Duel

Keep in mind that some duelists in a tier can be equal even if they're above or below another.</div>
Tier 1
Dartz (note: 9/7/15, moved up in Tier 1)
Yugi (MW)
Atem (MW)
Kaiba (MW)
Yami Bakura (MW)

Tier 2
Yami Marik (note: 9/7/15, moved up from Tier 3)
Yami Yugi (GC)
Kaiba (GC)
Rafael
Atem (WTD)
Kaiba (WTD)
Joey (GC)

Tier 3
Yami Yugi (BC) (note: 9/5/15, moved up from Tier 4)
Kaiba (BC) (note: 9/5/15, moved up from Tier 4)
Ziegfried Von Shroeder
Joey (WTD) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from top of Tier 3)
Valon (note: 9/5/15, moved down from top of Tier 3)
Alister

Tier 4
Mai (WTD) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 3)
Weevil Underwood (GC) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 3)
Rex Raptor (GC) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 3)
Weevil Underwood (WTD) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 3)
Rex Raptor (WTD) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 3)

Tier 5
Marik
Odion
Joey (BC)
Yami Bakura (BC)
Pegasus (WTD) (note: 9/5/15, moved down from Tier 4)
Mai (BC)
Ishizu

Tier 6
Rebecca (GC)
Strings
Lumis & Umbra
Arkana
Seeker

Tier 7
Mako Tsunami (BC)
Weevil Underwood (BC)
Rex Raptor (BC)
Bandit Keith (BC)

Tier 8
Yami Yugi (DK)
Kaiba (DK)
Pegasus (DK)
Rebecca (DK)

Tier 9
Mai (DK)
Mako Tsunami (DK)
Weevil Underwood (DK)
Rex Raptor (DK)

Tier 10
Bonz

I probably missed a few people. Duelist Kingdom is so low because it was such a "beginner" type arc. I can't place the Big 5.

UPDATE 9/5/15: After rewatching some duels, I've readjusted quite a few people. Some people moved up or down a tier or two, some people moved up or down within the same tier.

UPDATE 9/7/15: Dartz moved to the top of the list, Yami Marik moved to the top of Tier 2.

 

[Epicnessbeyond]

Why is Joey a tier above Marik. Also Rafael should be below Marik

 

[Pyro]

Why is Joey a tier above Marik.

I would say by the time the Grand Championship rolled around, Joey had progressed to a point where he could take down Marik. Not easily, but it's a much better possibility than BC.

Also Rafael should be below Marik

Why do you think so?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

https://www.youtube.com/v/Lu5He2Nb_0k

 

[Pyro]

https://www.youtube.com/v/Lu5He2Nb_0k

What's this supposed to mean?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

https://www.youtube.com/v/Lu5He2Nb_0k

What's this supposed to mean?

that was random, but maybe sam deserves to be at the top.

he just started playing after-all & he already defeated bandit keith. B-)

 

[Epicnessbeyond]

Why is Joey a tier above Marik.

I would say by the time the Grand Championship rolled around, Joey had progressed to a point where he could take down Marik. Not easily, but it's a much better possibility than BC.

Also Rafael should be below Marik

Why do you think so?

The reason I think Joey is below Marik is Yugi. WTD Yugi is below BC Yugi(with 2 God Cards) who was getting beat by Marik. Its made clear on WTD that Yugi is the top dog along with Kaiba so Joey has to be below them.

Also I dont see Rafael beating BC Yugi

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

Out of the Doma warriors I go with

Dartz >>>>>> Raphael > Alister (Fire Deck) >=< Valon > Mai > Alister (Machine Deck) > Gurimo > Weevil > Rex

Dartz
Obvious out of the way. He's WAY above all of his cronies, he was just so fucking broken. His deck is the textbook definition of OP. The only being in the entire YuGiOh verse I can see coming this close to him as far as being broken is Z-One with his Time Machine Deities.

Raphael
He beat Yugi, enough said. If you can dominate the king of games and beat him you deserve an honorable mention. Although I personally think he's a huge cardstacker I mean what are the odds of drawing a Guardian monster and their corresponding equip spell required to summon them? Especially with a deck that appears primarily composed of magic/trap cards. He had a major powerhouse with Grarl, Gardna was a good wall, Kay'est which can't be targeted for attacks and is immune to spells, Eatos which in the anime is just OP as fuck, and should Eatos be beaten he whips out Guardian Dreadscythe which could be as OP as Eatos and is a pain in the ass to destroy. But regardless out of all of Dartz' "employees" he was definitely the best.

