Kaiba would've won for a pretty simple reason: Bakura wasn't playing to win. He just needed Diabound to get a sample of Blue eyes' power. He didnt have a follow-up plan for if the duel continued.
Duels are of course scripted, but given his cards, Bakura played a perfect duel. So I wouldn't say he wasn't trying to win, just that he didn't mind losing since he needed Kaiba for other purposes anyways.
@@customcardguyYeah bakura was playing great, but his game plan was just "Force blue eyes out by any means necessary". It's not clear how much follow-up he had since the plan was to leave without harming himself or Kaiba. Bakura isn't the type to wing it. Everything goes according to his plan. When he's actually in trouble, he has absolutely no poker face. Whatever was going on, Bakura was fine during his duel with Seto.
11:56 If this were in the anime, so anime logic, and Bakura, being the main villain, couldn't be defeated yet, I see the duel ending in a draw using Ring of Destruction. The most thematic way this could happen is Bakura activating Change of Heart and Kaiba using Ring of Destruction as he'd rather have Blue Eyes destroyed than allow Bakura or anyone else to have it
I'm annoyed by duels in the series that are left incomplete/interrupted, this duel being one of them. I think Kaiba would of lost for plot purposes, but in reality Kaiba is by far the better duelist overall to Bakura, so instead they have Bakura bailing out of the duel as a compromise. They should rematch in a scripted duel with the voice actors in the next public convention event or something.
@@customcardguy They should just write the duel with Yami Bakura using his typical monsters and deck with Kaiba intelligently getting rid of his Dark Sanctuary as well as defeating Yami Bakura before his Destiny Board is one letter from completing, to really reflect how superior Kaiba is, second only to Yugi.
I think for best effect and adding tension to later episodes, they would've gone for the ring of destruction play. This forcing a draw would leave it open as to who could've won, and hurt Kaiba's pride which would be a good reason for him to go to Egypt to see if he just used some trick since Kaiba doesn't believe in any of the Egyptian prophecies. Finally, since it's a draw they do leave the potential open to make a rematch duel later for added tension
Only point I slightly disagree with is the tension. I think Bakura defeating Kaiba would make his duel with Yugi way more intense, especially if Yugi comes to know that Bakura defeated him.
16:30 says it all so I see Kaiba winning for sure. Glad you mentioned about Diabound's power going back down to 1800 from 3300 after its Mirror Tablet's effects wore off, not many people realized that which gives a big advantage to Kaiba especially with that card he still had in his hand to play. It was probably his Magical Trick Mirror or Command Silencer which would keep him well protected until his next turn where he'd finish off Bakura with his Blue Eyes or like you said a 2000 Attack Blade Knight. Kaiba also had his Tyrant Wing he could've played with Blue Eyes to give it an extra 400 attack and two attacks for an easier win.
Considering the outcome of this duel didn't matter. Cause another reason for this duel was so Bakura's diabound could absorb blue eyes so he could be ready for his first duel against the Pharoah and Obelisk, so I think this duel ending in a draw would've been the way to go.
I agree with the duel ending in a draw since in the Waking the Dragons arc, The Seal of Orichalcos basically turns normal duels into Shadow Games, and it proved that Draws can happen with both Duelists still walking about, and we can assume that Shadow Games made by Millennium Items also follow this rule. And Yami Bakura only needed to absorb the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon through the Shadow Game. If Kaiba wasn't going to force a draw, Yami Bakura would probably do so with whatever cards he has, and since anime card effects can be wildy different from their anime counterpart, it is possible for Yami Bakura to draw Card of Sanctity, activate exchange, and take Ring of Destruction, with Kaiba taking an unknown card. And no Kaiba would not draw Ring of Defense next turn, because dramatic duel ending a dramatic draw is more fitting, and it hurts Kaiba's pride having a duel be forced to end in a draw so we also have that to work with.
Bakura accomplished his goal, but I still think him taking Kaiba's soul would've (a) made him more intimidating as a final villain, and (b) allowed him to use Kaiba's soul in the RPG at his choosing. Kaiba showing up in Egypt just because he got the Millennium Eye seemed out of character for him. Maybe he really is that interested in his connection with Blue-Eyes and/or starting to become a believer in the hocus pocus 🤷♂
They should have gone with the draw. Have Bakura almost win with Ectoplasmer, only for Kaiba to force the draw with Ring of Destruction. It makes Bakura look threatening without diminishing Kaiba, and it doesn't rely on a shitty interruption to achieve the same conclusion. Since Kaiba hates to lose, it's also a reason for him to want to settle the score properly with Bakura in Egypt.
