I feel like the smile was Kaiba realizing his rival wasn't gone, that Yugi was still there and he still had a goal to strive for. He didn't have to go his whole life without the chance to surpass the pharaoh, because Yugi had become the duelist that the Pharaoh allowed him to be before.
That would've been pleasant but I doubt it since the movie closes with Kaiba yeetng himself into the afterlife to finally get his rematch with the Pharoah.
@@John_1-1_in_Japanese Still symbolizes something, I don’t personally think that it was more about him being proven wrong. He viewed Yugi as pretty much just the shell for the Pharaoh to come through and bust out a can of Fanny whooping for whoever is in front of him. As it was stated in the video, this Kaiba wasn’t at the final duel and had not properly seen Yugi’s individual skill. So even though the duel was going to happen, he pretty much outright admit that he didn’t acknowledge Yugi, saying “You’re not the one I want to duel.” But Yugi busted out his own can, this time Tooshie whooping, he bought it from the Pharaoh with some Millennial plot devices and re-branded it. Kaiba got the receiving end of it, and knew he’d been proven wrong. That’s the smile, the sweat was realizing he’d underestimated little Yugi and the smile was basically a “Holy shit, the little fucker actually just clapped me, the little shit actually did it.”
I wasn’t examining Kaiba’s cards closely, so I thought Kaiba might’ve had a counter for Yugi’s final attack but simply chose to not play it and let Yugi win.
Something I find neat about this duel is that little Yugi has a deck focused around Magician Girls, and DMG is seen as the apprentice and successor to Dark Magician, in much the same way that Little Yugi is the apprentice and successor to Yami Yugi.
@@ZeroYami Yugi can be seen as his apprentice as undoubtedly he his learning a lot off him in their games with others. Similar to how the silent cards show how as time goes on he can end up beating Atem in their last duel, the cross duel game DMG is described as going to succeed DM and inherit his soul, as Yugi gained a lot of the pharaoh’s positive traits by the end of their adventure
@@ZeroYami it’s still a good argument that he is, beating Atem in the end doesn’t mean he wasn’t learning in the end. Also we’ve seen more than one occasion Yugi is worried without Atem’s guidance
I always interpret that smile as Kaiba being happy for losing, he has a challenge at last, not needing the Pharaoh and recognizing little Yugi as a worthy duelist.
@@yuseifudo5830 I mean if he really was a shameless fighter he could’ve threatened suicide in any of their other duels if all he want was to win. We know Kaiba has a lot of pride as a duelist so him giving up that pride and honor to save his brother just highlights him being a good brother and I don’t think it warrants him being called a shameless duelist. But that’s just my opinion lol
@@rileywagner5788 Imagine, losing hard but when you’re about to make an amazing come back, your opponent just rage quit. As for Yugi, he just happened to equip a Millennium Puzzle with a 100% luck stat boost and innate ability “Destiny Draw” plus the power of friendship. That’s 200% luck boost right there ;)
Right up there with "If at first you don't succeed, BLAST 'EM WITH YOUR BLUE-EYES AGAIN!" and "Any duelist who is late will be disqualified. Mokuba, make sure Wheeler's late." ...man, the filler had some good lines! XD
It's something that I really only ever saw in 5Ds. The original DM was so whacky with its rules and GX was similar, even though it was a tad bit better.
@@blanktrigger8863 it's bcs it's not developed yet, and the anime actually has its own rule of cards since it's there to drive the plot further, it's a mechanic for the story. the DM anime was there to sold out the games, while in the manga it's actually still has the main horror/thriller vibes from the original season 0. it's getting better in GX tho, but later in season 4. I rather stick with manga for the first series since it has more charm bcs the anime is there as a tool to totally sold out the games only.
Your forgetting the time that Little Yugi Interrupts Yami from defeating B-E UD in Pegasus's Tournament. He called off the attack. Therefore he Participated.
I always thought that smile meant that even though the pharaoh is gone, Kaiba realised that Yugi is still there to give him a challenge. Not just the Atem.
@@Globalnet626 ikr. people so desperate to act like the pharaoh isn't kaiba's ultimate goal. yugi is still a strong and worthy opponent but atem was, is, and always will be his true rival
I like how confident yugi grew in his skills by that point. Truly living up to the king of games title and battle city champion. He no longer needs god cards or atem to body people
I like to point out that in GX Kaibaman (the monster spirit and arguably the reflection of kaiba himself) dueled jaden to teach him that losing is okay. Which makes me think kaiba learned to accept defeat after that duel with yugi... well...and after breaking the laws of reality to get a rematch with a dead pharaoh... THEN he learned to accept. Thats what I like to think anyway.
