Gladiator Beast

The Gladiator Beasts are a series of cards released in Gladiator's Assault, that look like futuristic versions of the ancient Roman Colosseum slave-warriors, and consist of many different Attributes and Types (although Beasts, Beast-Warriors and Winged Beasts are the most prominent). With a few exceptions, all Gladiator Beasts have an effect to return to the Deck during the end of a Battle Phase when it battled, and then to Special Summon another Gladiator Beast Monster to replace it (this is also known as Tagging Out). The newly special summoned Gladiator Beast monsters usually gain another effect when special summoned in this manner. Despite their special summoning abilities, many Gladiator Beast Monsters have low ATK and/or DEF stats, to which their support cards are designed to compensate, and in many cases, aid their survival during battles, which ensure that their special summoning abilities work.

In addition to "tagging out" Gladiator Beasts, Gladiator Beasts have three Fusion monsters, each of which requires one specific Gladiator Beast monster and either one or two other Gladiator Beast monsters on the field (depending on the Fusion monster being summoned), at which point the Gladiator Beast monsters can be returned to the Main Deck to Fusion Summon the appropriate Gladiator Beast Fusion monster. The monsters used for the Fusion Summoning of these Gladiator Beast monsters (Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz, Gladiator Beast Heraklinos and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus) can be used as Fusion Material monsters while face up or face down on the field, and with the exeception of Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, the Gladiator Beast Fusion monsters can be returned to the deck in the same way as normal Gladiator Beast monsters after they've battled (although they cannot summon the specific Gladiator Beast monster required for their summoning). The summoning of Gladiator Beast Fusion monsters, because they do not require a spell card to Fusion Summon them, are considered Contact Fusion Monsters (or Fusion Tagged Monsters, although neither of these terms have any practical importance).

Also, nearly every card in the archetype is capable of being returned to the Hand, Field, or Deck from the Graveyard, whether using the Gladiator Beast monsters themselves or using their support cards. Generally, a "good" (or at the very least, local tournament capable) Gladiator Beast deck includes a mix of destruction, aggro, and toolbox cards and tactics. It is this versatility which landed this deck as one of the top decks in the Shonen Jump Circuit.

Optional Support Cards

 * Waboku - This card is almost identical to "Defensive Tactics", but unlike Defensive Tactics, it can be activated if you control no face-up Gladiator Beasts, or no monsters at all, so you can use it if you play a weak Gladiator Beast in face-down Defense Position, trigger it when the opponent declares an attack, then summon a Gladiator Beast afterwards.


 * My Body as a Shield - "Gladiator Beast Heraklinos" can negate almost any Spell or Trap card your opponent uses, but it has no defense against monster effects, and there are two monsters in particular that are the greatest threat to Heraklinos - "Judgment Dragon" and "Dark Armed Dragon", either of which can appear without warning and wipe you out. "My Body as a Shield" can also be used to stop destructive Spells or Traps if you don't have Heraklinos out. ("Divine Wrath" is not needed because of "Gladiator Beast War Chariot")


 * Cold Wave - This card allows you to start off a Duel without having to worry about Spells or Traps from your opponent, or to keep your opponent from taking back the advantage with commonly played cards like "Mirror Force", "Torrential Tribute", "Bottomless Trap Hole" and "Lightning Vortex" to destroy your Gladiator Beasts. It is significantly less effective against other Effect Monster centered Decks like Blackwings, Infernities and Lightsworns.


 * Wild Nature's Release - While there are many different equip cards for Gladiator Beasts, this card turn the tables on even the higher ATK based monsters, and better yet, won't destroy yours because they return to the deck at the end of the battle phase rather than have them destroyed at the end phase. "Gladiator Beast Dimacari", is a very good choice for this card because he has rounded ATK and DEF stats, plus the ability to attack twice, making him a very difficult enemy to deal with.


 * Ancient Forest - You can attack and return your monster without the effect of the destruction, while the monsters your opponent attacks with will be destroyed at the end of the battle phase. This is because Ancient Forest's effect is Chain Link One, while the GB's effect is chain link two. (Ancient Forest's effect is mandatory, while the GB's effect is optional.)


 * Icarus Attack - Although only 3 (by including "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus" even 4) of the Gladiator Beasts are Winged Beasts, they can tag out for each other, making it easy to activate this card. Also, if you tag in for "Gladiator Beast Equeste" or even "Gladiator Beast Bestiari" and the opponent tries to use "Bottomless Trap Hole" on it, you can use this card to save Bestiari from being removed and also destroy 2 more cards. Later you can use "Gladiator Beast Darius" to revive the Bestiari in the Graveyard and Contact Fuse for "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus" to destroy another two cards.


