How I would play Yeem's GB.

Recently starting my own Yu-Gi-Oh! blog and hopefully this will grow really big. First post.

I'ma introduce myself, I'm a big GB fan, not going to show my real name on the internet though. Recently, Gladiator Beasts made it big at the Shonen, recieving a Top 16. This was the first Gladiator Beast top the whole format. It was an innovative anti-meta GB. I heard some rumors saying that See Yeem bribed/cheated to get his spot, but I disagree. He put up a decent fight in his Top 16 match, and also, there is little to no actual proof that he cheated, other than people bashing his decklist.

The decklist:
See Huang Yeem

 1 Gladiator Beast
Bestiari
1 Gladiator Beast
Darius
2 Gladiator Beast
Equeste
1 Gladiator Beast
Murmillo
1 Gladiator Beast
Retiari
1 Gladiator Beast
Hoplomus
3 Gladiator Beast
Laquari
1 Blackwing – Gale
the Whirlwind
1 Gorz the Emissary
of Darkness
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

1 Smashing Ground
1 Mystical Space
Typhoon
3 Gladiator Proving
Ground
3 Shrink
2 Book of Moon
2 Fissure
1 Brain Control

1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap
Hole
3 Gladiator Beast
War Chariot
2 Dimensional
Prison
2 Waboku
1 Dust Tornado
1 Call of the
Haunted

His side was typical, but it included Heavy Storm, not to mention Banisher of the Radiance and Icarus Attack as other interesting choice.

 1 Gladiator Beast
Bestiari
1 Gladiator Beast
Darius
2 Gladiator Beast
Equeste
1 Gladiator Beast
Murmillo
1 Gladiator Beast
Retiari
1 Gladiator Beast
Hoplomus
3 Gladiator Beast
Laquari
1 Blackwing – Gale
the Whirlwind
1 Gorz the Emissary
of Darkness
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

This is a somewhat typical lineup for Anti-meta GB. An interesting decision he made is that he opted to side Kycoos instead of maining them. This was something I found rather strange. A good choice he made was maining Gale, making siding Icarus a lot easier. Since my version won't  be siding Icarus however, we can take that out (to make room for Kycoo. Kycoo is such a good card in today's meta. Another good option for this is, surprisingly, a single teched Test Tiger. Drawing 2 Test Tiger will often lead to losing the game, but with 1, you can drop Bestiari and potentially OTK or at least wipe the board. Since this new Anti-meta variant is based on consistency, Test Tiger in 1 is a smart option. Another thing I noticed was that he  used Gladiator Beast Laquari in triplicate. I would prefer having it at 2, since it's not as critical to tag in and out as it is to drop Kycoo to stop GY options and Necros (which hurt GB.)

-1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
-1 Gladiator Beast Laquari

+2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
+1 Test Tiger

Now, we have 16  Monsters. This is one more than See Yeem's 15. However, Test Tiger is more or less a S/T, so we're still even here.

---

1 Smashing Ground
1 Mystical Space
Typhoon
3 Gladiator Proving
Ground
3 Shrink
2 Book of Moon
2 Fissure
1 Brain Control

Now, we move onto Yeem's spells. Something that immediately strikes me as something I wouldn't play is Shrink of Book of Moon. Book of Moon is a lot more versatile than Shrink. For my own playstyle, I would play 3x Book, and 0 Shrink. Another card I don't like is Fissure and Smashing Ground. 1-1's fail to cut it this format because swarms often consist of 3-4 monsters, and you'd need to drop all your 1-1's to fix it.

Instead, we should play something like Dimensional Fissure or Ancient Forest, cards that are pretty good in the main. Personally, I like D-Fissure. D-Fissure is like Kycoo in Spell form. It helps to wreck the meta, which is highly Graveyard reliant. D-Fissure won't conflict with Gorz, because they need to kill the backrow in order for them to attack/SS monsters, because they can't summon/or do anything with D-Fissure on the field. 2 is optimal in my opinion, since drawing 2 is kinda dead, and the deck doesn't rely on D-Fissure at all.

A popular tech card this format is My Body as a Shield. It can also stop them from Bottomlessing Besti. I would main 1. Heavy Storm is always needed in the main unless you are really Continous heavy. (2 isn't heavy.) I understand that Yeem kept it sided for the bluff factor (to stop them from overextending their backrow in fear that he was holding Storm) but I prefer actually having a physical impact on the field.

-3 Shrink
-3 Fissure
-1 Smashing Ground

+2 D-Fissure
+1 Book of Moon
+1 My Body as a Shield
+1 Heavy Storm

Now, we have 11 Spells. That's a fairly solid number. Keep in mind that right now, we have 27 cards overall.

---

1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap
Hole
3 Gladiator Beast
War Chariot
2 Dimensional
Prison
2 Waboku
1 Dust Tornado
1 Call of the
Haunted

Yeem has 14 Traps. Since having 40 cards is very important, we need to cut one. I would say Mirror Force gets the cut. I like the card a lot, but it's weak to Brionacs. Also, I would play 3x Waboku, 2x War Chariot, since I would like to tag out more than negating effects, and only 2 are needed anyways.

I like Yeem's Dust Tornado tech to clear the backrow of Royal Oppression in case he plays anti-meta. It can also be used to set Chariot, etc in the end so he can play it. Brilliant tech there.

2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh
2x Gladiator Beast Laquari
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
1x Gladiator Beast Murmillo
1x Gladiator Beast Hoplomus
1x Gladiator Beast Retiari
1x Gladiator Beast Darius
1x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1x Test Tiger
1x Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness

3x Gladiator Proving Ground
3x Book of Moon
2x Dimensional Fissure
1x Brain Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon

3x Waboku
2x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Dust Tornado
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Call of the Haunted

This is the finished product.