Gilded Gladiators

 is a team participating in the Smite Pro League. The team is owned and operated by Hi-Rez Studios.

History
The Gilded Gladiators was created by Hi-rez in 2022 to promote SCC branding. The team roster was chosen due to qualification in the SCC Play-ins tournament. The original roster consisted of lestimics, Mastkill, iSotos, Rottwen, and TottiGR.

2022 Season
The Gilded Gladiators started the year as an EU SCC team. The team was middle of the pack, they were strong against the bottom teams but couldn't find wins against the top teams. Not much came from their spring season, with the most notable achievement from the team being a win in a best-of-one set against the Eldritch Hounds, who would 2-0 them later in the tournament. Going into phase 2, the roster would see a decent amount of changes. Rottwen would no longer be in the team, parting away and being replaced by WorstTurttle. Not long after, iSotos and WorstTurttle would leave and be replaced by Sap7 and Dazer. The Gladiators stayed consistent with their phase 1 selves, except two Titans had been forming in EU SCC. Hex Mambo and Highland Ravens were taking shape, and no matter what any EU team did, getting through them would be an arduous task. Coming into Summer Masters, the Gladiators would play with a substitute ADC, that being Itori. Due to the format that Hi-Rez was trying out, their first match, alongside other SCC teams, was with SPL teams. The Gladiators were paired against the Camelot Kings, who would decisively defeat them. Then, in the loser's bracket, would be their match against the Eldritch Hounds, who would also beat them. Coming into the fall season, the Gladiators would revert back to their original roster. While not instant, iSotos and Rottwen made it back to the team. Calvin, Sap7, and Dazer would leave the team. The rest of the phase was no different than other phases. The Gladiators were a fine team, but fine was not enough. When the tournament to see which SCC team would attend the Smite World Championship, the Gladiators started off on a strong foot. They would 2-0 the Aaru Scorpions, but would suffer the same fate against the Highland Ravens and the Aaru Scorpions during the rematch. This would end the season for the Gladiators.

Play-in Tournament
Before the official start of the SPL, Hi-Rez decided to host a tournament, the Promotional Tournament, in order to find out who will become the next two SPL teams. On February 9th, Hi-Rez posted the rosters for the Promotional Tournament. The Gilded Gladiators would completely disband. In their place would be ScaryD, Kyrmi, Snoopy, Inbowned, and DudeManBro429. The casters had no belief that the Gladiators would win this tournament, except for caster Myflin. In the tournament, the Gladiators played well, only dropping a set against the Eldritch Hounds. The final was against the fan-favorite, Niflheim Wargs. In a grueling, nail bitting set, the Gladiators were able to prove everyone wrong and reverse sweep the Wargs. The Gilded Gladiators had made it. However, things would not continue well for the Glads. Before the tournament, rumblings were heard about DudeManBro429 and his past toxic/racist behavior. Once the Glads won, these rumblings because louder. Hi-Rez would eventually suspend him, however, the reasoning was that the ban was for multiple accounts, not his personal behavior. The Gladiators alleged that they did not know anything about DudeManBro429's situation. The team moved on from this and announced their new ADC, Stuart.

2023 Season
The Gilded Gladiators was a complete replacement for their 2022 version. Yet, the players that made up the team were mostly from the Solar Scarabs team. So it could be said that this team was the spiritual successor of the Solar Scarabs. By the start of the Smite Kick-off tournament, the Gladiators were not a complete team. Snoopy and ScaryD were not on LAN, so they had to play on ping. During the tournament, the Gladiators would face the Camelot Kings and lose 0-2 to them. Due to the Division format that Hi-Rez was experimenting with, once the tournament concluded the Gladiators were placed in the chaos division alongside the Oni Warriors, Jade Dragons, and Atlantis Leviathans. Starting off the summer phase, the Gilded Gladiators did not perform well. They were by far the worst SPL team, but that is not to say that there weren't hints of a formidable team. Against the Camelot Kings, the team managed to win a 2-1 set. While the Kings were toying around the second game and playing sloppily, the third game was the Gladiators being better than the Kings. Against the Jade Dragons, the Gladiators performed better than them and won a 2-0 set. Unlike the set with the Kings, the set against the Dragons showed that when the stars align, the Gladiators were not to be trifled. Beyond those two games, the phase was disappointing. On May 13th, ScaryD would declare that he would be back on LAN. Snoopy would also find himself back on LAN. With the phase over and the Playoffs for Summer Masters underway, the team had improved. During the playoffs, their first opponent was the Styx Ferrymen. The underdog team managed to beat the Ferrymen in a 3-1 set. Their next opponent, the Atlantis Leviathans would beat them 0-3 and then the Jade Dragons would beat them 1-3. While they started strong, the team did not progress in the end. During Summer Masters, as the team was eliminated from the tournament, the Gladiators had to face the best SCC team. Hex Mambo had a reputation for demolishing SPL talent, especially the Solar Scarabs. As the Gladiators were an extension of the Scarabs, Hex Mambo would beat them in a 0-2 set. With that, it was over for the Gladiators. On Twitter, Inbowned made a tweet that hinted that the team's lack of scrims was responsible for the loss. The future looks shaky for the Gladiators. As of now, the fall season has not started.