Junior Santos from Seattle, Washington used a Gladiator Beast Deck strengthened by the recent release of Chaos Impact. He was featured on the live stream in Round 3 of the tournament, but unfortunately suffered a 2-1 loss after drawing 2 copies of Gladiator Beast Andal in his opening hand. Here’s the Deck he used in the YCS this weekend!

Main Deck: 40

Monsters: 15
3 Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay
3 Rescue Rabbit
1 Test Tiger
3 Gladiator Beast Andal
1 Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1 Gladiator Beast Attorix
1 Gladiator Beast Darius
2 Gladiator Beast Augustus

Spells: 24
3 Mind Control
3 Called by the Grave
1 Double or Nothing!
3 Gladiator Rejection
3 Gladiator Beast’s Comeback
3 Gladiator Proving Ground
1 Monster Reborn
2 World Legacy Succession
2 Instant Fusion
2 Unexpected Dai
1 De-Fusion

Trap: 1
1 Gladiator Beast War Chariot

Extra Deck: 15
1 Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess
1 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
2 Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor
1 Gladiator Beast Heraklinos
2 Gladiator Beast Domitianus
1 Knightmare Unicorn
1 Link Spider
2 Test Panther
1 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number 39 Utopia Double
1 Borrelsword Dragon

Gladiator Beasts got a ton of new support in Chaos Impact, and Santos’s Deck takes advantage of lots of the new cards. He’s packing a copy of Gladiator Beast Attorix in his Main Deck, along with 3 copies of Gladiator Rejection and 3 copies of Gladiator Beast’s Comeback. He’s also using 2 copies of the new Gladiator Beast Domitianus in his Extra Deck, along with 2 copies of the new Test Panther Link Monster.

“I played Gladiator Beasts because it’s one of the Decks I played when I first got into the game. It hasn’t seen a lot of competitive play recently, but the new support made the Deck stronger,” Santos told me. Santos used Gladiator Beasts this weekend because he enjoys playing the Deck.

Santos said his Deck is designed to go second so that he can break his opponent’s field with cards like Mind Control and Instant Fusion (by Summoning Thousand-Eyes Restrict). Once he dismantles his opponent’s field, he swarms the field with monsters by using cards like Monster Reborn, World Legacy Succession, and Gladiator Beast’s Comeback. Using those monsters, he can try to build his own unbreakable field, consisting of monsters like Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, and Gladiator Beast Domitianus.

Santos relies on his 2 copies of Gladiator Beast Augustus to help him Summon Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor. If he can link the Tamer Editor to a Link Monster like Test Panther that points to another Main Monster Zone too, he can use Tamer Editor’s effect to Special Summon the Gladiator Beast Fusion Monster of his choosing. Alternatively, if he Fusion Summons Tamer Editor in his Extra Monster Zone with no Link Monsters on the field, he can use the Tamer Editor as a Link Material to send it to the Graveyard and then resurrect it with Gladiator Beast’s Comeback or a similar card. That’ll put Tamer Editor in his Main Monster Zone, and free up an Extra Monster Zone so that he can use Tamer Editor’s effect.

Gladiator Rejection is one of the strongest cards for Gladiator Beast Decks available in Chaos Impact. It protects his monsters and helps him swarm the field. Using 3 in his Deck was an easy decision for Santos.

Santos also uses 3 copies of Rescue Rabbit so that he can use its effect to Special Summon 2 copies of the Level 4 Gladiator Beast Andal from his Deck. Doing so makes it easy for him to Link Summon Test Panther or set up a Rank 4 Xyz Summon.

Santos’s Deck has the ability to take some instant wins when his opponents think they’re safe. He uses a suite of Number 39: Utopia, Number 39: Utopia Double, and Double or Nothing! so that he can turn 2 Level 4 Gladiator Beasts into a monster with 10,000 ATK by using those monsters to Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia Double and activate its effect. Santos said he wins lots of Duels that way.

“If there’s a Deck you like, I say play it,” Santos says. “It doesn’t come down to winning all the time. If you like a card, try it out, even if not everyone is playing it.”

There are lots of strong Gladiator Beast cards in Chaos Impact that Santos isn’t playing, including Gladiator Beast Vespasius and Gladiator Beast United. Chaos Impact has revolutionized Gladiator Beasts, and given new hope to fans of the Gladiator Beast theme. Try out Santos’s Deck and make some changes to see if you can improve upon it!