An actual draw would've been a better conclusion for the reasons you mentioned. Though Kaiba has lost/stalemated a handful of duels throughout the series and doesn't seem to have diminished in the slightest.
This is a really cool concept for a video. I’d be interested in a similar breakdown with the Jaden vs Yugi duel. I know it ends with Neos attacking Slifer, which means that Jaden loses without an Honest, but the youtuber TGS Anime has said that this was probably just a intended as a flashy cliffhanger and not something Jaden literally did, in which case that duel was far from over. Especially since Slifer was summoned from the graveyard and so would have left the field once Jaden ended his turn.
I think the most honest way this could have ended to keep with the plot AND make sure both duelists look as strong as possible is that it ends in the Draw scenario. Kaiba's ring of destructions see's both duelists lose at the same time. Bakura does his villain over the top laugh and congratulates Kaiba for showing his strength and why he was worthy enough to challenge the Pharaoh 5000 years ago. Then does his whole come to Ancient Egypt spiel and the show goes on like it does. No real change other than allowing us to see Kaiba is still most def in the running to compete with Yugi
Revisiting this video because I enjoyed it so much the first time. Bakura is an interesting character for these matchips because he's incredibly skilled despite rarely dueling. Bakura is more of an rpg guy, but unlike Duke Devlin, his gaming skills still shine in Duel monsters. I would still give it to Kaiba for a few reasons. Kaiba is Bakura's match in terms of skill and his deck is top notch. Bakura's deck is strong, but it wouldn't have any special secret cards like Pegasus' deck. Bakura is just a middle class guy with access to common cards and the occasional rare pull. The other reason is Bakura's imlatience. While Bakura is the type to spend years carrying out a plan, that same mentality doesn't apply to his dueling. If a plan isnt working, he abandons it immediately. This is exhibited in his duel with Yami Marik. Bakura also relies on the element of surprise, which wouldn't apply here. Kaiba is completely obsessed with dueling and would know most, if not all, of Bakura's cards.
Good point on the special/secret cards. Kaiba's losses to other lead villains (Pegasus, Dartz, Yako) all involve that. From a pure dueling standpoint, Kaiba winning is the likely conclusion.
Either or is good since it "gives" Blue-Eyes to Bakura. I just prefer Reborn since it would require one BEWD destroying the other, seems kinda poetic against Kaiba.
I would *want* Bakura to win, but I think he'd need some cards we haven't seen in order to do so. And his strategy here wasn't really about winning, so if he wanted the win he might have been playing differently from the start. Good video though!
Ah yes, an indepth analasys about I dont really remember watching with a scenario that may have not had any reall changes to the plot logicly if it wnet differntly. Good watch! 👍
Something that always annoyed me about DM, as much as I love it, is how Bakura, the *main villain* gets so few Duels and even fewer chances to shine. Might be an umpopular opinion, but the manga/anime needed one more arc where its all about the buildup to the final arc. Maybe Bakura snatches some of the other Millennium Items and books it to Egypt, with the cast following suit mainly because of the knowledge they gained from good Marik. That would have given us an opportunity to see more Duels like this and give Bakura more time to shine before the literal final arc
Agreed that one more arc would've been good to have. Whether Bakura was the lead villain in that or just plotting some more woulda helped build his character up some more. I suppose the filler arcs in the anime diluted his involvement in the series. Plus, as you mention, him not winning much of anything doesn't give him any sort of credibility as a final boss. Even defeating Pegasus in a duel with Pegasus at full strength would've been a nice change.
@@customcardguy he did beat Pegasus in the manga, we don't see it, just the aftermath of his lifeless body at the game table with the Eye torn out, but that was cut/changed in the anime and, even if it wasn't, its one win against an opponent Yugi alredy best ( same with Bons lol)
I think Kaiba may have drew Blade Knight or Negate Attack. I was gonna say Ring of Destr but he'd also need Ring of Defense (becuz he always uses it in every duel as a combo). Haven't seen Kaiba used Shadow Spell since Duelist Kingdom. Soul Exchange is a possibility too. But felt like Bakura had more control on this duel than Kaiba.
This is the same curiosity I've been thinking about. But I'm probably sure Kaiba would've inevitably won since he's in his own way, but an expert leveled duelist as Yugi/Yami's. I guess the first time Yakura (as I like to mush the names together with Yami Bakura) dueled against Yami is because Bakura was holding Yakura back, and then the second time he dueled against Yami, he might've originally won if Yami hadn't in a luckiest time drawn Slifer because he has no other options on how to rid the dark sanctuary. But it's honestly bothering that Yakura and Kaiba's match were inconclusive, and that they never picked up where they left off.
