Off Topic » Serious Discussions

I’m posting this to share a frustrating experience I had during a game on DuelingBook, and I’d like to hear the community’s thoughts.



I was playing an Edison match, and a ruling situation came up that I believe was handled unfairly. Here’s what happened:



After I drew my card for the turn, my opponent immediately activated Trap Dustshoot, without giving me a chance to exercise my priority. As many of you know, based on years of rulings and gameplay standards, I’m entitled to priority after drawing to decide whether I want to activate any effects or quick-play spells before my opponent takes action.



I explained this to my opponent, but he insisted I was wrong, claiming I needed to announce my priority even before seeing the card I drew—which makes no sense. How can I declare an action without knowing what’s in my hand? Despite my clear explanation, my opponent kept saying, “Call Kitty (the admin), but he’ll side with me anyway.”



When Kitty Trouble joined, I initially felt validated. After hearing my explanation, Kitty even said, “I don’t understand why people activate Trap Dustshoot the second someone draws,” clearly agreeing with me. However, things quickly shifted. Kitty seemed to recognize my opponent, possibly a friend of theirs, and their ruling completely flipped. Suddenly, they claimed I had “taken too long” after my draw, and my opponent’s action was allowed.



Not only was this ruling completely inconsistent with standard gameplay, but when I protested further, Kitty escalated things by giving me a Game Loss before leaving.



This situation feels deeply unfair and unprofessional. I’ve been playing for years, and I’ve never seen rulings handled this way. The correct ruling was clear, but it seems personal bias influenced the outcome.



I’ve attached the replay so everyone can judge for themselves. Is this how DuelingBook should be managed? If rulings are handled based on friendships rather than fairness, what’s the point of playing here anymore? I’m genuinely considering leaving the platform if this is the kind of support we’re expected to rely on.



Match Replay: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=1148523-66176075






Additional Note:

I’d like to add one more thing. For anyone who finds situations like this frustrating—Trap Dustshoot and the priority debate—we’ve all been there at some point. Maybe out of habit, laziness, or inexperience, you activate Trap Dustshoot, and your opponent says, “Wait, I want to chain Mystical Space Typhoon.” I get that it’s annoying, but these are the rules.



This has happened to me many times before, and the ruling has always been the same: priority belongs to the player who drew. This isn’t a new concept. This kind of scenario has been seen countless times, and no judge before has ever ruled the way Kitty did in my case.



What makes this even more concerning is how strange, or “fishy,” the situation feels. For transparency, I want to be completely honest: I don’t know for sure if I would have activated MST from my hand if my opponent hadn’t activated Trap Dustshoot so quickly. It’s impossible to say for sure, but I’d like to believe I would have made the right play, which was likely to activate MST.



The point is that I was denied the opportunity to make that decision—just because the admin seemed to favor their friend. This is unacceptable, and it undermines the fairness of the game.

I'd like to add the "Mistake" made by my opponent in chat by calling me "he", clearly talking to Kitty in private chat complaining that i was salty about the situation and laughed at me (check also his reaction in the chat). Also when i said i was going to post it on DB Forum he started trolling on game 3, imo hoping he'll lose and i wouldnt post (but my hand was too much unplayable)

pretty immature to make baseless claims that a judge is biased just because you got ruled against. lets look at one very very very important thing.

players who want to retain priority when drawing in eidson will almost always say that prior to drawing even if they have no response just to prevent any confusion with dustshoot. not only that the timestamp of you wanting to claim priority is fairly absurd

[4:40] Drew "Gold Sarcophagus"
[4:58] "i have prio"

This does not take 18 seconds to communicate. I would have denied you priortiy here as well this is an absurd ammount of time to wait to claim prio.

[25:07] Kitty Trouble: "I won't allow priority here just because it took so long to say anything about thinking priority"
as you can see the long timeframe is the exact reason for kittys ruling not your absurd notions of bias and "friends" stop making random baseless claims just because you are unable to play properly and get ruled against. Edison is an older format as essentially has its own ethics and standard way of playing. players who want to use prio weither it be prio for a phase or ignition prio instantly communicate that either within a second or usually a bit before the play is made.

The longer you wait to "i have prio" the harder it is going to be for us to tell wether you had planned to do so immeidately or thought about it and made a choice based on the dustshoot being revealed.

I do not appreciate you trashing the judge team just because you cannot communicate in a timely manner. had you said prio even a few seconds after that dustshoot i would have allowed it and kitty probably would have as well.

end of the day edison players should stop making illegal activations and the players who want to use prio should prepare to prevent disputes with it since they know how big of a topic this is.

keep stuff like this to abuse reports.

First of all, let me clarify something fundamental: Yu-Gi-Oh! is not a game of speed. The rules are not based on who activates a card first; they are based on phases and the structure of the turn. This is precisely why I make sure to click through each phase—Draw Phase, Standby Phase, etc.—to avoid confusion.

The proper time to use Trap Dustshoot is typically in the Standby Phase, as most experienced players know. There is absolutely no strategic reason to activate Trap Dustshoot immediately during the Draw Phase unless you are deliberately trying to exploit an opponent’s priority or cause confusion. If you think I should bear the consequences of my opponent activating Trap Dustshoot the moment I draw, you are completely mistaken.

As I explained to Kitty during the chat, let’s consider this hypothetical:
What if I had lagged after drawing my card? Would I lose my ability to claim priority because of a technical issue? Would I lose the game entirely because my opponent abused the timing of Trap Dustshoot? That doesn’t seem like a fair or logical precedent to set.

