Flower Cardian

Flower Cardian
"Flower Cardian Pine", "Zebra Grass", "Willow", and "Paulownia" in the artwork of "Flower Gathering".
Japanese	花札衛（カーディアン） 花札衛 (base) カーディアン (ruby) Kādian (romanized)
French	Fleur Cardian
German	Blumen-Kartian
Italian	Fiore Cardian
Korean	카디언 Kadi-eon (romanized)
Portuguese	Flor Cardian
Spanish	Flor Cardian
Sets Invasion: Vengeance Raging Tempest TCG Dragons of Legend: Unleashed Flames of Destruction Battles of Legend: Armageddon Dragons of Legend: The Complete Series OCG Collectors Pack: Duelist of Flash Version Dimension Box Limited Edition Tournament Pack 2020 Vol.2 Collection Pack 2020
Anime appearances
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Lists	Members Support

"Flower Cardian", known as "Cardian" (花札衛（カーディアン） Kādian) in the OCG, is an archetype of DARK Warrior monsters used by Chojiro Tokumatsu in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V based on hanafuda playing cards.

Design

Chojiro Tokumatsu with "Flower Cardian Willow", "Flower Cardian Paulownia", "Flower Cardian Zebra Grass", and "Flower Cardian Pine" in the anime.

"Flower Cardian" monsters look like giant hanafuda cards. The images depicted in them appear to be parodies of the images depicted in the actual playing cards using Yu-Gi-Oh! cards; for example, the image depicted on "Flower Cardian Pine with Crane" is a parody of the image depicted in the "Crane Matsu" card with "Crane Crane".

Etymology

In Japanese, "Cardian" is written with kanji meaning "Hanafuda" and "Protection". The reading "Cardian" is a pun on "Card" and "Guardian". In English, the addition of the word "Flower" may reflect the fact that "Hanafuda" is written with kanji meaning "Flower" and "Card".

Members

Each Main Deck monster's Level is equal to the month represented by its suit; for example, "Matsu" is the first suit, so "Flower Cardian Pine" and "Flower Cardian Pine with Crane" are both Level 1. The ATK/DEF of each is equal to 100 times its point value in hanafuda; for example, the "Susuki" hanafuda card is worth 1 point and "Flower Cardian Zebra Grass" has 100 ATK/DEF, while the "Full Moon with Red Sky Susuki" card is worth 20 points and "Flower Cardian Zebra Grass with Moon" has 2000 ATK/DEF.

Level	Hanafuda suit	Hanafuda card	Points	Flower Cardian	Featured Yu-Gi-Oh! card	ATK/DEF
1	Pine	Normal	1	Pine	N/A	100
		Crane and Sun	20	Pine with Crane	Crane Crane	2000
3	Cherry blossom	Normal	1	Cherry Blossom	Naturia Beetle	100
		Camp Curtain	20	Cherry Blossom with Curtain	Curtain of the Dark Ones	2000
6	Peony	Butterfly	10	Peony with Butterfly	Blazewing Butterfly	1000
7	Bush clover	Boar	10	Clover with Boar	Boar Soldier	1000
8	Zebra grass	Normal	1	Zebra Grass	Naturia Cosmobeet	100
		Full Moon with Red Sky	20	Zebra Grass with Moon	The Wicked Avatar	2000
10	Maple	Deer	10	Maple with Deer	Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest	1000
11	Willow	Normal	1	Willow	Giant Trunade	100
		Ono no Michikaze with Umbrella and Frog	20	Willow with Calligrapher	Flower Cardian Lightshower and Poison Draw Frog	2000
12	Paulownia	Normal	1	Paulownia	Tentacle Plant	100
		Fenghuang	20	Paulownia with Phoenix	Fenghuang	2000

The Extra Deck monsters are based on yaku (combos) in Koi-Koi, a game played with hanafuda cards. Due to the fact that "Flower Cardian" Tuners can treat all of the Synchro Materials as Level 2 for a Synchro Summon using them as material, the Levels of "Flower Cardian" Synchro Monsters are twice the number of cards required for the hanafuda combo, so that the "Flower Cardians" that correspond to the hanafuda combo cards can be used to Synchro Summon them.

