[CPF1] Cardians

[VCR_CAT]

There's quite a few, so I'll be placing them in spoilers. Images not included for now.

 

[spoiler= Cardian Matsu]

Cardian – Matsu

Dark Warrior / Effect

LV1 100/100

You can only use the (1) effect of “Cardian – Matsu” once per turn.

(1) If this card is Normal Summoned: Draw 1 card and reveal it. If it is not a “Cardian” monster, send it to the Graveyard.

(2) If this card is destroyed by battle or if this card in your possession is destroyed by an opponent’s card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Matsu ni Tsuru]

Cardian – Matsu ni Tsuru

Dark Warrior / Special Summon / Effect

LV1 2000/2000

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 Level 1 “Cardian” monster (except “Cardian – Matsu ni Tsuru”).

(1) If this card is Special Summoned: Draw 1 card and reveal it. If it is a “Cardian” monster, you can Special Summon it, otherwise send it to the Graveyard.

(2) At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked: You can draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Susuki]

 

 

Cardian – Susuki

Dark Warrior / Effect

LV8 100/100

(1) If you control a Level 7 or lower “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 “Cardian” monsters.

(2) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can reveal any number of “Cardian” monsters from your hand, also after that, shuffle them into the Deck. Then, draw that many cards.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Susuki ni Tsuki]

Cardian – Susuki ni Tsuki

Dark Warrior / Special Summon / Effect

LV8 2000/2000

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 Level 8 “Cardian” monster (except “Cardian – Susuki ni Tsuki”).

(1) If this card is Special Summoned: Draw 1 card and reveal it. If it is a “Cardian” monster, you can Special Summon it, otherwise send it to the Graveyard.

(1) Once per turn, when this card destroys an opponent’s monster by battle: You can draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Yanagi]

Cardian – Yanagi

Dark Warrior / Effect

LV11 100/100

(1) If you control a Level 10 or lower “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 “Cardian” monsters.

(2) Once per turn: You can target 1 “Cardian” monster in your Graveyard; shuffle it into the Deck, then draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze]

Cardian – Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze

Dark Warrior / Special Summon / Tuner / Effect

LV11 2000/2000

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 Level 11 “Cardian” monster (except “Cardian – Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze”).

(1) If this card is Special Summoned: Draw 1 card and reveal it. If it is a “Cardian” monster, you can Special Summon it, otherwise send it to the Graveyard.

(2) If you Synchro Summon using this card as Synchro Material, you can make all the Synchro Materials for that Summon Level 2.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Kiri]

Cardian – Kiri

Dark Warrior / Effect

LV12 100/100

(1) If you control a Level 11 or lower “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 “Cardian” monsters.

(2) When this card is targeted for an attack: You can negate that attack, and if you do, end the Battle Phase, then draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Cardian - Kiri ni Houou]

Cardian – Kiri ni Houou

Dark Warrior / Special Summon / Effect

LV12 2000/2000

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 Level 12 “Cardian” monster (except “Cardian – Kiri ni Houou”).

(1) If this card is Special Summoned: Draw 1 card and reveal it. If it is a “Cardian” monster, you can Special Summon it, otherwise send it to the Graveyard.

(2) Once per turn, when this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can draw 1 card.

 

[spoiler= Hana Awase]

花合わせ Hana Awase

Normal Spell Card

You can only activate 1 “Hana Awase” per turn, and during the turn this card is activated, you cannot Normal or Special Summon monsters, except “Cardian” monsters.

(1) Special Summon 4 “Cardian” monsters with 100 ATK from your Deck in face-up Attack Position. (Each card must have a different name). The monsters Special Summoned by this card have their effects negated and cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon.

 

Some interesting factoids to note:

- Yanagi specifies "Level 10 or lower", and since that currently there are no Level 10 Cardians, this means that, at the least, future support is intended.

- They are also a little too Xenophobic for having only 1 Synchro; which also tells me future support is intended.

- Kiri is the first Level 12 monster that can be Normal Summoned.

 

[玄魔の王]

A few notes:

 

-All the Cardians have gone from being snowclones to having individual effects, and all the ones with 100 ATK besides the LV1 are self-summoners.

-There are still 8 Cardian monsters to be released, none of which have 100 ATK.

