[Deck Review Article] Gladiator Beasts

Hello Everybody...Hey,why do i hear you murmuring ?! Is it because you got bored from the Gladiator Beasts ?! Read articles about them millions of times ?!! Tried them alot and tested it many times ?!
Well I found that there's no good article about them here in DA so i decided to write one.Also Allow me to introduce "Evil Hero Inferno Prodigy"...the second voice who'll accompany me in all my long/deck articles representing all readers *He'll be typing in yellow*.

Alright let's start identifying "Gladiator Beasts"
Gladiator Beasts are a series of cards that were released in Gladiator's Assault,That look like futuristic versions of acient Roman Colosseum slave-warriors,and consist of many different attributes and types whose effects allow them to escape from most of possible situations and get the control of the duel as soon as possible
They all return to deck upon attacking or getting attacked during the end of "Battle Phase" and then Special Summon a new "Gladiator Beast" gaining new effects when Summoned in this manner.

"That's known to every child...Nothing new ._."

Wait Inferno...I've not even started. Nobody likes to be judged before even starting...Just,wait to see.
Ok Through this article i'll be showing some facts for newbies about gladiator beasts then show some gladiator beasts variants as i've experienced.

More Into Gladiator Beasts
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First,Gladiators don't sing
Through My own experience..I have to tell you that gladiator beasts can never work with tuners for synchros...Well there's no obvious reason for that but it just doesn't work.Nonetheless teching "Rescue cat" with 2 copies of "X-Saber Airbellum" is an exception since it searches Samnite and X-Saber from the deck pretty easy for a level 6 synchro.

Second,The Rule of two
You should never use more than two copies of any "Gladiator Beast" monster in you main,side and extra deck.They're made to be searched from the deck and anymore than two copies of a particular GB would end drawing dead hands.and you don't want to start drawing secutor,murmillo or samnite,do you ?!...This rule also helps you to save enough space so you can tech it with other cats such as "rescue cat" and "X-Saber Airbellum"

Third,Their Mechanism (Recycle)
Once you get used to using GBs..you'd find out that no matter what your opponent does,you'd just have a counter to it and you'd keep repeating those moves till you get control of the field.after that you'd aim to abuse retiari to gain grave control too.and from there the game starts to be yours and you can see your opponent throwing his cards on the ground and falling in despair revealing his loss.

Fourth,Contact
That's how they start getting field advantage.Gyzarus is +2 field advantage while Heraklinos is a 3000 Beatstick with a "dark bribe" effect...You don't even have to worry anymore about the chances of drawing "Polymerization"...they fuse by having fusion materials on the field.Anyway don't think Contact is the key to victory and don't be too rushy,getting your Bestiari BTHed is the very first step to loss.

Fifth,Support Cards
"Any Support Cards ?!!!"
Don't worry,This archetype has a very great collection of support cards such as "Gladiator Proving Ground" and "Gladiator Beast's Respite" which can work pretty good with two copies of Equeste..Also "Gladiator Beast War Chariot" ; the most broken support card for them...imagine what this card can do,it can kill DAD,CS,JD..etc when they try to activate their effects.That's beside other equip cards and other stuff that're not found to be very helpful for "Gladiator Beasts"

"You make it sound as if they were topdeck,If they're as good as you say why're not they tier 1 ?!"
Well don't forget that they used to be a tier 1 deck till Cat,Monk & Cold wave got all hit to 1 which decreased the coinstintency of Gladiator Cats..plus after all that,they were able to survive..not only that but they could also work more competitive than some tier 2 decks so they're said to be in tier 1.5 which unfortunately doesn't exist so yeah...they're tier 2

*looking meanly to Infernal Prodigy*

Gladiator Variants
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Ok Time to check some Gladiator Variants.
Gladiator Heroes : This's one of the oldest effective variants for Gladiator Beasts...It runs normally but with the addition of a couple of prismas to make Gyzarus Summon easier...then get Bestiari on the field again by "Darius" and Re-Tag for another gyzarus and so on.

From the Colosseum to the Forest : This is a gladiator beast variant that depend on "Ancient Forest"..You'd know what i'm talking about upon looking at the following ruling

"When "Gladiator Beast " battles while "Ancient Forest" is active, both effects are to resolve at the end of the Battle Phase, so the Turn Player can choose to resolve his effects first. If the same player controls both "Gladiator Beast Alexander" and "Ancient Forest", then the effects resolve in the order that the player chooses."