IIRC Kaiba was absent from the entire millennium world arc in the manga. He was added in the anime because he was popular, but that left him without a strong purpose.
Yeah he wasn't in the manga version. Personally, I think his inclusion was a better choice since it gave his character some closure in terms of at least somewhat coming to terms with his past, whereas in the manga he just leaves to go build amusements parks. I think the way the anime writers used Kaiba once he got to the world of memories was a nice touch. Getting him there though is where it was basically "here's Kaiba".
@@customcardguy including Kaiba was the correct decision, and they definitely didn't do a bad job, but he does feel unnecessary to the overall plot and his introduction is just....a thing that happened. That's the issue when trying to add a character to a story without changing the plot, it just never feels seamless.
It's almost as if the game is secondary to the story telling 😭 this is like saying wow Goku didn't use *this specific move* to be the villain or Goku let the villain power up. These characters flaws are why they "misplay"
I really enjoyed this. Another thing I think could be fun would be to sort of replay certain anime fights with no “cheating” allowed, just following the rules but keeping the deck and draws. Like, no old wise dark mage or whatever.
Didn't yugi win change of heart from bakura during battle city? There's a scene where yugi has his deck layer out on his bed in front of him.before his duel with Kaiba and he has change of heart
Yami Bakura has dialogue for Cursed Necrofear in Duel Links which leverages banished monsters in order to special summon. I understand that he doesn't use it in the anime but, it would have been crazy if he did have it.
Quick note: Normal Spells are only Quick-Play in the Battle Phase if you set them, and even if Kaiba *had* set Monster Reborn, he most likely wouldn’t have been able to activate it as a QP since it was set that turn.
@@lordflarus Setting a Normal Spell makes it a Quick-Play in the standard sense of a Quick-Play. What I'm referring to is an additional rule of the Battle Phase where a duelist can activate 1 Normal Spell as a Spell Speed 1 (not a Quick-Play, but not in accordance to real life rules either). There are examples in Battle City of this. The biggest would be when Yugi uses Brain Control in the middle of Revival Jam reviving itself. In any case, I'm assuming this isn't Battle City rules. It's only worth mentioning because in the last duel of the show, it happens again. The Pharaoh tries using Monster Reborn for Slifer against Yugi. He's doing this in the Battle Phase, and the card wasn't set. The analysis here wouldn't change drastically. Bakura's best move is now solely top decking Change of Heart to take BEWD for game. Kaiba, if he has any of the defensive cards, can stall for the turn and win the next turn; otherwise, Bakura wins.
here's a scenario we never considered what if the card he had was Chaos Emperor Dragon Envoy of the End and with the play Bakura would do which would render Kaiba without his Blue-Eyes he then draws Soul Absorption plays it then by banishing Lord of D or Vorse Raider and one of the Blue-Eyes he can then summon it then he could go with either an attack from said dragon or uses its effect ending the duel in his favor
As much as I dislike Blue-Eyes players, I don’t think Bakura had the chops to defeat Kaiba, even if Diabound was technically stronger than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Diabound wasn’t stronger than Blue-Eyes. The only reason Bakura dueled Kaiba was because he NEEDED the strength of Blue-Eyes so he could use Diabound to stand up against Atem and Obelisk in his RPG Shadow Game to revive Zorc.
I think a draw would have been the way to go for this one. Bakura winning and getting Kaiba’s soul just would have sucked. Kaiba’s already missing a critical win against Yugi in the main series. I don’t think him getting another loss would have had the best effect. I think it would do more damage to Kaiba’s status than it would help bakura be elevated as a more threatening villain. Since magic users always have a serious advantage when facing him.
Bakura kinda needed this win. He had been losing too much throughout the series, and if we were to take him seriously as the final boss he needed a big win going in. But of course Kaiba has always been ultra protected by the anime so they couldn’t pull the trigger.
A big win at some point woulda given him a lot more legitimacy. All the other lead villains defeat either Kaiba or Joey (even with Noah cheating to do it)
@@customcardguy Yeah. Heck I would have loved to have seen him beat Marik. There was a lot unresolved between those two, and heading into Millenium World would have been cool to see them duel.
We are talking about the same Kaiba who defeated Nightshroud, the literral grim reaper. We are talking about the guy who held against Zorc. And people in the comment section are saying " Ohhhh Kaiba overrated, Bakura wins " Yami Marik defeated Bakura easier than Yugi defeated Joey.