-They also have 2 Synchros left, one of which is Gokou, a 5k beater.

-Hana Awase no longer prevents you from using the summoned monsters as Synchro Materials.

[Toffee.]

So.... The Deck is now, what, topdeck Hana or you lose?

[VCR_CAT]

So.... The Deck is now, what, topdeck Hana or you lose?

 

Matsu is key to getting out the other dudes, and it's not stretch to build the deck accordingly. Overall, we better get that KOIKOIKOI spell or I'll be upset.

[Toffee.]

Matsu is key to getting out the other dudes, and it's not stretch to build the deck accordingly. Overall, we better get that KOIKOIKOI spell or I'll be upset.

Well what I'm getting at is the fact half of these need you to Tribute Cardians of a specific Level, and it doesn't really help that they are unmatching.

I mean, they can get away with it in the anime, sure, but IRL... Not so much.

[Progenitor]

Some interesting factoids to note:

- Yanagi specifies "Level 10 or lower", and since that currently there are no Level 10 Cardians, this means that, at the least, future support is intended.

- They are also a little too Xenophobic for having only 1 Synchro; which also tells me future support is intended.

 

Cardians are all based on Hanafuda playing cards.  Hanafuda decks contain 48 cards.  Each card represents a certain month, and each month has 4 suits to it.  So there are exactly 12 cards, and each suit is just that same card, but with a greater point value.  There are 2 Normal Suits (1 point), a mid-level suit (5 points;  Picture altered in some way to differentiate from base suit) and a Special Suit (20 points; picture strikingly different from other suits, usually depicts an animal or symbol that is in some way related to the card's month)

 

The playstyle of Cardians is also based on Koi-Koi, a game you play with Hanafuda cards that is very similar to Poker.  You have a play area of 5 cards, and you swap out cards in your hand with this play area in order to make specific combinations that are worth special point amounts.  In fact, the Synchros the cardians are able to make are based off these special hands.  Ameshikou is in reference to the hand dubbed Ame-Shikō.  It's worth 7 points and is a combination of any four 20 point suit cards in your 5 card hand, where at least 1 of those 20 point suits is the Rainman (Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze).  Notice that Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze is the only tuner in the deck.  Therefore the only way to make the Synchros (special hands) is to use the Rainman in combination with other cards.  Why do you think Ameshikou needs 4 materials?  Cuz Ame-Shikō is a hand made with 4 cards.  Also somewhat amusingly Ameshikou is based off the only hand that specifically needs the Rainman, so he has an umbrella and stuff.  Neat.

 

Furthermore, Hana Awase is another game played with Hanafuda cards that is similar to Koi-Koi in the sense that you try to capture special combinations of cards for more points.  It plays entirely different though, as the most important cards to worry about are delt on the field, similar to how you play a game of Texas Hold 'Em.

 

I digress, but basically to address what you mentioned, it looks like they are using the Base Suit and the Special Suit for the monsters, which means, at most, there will be 24 main deck monsters, where each pair has it's own unique level.  It's not possible for them to do every hand in Koi-Koi as it's own synchro, due to the fact that some hands revolve cards with point values that are not in the Base or Special suit.  Also there are like 13 hands (15 if you include the instant win combinations).  Not gonna happen.  So far (from the anime) we have Ame-Shikō (already stated), Inoshikachō (Boar + Dear + Butterflies / June + July + October / Levels 6 + 7 + 10;  I believe the level 6 was a tuner in the Anime by some condition.  Maybe it was a spell effect.  I dont remember), and Gokō (All 5 cards are 20 pointers).

 

I suspect that at least 1 of the two instant wins will be made into the superboss of the archetype.  Teshi (all 4 suit cards for one particular month on opening hand) is impossible assuming they stick to two suits per month, however Kuttsuki (dealt 4 pairs of matching suits on opening hand; i.e. your hand consists of 8 cards in which you can pair them by different month and get a total of 4 pairs) is possible, to an extent.