Alister (Fire Deck)
Like you said he threw Kaiba for a loop by using his Pegasus facade than all of a sudden dropping the act and using a completely different deck and immediately countered Kaiba's main strategy before it could even happen. His Fire deck seemed like it focused on a swarming strategy and he actually could've beaten Kaiba in their first duel.

Gorlag destroys Pitch Dark Dragon and then Versago the Destroyer attacks Kaiba directly. Kaiba's LP 2000 -> 400. If he would've attacked PDD with VtD and then attacked directly with Gorlag he would've won and wouldn't have to worry about Critias.

But even with Critias he managed to avoid defeat by ending their duel in a draw. But I think it's obvious his first deck is MUCH better than the one he used in their 2nd duel. I agree if Kaiba knew who he was going up against ahead of time he might've done better. But Alister definitely had Kaiba sweating first time around.

Valon

His duel with Joey is actually my least favorite of the 3 Doma Musketeers vs. the 3 chosen duelist. But I will say that Armor deck of his was fairly impressive. He beat an entire island of duelist with it. He beat Mai, Rebecca (the US Champ) and Duke Devlin simultaneously and took Joey to the limit in their duel. I think him and Alister's Fire deck would be a fairly evenly matched game (maybe) but stomp his Military deck.

Mai

She improved immensely from he Duelist Kingdom and Battle City counterpart. The Harpie Ladies on their own and even with the support she had for them seemed unimpressive and easy to beat but with the Seal and Phoenix/Sparrow Formation in addition to support she already had she's much more formidable. She was dominating Joey in their 1st duel (though he was holding back) and had the edge 2nd time around (I feel like if Joey wasn't exhausted from his duel with Valon things would've gone differently). But she was very impressive in the Orichalcos arc.

Alister (Military Deck)
Like you said Kaiba didn't even struggle with him in their 2nd duel. Straight from the get go he was winning. He whips out Army Tanks and Kaiba immediately takes it out with XYZ Dragon Cannon the next turn. He whips out Sky Fortress Zigguraut and 2 turns later Blue Eyes takes it out after Kaiba pissed Alister off enough to blindly attack him without noticing his face down card and the next turn Kaiba wins the entire thing with Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon. If anything the bigger threat was the plane crashing killing Kaiba, Mokuba, and Alister rather than Alister beating Kaiba. His Military Deck really wasn't that impressive I think Joey could stomp this deck. If he came at Kaiba with his Fire Deck for their rematch than things would've been more interesting.

Gurimo
He beat Beevis and Butthead simultaneously and even though their decks are said to have improved they didn't at all seem any different from the previous decks we've seen from them (Weevil at least). Gurimo had a fun duel to watch with Yugi but aside from Obelisk the Tormentor (which Yugi took out almost immediately) his Warrior Swarm deck wasn't that impressive. Without the seal it could've easily been beaten.

Weevil
I'm only putting Weevil above Rex because the Insect Deck in general is better than the Dinosaur deck. DNA Surgery + Insect Barrier is a nasty combination indeed. He had the advantage over Yami their entire duel (but I credit this to Yami not really being in his right state of mind. He was already beating himself up over what he let happen to Yugi and then all of a sudden he's challenged by Weevil to a rematch than in the end he goes batshit crazy on him DARAW...MONSTA CARDO!!! x7). But Orichalcos Weevil was much more impressive than Orichalcos Rex.

