Duel Links World Championship

The World Championship logo

The Duel Links World Championship is an international, invitational Duel Links tournament held annually between the top-ranked Duel Links players of various countries. It is held alongside the World Championship for the physical card game. The first one was held in 2017. Since 2024, the Duel Links World Championship is split into two categories, those being Speed Duel (the traditional format of Duel Links) and Rush Duel (which was added to the game in September 2023). However, the total amount of competitors is still the same (24), resulting in a smaller Duel Links/Speed Duel World Championship.

In order to receive an invitation to the Speed Duel World Championship, a player has two options:

• Before each World Championship, there are the World Championship Qualifiers which grant a set amount of invites per region to players. In 2023, the amount of invites per region were the following: 4 for Asia/Oceania/Middle East/Africa as well as 3 for North America, Latin America/Carribean, Europe and Japan.
  In 2024, the amount of invites for the Regional Qualifiers was reduced significantly (Total amount: 16 -> 7) to reflect the reduced size of the tournament.
• Another way to qualify is by winning one of the KC Cups or earning seasonal points ("KCCP") at several of them. In both 2024, 9 players qualified this way (4 tournament winners and 5 top point players).

For the first ever Rush Duel World Championship in 2024, the only way to qualify was via the Regional Qualifiers, which determined all eight invites. However, it seems likely that the winners of the GH Festivals will also be invited in the future.

Each player gets to bring multiple decks to the World Championship, they are not allowed to use the same deck twice in one match.

Along other prizes, the winner of the Duel Links World Championship receives a guaranteed invite to the tournament of the following year.

Between 2020 and 2022, no World Championships took place due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. As a replacement, Konami held KC Grand Tournaments.

Tournaments

2024

Speed Duel 2024

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2024 § Duel Links

Date: 7 - 8 September 2024
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Attendance: 16
Ref:

Champion: Sebastian Villarroel "Shelmy"
Sky Striker (Playmaker and Ai: Link Darkraze)
Chronomaly (Trey: Hope-Filled Chronomaly)
Star Seraph (Dumon: Barian Battlemorph! The Barians' White Shield)
Rokket (Varis: Borreload Link)
Unchained (Yubel: Fiend's Exchange)

Runner-Up: Takuma Kitamura "たく"
Fleur Infernoble Knight (Sherry LeBlanc: Revolution des Fleurs)
Sky Striker (Varis: Link Darkraze)
Sky Striker Shark (Reginald "Shark" Kastle: Shark Magic Combo)
Cyberse (Playmaker and Ai: Darkfluid Link)
Star Seraph (Dumon: Barian Battlemorph! The Barians' White Shield)

Rush Duel 2024

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2024 § Duel Links (Rush Duel)

Date: 7 - 8 September 2024
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Attendance: 8
Ref:

Champion: Marc-Andre Ladouceur-Kirkor "QuantumCubes"
Ultimate Flag Machine (Yuga Ohdo: Ultimate Bond)
Yggdrago Cyberse (Nail Soinji: Maximum Ragnarok)
Royal Rebel's Fiend (Roa Kassidy: Death Doom Requiem)
Psychic (Romin Kassidy: Re:D Shine!)
Buster Blader Warrior (Asana Matsuba: Emblem of Destruction)

Runner-Up: Gabriel Tan "Voltalon"
Ultimate Flag Machine (Yuga Ohdo: Ultimate Bond)
Yggdrago Cyberse (Nail Soinji: Maximum Ragnarok)
Psychic (Romin Kassidy: Re:D Shine!)
Royal Rebel's Fiend (Roa Kassidy: Death Doom Requiem)
Blue-Eyes Monarch (Gavin Sogetsu: Blue-Eyes Reign)

2023

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2023 § Duel Links

Date: 5 - 6 August 2023
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 24
Ref:

Champion: Jian Yu Jiang "Takagi"
Destiny HERO (Aster Phoenix: Destiny Effect)
Speedroid (Yugo: Clear Wing Acceleration)
Crusadia (Playmaker and Ai: Three Effects!)
Gandora Gadget Orcust (Yugi Muto: Determination to Fight)
Odd-Eyes Magistus Magician (Yuya Sakaki: Raging Pendulum)

Runner-Up: Jonghwan Lee "Yukoo"
Orcust (Playmaker and Ai: Three Effects!)
Speedroid (Yugo: Clear Wing Acceleration)
Rokket (Varis: Borrel Launch)
Destiny HERO (Aster Phoenix: Destiny Effect)
Odd-Eyes Magistus Magician (Yuya Sakaki: Raging Pendulum)

2019

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2019 § Duel Links

Date: 10 - 11 August 2019
Location: Berlin, Germany
Attendance: 20
Ref:

Champion: Shuhei Kobayashi "コバヤシ"
Blue-Eyes (Ishizu Ishtar: Sealed Tombs)
Six Samurai (Jaden Yuki: The Tie that Binds)
Desperado Machine (Sartorius Kumar: Master of Destiny)
Magnet Warrior (Yugi Muto: Access Denied
Crystron (Mako Tsunami: Mythic Depths)

Runner-Up: Takahiro Hamada "あれ。"
Six Samurai (Lumis and Umbra: Light and Dark)
Desperado Cyberdark (Sartorius Kumar: Master of Destiny)
Triamid (Dr. Vellian Crowler: Balance)
Magnet Warrior (Yugi Muto: The Tie that Binds)
Neos (Jaden Yuki: Neo Space!)

2018

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2018 § Duel Links

Date: 4 - 5 August 2018
Location: Chiba, Japan
Attendance: 16
Ref:

Champion: Takahiro Hamada "あれ。"
Spellbook (Arkana: Show of Nightmares)
Fur Hire (Seto Kaiba: Beatdown)
Amazoness (Odion: Endless Trap Hell)
Masked HERO (Aster Phoenix: Destiny Calling)
Geargia Vehicroid (Syrus Truesdale: Fusion Reserves - Roids)

Runner-Up: Junior Silva "N. DO ZAP"
Fur Hire (Seto Kaiba: Beatdown)
Spellbook (Bandit Keith: Switcheroo)
Noble Knight (Yami Yugi: Balance)
Geargia Vehicroid (Syrus Truesdale: Fusion Reserves - Roids)
Amazoness (Odion: Endless Trap Hell)

2017

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2017 § Duel Links

Date: 12 - 13 August 2017
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 10
Ref:

Champion: Timmy Chiew "Timmy"
Ninja (Seto Kaiba: Beatdown)
Toon (Maximillion Pegasus: Restart)
Mill (Téa Gardner: Duel, standby!)

Runner-Up: ... "Tutput"
Ninja (Seto Kaiba: Beatdown)
Toon (Mai Valentine: Restart)
Mill (Téa Gardner: Duel, standby!)