Jonathan Weigle is from Seattle and entered the SHONEN JUMP Championship with his Twilight Deck. Soo Yeem is the only Gladiator Beast Duelist in today’s Top 16. Will Gladiators advance even further? We’re about to find out.

Weigle won the dice roll and chose to go first. He activated “Solar Recharge” by discarding “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress.” He drew 2 cards and sent “Necro Gardna” and “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he activated “Allure of Darkness” to draw 2 more cards and remove “Necro Gardna” from his hand. Next, he used another “Solar Recharge” to discard “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel,” draw 2 cards, and send “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” and “Pot of Avarice” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. He Set a monster in Defense Position before ending his turn.

Yeem opened with “Gladiator Beast Laquari,” “Gladiator Beast Hoplomus,” “Thunder King Rai-Oh,” “Gladiator Beast Equeste,” “Book of Moon,” and “Waboku.” He Summoned “Thunder King Rai-Oh” and attacked Weigle’s face-down “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter.” Ryko destroyed Rai-Oh and sent the top 3 cards of Weigle’s Deck to his Graveyard. Yeem Set “Book of Moon” and then ended his turn.

Weigle Summoned “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid” next turn and attacked Yeem directly with it. He took the damage and Weigle sent 2 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with Aurkus’s effect in his End Phase.

Yeem drew “Gladiator Proving Ground” next turn. He Summoned “Gladiator Beast Equeste” and attacked Aurkus, but Weigle dropped Honest in the Damage Step to keep Aurkus alive and destroy Equeste. Yeem dropped to 5600 Life Points.

Weigle attacked directly with Aurkus next turn. Yeem took the attack and fell to 4400 Life Points. Weigle sent 2 more cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in his End Phase.

Yeem drew “Dust Tornado” next turn. Then he Summoned “Gladiator Beast Laquari” and attacked with it, but had his attack negated by “Necro Gardna.” He Set “Dust Tornado” and ended his turn.

Weigle Summoned Lyla and switched it to Defense Position to destroy Yeem’s Set “Dust Tornado.” Then he Special Summoned “Judgment Dragon” and paid 1000 Life Points to destroy everything on the field. Yeem chained “Book of Moon” to flip “Judgment Dragon” face-down. Weigle followed up with “Solar Recharge,” discarding Wulf to draw 2 cards and send the top 2 cards of his Deck to the Graveyard. Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” and sent 3 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in order to search his Deck for “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” and add it to his hand. Weigle’s Deck was slowly thinning. He ended his turn without a back row and only a Defense Position “Judgment Dragon” on the field.

Yeem drew “Mystical Space Typhoon” next turn. He now had no field and a hand of “Mystical Space Typhoon,” “Waboku,” “Gladiator Proving Ground,” and Hoplmous. He activated “Gladiator Proving Ground” and searched his Deck for “Gladiator Beast Laquari” to add to his hand. He Summoned it to the field and attacked Weigle’s face-down “Judgment Dragon.” He took some damage and then tagged out Laquari for “Gladiator Beast Murmillo” to destroy the “Judgment Dragon” with Murmillo’s effect. In Main Phase 2, Yeem Set “Waboku” and “Mystical Space Typhoon.”

Weigle activated “Allure of Darkness” next turn to draw 2 cards and remove Tragoedia from his hand. He only had 4 cards left in his Deck. He Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” to the field and discarded “Charge of the Light Brigade” to Special Summon Wulf with Lumina’s effect. Lumina attacked “Gladiator Beast Murmillo” and Yeem took 200 damage before his Murmillo was destroyed. Then Wulf attacked directly and Yeem dropped to 1300 Life Points.

Next turn, Yeem Set Hoplomus and ended his turn. Weigle drew the last card in his Deck and then Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his hand. He tuned all of his monsters together for “Mist Wurm” to bounce all of Yeem’s cards, but Yeem chained “Waboku” to survive. Weigle put a card on top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie” from the Graveyard in Defense Position. By putting a card on top of his Deck, he bought himself another turn by making sure he’ll be able to draw a card next turn.

Yeem Summoned “Gladiator Beast Laquari” next turn and attacked Weigle’s “Plaguespreader Zombie,” but the attack was negated by Weigle’s “Necro Gardna.” Yeem ended his turn with a “Mystical Space Typhoon” and “Dimensional Prison” face-down and a Laquari on the field.

On Weigle’s next turn he Tributed his “Mist Wurm” for Celestia and tuned it with “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Synchro Summon “Black Rose Dragon.” He activated Black Rose’s effect to blow up all of the cards on the field. Then he Special Summoned “Judgment Dragon” and attacked Yeem for game, without a single card left in his Deck!

Jonathan Weigle narrowly wins the first Duel! Yeem will be starting off in the second one.

Yeem started the Duel with “Gladiator Beast Laquari,” “Thunder King Rai-Oh,” “Gladiator Beast War Chariot,” “Heavy Storm,” “Gladiator Beast Murmillo,” and “Gladiator Beast Bestiari.” He Summoned “Thunder King Rai-Oh” and Set “Gladiator Beast War Chariot” before ending his turn.

Weigle started things off by Summoning Lyla and activating her effect to destroy “Gladiator Beast War Chariot.” Then he Set a card to his Spell and Trap Zone and ended his turn, sending 2 Lightsworn Monsters and a third card from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in his End Phase.

Yeem drew another Gladiator Beast next turn and activated “Heavy Storm” to destroy Weigle’s Set “Bottomless Trap Hole.” He Summoned Murmillo and then attacked Lyla with “Thunder King Rai-Oh.” Next, “Gladiator Beast Murmillo” attacked directly. At the end of the Battle Phase, Yeem tagged it out for “Gladiator Beast Equeste” and returned “Gladiator Beast War Chariot” to his hand. He Set the Chariot in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Weigle Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” next turn and discarded Aurkus to try to Special Summon it back from the Graveyard. But Yeem flipped “Gladiator Beast War Chariot” to negate Lumina and destroy her. Weigle ended his turn without a field.

