A Blog Dedicated to The Magic: The Gathering Arena Singleton format!
Is there a better plane for a digital-only set? I think not! Welcome, everybody, to the Alchemy: Kamigawa set review! In this article, we’ll be covering the fastidious traditions of the Imperials, the technological advancements of the Futurists, and the seedy backdoor dealing of the Reckoners. Dragonfly Pilot This card reminds me a lot of…
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Are you looking to increase the Starting Intensity of your decks? Then check out these red, green, and multicolored cards for Alchemy: Kamigawa! Artillery Enthusiast This guy would probably love being thrown in a Goblin Bombardment. Gladiator has many one mana 1/1s with upside in red, so how does this creature stack against the others?…
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Pardon the sudden radio silence, the lab explosion from that latest Alchemy experiment was quite…something, wasn’t it? We come to you now with the results of our devilish experiment, condensed down to our most fascinating scientific discoveries! Not mere hypotheses, but practiced data on impactful cards! White Captain Eberhart Now before I go into this…
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Bant Nexus is a hybrid ramp and control deck, built to drag the game out long to generate a sufficient mana advantage to decisively win the game. This deck is perfect for anyone who enjoys playing very long, interactive games of Magic. Each game features important decisions, which rewards player skill while still being accessible to learning players, since the length of the game means a single mistake will not make or break the game.
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The 3rd weekly Sunday Slam occurred this Sunday, June 14th. Through 5 rounds, 8 players came to the top 8. Here are their standings.
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Of the many decks I have brewed since starting Gladiator a few weeks back, this is by far the most intriguing of them so far, full to the brim with impactful decisions. Though it does not lend itself well to beginners, it has a steep learning curve, the deck will test you to become a better magic player, as often the slight deviations from optimal play are the difference between victory and loss.
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Jeskai Control is an excellent choice for you if you’re looking to learn the fundamentals of control. Playing Jeskai Control means drawing cards, countering spells, and controlling the battlefield with removal. Every win with Jeskai Control is decisive; by the time you’ve killed the opponent, they will have no cards in hand and no cards in play. If you’re looking to win tournaments and aren’t afraid of long matches, then look no further than Jeskai Control.
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Mono-Green Stompy looks to play large creatures ahead of the curve, to attack for lethal damage before the opponent has time to deal with each threat you play. The deck is fairly linear, as it aims to be aggressive most of the time, but is resilient enough to switch to defense and grind, if the need arises.
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By: Dune Brood Tournament Breakdown On June 5th, 28 Gladiators entered the Arena to battle for the title of the G:AS FNM Champion in a 4 rounds Best of 3. The following 8 champions emerged victorious. 4-0 alternate789 on Azorious Control 4-0 telemach0s on Simic Ramp 3-1 Decontest on Sultai Midrange 3-1 Yesterdaze on Mono…
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The Esper Manse deck began its life in the late 2019 standard with Throne of Eldraine introducing the titular card, Dance of the Manse, and persists in Gladiator today. The deck uses multiple enchantments and artifacts to grind the opponent out and resurrect problem enchantments from the graveyard to the battlefield. In singleton, the deck favors a controlling gameplan, employing high-value enchantments like sagas to grind out the midgame and threaten our opponents with armies of tokens. Meanwhile, actions are setting up for a huge Dance to close out the game or to resurrect a big threat from our graveyard to threaten our opponent’s life total.
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With May coming to a close and not much else to do I thought it would be interesting to see how the competitive meta of Gladiator was shaping up. Specifically, what was being played most at the upper echelons of tournaments. So, I grabbed every deck list that made top 8 in a May tournament (a total of 64) and did some crunching. Looking at the 64 deck lists these are the findings that I thought people would find most interesting.
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Gladiator tournament results from May 30th, 2020
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Gladiator tournament results from May 23, 2020
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Gladiator tournament results for May 23, 2020
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On May 22nd two FNM tournaments were conducted in a row. I ran the Eurozone tournament while Prince Phantom hosted the NAzone tournament. Thanks go to all the attendees and the other Tournament Organizers, nashty and Horatius. The following Champions emerged victorious from the Tournament battlegrounds.
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Gladiator tournament deck lists from May 20th, 2020.