He didn't break the laws of physics for a rematch with Atem. He broke the laws of physics for a rematch with Yugi. Since Yugi beating Atem was no longer a fluke in Kaiba's mind he was third best ...And he ain't having none of that.
I remember playing at middle school kinda figuring out that big lv4 beaters won me way more games than trying to be Bandit Keith running a ton of high level machine monsters.. That slot machine brick was brutal
I interpreted the smile as Kiba realising that Yugi really was the king of games, and that he was just as much of his rival as the Atem was. The reason he goes to face Atem still at the end was for his own personal goodbye, however he realised that his rival was still alive and kicking all along.
I'm just here to appreciate how the movie embraced the fact that Special Summoning changed YGO into a faster-paced game. When Battle City was live, it took 15+ turns for the board to have a face-off between Dark Magician and Blue Eyes. Now it took them only until turn 3 with quick and efficient effects.
I must admit that before watching this video, I always thought that Seto Kaiba had one trick up his sleeve that might have prevented him from losing, but I do admit that Yugi actually managing to beat Seto on his own makes sense to his own personal character arc throughout the original yugioh series. The best way to compare Yugi's dueling style with Seto's is to see how they both dueled Aigami. For Seto, he almost lost to Aigami, and with the most bullshit draw in yugioh history, Seto summoned Obelisk the tormentor to save himself from defeat, and the duel was still left unfinished. As for Yugi, Aigami underestimated him throughout the entire duel, while Yugi planned his moves, reduced the damage he received, and ultimately used a combination of cards that defeated Aigami, without using an Egyptian god card. You would think that seeing Yugi defeat an opponent he had trouble with would be enough for Seto to gain some respect for Yugi, but he was still obsessed with Atem. At the end of the day, Atem was really Seto's rival, not Yugi, but during their duel, I do think that Seto gained a lot of respect for Yugi as a duelist.
I'd say that's actually a rather accurate way of putting things - even if personally the whole Kaiba calling Obelisk scene is pretty badass. I can't say I ever thought of it that way before.
That's because "Lemon Magician Girl" negates the effects of any monster summoned by "her" effect, and I think they had that transferred to the movie too@@purpleheartneptune6267 . Hope that helps clear that one up :)
@@tebrizmammadov8525 I did not know that. And that detail is one of many reasons this should’ve been an additional season and not a movie. There were so many missing details that were not properly explained. Did the manga say anything about the eighth Millennium Item? Like why it exists and why we were never told about it before?
Kaiba was actually about to lose. We can count out his cards exactly. We know what his facedown was. Starts the duel with 5 cards. Does no searching. 4 draws over 4 turns. That’s 9 cards total. Let’s count them out 1. Assault Wyvern 2. Blue-Eyes 3. Dragon fighting spirit 4. High speed aria (set) 5. Polymirazation (seen in hand) 6. Chaos Form 7. Another Blue-Eyes in hand 8. Chaos Max Dragon 9. Deep Eyes So Kaibas last card was a bluff Polymirazation. There’s literally no other option. And a poly is not going to stop a direct attack. Yugi won. The smile was Kaiba accepting defeat. Which is why we find out he was willing to work with Yugi later
Here’s the thing that people forget. If the duel wasn’t stopped, the attack from DM would take him to 0 LP. There wasn’t a trap card like Magic Cylinder or anything Kaiba could’ve use to inflict effect damage, as he would have to activate that before Dark Magicians attack happened, not after, but he didn’t activate anything to stop the attack, clearly showing he planted a bluff.
That smile could be also means he accepted defeat or thinking the good times on a wild rollercoaster he went through with Yugi who knows maybe he may had on Yugi or not.
I think that it meant that he could his next turn draw a card that could possibly turn the duel around also keep in mind that before the duel was interrupted he had 100 life points left and one turn to try and turn it around
Yes, that face-down card is most probably just the Polymerization... finally, someone else said it. Face-down cards don't always have to be trap cards or quick-spells. Kaiba smiled because he was defeated by a duelist who fought him with fruit in the duel.
Since the movie was more about resolving characters than the duels, I prefer to interpret it as “It seems Little Yugi has outgrown the pharaoh after all.”
Yeah. The only thing that Yugi is lacking is since he is just mortal he cannot withstand shadow duels for too long like Atem does. As a duelist he is equal or even better than Atem.
