Flower Cardian

花札衛
「カーディアン」 (Kādian)

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

Other names

French

Fleur Cardian

German

Blumen-Kartian

Italian

Fiore Cardian

Korean

카디언
Kadieon (romanized)

Portuguese

Flor Cardian

Spanish

Flor Cardian

Sets

TCG Sets

OCG Sets

Appearances

Anime appearances

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

Lists

"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[]

"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".

Members[]

Main Deck[]

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
1	Pine	Crane and Sun	20	Pine with Crane	Crane Crane	2000
3	Cherry blossom	Normal	1	Cherry Blossom	Naturia Beetle	100
3	Cherry blossom	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
8	Zebra grass	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
11	Willow	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
12	Paulownia	Fenghuang	20	Paulownia with Phoenix	Fenghuang	2000

Extra Deck[]

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

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

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[]

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 1-point "Flower Cardian" monsters except "Flower Cardian Pine" (which is Level 1) all have the following effect, "If you control a Level n-1 or lower "Flower Cardian" monster: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, also you cannot Normal or Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except "Flower Cardian" monsters."

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 Moonflower", "Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly" 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 "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.