Norman - YuGiOh takes no skill is a plain statement. First of all YuGiOh means something different to each individual player, secondly skill needs to be put into the right concept to have a correct perspective on what actually takes skill. One could as well claim “Running takes no skill” because mostly everybody can run but putting it into context again it becomes obvious that it does take skill to run if you are disabled or if you want to run faster than everybody else. As a conclusion “YuGiOh takes no skill” needs to be rephrased to analyze the statement better: “Playing YuGiOh better than everybody else takes no skill”.  By its very nature YuGiOh is a complex game with different aspects to deck building and technical play, making reads on the metagame and your opponent in-game. One would need to exceed at all of these aspects combined in order to gain a competitive edge, which many players do and which is why they consistently perform across multiple formats over a long period of time. If you are not fully aware of every single aspect of this and how to improve in it, it becomes easy to blame the game not yourself because you don’t see the edges and how to cross them. So yes YuGiOh takes skill but you need to know which skills in order to know that it takes skill otherwise you will always blame the game instead of yourself.

Patrick's statement - Of course topping takes skill. The only thing more ignorant than saying it does not is to say that all pro players cheat. I always find it interesting when people attempt to discredit the hard work of others instead of actually putting in the work themselves. They want to feel better about their inability to perform well by trying to bring others down to their level by claiming anyone better than them must cheat, when in reality they are doing better than you because they put in the hard work and long hours and you didn't. They just want their 15 minutes of fame without actually working for it and claims like these are just those failed attempts.

Joshua's Statement - to be honest I have no idea why you would think topping doesnt take skill, you need like an 8-2 or 9-2 record to top a ycs which is basically an 80+% winrate in matches. You wont get to that record consistently without being somehwat decent at the game. Of course someone who isnt that great might top an event once when he is extremely lucky but its just very unlikely to happen to someone who is really bad. I dont really think theres much to argue about, saying topping consistently doesnt take skill is just retarded.

As far as cheating goes, I do not experience much of it at all at big tournaments, I think it used to be a way bigger problem back in the day, but nowadays awareness is just so high that most cheaters get caught rather quickly. Especially well known players at tob tables nowadays are usually observed by judges so I dont know how they would even cheat without being caught. of course yugioh is luck based to some extend so theres always a chance that a better player loses to a worse player, you have to accept that when playing the game, but overall in the long run the better player definetely has a significant advantage and therefore its unlikely for a bad player to beat 80% of his opponents in order to top even just one ycs

Billy Brake - Does it take skill to top a YCS? First, you would have to define what skill is. Shuffling cards is a skill, building a deck is a skill, but commonly It is a term used in Yugioh to describe an attribute of good players, but nothing specific. Can people who aren't very "good at Yugioh" top a YCS? Yes, the game has variance, we aren't playing Chess. In order to do well at any tournament for any game it is dependent upon your own personal capabilities, the deck you choose to use/build (which is a game in all of its own), the order of the cards you draw each game, and the same variables will apply for each opponent you get paired agianst along with the randomness of being paired to that person. There are a lot of other factors (Sleep/Relationships/Emotional State) that go into doing well in a tournament and I don't think it can be defined as skill or no skill. The best player with the best deck in the room could either win the whole tournament, scrub about before round 5, or lose anywhere and everywhere inbetween, that is variance. By having the proper knowledge and playing exceptionally, you give yourself much better odds of doing well rather than not, so this will result in more "skillfull players" doing well. There is luck involved in any card game, but just because this "bad" player did well with this "bad" deck takes nothing away from The Game (Which I just lost) or the players. It doesn't make it any easier to top an event or not, it just means on that day that is what happened and one can only asses that result if each round and each move was looked at, but that never happens. Yugioh players tend to make assumptions and generalize, grouping people/decks together without understanding the many variables that go into any tournaments result. Personally, it doesn't matter to me. If a player finds a way to win or do well, despite making mistakes or not being the best he can be, then I congratulate him for finding a way to make it work. The main problem I have noticed is players egos or just their straight up jealousy. "He is worse than me and so is his deck, why/how did he do well!? That player sucks....this game sucks etc."  They then cling to this excuse instead of self-examination of their own play/deck/card choices. This results in players never actually getting better and a vile and nasty community. Duelist need to drop the ego, be open to new ideas, understand that even the best players make mistakes and don't play perfectly all the time. You can't define someone's skill level based upon what deck they play or what they did in that one match that one time. It's just like they taught us as kids, you shouldn't have to worry about what others think, just do your best and be happy for others when they do well. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. So does it take skill to top a YCS? Who cares? Sometimes good players do well, sometimes bad, either way if you are playing this card game enjoy it and just try to do your best.

Frazier Smith - I’m not one to entertain negative comments in the community, but it has been brought to my attention that someone made a statement along the lines of “all or most of the pros cheat to top.” In response to that, I would like to first say that this rhetoric sounds like the type of thing that you would expect to hear from someone who has had little to no success in the game, and who also has been a part of the community for a very long time. I understand that there is a level of frustration associated with trying to accomplish something and falling short on numerous occasions. It took me at least five years to top my first YCS. That being said, I still find it ridiculous to make such an absolute statement that cheating—whether intentional or unintentional—is how all pros top events.

I want to be clear that this is not a dismissal of cheating as a whole. It certainly does happen, although in order for it to be classified as “cheating,” it cannot be unintentional. Cheating requires intent, so any notion that players are cheating unintentionally is oxymoronic. There is a thin line between blatant cheating and making an illegal play while unaware. I think the problem with the original comment is the misuse of the word “cheating” because it is so easy to throw out, and it makes people feel better about themselves when they do not do so well.
Make no mistake, it requires some level of skill to top events on a consistent basis. I am aware that bad players have topped events and will continue to top events. That will never change. The percentage may shift from format to format, but bad players will top sometimes. On the other hand, pro players who have topped several events certainly possess the skills needed to do well. For one, deckbuilding and deck choices play a large role in how well you do in our current environment. If you bring Mermails to a Fire Fist event, chances are you’re going to do well. Does that require cheating? Absolutely not. It was simply a good meta call. And that’s just one example of how a good player can top an event without cheating.

I have been doing well for almost six years now, and I have seen my fair share of cheaters come and go. Some of them are still active, no doubt. But the majority of the good players are just that—good players. To say that all good players cheat to top is an arrogant and ignorant statement fueled by self-doubt.