Round 2 Feature Match: Daniel LaMartina VS Paul Suon
Back in July, Daniel LaMartina made it to the Top 4 in the 2010 United States World Championship Qualifier with his Gladiator Beast Deck, earning an invitation to the World Championship in Long Beach, California, where he competed against some of the world’s finest. Now, he’s back with his Gladiator Beasts, facing off against Paul Suon’s Salvo Chaos Deck here in Philadelphia. LaMartina’s Gladiator Beast Deck is teched out with Spirit Reaper, Effect Veiler, and Gladiator Beast’s Respite, which should make this an interesting Match.
LaMartina opened up with Spirit Reaper, Gladiator Beast Darius, Gladiator Beast Secutor, Gladiator Beast’s Respite, Reinforcement of the Army, and Elemental Hero Prisma. He activated Respite and sent Secutor and Darius back to his Deck to draw Solemn Warning, Giant Trunade, and Seven Tools of the Bandit. He Set Spirit Reaper and the 2 Trap Cards he drew off of Respite, and ended his turn.
Suon Set a monster and 3 Spell or Trap Cards, ending his turn.
LaMartina drew Book of Moon next turn. He Set it and passed.
Suon passed his next turn without making a play.
LaMartina drew Cold Wave next turn. He passed, hoping to get a Test Tiger in his next Draw Phase.
Suon Set a monster and passed.
LaMartina drew Trap Stun, Set it, and ended his turn.
Suon drew to 4 cards in his hand and passed.
LaMartina drew Solemn Judgment next turn, Set it, and ended his turn.
Suon drew and passed.
LaMartina drew Bottomless Trap Hole and ended his turn with 5 Set Spell or Trap Cards and 5 cards in his hand.
Suon drew a card and then ended his turn.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Murmillo next turn. He Set Elemental Hero Prisma before passing.
Suon drew to 6 cards in his hand and passed.
LaMartina drew Gorz the Emissary of Darkness next turn. Then he activated Trap Stun. Next, he flipped Elemental Hero Prisma and used its effect to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he Set Gladiator Beast Murmillo and fused it with his Prisma to Fusion Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus! Gyzarus destroyed Suon’s 2 monsters: Spirit Reaper and Deckoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Next, LaMartina flipped his Spirit Reaper and attacked with it, but Suon Special Summoned Battle Fader from his hand to stop the attack and end the Battle Phase! LaMartina Set Bottomless Trap Hole and ended his turn.
Suon activated Pot of Duality, revealing Dekoichi, Smashing Ground, and Plaguespreader Zombie from the top of his Deck. He added Smashing Ground to his hand and then shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Then he activated Smashing Ground to destroy LaMartina’s Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Next, he Tributed Battle Fader to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, and LaMartina tried to negate the Summon by paying 2000 Life Points with Solemn Warning. Suon paid 4000 Life Points to try to negate the Solemn Warning with Solemn Judgment, but LaMartina flipped Seven Tools and paid 1000 Life Points to negate the Solemn Judgment! Suon ended his turn without a monster on the field.
LaMartina drew Elemental Hero Stratos next turn. He attacked Suon with Spirit Reaper and Suon flipped Dimensional Prison to remove the Reaper from the game. LaMartina Summoned Elemental Hero Stratos in Main Phase 2 and used its effect to add an Elemental Hero Prisma from his Deck to his hand.
Suon Special Summoned Cyber Dragon next turn, and LaMartina flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to try to remove it from the game. But Suon chained Book of Moon to protect the Cyber Dragon by putting it face-down. Suon Set a 3rd card to his back row before ending his turn.
LaMartina drew Solemn Warning next turn. Then he activated Giant Trunade to return all cards in the Spell and Trap Card Zone back to their owners’ hands. Next, he attacked the face-down Cyber Dragon with Elemental Hero Stratos, destroying it in battle. LaMartina Set Book of Moon before ending his turn.
Suon passed his next turn without making a play.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Retiari next turn. Finally a Gladiator! He attacked directly with Stratos, and Suon stopped the attack by Special Summoning Battle Fader from his hand. LaMartina Set Solemn Judgment and Solemn Warning in Main Phase 2, then Set Gladiator Beast Retiari in Defense Position.
