There are very few duelists in the have the ability to compete with Yugi Muto. One exception is Seto Kaiba. While he's not quite on the level of Yugi, he certainly gives the duelist a run for his money. His skills are sharp, he has a nice balance in his deck, and he's generally a great duelist.
However, he isn't perfect. While his deck is generally well constructed, there are certainly a few issues that could be ironed out to make it even better than it already is. The first issue starts with his most famous monster, Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Normal Ace Monsters
Blue-Eyes White Dragon is certainly a nice beatstick, clocking in at 3000 attack points. However, that's all it has going for it. No effects, no protection, just those attack points. Kaiba's ace monster is a normal monster that can't even keep itself on the field if an effect to take it out would be activated. That certainly isn't ideal. However, Kaiba always seems to find a way around this little issue.
Hitotsu-Me Giant
Why on earth does Kaiba have Hitotsu-Me Giant in his deck? What could this card possibly bring to the field that another monster couldn't? Hitotsu-Me Giant is a normal monster with 1200 attack points. That's literally it. Nothing else. Why would Kaiba, one of the best duelists of all time, use a card as weak as this? At the very least, this card leaves Kaiba's deck after the Duelist Kingdom arc.
Most Of His Duelist Kingdom Deck
This is sort of a problem for every character during Duelist Kingdom, but Kaiba's deck really just isn't that good during this arc of the show. The power level in general is a lot lower, hence the Hitotsu-Me Giant of it all. That card would never show up in his deck again.
Other weak cards like Grappler also make an appearance in this version of his deck, too. This would all be eventually sorted out, but one issue would persist.
The Same Strategies Over And Over
Kaiba has a bit of a problem with his deck when it comes to new strategies. He has none. From season to season, he does a few things consistently. Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Saggi the Dark Clown with Crush Card Virus, and XYZ Dragon Cannon. These strategies are constants from Kaiba that he should really switch out now and again in order to keep his opponents on their toes.
Not Many Tribute Monsters
Kaiba has quite a few four-star monsters in his deck, probably a few too much. He has his Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards, but beyond that, he uses quite a few four-star monsters such as Vorse Raider rather than having other tribute monsters. This can be a fine strategy, but if his opponent summons their boss monster, he better have a way to defeat it if there is no Blue-Eyes White Dragon in his hand.
Spirit Ryu
Spirit Ryu, when used correctly, isn't a good card. When Kaiba uses it, it can halve 7000 attack points, but in real life, this 1000 attack point monster can double its attack points to 2000 if the player discards a dragon. Otherwise, it just has 1000. This really isn't a good effect or card in general, yet Kaiba found a place for it in his deck for some strange reason. It really just wasn't worth it.
Paladin Of White Dragon
Paladin of White Dragon is a four-star ritual monster that, among a few other effects, can be tributed in order to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Blue-Eyes White Dragon normally requires two tributes to summon. But Paladin of White Dragon requires a bit more.
You need the Paladin of White Dragon card, its ritual spell card, and at least one additional monster, if not more, to summon it. Why waste so much material on one card? Blue-Eyes White Dragon is easier to bring out of the deck by itself. This wasn't a smart strategy for Kaiba.
Cave Dragon
Cave Dragon has 2000 attack points and is a four-star monster. The card cannot be normal summoned if the player controls another monster. In addition, the card can only attack if there is at least one dragon monster on the player's side of the field, otherwise, it can only sit there and watch. What is the benefit of using such a restrictive and useless card? Skip this for something with a bit more benefit.
Incredibly Specific Cards
This goes for most anime characters, but Kaiba has a whole host of cards that he just doesn't need that only exist for a specific duel. Why would anyone have Interdimensional Matter Transporter in their deck unless it was going to be used for one very specific reason? There are all sorts of cards that Kaiba shouldn't have in his deck but he does because of plot armor. There are some specific cards he could have packed, however.
Spell And Trap Removal
Now, why does Kaiba not have a Mystical Space Typhoon or two in his deck? Spell and trap card removal is something that every duelist should have at the ready in their deck, but Kaiba doesn't seem to have any at all. This seems like something that someone on Kaiba's level should have taken care of.