Yeem Summoned “Gladiator Beast Laquari” next turn and then attacked with all of his monsters. Weigle dropped to 1900 Life Points. He tagged “Gladiator Beast Equeste” for “Gladiator Beast Retiari” to remove Lumina from Weigle’s Graveyard and tagged out Laquari for Equeste to retrieve “Gladiator Beast War Chariot.” He Set the Chariot in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn. Weigle was Chariot locked.

Weigle drew a card and then Set a monster. He ended his turn with no other play. Yeem Summoned “Gladiator Beast Bestiari” next turn and Weigle conceded, knowing that Yeem would fuse for “Gladiator Beast Gyzarus” and finish him off.

The Match presses on to a third Duel and Weigle would be starting this time. Both players dipped back into their Side Decks and play began shortly after.

Weigle activated “Solar Recharge” to discard Aurkus, draw 2 cards, and send “Necro Gardna” and Lyla from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” and discarded “Honest” from his hand to Special Summon Aurkus to the field. In his End Phase, he sent another “Necro Gardna” to his Graveyard along with a bunch of Spell and Trap Cards. Yeem was up.

Yeem opened up with “Book of Moon,” “Dimensional Fissure,” “Shrink,” Gorz, “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and “Fissure.”

Yeem put “Dimensional Fissure” on the field and then activated “Fissure,” destroying Lumina and removing her from the game. He Set “Bottomless Trap Hole” before ending his turn. He didn’t have a monster to Summon.

Weigle played “Heavy Storm” next turn to destroy Yeem’s “Dimensional Fissure” and “Bottomless Trap Hole.” Weigle activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” next, sending to 3 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard to search his Deck for “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin” and add it to his hand. He Summoned Jain. Weigle attacked with Aurkus and dropped Yeem to 6800 Life Points. Then Jain attacked directly and dropped Yeem to 5000 Life Points. Yeem dropped Gorz into Defense Position after Jain’s attack and Special Summoned an 1800 DEF Token in Defense Position with it. When Weigle entered his End Phase he sent 2 copies of “Judgment Dragon,” a “Plaguespreader Zombie,” and a Spell Card to the Graveyard with the effects of his Lightsworn monsters.

Yeem drew “Gladiator Beast Darius” next turn. He switched Gorz and his token into Attack Position and then attacked his Token into Aurkus. The attack was negated by “Necro Gardna.” Gorz attacked Aurkus next, but Weigle dropped “Honest” in the Damage Step to protect it. Gorz was destroyed and Yeem dropped to 3800 Life Points. Yeem Set “Book of Moon” in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Weigle started off his next turn by drawing a card and then attacking Jain into the Token. Yeem took the attack and lost 300 Life Points along with his Token. Then Aurkus attacked directly and Yeem dropped to 2300 Life Points. Weigle sent 4 more cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in the End Phase.

Yeem drew “Torrential Tribute” next turn. He Summoned “Gladiator Beast Darius” and used it to attack Aurkus. But Weigle flipped “Beckoning Light”! He discarded the 2 cards in his hand to retrieve 2 copies of “Honest.” Yeem activated “Book of Moon” to turn his Darius face-down and stop the attack after “Beckoning Light” resolved so that he wouldn’t lose the Duel just yet. Then he Set his hand to his back row and ended his turn.

Weigle attacked with Aurkus next turn and destroyed Darius. Then Jain attacked directly and Yeem dropped to 500 Life Points. In Weigle’s End Phase, he sent a Wulf and some other cards from his Deck to his Graveyard. When the Wulf was Special Summoned, Yeem flipped “Torrential Tribute” to clear the field.

Yeem drew “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer” next turn! He Set it in Defense Position, knowing his opponent held 2 copies of “Honest” that would win Weigle the game if he Summoned Kycoo.

Weigle Summoned “Honest” next turn and then put a card on top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his Graveyard. Then he Tuned “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Honest to Synchro Summon Brionac. Weigle pitched his hand to bounce both of Yeem’s cards and ended the Duel with an attack from Brionac!

In a close 2-1 victory, Jonathan Weigle moves on in the tournament and the lone Gladiator Beast Deck is eliminated!

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See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)

Yeem played masterfully once again, but some of his Deck choices made this a difficult Match. “Shrink” is usually ineffective against Lightsworn Duelists because it’s always trumped by “Honest,” which gives an attack boost that more than compensates for the loss of ATK caused by “Shrink.” In Duel 3, Yeem was stuck with a “Shrink” that he couldn’t use because Weigle had two copies of “Honest” that would cause him to lose any battle. It may have been a good idea for Yeem to switch “Shrink” into his Side Deck after the first Duel.

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Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)

Soo Yeem shows us in the first game why he was able to advance so far with his Gladaitor Beasts. Many players would have been tempted to set “Waboku” long before Yeem did. Yeem however saw it as his beacon of hope in the first game. Although it doesn’t work out Yeem almost won the first Duel by using “Waboku” to protect himself long enough for Weigle to deck out. Weigle plays it perfectly though and is able to secure the win despite Yeem’s intelligent play.

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P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)

Knowing exactly what to do when you’re running out of cards in your Deck is a key skill that all Lightsworn/Twilight players have to learn at some stage. When you’ve got very few cards left in your Deck, you should aim to Summon monsters that won’t cut the Deck down further with their effects. You also need to play more aggressively as you won’t have many turns left before you deck out. Weigle played his last few cards to perfection in Duel 1, staying cool under pressure to win the Duel.

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