Rex
He mostly relied on power and Joey getting off to a bad start. Once he brought Red Eyes out he turned the tables and when Rex brings out a counter to Red Eyes Joey beats him with Heremos and Gearfried the Swordmaster (which is a shame Joey never used it after this duel, that card is awesome). But Rex in the Orichalcos wasn't as impressive as the other Orichalcos users.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

Kaiba was never anything special. He just wins his duels with awfully broken cards. That Soul Exhcnage is so
exasperating. Most of his victories at all sagas came from using this card (Lumis and Umbra, Ishizu, Alister at
the second duel).
Mai was a total weakling at Duelist Kingdom and hiding behind Mirror Wall (a broken permanent combination
of Negate Attack and Shrink) is what made her look omnipotent against Yugi at semi finals. At Battlecity
though, you can only wonder how powerful she'd become, since she technically beat Marik and it was stated
not even Yugi had a chance without Kaiba's card. Maybe, at this point, in a normal tournament with the
other guys, she could have become the duel queen.
Yugi has probably the worst deck in the series. No strategy at all (even Joey's deck has some focus on
warriors), he won by drawing, at every duel, some card which was absolutely poison for the foe's specific
strategy and maybe totally useless in any other case.
Joey is great at offensive play, but rather simple minded. That means that he can pull off great victories
against opponents who open up their game like he does (ex. Keith), but, if he goes against an opponent
who plays some tricky, unusual strategy (ex. Odeon), his mind is running in circles and he becomes an
easy prey.

One question about Alister: Are we sure he changed his deck during his first duel with Kaiba? I thought he
just had a deck which was a mix of toons with other monsters.

 

[Lightsworn]

Rafael > Valon > Alister seems about right. You'd think Joey would get the weakest one.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

Kaiba was never anything special. He just wins his duels with awfully broken cards. That Soul Exhcnage is so
exasperating. Most of his victories at all sagas came from using this card (Lumis and Umbra, Ishizu, Alister at
the second duel).
Mai was a total weakling at Duelist Kingdom and hiding behind Mirror Wall (a broken permanent combination
of Negate Attack and Shrink) is what made her look omnipotent against Yugi at semi finals. At Battlecity
though, you can only wonder how powerful she'd become, since she technically beat Marik and it was stated
not even Yugi had a chance without Kaiba's card. Maybe, at this point, in a normal tournament with the
other guys, she could have become the duel queen.
Yugi has probably the worst deck in the series. No strategy at all (even Joey's deck has some focus on
warriors), he won by drawing, at every duel, some card which was absolutely poison for the foe's specific
strategy and maybe totally useless in any other case.
Joey is great at offensive play, but rather simple minded. That means that he can pull off great victories
against opponents who open up their game like he does (ex. Keith), but, if he goes against an opponent
who plays some tricky, unusual strategy (ex. Odeon), his mind is running in circles and he becomes an
easy prey.

One question about Alister: Are we sure he changed his deck during his first duel with Kaiba? I thought he
just had a deck which was a mix of toons with other monsters.

I'm sure he changed it. While imitating he Pegasus he was using a Toon deck and once he dropped the act he began using a Fire Deck. Round 2 with Kaiba he's using a Military/Machine based deck. Had he came at Kaiba with the Fire Deck he might've been more of a threat.

 

[Epicnessbeyond]

Kaiba(BC)>Kaiba(WTD)>Kaiba(GC)

 

[Pyro]

Out of the Doma warriors I go with

Dartz >>>>>> Raphael > Alister (Fire Deck) >=< Valon > Mai > Alister (Machine Deck) > Gurimo > Weevil > Rex

Dartz
Obvious out of the way. He's WAY above all of his cronies, he was just so fucking broken. His deck is the textbook definition of OP. The only being in the entire YuGiOh verse I can see coming this close to him as far as being broken is Z-One with his Time Machine Deities.

Raphael
He beat Yugi, enough said. If you can dominate the king of games and beat him you deserve an honorable mention. Although I personally think he's a huge cardstacker I mean what are the odds of drawing a Guardian monster and their corresponding equip spell required to summon them? Especially with a deck that appears primarily composed of magic/trap cards. He had a major powerhouse with Grarl, Gardna was a good wall, Kay'est which can't be targeted for attacks and is immune to spells, Eatos which in the anime is just OP as fuck, and should Eatos be beaten he whips out Guardian Dreadscythe which could be as OP as Eatos and is a pain in the ass to destroy. But regardless out of all of Dartz' "employees" he was definitely the best.

Alister (Fire Deck)
Like you said he threw Kaiba for a loop by using his Pegasus facade than all of a sudden dropping the act and using a completely different deck and immediately countered Kaiba's main strategy before it could even happen. His Fire deck seemed like it focused on a swarming strategy and he actually could've beaten Kaiba in their first duel.

