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We're all well aware of Gladiator Beast Retiari's TCG exclusive release in Crossroads of Chaos, and ideas are flying around left and right about it's effect, mostly by process of elimination for what the Gladiator series still doesn't have an effect for. I've decided to take a different route..

The vast majority of the Gladiator Beast monsters are named after real Roman Gladiator Types, and are generally made to appear visually similar as well. For example:

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_gladiator_types

"Murmillones (also occasionally called a Gali or Gaul): Wore a helmet with a stylised fish on the crest (the mormylos or sea fish)" which of course our GB Murmillo is named after, and is a Fish type.

"Equites...In Imperial times, they sport an arm-guard (manica) on their right arm and sleeveless, belted tunics, in contrast to other gladiators who usually fought bare-chested, and no greaves. At least in Isidore of Seville's times, the Equites rode white horses and opened a day's program of fights" Our Gladiator Beast Equeste, part horse, sporting the "Gladiator Beast Battle Manica" with no other weapon to speak of.

To avoid at least a smaller wall of text, I'll stop there, but others mentioned are: Andabatae (Andal), Bestiarii (Bestiari), Dimachaeri (Dimacari), Hoplomachi (Hoplomus), Laquerarii (Laquari), Secutores (Secutor), etc. With others named after historical figures, such as Alexander and Octavius.

All of this brings us to Retiari, "A retiarius (plural retiarii; literally, "net-man" or "net-fighter") was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a weighted net (rete, hence the name), a three-pointed trident (fuscina or tridens), and a dagger (pugio)."

It's not much to go off of but it's something. The effects don't have much to do with their history, granted, but it's safe to say at least that it will probably be a Water monster and likely of the Fish or Sea Serpent Type. Also, with this information it wouldn't be too farfetched to think maybe it's a Fusion monster that has something to do with Murmillo, or possibly even Torax. Torax is one of the 'forgotten' Gladiators, so it could be possible that this is an attempt to somewhat 'balance' Gladiators by making a Fusion monster with a good effect as incentive to run a less than 'optimal' Gladiator in the main decks.

In all honesty, Torax could be at least decent in some situations (Gyzarus switching into a Laquari/Darius and Torax come to mind), but if it is a good Fusion that needs Torax, ways to utilize him should be considered, though this is besides the point.

It's all merely speculation and no flaming is necessary, these are just my thoughts. I'd like some feedback though, I don't think it's a horrible way of going about considering Retiari before it's information is released and I'd like to know what you think.

Thanks everyone!

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

2325975:

All of this brings us to Retiari, "A retiarius (plural retiarii; literally, "net-man" or "net-fighter") was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a weighted net (rete, hence the name), a three-pointed trident (fuscina or tridens), and a dagger (pugio)."

 

I do like the thinking there.... Perhaps an effect that lets the summoning player change attack-position monsters to defense position?

It would definitely make sense with the "weighted net" part, it is one of the few "gladiators don't have" effects, and it's synergy with a lot of the synchro monsters is ideal. Although I doubt Gladiators will be commited to Synchro Summoning at all, it really disrupts their flow. Definitely a possible effect, and it's perfectly fair (the discard effects people are talking about seem a little too broken to me). Though it would more than likely be it's own Gladiator in this case, as opposed to a Fusion.

Good thinking.

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

Nice thinking. Especially since Retiari is an exclusive, it could be possible that it could have something to do with Torax. I think it's even possible that it could act like Torax in the sense that it would have had to be brought out via another GB tagging out and sent back to the deck just like Torax. For instance, say Gyzarus returns to the Extra Deck and brings out two copies of Retiari (assuming it really did have a discard ability), then Retiari would have to return back to the deck to discard cards from the opponent's hand.

Even if Retiari did have a discard effect, giving it specific conditions like Torax has would balance it out a little bit, in my opinion. Assuming your turn 1, you play MST to destroy their one M/T, then follow up with Prisma + Test Tiger. Even if the combo is successful, making the tag for two Retiari and then sending them back for their effects would result in your hand having 3 cards left to your opponent's 2 in hand. Then they'll draw for turn and have 3 as well.

I mean I have my doubts that UDE would give us something with an instant +1 as a TCG exclusive, there has to be a catch. Case in point, Torax. Torax allows a GB player to draw a card. But it has to be returned to deck after being tagged in. If it automatically drew cards when tagged in, it would be too good and it would be highly limited.

What gets me curious is if Retiari does have a net in the picture, it would remind me of Intercept. It makes me wonder if it would have a Snatch Steal-ish effect. Heck, I don't doubt that it could even be a 5 star Fusion involving Torax as a requirement. After all, didn't Torax have a spear in it's hand/flipper?

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"Another victory for America!"