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May 22nd 2020 Eurozone FNM Tournament Results Rank Player and Deck 1 BraveJRL Bant Control 13 2 Archermaster24#2326 Bant Nexus 13 3 Linija White Weenie 13 4 Swankishdank_0904 Temur Ramp 10 5 wesley147208 Jeskai Control 10 6 cdgentry1#4107 Sultai Reclamation 10 7 Bjaaarn Sultai Lands 10 8 gozmit97 Gruul Stompy 10 9 SeismicLawns Tour de…
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Winning Decks 5-0 ItThatBetrayed#34978 Jund Midrange 5-0 Archermaster24#35487 Bant Nexus 4-1 Roval#13839 Sultai Pod 4-1 Tregelen#08387 Bant Blink 4-1 MandarinMonkey#52528 Gruul Stompy 4-1 Monowog#14927 Sultai Reanimator 4-1 cdgentry1#15217 Jeskai Control 4-1 SirTractor#96603 Rakdos Aggro 4-1 sveske#27595 Abzan Reanimator 4-1 HeWhoHasCake#47171 Azorius Control 3-2 Denthrass#93410 …
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By Horatius 17 May 2020 Tournament Report: May 16th‘s 74-person Saturday night Swisses event: While we had a very wide variety of deck submissions and colors represented in the tournament, there was a clear statement made yesterday as to the strongest deck/archetype in the meta. A very even spread of decks across the color pie…
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SirTractor#3844 Gruul Aggro 5 – 0 TheMuskrat#1493 Big Jund 5 – 0 Dorkmaster Flek#0420 Gruul Stompy 4 – 1 PrincePhantom Gruul Aggro 4 – 1 SpicyDungus#3841 RDW 4 – 1 Darrak#7937 Sultai Lands 4 – 1 Mapadabe#2528 Rakdos Aggro 4 – 1 petiteperson Abzan Lands 4 – 1 GroomofChucky#0215 Temur Ramp 4 – 1 TurboLover…
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By Ephara/DuneBrood 16May202 On May 5th 58 Gladiators entered the Arena to battle for the title of the G:AS FNM Champion in a 4 rounds Bo3. The following 8 champions emerged victorious. 4-0 EMG(23637) on Sultai Midrange 4-0 cart4ever on Boros Aggro 4-0 Nickfingertip on Gruul Stompy 3-0-1 catmoozi on Esper Control 3-1 grexar on…
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Quick posts to show off today’s winning lists, full tournament report from Ephara will be up tomorrow! GGWP everybody! EMG(23637) Sultai Midrange 4 – 0 cart4ever Boros Aggro 4 – 0 NickFingertip Gruul Stompy 4 – 0 catmoozi Esper Control 3 – 0 – 1 grexar Esper Control 3 – 1 ItThatBetrayed Sultai Lands 3…
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By Gaspump 14May2020 If you’d asked me how I felt about Gladiator a week ago, I would’ve told you that while I was generally a fan of Russel Crowe’s body of work it wasn’t my favorite movie he’d starred in. Now, with a tournament’s worth of experience under my belt in what I’d handily consider…
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Today I’d like to introduce my favorite Gladiator deck, Boros Prowess. This list started from Ben Wheeler’s but has slowly evolved over the ~100 matches I’ve played with the deck. The goal of the deck is simple; cast aggressive creatures and pump/support them with spells. The deck hopes to go under nearly all other decks in the format, threatening lethal on T4/T5 in best case scenarios. The reasons to play Prowess over other agro options the deck’s explosiveness; 12+ damage with just two creatures on board is easily doable. If attacking with a 5/5 trample Fencing Ace on T3 is your type of Magic, you’re considering the right list.
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By HD_Dabnado 12 May 2020 Bant Counters Decklist I started playing Magic: The Gathering during the gap between M15 and Khans of Tarkir block. It was a unique time for Magic; before the Magic Origins shift began. While I did not play much standard, I was actively interested in standard cards. Back then I played…
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By Horatius, 12 May 2020 Gladiator is very new and the best deck is still being debated. In the early days, there is space to improve win rate by analyzing and adapting faster than your opponents to the idiosyncrasies of this singleton format. I went 4-0 and 4-1 in the early tournaments choosing white weenie…
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By Dunebrood/Ephara 09 May 2020 On May 9th the second set of Saturdays Swisses were hosted by Horatio and myself. 28 players fought in 2 flights of 1×16 player swiss and 1×12 player swiss in 4 rounds Bo3 Gladiator. The following decks presented winning records. Flight 1: 4-0 Darrak on Sulltai Lands 3-1 GoblinMatron on…
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First ever set of Saturday Swisses was played last night. 44 Players joined into 3 flights of gameplay –1×16 player swiss and 2×14 player swisses. The Gladiator format stills seems wide open: a huge array of decks joined the fight covering every archetype and color (…and then some–shoutout to Griff-dog who brought a Dance of the Manse combo deck that went 0-4 but won the entertainment factor of the night).
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As cards are announced for Historic Anthology 3 (27 Cards total) they will be linked here. Release date 21 May. Preview Day May 8th.
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Community member Terenos did all the legwork to assemble decks that use only the cards from New Player Event Challenges! Do you want to get into Gladiator with absolutely NO cost? Start here! Gladiator BlogGladiator Blog is the main account for the unofficial Gladiator Blog. Articles posted by the previous owners of this website will…
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Thanks to all participants for making this an awesome 56 player impromptu tournament! Click on player name to view the decklist, and join the Gladiator Discord for future tournament announcements
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Gladiator is a 100 card singleton Magic: The Gathering format designed to played on Arena. It allows a player to design a 100 card deck that contains a single copy of any card available on Arena, unless the card text modifies deck building limitations. Gladiator utilizes a ban list that currently has 5 cards on it: Field of the Dead, Natural Order, Nexus of Fate, Oko, Thief of Crowns, and Teferi, Time Raveler. Gladiator is a competitive tournament format that does not utilize sideboards, so companions, commanders, and other cards that allow you to pull cards from “outside of the game” do not work in the format, but may be cast as creatures. Lurrus of the Dream-Den is a powerful card on its own, and is included in many decks for its amazing stats and abilities, but cannot be used as a companion.
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