Flower Cardian

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

Design
"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 "" card with "Crane Crane".

Main Deck monsters
Each "Cardian" 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. Each "Cardian" Main Deck monster's ATK/DEF 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.

Extra Deck monsters
The Extra Deck monsters are based on yaku (combos) in Koi-Koi, a game played with hanafuda cards.

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".

Playing style
The "Cardian" archetype is revolved around performing plays that mirror plays from Hanafuda games. Their effects allow the player to tribute the "Cardians" worth 1 point in Hanafuda games on their field to Special Summon the "Cardian" 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 "Cardian" who has a "Cardian" of matching Level on the field, the player can keep Special Summoning "Cardians" 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 "Chokoikoi" it's possible to summon any Level 4 or 6 Synchro Monster, or a Rank 2 Xyz Monster.

Both "Flower Cardian" Tuners ("Cardian - Botan ni Cho" and "Flower Cardian Willow with Calligrapher") can treat other monsters as Level 2 for a Synchro Summon, so it's possible to Special Summon "Level Eater" with its own effect and use it to summon any of the "Flower Cardian" Synchro Monsters.

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 "Cardian" monsters from your Deck to your hand.