Starting a duel
Duels start on X. Reply to a post, tag @DuelForTheWin, and the bot opens the duel. No form, no fee.
Tag @DuelForTheWin in a reply
The mention has to be in a reply. A post that mentions @DuelForTheWin but isn't replying to anything is ignored. The account that writes the mention is the battle's creator and earns 1% of the final pot.
You have to type the tag yourself. When you reply anywhere in a thread that already tags @DuelForTheWin, X quietly adds the handle to your reply's addressing (the hidden “Replying to” list). That doesn't count, so ordinary replies in those threads never open battles by accident.
Which two posts battle depends on whether your reply says anything besides the mention:
| Your mention | ORIGINAL | REPLY |
|---|---|---|
| Has your take (text, a joke, an image) | the post you replied to | your reply |
| Bare: just @DuelForTheWin (and other @handles / links) | the post above that | the reply you tagged under |
| Bare, directly under a top-level post | no battle | the bot replies with a hint |
The bare-mention rule lets you start a battle between two other people: find a reply you think is winning, reply to it with only @DuelForTheWin, and the battle is that reply against the post it answered. When deciding if a mention is bare, @handles, URLs and whitespace are stripped; if nothing is left, it's bare. Images and videos count as a take. A bare tag directly under a top-level post opens nothing: an empty reply can't fight, so the bot replies with a hint to add your take.
@alice "Pineapple belongs on pizza." ← ORIGINAL
└ @bob "Respectfully, no." ← REPLY
└ @you "@DuelForTheWin" ← creator (bare)The bot answers with the battle link and a share card. If the same pair already has a battle, it replies with a link to the existing one instead. If X posting limits are tight, the confirmation reply can be skipped, but the battle still opens on the site.
Battle length
Battles run 24h by default. For a shorter one, put the length right after the tag: @DuelForTheWin 1h. The length doesn't count as a take, so @DuelForTheWin 1h on its own is still a bare mention.
| Length | Betting locks | Settles |
|---|---|---|
@DuelForTheWin 24h | after 22h | after 24h |
@DuelForTheWin 6h | after 5h | after 6h |
@DuelForTheWin 1h | after 45m | after 1h |
A length that isn't offered gets the default. The battle page and the bot's reply show the exact lock and settle times.
Eligibility
A mention is skipped (silently) when any of these fail:
- Creator account age: your X account is at least 30 days old.
- Creator followers: you have at least 10 followers.
- Fresh original: the ORIGINAL was posted no more than 7 days ago.
- Two different authors: the ORIGINAL and REPLY can't be by the same account, and neither can be @DuelForTheWin.
- Blocklist / opt-out: none of the original author, the reply author or the creator is on the opt-out blocklist.
- Public posts only: protected (private) accounts are skipped, as are posts that are deleted or can't be fetched.
- Burst limit: one new battle per X account every 2 minutes. There's no daily cap by default; one can be switched on if spam shows up.
- Standing: the creator's account isn't banned from DuelX.
Opting out
Anyone can ask not to be battled. Opted-out accounts go on a blocklist, and new mentions involving them (as either author or creator) are ignored. To opt out, DM @DuelForTheWin on X. Battles already running aren't affected automatically; ask and an admin can void one, which refunds every bettor in full.
The creator fee
The creator earns 1% of the pot of every battle that settles with a winner (voided battles pay no fees). It's paid to the wallet linked to the creator's X account. If you haven't linked one yet, sign in with X and link a wallet; the fee becomes claimable once it's attached to the market.