It’s been a period of rapid growth for the Gladiator, which is a testament to both the awesomeness and the accessibility of this new community driven singleton format. Since the creation of the discord server on 22 April 2020 to present (12 May 2020), we’ve grown to 2,200 players active in the discord. There have already been 5 competitive tournaments in which 190 players participated from North American Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The format is generating interest throughout the wider magic community via word of mouth, streaming, and social media, and it is all because we, the players, are driving the community, whether it be through discussions, deck building, content creation, or just playing.
Notable events for the format over the last two weeks:
- Gladiator gameplay being Featured on LRRs Friday Night Paper Fight
- A Gladiator overview being Featured on LRRS Tap Tap Concede
- Establishment of regular Saturday tournament play
- Plenty of Gladiator streaming content from creators like Benjamin Wheeler, MartyPunker, and Samsoni1
- Terenos’ well researched and in-depth article on creating decks with just freebie cards
- Full Spoilers for the upcoming Historic Anthology 3 Card List
The most exciting thing about the format continues to be the metagame. Green-X decks are the most common, but the range of playable, competitive decks remains vast. It’s wide open out here on the frontier, so saddle up partner!
The biggest event on the horizon is Benjamin Wheeler’s upcoming tournament scheduled for Sunday, 17 May 2020. Keep an eye on Tournament announcements in the Gladiator discord!
Thanks to everyone in the community for helping make this amazing new Magic format fun to play, inviting, inclusive, and successful. We look forward to continued growth as more cards are added to the arena pool (helloooooo Amonkhet!), and more tournament play! Stay radical and play lands!
If you are new to the format, below is a list of X-0 and X-1 decklists from the last two weeks!
Tournament Winning Lists (24 April – 09 May)
5-0 Archermaster Bant Nexus
4-0 Temur Ramp Narwhalrus
4-0 Gruul Aggro Swankishdank
4-0 Mardu Control Tregelen
4-0 Sulltai Lands Darrak
4-0 Gladiator Gruul KingGurrade
4-0 White Weenie Horatius_Alger#7069
4-0 U/G Ramp nlght
4-1 Demondrinkingtea Esper Control
4-1 Horatius White Weenie
4-1 JRandomhacker Golgari Control
4-1 Mangord Dimir Control
4-1 Mink Grixis Control
4-1 Ploof Mono Black Midrange
4-1 Razrback Orzhov Aggro
4-1 TheOneTrueBob Mardu Midrange
4-1 Turbolover Esper Control
4-1 Wyjete Abzan Lands
4-1 Brooklyn – Golgari Graveyard
3-1 Jeskai Control TheTunnelingCat
3-1 Bant Reclamation Ryan Empty_Gryn
3-1 Esper Control ItThatBetrayed
3-1 Sultai Creatures Roval
3-1 Simic Flash Pearogative
3-1 Sultai Graveyard Unxcoin
3-1 Golgari Aggro freddiethethird
3-1 Jeskai Fires Superfriends Monowog
3-1 Mardu Shonen Dwaginz
3-1 Esper Control DarkRider
3-1 Gladiator Stompy Thaige
3-1 Bant Nexus Archermaster24
3-1 Mono Red Aggro
3-1 5C Gruul JimJambo
3-1 UG Ramp Nlght
3-1 Izzet Tempo Irishlawyer
3-1 Jeska Aggro MuddyMundo
3-1 4C Blood Samsoni1
3-1 Sultai HL GoblinMatron
3-1 4c Pod Ahxes
3-1 Bant Reclamation Empty_Gryn
3-1 The Rock Dan2000c
3-1 Bant Nexus Archermaster24
2-1-1 5c Niv jon81
2-1-1 Jeskai Sharks karara
2-1-1 Bant Turbo Fog Archermaster24
2-1-1 Sultai Control cronatos
