the answer was actually a lot simpler, but good luck figuring it out

Author: Toastbrot236

Refresh.Database/GameDatabaseContext.Levels.cs

@@ -58,14 +58,13 @@ public GameLevel AddLevel(ISerializedPublishLevel createInfo, TokenGame game, Ga
             UpdateDate = timestamp,
         };
 
+        // This prevents EF from trying to INSERT both the user and their stats in unit tests, 
+        // just because of us setting the level.Publisher reference, and throwing a duplicate key exception that way.
+        this.Entry(level.Publisher).State = EntityState.Unchanged;
+
         this.ApplyLevelMetadataFromAttributes(level);
         this.GameLevels.Add(level);
 
-        // Seems unnecessary, but prevents EF from trying to INSERT both unconditionally in unit tests
-        this.GameUsers.Update(publisher);
-        if (publisher.Statistics != null)
-            this.GameUserStatistics.Update(publisher.Statistics);
-
         this.SaveChanges();
 
         this.WriteEnsuringStatistics(publisher, () =>

RefreshTests.GameServer/Tests/Workers/JobStateTests.cs

@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ public void ReExecutesMigrationJobAfterRollbackAndReupdate()
         // Simulate a roll-back, meaning the job wouldn't be in the WorkerManager anymore, so no migrations will happen, and the job state would be
         // auto-removed by WorkerManager.Start() in real cases.
         manager = new(Logger, dataStore, context.DatabaseProvider);
+        context.Database.Refresh();
         GameLevel thirdLevel = context.CreateLevel(user);
 
         manager.RemoveUnusedJobStates();