Most Gladiator builds are B/G, as the original decktype was. But some people feel that adding white allows the builder to have a much wider selection of cards. Since the Invasion block is a multi-color set, the added possibilities become quite impressive, at the expense of painland use. A Spectral Lynx could take the slot of Kavu Titan or Phyrexian Rager, and Vindicate instantly takes over another slot. This would only be a few of those choices. Also, Birds of Paradise is used to increase the delivery speed of all other spells in the deck.

Some B/G/W decks use the Overgrown Estate/Desolation Angel combo. This combo is similar to the reset button idea of Nevinyyral’s Disk, but of course, it only affects lands and it gives the player a life and creature advantage. Even if the opponent would come back from the Armageddon and 5/4 flyer, the difference in life totals would still be a powerful presence.

I have tried many builds of Black, White and Green. This is the deck I have tweaked:
4 Spectral Lynx
3 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Spiritmonger
2 Desolation Angel

4 Duress
3 Addle
4 Gerrard’s Verdict
4 Vindicate
4 Pernicious Deed
2 Death Grasp
2 Skeletal Scrying

4 Elfhame Palace
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Llanowar Wastes
6 Swamp
3 Plains
3 Forest
* A sideboard varies depending on the player.

This deck was made around the power of Pernicious Deed. In a deck like this, Deed does more than give the user card advantage; it provides a total lock. The opponent could not afford to give the player too much card advantage, however, the Deed is almost always the only card that the player would lose here. Eleven discard spells assure that any combo deck will have a very hard time getting their combos to work. In addition, only one mana of each color is needed for the exception of the Angels. This assures that the painlands do not take away too much needed life from the player.

The biggest concern is how much lighter your wallet would be. Junk and Gladiator are expensive builds and require a lot of dedication in order to get the needed cards. Therefore, it is highly recommended to playtest this build first. There are cheaper replacements for these cards in the case that money is an issue. Ancient Silverback or the new Gurzigost could replace Spiritmonger. Ebony Treefolk is a nice replacement for Scuta, especially if your play area is very bounce heavy. Additional Skeletal Scrying or Phyrexian Arena could help replace other cards which you cannot get. Consume Strength is a good possibility with all of the 2/2 creatures running around in T2. Regardless of what I’ve said here, the choices are up to you.

How does Torment affect this build? Although a total spoiler is now available at www.brainburst.com, it is too early to tell what cards will have an impact on the T2 world. We can say that this card and that card are going to get broken, but that is what everybody says when they see a great new card come out. It should not be a concern right now. In the next few weeks, expect new deck ideas to pop up and old ones to become weaker. These changes may occur as soon as the Torment prerelease. As a player myself, I would wait and see what is popular at the prerelease and then start making changes based on the popular cards.