More like "Can't use my face down Polymerization, just like I can't use Yugi as a material to fuse with Atem anymore..." The one card represents Kaiba's arc in the movie. Yugi is more than the sum of his part.
Kaiba accepting defeat and smiling as well when his life points only hit 100 I feel like the makers of the movie paused it there since they wanted Aigaimi to come into the scene so I think if Aigaimi didn’t come we could’ve seen the rest of Kaiba’s life points hit zero and accepting his defeat.
Ironically he summons Gandora X some turns later. I'm sure he just hates Blue Eyes, I mean, those were the ones that almost send his grandpa to the grave xD
It was so cool that they started with 8000 life points. I think Kaiba’s smile was reassurance that Yugi is really the king of games. So i agree with you in that sentiment that Kaiba had.
That smile from Kaiba, i believe to myself that it personally was one that finally acknowledged Yugi as a duelist. It was more of a test to see if Yugi was worthy of being his rival. So, i'm sure that smile was also showing a mark of respect. Yugi did earn that respect from him.
I love this started as a "hey let's analyze the duel to see if we can figure out the mystery card" to one of my favorite parts of this channel. I love just going through with knowledge I have now and seeing different plays.
Over a year late, but I feel like Kaiba's smile was because he was impressed by Yugi. He surpassed his expectations and considers Yugi a true duelist and a worthy opponent, or even an equal. I'd also like to note that when it comes to Yugi's relationship with those around him, he has had a profound impact on everyone he has made a connection with, but prior to this film, he never really did have a connection with Kaiba, Atem did. But now that Kaiba sees Yugi for who he really is, he would never say or admit they're friends, but Yugi has earned his respect. This is furthered by Takahashi releasing an art piece that depicted Yugi playing the game he created with Kaiba as Kaiba Corp is helping with the development of that game, something that Kaiba wouldn't do for just anyone, regardless of if the idea was good. I think the ending of this movie, is the start of a proper dynamic between Yugi Muto and Kaiba, and while it isn't your typical friendship, it's the closest example of friendship one can get when it involves Kaiba. After all, the only other comparable relationship he really has is with Atem.
Okay you've convinced me to watch the movie just for Kaiba's arc. Also i love the idea that Yugi is just playing two levels higher everyone. He's awesome.
The real question is what happens in the afterlife duel We do know that Kaiba returns from the afterlife but we do not know how the duel ends. It would be interesting if the duel ended in a draw. Symbolizing Kaiba wanting to return to defeat Atem. not for vengeance but to grow as a character just as Yugi grows as a character after defeating Atem
@@kutokutosan7637 Kazuki Takahashi Kaiba and Yugi illustration (after DSOD) was basically made for that purpose and well he's motherfukin Seto Kaiba a small technicality won't stop him (if someone gets that reference :)
@@kutokutosan7637 actually it's not clear if its the Past or the Afterlife. the cubes original power is gone once Atem leaves but Kaiba used the cube to make the "Duel Dimension System" if the cube is needed is unknown as it is seen with him in the pod (but is not with him when he is with Atem). And the fact that Atem returns to help Yugi shows how little is known about the Millennium items
Kinda unrelated comment but, I like how in the beginning of the movie they show kaiba beating the “perfect” pharaoh hologram and then kaiba loses to Yugi in the actual duel. It just confirms the Yugi is really the king of games
Yugi also doesn't really play like the Pharaoh. He plays much more defensively and like to string combos to win. His strongest card is arguably gandora and that basically a field wipe so he can get a clean slate and wipe out his opponents defenses
The point of that scene was to show no hologram a.i. could satisfactorily replicate atem's play, which is why kaiba had to go to the afterlife to play the real deal himself.
@@silversauceran The point of the scene was to show that it means nothing to Kaiba if it isn’t the real thing, not once did Kaiba say the ai was flawed he literally called it perfect
The symbolism of Monster Reborn gets way more poignant when you remember the original Japanese name for it is literally "Resurrection of the Dead." Yugi gives it to Kaiba as sort of a wake-up call. He's trying to resurrect the Pharaoh, but he has to accept that the Pharaoh is gone.
