I think their deck masters walked them through it. Duke was the only one who didn't need any real help. Tristan lost protecting Serenity, Serenity and Duke worked together to win. Tea literally had Dark Magician Girl hold her hand through her entire duel. I think I enjoyed the Tristan/Serenity/Duke duel more then Tea's if only because Tristan actually lost making their opponent look like a threat, while Tea had Dark Magician Girl on her side and with a card that important you knew she wouldn't lose. The new rules of the virtual world are like the only reason Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey didn't win their duels uber fast.
I forgot that Duke knew how to play the game. I guess I respect the fact that he did so well during that arc. I still think it was an odd arc, though. It was pretty dark, what with Noah's body being dead and his mind being inside a computer. I also thought that it was sad how the Big 5 themselves died once they failed Noah. I didn't like them, but they didn't deserve to be "deleted". That was just harsh.