I’ve always been a huge fan of Gladiator Beasts. Unfortunately, the theme is well past its prime. Gladiator Beasts reigned supreme after the release of Gladiator Beast Gyzarus in Light of Destruction back in 2008, and gradually faded into obscurity. The release of new Gladiator Beasts like Gladiator Beast Augustus, Gladiator Beast Essedarii, and Gladiator Beast Nerokius over the years helped the theme, but didn’t give them enough strength to keep up with more dominant Decks. Fortunately for Gladiator Beast fans everywhere, three of the strongest Gladiator Beasts ever printed are about to be released in Battles of Legend –Light’s Revenge–, and they will allow Gladiator Beast Deck to once again spar against top tournament contenders!

Gladiator Beast Noxious is the first of the three powerful new Gladiator Beast monsters.

Gladiator Beast Noxious is the only non-Fusion Monster of the bunch, but don’t let that fool you. At Level 5 you aren’t really trying to Normal Summon Gladiator Beast Noxious, rather you really want to Special Summon it via its own effect. When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can Special Summon Gladiator Beast Noxious from your hand to defend yourself! It’ll jump in the way and redirect the attack to itself, and because it can’t be destroyed by battle, you’ll survive the battle and be able to “tag out” for another Gladiator Beast at the end of the Battle Phase.

If that wasn’t enough, Noxious has another effect that will activate whenever it is Special Summoned by a Gladiator Beast, including itself, that lets you send a Gladiator Beast from your Deck to the Graveyard. This effect is great for helping you set up Fusion Summons, because you can kick down whatever Gladiator Beast you need for a Fusion Material and then bring it right back when Noxious “tags out” for Gladiator Beast Darius. While Gladiator Bestiari seems like the easy default to send down and bring back, perhaps Gladiator Beast Augustus may be what you want. Why?

Gladiator Beast Andabata enters the ring.

Gladiator Beast Andabata is a Level 8 Fusion Monster with 1000 ATK and 2800 DEF. Like the rest of the Gladiator Beast Fusion Monsters, you don’t Summon Andabata with Polymerization or any other Fusion Spell Card – you can simply Special Summon it from your Extra Deck by shuffling its Fusion Materials from your field back into your Deck.

If it’s Summoned by combining the appropriate Fusion Materials, Gladiator Beast Andabata lets you Special Summon any Level 7 or lower Gladiator Beast Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning condition. There are lots of different Gladiator Beast Fusion Monsters you can Summon with Andabata, but most of the time you’ll probably want to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, since Gyzarus’s effect will immediately destroy up to two cards on the field.

Gladiator Beast Andabata also has an effect that lets you return it to your Extra Deck at the end of a Battle Phase in which it battles, and replace it with two new Gladiator Beasts that you choose to Special Summon from your Deck. This is sometimes colloquially referred to as “tagging out” your Gladiator Beast and “tagging in” one or more new Gladiator Beasts. Since Gladiator Beast Gyzarus has that same “tag out” and “tag in” effect as Andabata, a single Andabata can snowball into 4 Gladiator Beasts of your choosing by the end of your next Battle Phase.

Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor is the third powerful new Gladiator Beast monster in Battles of Legend –Light’s Revenge–.

Like Andabata, Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor is a Level 8 Fusion Monster that can be Summoned without a Fusion Spell Card. Tamer Editor has 2400 ATK and 3000 DEF. Once per turn, Tamer Editor can Special Summon any Gladiator Beast Fusion Monster other than Tamer Editor from your Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions. Since this effect isn’t restricted to Level 7 or lower monsters, it can even be used to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos straight to the field without combining any monsters!

Combine your easily Summoned Gladiator Beast Heraklinos with Gladiator Beast War Chariot to negate anything your opponent throws at you.

In addition to its awesome once per turn effect, Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor also has a cool effect that lets you “tag out” any of your Gladiator Beast monsters that battle, and “tag in” a new Gladiator Beast from your Deck at the end of the Battle Phase. This gives a small boost to monsters like Gladiator Beast Secutor and Gladiator Beast Essedarii, which can’t “tag out” for a new Gladiator Beast on their own.

Gladiator Beast Andabata and Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor both have similar Summoning requirements. Andabata is Summoned by fusing the Level 8 Gladiator Beast Augustus with any two other Gladiator Beast monsters. Tamer Editor is Summoned by combining two Level 5 or higher Gladiator Beast monsters.

If you have the monsters on the field to Summon Andabata, you usually can also Summon Tamer Editor. That’s because when you control a Level 8 Augustus and two other Gladiator Beasts, you can combine your two spare Gladiator Beasts to Fusion Summon the Level 5 Gladiator Beast Essedarii, and then combine Essedarii with Augustus to Fusion Summon Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor.

It’s always easy to Summon Gladiator Beasts of any Level, since they can be “tagged in” from the Deck at the end of the Battle Phase when another Gladiator Beast you control battles and “tags out”. Plus, the effect of Gladiator Beast Augustus, which Special Summons a Gladiator Beast monster from the hand, and the effect of Gladiator Beast Darius, which Special Summons a Gladiator Beast monster from the Graveyard, makes it easy to fill up your field with Gladiator Beasts that you can use in a Fusion Summon.

Gladiator Beast Noxious, Gladiator Beast Andabata, and Gladiator Beast Tamer Editor may be just what Gladiator Beast Duelists needed to revitalize the Gladiator Beast theme. You can get your hands on Noxious, Andabata, and Tamer Editor when Battles of Legend –Light’s Revenge– releases on July 7th!