 * Thunder King Rai-Oh - A very powerful card that cripples nearly all of the meta. It stops the usage of popular cards such as "Elemental Hero Stratos", "Goblin Zombie", and "Charge of the Light Brigade". It also negates synchro summons, which is very useful against top-tier decks such as Blackwings and Destiny Hero Zombies. Rai-Oh's effect shouldn't harm you since you shouldn't be using "Gladiator Proving Ground" or "Gladiator Beast Samnite" when Rai-Oh is on the field anyways.


 * Dust Tornado - One of the main cards that wreck Gladiator Beasts that is commonly used today is "Royal Oppression". Dust Tornado can help remedy that problem, and it also destroys other cards such as "Black Whirlwind" and "Mirror of Oaths".


 * Dimensional Fissure - Your Gladiator Beasts won't be going to the grave very often and this can help stop Lightsworns from milling, Blackwings from using "Shura" and "Vayu", and Zombies from using "Mezuki" and "Plaguespreader Zombie". Be careful when using this card, however, because this card removes your "Test Tigers" from play, you can't use "Rescue Cat"'s effect, and it can conflict with "Gladiator Beast Darius".


 * Widespread Dud - This card can be very helpful in a Gladiator Beast deck as it can be used to its full power. By chaining this card to the summoning of your "Gyzarus" or "Bestiari" you can destroy 2 of your opponents monsters by selecting this card as a target for destruction. In addition, you can chain this card to the standard Gladiator Beasts' effects - select the monster being sent back to the Deck for its effect, and one of your opponent's cards, which will be destroyed because your monster will have already been removed, triggering Widespread Dud's effect.


 * Fissure and Smashing Ground - Despite being one for one's, these cards are very powerful. They do not Target so they can destroy difficult to destroy monsters such as "Thought Ruler Archfiend" and "Tytannial, Princess of Camellias". Also, many cards require a specific monster on their side of the field to use (e.g. "Icarus Attack" and "Limiter Removal") using these cards to destroy their monster first not only allows you to direct attack more often, it also allows you to tag in "Gladiator Beast Bestiari" and destroy them without allowing the opponent from using them later on.


 * Book of Moon - This card is very useful in a Gladiator Beast deck. It can save your own monster from "Mirror Force" or "Bottomless Trap Hole", it can temporarily stop Continuous Monster Effects that prevent you from using certain cards (e.g. "Jinzo" and "Stardust Dragon") but most importantly, it gives you a defensive target for your Gladiator Beast to safely attack into without worrying about cards like "Honest" and "Kalut". Also, if the monster has very high defense, all the monsters you control can ram into it allowing each of them to tag out and use their effects for a relatively small trade off. Alternatively, you can chain this card to "Gladiator Beast Darius", flipping Darius face-down before Darius' effect resolves. When Darius' effect resolves and revives the Gladiator Beast monster, that monster's effect will not be negated as the negation effect is Continuous and Darius is now face-down.


 * Shrink - Since this is a Quick-Play Spell Card, it can be used right when your opponent's monster is going to attack. Activate "Shrink" and most likely the attacking monster will be destroyed instead of your Gladiator Beast thus "Shrink" is the more offensive compared to "Half Shut". Also, since it attacked your Gladiator Beast monster, you can now tag out.
 * Half Shut - Similar to "Shrink" this card is a Quick-Play Spell Card. However unlike "Shrink" this card halves the ATK, not the Original Attack. Also, it gives the added effect of making the monster immune to destruction by battle. Both cards have pros and cons depending on how you intend to use it. Both cards can be used to save your own monster from cards such as "Bottomless Trap Hole" however in this case "Half Shut" is superior to "Shrink" as you can attack with your now weakened monster in order to tag out compared to "Shrink" where you would realize your monster is too weak to attack safely. "Half Shut" can also be used to halve and 'protect' one monster on the opponent's side of the field, that way you can safely attack that one monster repeatedly with all your monsters while avoiding any other strong monster your opponent may control, afterwards you can tag them all out and destroy those strong monsters with "Gladiator Beast Murmillo" and "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus".


 * Hedge Guard - Along with the above 2 cards, this can can also be used with Gladiator Beasts. Pros include that this card can be used directly from your hand during damage calculation, this allows you to counter cards such as "Honest" or "Kalut". However, it also halves your own monsters ATK and your monster won't be destroyed from that one battle only. An alternate method to using this card is to set your Gladiator Beast, that way the ATK decrease won't matter.