To add to what you stated: That smile was Kaiba thinking that he was going to be able to let go of his quest to face the Pharaoh... because Yugi defeated him and proved it was HIM, not Atem, that was his rival. That meant Seto didn't have to risk his life going into the afterlife to face the Pharaoh. Didn't need to leave Mokuba. His rival was standing before him. He would just need to learn and get better. But then Aigaimi stole that from him... and the Pharaoh DID return. Meaning that Kaiba couldn't accept Yugi as his rival... it WAS the Pharaoh. Because Aigaimi stole Yugi's chance to cement himself as Kaiba's rival. Of course it does all end up okay for Kaiba in the end. We know that by the time of GX Seto DID return from the afterlife... which to me means he did beat Atem. And since we never really hear about him taking on Yugi again and he seems happy enough running his company and turning Domino into Neo Domino... I honestly believe that when Seto defeated Atem that was it. For him, mentally, he was the King of Games. Yugi no longer mattered.
I always thought this was the case, I also thought it taught Seto how to have faith. For example in Yu-Gi-Oh GX the Princeton brothers request that Kaiba put the fate of the school on one duel with their hand selected opponent only allowed to use monsters with 500 or fewer attack and Kaiba accepted the challenge without even asking who they would pick. I interpreted this as Kaiba believing that any of his students could’ve handled this “threat”.
@@lunavioleta001 yeh but yugi did win against Atem so by him winning against kaiba it would make kaiba see him as the strongest and when he would have become his new rivel
That smile is definitely Kaiba showing Yugi respect, but also possibly acknowledging him as a friend and rival. And I think if not for Aigami achieving in bringing back Atem, Kaiba would have accepted that he was gone and that Yugi was indeed his rival now
Another duel worth mentioning since you brought up that DSOD is based in manga canon, the Exodia duel was originally a rematch in the Death-T arc, set up by Kaiba to get revenge for their initial encounter at school, and the entire reason that hologram technology exists at all in the manga continuity is because Kaiba invented it for Death-T to replicate the horror inflicted on him by Yami's Shadow Game in their first duel.
Kaiba corp head scientist: "Well sir now that you have a worthy rival shall we end the after life project?" Kaiba: "You idiot! this means I'm number 3, I need to beat the pharaoh and then I will be able to challenge Yugi again, invest another billion!" Head scientist: "Yes Sir!", to himself: "We could be curing cancer"
I love this video! I never thought of keeping track of Kaiba's hand to try and know what his set card would be. But I do understand Kaiba's smile in a similar way than you do. I think it meant that Yuugi surprised him in a good way and that he acknowledges Yuugi as a strong duellist.
@@gundamdetractor337 Yeah, but that's just it. Yugi has never been beaten by pure and solely skill. It just goes to show that Yugi will never lose unless the circumstances are purposely stacked against him, which means there's no worry of him ever losing, which in a protagonist who's so intent on proving his morals right a lot of the time, makes it a really lame show because you know he's going to win. With the other protagonists, Jaden lost fairly in Episode 8, Yuma was always painted as a loser of a duelist starting out and while Yusei never really lost duels, he had basically everything else stacked against him at the start. He couldn't resolve his problems solely by winning duels.
Love ya broh! thanks for the video, KEEP IT GOING with this series!... is the best BROH! and I have to say it as you prepare the whole video is incredible... thanks a lot for every content you have done in this channel I really apprciate it ! REALLY THANKS!!
The way they played out the scene was so precise and well managed because kaiba is such a strong character so if his lp would want to hit zero it’s such a big deal and they actually made it so it doesn’t by having the evil diva intrude because there was no face down card for kaiba to protect himself from little yugis counterattack so it’s like kind of kaiba lost but at the same time didn’t because of that intrusion and the way they crafted that scene was awesome
Ngl, kinda wish we would've gotten a Kaiba spinoff where he's the MC and he continues the legacy of dueling while Yugi does his own thing with the game he invents
Really great video, and good analysis! I never noticed the Monster Reborn layer to this. Brilliantly written and good on you for pointing it out. Little Yugi grew into his own.
I think he was about lose imo there is a bit more evidence to support this as said in the video the facedown card can only be polymerization also the smile can be interpreted as him acknowledged yugis skills
Yes, we saw at one point that poly was in his hand, but the anime is known to accidentally show cards that weren't there. So, it could have been poly, or it could have been an accidental fluke they missed. Or did the animators do that intentionally to throw us off guard? Hard to say.
@@StainlessGhs The only manga part of DSOD was a prequel manga that had Sera dueling against Kaiba, said duel having a representation in Duel Link’s first DSOD event. That manga simply set up the story for the movie to follow
What I find interesting about Yugi's MR play is that since Kaiba didn't watch the final duel, he doesn't know that Yugi used this same strategy to defeat the Pharaoh. Makes even more sense that Kaiba would fall for it Also, MR plays a crucial role in their duel in Battle City. I think that factors into Kaiba's reaction at being given it in this duel.
