In our last meeting I introduced the new and profoundly refreshing Magic Are-na exclusive format (for now; there's no reason this can't be a paper Magic for-mat the second people are permitted to be in the same physical location again): Gladiator.

This week I'm going to show off a few more decks and tell you where you can get involved with Gladiator more directly.

If you need a quick refresher on the parameters of the format (few as they may be), those are also included here.

The Least Terrible Uro Experience

Temur Tempo | Gladiator| Lsuasauke

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Bonecrusher Giant
• 1 Brazen Borrower
• 1 Brineborn Cutthroat
• 1 Deeproot Champion
• 1 Elder Gargaroth
• 1 Gallia of the Endless Dance
• 1 Garruk's Harbinger
• 1 Glorybringer
• 1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1 Gruul Spellbreaker
• 1 Hydroid Krasis
• 1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1 Legion Warboss
• 1 Lorescale Coatl
• 1 Nimble Obstructionist
• 1 Pelt Collector
• 1 Phoenix of Ash
• 1 Pteramander
• 1 Questing Beast
• 1 Radha, Heart of Keld
• 1 Rekindling Phoenix
• 1 Rielle, the Everwise
• 1 Robber of the Rich
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Sea-Dasher Octopus
• 1 Soul-Scar Mage
• 1 Sparkhunter Masticore
• 1 Sprite Dragon
• 1 Stonecoil Serpent
• 1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• 1 Vadrok, Apex of Thunder
• 1 Voracious Hydra
• 1 Wildwood Scourge
• 1 Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Garruk, Unleashed
• 1 Vivien Reid

• Instants (20)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Blink of an Eye
• 1 Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor
• 1 Censor
• 1 Collision // Colossus
• 1 Fire Prophecy
• 1 Giant Growth
• 1 Glimpse of Freedom
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 Infuriate
• 1 Ionize
• 1 Lightning Strike
• 1 Lofty Denial
• 1 Opt
• 1 Ral's Outburst
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Thrill of Possibility
• 1 Titanic Growth
• 1 Unleash Fury
• 1 Veil of Summer

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Contentious Plan
• 1 Domri's Ambush
• 1 Primal Might

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Cindervines
• 1 Curious Obsession
• 1 Omen of the Sea

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Rhonas's Monument

• Lands (37)
• 4 Island
• 6 Forest
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Mirrodin's Core
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Thriving Bluff
• 1 Thriving Grove
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Zagoth Triome

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Luka is one of the kids that got me playing this scene. This build of his demonstrates an important Gladiator tenet: synergies are great, but bombs are probably better. It's not rocket science: in a format with hundred card decks and only twenty life, it's important to draw nutso cards as often as possible. This deck draws some mythic monster bomb that should have another one or 2 mana in its cost and then protects it and/or pumps it for the win. Which monster ends up doing the hit is pretty irrelevant. And what's even more impressive is that his low drops aren't embarrassing either! I think I'd prefer Llanowar Elves over Pelt Collector, but you never know. Where the Geese at?

Weird stuff happens in Gladiator. That's the point.

X Marks the Spot

Woe unto those lacking Stonecoil Serpent in their Gladiator decks. Spells that scale are pretty huge because of how variant the mana can be from game to game. Magic Arena generally makes every game a "real game" on some level, but that's a wide range within this context. X spells make sure you have live cards at every point in the game, which beats drawing the wrong half of your curve and losing.

So anyway, yeah. Play Stonecoil Serpent.

This is a format in which Giant Growth is a reasonable card. There really is no limit to the joy we can extract from such a hotbed of delights.

Don't get confused and load up on all battleship Commander cards. Twenty life, friend. Twenty life.