Gorlag destroys Pitch Dark Dragon and then Versago the Destroyer attacks Kaiba directly. Kaiba's LP 2000 -> 400. If he would've attacked PDD with VtD and then attacked directly with Gorlag he would've won and wouldn't have to worry about Critias.

But even with Critias he managed to avoid defeat by ending their duel in a draw. But I think it's obvious his first deck is MUCH better than the one he used in their 2nd duel. I agree if Kaiba knew who he was going up against ahead of time he might've done better. But Alister definitely had Kaiba sweating first time around.

Valon

His duel with Joey is actually my least favorite of the 3 Doma Musketeers vs. the 3 chosen duelist. But I will say that Armor deck of his was fairly impressive. He beat an entire island of duelist with it. He beat Mai, Rebecca (the US Champ) and Duke Devlin simultaneously and took Joey to the limit in their duel. I think him and Alister's Fire deck would be a fairly evenly matched game (maybe) but stomp his Military deck.

Mai

She improved immensely from he Duelist Kingdom and Battle City counterpart. The Harpie Ladies on their own and even with the support she had for them seemed unimpressive and easy to beat but with the Seal and Phoenix/Sparrow Formation in addition to support she already had she's much more formidable. She was dominating Joey in their 1st duel (though he was holding back) and had the edge 2nd time around (I feel like if Joey wasn't exhausted from his duel with Valon things would've gone differently). But she was very impressive in the Orichalcos arc.

Alister (Military Deck)
Like you said Kaiba didn't even struggle with him in their 2nd duel. Straight from the get go he was winning. He whips out Army Tanks and Kaiba immediately takes it out with XYZ Dragon Cannon the next turn. He whips out Sky Fortress Zigguraut and 2 turns later Blue Eyes takes it out after Kaiba pissed Alister off enough to blindly attack him without noticing his face down card and the next turn Kaiba wins the entire thing with Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon. If anything the bigger threat was the plane crashing killing Kaiba, Mokuba, and Alister rather than Alister beating Kaiba. His Military Deck really wasn't that impressive I think Joey could stomp this deck. If he came at Kaiba with his Fire Deck for their rematch than things would've been more interesting.

Gurimo
He beat Beevis and Butthead simultaneously and even though their decks are said to have improved they didn't at all seem any different from the previous decks we've seen from them (Weevil at least). Gurimo had a fun duel to watch with Yugi but aside from Obelisk the Tormentor (which Yugi took out almost immediately) his Warrior Swarm deck wasn't that impressive. Without the seal it could've easily been beaten.

Weevil
I'm only putting Weevil above Rex because the Insect Deck in general is better than the Dinosaur deck. DNA Surgery + Insect Barrier is a nasty combination indeed. He had the advantage over Yami their entire duel (but I credit this to Yami not really being in his right state of mind. He was already beating himself up over what he let happen to Yugi and then all of a sudden he's challenged by Weevil to a rematch than in the end he goes batshit crazy on him DARAW...MONSTA CARDO!!! x7). But Orichalcos Weevil was much more impressive than Orichalcos Rex.

Rex
He mostly relied on power and Joey getting off to a bad start. Once he brought Red Eyes out he turned the tables and when Rex brings out a counter to Red Eyes Joey beats him with Heremos and Gearfried the Swordmaster (which is a shame Joey never used it after this duel, that card is awesome). But Rex in the Orichalcos wasn't as impressive as the other Orichalcos users.

Wow, great post! I agree with pretty much all of it.

Kaiba was never anything special. He just wins his duels with awfully broken cards. That Soul Exhcnage is so
exasperating. Most of his victories at all sagas came from using this card (Lumis and Umbra, Ishizu, Alister at
the second duel).

I disagree, good sir. Kaiba winning using Soul Exchange doesn't mean he isn't one of the best duelists in the series. He plays with more strategy than most anybody.

Mai was a total weakling at Duelist Kingdom and hiding behind Mirror Wall (a broken permanent combination
of Negate Attack and Shrink) is what made her look omnipotent against Yugi at semi finals. At Battlecity
though, you can only wonder how powerful she'd become, since she technically beat Marik and it was stated
not even Yugi had a chance without Kaiba's card. Maybe, at this point, in a normal tournament with the
other guys, she could have become the duel queen.