Now you're destroying all the monsters on your opponent's side of the field that attack while your "Gladiator Beast" are able to survive..Beside that you'd keep oppressing your opponent with your gladiators' effects.Nonetheless this card can get blocked easily by "Stardust Dragon" but this deck is defenitely worth trying.

Gladiators raising Kitties : This deck is almost like the gladiator's normal build but runs samnite,rescue cat and 2 copies of X-Saber with the possibility of Brain/Mind Control..This build works pretty effectively.and yeah that's what made Gladiators Top Tier Deck in the last format "Especially when DSF wasn't banned"..Anyway this deck is known to everyone

Gladiators have seen the Light : from the name you'd know what i'm talking about..Yes !! It's GladSworn
"O_O' WTH are you talking about,there's no single common thing between them...Lightsworn prefer to get milled while gladiator beasts prefer to stay in the deck till you call them"
I know...but it's a build that i've seen quite times...and yeah it's not a tournament build,it's just for the lulz but i'd illustrate how it work.
Ok..Mainly this build is around "Shield Warrior"...Yeah he gets milled by LS giving you the ability to have 6 wabokus *excluding damage effect*.
"You know Glads are milled too,right ?!"
Defenitely,that's why that deck runs "Indomitable Gladiator Beast","Monster Reincartion"
Anyway that's how they mainly worked...I've tested that deck myself and it wasn't that bad as you think but it's defenitely worse than both alone "Glads & Lightsworn"

Gladiators from Different Dimension : This variant is defenitely good.There're two types of decks ; decks that concentrate most on its own strategy and decks that shut down your opponent's strategy and by that you get more chances *Such as : Gadgets,Stun*...well this deck does both..It runs gladiator beasts normally then teching : Rai-Oh/Dimensional Fissure to drive TeleDAD/Zombies/LS Crazy while your GBs have the advantage of getting back to the deck.It's possible for this deck to be the best Gladiator beasts variant.

Example Deck Discussion
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For all newbies reading this article and are still wondering how do they work...don't worry i'll show you while illustrating the deck
Ok following the above facts i've stated..i've come up with the following monster line-up
Gladiator Cats :
Monsters ( 19 )
2x Gladiator Beast Laquari
1x Gladiator Beast Darius
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
1x Gladiator Beast Murmillo
1x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1x Gladiator Beast Retiari
1x Gladiator Beast Secutor
1x Gladiator Beast Hoplomus
2x Gladiator Beast Samnite
1x Rescue Cat
2x X-Saber Airbellum
3x Test Tiger
1x D.D. Crow

Ok As you can see the monster line-up is pretty basic..
Laquari ---> your beatstick and very essential for tagging for heraklinos
Darius ---> your "call of the haunted" for gladiator beasts..good for using Gyzarus again and again
Equeste ---> very good card that provides you with fodders for "respite" ,hand advantage and brings chariot back
Murmillo ---> nothing to be said about this card..it's very self explanatory.that'd be your "Soul taker" without the 1000 LP you give to your opponent.
Bestiari ---> the best GB card...your "MST" and a fusion material for the mighty gyzarus
Retiari ---> very good especially in this format where you can't count the times of facing Mezuki,Plague,Malicious,necro
Secutor ---> Very awesome when succesfully summoned and protected...It can summon 2 GBs from your deck giving you the ability to get instant gyzarus or just using their effects for great control
Hoplomus ---> Your might shield that your opponent will have problems getting around it..
Samnite ---> Cat target and also has pretty good effect that gives you card advantage
Rescue Cat ---> It's pretty obvious why is it there...it gets you samnite with X-saber for level 6 synchros..
X-Saber Airbellum ---> Cat target,and pretty awesome effect in itself...even if you're not willing to synchro.you can screw your opponent's strategy by choosing the right card at the right time
Test Tigers ---> No need to tell you how good this card can be...noticed i broke the rule of two by having it at 3s.Well yeah it's pretty essential if you can't keep your monsters survive damage.
D.D. Crow ---> The same effect as retiari but it's just an own preference...I'd come back to it later

