"Then I activate the Spell 'Soul of Fire'!" Kira said. "Your opponent draws 1 card to activate it.
Banish 1 Pyro monster from your Deck; inflict damage equal to half that monster's ATK."
An original card Axel used against Jaden—choose a high-ATK Pyro and you can chunk the opponent's LP. It also got an early physical print.
"More burn?"
Mello frowned.
There hadn't even been any battle yet. If he let this through, in a single turn his LP could be burned down to the danger zone.
Volcanics—planning to win by direct burn?
A spark flashed in Mello's mind. He suddenly realized why the opponent had picked this deck for their showdown.
Gladiator Beasts all share a defining trait: "After battling, return to the Deck to summon a comrade from the Deck," and when those comrades are Special Summoned this way, they trigger all sorts of effects.
The prerequisite for everything is "after battle."
As long as monsters battle, the Gladiator Beast engine spins up, pulling whatever resources are needed to handle any situation and seize total control of the field.
And since their effects trigger "when returned to the Deck," they go back to the Deck rather than the GY, giving good resistance even to macro-banish effects like Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos.
They can even slot in the classic floodgate packages and have done so in top builds. With top-tier engine flow, resource efficiency, strong offense and sustain, excellent synergy with heavy backrow, and resilience against mainstream floodgates, "Dimensional Gladiator" variants leveraging banish/fissure systems have been meta contenders.
Their native strength plus compatibility with stun is a big part of why they took a world championship.
But what if your opponent simply refuses to battle you?
"Trying to neuter Gladiator Beasts by avoiding combat. Interesting," Mello chuckled. "Clever idea, but Gladiators aren't so easily handled.
I activate my set card, the Counter Trap 'Disarm'!
Return a 'Gladiator Beast' card from my hand to the Deck; negate the activation of a Spell and destroy it!"
The set card flipped up. A beam of counter energy lanced out and struck Kira's Spell.
"Your Spell's activation is negated!"
"Fair enough," Kira didn't mind. "Then I'll activate this Spell—
—Continuous Spell 'Blaze Accelerator'!"
A massive steel cannon crashed onto Kira's field, its menacing barrel aimed straight at Mello.
"Blaze Accelerator: send a Pyro monster with 500 or less ATK from your hand to the GY to destroy one monster your opponent controls."
Kira revealed a card from his hand, then sent it to the GY.
"I send the 100-ATK Pyro 'Volcanic Shell' from my hand to the GY.
Ammo loaded—fire!"
The tiny Pyro shell, wreathed in flames, became a round fed into the cannon's chamber. The cannon charged; flames roared; the shell blasted forth as a fireball, punching straight through the Gladiator Beast's heavy shield and incinerating the tiger warrior entirely.
Mello clicked his tongue.
He'd prepared ways to prevent battle destruction—but only that. And even if a trap could negate effect destruction, it still wouldn't trigger Gladiator Beast effects—those only trigger after battling.
Volcanics are a deck built around popping monsters and burning LP. And cards like Blaze Accelerator—and the earlier burn Spell—often include a clause like "monsters you control cannot attack this turn."
Clearly, the entire deck has almost no plan to fight head-on.
"Volcanic Shell's effect," Kira continued. "While in the GY, once per turn, pay 500 LP to add another 'Volcanic Shell' from your Deck to your hand."
[Kira, LP 4000 → LP 3500]
The ghost of Volcanic Shell flickered in the GY, turned into a flame, and flew into Kira's Deck. The Deck inside the duel disk seemed to ignite, and a card popped up for Kira to draw.
A second Volcanic Shell.
Mello's expression cooled further.
Blaze Accelerator's effect is: discard a Pyro with 500 or less ATK from hand to pop an opponent's monster. Volcanic Shell fits perfectly, and it can fetch another copy from the Deck. In other words, endless ammunition.
No wonder it's called "Volcanic Shell"—it's literally the deck's shell.
Moreover, Blaze Accelerator's effect is not "once per turn." As long as you have ammo in hand, you can fire as many times as you like in a turn.
Meaning next turn, Kira can discard that Shell to pop a monster. Then use the Shell in the GY to search another Shell, discard the new Shell to pop again. Next turn the cannon can pop at least two monsters.
Destroy the monster line entirely with effects, then burn the duelist directly…
Mello bared his teeth. This was getting tricky.
Is this guy really planning to go the entire duel without engaging in battle?
"I set one card and end my turn," Kira said.
Mello's eyes narrowed further.
As expected—he hadn't even summoned a monster.
Mello took a deep breath.
Fine. Let's see how long you can run.
"My turn. Draw!"
He glanced at his hand and slapped down a card.
"Spell Card 'Spellbook from the Pot'—we both draw three cards." (Manga card)
Mello drew, then slammed a Normal Summon.
"I Normal Summon 'Gladiator Beast Laquari'!"
Flames circled as the Beast-Warrior Gladiator appeared with a snarl.
[Gladiator Beast Laquari, ATK 1800]
In early GB builds, Laquari was one of the most coveted. Base ATK 1800, and if Special Summoned by a Gladiator effect, it rises to 2100.
Since Gladiator effects all require "after battling," having a low-Level, high-ATK beater was a key starter for early GB.
"If you won't battle, I'll force you to a place where you can't avoid it!" Mello swept his hand. "Gladiator Beast Laquari, direct attack!"
...
2 Bonus chapters at 500 PS