Gladiator Beast Tablets of Ancient Rome

"Gladiator Beasts?"

Kira's eyes lit up.

If you asked whether he had heard of this Deck, then of course he had. How could an old Yu-Gi-Oh! player possibly not have heard of it?

It had left an especially deep impression on Kira.

The sudden emergence of Gladiator Beasts was absolutely a milestone worthy of being recorded in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. And for players like Kira who had personally lived through that era, there was a name that carried a certain psychological shadow: Kaiser.

Of course, this was not referring to the Cyber Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, but to the ace of the Gladiator Beasts from that year—the ace that, upon release, single-handedly raised Gladiator Beasts to a New Realm of power: Gladiator Beast Kaiser.

Its Fusion requirements were "Gladiator Beast Laquari" plus any monster with "Gladiator Beast" in its name. By returning monsters On the Field to the Deck, it could be Special Summoned directly from the Fusion Deck without a Spell Card. It was similar to Neos's Contact Fusion mechanic.

When Kaiser was Special Summoned successfully, it could destroy up to two cards on the Field. During the End Phase of the turn this card battled, it returned to the Fusion Deck, then Special Summoned any two Gladiator Beasts other than Laquari from the Deck On the Field.

Being able to immediately blow up two cards upon hitting the Field was an ability considered absurdly overpowered the moment it was released. And that was not even the key point.

The key point was that this card was a Fusion Monster.

Gladiator Beasts were a Deck whose monsters could continuously search and rotate new monsters onto the Field through battle. Every Gladiator Beast shared a common effect: at the end of the Battle Phase in which it battled, it returned itself