No Head-On Battle

"Then I activated the Spell Card 'Soul of Fire'!" Kira said. "The opponent drew one card from their Deck and activated it.

Choose one Pyro-Type monster from your Deck and Banish it. Inflict damage to your opponent equal to half that monster's ATK."

It was a Spell O'Brien had used against Judai in the original work. By choosing a high-ATK Pyro-Type monster, it could deal massive damage in one go. Moreover, the physical version of this card had been released long ago.

"Another burn strategy?"

Mello frowned.

The battle had not even begun. If this effect went through as well, his Life Points could be burned into dangerous territory in this single turn.

A Volcanic Deck... was Kira planning to win by directly burning away his Life Points?

A flash of insight struck Mello, and he seemed to suddenly understand why his opponent had chosen this Deck for the final match.

The shared trait of Gladiator Beasts was that "after battling, they returned to the Deck and summoned new companions from the Deck," and those Gladiator Beasts could trigger all sorts of effects when called forth by their companions.

The prerequisite for everything was "after battling."

As long as both sides' monsters battled, the Gladiator Beast system could rapidly start up, accessing nearly any resource needed to handle any situation and seize absolute control of the Field.

And because Gladiator Beast effects activated by "returning to the Deck," they generally returned to the Deck after battling instead of going to the Graveyard. Thus, they had considerable resistance to Banish effects like Macro Cosmos.

Even those traditional underworld cards could be used in Gladiator Beasts, and they had often appeared in mainstream builds. With first-rate engine power, efficient resource management, excellent offense and endurance, great synergy with heavy Traps, and no