Assuming we're talking Manga continuity, and not 4kids dub anime continuity which for some reason card game fans seem to think is primary canon, Bakura wins, and easily. They're near enough in skill level, but Bakura holds a millennium item, and so can create a shadow game with any stipulations he desires. He doesn't even have to tell Kaiba what the stipulations are. Its a comically large advantage. Kaiba would be losing by a hopelessly wide margin before he even knew what was going on. None of this has anything to do with Duel Monsters ability. "But Kaiba beat the Millennium Necklace!" Not during a shadow game. The limits of what can be done in a shadow game are far wider in the original Manga than in the 4kids dub.
It's an anime-exclusive duel, so kinda just depends how you want to treat it. But I don't think it's fair to say that Kaiba would have no hope in a shadow game. Both manga and anime (and even DSOD) insinuate that willpower can overcome magic or even God cards. Kaiba perhaps having the strongest willpower of anyone, plus the ancient ties to boot, could understandably hold his own in a shadow game.
@@Iceman42069 If Bakura was actually trying to win the game then that would be completely different, to say it's no diff is meat riding Kabia, Yugi only beat Bakura in battle city because Bakura didn't plan for Yugi using his god card. It's also shown that Bakura is on Yami Marik level who did better against Yugi than Kabia.
Honestly without seeing there hands it makes it more difficult to say bakura would have lasted past kaiba's next turn. How many cards could have been that one card in his hand. Also I would say that it even could be burst streaming of destruction and if kaiba was to draw either pot of greed and trade in than use them getting something that would eliminate bakura's only defense
You think kaiba would waste a monster reborn on something as weak as vorse raider? He would save it for his trusty blue eyes, who would never let him down! (Yes i am joking)
Bakura could not lose because of the script and what he meant for the show starting that moment. The most probable result is a draw, something similar to what actually happened.
And I wonder who would've won between Odion and Joey if either Odion played fair and square without using counterfeit Ra card, or if both of them survived "Ra" attack, and then keep going from there.
If Odion didn't summon Ra, Serket would've attacked for game. As for if both of them recovered from the lightning, Joey would just need to draw a monster with 200+ ATK (800+ in manga) and go for the win. Odion's trap heavy deck may not have any more monsters so unless he runs Monster Reborn for Serket, he wouldn't be able to attack Joey for game.
@@EWOODJ Shut up. Dont care bout kaiba has a bad handicap. Great Rival Real rival saying bad commentary. I love kaibas irony. Good duelist. 3 blue eyes White dragon. All three has 3000 1 blue eyes ultimate dragon With 4500 attack point Required spell card. Polymerization....
Definitely Bakura would have won.The last card Seto had was probably a useless card like La Jin in that moment otherwise:1 Seto would have play it to defend/attack(or set)and than play 1 more card,2 Seto could have win before or in that turn.
If Kaiba had Card of Demise and had let's say poly or one blue eyes all he needed was either two more blue eyes or a poly that card probably would of had finished the duel.
You skipped the Vorse Raider and shrink card opening turn. This duel would of been great and I bet Kaiba would of gotten Ultimate Dragon out if Bakaura stayed.
Skipped the first few turns and just set the stage for where the duel currently sat at. I dunno if he gets Ultimate Dragon. He's already used Reborn and Silent Doom, so he probably doesn't have another way to revive the Blue-Eyes in his GY.
@@customcardguy unless if he used a Card like "Fiend Demolishtion" Or Soul Release" then use "Return from the different Dimension" or "Dimension Fusion". 75 percent Game Ending with defusion being another finisher combo
Kaiba blue eyes cannot attack after monster reborn, we are not in battle city were you can using magic cards like quick spells,so kaiba used monster reborn in main phase 2. in the kc tournament (the filler arc before the final arc) they doesn't use battle city rules (even in the orichalcos arc they doesn't use them), so after kaiba had bringed back his blue eyes its bakura's turn ,he draw and if he draws a monster with 1200 atk or higher he wins,(simply because he only need to summon the monster he had just drew, equip diabound to blue eyes than attack with the other monster, and after blue eyes is destroyed diabound is back to the field and he can attack for game) but it's all speculation because we cant know wich card would he drew or if kaiba last card in his hand would have saved him...