 

To summarize, we are getting a bunch of spells and traps based on the mechanics of different Hanafuda games, at most 8 more pairs of monsters, at least 2 more synchros, and possibly another 2-3 on top of that.  Not to say that's all gonna be in this pack, but that's the most of what you can expect out of this archetype.  I'm really looking forward to playing these guys

[玄魔の王]

Cardians are all based on Hanafuda playing cards.  Hanafuda decks contain 48 cards.  Each card represents a certain month, and each month has 4 suits to it.  So there are exactly 12 cards, and each suit is just that same card, but with a greater point value.  There are 2 Normal Suits (1 point), a mid-level suit (5 points;  Picture altered in some way to differentiate from base suit) and a Special Suit (20 points; picture strikingly different from other suits, usually depicts an animal or symbol that is in some way related to the card's month)

 

The playstyle of Cardians is also based on Koi-Koi, a game you play with Hanafuda cards that is very similar to Poker.  You have a play area of 5 cards, and you swap out cards in your hand with this play area in order to make specific combinations that are worth special point amounts.  In fact, the Synchros the cardians are able to make are based off these special hands.  Ameshikou is in reference to the hand dubbed Ame-Shikō.  It's worth 7 points and is a combination of any four 20 point suit cards in your 5 card hand, where at least 1 of those 20 point suits is the Rainman (Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze).  Notice that Yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze is the only tuner in the deck.  Therefore the only way to make the Synchros (special hands) is to use the Rainman in combination with other cards.  Why do you think Ameshikou needs 4 materials?  Cuz Ame-Shikō is a hand made with 4 cards.  Also somewhat amusingly Ameshikou is based off the only hand that specifically needs the Rainman, so he has an umbrella and stuff.  Neat.

 

Furthermore, Hana Awase is another game played with Hanafuda cards that is similar to Koi-Koi in the sense that you try to capture special combinations of cards for more points.  It plays entirely different though, as the most important cards to worry about are delt on the field, similar to how you play a game of Texas Hold 'Em.

 

I digress, but basically to address what you mentioned, it looks like they are using the Base Suit and the Special Suit for the monsters, which means, at most, there will be 24 main deck monsters, where each pair has it's own unique level.  It's not possible for them to do every hand in Koi-Koi as it's own synchro, due to the fact that some hands revolve cards with point values that are not in the Base or Special suit.  Also there are like 13 hands (15 if you include the instant win combinations).  Not gonna happen.  So far (from the anime) we have Ame-Shikō (already stated), Inoshikachō (Boar + Dear + Butterflies / June + July + October / Levels 6 + 7 + 10;  I believe the level 6 was a tuner in the Anime by some condition.  Maybe it was a spell effect.  I dont remember), and Gokō (All 5 cards are 20 pointers).

 

I suspect that at least 1 of the two instant wins will be made into the superboss of the archetype.  Teshi (all 4 suit cards for one particular month on opening hand) is impossible assuming they stick to two suits per month, however Kuttsuki (dealt 4 pairs of matching suits on opening hand; i.e. your hand consists of 8 cards in which you can pair them by different month and get a total of 4 pairs) is possible, to an extent.

 

To summarize, we are getting a bunch of spells and traps based on the mechanics of different Hanafuda games, at most 8 more pairs of monsters, at least 2 more synchros, and possibly another 2-3 on top of that.  Not to say that's all gonna be in this pack, but that's the most of what you can expect out of this archetype.  I'm really looking forward to playing these guys

 

Don't forget that of the 4 remaining monsters, 3 are based off the 10-point cards, and 1 of those is also a Tuner.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Don't forget that of the 4 remaining monsters, 3 are based off the 10-point cards, and 1 of those is also a Tuner.

Furthermore, all of the 10-point cards shown in the anime are the Nomis, so we might get all-new Cardians of their regular variants.

Also, the LV6 is a Tuner.

[玄魔の王]

Furthermore, all of the 10-point cards shown in the anime are the Nomis, so we might get all-new Cardians of their regular variants.

Also, the LV6 is a Tuner.

I'm inclined to think what they'll do is leave the 10-pointers' summon conditions the same as the anime, to sort of form an in-between for the normal cards and the 20-point ones, since there's likely not room for 4 game-original base cards.

[VCR_CAT]

I'm very intrigued with this deck, especially in how to build them. It won't be cut and dry, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting something functional going. I'll have to re-install YGOPro for its AI, though. I broke mine when I tried to remove certain decks, and it's perma-broke even now that I put them back.

[Progenitor]

Don't forget that of the 4 remaining monsters, 3 are based off the 10-point cards, and 1 of those is also a Tuner.

