Victory condition

Victory conditions (勝利条件, Shōri Jōken) refer to the various ways a player can win a Duel.

Normal Victory conditions

These are the typical ways to win in the game's mechanics.

• Your opponent's Life Points are reduced to 0.
• Your opponent has no cards in his/her Main Deck when he/she is required to draw a card.
• Your opponent surrenders.
• Most major tournament duels are timed for certain reason(s). The player with more Life Points by the end of the time limit wins the Duel.

Special Victory conditions

These cards allow you to win the duel through their effects.

• Exodia: If you hold "Exodia the Forbidden One" along with "Left Arm of the Forbidden One", "Right Arm of the Forbidden One", "Left Leg of the Forbidden One" and "Right Leg of the Forbidden One" in your hand at the same time, you win the Duel.
• Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord: If "Exodia the Forbidden One", "Left Arm of the Forbidden One", "Right Arm of the Forbidden One", "Left Leg of the Forbidden One" and "Right Leg of the Forbidden One" are sent to the Graveyard by the effect of "Exodius", you win the Duel. "Exodius" sends monsters from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard every time it attacks.
• Destiny Board: If "Destiny Board", "Spirit Message "I"", "Spirit Message "N"", "Spirit Message "A"" and "Spirit Message "L"" were all placed on your side of the field in that order through "Destiny Board's" effect, you win the Duel. "Destiny Board's" effect allows you to place one of the "Spirit Message" cards from your hand or Deck onto the Field during each of your opponent's turns.
• Final Countdown: Once "Final Countdown" is activated by paying 2000 Life Points, you win the Duel in 20 turns.
• Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes: If "Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes" on your side of the field has three Hyper-Venom Counters on it, you win the Duel. "Vennominaga" gains a Hyper-Venom Counter every time it inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.
• The Creator God of Light, Horakhty: If "The Creator God of Light, Horakhty" is Special Summoned by Tributing "Slifer the Sky Dragon", "Obelisk the Tormentor" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra", the player that Summoned it wins the Duel. Its Summon cannot be negated, so cards like "Solemn Judgment", "Solemn Warning", etc. are useless against it.
• Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo: If "Gimmick Puppet of Leo" has three Destiny Counters, its controller wins the Duel. It can gain a Destiny Counter each turn the player removes an Xyz Material and decides to skip their Battle Phase while they control no Spells or Traps.
• Last Turn: When you activate "Last Turn", you choose one monster on your side of the field, and all other cards on the field and in the players' hands are sent to the Graveyard. Your opponent then Special Summons a monster from his/her Deck. A special Battle Phase occurs in which the two monsters battle (Battle Damage is ignored). The player whose monster remains alone on the field at the End Phase of this turn wins the Duel. This card is currently Forbidden in the Advanced Format.
• Match Winners: If a Match Winner attacks your opponent directly and makes his/her Life Points 0 by the Battle Damage it inflicted, you win the entire Match instead of just the Duel. All Match Winners printed are Illegal, except for "Victory Dragon", which is instead Forbidden in the Advanced Format.
• Deuce: If you damage your opponent two times in a row after activating when both players have 1000 Life Points, you win the Duel. This is an anime-only card.

Altering Victory Conditions

• Divine Serpent: While this card is face-up on the field, its controller cannot lose the Duel. This is an anime-only card.
• Relay Soul, and Zero Gate of the Void: When successfully activated, these cards permanently replace all of the opponent's Victory Conditions with the sole Victory Condition of destroying a particular monster on the field. This also means that if that monster later leaves the field without being destroyed, the opponent will have no way to win the Duel, apart from the player voluntarily surrendering. Relay Soul is an anime-only card, while Zero Gate of the Void is a manga-only card.
• Infernity Zero: While this card is face-up on the field, it removes the opponent's Victory Condition of being able to win if the player's Life Points become 0. This card exists only in the anime and in the video game Tag Force 6.

Other

• Yata-Garasu: In most video games, if a player successfully inflicts Battle Damage to their opponent with "Yata-Garasu" while the opponent controls no cards and has no cards in their hand, the opponent will automatically be forced to surrender the Duel during their next Main Phase, thanks to "Yata-Garasu"'s lockdown effect. This automatic surrender applies to human players as well as CPU players, and occurs even if, for example, the controller of "Yata-Garasu" had no cards left in their Deck and would have lost had their opponent not surrendered.