Testing the waters: Elemental Glads

Before everything else, here's the decklist that I decided on after a night of playtesting:

40 Cards

15 Monsters

3 Elemental HERO Prisma
3 Test Tiger
1 Elemental HERO Stratos
1 Elemental HERO Bubbleman
2 Gladiator Beast Darius
2 Gladiator Beast Laquari
1 Gladiator Beast Equeste
1 Gladiator Beast Retiari
1 Gladiator Beast Bestiari

16 Spells

3 A Hero Lives
1 Gladiator Proving Ground
1 E-Emergency Call
1 Reinforcements of the Army
1 Smashing Ground
1 Book of Moon
2 Forbidden Lance
2 Miracle Fusion
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

9 Traps

2 Trap Stun
1 Solemn Judgement
2 Gladiator Beast War Chariot
1 Fiendish Chain
2 Call of the Haunted
1 Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 15

1 Gladiator Beast Heraklinos
2 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1 Gladiator Beast Essedarii
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number C39: Utopia Ray
1 Elemental HERO Nova Master
1 Elemental HERO The Shining
1 Elemental HERO Absolute Zero
1 Elemental HERO Gaia
1 Elemental HERO Great Tornado
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

Side Deck: 15

???

This by no means the definitive version or the final one, but I felt like I needed to get something up to show what direction this deck goes in. A few details on the card choices and playstyle:

After testing the entire night I ended up taking out Fusion Gate. It was a dead draw if I ever drew into multiples of it and I never really made any game-changing plays with it. And removing Gladiator Beasts from play when I'm running AHL Glads is bad. While I do have fairly easy access to Leviair, I dont want to use it to salvage random Glads from the banish zone (except Bestiari).

The deck plays defense very poorly from what I've seen since every Glad play you do is a miniature nuclear explosion, so I cut D-Prison from the final build in favor of Trap Stuns, which let me go into Gyzarus unopposed.

Hand traps are a major problem for Glads, but a minor annoyance for HERO's. I toyed with the idea of siding into Macro Glads to counter hand traps game 2 and 3 but sadly it was unfeasible. My idea now is to maybe transformation side into HERO Beat game 2 and 3 to counter my opponents side and maindecked Gladiator Beast hate, but it's just a idea at this stage. If I face someone who runs hand traps I'll just focus on the Hero plays over the Gladiator Beast plays. I might at a later date add more HERO-friendly cards to facilitate that strategy and even out the power play ratio between HERO's and GBs because right now i'd say its split 65-35 in favor of GBs.

A few major plays include:

2 Card Gyzarus:

-Prisma/Test Tiger
-AHL/Test Tiger
-AHL/Any Glad Beast
-AHL/Prisma

The dreaded 3 card Double Gyzarus

-AHL/Prisma/Test Tiger

Details on this place because its a little less linear. Play AHL for Prisma dumping Bestiari. Normal Summon 2nd Prisma dumping Laquari. Tag into Gyzarus popping 2. At this point the play branches.

*You can do the legendary 2 card double Gyzarus, but it requires attacking directly with the Gyzarus you summoned. After doing so, tag out for Darius and the Glad beast of your choice. Darius brings back the Bestiari you dumped earlier, leaving you free to tag into Gyzarus again. A great play to perform under Trap Stun. You can also bring out Double Darius to go into Gyzarus with Darius # 1 and Bestiari, then triple tag into Heraklinos with Darius #2, the Laquari brought back by Darius #2, and Gyzarus.

*If you dont think you can battle, you can spend a in-hand Test Tiger to forcibly continue the combo. Special Test Tiger and tribute it to tag out Gyzarus for Darius, bringing back Bestiari and tagging right back into the same Gyzarus for another double pop.



Going to be playtesting this deck some more tonight, and you can bet I'll have more info on deck changes and combo's afterwards! Till then!