Suon was up again. He removed Cyber Dragon and Caius from his Graveyard to try to Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer from his hand, but LaMartina negated the Summon by paying 2000 Life Points with Solemn Warning. Next, Suon Summoned Dimensional Alchemist. He activated its effect and removed a Dekoichi from the top of his Deck to boost its ATK to 1800. Then he tried to ram it into LaMartina’s Elemental Hero Stratos, but LaMartina used Book of Moon to stop the attack and put the Alchemist face-down.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Hoplomus next turn. Then he activated Cold Wave. He Summoned Prisma to the field and then flipped his face-down Retiari face-up. Retiari attacked and destroyed Battle Fader, then Prisma attacked and destroyed the face-down Dimensional Alchemist. Suon used the Alchemist’s effect to add a Cyber Dragon from his removed-from-play zone to his hand. LaMartina tagged out Retiari at the end of the Battle Phase to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius from his Deck, and used Darius’s effect to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Graveyard. Then he activated Prisma’s effect in Main Phase 2 to change its name to Laquari, and fused Prisma with Bestiari to destroy Suon’s Set Solemn Warning and Book of Moon. LaMartina ended his turn with Gyzarus, Darius, and Stratos on the field, with one back row. He suddenly had a dominating lead.
Suon Set a monster and ended his turn.
LaMartina activated Reinforcement of the Army next turn and searched his Deck for Elemental Hero Prisma. He Summoned it to the field, used its effect to change its name into Bestiari, and then fused it with Darius to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. He targeted Suon’s face-down Sangan and Bottomless Trap Hole with Gyzarus’s effect. Suon chained Bottomless Trap Hole to remove Gyzarus from the game, and searched his Deck for Battle Fader when Sangan hit the Graveyard. LaMartina attacked, but Suon ended the Battle Phase immediately by Special Summoning Battle Fader from his hand.
Suon Set a monster and passed.
LaMartina drew Monster Reborn next turn! He Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius to the field and then used Darius to attack Battle Fader. Next, Stratos destroyed Suon’s face-down Plaguespreader Zombie, and Gyzarus attacked directly, wiping out Suon’s remaining 2200 Life Points.
Suon started off Duel 2 by Setting 2 Spell or Trap Cards and a monster.
LaMartina opened up with Reinforcement of the Army, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Solemn Warning, Cyber Dragon, Test Tiger, and Trap Stun. He activated Reinforcement of the Army and searched his Deck for Elemental Hero Stratos to add to his hand. Then he tried to Summon it, but Suon flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate the Summon. LaMartina Set Solemn Warning and Trap Stun in Main Phase 2.
Suon flipped his Dekoichi next turn to draw a card, then attacked directly for 1400 points of damage. He Set a monster and a second Spell or Trap before ending his turn.
LaMartina drew Spirit Reaper next turn. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon from his hand and then fused it with Suon’s Dekoichi to Summon a Chimeratech Fortress Dragon with 2000 ATK. Next, he Normal Summoned Spirit Reaper. Chimeratech Fortress Dragon attacked, and Suon flipped Mirror Force. LaMartina chained Trap Stun to negate it, but Suon flipped Book of Moon to put the Chimeratech Fortress Dragon face-down. LaMartina ended his turn without attacking Suon’s face-down monster.
Suon used Allure of Darkness to draw 2 cards and remove a Caius from his hand next turn. Then he flipped up his face-down Dekoichi to draw a card and used it to attack LaMartina’s face-down Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. He Set 3 cards to his back row and ended his turn.
LaMartina drew Cold Wave next turn. He activated it and then Normal Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo. Next, he Special Summoned Test Tiger and Tributed it, Sending Murmillo back to his Deck and Special Summoning it again to destroy Dekoichi. He attacked directly with Reaper, discarding a Thunder King Rai-Oh from Suon’s hand, then attacked directly with Murmillo. LaMartina tagged out his Murmillo to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Retiari from his Deck, and used Retiari’s effect to remove Thunder King Rai-Oh from Suon’s Graveyard. It was his only LIGHT monster.
Suon Special Summoned Cyber Dragon next turn and attacked over LaMartina’s Gladiator Beast Retiari. LaMartina dropped down to 5700 Life Points, with Suon at 4900 Life Points.
