Mathematically, the Duelist Cup is a Human Rights Violation

Master Duel's Duelist Cup has garnered quite the reputation after Joshua Schmidt live streamed the entirety of his worlds qualification run in May of 2023. He played 62 hours of YuGiOh in the span of 3 days, an incredibly unhealthy amount, in order to top. Many top players defend the Duelist Cup format because of how skill testing it is, and it's true: nobody lucks their way into winning a Duelist Cup.

This brings to mind an interesting question: how can this tournament be improved while keeping the fact it's a skillful competition? In this essay, I take a look at a similar ladder tournament held on Pokemon Showdown as well as analyze data I gathered to see if Master Duel's least ethical tournament can be improved.

Thanks to ‪@KaiAfterKai‬ for their voice acting, and ‪@TheDBGrinder‬ for answering my interview questions!

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00:00 introduction
02:17 the cons and pros of the duelist cup
06:18 the official ladder tournament experience
10:15 are these even comparable??
15:40 duelist cup's need for speed
18:44 an analysis of Elo and DP
22:24 the root of the matter
24:50 what is to be done?
28:01 outroduction

#yugioh #masterduel #duelistcup #pokemonshowdown #smogon #elo #outofcharacters #videoessay