Spells ( 12 )
3x Gladiator Proving Ground
2x Gladiator Beast's Respite
1x Pot of Avarice
2x Book of Moon
1x Heavy Storm
1x MST
1x Brain Control
1x Cold Wave

Proving Ground ---> It's increasing the rates of drawing the gladiator beast you want..very good searcher.Keep in mind the dangers of this card if your opponent is running "Mind Crush"
Respite ---> Very good engine for GBs..Others run it at 3s but i won't encourage that because as said you won't be drawing gladiator beasts to hand very often.
Avarice ---> When can you run cats and you can't run avarice ?! the answer is never !!...well another good engine that helps you recycle dead glads.
Book of Moon ---> It's to increase coinstintency and it's pretty useful flipping attacking monster downwards,preventing synchros to hit the field by flipping down the tuner.
MST & Heavy Storm ---> Staples..No comment
Brain Control ---> Besides how it can turn the table upside down,It's very very useful in mirror duels.
Cold Wave ---> Very good card especially before your big moves...

Traps ( 10 )
3x Waboku
2x Bottomless Traphole
2x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Icarus Attack

Waboku ---> That's the main card that allows them to battle without getting destroyed by battle and saves you from honests.
Bottomless Traphole , Mirror Force , Torrential Tribute ---> Staples...No Comment
War Chariot ---> As said before...it's very broken and when abused with Equeste it's much more broken...Keep in mind it can be returned to deck through Respite
Icarus Attack ---> That's a good tech i guess..with 4 targets (2x Equeste,Bestiari,D.D. Crow) you see now what i'm using it also Winged Beast GBs are pretty searchable easy,btw it saves your bestiari from getting BTHed by chaining it to BTH.this card makes it 41..well if you don't like the 41 it then remove it or remove a"proving ground" for it.

"Done ?!"
Not yet inferno..There's still the practical side deck for Gladiator Beasts
Ok this deck has pretty bad matchups against lightsworn....
"Easy I'd main 3 Oppressions."
that's because you're stupid..you know why ?! your deck depends heavily on Special Summons so you'd be hurt more than him...I'd say you need to keep in you side deck : 3x "Banisher of Radiance/Banisher of Light or Dimensional Fissure" also you'd need a copy or two of lightning vortex and ofcourse 3 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
Found that your opponent is depending on special summons *TeleDAD/Zombies/BWs..etc*?!! then Rai-Oh would be a good choice (Not against LS...they're too fast for him)
A mirror duel ?! you'd have advantage if you added "Mind Control" for easier fusions...also 2 copies of Mirrors of Oaths won't hurt

So now it's like this :
3x Banisher of Radiance/Dimensional Fissure
3x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Lightning Vortex
1x Mind Control

Decrees ?!! Skill Drain ?! NO ? worse ?! What !! royal oppression ?!!!! Don't freak out...2 copies of trap eater would be good.
LS AGAIN ?! Hopeless ?!Tele DAD ?! Zombie Variants ?!!! No probs 2 Kycoos and 1 Soul Release would surely do it But "Banisher of Radiance/D.Fissure" does what kycoo does so no need for kycoo.
Gadgets ?!! Stun ?! Counter Fairies ?!!! Tigers ?!decks that basically depend heavily on traps/spells then a copy or two of malevolent catastrophe would do

So no it's like this :
3x Banisher of Radiance/Dimensional Fissure
3x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh
2x Lightning Vortex
1x Mind Control
2x Trap Eater
2x Mirrors of Oaths
1x Soul Release
2x Malevolent Catastrophe

"Hold on,You have more than 15 cards in your side deck...RULEBREAKER !!!"
For the first time you're right...hmm,well since we have enough defenses against "Lightsworn" then let's remove a copy of lightning vortex
Banisher of Radiance/D.Fissure is a good side vs LS and Zombies so i'd say to remove "Soul Release"
Still 16 ?! The best thing we can remove is "Mind Control"...we have brain control and "mirrors of oaths" for mirrors

So,Final Side Deck is :
3x Banisher of Radiance/Dimensional Fissure
3x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Lightning Vortex
2x Trap Eater
2x Mirrors of Oaths
2x Malevolent Catastrophe

"Finally"
*punches inferno* Yeah as he said we're done..I hope you enjoyed reading and learned something
Comments are much welcomed
"Sucks !!!"
*Punches him more and more*

