World Championship

For the video game series, see Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship.

The World Championship is an international, invitational Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG) and Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (OCG) tournament held annually —most commonly in Japan— between the top-ranked delists of various countries. In order to receive an invitation to the World Championship, a player has to earn an invite at their respective region's World Championship Qualifiers tournament. These regions are North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Oceania for the TCG as well as Asia, China, South Korea and Japan for the OCG.

While the number of participants per region and in total usually fluctuates slightly from year to year, there are usually about 22-28 players who get to participate, with roughly 2/3 of them being from TCG countries and the remaining 1/3 from the OCG.

The World Championship is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament that unites the TCG and OCG formats which are usually very different from eachother. To accomplish this, the World Championship tournaments use a special banlist, where all cards are set at their lowest allowed status in any region. For example, a card that is on the Semi-Limited list in one region but the Limited list in another will be Limited on the World Championship banlist, and a card that is Forbidden in one region but Unlimited in another will be Forbidden. In addition, any cards that are not legal in any one of the regions are automatically Forbidden on the World Championship list.

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

Currently, only one player, namely Shunsuke Hiyama, has managed to win more than one World Championship. He is also the only back-to-back Champion. The record for the highest amount of Worlds participations is held by Galileo de Obaldia, who has played in five tournaments (only including the TCG/OCG World Championships).

Additionally to the main tournaments for the physical card game, World Championships usually include one or two additional tournaments that are also referred to as "World Championships":

From 2003 to 2011, World Championships for the video game series of the same name were held. These ended in 2011 as this was also the last year one of these video games was released.
From 2012 to 2019, World Championships for Dragon Duel were held. In early 2023, Konami restructured the Dragon Duel tournament system, leading to the end of the Dragon Duel World Championship.[1]
Since 2017, World Championships for Duel Links are held.
Since 2023, World Championships for Master Duel are held.
Since 2024, World Champions for the Rush Duel format for Duel Links are held.

When taking all World Championship formats into account, the player with the most participations is Joshua Schmidt, who has competed in TCG/OCG four times and Master Duel twice.

Tournaments

2024

Date: 7 - 8 September 2024
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Attendance: 28
Ref: ^[2]
Champion: Ruben Penaranda (Fiendsmith Yubel)
Runner-Up: Mark Solis (Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye)
Semi-Finalist: Yuto Kondo (Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King)
Semi-Finalist: Jose Santiago (Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye)

2023

Date: 5 - 6 August 2023
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 28
Ref: ^[3]
Champion: Paulie Aronson (Bystial Dragon Link)
Runner-Up: Mateo Renteria (Tenyi Swordsoul)
Semi-Finalist: Jeremy Mitchell (Vanquish Soul)
Semi-Finalist: Santiago Marin (Bystial Dragon Link)

2019

Date: 10 - 11 August 2019
Location: Berlin, Germany
Attendance: 28
Ref: ^[4]
Champion: Kouki Kosaka (Salamangreat)
Runner-Up: Chia Ching Wang (Salamangreat)
Third Place: Angel Ovalle (Salamangreat)
Fourth Place: Koty Angeloff (Crusadia Thunder Dragon Link)

2018

Date: 4 - 5 August 2018
Location: Chiba, Japan
Attendance: 28
Ref: ^[5]
Champion: Chia Ching Wang (Trickstar)
Runner-Up: Bohdan Temnyk (Altergeist)
Third Place: Francesco Simoncelli (Gouki)
Fourth Place: Seung-Chul Jung (Sky Striker)

2017

Date: 12 - 13 August 2017
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 26
Ref: ^[6]
Champion: Ryosuke Tsujimura (True King Yang Zing Dinosaur)
Runner-Up: Milton Chua (True King Yang Zing Dinosaur)
Third Place: Marcello Barberi (True Draco)
Fourth Place: Michael Forner (Windwitch Invoked)

2016

Date: 20 - 21 August 2016
Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
Attendance: 22
Ref: ^[7]
Champion: Shunsuke Hiyama (Blue-Eyes)
Runner-Up: Erik Christensen (Blue-Eyes)
Third Place: Kajihara Soichiro (Majespecter)
Fourth Place: Matthew Casiero (Monarch)

2015

Date: 15 - 16 August 2015
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Attendance: 22
Ref: ^[8]
Champion: Shunsuke Hiyama (Tellarknight)
Runner-Up: Galileo de Obaldia (Nekroz)
Third Place: Akira Hasegawa (Nekroz)
Fourth Place: Chase Cunningham (Artifact Tellarknight)

2014

Date: 9 - 10 August 2014
Location: Rimini, Italy
Attendance: 22
Ref: ^[9]
Champion: Sehabi Kheireddine (Infernity)
Runner-Up: Shunsuke Hiyama (Artifact Traptrix)
Third Place: Oliver Tomajko (Infernity)
Fourth Place: Niccolo Mazzoleni (Bujin)

2013

Date: 10 - 11 August 2013
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Attendance: 26
Ref: ^[10]
Champion: Shin-En Huang (Dragon Ruler)
Runner-Up: David Keener (Spellbook)
Third Place: Hiromi Kudou (Dragon Ruler)
Fourth Place: Weerapun Suebyoubol (Dragon Ruler)