Whoa, whoa, pump your brakes there. Mai was good in Battle City, but enough to beat the Top 3, or even Joey and Odion? I don't think so. Kaiba's Virus cards and his beatstick strategy would run circles around her Harpies, Yugi is Yugi, Joey was considered fourth best after the Top 3 if we're being totally fair, and Odion had Joey beat until he used the fake Ra. Mai fell right into Marik's trap by doing exactly what he figured someone without a God Card would do, which is take his; she was never in control of their duel at any point.

Yugi has probably the worst deck in the series. No strategy at all (even Joey's deck has some focus on
warriors), he won by drawing, at every duel, some card which was absolutely poison for the foe's specific
strategy and maybe totally useless in any other case.

Now this, I can agree with. Yugi's deck is a pile of cards thrown together for the most part. He does have some themes, like his Magicians, but it's a plot miracle that he ever gets all of the right cards to make it work, whereas in the real world they'd be dead draws 90% of the time.

Joey is great at offensive play, but rather simple minded. That means that he can pull off great victories
against opponents who open up their game like he does (ex. Keith), but, if he goes against an opponent
who plays some tricky, unusual strategy (ex. Odeon), his mind is running in circles and he becomes an
easy prey.

I think Joey has the most potential out of the top duelists, but he doesn't have the best cards and his luck strategy is always hit or miss rather than mostly guaranteed like Kaiba's or even Yugi's.

One question about Alister: Are we sure he changed his deck during his first duel with Kaiba? I thought he
just had a deck which was a mix of toons with other monsters.

To be honest, it didn't look like he changed his deck. If he did I don't know why Kaiba wouldn't just call him out for it and restart the duel, or just leave. Watching it, it looks like his deck was magically all Toons up to the point where he needed to use his real cards, at which point there wasn't a Toon in sight. Card stacking, card stacking everywhere.

Rafael > Valon > Alister seems about right. You'd think Joey would get the weakest one.

It doesn't quite add up, but whatever.

Kaiba(BC)>Kaiba(WTD)>Kaiba(GC)

I don't understand how you arrive at some of these points, sir. That chain should have the arrows facing the other way. Kaiba's BC deck was brutal, but his WTD deck had Critias and a bigger emphasis on Dragons and beatdown tactics, and his GC deck had Chaos Fucking Emperor Dragon and a damn good swarm/D.D. strategy. Functionally, his GC deck is the best by far.

 

[Epicnessbeyond]

The fact is that BC Kaiba has Obelisk. On top of that he has Crush Card and many other extremely good cards. I could see why you think GC Kaiba is above WTD Kaiba but I think Critias gives him the edge

 

[Pyro]

Yes, with Obelisk then BC Kaiba is probably on top. WTD wouldn't be able to stand up to the OTK power of GC, I don't think.

edit: which gives me another duel idea...

 

[withheldforprivacy]

1. I disagree, good sir. Kaiba winning using Soul Exchange doesn't mean he isn't one of the best duelists in the series. He plays with more strategy than most anybody.
2. Whoa, whoa, pump your brakes there. Mai was good in Battle City, but enough to beat the Top 3, or even Joey and Odion? I don't think so. Kaiba's Virus cards and his beatstick strategy would run circles around her Harpies, Yugi is Yugi, Joey was considered fourth best after the Top 3 if we're being totally fair, and Odion had Joey beat until he used the fake Ra. Mai fell right into Marik's trap by doing exactly what he figured someone without a God Card would do, which is take his; she was never in control of their duel at any point.

1. What was his strategy? Duelist Kingdom: Using three monsters that nobody else had in the planet and, with
their 3000 ATK, were so broken at an era when you could summon anything right off the bat and there were
very few destroying effects, so the player with the strongest monster on the field almost always won.
Battlecity: Gods, lol. Grand Championship: Envoy of the ending.
Soul Exchange, with its anime effect, can destroy even the most well planned strategies. And don't get me
started with viruses cards.
2. Mai had several monsters weak enough to be in the game even if Kaiba played the virus (i think in the anime
it affects the monsters who have over 1500 ATK, not 1500 ATK or more) and with her monsters' special
abilities, she can beat raw power too. About Marik, i don't know how he could have stopped her from taking
the God with that effect. I'm not saying she was definitely the best, i'm saying she'd have a chance to win the
tournament.

