Victory condition Victory condition s ( 勝利条件 " Shōri Jōken " ) refer to the various ways a player can win a Duel or Match . Standard victory conditions . These are the typical ways to win a Duel in the game ' s mechanics . A player can also win a Duel if their opponent surrender s , or is issued a Game Loss penalty in a tournament . In addition , most tournaments are timed . If time runs out and the current Duel has not ended , the player with more LP wins ; if LP are tied , the Duel continues until the first change in LP happens ( unofficially known as " sudden death " ) . If both players satisfy a victory condition at the same time , then the Duel ends in a DRAW . If one of these victory conditions is met while an effect is still resolving ( i . e . " Ring of Destruction " or " Flowerbot " ) , the Duel ends immediately without resolving the rest of that effect . A Match is typically won by winning two Duels , making them best - of - 3 contests . In tournaments , Matches can also be won by the opponent forfeiting the Match or receiving a Match Loss penalty , or by time running out when the player has won one Duel while the opponent has not . ( If time runs out and both players have won an equal number of Duels , the current Duel is decided by LP or by " sudden death " if applicable . ) Alternate victory conditions . If one of these special victory conditions is met while resolving a card effect , victory cannot be declared until after that effect completely resolves and the victory condition still remains true . Duel winners . Since the beginning of the game , there have existed cards with condition s that provide alternate ways to win a Duel without making your opponent ' s LP 0 or making them Deck out . The first and arguably the most famous of these is " Exodia the Forbidden One " . There are currently a total of fifteen Duel winner cards in the " OCG " or " TCG " ( not all of which are legal for tournament play ) . Match winners . A series of monsters , known as Match winners , share the condition that if one successfully attacks your opponent directly and makes their LP 0 by the battle damage it inflicted ( sometimes with additional requirements ) , then you win the entire Match instead of just the Duel . All Match winners printed are illegal to use in official Duels , except for " Victory Dragon " , which is instead currently Forbidden . In the anime . In the anime , five duels have been won using an alternate victory condition : Yami Yugi against Seto Kaiba , Seeker against Joey Wheeler , Noah Kaiba against Seto Kaiba , Jaden Yuki against Harrington Rosewood , and Adrian Gecko against Aster Phoenix . Other Duelists such as Yami Bakura , Seto Kaiba , Dartz , Harrington Rosewood , Thelonious Viper , Yubel ( through Marcel Bonaparte ) , Quattro , Don Thousand , and Nash have attempted to win using an alternate victory condition , albeit unsuccessfully . Removing or replacing victory conditions . These cards have effects that remove or replace the standard victory conditions . Currently , no such effects exist in the " TCG " or " OCG " . Trivia . Prior to March 20 , 2015 in the " TCG " , it was the rule that a Duel could not end in the middle of resolving a card effect . For example : On March 20 , 2015 , the rules were changed for standard victory conditions only , stating that a Duel ends immediately if a player ' s LP reaches 0 or they are forced to draw a card when there are no cards in their Deck ( even while an effect is still resolving ) . This change does not carry over to alternate victory conditions ( i . e . a player draws a fifth " Forbidden One " monster by the effect of " Dark World Dealings " , but cannot declare victory until after they discard ) . This change was presumably made in response to the then - new erratum of " " in the " TCG " .