Indeed.  The Deer, Boar, and Butterfly are all 10 pointers.  There are a couple of the months that don't follow the standard 2 nomi 1 mid 1 special spread for their suits.  For example December has 3 nomis and 1 special.

I'm very intrigued with this deck, especially in how to build them. It won't be cut and dry, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting something functional going. I'll have to re-install YGOPro for its AI, though. I broke mine when I tried to remove certain decks, and it's perma-broke even now that I put them back.

I would probably run 2-3 of each nomi, 3 Rainman, and 1-2 of everything else by usefulness.  Then 3 of each spell/trap we get and fill in from there.

[VCR_CAT]

Indeed.  The Deer, Boar, and Butterfly are all 10 pointers.  There are a couple of the months that don't follow the standard 2 nomi 1 mid 1 special spread for their suits.  For example December has 3 nomis and 1 special.

I would probably run 2-3 of each nomi, 3 Rainman, and 1-2 of everything else by usefulness.  Then 3 of each spell/trap we get and fill in from there.

 

I might focus on 3 of each for the level 8, and run a Trade-In engine for more deep-drawing. This is also a deck where Cupidity could be a very viable choice, considering the lack of searching. We'll see, my numbers may be different.

[Azuh]

Remember guys, every time you draw a card when you play this deck...

 

ENNNJJOOYYYYY

[vla1ne]

this is easily going to be one of my most loved decks ever. even though it looks like it'll burn through hand advantage at an insane rate.

[Lee Cheng Men]

Interesting, maybe I can try playing Cardians in YGO Pro, like now!

[White Void]

I really like this archetype as far as concept goes but it's disappointing that they're restricted to only one Synchro and one spell at the moment when the individual monsters aren't exactly he best. Hopefully, they at least get their remaining Synchros, one more monster that can be normal summoned, and another spell or two in Invasion of Venom.

 

This isn't exactly optimal but I could easily seen an Xyz build working given that they're the only archetype in the entire game with access to easy to summon Level 11 and Level 12 monsters. Toss in like 3 of each of the 100/100 while foregoing the 2000/2000 ones (and Hana Awase unfortunately), some copies of Galaxy Queen's Light (perhaps Galaxy Wizard to search it), maybe Star Light Star Bright as well, Soul Charge, Allure of Darkness, Warrior Returning Alive to get Matsu back to re-enable plays, etc. It's obviously limited by the fact that you need Matsu to really start any plays whatsoever (a problem with this archetype altogether at the moment, you either open Matsu, RotA, or Hana Awase or bust) but having access to things like Zombiestein, Pain Gainer, The Seven Sins, Skypalace Babylon, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon (and Full Armor/Dark Matter by extension), Titanic Galaxy, or Great Magnus in something not at all intended for them sounds kinda fun.Silly stuff like Montage Dragon and The Calculator could be a lot of fun too. 

 

Lol, Tannhauser Gate on the Level 11 and Level 12 for Level 23 monsters and an at least 14,400 attack Calculator. There's some amusing gimmicks you can do with the high levels of these things. 

[VCR_CAT]

This isn't exactly optimal but I could easily seen an Xyz build working given that they're the only archetype in the entire game with access to easy to summon Level 11 and Level 12 monsters. Toss in like 3 of each of the 100/100 while foregoing the 2000/2000 ones (and Hana Awase unfortunately), some copies of Galaxy Queen's Light (perhaps Galaxy Wizard to search it), maybe Star Light Star Bright as well, Soul Charge, Allure of Darkness, Warrior Returning Alive to get Matsu back to re-enable plays, etc. It's obviously limited by the fact that you need Matsu to really start any plays whatsoever (a problem with this archetype altogether at the moment, you either open Matsu, RotA, or Hana Awase or bust) but having access to things like Zombiestein, Pain Gainer, The Seven Sins, Skypalace Babylon, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon (and Full Armor/Dark Matter by extension), Titanic Galaxy, or Great Magnus in something not at all intended for them sounds kinda fun.Silly stuff like Montage Dragon and The Calculator could be a lot of fun too. 

 

This sounds incredibly bad. I mean first off, you're running cards like Star Light and Queen's Light, but more importantly, you do know that each of the 100/100 monsters have xenophobia clauses when you Special Summon them inherently with their effects, right? You can't even Normal Summon non-Cardians after you Special Summon one. A pure Xyz build banks entirely on "Gee, I hope my opponent doesn't kill my monsters!" since there isn't enough in the way of traps or quick-play spells for this deck to consistently make plays on the opponent's turn.

 

And to note, Montage Dragon is just super bad across the board.

[White Void]

Whoops, forgot he 100/100s were xenophobic. Thought it was Hana Awase and the 2000/2000s, not the 100/100s. Ignore that, I was working entirely off the idea that skipping Hana Awase and the Synchro idea for now would let you do something with easy to get out Level 11s and Level 12s.

 

Okay yeah, back to my original point: They're more or less unplayable right now since literally all you can do is Hana Awase/Spam into Ameshikou, who while a solid card, isn't good enough to work as the sole play of an entire deck. 

 

Do note, i never said that any of those were necessarily good cards or plays, just that it could be done because I forgot the summon restriction on the smaller guys. And yeah, Montage Dragon is bad but these are the kind of cards that exist solely for combo plays, the individual Cardians basically all exist to further their plays into their bosses. I get the flavor of the 20 pointers but they're not strong enough and take too much effort to summon for anyone to want to actually battle with them and leave them susceptible on the field. With only a single boss at the moment, they're just not really worth experimenting or playing with since they're far too xenophobic for their own good.

 

I really wish they had printed Choikoikoi and InoShikaCho or Gokou with these in the Collector's Pack at least. Instead Galaxy reprints had to take up slots that could have went to giving Cardians at least a few more plays. I love the flavor of this archetype but they're so useless right now, it's disappointing. 

 

Speaking of Invasion of Venom, it feels weird that we don't know a single card for a set that comes out in less than 2 months yet. I know the primary reason for that is the Collector's Pack, Movie Pack, and Pharaoh's Memory Duelist Pack have taken up all our usual news sources but still.

[Tinkerer]

Reasoning?  It's another way to get out one of the 100/100s at least...

[VCR_CAT]

Fantastic cards to run for Cardians:

- Reasoning

- Inferno Reckless Summon

- Reinforce Truth

- Signal Red for battle protection if you really want to get those Xyz/other Synchro plays going

- Soul Charge keeps R12 and other plays open

 

Also, do note that each of the nomis say "Must first be...", which means that you can use revival spells or traps on them afterward. If you play your cards right, you can do Number 77 and Rank 8 plays; and it also becomes one of the most efficient and easy Bishbalkin engines if you're playing smart. You can also go with Solidarity to give the 2K Cardians some more breathing room on the field, and better ability to get their draw effects going. It's not that the R12 or Bishie plays are bad, it's just that you'll need to play a bit smarter to get them going.

[Fluffyfish]

Hmmmm... Sorry, but I'm not feeling it yet.

I mean, being xenophobic would be fine if they actually had some objective to summon towards. As of now, at best you are either summoning some monsters without any real field presence or spending them all into that 4 material Synchro. And having in mind how circumstantial all plays seems to be, I'd say it is indeed draw Hana Awase or die (and even then, it just allows a single play).

The thing that worries me the most is that even though they draw 1 when summoned, its only worth it if you draw a Cardian, while half of them can't even be summoned when you draw them (they must first be SS'd by their own effect, which is circumstantial as heck and just a minus if you aren't lucky). The special-summon only ones still sounds pretty bad to me, while their draw effects are kinda of nice, you didn't invested your plays to summon a 2k that may or may not give you a draw, you want them for Synchro-plays not for them to stay on the field. And you need to summon that SS-only Lv11 to allow Synchroing, which doesn't feels reliable at all since you need to first summon the other Lv11 (then IF you have the Tuner in your hand you can summon it, while still needing at least other 3 cardians on field of course).

I mean, probability to brick is over the charts, and the pay off is just that synchro (can't synchro non-cardians with their plays) or a couple 2k monsters.

I'm not confident they can work just yet. There seems to be more coming so maybe I guess (KOI³ sounds good, and maybe the other Synchros, but I don't remember them at all so whatever, although I still think they would need a hell of a draw/shuffle engine to cover their weaknesses).

[Tinkerer]

Mfw Mystic Tomato is actually one of the easiest and most precise ways of getting the right monster...