 

[Pyro]

1. What was his strategy? Duelist Kingdom: Using three monsters that nobody else had in the planet and, with
their 3000 ATK, were so broken at an era when you could summon anything right off the bat and there were
very few destroying effects, so the player with the strongest monster on the field almost always won.

That went for everyone, and in a time when you could basically make up rules (lolyugi), having Blue-Eyes wasn't the be-all-end-all.

Battlecity: Gods, lol.

The same went for Yugi and especially Marik. The entire arc was focused on the Gods, so of course Kaiba would use his whenever he could. But while trying to summon Obelisk, he would use his Virus cards and others to disrupt the opponent's strategy. Not to mention when his God Card was taken, he was perfectly fine going with his Blue-Eyes strategy, which even tripped up Yugi at some points.

Grand Championship: Envoy of the ending.

That's kind of Kaiba's thing, having super rare cards (because he can afford it and he's Kaiba) so have the edge over the competition. It's no different than the Egyptian Gods that Yugi has, or the Legendary Dragons, or even in real life when someone forks over $300 for a rare card that's just going to be reprinted in a couple months for $4 just so they can have that advantage in tournaments. I don't see why it's wrong that Kaiba accumulates rare cards. Anybody would if they had the resources he had.

Soul Exchange, with its anime effect, can destroy even the most well planned strategies. And don't get me
started with viruses cards.

Not exactly. A good duelist, aka Yugi, would find ways around Soul Exchange and the Virus cards. It's even said in their BC duel by Yugi that Kaiba wouldn't use the Virus combo because he'd work around it, and he also countered Soul Exchange. Crush Card has only ever worked, what, three times? Against Yugi in DK (and then Yugi screwed the rules to get past it), against Ishizu who anticipated it, and against Joey in a filler duel. Every other time, the opponent has countered it right away. Pegasus, Lector, Noah, Alister all come to mind. And Kaiba never used Virus Cannon outside of his duel with Ishizu for some reason (probably because even the writers knew how crippling it was).

2. Mai had several monsters weak enough to be in the game even if Kaiba played the virus (i think in the anime
it affects the monsters who have over 1500 ATK, not 1500 ATK or more) and with her monsters' special
abilities, she can beat raw power too.

1500 ATK or more is what Crush Card kills. That's like 99% of the monsters we saw Mai use in BC and WTD. Amazoness Fighter, Amazoness Swords Woman, Dunames Dark Witch, Amazoness Chain Master, Cyber Harpie Lady, Harpie Lady Sisters, The Unfriendly Amazon, Harpie's Pet Dragon...hell, the only monster it wouldn't kill is Harpie Lady (1300 ATK), and that's assuming she hasn't pumped it up with her equip cards. She does have some solid cards to disrupt Kaiba's beatdown strategy, like Gravity Bind and Mirror Wall, and there's nothing Kaiba can really do about them with his BC deck; Mirror Wall would only hurt Obelisk for one turn, though.

About Marik, i don't know how he could have stopped her from taking
the God with that effect. I'm not saying she was definitely the best, i'm saying she'd have a chance to win the
tournament.

Who knows if he could stop her, but he knew she was going to do that so he prepared for it, though there wasn't much to prepare for because he knew she couldn't read the card.

I'm not saying Mai wasn't a good duelist either, but winning the tournament against Yugi, Kaiba, and Marik? I don't think it would be possible, even discounting the Gods. Maybe out-of-universe her deck would stand a chance, but in the anime it's apparent she's not in their league. I don't think she'd even make it past Odion with all of his traps and Serket, and Joey would probably have a solid chance of beating her too.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

I was always curious were they got all of these newer cards. Kaiba makes sense. He's Seto fucking Kaiba he can buy literally any card he wants at any time. Yugi and the others? Do they trade them? Does Yugi's grandfather get a new shipment of cards every so often and lets Yugi take what he wants?

