Master Duel Duelist Cup

The Duelist Cup logo

The Duelist Cup (often abbreviated as DC) is a series of major Master Duel tournaments that take place thrice per competitive season. Alongside the annual Master Duel World Championship Qualifier, they represent the four main official tournaments that happen each season in Master Duel apart from the World Championship. It was first held in August 2022, about half a year after the release of the game. Following the first Master Duel World Championship in August 2023, Konami made a significant change to the Duelist Cup rewards, as players can now earn an invite to the World Championship at the end of the season via the tournament. Previously, the Duelist Cups only had offered in-game rewards (icons, profile titles and pack reward tickets).

Regular Duelist Cups

The first two-time winner: Ryan Yu

The tournament is divided into two stages: In the first stage, which is open for roughly two weeks, a player levels up by winning games. In order to qualify for the second stage, they have to reach Level 20 ("DLv. Max"). In the second stage, which happens during the last three days of the event, players have to earn as many points ("DP") as possible. They earn points by winning games and lose points by losing games.
This system has been critized for promoting unhealthy behavior by many voices in the competitive community, such as Dkayed. For instance, Joshua Schmidt, who won the first World Championship, livestreamed his entire qualification process, playing for just over 60 hours across the three days of the Master Duel WCQ in 2023, which follows the same format as the Duelist Cups. On the other hand, proponents of the system argue that the large amount of games helps eliminate variance, thus rewarding skill over luck.

Currently, Ryan Yu and Tasuku Kobanawa are the only players who have managed to make first place at more than one Duelist Cup.

The way by which players can receive an invite to the World Championship is either by winning a Duelist Cup or by collecting Season Points throughout the season. The winners of the three seasonal Duelist Cups can each choose any two other players from their respective region (Japan, Asia, North America, Latin America or Europe/Middle East/Oceania/Africa) to form a team for the World Championship.
For the Season Points, three players from the same region have to combine their accumulated points, the two highest-ranking team formed for this also receive invites. Players can form teams at any point during the competitive season. However, there is an incentive to choose teammates early as each existing team receives an additional 100 points during each Duelist Cup and WCQ.
Season Points can be earned by finishing in the Top 100 of the Duelist Cups or the World Championship Qualifiers. While higher ranking players receive more points than lower ranking players, the system is considerably more equal than the KC Cup Points in Duel Links, which are almost exclusively given out to Top 20 players. Currently, the amount of Season Points awarded per DC/WCQ is as follows:

Rank	Season Points
2nd	2000
3 - 11th	1500 - 1240 (Steps of 30 or 40)
12 - 20th	1000 - 840 (Steps of 20)
21 - 30th	800
31 - 40th	700
41 - 50th	600
51 - 60th	500
61 - 70th	400
71 - 80th	300
81 - 90th	200
91 - 100th	100

Special Format Cups

The Xyz Cup logo

In mid July 2024, Konami announced the Xyz Cup for the end of the same month. This event, taking place right between the WCQ and the World Championship, was a special version of the Duelist Cup. It followed the exact same event structure, but unlike the normal Cups, it wasn't played under the regular Master Duel banlist. The rewards were also slightly different.

As the name implies, Xyz Monsters were the only type of Extra Deck Monster usable for the event. Additionally, some other cards were also be forbidden, mostly cards that specifically counter Xyz strategies (such as "Flying "C"") or cards that belong to archetypes not relying on their Extra Deck (such as "Floowandereeze").
As for the rewards, no World Championship invites or Season Points were given out at the Xyz Cup. Instead, the event offered some special in-game rewards that went past the regular Duelist Cup rewards:

• The Top 100 players received a special icon frame modeled after the Overlay Units from the anime. In the regular Duelist Cups, there are no icon frames to be earned.
• The winner of the tournament also received a one-of icon as well as a one-of profile title ("Overlord of the Deepest Black"). In the regular Duelist Cups, all Top 10 players receive the same cosmetic rewards.

It is currently unknown how often events like this will be held in the future.

List of Duelist Cups

Start date (2nd stage)	Name	Winner	Mostly used deck(s)	DP	Ref
2022-2023 Season
2022-08-19	2022 AUG	"Gera"	"Adventurer Synchro"	74,249
2022-12-16	2022 DEC	"狂暴鴻儒積木龍"	"60-Card Adamancipator"	61,393
2023-03-24	2023 MAR	Tasuku Kobanawa "たすく"	"P.U.N.K."	66,504
2023-2024 Season
2023-10-27	2023 OCT	Jeong Hyeon Suh "CER. Greed"	"Purrely"	75,378
2023-12-15	2023 DEC	Ryan Yu "Karmano"	"Bystial Dragon Link" "Zoodiac" "Labrynth"	82,288
2024-03-22	2024 MAR	Ryan Yu "Ryan" (Already qualified)	"Labrynth"	86,906
		World Championship invite passed down to: Tasuku Kobanawa "たすく"	"Kashtira Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye"	72,963
2024-2025 Season
2024-09-27	2024 SEP	Tasuku Kobanawa "たすく"	"Yubel"	85,918
2024-12-20	2024 DEC	To be determined	To be determined

List of Special Format Cups

Start date (2nd stage)	Name	Winner	Mostly used deck(s)	DP	Ref
2024-07-26	Xyz Cup	Tasuku Kobanawa "たすく"	"Springans Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King"	80,064