Wow. Very nice interpretation in my opinion. I really like your point on the discard effect too, that may very well be a possibility to keep things fair. Again that'd be a great scenario for Gyzarus tagging into something like Darius, Equeste, or Laquari and the second card used to take some advantage away from your opponent. Anyway, great justification of that possibility. The net idea being a Snatch Steal, or more appropriately Goyo Guardian type ability, is highly intrigueing to me. The correlation to Intercept is a great comparison. Very good input!

Oh, and Torax has more of a staff then a spear; kind of like a magician's rod or something.

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

There are 2 rumors abounding about it.  It's rumored to be a Winged Beast / Effect (Level 3, Discard effect) or a Beast-Warrior / Tuner (Level 2, Face-Down Destroyer (Fishing?))

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107-744-616
Circle of Tragedy Duels
YGORK2, PM1, TO1
UDE May Use My Card Ideas At Will!
EVERYTHING I SAY IS PERSONAL OPINION
Prepare for the coming Global Crisis

Yeah, I've seen the rumors from other various TCG forums. Personally, I don't expect it to be a Tuner. Now, I could be wrong, only time will tell. But if it were a Dark/Winged Beast/1000 ATK or less with a discard effect, expect it on the Banned List.

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"Another victory for America!"

lol, I highly doubt it will be Dark, none of them are. And I've seen those rumors too but I've seen them next to about 1000 more guesses. It's impossible to know now isn't it?

A Tuner would be alright, but with the Gladiators Tag-in Tag-out system, Synchro Summons really do slow them down. So do sending at least 2 Gladiators to the grave most of the time, any Gladiator Beast monster and each and every support card sends them back to the deck. Maybe a Tuner that specifically states the materials get sent back to the deck instead? It would make some more sense, but it would still really disrupt the Gladiator's flow.

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

Oh yeah. Very few Gladiators ever benefit from going to the grave, namely Bestiari (sometimes Laquari). Plus there's the fact that even if there were a GB Tuner, there wouldn't be a GB Synchro to help with the theme.

Personally, I highly doubt that Retiari's a Tuner. Honestly, one of the rare possibilities that it would help is in the side deck vs a GB deck. For instance, summon Retiari, Reborn or Brain Control the opponent's Bestiari, contact fuse for Gyzarus. And believe me, I have had a Zombie player Reborn my Murmillo and Brain Control my Bestiari and contact fuse for Gyzarus. Yeah, so it's possible.

You know, it's possible that Retiari could be another high level GB, but hopefully (if that's the case) it's not one that requires a specific GB to tag it in.

Idk, but I'm getting the distinct feeling that it's going to be a GB with a decent effect, but has a certain drawback to it. If I am wrong, even a GB that could change the battle position of a monster (with decent ATK) when tagged in (without it having to return itself to the deck to activate) would be pretty decent. However, Murmillo's better for that situation.

But if Synchro DAD and Zombie get as popular and as powerful I'm guessing it could become, if Retiari (when tagged in) automatically special summons another GB from the deck (and the monster brought by its effect doesn't gain its effect, similar to Darius' effect), then consider the deck extremely broken. Look, I tag out for auto-Gyzarus and your Crow in hand is useless. [Insert over-the-top anime laugh here]

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"Another victory for America!"

Great thinking!!!   Possibly an effect rather than switching to defence, maybe flipping face down.

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Chilisteve
Level 1 YGO Judge
Level 1 YGO TO

Yeah, I kind of like the idea of blowing up a face down card considering the majority of the decks run 2 Book of Moon as it is. It would be a really useful effect against the big stuff like Vanity's Fiend, Stardust, Prime Material, Goyo, etc. Might be a little too broken though, no? Then again, we have a S/T destroyer, a face up monster destroyer, why not a face down monster destroyer?

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

lol.  you cannot target a face-up monster and then chain book of moon to be able to destroy it.

Just like you cannot destroy a targeted monster if it is flipped face-up by a card effect after being targeted by NoC.

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107-744-616
Circle of Tragedy Duels
YGORK2, PM1, TO1
UDE May Use My Card Ideas At Will!
EVERYTHING I SAY IS PERSONAL OPINION
Prepare for the coming Global Crisis

um? it wouldn't be too hard to flip it face down before you tagged out for it though...? I never said chain book of moon to it's effect. If it's effect were to target a face down monster you couldn't target a face up one in the first place, obviously. I don't know how you got that out of my post...

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The Chosen of The Night.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

I guess it's just how people can read things differently. I understood what you were saying and how you were meaning it, as well as Johnist. It's just that others would think the way Johnist was mentioning and think it would be a legal play. I suppose it's a matter of specifics.

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"Another victory for America!"

Link 1) Send to summon

Link 2) Book of Moon.

Resolve) Flip monster face-down
Resolve) Summon Retiari

Link 1) Retiari (target face-down monster)

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107-744-616
Circle of Tragedy Duels
YGORK2, PM1, TO1
UDE May Use My Card Ideas At Will!
EVERYTHING I SAY IS PERSONAL OPINION
Prepare for the coming Global Crisis