Flower Cardian Guide

Published on September 4th, 2019 by

Overview

Flower Cardians are a new archetype to Duel Links having just been released on August 31st, 2019. They are a brand new deck that have been somewhat overlooked but are a powerful addition to Duel Links that have many ways to draw and remove opponent's cards every turn.

About the Authors

My name is herf, I have been playing Duel Links almost since release, but have only recently joined the competitive scene. I currently play for X-Hunters and have learned a lot in my time there. I was originally drawn to the Flower Cardian archetype due to it being very unusual and having a fast and one turn kill (OTK)-based play style.
My name is Sham ✗O , I have been playing Duel links since Fur Hire meta, but I joined the competitive scene this year. I currently play for Forbidden Ones and learned that I can go positive in wars. I was originally drawn to the Flower Cardian archetype by herf :) and the OTK potential in TCG.

Introduction

Flower Cardians in their archetype have a high access to drawing cards, card removal, deck manipulation, and the ability to swarm the field. This makes Cardians a very fast and OTK style deck that focuses on drawing into card removal, using the gained card advantage to swarm the opponent, then killing them. This is achieved through almost every monster being able to draw a card on summon such as Loading... , Loading... being able to manipulate their draws, and finally, being able to reuse their grave and add Spells/Traps to the hand by using Loading... . These cards and their synergy are extremely powerful, however, they are somewhat limited by the amount of starters available to the deck.

Skills

Grit

By using Grit, if your Life Points were at 4000 at the start of the turn, the first time your Life Points will hit 0 they will stay at 1 instead. This means you are able to survive an extra turn and OTK your opponent. Since there is a possibility that you don’t open a starter, you can pass Turn 1 and get that extra draw on Turn 3 which helps your deck’s consistency. This helps you dig for that 1 extra card into your deck which helps you draw your starter. The deck prefers to go second, so Grit can help you with that because being able to pass that Turn 1 is very strong.

Light and Dark

Light and Dark allows you to swap one light/dark monster in your hand for a monster in your deck with the same type and level, but the opposite attribute. This skill is very powerful in a neos version of the deck because it allows you to swap Loading... which is a Level 1 LIGHT Warrior, for Loading... which is a Level 1 DARK Warrior. The other significant synergy is with Loading... himself, if you draw him you are able to swap for Loading... because they are both Level 7 LIGHT/DARK Warriors. With this Skill you are able to unbrick yourself at times by being able to search the deck for either your main starter or your monster removal. The biggest con of this skill is that adding any cards that are not “Flower Cardian” instantly reduce your probability of being able to use the effects of them. This is because each Flower Cardians only gains their effect if they draw a Flower Cardian Monster from the deck.

Core Cards

Flower Cardian Pine (3x)

A core card to the Cardian archetype due to it being the only Normal Summon in the deck. Pine’s effect allows you to draw when it is Normal Summoned; however if you do not draw a Cardian monster you will be forced to discard that card. However, drawing archetypal Spells and being forced to discard them can be beneficial as it gives you access to their respective graveyard effects.

Recardination (3x)

Recardination is a great card that lets you add a Cardian monster from your graveyard to hand and then special summon any Cardian monster from the hand. This allows you to recycle your removal and OTK after you clear the field. For example, you can recycle Loading... which will allow you multiple chances to destroy monsters. Also, Loading... is able to pop a back row,recycle and keep popping back row, which is important to ensure you are uninterrupted when going for game. Recardination also works with Loading... which lets you look at the top 3 cards of your opponent deck and decide if you wanna stack them or place them at the bottom of the deck. The last effect of Recardination, which triggers when sent to graveyard by a Cardian effect, lets you dig through the top five cards of your deck for a Spell/Trap and reorder the others.