When you look at the simulation duel in DSOD where Kaiba duels virtual Pharaoh, it ends by Kaiba saying "I knew you'd set me up." meaning he was prepared for his trap card. He didn't know that little Yugi would set him up, and yet he lost. Maybe he realized that a piece of Atem is still in Yugi, but in a different way. Yugi reminded him of Atem by winning a duel with a set trap.
What i find interesting is that Yugi would have lost every duel if they started with just four thousand lp. Its an interesting decision, to say the least.
That's actually a really good point, but this way they didn't have to pull any bs out of their magical hats in order to have Yugi be the winner, and they were able to use modern cards with their (mostly) real life effects (again, mostly with a few exceptions)
The duels are always set up to account for the starting life points. If the creators still went with 4000 LP then they would have just changed the cards or combos to make it cost less life points.
As far as I'm concerned, they didn't even duel. Atem turned Kaiba away, trying to get him to let go of his petty grudge and move on. I mean, who's ego is enormous enough, and easy enough to bruise, that they would invent a way to cross over into the afterlife--the fucking AFTERLIFE--just to play a card game with a dead man? That is obsession gone berserk, and that's putting it lightly. Atem turned him down. He refused to feed Kaiba's ego any further. He turned him away, and asked his old rival to let it go, stop holding onto this obsession and move on with his life, because this rivalry simply cannot go on any more.
Watch the battle city semifinals in Japanese. There the pharaoh explains why Kaiba can't defeat him. Spoilers: it's because Kaiba can't accept the past and is motivated by hatred. While he doesn't accept the past, he will keep on losing to Yugi who does care about his past and accepts it. That character moment in fact played a big part on the duel. Yugi knew what Kaiba was planning based on that fact.
I hope you look at your comments. I honestly never got to witness many of these duels. Yugi Vs Atem, Yugi Vs Kaiba, I haven't gotten to Arc V or Vrains yet... And I appreciate these videos because then, in some way, I get to see those duels transpire, and get to see a competitive player's analysis on how they played their matches.
The set card was Poly. He probably smiled because he finally acknowledged Yugi as a rival. Even if he defeated Atem after the events of the movie, he'd still be driven to overcome Yugi next.
The dynamic between Yugi and Atem always seemed interesting to me, at least in the Anime's English Dub. While we usually saw Atem dueling, whenever it revealed his thoughts, it was always in Yugi's voice, as far as I can remember. Couple that with Yugi being a difficult opponent in some of the games I played, regardless of what form he's in, and it came across to me that Yugi was always a talented duelist.
one thing about kaiba's smile, 1.he doesn't want to duel yugi but he wants to duel atem/the pharaoh 2.the god cards didn't appear before duel ends 3.related to the god cards atem seems to always finds a way to summon slifer and not yugi (check out yugi vs jaden, in there atem makes appearance only to summon slifer) which is appear to be atem's boss card 4.speaking of boss monster yugi boss monster is gandora and he summons him, but what about kaiba is deep eyes a boss monster or chaos max or obelisk? i'll say obelisk but many people will say it was chaos max or even deep eyes 5. the fact that gandora is yugi's boss monster but was destroyed and kaiba can still bring back deep eyes, so yugi has to use his ace dark magician (one thing i learn from watching yugioh is that ace is good for clutch, but not boss monster, boss monster is a yugioh anime way of flexing mucles, and if that's gone you can only use your ace to bring out shenanigans) so i'll say that even though kaiba was defeated by yugi, kaiba smiles indicates that he doesn't feel the same way he duel atem with yugi, because if you watch the anime atem tends to flex much more than yugi, yugi already acknowledge kaiba, but only atem could push kaiba to up his game, so what i think kaiba smile means he's happy about yugi becoming stronger but also sad that yugi can't bring out the duel the same way as atem
I know this is a very niche pick for a future Yugioh Trivia, but could you do the Darkness archetype from GX? Specifically, the cards that Nightshroud/Darkness used in season 4 of the anime, the one that was never dubbed into English.
Am I the only one that noticed the music for the last part of the video is the same those guys that build water parks and pools in the wild byu hand here on youtube? Lol. Great video btw.
It's been determined that Kaiba lost because the only card he had left on the field faced down was polymerization as he had it in his hand earlier, but was gone later not by any card effects. Also, I know YGO media differs, but officially, you can only activate cards before or after a damage step. As for Kaiba's smile, in my opinion, it was a smile reassuring himself that Yugi is a great duelist without the pharaoh and is worthy of respect. Edit: oops I commented before watching.
