Maybe we could let fate decide the outcome of the battle, the GM could roll a 1d2 dice and share the results.
But with several people already claiming they like playing the underdog, and my characters are rarely the powerful ones too, I think we could try to let the players duel and see how it goes.

Obtaining cards could be done like the anime, we all have our deck and had a few duels already. Special cards can be obtained during the RP, we could make a list of what super rare or ultra rare cards shouldn't be included in our decks and can only be obtained during the RP. 
This could also be the reason we get together, instead of a Tournament we could be drawn to a Treasure Hunt for some unique cards. And battle each other either in friends duels or to try and obtain the special card they other won. 


[quote=@webboysurf]
A perhaps unpopular thing that's worth noting, and it's a mentality that could help in this RP: The duels in Yu-Gi-Oh rarely follow the actual rules. If we treat dueling like the anime does, it's about character interaction and writing the drama and stakes of a duel, not so much making sure we are following tournament rules.
[/quote]

I agree with this 100%. I'm in both the Pokémon fandom and the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom, but so far I only RP-ed in the Pokémon fandom. You have competitive players there who count stats and everything, but most enjoyable are the RP's that do the Pokémon battles anime-style.

I'm not saying we should go full Duelist Kingdom, because those duels made the least sense of Yu-Gi-Oh! (although they were fun to watch), but the way duels were done since Battle City can certainly be used as inspiration for the RP.