In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Seto Kaiba is one of the top duelists in the world. Very few are able to stand up to his power and attempt to take him on. However, there is another great duelist from the show who really doesn't get the recognition that she deserves, Mai Valentine.
While Mai loses the most important duels in the anime, her deck was more solidly put together than those that she sometimes lost to, such as Joey Wheeler. Should she really have lost all those duels, or does she deserve more respect than she gets? Which of these two is superior?
Mai: Archetype Focus
Throughout her time on the show, Mai's decks tended to focus on one archetype - Harpie Ladies. Mai would center her deck on those monsters while powering them up through various spell and trap cards.
Mai excels at focusing her deck on one archetype and really supporting them and making sure that every card matters. Not many other duelists in the show were able to match Mai in this regard.
Kaiba: Pure Power
Harpie Lady isn't a very strong card until it is powered up, but the same can't be said for Kaiba's monsters. All of Kaiba's monsters are high-powered right out of the gate, and could easily trample down a Harpie Lady that hasn't been set up yet.
In terms of pure attack points, Kaiba certainly has the win over Mai.
Mai: Swarming The Field
Mai's monsters were able to swarm the field very quickly. Once she had one Harpie Lady set up with additional power and effects, she would go into attack mode and triple her Harpie Lady with Elegant Egotist.
Being able to bring out so many monsters so quickly was one of the best aspects of Mai's deck, and Kaiba doesn't have any real response to employ the same strategy in his deck.
Kaiba: Access To Any Cards He Wants
If there's one thing that Kaiba has, it's money, and he isn't afraid to let anyone know. One advantage that this money gives Kaiba is the ability to buy any card under the sun that he could ever need.
If Kaiba wants a card, he can get it. This is why he has 75% of all of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons in the world. As such, if Kaiba wants to craft a new deck specifically to counter someone such as Mai, he can do just that.
Mai: Works With What She Can
Mai, on the other hand, is not rich. She has crafted a very well-made deck over the course of likely a long time.
Kaiba can get whatever he wants, which is an advantage, but Mai uses cards that she cares about and has earned over the course of her career as a duelist. Both approaches are admirable, but hers is a lot more heartfelt than his.
Kaiba: Can Wield An Egyptian God Card
One thing that Mai cannot do, as fans learned during Battle City, is wield an Egyptian God Card. Kaiba can use the power of Obelisk the Tormentor to devastate his opponents.
He can even just sort of summon it without the card, as viewers saw in Dark Side of Dimensions. While Mai has some solid tricks up her sleeve, summoning gods to fight on her behalf is not one of them.
Mai: A Better Focus On Effect Monsters
While Mai mostly uses Harpie Lady cards, she does use another female-centric archetype, Amazonesses. While she doesn't use these cards as often, one thing that gives them a solid advantage is that they all have powerful effects.
Kaiba, on the other hand, doesn't really use that many effect monsters throughout the show's run. While he does here and there, he generally uses powerful, non-effect beat sticks. He does use a high amount of spell and trap cards, though.
Kaiba: Spell & Trap Oriented
Kaiba uses some very strong spell and trap cards that would be very useful if he ever battled with Mai. He has cards that can destroy monsters, weaken them, and generally take his opponents' decks apart with ease.
And if one were to count the filler arcs, he has a dragon card that he can merge with his traps. Kaiba loves traps, and he loves dragons. It really is a match made in heaven.
Mai: Harpie's Feather Duster
One very powerful card that Mai has is Harpie's Feather Duster, which destroys the opponent's entire spell and trap collection for absolutely no cost. The card is so powerful that it was actually banned in the real-life game for years.
This card is easily one of the best in Mai's deck, and it's even better against Kaiba, someone who relies heavily on his spells and traps during duels. While Harpie's Feather Duster is a great card, Kaiba has a card in his deck that can be just as devastating under the right circumstances.
Kaiba: Crush Card Virus
One of Kaiba's favorite strategies to employ is activating Crush Card Virus, which destroys the opponent's deck by taking out all of their strong monsters. Kaiba uses this strategy often to devastate his opponents to the point that they can't even fight back.
Harpie's Feather Duster and Crush Card Virus are two very powerful cards that can help their owner win in two different ways. Mai and Kaiba are both incredibly powerful in their own right, just like their cards.