2012

Date: 11 - 12 August 2012
Location: Roppongi, Japan
Attendance: 26
Ref: ^[11]
Champion: Akikazu Saito (Inzektor)
Runner-Up: Stefano Memoli (Inzektor)
Third Place: Joshua Schmidt (Inzektor)
Fourth Place: Wesley Seek (Inzektor)

2011

Date: 13 - 14 August 2011
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Attendance: 26
Ref: ^[12]
Champion: Takashi Ogawa (Agent)
Runner-Up: Kei Murakoshi (Junk Doppel)
Third Place: Galileo de Obaldia (Junk Doppel)
Fourth Place: Kongjaroen Phanupak (Machina Gadget)

2010

Date: 14 - 15 August 2010
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Attendance: 25
Ref: ^[13]
Champion: Galileo de Obaldia (Frog FTK)
Runner-Up: Vincent Paglia (Blackwing)
Third Place: Kei Kuwano (Herald)
Fourth Place: Tae Woo Kim (Blackwing)

2009

Date: 8 - 9 August 2009
Location: Akihabara, Japan
Attendance: 23
Ref: ^[14]
Champion: Benjamin Tan (Blackwing)
Runner-Up: Chien Yen Jui (Gladiator Beast)
Third Place: Roy St. Clair (Blackwing)
Fourth Place: Hong-Kyu Lee (Gladiator Beast)

2008

Date: 9 - 10 August 2008
Location: Berlin, Germany
Attendance: 22
Ref: ^[15]
Champion: Kazuki Mutsuoka (Gladiator Beast)
Runner-Up: Robert Ackerman (Gladiator Beast)
Third Place: Takeru Norihama (Lightsworn)
Fourth Place: Claudio Kirchmair (Gladiator Beast)

2007

Date: 28 - 29 July 2007
Location: San Diego, California, USA
Attendance: 23
Ref: ^[16]
Champion: Andres Toro (Trooper Monarch)
Runner-Up: Mattia Sarpa (Machine Monarch)
Third Place: Adam Corn (Burn)
Fourth Place: Dexter Dalit (Monarch)

2006

Date: 5 - 6 August 2006
Location: Akihabara, Japan
Attendance: 22
Ref: ^[17]
Champion: Dario Longo (Chaos Decree)
Runner-Up: King-Hang Shum (Dark World Chaos)
Third Place: Adrian Madaj (Recruiter Chaos Decree)
Fourth Place: Miltiadis Markou

2005

Date: 6 - 7 August 2005
Location: Ariake, Japan
Attendance: 40
Ref: ^[18]
Champion: Miltiadis Markou (Nephthys Goat Control)
Runner-Up: Jorge Pina (Empty Jar)
Third Place: David Kretschmer (Machine Chaos)
Fourth Place: Guan Sian Li (Warrior Chaos)

2004

Date: 25 July 2004
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Attendance: 31
Ref: ^[19]
Champion: Masatoshi Togawa (Chaos)
Runner-Up: Wan-Hang Chan (Chaos)
Third Place: Yoshinobu Suekane (Chaos)
Fourth Place: Ryan Pugh (Chaos)

2003

Date: 10 August 2003
Location: New York, USA
Attendance: 18
Ref: ^[20]
Champion: Yu-Leung Ng (Hand Destruction)
Runner-Up: Shigeki Kitamura (Hand Destruction)
Third Place: Mike Rosenberg (Hand Destruction)
Fourth Place: Huai Tao Sun (Hand Destruction)

References

[1] ttps://yugiohblog.konami.com/2023/02/announcing-the-dragon-duel-championship/

[2] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C71Ge6nVuRI

[3] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XunOFynG2Oo

[4] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20190810182825/https://www.konami.com/yugioh/worldchampionship/2019/ja/

[5] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20220706070534/https://coverage.yugioh-card.com/event/world-championships/2018-world-championship/

[6] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180331170604/https://www.konami.com/yugioh/wcs2017/ja/

[7] ttps://yugiohblog.konami.com/event/championships/yu-gi-oh-world-championship-2016/

[8] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20220519153335/https://coverage.yugioh-card.com/event/world-championships/2015-world-championship/

[9] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20220706062000/https://coverage.yugioh-card.com/event/world-championships/world-championship-2014/

[10] ttps://yugiohblog.konami.com/event/championships/yu-gi-oh-world-championship-2013/

[11] ttp://duelingdays.blogspot.com/2012/08/day-3-at-wcs2012-event-day-2.html

[12] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20220706071252/https://coverage.yugioh-card.com/event/world-championships/world-championship-2011/

[13] ttps://yugiohblog.konami.com/event/championships/wcs-2010/

[14] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100202030835/https://www.yugioh-card.com/uk/events/championships/World_2009/index.html

[15] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080820043706/http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/yugioh/en/events/event.asp

[16] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070820140520/http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/yugioh/en/events/event.aspx?eid=14

[17] ttps://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=330807

[18] ttps://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=190698

[19] ttp://kperovic.com/metagame/yugioha9df.html?tabid=61&EventId=5

[20] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20040613171437/http://www.konami.com.hk:80/kma_th/yugioh_card/yugioh_kma/schedule/world2003e.htm

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]