 * Dimensional Prison - Aside from using "Gladiator Beast War Chariot", it is fairly difficult for Gladiator Beasts to destroy cards such as "Stardust Dragon". This card is a great solution to those problems and it can also be used to remove any stronger monsters your opponent may control allowing you to attack and tag out easier during your turn.


 * Elemental Hero Prisma - Use its effect to reveal "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus" in your Extra Deck and send "Gladiator Beast Bestiari" from your deck to the Graveyard, at which point "Prisma" is now treated as "Bestiari". Next, special summon "Test Tiger" and use it's effect to send "Prisma" back to deck to special summon "Gladiator Beast Darius", which revives "Bestiari". Finally, you can Contact Fuse both monsters to special summon "Gyzarus", which destroys up to two cards on the field, leaving your opponent open for an attack.


 * Elemental Hero Stratos - Use it's effect to add Elemental Hero Prisma to your hand. Then use Prisma's effect and treat it as a Gladiator Beast.


 * Reinforcement of the Army - Use it's effect to add Elemental Hero Prisma to your hand much faster.


 * Rescue Cat - Some players consider this card to be a staple in Gladiator Beast decks, while others do not. If you run this card, you should use 3 "Test Tigers" and 2 "Gladiator Beast Samnites", because they are the cards you will want to search for with Rescue Cat's effect. Summoning two "Test Tigers" allows you to tag each of the monsters out for one "Bestiari" and one other Gladiator Beast for an easy summon of "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus" And an instant 2400 damage to the oponants life points thanks to Gyzarus's field destruction ability.


 * X-Saber Airbellum - Great strategy with this card is to "Rescue Cat" for "X-Saber Airbellum" (a Tuner) and "Gladiator Beast Samnite". This allows you to Synchro Summon. Since they are both level 3, the best choices would probably be "Goyo Guardian" or "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier".


 * After the Struggle - Similar to "Ancient Forest", it destroys any attacking monster, but unlike "Ancient Forest", it destroys any defending monsters as well. Because it activates during the End Step, Gladiator Beasts can tag out to prevent their destruction, while also destroying any remaining attack target. This can help set up various tags and clear the field of larger monsters, such as "Stardust Dragon".


 * Magic Hole Golem - If your opponent has a strong monster that your Gladiator cannot defeat, you can summon this card. By using this card's effect, your Gladiator Beast's ATK is halved and it can attack your opponent directly. When you end your Battle Phase, you can return the selected Gladiator Beast monster to your Deck to summon "Gladiator Beast Murmillo", which destroys your opponent's monster.


 * Summoner Monk - If you have a spell card, discard it to special summon a level 4 below monster from your deck. You can special summon "Rescue Cat" from your deck to summon a "Test Tiger" or "X-Saber Airbellum" or a "Gladiator Beast Samnite" from your deck. If you run a "Phantom of Chaos" from your deck, you can use "Summoner Monk" effect and special summon it if you have a "Rescue Cat" from your graveyard or any other Gladiator Beast.


 * Enraged Battle Ox - This monster allows almost all significant Gladiator Beasts (the Beasts, Beast-Warriors and Winged Beasts) to do piercing damage, and is a fair attacker itself. The only strong Gladiator Beasts it doesn't enhance are "Gladiator Beast Spartacus" and its fusion, "Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz". In addition, since the Gladiator Beasts are constantly swapping in and out, this is a more viable way of granting piercing damage than an equip card like "Fairy Meteor Crush".


 * Foolish Burial - Similar to Elemental Hero Prisma, you can use this card's effect to send "Gladiator Beast Bestiari" from your deck to the Graveyard. Then summon a Gladiator Beast monster. Next, special summon "Test Tiger" and use it's effect to send the summoned Gladiator Beast monster back to deck to special summon "Gladiator Beast Darius", which revives "Bestiari". Finally, you can Contact Fuse both monsters to special summon "Gyzarus", which destroys up to two cards on the field, leaving your opponent open for an attack.

Weaknesses and Counter-Strategies
Gladiator Beasts are currently one of the most tournament-competitive deck types, due to their incredible flexibility. However, they are not invincible. Some good ways to overcome a Gladiator Beast user are as follows:


 * Prevention of Special Summoning -- This is the big one, the one sure-fire way to shut down a Gladiator Beast deck. "Vanity's Fiend", "Vanity's Ruler", "Deck Lockdown", "Royal Oppression", "Archlord Kristya", "Cactus Bouncer", "Corridor of Agony" and others all prevent Gladiator Beasts from tagging out or performing Contact Fusion, paralyzing the deck.  "Jowgen the Spiritualist" and "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" also have the ability to destroy any Special Summoned monster already on the field in addition to preventing Special Summoning.