Back on the topic of the Orichalcos Warriors. I think I may put Gurimo at the bottom. Rex and Weevil are supposed to have improved their decks immensely yet Weevil seems like he has the same deck he used in Battle City with a few new additions and the Insect Archetype to me has the potential to be one of the best you could use. Rex was using a swarming and beatdown strategy on Joey. I can't say anything about him because we never saw his Battle City deck and the best he had during Duelist Kingdom was Red Eyes.

Alister with his 2nd deck I may put even lower. I just rewatched that duel and I think we all can agree that Kaiba didn't even struggle with him that much in their 2nd duel and rewatching it he didn't even need Critias to beat him. Once he destroyed Sky Fortress Zigguraut he pretty much had the duel won. Blue Eyes got a 400 ATK boost via Tyrant Wings and Tyrant Wings allows said monster to attack twice in 1 Battle Phase and all Alister had were 2 Robot Man Tokens and Spellcancler (2300 ATK)

03400
-2300
______

1,100

Kaiba: 100
Alister: 1,000 - 1,100 = 0 (-100 to be precise)

He didn't even need Critias to beat him.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

1. That went for everyone, and in a time when you could basically make up rules (lolyugi), having Blue-Eyes wasn't the be-all-end-all.
2. Not exactly. A good duelist, aka Yugi, would find ways around Soul Exchange and the Virus cards. It's even said in their BC duel by Yugi that Kaiba wouldn't use the Virus combo because he'd work around it, and he also countered Soul Exchange. Crush Card has only ever worked, what, three times? Against Yugi in DK (and then Yugi screwed the rules to get past it), against Ishizu who anticipated it, and against Joey in a filler duel. Every other time, the opponent has countered it right away. Pegasus, Lector, Noah, Alister all come to mind. And Kaiba never used Virus Cannon outside of his duel with Ishizu for some reason (probably because even the writers knew how crippling it was).

1. Let's analyze the three duels Yugi vs Kaiba at DK. In the first, Yugi won because of Exodia who automatically
rendered the user victorious. In the second, Yugi technically lost (i don't care if it was Kaiba's evil twin or
whatever who was playing). In the third, Kaiba could've won with Monster Reborn without tricks by reviving
either La Jinn or Swordstalker, but i guess the writers wrote it that way for drama and marysuing Yugi. So,
yes, BEWDs are be all and end all.
2. Anime Soul Exchange brings victory to 99% of the cases and Yugi only countered it because he was Yugi.
Nothing you said changes the fact that Kaiba beat all of his BC/WTD duels with that.

What do you think of WTD Mai? How would she fare against Yugi/Kaiba?

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

1. That went for everyone, and in a time when you could basically make up rules (lolyugi), having Blue-Eyes wasn't the be-all-end-all.
2. Not exactly. A good duelist, aka Yugi, would find ways around Soul Exchange and the Virus cards. It's even said in their BC duel by Yugi that Kaiba wouldn't use the Virus combo because he'd work around it, and he also countered Soul Exchange. Crush Card has only ever worked, what, three times? Against Yugi in DK (and then Yugi screwed the rules to get past it), against Ishizu who anticipated it, and against Joey in a filler duel. Every other time, the opponent has countered it right away. Pegasus, Lector, Noah, Alister all come to mind. And Kaiba never used Virus Cannon outside of his duel with Ishizu for some reason (probably because even the writers knew how crippling it was).

1. Let's analyze the three duels Yugi vs Kaiba at DK. In the first, Yugi won because of Exodia who automatically
rendered the user victorious. In the second, Yugi technically lost (i don't care if it was Kaiba's evil twin or
whatever who was playing). In the third, Kaiba could've won with Monster Reborn without tricks by reviving
either La Jinn or Swordstalker, but i guess the writers wrote it that way for drama and marysuing Yugi. So,
yes, BEWDs are be all and end all.
2. Anime Soul Exchange brings victory to 99% of the cases and Yugi only countered it because he was Yugi.
Nothing you said changes the fact that Kaiba beat all of his BC/WTD duels with that.

What do you think of WTD Mai? How would she fare against Yugi/Kaiba?

I think they can beat her. Yugi's deck is one that seems like it's ready for almost anything. I'm sure he'd find a way to counter Phoenix/Sparrow Formation which would really be his biggest problems against Mai. Kaiba has Crush card. That alone gives him the edge against Mai.