If you’ve followed the hype surrounding Crossroads of Chaos, you probably know that one of the main features of the set is all-new support for Plant monsters. There are probably more competitive Plant-themed cards in Crossroads than every other set combined, and they do a great job of building on the groundwork laid by previous tournament-level cards like Gigaplant and Lonefire Blossom. The Plant cards in this set are all about swarming the field and carrying on Gigaplant’s proud tradition, but they also bring a hefty control element to the deck as well, helping you ensure that once you’ve unleashed your leafy horde, you don’t lose to something like Dark Armed Dragon or Judgment Dragon.

In the Japanese version of Crossroads of Chaos, the best Plant cards weren’t actually Plants—they were spell and trap cards that required Plant monsters to use. That could have been a bit awkward, because here in TCG territory we were missing one of the best Plant monsters in the game. Luckily the powers that be noticed that, and the Sneak Preview of Crossroads of Chaos marks the TCG debut of one of the best level-4 beatsticks of all time!

Fear My Frilly Ferocity!

Honestly, I’m not sure who decided that one of the best simple attackers in the game should look this ridiculous. "It’s a fierce lion! And it rips people in half! But it’s got a sensitive side, as indicated by all the flower petals!" Somebody actually sold that concept in a boardroom somewhere. Successfully. But regardless of this thing’s unique appearance, you can’t argue with results: check out Botanical Lion, previously only available as a rare Japanese promo card:

The Lion might look a tad underpowered, but it counts itself for its own effect, so as soon as it hits the field it has 1900 ATK. Stratos and Grepher beware! Paired with another Plant-type the Lion’ll leap to 2200 ATK: big enough to take down Wulf, Lightsworn Beast or Gladiator Beast Laquari. It’s not difficult to get it to that ATK threshold either, considering that Plants can use Gigaplant and a host of new special summoning cards that we’ll show you over the next couple days. It’s not far-fetched to see this thing get big enough to take down Stardust Dragon.

Its DEF is massive too, and once Botanical Lion is summoned I think it’s actually the biggest level-4 monster available without a drawback effect. Book of Moon and Enemy Controller don’t really do much to soften it up.

Botanical Lion fills a simple role: it’s a big, easy-to-play attacker, and it’s another play-worthy Plant monster to fuel your crazy effects. It’s exactly what Plants needed—Gigaplant can’t carry the archetype on its own, and since this deck wants to be played aggressively it needed a simple, high-ATK monster a lot more than it needed a smaller more complicated one. Mark my words: every Plant deck will want three copies of this guy to serve as a solid basis for its tricks.

Remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard and equip this card to a monster your opponent controls. Gain control of the equipped monster. During your End Phase, give control of the equipped monster to your opponent. During your Standby Phase, gain control of the equipped monster.

Make no mistake: for the purpose of clearing the field, getting a free tribute, setting up a Synchro summon, or ending the game with big attacks, this card is Snatch Steal. There’s a little more pressure on you to end the duel the turn you activate it (or at least to send the monster you pilfered to the graveyard) but if you played Snatch Steal back when it was tournament-legal in the Advanced format you’ll probably remember that both those goals were exceptionally easy to accomplish.

The "ending the game" option is actually easier with this card than it was with its predecessor, because even when Snatch Steal was legal you could only play one copy (it was Limited). But you can run a full three copies of Mark of the Rose, and that makes a tremendous difference. Did your TeleDAD-wielding opponent pull off two Synchro summons early? As long as you’ve got two Plants in the graveyard, just take both his or her Synchros and smash them into your opponent’s life points.

That requirement of removing a single Plant monster from your graveyard isn’t much of a cost—it’s just meant to slow Mark of the Rose down a bit. But remember how easy it is to get Plants into the graveyard. Not only will Botanical Lion force exchanges in battle and wind up in the graveyard itself, but you can load the graveyard with Lonefire Blossom. Just use your first Lonefire to get another from your deck instead of going straight for the Plant you actually want. Once the second Lonefire is summoned, tribute it to get whatever Plant you really wanted to bring out. With two copies of Lonefire in your graveyard you’ll be locked and loaded to activate two copies of Mark of the Rose, so you don’t actually need to wait around for your opponent to destroy your cards. As long as your opponent has enough face-up monsters on the field you can steal up to three of them as early as turn 1. It’s nuts.

If you don’t want to waste a Lonefire to accomplish that, you can always rely on Mystic Tomato or any of the new Plant Tuner monsters to fill your graveyard. In fact, taking a monster with Mark of the Rose and then using it for a Synchro summon with a Plant Tuner will send that Tuner to the graveyard—meaning you’ve got another Plant ready for when you draw another Mark. It’s rare that you’ll ever actually have to give up a big monster for Mark’s cost, and that’s good news: it means you can save your Gigaplant cards for future recursion and attacks.

These two cards are just the beginning of the dominating Plant lineup that you'll find at your Crossroads of Chaos Sneak Preview. We’ll be spending tomorrow and Monday talking about new Plant stuff, so be sure to join us tomorrow as Jerome weighs in on the new cards!