Dkayed: Creating the $80,000 Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament

Building content and a community centered around competitive Yu-Gi-Oh, Dkayed has accumulated 200k followers on Twitch and 350k subscribers on YouTube. Learn Dkayed’s keys to success that any creator can replicate.

This article is part of Strivehouse’s Spotlight series, where we highlight the top 3 reasons behind a creator’s success. Robert Tanney, better known online as Dkayed, is a gaming creator building a community centered on competitive Yu-Gi-Oh. As a multi time Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links World Championship finalist, Dkayed brings unparalleled game knowledge to his content, accumulating 200k followers on Twitch and 350k subscribers on YouTube. Learn Dkayed’s keys to success that any creator can replicate.

1. Dkayed isn’t afraid to ride the waves

Every game goes through countless waves throughout its lifetime. New game modes, new maps, new characters — it seems like there’s something new every other week. The same thing can be said for the games that Dkayed plays — Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links and Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel. Every several weeks there are new cards released and a ban list that gets updated, meaning that the meta, or the most effective way of playing the game, is always shifting.

Dkayed is fantastic at staying on top of all those little waves that come and go. Each shift in the meta, each game update, is another opportunity for him to create new content. A new set of cards has been released? It’s time to make a stream dedicated to theory-crafting which decks will be stronger and which ones will be weaker. There’s a new deck that’s dominating the meta? It’s time to make a series of videos about variants of that deck + ideas on how to counter that deck if you run into it. Dkayed never misses a chance at using the small waves to his advantage.

Perhaps more impressive is Dkayed’s ability to ride the larger, more macro waves. His initial rise coincided with the success of the mobile game Duel Links, amassing 100k followers on Twitch and 200k subs on YouTube. But in early 2022, Konami, the company behind Yu-Gi-Oh, announced that they were releasing a new game called Master Duel. Some people would hesitate, wondering if they should make a switch when things were aleady going so well.

Dkayed didn’t hesitate.

Just like with meta shifts, he took the big wave as an opportunity, streaming Master Duel almost exclusively. And today, about one and a half years since he started streaming Master Duel, Dkayed has doubled his Twitch followers to 200k and has bumped his YouTube sub count up to 350k.

The numbers speak for themselves.

2. Dkayed always gives his viewers a reason to come back

Dkayed knows how to bring the perfect mix of fun and knowledge to his streams. One of the best things about his streams and videos is how much he gives back to his viewers. Every combo, decision, and thought — Dkayed takes the time to break things down and explain it all. Viewers can pick up all sorts of cool combos, clever plays, and even get ideas for their own decks. This often spurs viewers to jump into the game themselves and put their newfound knowledge to the test. And once they’ve got one strategy down, they can’t wait to learn more, which keeps them coming back to Dkayed’s stream for even more.

On top of that, Dkayed doesn’t just focus on the gameplay; he keeps things fresh by staying on top of all the latest happenings in Yu-Gi-Oh. When new cards are about to drop, Dkayed is the first one to break them down and give people the inside scoop on how they’ll shake up the meta, kind of like a fortune teller predicting the future of the game. He’ll go so far as to test out new cards in a simulator, giving viewers everything they need to know in order to make informed purchases and how to stay competitive.

3. Dkayed took his community above and beyond

Dkayed didn’t just create a community revolving around himself. He created a community encapsulating the entire Yu-Gi-Oh game he played. For example, when he was focusing on Duel Links (the mobile Yu-Gi-Oh game), Dkayed created a website called DuelLinksMeta. This website was a hub for all things Duel Links, where viewers could find out what the current meta looked like, cool decks other players created, and medley of other resources that every Duel Links player needed.

But the coolest part of the community was the tournaments. In a game lacking an established competitive scene, Dkayed streamed and casted multiple events each week, inviting players from his community to participate. These tournaments offered not only a chance for players to showcase their skills but also tangible rewards in the form of prize money. Dkayed essentially created a mini eSport within Duel Links, providing a competitive outlet that inspired and engaged his community on a whole new level. Over time, the tournaments grew and grew, eventually becoming the tournament with the largest prize pool in Duel Links, with $1000 to $3000 in prize support per tournament. In total, across all tournaments, Dkayed has provided over $80,000 in prize money.

After Dkayed moved his focus from Duel Links to the newer game Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, what do you think he did?

That’s right. He did the exact same thing — almost play for play — with MasterDuelMeta.

Turns out learning from successful people (including yourself) really works!