LaMartina drew Dark Hole next turn. He switched his Reaper to Defense Position and passed.
Suon drew and passed.
LaMartina drew Book of Moon, Set it, and ended his turn.
Suon Summoned Dimensional Alchemist on his next turn before passing.
LaMartina drew Test Tiger and passed.
Suon Set a Spell or Trap Card on his next turn.
LaMartina drew another copy of Book of Moon. He Set it face-down and passed, still protected by his Spirit Reaper.
Suon Set a 5th card to his back row on his next turn.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Murmillo next turn and passed.
Suon drew and passed.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Darius. He Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, but Suon flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game.
Suon Set a monster next turn and passed.
LaMartina drew Giant Trunade and ended his turn.
Suon activated Giant Trunade next turn. LaMartina chained Book of Moon, but Suon negated it with Solemn Judgment. Giant Trunade resolved and returned all Spell and Trap Cards to their owner’s hands. Suon Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next, activated Smashing Ground to destroy Spirit Reaper, and then attacked with Sangan, Rai-Oh, Dimensional Alchemist, and Cyber Dragon to finish the Duel!
There was only 1 minute left in the round and both players began Side Decking. Both players quickly drew their hands to prevent a tie from being called, and LaMartina chose to go first.
LaMartina opened up with Gladiator Beast Laquari, Solemn Warning, Gladiator Beast War Chariot, Seven Tools, Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, and Gladiator Beast Equeste. Time was called as soon as he drew his hand. He Set all of his Trap Cards, Summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari, and ended his turn.
Suon activated Allure of Darkness and removed Dekoichi from his hand. Then he Special Summoned Cyber Dragon. LaMartina flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate the Summon. “Either way I’d be down Life Points,” LaMartina commented. Suon Summoned Doomcaliber Knight next and attacked over Gladiator Beast Laquari, inflicting 100 points of damage. Suon ended the second turn of the Duel.
LaMartina drew Bottomless Trap Hole next turn. He Set it along with Gladiator Beast Hoplomus before passing back to Suon.
Suon Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. LaMartina flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game. Next, Suon activated Monster Reborn to revive Cyber Dragon, knowing this would be his final turn. Suon used Doomcaliber Knight to attack LaMartina’s face-down Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and lost 200 Life Points. He ended his Battle Phase and LaMartina chose to tag out his Hoplomus. Doomcaliber Knight Tributed itself to negate the effect of Hoplomus and leave it in the Deck.
LaMartina drew Bottomless Trap Hole next turn. He Summoned Equeste and passed the 5th and final turn of the Duel. Because he had more Life Points, Suon was declared the winner!
Suon beats LaMartina 2-1 in overtime, scoring a huge upset with his Salvo Chaos 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)
As a general rule, you want to make sure that you have enough cards to do all of your combos reliably. For Gladiator Beast Duelists, that usually means choosing between Elemental Hero Stratos and Elemental Hero Prisma, or extra Gladiator Beasts with Gladiator Beast’s Respite. Playing Respite and all those “Hero” monsters in the same Deck can make it tough to activate Respite, forcing you to use it whenever you can, like LaMartina did at the beginning of Duel 1.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Both Duelists were extremely conservative in Duel 1, but LaMartina could have taken some action without risking the important cards in his hand. Since he started off with Reinforcement of the Army, LaMartina could have used it to search his Deck for Elemental Hero Stratos and Summon it to the field. That would have let him use its effect to net an Elemental Hero Prisma in his hand, without losing any of the cards he’d need to pull off key combos later in the Duel.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
There are many powerful Trap Cards you’ll want to try and avoid in opposing Decks these days, and while several of them can be shut down with Trap Stun, Counter Traps like Solemn Judgment and Solemn Warning are harder to stop. That’s why LaMartina used Seven Tools of the Bandit in his Gladiator Beast Deck. Although the cost of 1000 Life Points can be significant, it pales in comparison to the costs of Warning (2000) and Judgment (up to 4000 depending on when it’s used). By using Seven Tools to stop these cards, LaMartina made sure his own plays went off as planned, while his opponent still lost more Life Points than he did.