 * Counter-Destruction -- Often, it is the Gladiator Beasts with the effect to destroy cards that are the most troublesome, but there are a few good cards that specifically prevent that in use. Destruction Jammer, Prime Material Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and Divine Wrath all work well.  These latter two also work against Gladiator Beast Heraklinos when it activates its effect to negate and destroy a Spell or Trap.


 * Monster Effects - Since Gladiator Beasts must battle to gain their effects, monster card effects that trigger during battle are highly effective. Note, however, that Gladiator Beasts have access to "Gladiator Beast War Chariot", so be prepared with something like "Trap Jammer" or "Counter Counter" to lock that card out. Here are some good monster card effects:
 * Monsters that destroy the monsters that attacked them - Newdoria, Man-Eater Bug, Old Vindictive Magician, Exploder Dragon,Yomi Ship,Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare
 * Monsters that return the cards that attacked them - Wall of Illusion, Hyper Hammerhead, Morphing Jar #2, Penguin Soldier, Nightmare Penguin, Legendary Jujitsu Master, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole : These cards are even better than the destroyers above, since they can get around Gladiator Beast's Battle Archfiend Shield, and the Gladiator Beasts cannot be brought back with Gladiator Beast Darius.
 * Monsters that remove from play the cards that attacked them - D.D. Warrior, D.D. Warrior Lady, D.D. Assailant - Even worse for the opponent than the destroyers or returners, since though they have a heavy focus upon recycling or hand exchanging, Gladiator Beasts have no internal method of re-using removed-from-play cards.
 * Trump-card monsters with mass-destruction effects - Cards like these can destroy the Gladiator Beasts by effect, preventing their battle-swap from activating, or they can destroy the support cards that prevent the Gladiator Beasts from being destroyed by battle. A few can even do both. Some of these include: XYZ-Dragon Cannon, Red Dragon Archfiend, Judgment Dragon, Dark Armed Dragon, Demise, King of Armageddon, Volcanic Doomfire, Armed Dragon LV10, and Beast King Barbaros. Judgment Dragon and Dark Armed Dragon, in particular, are great because they can appear suddenly without warning to wipe out most everything the opponent has. Yubel - Terror Incarnate is especially devastating, destroying the whole field at the end of your turn except for itself.


 * Destroy on Summoning - "Trap Hole","Bottomless Trap Hole", and especially "Mirror of Oaths", that destroy the monsters when are special summoned from the deck. Also, "Swallow Flip" will greatly hurt any Gladiator Beast deck when special summoning using the Gladiator Beasts effect.


 * Effect Canceling - Cards such as "Skill Drain" or "Angel 07" can prevent your monsters from tagging out or negate the effects of the ones that are Summoned leaving your monsters defenseless against some of the more powerful ATK monsters. G.B. Hunter is exclusively designed to stop the Gladiator Beasts to come back to the deck, as "Corridor of Agony", that can completely negate the effects of the Gladiator Beast monsters and prevent them to attack.


 * Attack Negation/Prevention - You can only "tag out" a Gladiator Beast for another if the first Gladiator Beast "attacked or was attacked". Unlike most card effects with a similar activation requirement, the battle must "go through", i.e. instead of just declaring an attack or being targeted as the target of an attack, the battle has to go into and apply Damage Calculation (even if the damage for that battle would be 0. Therefore, any Spell, Trap, or Monster Effect that lets you negate a monster attack would prevent the opponent from tagging out their Gladiator Beasts.


 * Mirror Match - Gladiator Beasts can be good against other Gladiator Beast decks, provided you have certain cards. For example, if you side in Jowls of Dark Demise or Rafflesia Seduction you can let the opponent attack into it, giving you control of their monster and letting you 'tag' their Gladiator Beast out for your own Gladiator Beast. Also, cards that a Gladiator Beast deck run normally are good against another Gladiator Beast deck anyway, such as Dimensional Prison and Gladiator Beast War Chariot.

Monster Cards

 * Cyber Dragon
 * Elemental Hero Prisma
 * Elemental Hero Stratos
 * Sangan
 * Rescue Cat
 * X-Saber Airbellum
 * Test Tiger

Spell Cards

 * Book of Moon
 * Enemy Controller
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Shrink

Trap Cards

 * Dimensional Prison
 * Waboku
 * Gladiator Beast War Chariot