Robert DiMartino is currently 8-2 with Gladiator Beasts and his opponent, Tyler Nolan, holds the same record with his T.G. Deck. One of these Duelists will make it to the Top 32. The other will be eliminated right here. Which will it be?
Michael McTavish is a local Canadian, competing in the YCS with a Banishment Deck. His Deck has favorable match-ups against several of the most popular Decks in the field this weekend, including Twilight and Plants. Unfortunately for McTavish, his Round 1 opponent is Tuan Pham – a Toronto-local who entered the YCS with Gladiator Beasts. Gladiator Beasts are a tough match-up for McTavish, who will do everything he can to overcome this early disadvantage. Read more…
13-year-old Brandon Miotke got second place in last year’s WCQ Dragon Duel Championship, losing to Jack Hoyt in the final round. Now, he’s 5-1 with his X-Saber Deck in the WCQ Main Event, and facing off against Justin Reyes – a Duelist who made it to the Top 16 of YCS Toronto with X-Sabers. Miotke is running a T.G. Plant Deck in today’s tournament, and he’s facing off against Justin Reyes’s Gladiator Beasts. This may be a tough Match for Miotke, since Reyes can remove Miotke’s T.G. monsters with the effect of Gladiator Beast Retiari to prevent their effects from activating in the End Phase.
Gladiator Beasts are unique in today’s field because they offer a cunning Duelist several advantages that other strategies just can’t match. Almost any Gladiator Beast can be sent back to the Deck to “tag out” for another Gladiator when it makes a successful attack. Since all the Gladiator Beasts have different – and useful – abilities, a Gladiator Duelist can get to their most important monsters really easily. They can get to the monsters they need, almost whenever they need them, provided they can attack and tag out. That allows the Gladiator Duelist to run very few monsters, but still play a wide range of different monsters in a single Duel: even if they draw fewer monsters than other Decks over the course of any given game.
10-year-old Oliver Tomajko and 12-year-old Kyle Chen both skipped the Dragon Duel yesterday and competed in the main tournament instead. Despite their young ages, both of them were successful in the tournament – Oliver won his Round 2 Feature Match and Kyle made it all the way to the Top 32! Now, both of these Duelists are back with 3-0 records in today’s Dragon Duel, and they’re Dueling against one another in yet another Feature Match for each of them! Both of these Duelists have done a great job Dueling this weekend, but only one of them can win this Match to become Sunday’s Dragon Duel Champion!
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Robert Boyajian is the only Worm Duelist left in the tournament, and Moises Rodriguez, a YCS first-timer, is the last remaining Gladiator Beast Duelist left in the tournament. Only one of them can move on. One of these Duelists will be eliminated, and either Worms or Gladiator Beasts will advance to the Top 8.
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12-year-old Kyle Chen from Tallahassee, Florida finished the Swiss rounds with an 8-2 record using Gladiator Beasts. His opponent, Luke Patterson, took his Scrap Deck to a 9-1 finish. Historically, Scrap Decks have had trouble beating Gladiator Beasts due to the constant threat of Gladiator Beast Murmillo and Gladiator Beast Retiari, but now that Patterson’s Scrap Deck is packing the 3 copies of Reborn Tengu that Gladiator Beast Decks frequently struggle against, Patterson might actually have the edge in this Match.
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Bobby Barone made the top cut at 3 YCS tournaments, including the one right here in Philadelphia in 2008, and is back today running Gladiator Beasts. But his opponent, Hang Cheong Wu is running an anti-meta Deck full of high ATK Level 4 monsters, which may make this a tough Match for Barone.
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.
Fortune has smiled on these two Duelists this weekend, as both of them were chosen out of all the players who played in a Public Event this weekend to compete in a 4-player, single elimination tournament. The prize? A set of the Darklords, the YCS Prize Cards!
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