Preview time again! Gladiator Beast Octavius was previewed yesterday, so I get to skip over the basic Gladiator Beast introduction. This is good news for those of you who think my writing isn’t quite the eloquent prose of angels, but for the two of you who are sad, don’t worry: next week’s preview is truly joy-inducing. For those of you who just want the card, say hello to Gladiator Beast Alexander—a level 6 monstrosity with 2400 ATK and 600 DEF.

This card can’t be Special Summoned except by the effect of Gladiator Beast Dimacari. If this card was Special Summoned, it’s not affected by Spell Cards. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked, you can return it to the Deck to Special Summon a “Gladiator Beast” monster from your Deck, with the exception of “Gladiator Beast Alexander”.

This beauty of a Light Beast-type monster is, much like the rest of the Gladiator Beasts, an impressive force. His effect is something I always like to see on a tribute monster—it’s aggravating to wait a turn (or more) to keep a monster out and tribute it off for something nice, only to have it destroyed by Smashing Ground. Protection is, as I mentioned during the Tactical Evolution previews, a valuable asset on any monster. Being able to prolong his own existence gives this guy a number of plusses.

I feel I should mention what impact tribute monsters will have on the Gladiator Beast theme. Having monsters that can summon high-level tributes without costing you field presence is very effective. I feel I should repeat some of the cool things about the Gladiator Beasts, because this guy deserves some redundancy to accentuate his awesomeness. Cyber Dragon, The Fiend Megacyber, and many other monsters have gained strength from the fact that they are easy to summon, but even in aggressive decks they are usually complemented by cool face-smashers. Berserk Gorilla was a powerful force many formats ago, even meriting the inclusion of cards like Prickle Fairy and Gravekeeper’s Spy in mainstream decks due to their high DEF value and anti-aggressive nature. The Gladiator Beasts are very nice forces here, since you can use level 4 monsters like my next preview card, Gladiator Beast Dimacari, with stats and effects that can add to your aggression. They can also, after a single attack, turn into a more powerful monster that can then cycle through a toolbox of Gladiator Beasts with effects suiting any situation. For example, if you wanted to summon the massive Gladiator Beast Octavius to destroy a spell or trap card to clear the way for your next turn, you could do it, or you could forego the effect and the extra ATK to get a more lasting beatstick like Alexander. Or, if the field is clear and you can protect him, perhaps you’d rather deal more damage with Dimacari, an Earth Beast-type with 1600 ATK, 1200 DEF, and the following effect:

If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a “Gladiator Beast” monster, it may attack twice during your Battle Phase. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked, you can return it to the deck to Special Summon 1 “Gladiator Beast” monster from your deck, with the exception of Gladiator Beast Dimacari.

Holy PG-13 expletives, Batman!! This one is tricky—while he’s only in the realm of “decent” as far as ATK value goes, he attacks twice if summoned by the Gladiator Beast effect. The cool thing here is cycling through this and other monsters. By summoning this guy and attacking once, you can get out any of your favorite high-level (and typically, high-ATK) Gladiator Beasts and attack some weak points for massive damage next turn. If the way is clear (or you think it’ll be clear), you can just bring out this guy for extra damage. Swinging twice and then sending Dimacari off to get out another Gladiator Beast (possibly one that is stronger at face value and can’t be run over) is a huge play. With Marshmallon in the environment, there may be more defensive monsters that you can run a normal-summoned Dimacari into, and then get out something slightly (in the case of Alexander, 50%) bigger.

With multiple Gladiator Beasts, you get to do something really cool—constantly cycling through monsters, perhaps ending on a few copies of Gladiator Beast Octavius. Or maybe just Dimacari. Either way, having seen a few of the Gladiator Beasts, I like the picture they’re painting.

“But Matt,” you say. “So far we’ve seen so few of these great guys! You can’t build a deck on three monsters.” This is why it is a good thing to wait for more preview cards. Of course, I’m out of time on this one, so it looks like you’ll have to wait for the other Metagame.com writers to show you the new face of awesome. If you like what you see (and I’m adding the “if” there merely as a pleasantry), mark your calendars to attend the Gladiator’s Assault Sneak Preview on the weekend of November 3rd. They’re always a blast, and you get a bunch of new cards before they’re released.