Work Your Shift

On the other hand, if you want to get real weird with it:

Four-Color Scapeshift | Gladiator | KidAmn

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Cavalier of Thorns
• 1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1 Hostage Taker
• 1 Hydroid Krasis
• 1 Incubation Druid
• 1 Jadelight Ranger
• 1 Knight of Autumn
• 1 Migratory Greathorn
• 1 Murderous Rider
• 1 Ulvenwald Hydra
• 1 World Shaper
• 1 Skittering Surveyor
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
• 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1 The Gitrog Monster
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• 1 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

• Spells (35)
• 1 Absorb
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 1 Deathsprout
• 1 Eat to Extinction
• 1 Once Upon a Time
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 1 Thassa's Intervention
• 1 Vraska's Contempt
• 1 Wizard's Retort
• 1 Casualties of War
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Extinction Event
• 1 Find // Finality
• 1 Grow from the Ashes
• 1 Hour of Promise
• 1 Kaya's Wrath
• 1 Legion's End
• 1 Migration Path
• 1 Mythos of Brokkos
• 1 River's Rebuke
• 1 Scapeshift
• 1 Shatter the Sky
• 1 Time Wipe
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Divine Visitation
• 1 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 1 Omen of the Hunt
• 1 Omen of the Sea
• 1 Prison Realm
• 1 Seal Away
• 1 Smothering Tithe
• 1 Zendikar's Roil
• 1 Oath of Kaya
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Sorcerous Spyglass

• Lands (42)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 2 Plains
• 3 Forest
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Garenbrig
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Desert of the Glorified
• 1 Desert of the Indomitable
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Desert of the True
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Indatha Triome
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Thriving Grove
• 1 Thriving Heath
• 1 Thriving Moor
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Zagoth Triome

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Last I heard, Kid is working Dread Presence into the stew.

The combo plan is to assemble some kind of landfall assembly involving something like Tatyova, Benthic Druid or Zendikar's Roil with Risen Reef on the battlefield. Cast Scapeshift, get way out of range, and win at your leisure. If all else fails you can rely on the bomb insurance policy of Gladiator: just draw a bunch of ramp and then Hydroid Krasis or Ulamog. Also, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is legal so you may as well do that too. Multani and Gitrog are also sicko finds.

Will Gladiator Stick Around?

Ultimately, as always with Magic formats, Gladiator's resilience depends on its ability to solve problems other formats are not solving. I believe it currently solves the following problems:

• There is a global pandemic in progress and it is very hard for (reasonable) people to play Magic in the same physical space much of the time. This means there's an abundance of players of all demographics that are missing a piece of their usual Magic experience that was previously being administered. Magic Arena and Magic Online are the obvious adaptations.
• Magic Arena has a more developed and curated card pool than its older Magic siblings. Both are technically viable, but Arena has intuitive interfaces that solve "is this card legal?" problems. This will be an issue for people that first want to take the format to paper (which they should), but after a while, like all Magic information, it will be internalized, preserved, and updated by whatever percentage of the community wants to do it.

• Magic Arena has a hole in its "fun capability" in the same way that the paper Magic scene did before Cube and Commander were implemented into the culture. Gladi-ator fills this niche at nearly no investment to players beyond spending the time to make decks whose com-ponents are likely already sitting in your collection.

But just to make sure it gets an honest go, I'm going to spend a few hours a week on my upcoming Twitch stream relaunch playing pick up games against whoever would like to try it out. My playgroup is at around six or seven and growing for the format, and I'm happy to cultivate some seeds if the interest is there.

The Gladiator games will take place among some retro Super Nintendo gaming for good causes. I'm looking for cool deck ideas to publish.

Here's the real kicker, though:

Save the Animals, You Animal!

Since people now get those amazing Twitch Amazon Prime one per month subscription things and I've long lost the sanity to see currency accumulation as stimulating to my reward function, I'll be using whatever funds show up to provide lifesaving procedures to animals and for direct community growth. As a health abnormal, I'm stuck indoors most of the time, and that's probably not going to change much anytime soon. If I can con-vert Magic and video games and human connection directly into resources for less suffer-ing in the world, it's hardly a steep sacrifice.

My Twitch Channel

The fun starts next Monday night. Come in on Tuesday morning if you're wanting more Gladiator.

(~_^)

The Rascal

The Indestructible Danny West