Yaku	Yaku requirements	Flower Cardian	Level
Ame-Shikō	Any four 20-point cards including Ono no Michikaze	Lightshower	8
Gokō	All five 20-point cards	Lightflare	10
Inoshikachō	The Boar, the Deer, and the Butterfly	Boardefly	6
Tsukimi-zake	The Moon and Sake Cup	Moonflowerviewing	6
Hanami-zake	The Sakura Curtain and Sake Cup

Playing style

This archetype revolves around performing plays that mirror plays from hanafuda games. Their effects allow the player to Tribute the "Flower Cardian" monsters worth 1 point in hanafuda games on their field to Special Summon the monster of matching Level worth 20 points from their hand, which will then allow the player to draw 1 card. If the drawn card is a "Flower Cardian" who has another of matching Level on the field, the player can keep Special Summoning "Flower Cardian" monsters and drawing cards. This arrangement is meant to gather the right cards on the field to perform a combination named "Yaku", represented by a Synchro Summon. The archetype uses cards such as "Flower Gathering" to gather cards more quickly. Everything revolves around gathering the right cards to perform a "Yaku" and Synchro Summon the Synchro Monster corresponding to that combo. By using "Flower Stacking" followed by "Super Koi Koi" it's possible to summon any Level 4 or 6 Synchro Monster, or a Rank 2 Xyz Monster. The "Flower Cardian" Tuners ("Flower Cardian Moonflowerviewing", "Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly", and "Flower Cardian Willow with Calligrapher") can treat other monsters as Level 2 for a Synchro Summon. The Pendulum Effect of "Dragodies, the Empowered Warrior" can be used to help "Flower Cardian Paulownia with Phoenix", "Flower Cardian Pine with Crane", and "Flower Cardian Zebra Grass with Moon" activate their last effects, and its Monster Effect can add any of the "Flower Cardian" monsters from your Deck to your hand.

Weaknesses

While this deck has immense draw power and flows well with the average first hand, it has a number of flaws.

• If the player doesn't draw "Super Koi Koi", "Flower Gathering", "Flower Cardian Pine", "Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom", or "Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom with Curtain", they cannot Summon any other Flower Cardian monsters.
• Cards that prevent Special Summoning monsters, such as "Vanity's Emptiness" and "Vanity's Fiend", prevent this Deck from working.
• If the opponent Tributes "Flower Cardian Lightflare" using something such as a "Kaiju" monster or "Share the Pain", it does not count as leaving the field by a card effect, and hence it cannot use its effect to Summon another "Flower Cardian" Synchro Monster.
• Due to the playing style of this archetype, monsters other than "Flower Cardian" monsters ruin the consistency, slowing down the deck.

Recommended cards

Recommended cards

Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom with Curtain Flower Cardian Clover with Boar Flower Cardian Maple with Deer Flower Cardian Paulownia Flower Cardian Paulownia with Phoenix Flower Cardian Pine Flower Cardian Pine with Crane Flower Cardian Willow Flower Cardian Zebra Grass Flower Cardian Zebra Grass with Moon Absolute King Back Jack Quillbolt Hedgehog Tuner monsters Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly Flower Cardian Willow with Calligrapher Spell Cards Normal Spells Flower Gathering Flower Stacking Recardination Super All In! Super Koi Koi Galaxy Cyclone One for One Reinforcement of the Army De-Synchro The Beginning of the End Synchro Creed Equip Spells Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade Moon Mirror Shield Trap Cards Normal Traps Breakthrough Skill Reckless Greed Battleguard Howling Continuous Traps Fraud Freeze Extra Deck Synchro Monsters Flower Cardian Boardefly Flower Cardian Lightflare Flower Cardian Lightshower Flower Cardian Moonflowerviewing Armory Arm Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons Vulcan the Divine Colossal Fighter Cupid Pitch Xyz Monsters Number 45: Crumble Logos the Prophet of Demolition Sky Cavalry Centaurea Link Monsters Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights Wee Witch's Apprentice

Konami's Example Deck [1]

Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Flower Cardian Paulownia with Phoenix x3 Flower Cardian Paulownia x3 Flower Cardian Pine with Crane x3 Flower Cardian Pine x3 Flower Cardian Zebra Grass with Moon x3 Flower Cardian Zebra Grass x3 Flower Cardian Willow x3 Tuner monsters Flower Cardian Willow with Calligrapher x3 Spell Cards Advance Draw x2 Allure of Darkness Galaxy Cyclone x2 Flower Gathering x3 One for One Pot of Avarice Reinforcement of the Army Soul Charge The Warrior Returning Alive x2 Trap Cards Battleguard Howling x2 Breakthrough Skill x2 Extra Deck Synchro Monsters Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight Flower Cardian Lightshower x2 Crimson Blader Herald of the Arc Light Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Stardust Charge Warrior Xyz Monsters Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder Number 22: Zombiestein Number 77: The Seven Sins x2 Number 84: Pain Gainer x2 Sylvan Princessprite

Trivia

• All "Flower Cardians" are based on Kasu (1-point cards), Tane (10-point cards), or Hikari (20-point cards). There are no "Flower Cardians" based on Tanzaku (5-point cards).
• There are no more than two "Flower Cardian" cards of each suit (even of suits that include Kasu, Tane, and Hikari).