@@rob19ny I mean, the rule I pointed out is prevalent in the manga and tv shows as well. Nobody has ever played a set card or activated a monsters effect during a damage step, only before or after, in the tv shows or manga. That one rule I pointed out. Think on it. Lol Edit: And real life card game bias? So you mean this whole time, I’ve been allowed to normal summon a BEWD without tributes in a real life game against a friend or at tournaments because what I thought is official from the YGO rule book isn’t actually official and it’s just my bias of how I want to play? I'm gonna pull out Seal of Orichalcos an expect people to lose their souls. Lol
@@rob19ny Actually, never mind. I've seen your other comments downplaying Yugi and saying how it's *_confirmed_* in a *_possible_* future story that's *_not definitive_* that he is in fact not the King of Games and how you wrote out a fanfic about Kaiba's setting down a fusion card counter, though not actually possible in the situation of the movie because the fusion card is Polymerization. You talk about my real life card game rules bias, but this tells me everything I need to know about your Kaiba bias and why you downplay Yugi to make Kaiba look good by having Kaiba not respect Yugi, because in your eyes, how dare Yugi be worthy of Kaiba's respect!?!?!?!?: "because Kaz thought fans wouldn't like a Kaiba only movie *_(he was wrong)_* "
I think there is another bit of a hidden meaning regarding Yugi not using "Monster Reborn" against both Kaiba and Atem in those 2 duels, and why Yugi was so willing to give it away to his opponent (Kaiba in this case) - outside of knowing what his opponent would do with said spell card, and it was something that I once had explained to me by a long time Yugioh fan like myself that had seen the movie, yet was something I don't think anybody would think of. The theory I was told why Yugi simply never used "Monster Reborn", gave it to Kaiba in the movie, and perhaps never had any intention of using "Monster Reborn" in his duel against Kaiba (and maybe Atem, but this is open to interpretation, along with the theory in general) was thus: If you look back through the cards Yugi had throughout Yugioh - be it anime, manga and movies - he already had probably more than enough cards to bring back monsters, and that's not even taking the many TCG cards that would work with Yugi's deck(s) as well, and whilst he would probably still keep "Monster Reborn" in the deck as an emotional and sentimental symbol, he probably would never have any intention of using it unless he really had no other choice, or in case he needed to use it as a cost or to do what he did to Kaiba and Atem, and the main reason he would probably never activate the spell itself was because of what the spell literally represented, and yet was the one thing he could not do with the one person that had been a big part of his life for many years: revival and rebirth, which is something Yugi couldn't do with Atem. Admittedly, I thought it was a little silly at first when I first heard this, but when I thought about it...it does kind of make some sense in hindsight. For all we know, the 6th card in Yugi's hand from Turn 1 could have possibly been "Monster Reborn", and played the waiting game (again, just my take on it). It sounds very far-fetched, I know, but it's also possible if you think on it and think about it outside the context of the duel. If you disagree, that's perfectly fine because it is a theory alone, just thought I would throw it out there.
for some hilarious reason yugi loves to put a lot of symbolism in his duels so this is the likely scenario, however I do like the interpretation that yugi had monster reborn and never used it because he is never going to revive atem. his play with final geas is likely yugi showing him his downfall as dark magician is the monster that highly represents atem. so in a way the duel between yugi and kaiba is closer to kaiba vs atem with yugi taking atem's place, however by withholding monster reborn and giving the option to kaiba, he is ultimately punished by his obsession with the ghosts of the past while yugi comes out victorious by giving up his (potentially) only chance to revive an old friend. it is also funny that had kaiba not used monster reborn he could have won the duel. or in other words, had he let go of his obsession with the past and moved on, he would have come victorious in this battle of pride.
Yugi is basically the pharaoh's successor, and that duel was just for kaiba to test yugi to see if he was a both a worthy successor and rival. The smile was kaiba realizing yugi was indeed worthy of both. This is my personal take but i think when kaiba went back to the past for his final duel with Atem he actually won that duel. Obviously they are not going to kill off kaiba, so he manages to return to the present to try and now beat his successor. There is still alot of story to be told here because technically speaking darkside of Dimensions is the beginning of Kaiba's rivalry with YUGI. Yugi's playstyle and card choices are also different from the pharaoh. all of his pasts duels and beef has been with the pharaoh, who he has now possibly beat when he went back to the past.