Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel has just kicked off its first major post-launch event in the Xyz Festival, and it’s proven popular enough to bring the game to some of its best player counts since launch. The structure of the event also has players taking their decks in some, er… unexpected directions. Rather than trying to win, players are now trying to die as quickly as possible.
The Xyz Festival awards you with medals for each match you complete, and those medals determine the rewards you can earn. You get more medals for winning than losing, but if you build a deck filled with card effects that deal damage to yourself, you can lose so quickly that it’s faster to rack up losses than victories.
So now the game’s subreddit and Steam forums are both filled with discussion over the so-called ‘suicide’ or ‘self-burn’ decks that are dominating the event. Some players are happy to see something so weird happening, while plenty of others would rather be playing the game as intended. Either way, this probably isn’t the outcome Konami was looking for.
The Xyz Festival is scheduled to continue until February 24.
Our guide to the best Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel starter deck won’t help you lose any more quickly, but once the meta returns to being, uh, victory-focused, it’ll help you get a head start.