In the final duel (Yugi vs Atem), Monster Reborn is used in the Battle Phase. That's why I thought it was worth mentioning, but I don't have Kaiba attacking with Blue-Eyes that same Battle Phase anyways so it's a moot point. The point about Diabound being able to attack after Blue-Eyes is destroyed is also questionable. When Bakura equips Vorse Raider with 1 Diabound and kills it with the other, the first Diabound (that was equipped) doesn't then attack. So unless you think Bakura was toying with Kaiba, it's more likely that Diabound simply can't attack the turn it uses its effect.
We all know kaiba would've lost that duel if it continued and kaiba not having many wins is always because some bs is happening, in his first duel with yu gi he would have won if bakura (the good one) didn't interfere, he beaten Pegasus, in his second duel against yu gi well it was yu gi he was 1 turn away of losing and then the heart of the cards bs comes to play and somehow the god card can't be affected by anything,plot armour at it's best , and again Marik Marik himself said that bakura can't use the same strategy he used against yugi cause he already saw it so he was already in a disadvantage and even after he was able to make a new strategy and steal raa he couldn't use it because of some ancient Egyptian bs plot armour for the main villain of that arc , so yeah I say bakura is much better duelist then kaiba is and plot wise as tou said its makes more sense for bakura to win
It's not stated on Diabound's effect, but I don't think it's allowed to attack the turn it uses its effect, which is why he doesn't after destroying Vorse Raider (it's not an effect of Spirit Illusion either).
I think bakura would mostly just because kaiba has a habit to losing to the big bad every time for example pegasus, dartz, agami, noah(technically he should have but still), Alistair (tie),yako, and in non canon medias like games to marik. Idk i just feel like he would lose probably not his fault tho
@@Iceman42069Correct actually 🤣 there parallels are pretty similar as well given Bakura abuses his host body while Atem treats Yugi with respect and given that Atem's uncle is the direct cause for Bakura Village getting massacred
@@customcardguy Point given, though look at both their W-L records. Something tells me Mr. Ring wouldn't be able to defeat Pegasus in a Children's card game hence why he chose the Shadow Game Route. The greatest victory Bakura has is against a sleep deprived kid that couldn't even beat Brooklyn Rage on his own.
Yes his greatest enemy 💀 Bakura easily the strongest villain Atem faced, nobody else but Yugi where able to defeat all three god cards. Not to mention Bakura is one of the smartest villains in DM given his back up plans, learning for his mistakes etc
@@TingandWal Bakura still was able to go toe to toe with Marik who is obviously a better duelist than Pegasus, and was going to do the same with a stronger Yugi who he almost defeated. Bakura W-L is different from Kabia's because Kabia dueled more and Bakura for the more part were going against top tier duelist
@@legendarylancers7446 Guess we are both seeing different POVs. To me he was basically the whipping boy of the series. If he would've lost to Bones and had to just beat him up to steal his locator cards, one I wouldn't have been surprised and two I wouldn't be able to stop laughing. The one that took up his role in GX was Fubuki Tenjoin. Allegedly a very strong duelist, but his record says otherwise.
Really intetesting video But unfortunately this is so manipulated likely by who you want to see win. All the scnearios are just done like, if Bakura had this card Kaiba could have won with this this and this card, so Kaiba wins. This is so biased, because if you want Bakura to win, you could do it the other way around, going through Kaiba's possible cards and then always say, then if Bakura could beat him with this card, and then suddenly make it look like Bakura would win all the scenarios
The scenarios are structured as (Bakura draw -> Kaiba draw) because that's the order of their turns. The ultimate conclusion is that it could've gone either way depending on what Kaiba's last card is. My own personal preference as mentioned in the video was to have Bakura win, so if anything I'm biased the other way 😅
If kaiba uses last turn and bakura chooses jogen the spiritualist bakura instantly wins because jogen effect destroys the special summoned monsters In fact its what got last turn banned in the real world
That combo only works when it's the player using Last Turn who selects Jowgen to keep on their field, because then the opponent can't Summon anything. With Last Turn's effect, the monster Bakura summoned would immediately have to battle Kaiba's selected monster, before it gets a chance to activate any ignition effects, so Blue-Eyes would destroy Jowgen. Bakura also wouldn't have any cards to discard for Jowgen since Last Turn empties both players' hands and fields.
Unfortunately all his other duels are against lead protagonists/antagonists, so the plot wouldn't allow for him to win. I think his dueling skill, and specifically his strategizing and deckbuilding, are one of the best in the series.
I'll be sure not to intrude upon his "about to defeat" series xD But I do plan to do monthly theory/analysis videos. Sometimes it'll relate to unfinished duels, but could be anything worth discussing about the series.
