Round 4 Feature Match: Darelle Lewis vs. Skylar Schlutz
Both of these Duelists are currently 3-0 heading into Round 4. Skylar Schlutz made it here with his Gladiator Beast Deck running Elemental Hero Prisma, while his opponent, Darelle Lewis, is running Blackwings with Blackwing – Breeze the Zephyr. This is traditionally a tough matchup for Gladiator Beasts, but with the right tech and some solid play, Schlutz may be able to come out on top.
Schlutz won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with Gladiator Beast Samnite, Dimensional Prison, Sangan, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and Gladiator Beast Darius. He Set Dimensional Prison and Sangan, ending his turn.
Lewis Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame and attacked the Set Sangan, but lost his monster to Dimensional Prison. Then he Set Bottomless Trap Hole and ended his turn.
Schlutz drew Gladiator Beast War Chariot next turn. Then he Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite, but lost it to Lewis’s Bottomless Trap Hole. He ended his turn.
Lewis Summoned Blackwing – Breeze the Zephyr next turn and Set a back row before passing to Schlutz, who Set a Gladiator Beast War Chariot to his back row and ended his turn.
On his following turn, Lewis Summoned Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, and Tuned it to Breeze in order to Synchro Summon Blackwing Armed Wing. Armed Wing attacked Schlutz’s face-down Sangan, and Schlutz dropped to 5800 Life Points due to the effect of Blackwing Armed Wing. Schlutz searched his Deck for Test Tiger with the effect of Sangan.
On his next turn Schlutz Normal Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo and Special Summoned Test Tiger. Then he Tributed the Tiger to send Murmillo back into his Deck and Special Summon it, targeting Lewis’s face-up Armed Wing. But Lewis flipped Torrential Tribute to take down Murmillo with it!
Lewis Summoned Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor next turn, and attacked directly before ending.
Schlutz attacked Vayu with Equeste on his turn and then tried to tag-out Equeste, but Lewis flipped Royal Oppression to negate the effect, trapping Equeste in Schlutz’s Deck without letting him Special Summon another Gladiator Beast in its place.
Lewis Normal Summoned Blackwing – Bora the Spear next turn, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. Then he removed Armed Wing and Vayu from his Graveyard to Special Summon Blackwing Armor Master from his Extra Deck. Armor Master attacked, dropping Schlutz down to 2500 Life Points. Lewis ended his turn.
On his next turn, Schlutz activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Lewis’s Royal Oppression. Then he Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius and Special Summoned Test Tiger from his hand. Murmillo was gone, so he Tributed the Tiger to send back Darius and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari in Defense Position, hoping to set up a play with Gladiator Beast Gyzarus later in the Duel.
But it was all over next turn! Lewis activated Brain Control to take control of Gladiator Beast Bestiari and attacked directly with Blackwing Armor Master, taking Schlutz’s last 2500 Life Points.
Both players Side Decked and Schlutz began Duel 2. He opened up with Torrential Tribute, Trap Stun, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Brain Control, Cold Wave, and Test Tiger. He Set Torrential Tribute and Trap Stun before ending his turn.
Lewis started off his turn by Setting 2 cards to his back row and Summoning Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow. Kalut attacked directly, and Schlutz dropped to 6600 Life Points.
Schlutz drew X-Saber Airbellum next turn. He Summoned it to the field, Lewis flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play, Schlutz chained Trap Stun to negate the Bottomless Trap Hole, and Lewis chained Icarus Attack to destroy the X-Saber Airbellum and Schlutz’s face-down Torrential Tribute.
Play passed to Lewis, who Set 2 back rows and ended his turn.
Schlutz activated Cold Wave next turn and then Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo to the field. He attacked and tagged out for Gladiator Beast Bestiari, which destroyed Lewis’s Set Torrential Tribute. Then he Special Summoned Test Tiger and Tributed it to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari back into the Deck and Special Summon it again, this time destroying Lewis’s Set Royal Oppression.
Lewis Summoned Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn next turn, still under the effects of Cold Wave. He attacked Gladiator Beast Bestiari and inflicted 500 points of damage to Schlutz. He passed to Schlutz, who ended his turn without a play.
On his next turn, Lewis attacked directly with Sirocco and play was back to Schlutz.
Schlutz Set Book of Moon and Summoned Consecrated Light.
Lewis Set a monster face-down along with another back row, unable to Summon any DARK monsters due to Consecrated Light.
Schlutz Summoned Elemental Hero Prisma next turn, but lost it to Lewis’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole.
Lewis passed his next turn without making a play, unable to handle Consecrated Light.
Schlutz drew a card and Set Bottomless Trap Hole before passing to Lewis, who Set a monster and ended his turn.
On his next turn, Schlutz Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste, Special Summoned Test Tiger, and Tributed it to send Gladiator Beast Equeste back into his Deck and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius in its place. Darius Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Graveyard. Then he activated his face-down Book of Moon to flip Consecrated Light face-down, so he could fuse Gladiator Beast Bestiari with Gladiator Beast Darius to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus from his Extra Deck! Next, he Flip Summoned Consecrated Light, and then realized he couldn’t attack with Gyzarus because it’s a DARK monster.
Lewis Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, but lost it to Schlutz’s Bottomless Trap Hole.
Schlutz passed his next turn without making a play, and Lewis Set a monster next turn before passing right back.
Schlutz then Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite and attacked Lewis’s face-down Vayu. At the end of the Battle Phase, he tagged out to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari from his Deck.
Lewis activated Heavy Storm next turn, destroying 2 cards that Schlutz had Set in his Spell and Trap Card Zone. Then he flipped his face-down Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and used Brain Control to take control of Schlutz’s Laquari. He halved Gyzarus’s ATK with Gale’s effect, attacked Consecrated Light with Laquari, and attacked over Gyzarus with Gale. He then Synchro Summoned Blackwing Armor Master in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.
Schlutz Set Dust Tornado next turn, with only a Brain Control in his hand.
On his next turn, Lewis activated Black Whirlwind, Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, searched his Deck for Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow with the effect of Black Whirlwind, and attacked directly with Shura and Armor Master. The attacks ended the Duel by taking Schlutz’s remaining 4000 Life Points.
Darelle Lewis wins his favorable matchup and uses Blackwings to triumph over Skylar Schlutz’s Gladiator Beast Deck!
Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.
Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Schlutz made a good opening play in the first Duel, but his decision to bluff with Gladiator Beast War Chariot lost him everything. Royal Oppression is normally bad news for a Gladiator Beast Duelist, but can’t be used against Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, since it can’t be used in the Damage Step when Gorz is Summoned. With Gorz in his hand, Schlutz could have dominated the field if he had been able to Summon Gorz. But Gorz requires you to have no cards in play, and War Chariot was sitting on Schlutz’s field the whole time. Trapped behind his own Chariot, Schlutz lost because of it. Always be careful when you decide to bluff.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
It’s always important to know every little detail about your cards, incase you need to use them in an unusual combo. In Duel 2, Schlutz had Consecrated Light on the field, and he was unable to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus since it’s a DARK Monster. He played Book of Moon on Consecrated, Summoned Gyzarus and then Flip Summoned Consecrated Light again. If he had waited until Main Phase 2 to Summon Consecrated Light, he would have been able to attack with Gyzarus, tag out, and get 2 more Gladiator Beasts, putting him in a stronger position.