Now, regarding the argument that I must declare priority "immediately": this is simply wrong for several reasons. I have the right to evaluate my options after drawing my card. For example:

I might decide that Trap Dustshoot resolving is fine because it allows me to use Mystical Space Typhoon on another set card.
Alternatively, I might consider using a Quick-Play Spell that could create a risky situation but may be worth it to counter Trap Dustshoot.
There are countless variables to consider, and it’s unreasonable to expect a player to make such decisions instantly. It’s easy to say, in hindsight, that activating Mystical Space Typhoon was “the correct move.” But during the game, players need time to process their options, especially in complex situations.

Ultimately, the error lies with my opponent, who chose not to wait for me to pass my turn priority, and they were rewarded for abusing the speed of their action. This sets a dangerous precedent where the speed of activation takes precedence over proper rulings and game structure.

The most important point to consider is this: there is no valid reason to activate Trap Dustshoot during the Draw Phase instead of the Standby Phase. If this situation establishes a precedent, then we might as well encourage every player to activate Trap Dustshoot immediately after their opponent draws, provided they have four cards in hand.

Here’s why:

Worst-case scenario: The opponent immediately declares their priority (while feeling pressured to act quickly), and you’re left with a “dead” Trap Dustshoot—which would have been useless anyway in these kinds of situations.
Best-case scenario: The opponent doesn’t type their intentions into the chat within this arbitrary 15-second window, and you get to steal the priority of the gamestate for free. You literally gain control of the situation without consequences, creating an unfair advantage.
Why wait for the Standby Phase at all? The outcome is exactly the same either way. However, activating it during the Draw Phase gives you the opportunity to manipulate priority and potentially take advantage of opponents who don’t respond immediately.

Let’s take this precedent further: imagine a player draws their card but encounters a connection issue, or perhaps they receive a notification on their phone and momentarily look away. Are we really saying it’s acceptable for them to lose the game simply because their opponent abused the timing of Trap Dustshoot? This precedent doesn’t just encourage unfair tactics—it rewards them.

Such rulings don’t promote skill or strategy but rather opportunism and unfair exploitation of the gamestate. Is this really what we want to encourage in competitive play?

Kitty Trouble ruled against you because you didn't order 50 pizzas and a diet cola to her, that's all. Ask the judges that "How many seconds had passed you would not have been able to say that?" They will all give different answers. According to Kitty Trouble, even 10 seconds is too much, while according to some Head Judges, 29 seconds is not too much. The judge made the rule as his/her ass how desires, nothing has changed here. If the arrived judge would be Player1, he would allow you because according that judge there is no time limit at DuelingBook, which means you can respond to your opponent's actions even 1 day later. If the arrived Judge would be DistantCoder, he would rule differently, who knows? Only judges asses knows. Also, stop explaining things and write long paragraphs. No one reads them, therefore no one take any action to solve issues. Just press CTRL+W, shut down your PC and find a new hobby, like washing to dishes at the kitchen. What you wrote is too long, even I didn't read it. If I didn't read it, it means no one on this platform will read it.

[quote="DoubleCigarette":3prgv9fz]As I explained to Kitty during the chat, let’s consider this hypothetical:
What if I had lagged after drawing my card? Would I lose my ability to claim priority because of a technical issue? Would I lose the game entirely because my opponent abused the timing of Trap Dustshoot? That doesn’t seem like a fair or logical precedent to set.[/quote:3prgv9fz]

Judges should be able to see on their end whether or not you're lagging. You could even tell them if you suspect you were lagging, so they could investigate and rule accordingly.

Now, regarding the argument that I must declare priority "immediately": this is simply wrong for several reasons. I have the right to evaluate my options after drawing my card. For example:

Yes you have the right to evaluate such options, but the judge said you shouldn't wait 18 seconds after beginning your turn to let your opponent know this. You could've immediately clicked the Thinking button upon beginning your turn to let the opponent know you were thinking on something, yet you didn't do even that.

[quote="Christen57":ifihgmkg][quote="DoubleCigarette":ifihgmkg]As I explained to Kitty during the chat, let’s consider this hypothetical:
What if I had lagged after drawing my card? Would I lose my ability to claim priority because of a technical issue? Would I lose the game entirely because my opponent abused the timing of Trap Dustshoot? That doesn’t seem like a fair or logical precedent to set.[/quote:ifihgmkg]

Judges should be able to see on their end whether or not you're lagging. You could even tell them if you suspect you were lagging, so they could investigate and rule accordingly.We actually do not. Lag is something that is not visible 99% of the time and we wont know if ur lagging unless it is purely on dbs end. Most of the time the lag comes from how a person is connected to db and in that case it generally is not visible and thus not something we can act on. In the rare instances where we can see the lag on our end we will of course rule accordingly but it just almost never happens. iv had like maybe 10 calls with lag that i could actaully see and the rest were just heresay. Now if a player is able to take a video and show us that they are lagging that would be a different story.

Now, regarding the argument that I must declare priority "immediately": this is simply wrong for several reasons. I have the right to evaluate my options after drawing my card. For example:

Yes you have the right to evaluate such options, but the judge said you shouldn't wait 18 seconds after beginning your turn to let your opponent know this. You could've immediately clicked the Thinking button upon beginning your turn to let the opponent know you were thinking on something, yet you didn't do even that.[/quote:ifihgmkg]