P.S : Neko needs to approve this so i can write Deck Articles continually
P.S 2 : i couldn't write cotw articles because i was working on this

Wow ! ;DDDD
this article is amazing ! :D
and also u can use rescue cat and bring saminte and test tiger xD
i'll give u 10/10
and infernal prodigy was a really nice touch lol xD
Thanks EJ and Keep It Up ! :D

Nice presentation! 9/10

Nice article you are improving 9.5/10

good article..keep it up ...i would give 8.5/10

Wow really nice Article.
You're improving alot !
I'll give you 9/10

funny article!

lol... I didn't feel reading it xD I really enjoyed reading it :D long, but not boring :D

it would be great if we see more articles like that :D

k...will just add some constructive criticisms...
From rule 1: Airbellum and often Gale too are commonplace in GB so they do "sing"
Rule of 2: Many players run Laquari in 3's because it is the best thing to summon as a beatstick and it keeps you from losing Heraklinos if 1 or 2 get removed.
4th, Contact: Bestiari + 1 GB = Gyzarus, then Gyzarus destroys up to 2 cards means he is a +1, not a +2. He has potential to be a +2 later only if you keep him alive and then tag him out for 2 GB's.
On Tier 1 discussion ... they made top 16 at SJC Los Angeles and most people do still consider them to be tier 1.
GladSworn: don't forget it runs 3x Darius and often 3x Equeste!
Example deck monsters: Do not forget that Test Tiger is an acceptable choice for Rescue Cat! It means you don't need to run 2 copies of the very weak Samnite.
Respite: nobody runs it in 3's ... some run it in 2's like you but most just run 1 if any. Reason being it is very capable of being a dead draw.
War Chariot: only 2?? Every build maxes this at 3's. It is easily a key card of the deck.
Icarus Attack: well it is A tech ... dun know about it being a good tech. =/

Overall, the article is well-written and seems to be from the perspective of a player who has some good experience with GB, but who hasn't really thoroughly researched the builds by doing things like looking at tournament coverage and physically viewing builds. That being said, most of the comments I made above were fairly minor details (other than War Chariot comment, get with the program dood) and the article WAS WELL-WRITTEN and was grammatically and intellectually appealing. The "2nd voice" also helped make it a fun read. Good job EJ.

7.5/10

Thanks for your comments everyone and a special thanks to neko's full criticism..
@ Nekofjung :
1-I counted airbellum & rescue cat as an exception,gale might be in but it's a weak choice imo.
2-Yeah you might be right about laquari but for me and most builds i've checked...laquari is still good at two.
3-Consideration of many people is something and the fact that they're tier two is something else
4-Gladiatorsworn : Yeah you're right..forgot to mention
5-Respite : That's just personal preference...we might differ on proportions of the cards
6-Chariot : Yeah it's mostly used in 3s...still i find it good in 2s,sometimes turn dead and Equeste can easily make it as if it's in 3s.
7-Icarus Attack : through my test duels...it was never dead...it's good.

Nonetheless...I was really happy with your criticism,I'd be sure to read more Tournament Coverage and others' opinions about the decks.
"You know it sucks now,huh?"
*Zips his mouth*

3 - Tiers are not ever fact. They are ALWAYS based on people's opinions. The fact that it made Day 2 at SJC Los Angeles along with the fact that many people are running GB means that it can easily be considered Tier 1.


6 - Equeste does you no good if you never draw into the Chariots. It's a mandatory card to have in 3's because you want to draw it as early as possible.

Last edited by nekofjung on Sun Jan 24, 2010 9:28 pm; edited 1 time in total

I won't argue about 6...you're right
3- What i mean is that "Many People think it's tier 1" but the majority don't...Also many other decks make it to day 2 without being considered as Tier 1 *Spacians*

The entire point of tiers is to determine which decks are the most competitive. Those are the decks capable of feats like making top 16 at an SJC. If your deck is capable of making a top 16 appearance at an SJC where over 1600 different duelists are competing, you have yourself a Tier 1 deck my friend.

I think that this deck is pretty competitive also when you manage to summon Heraklinos and Gyzarus.

I would decrease Respite to 1 and add one Darius.

Anyway, 9.5/10

Stop necroposting 1 warning