I’m kind of stealing the name from Jason’s column of this nature from the end of Shonen Jump St. Louis, but I definitely feel it’s applicable here. Maybe not to the people actually here at the venue, as a great number of them queried the judges on Friday about a number of confusing effects and interactions that could make or break decks here today. Needless to say, most of the questions involved Gladiator Beasts in one capacity or another. Some of these rulings are available online for consumption by the general public, but a few of them were determined on site based on what little and oftentimes confusing information was available. With that said, I now present to you some interesting and relevant rulings that you should really be aware of if you intend to compete in either Canadian Nationals or Shonen Jump Championship Philadelphia.

Gladiator Beast Darius

One of the most feared combos coming into the day was the combination of Elemental Hero Prisma and Test Tiger. With Elemental Hero Prisma sending Gladiator Beast Bestiari to the graveyard and then taking its name, Test Tiger turns your highly searchable early play into an easy first or second turn Gladiator Beast Gyzarus by way of Gladiator Beast Darius. That’s not all Darius is good for though, as there are a few things about it that not many people realize. First and foremost, Darius can bring back a properly summoned Gladiator Beast Gyzarus or Gladiator Beast Heraklinos from the graveyard. That’s pretty good, but what about their effects? Sure, Darius will negate them, but with the help of a certain spell card that Gladiator Beast players ought to be playing anyway, that particular downfall can be avoided.

If you take a look at the official website for the rulings on Gladiator Beast Darius, you’ll see one that says this:

“When "Gladiator Beast Darius" is flipped face-down, its effect disappears and the effects of the Special Summoned "Gladiator Beast" monster are no longer negated. If "Gladiator Beast Darius" is removed from the field while face-down, the Special Summoned "Gladiator Beast" monster will not be returned to the Deck.”

What this means, is that you can bring Gladiator Beast Gyzarus back to the field with Darius and trigger Gyzarus’ effect. Then, you chain Book of Moon to turn Darius face down. By virtue of the above ruling, Darius doesn’t negate Gyzarus anymore, and Gyzarus will resolve successfully and destroy whatever cards you targeted with Gyzarus. Don’t think that this works if Darius is removed from the field in response to its effect though, as there’s also a ruling on the card that says this:

“If "Bottomless Trap Hole" is chained when "Gladiator Beast Darius" is Special Summoned and activates its effect, the selected "Gladiator Beast" monster is still Special Summoned and its effects are negated.”

It’s an important distinction, and with the current level of play that Bottomless Trap Hole is seeing here and everywhere else in general you’ll definitely need to keep this mind if you’re playing or playing against Gladiator Beasts. Darius is also useful for bringing extra attackers on board in a pinch, especially if they’re big as is and don’t need effects. Laquari is great for this, but problems can arise if you want to tag your bonus attacker out to replace it with a monster that does have an effect. Here’s the relevant ruling from the official website:

“If the Special Summoned "Gladiator Beast" attacks or is attacked, it can be returned to the Deck to activate its effect, but the effect will be negated by "Gladiator Beast Darius".”

This rule has existed since the FAQ for the sneak preview events was released, and yet no one seems to know it. Players are playing it improperly all over the place, but they don’t seem to realize it. This particular rule removes a number of potent plays from the Gladiator Beast arsenal, but it also stifles a number of the cries of “broken!” from players who don’t realize the card works like this.

Prohibition

Prohibition is a difficult card to deal with mainly because the rules for it don’t seem to exist in any sort of written form. It’s an issue, but not one that stopped players from playing the card in droves here at Nationals. Thanks to the efforts of Simon Sangpukdee, a number of rulings were made available for the card that had a lot of players scrambling to pick up sets from the on-site vendors. Let’s start with the one that makes it good against D.D. Crow. If you name a card like Kuriboh or D.D. Crow with Prohibition, it can’t be discarded to play its effect. It also can’t be discarded or used for any sort of cost, period. You can’t pitch it to Lightning Vortex or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, but it will still be discarded if you or your opponent plays Card Destruction or uses the effect of Morphing Jar.

The main reason people were diving for the card, however, was how it interacts with Elemental Hero Prisma when it attempts to copy the name of Gladiator Beast Bestiari. If you call Bestiari with Prohibition and your opponent attempts to turn a Prisma into a Bestiari, the end result is that Bestiari will be sent to the graveyard at the resolution of Prisma’s effect, but Prisma’s name won’t change. The same ruling would apply to Phantom of Chaos attempting to copy a card named by Prohibition since a card’s name can’t be changed into something that’s prohibited.

Those are the most prevalent rules that came up on Friday in preparation for the main event, and they’ve been formative in a huge number of matches this weekend. Given that Gladiator Beasts aren’t going anywhere any time soon, these are rules you should know if you’re planning on competing in a Shonen Jump Championship any time soon. Stay tuned for the playoffs to find out who will become the new U.S. National Champion!