Flower Stacking (3x)

Flower Stacking is an incredibly strong searcher for the deck. It’s effect allows you to pick 3 Flower Cardian monsters with different names and put them at the top of the deck in the order you choose. This has two huge benefits:

You get to search the deck for your main starter Loading... and place it along with the other two cards of your choosing in whatever order you want
Because each effect of Flower Cardian monsters need to draw another Cardian in order to gain their effect, when you are ready to go for game you are able to plan out the next three draws of your cardian monsters allowing them to 100% activate, while at the same time setting yourself up to draw missing combo pieces for your OTK.

If Flower Stacking is in the grave it allows you to use its second effect, which is to banish itself to add one Flower Cardian in the Grave to your hand. This is extremely important if you need to remove multiple back row or multiple monsters by recycling them from the grave back to your hand.

Flower Cardian Clover with Boar (2-3x)

The main monster removal in the deck. This card can Special Summon itself from your hand by tributing one Flower Cardian on the field, except a monster with its own name. If this card is special summoned you draw a card, if it is a Flower Cardian monster you are able to destroy one monster on the field your opponent controls. The important thing about Cardian removal is that it does not target, this means you can easily pop Loading... even if it has equips. Non-targeting removal also means that the destruction and the choice of what you want to destroy both happen when the effect resolves. So for example if your opponent has Loading... on the field and you trigger Boar's effect to destroy a monster, if they chain Nemesis Warrior and summon out a Behemoth you will simply be able to simply destroy the newly summoned monster when the chain resolves.

Flower Cardian Maple With Deer (2-3x)

The main way to remove backrow in the deck. This monster can be Special Summoned from the hand by tributing one Flower Cardian on the field, except itself. When Special Summoned you are able to draw one card, and if its a Flower Cardian, you are able to pop a backrow your opponent controls. Since this doesn’t target and pops on resolution, so your opponent cant respond to the destruction or know which backrow is getting destroyed beforehand.

Flower Cardian Zebra Grass (2-3x)

Zebra Grass allows you to special summon itself from the hand as long as you control a level 7 or lower Cardian monster. If you use this effect you will lock yourself to only being able to special summon Cardian monsters for the rest of the turn. Zebra Grass has a very poor effect of reshuffling and drawing your hand, and has very poor stats. The primary use of this card and why it is good is that it allows you to easily get another Cardian on board by using it as tribute fodder for Loading... and Loading... . Otherwise this card’s effect is really bad and should almost never be used for redrawing your hand.

Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly (0-2x)

Peony is the one and only Tuner in the entire archetype and has some pretty unique effects. Like most other Cardians it is able to summon itself by tributing a face up Cardian. After summoning, if you draw a Cardian monster you are able to look at the top three cards of your opponent’s deck and place them at the top or bottom of the deck in the order you choose. Not many cards are able to do this so being able purposefully brick your opponent or deny them a key combo piece can win many games. Butterfly being a tuner also has significance because it allows access to a few different Synchro monsters. Peony with Butterfly is normally level 6, allowing you to make level 7 synchro monsters like Loading... when used with Pine. However, if used as a synchro material, you are also able to treat itself and all other materials as Level 2 allowing you to turn a full board into Level 6 Synchros like Loading... or even Loading... . This synchro component allows you to clear/play around more situations than you would without it.

Flower Cardian Pine with Crane (0-1x)

Crane is one of the few Cardians that boast an ATK above 1000 and that's because it's slightly harder to summon. This card may only be summoned by tributing a Level 1 Cardian (so only Pine). When Crane is summoned, if you draw a Cardian monster you can Special Summon it. However, since it does not ignore summoning conditions, you cannot summon cards like Loading... , which can only be summoned by their own effects.

Flower Cardian Zebra Grass with Moon (0-2x)

Moon is directly comparable to Loading... as it boasts both 2000 ATK and the on-summon effect to Special Summon drawn Cardians. However it's easier to summon because you need to tribute Loading... (a free Special Summon) as opposed to Loading... (which is usually tributed off earlier as it's your starter). This distinction can potentially save valuable resources like Loading... that would otherwise be used to get Pine on the field for Crane.