Yu-Gi-Oh! Will Disqualify You For Misgendering People

Yu-Gi-Oh! has updated its official tournament policies, expanding on its unsporting conduct rules to ensure those who “intentionally misgender” other players will face disqualification under the “most severe penalties” a judge can give.

While it has technically already been in the rules for a long time under more generic anti-harassment rules, this move makes it more explicit that misgendering others is an offense and allows judges to intervene more decisively.

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In the latest Official Tournament Infractions and Penalties Policy revision, released yesterday, misgendering is added as an example for a severe unsporting conduct infraction alongside other offenses such as stealing cards, defacing property, and physical assault. Under the rules, those guilty of a UC-Severe penalty will be immediately disqualified from the tournament – usually forfeiting any prizes they may have potentially won in the tournament.

Importantly, the rules state that offenses can take place anywhere at any time, not just the event venue by enrolled comPetitors, providing it “impacts upon or connects to a Sanctioned or Official event”. If the offender is not a comPetitor, they may be enrolled in the event by force, just to ensure their disqualification is on their record.

While the decision to disqualify is still ultimately up to the head judge of the event, this does mean those who are notorious for toxic behaviour such as misgendering may be disqualified before they’ve even set foot into an event.

Though it does also detail more Game-oriented offenses such as marked cards, and rigged shuffles, while also clarifying that “slow play” is down to the discretion of the judges, many of the rules outlined in the policies are more about how to behave when engaging in Yu-Gi-Oh! more generally. The most notorious example of this is the hygiene rule, which states that players with “lack of good hygiene” could receive official warnings – the lowest level of punishment.

The last time the policies were updated was back in December 2020, when vaccine requirements were added for all official and sanctioned events in the US. Such rules are still in place in the latest edition, with submitting fraudulent vaccination proof also being classed as a severe infraction that can result in disqualification. The new rulings are in effect immediately.

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