When this card is sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fluff Tokens" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position to your side of the field. During the turn the tokens are Special Summoned, they cannot be tributed for a Tribute Summon.

While the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is all about big monsters doing mean things to each other, Dandylion is one of those rare classics — a small, cute monster, that doesn’t do anything aggressive on its own. Dandylion’s Earth attribute means it can be searched out by Giant Rat, but its low ATK is its real asset. Not only can it be searched out by Sangan, but it’s also a valid target for Limit Reverse, meaning you can really pile your field high with those Fluff Tokens.

Its effect is mandatory, so no matter how Dandylion is sent to the graveyard you’ll pretty much always get its effect. Discard it for a cost, pitch it for Card Destruction, tribute it, Tune to it, or let it get destroyed by battle: you’ll get your two Fluff Tokens regardless, and while they can’t be tributed that turn for a tribute summon, they can be tributed for anything else. That means Enemy Controller, a special summon like Destiny Hero - Plasma, or best of all . . .

But let’s start with the big ones. First up, Dandylion fuels all the effects you always preferred to pay for with Rose Tokens from Black Garden: namely Pollinosis, and the devastatingly good ability of Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. Both of these effects can be played without Token monsters, but it’s infinitely better if you can sidestep their costs by using monsters that didn’t cost you card presence. You can do that reliably with Black Garden and Terraforming to search it out, but Dandylion gives you an amazing backup plan that’s especially good in the early game because it doesn’t rely on opponents’ actions.

One of the deck’s challenges is that without Solemn Judgment, its openings can be risky. While bringing out Tytannial on turn 1 courtesy of Lonefire Blossom, and then activating Black Garden usually works out very well, you can also find yourself stuck facing down Mystical Space Typhoon. In that case, you’re often obligated to throw away Tytannial for her own effect. Setting Pollinosis this early isn’t much better, as activating it before your opponent summons will also leave you stuck tributing Tytannial.

The deck’s most threatening opening can fall apart if your opponent has the right cards, and while the resulting control struggle isn’t necessarily bad in the long run, it’s not nearly as good as heading into turn 2 with everything up and running. Alternate openings such as Botanical Lion with or without Garden, Crush Card Virus with Garden (which lets you tribute a Rose Token for the Virus), Mystic Tomato, or the "Nettles Gambit" (in which one summons Nettles and activates Black Garden to protect Nettles with its effect), all suffer similar problems: they discourage you from setting Pollinosis early, turning it into a turn 2 or 3 card.

You might notice that my list of recognized opening plays is pretty long. While TeleDAD wants to open with Stratos for Malicious followed by Destiny Draw almost all the time, and Lightsworn players usually aim for Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner with Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior to draw cards early, there are many topnotch openings with a Black Garden deck. While Tytannial and Black Garden used to be my favorite, I’m torn between that and several others now that I have more experience with the deck. And despite all of those options, I feel like the best of the bunch is now Dandylion with Black Garden active, and Pollinosis set.

The reason is one of simple defense. This is the only opening that doesn’t punish you for playing Pollinosis on turn 1, and if your opponent should manage to destroy Black Garden before summoning, you can still activate Pollinosis somewhere along the way and likely leave the turn with your two Fluff Tokens intact. From there they can be used to fuel Tytannial next turn (either her effect or her tribute summon in a pinch). They can be used in conjunction with Nettles and a monster theft card to make whatever Synchro you want, or they can just be used for extra copies of Pollinosis. If your opponent does push for a big attack, he or she will have to press through Dandylion and its two Tokens — anyone who tries to take you early just won’t be able to do it.

Access to Dandylion is no problem. Lonefire Blossom fetches it easily and throws it in defense mode, a difficult play to approach when backed by Black Garden and at least one face-down card. No opponent will be willing to waste a removal effect on the Dandylion. Few will want to attack into it, and if they do you’ll get at least one Rose Token alongside your two Fluff Tokens anyway. At the same time, not attacking Dandylion leaves you with three near-free Plants to do with as you will, so even just refusing to attack or swinging over the Rose Token is poor. It’s a confounding situation, and it does a lot to smooth over the one matchup you don’t want to see.

-Winning: You control several Tokens, negation cards, and at least one beat stick, and there’s nothing the opposing player can do.

-Slowed: The opponent has realized he or she shouldn’t be summoning monsters to feed you Tokens, and is setting a monster each turn instead. While the opponent might be losing card presence, that player is still alive and conserving his or her hand.

-Struggling For Control: The opponent has deprived the Plant player of Black Garden, forcing you to take hard losses of card presence when using Pollinosis and Tytannial’s ability. These abilities may not always be accessible due to a lack of Plant monsters, and important monsters on the field may not be secure.

If you’re winning, awesome. However if you’re slowed or struggling, it’s usually due to a lack of Plant fodder for your big effects. In a worst case scenario, Dandylion hits the field and proceeds to stabilize the game by blocking multiple attacks. In a best case scenario, its presence on the field suddenly gives you the fodder you need to make game-winning plays.

Once you have an established field, Dandylion takes on a few more roles. For instance, if you have Lonefire Blossom on the table and can protect it, it always makes sense to tribute a Token monster or Dandylion for Lonefire’s effect (instead of tributing Lonefire itself). You turn your Tokens into real card presence that way, and you can do it again if Lonefire survives until your next turn. This is a common trick for experienced Plant players to use if they’re either winning or slowed, as it provides overwhelming numbers quickly. Remember too that you can pitch Dandylion for Lightning Vortex, wiping the opponent’s field and then setting yourself up for a tribute summon or multiple effect negations.

Remember that even though Dandylion is Limited, it’s not an "either or" card that can only be played in the early game or mid-game. It’s easily retrieved after its first use by way of Miracle Fertilizer, and though it likely takes the place of one of your Lord Poisons when you opt to add it to your deck, you should still have one more copy of Poison to reuse it with. In fact, the added utility to Lord Poison that Dandylion offers is noteworthy in and of itself. Even before we explore the potential choice of Limit Reverse (which can also let you reuse Lonefire Blossom), the average Plant deck will probably have at least four ways to reuse a fallen copy of Dandylion. That’s a total of up to fifteen pieces of tribute fodder, a massive contribution that requires only one card slot in your deck.

Dandylion is a powerful, flexible card that is nowhere near past its prime. Over recent months the concept of slowing games and shutting down OTK’s has really taken center stage, and Dandylion is a potent addition to the pantheon of Necro Gardna, Threatening Roar, and the declining Cyber Valley. A huge boost to the Black Garden strategy, it’s got strong potential in this format and the next.

And it’s adorable! Clearly the best of all worlds.

-Jason Grabher-Meyer