Black Garden – Yu-Gi-Oh! Review

Crunch$G

Happy Valentines Day! I didn’t plan a specific card for Throwback Thursday, but Black Garden might be perfect for it since you do want to pick roses from gardens for your loved ones.

Black Garden is a Field Spell that if a monster(s) is Normal or Special Summoned face-up, except by the effect of Black Garden, then you half the ATK of the monster(s) then the controller of that monster Special Summons 1 Rose Token (Plant/DARK/Level 2/ATK 800/DEF 800) to their opponent’s side of the field in Attack Position (The ATK reduction remains even if this card leaves the field). I did foreshadow this card being reviewed when we reviewed Blooming of the Darkest Rose since it summons the same tokens. This card has been used with Blaze Fenix FTKs to give your opponent cards to add more burn, but this card is good beyond that. All you got to do really is set up a big board, then activate this so when your opponent summons monsters to try and kill your monsters, the ATK of those monsters are halved so killing yours will be harder, and if your field is full of monsters already, you don’t have to summon a weak Token in Attack Position, though having Tokens and them staying can help do more Link Summons if need be. Black Garden also lets you target 1 monster in the GY with ATK equal to the total ATK of all Plant monsters on the field, destroy this card and as many Plant monsters on the field as possible to Special Summon the targeted monster. This effect isn’t pulled off that often, but if you got a monster with ATK with 1600 ATK, then you just need two Rose Tokens, and 2400 ATK will just need 3, and you can get around adding more total ATK of Plant monsters by using some non-Plant monsters, I’ve seen Plant decks end on boards with several negates and not that many Plant monsters as you would think, since there isn’t really a disruptive monster that is a Plant except for maybe Tytannial. Black Garden can be an annoying card to deal with for your opponent after you already establish a board, so having a copy in your Plant deck is worth it, but you can play it in a few other decks if you think it will fit in well.

Advanced Rating: 4/5

Art: 4/5 Those thorns look painful.

Alex
Searcy

Black Garden, on Valentine’s Day, to go with the blackness in the lonely, sad hearts of all of us out there (like me).  It’s up to the reader to determine how much of that is true.  Black Garden is a Field Magic card, that had one prior review, over 10 years ago, to be found here.

One thing I said in my review back then, and I still agree with now, you could actually run this in a non-Plant Deck to varying success.  Finding the room, could be tricky enough, but I’m sure you could make it worthwhile.  But as for this card today…

So, if a Monster(s) is(are) Normal or Special Summoned, it has its attack halved (this ignores any Monster than may be Summoned via Black Garden itself) and you also get a Rose Token (Plant/Dark/Level 2/800 attack and defense) which is given to the opponent of the player who Summoned the Monster.  The weak Tokens alone ARE good for a Plant Deck…Plants like to swarm and burn.

If you keep your field full of Monsters (again, easy enough to accomplish) it prevents the wimpy Tokens from appearing on your side of the Field, and given whatever your opponent brings out is going to be at half strength, will make things much easier for you.  Tokens can be Tributed or used for Link Summon, but again, if you have a full (enough) Field, those Tokens won’t be around long enough for any of that.

Lastly, you can Target a Plant Monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it, by destroying ALL Plants on the Field, so long as their total attack is equal to the Monster you choose to resurrect.  That last bit is interestingly restrictive, not being confined to a Level, but a directly proportional attack.  Something is better than nothing, but I don’t feel you’re going to get that successfully accomplished all that often.

Rating:  3.25/5  Even in Plant, I’d only give 3.5 and honestly, I’m throwing a 3/5 for non-Plant, as stated at the open, for the average 3.25/5 rating.

Art:  3/5  Lots of thorns, not enough black/darkness, and I don’t get much of a garden feel either.  

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Black Garden is our Throwback Thursday and still a pretty decent card.

A card that can lock down Sky Strikers by giving them a Main Monster Zone monster, the ATK halfing can really slow down the game if you are playing defensively. If playing offensively, you can build up your field, play this card, summon a monster, have it’s ATK halved, then punish the token the opponent gets. The second effect of Black Garden regarding your graveyard isn’t very practical as you have to match ATK rather than level. The best Plant-Type monsters are lower ATK like Spore, Lonefire, and Glow-Up Bulb, all of which are higher than the tokens you get from Black Garden. If you are running a few high ATK Plant-Type monsters this may work for you, but Black Garden is best used as a slow-down card against your opponent or a way of getting a weak attack target after you set up.

Advanced-3/5     Art-3.5/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby