You won the Gardener and didn't trade him away for some magic beans. Now what?

You'll have to click read more below to find out.

If the Elders of the Universe refer to themselves as brothers, than the Gardener is the red-headed step child of the family. He's the one nobody turned out to try and win month 4. Why? Maybe it's because it looks like he got lost on the way to the nativity.


Maybe it's because he doesn't deal 8 damage in a single blow. Maybe it's because some players can't see the forest through the trees. But I'm here to tell you today that point for point, this petunia pruner is one of the most potent Elders of the Universe.

Okay, I can see I'm going to have to win you over here, once you quit laughing at me. Seriously. Quit it.

ig004 U Gardener
Team: Power Cosmic Range: 6 Points: 150
Keywords: Cosmic, Elders of the Universe

7 10 17 3

6 10 17 3

6 9 17 3

6 9 17 2

5 9 16 2

5 8 16 2

5 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Time Gem: Gardener may begin the game with the Time Gem attached to his base by paying its points cost. This object does not count toward your object total and is scored and removed from the game when Gardener is KO'd. In addition to its normal effects, modify Gardener's range value by +2 if the Time Gem is attached.

(Special) Watch My Garden Grow: At the end of your turn, you may place a hindering terrain marker in a square within range that's not occupied by an opposing character.

(Damage) Unfriendly Flora: Gardener can use Poison. When he does, after actions resolve you may deal 1 damage to up to 3 opposing characters that are within range and occupying hindering terrain.

Selling point #1 - Stealth
Psychic Blast won't penetrate the Gardener's defenses, and most figures won't be able to get an RCE damage bonus against the Gardener. Even Adam Warlock can't counter his defense if this Babylonian botanist is hiding in the shadows. Stealth forces most opponents to come to him which brings me to my next point:

Selling Point #2 - Poison
The Gardener has Poison. Not just any Poison, mind you, but the Poison granted by UNFRIENDLY FLORA has a nifty rider attached that lets him deal damage to up to 3 opposing characters within range that also occupy hindering terrain. Notice I said range, right? Not Line of Fire, mind you. Range. The Gardener could be outside, completely surrounded by blocking terrain, while seven squares and six walls away inside Batman cowers under a desk, and BAM! Flower Power Auto damage. Now think about the effect this has when this horticultural hotshot is in the center of a map and can extend his radius out to cover 16 squares. That's a heck of a "null zone" on a two player map.


"But 'm0use" you say, "the weirdo with the beard-o only activates the Auto Damage when he uses Poison." To which I respond...

Selling Point #3 - more Poison
The Gardener uses Poison every round he has Poison. There is no rider for Poison that states "when an opposing character is adjacent to the poisoner, the poisoner can use Poison." (If it did, the Orange Lantern S.O. would be rather useless).

Rather Poison reads:
At the beginning of his turn the Gardener takes a free action to use Poison and deals 0 damage (because he has no adjacent opposing characters). Once you give that free action, the condition for UNFRIENDLY FLORA is met regardless of the effects of the Poison.

But don't take my word for it. Take his.

Bottom line, that's up to 3 free clicks of damage per round, no attack roll necessary. No adjacency necessary. Consider that it's more if you're conventionally poisoning someone as well. Take into account that he can still deal damage even when he has two tokens on him. That's a lot of damage that Mr. Miracle Grow can pump out in a short amount of time.


Selling Point #4 - even more Poison
The Gardener has a wide load. A big 'ole badonkadonk. Plenty of junk in the trunk. What I'm saying is this - his double base is an *ahem* asset where Poison is concerned. More squares of adjacency? That's a good thing. Up to twelve figures could be Poisoned given perfect positioning (and/or a dumb opponent).


Are you sold yet? We're talking about a figure that can knock Nightcrawler off his top spot in one turn. A figure that doesn't need to roll dice (a gamer's second worst enemy) to damage opponents. The Gardener does not care if you have a 20 defense Ant-Man, you will submit to his popping peonies.

Steps to playing him effectively:

First and Foremost: the Gardener must be played with the Time Gem equipped. There's no If's/And's/But's about it.

• To start, the added bling grants him a +2 range bump. In this new 5 average era an 8 range is competitive.
• Incapacitate is amazing on him as well, considering he can double token an opposing piece to keep them from running away from his Poison/Flora combo.
• The real selling point of the Gem however, is the Super Senses. As mentioned before the groovy groundskeeper's got a big backside, so he's going to need that ability to evade attacks. Super Senses stacked with a damage reducer? That's just amazing. Better, in fact, than Impervious, because the Gardener has a chance to evade penetrating damage.

Other tips & tricks:
Watch My Garden Grow: seems innocuous right? Again, like the Poison granting sp, this power can be used at range - no targeting, no Line of Fire required. So what does it do for you? WMGG directs traffic. You can shut down grounded figures easily by putting a square right in front of them. You can even slowly start to surround a figure if they have a couple of tokens on them and MUST clear. Many opponents won't want to enter hindering terrain for fear of taking auto damage, so this is a good way to route the opposition into a firing squad.

Opponents not occupying hindering terrain? Can't get to the people you want to Poison? Use Telekinesis to bring opponents to you or move them where they need to be. Telekinesis can also be used to move opponents away from the Gardener (say they have Exploit Weakness, for instance) or to reel in a Stealthy opponent hiding behind hindering. One could even use Telekinesis to move an object closer (say, an Orange Lantern).

Team building:
At 300 points running with a theme is pretty much a wash. There's no Elders of the Universe that fit with him for an even 300, and Cosmic characters are few and far between. Doppelganger makes for a great Cosmic keyword companion, especially as Gardener can still deal damage to opponents while he's getting Doppy's tokens applied to him, but combined they leave 47 points (sorry Rick Jones) to build which pretty much forces a Dominator to be added to the mix. Hey, Dominator technology is plant based, right?

Building at 400 points isn't much better - you'd need to run a total of SIX generic Cosmic figures at that point for a bonus which doesn't leave many team building options. To use the named keyword figure bonus you'd have to find 3 other 'Elders that total up to 250 points and we know that's not happening (unless WizKids decides to give the Elders an ATA that lets their peanut base count for double the keywords needed for theme... hint hint). I'm afraid without some kind of theme bonus to a map roll, you're out of luck (see figure 1 below).


Some may work around keywords and try and go with a "plant" based theme. Quick Aside: "Animal" is a keyword - why not "Plant"? If it did exist vegetation would be a harder "generic" keyword to build around, but you would have some options when forming the Fantastic Farmers. Solomon Grundy, Swamp Thing, Groot, Mantis, the Floronic Man, Poison Ivy - all fit the theme.

Others may be visually tempted to pair him with other "Bible 'Clix" - you know the type I'm talking about when you see them: Jason Blood, William Stryker and the Purifiers, etc.


My advice: do this ONLY if you want to win fellowship, because the Gardener needs to pick a map that has hindering terrain to be the most effective and getting a map bonus is a bit of a problem. If players can use him when the map choice is static (as all of the IG events were) then the Gardener may already have an automatic edge.

Otherwise I recommend Tomar Re (glgf004) to use for an added map bonus. He can be paired with a few more Green Lanterns to make up for lack of keyword bonus. There's some synergy to be had with other members of the Corps as a player using Abin Sur (glgf007) can play aggressively and give the Gardener a +1 bump to attack and defense values for the rest of the game (in addition to the map bonus roll). It's no guarantee you'll get to pick your poison, but it's a start.

The "Green Thumb" team
150 IG004 Gardener
10 IGS103 Time Gem
80 GLGF004 Tomar Re
70 GLGF007 Abin Sur
50 GLGF008 R'Amey Holl
35 GLGF002 Hal Jordan
5 SMS101 Green Kryptonite
400

This is a team about board control with 10 range barrier, R'Amey's Stealth and Gardener's auto damage power, you may be able to control where the enemy will position. Put a sticker over the Gardener's name that reads "Mogo" and you're all set.

Now obviously, the Gardener is best suited to games of 400 points and above where he can have some support pieces that will enhance his damage or Outwit damage reducers. Here's a build that does a little of both:

The "Garden Bomb" team
150 IG004 Gardener
10 IGS103 Time Gem
76 AN019 Ruling Caste Dominator
36 AN003 Dominator
36 AN003 Dominator
36 AN003 Dominator
48 IH025 Rick Jones
5 Gamma Bomb
397

As a Cosmic theme team the +6 to the map roll should give the Gardener some fertile ground to sew seeds of destruction. The Gardener has a 9 range with 6 damage from Enhancing Dominators, 4 sources of Outwit and Rick Jones can provide a number of different Alter Egos if Perplex just flat out isn't good enough. All this, while the Bomb motivates movement towards the Gardener's firing squad (and creates more hindering terrain).

In Golden Age you could spring for the Armor Piercing Feat, but then a Shield Disruptor is also effective, and free of charge! Just be sure to disrupt their shields, and not yours.

Battlefield Conditions that benefit the Gardener include Inferno, Armor Wars, and Inertial Interference Field.

Now I could list some other teams that would be competitive, but it wouldn't really SHOWCASE the Gardener, as much as it would be "The Gardeners of the Galaxy" featuring Drax, Cosmo, Rocket Raccoon, Bug and also the Gardener .

The Gardeners of the Galaxy can daisy chain defenses!

So? Did I sell you over on him? Is he growing on you yet?

Post your comments below!

Great thread. I will say that this is probably the best way to play this particular Elder. The Runner is still the best to play on any team no matter what you strategy is.

STOP SELLING, because you've already made a buyer out of me! GREAT ARTICLE!

This article was excellent.Having played against him two or three times, he is annoying I'll give him that.

Thanks for the article, now my extra Gardener is trade bait.

Meh. His poison still doesn't go through reducers because you can't give 3 of the damage to the same character.

Fantastic article! I might have to give Gardener a chance...off if the sale thread and out of the package he goes!

Who the hell is the person between Mordru and Stryker? He looks cool!

A well-written and well thought out article on this benign benefactor of the botanical. Thanks for sharing.

We need more articles like this. Good job. It almost makes me wish I hadn't sold my Gardener.

Wulf Sternhammer from Indy

I've contended since he was first revealed he may be the most playable of the Elders. It takes a brain to play him and get the most mileage out of his abilities. Being that half his damage dealing capabilities DO NOT rely on dice and he comes in at a nice 160 points (Gem added) he makes for a very strong piece.

I'm gonna try that Dominators team. That looks fun.

Maybe someone will trade for my extra Gardener now...

Loved reading it, I've fielded my Gardener more than any other of the Elders (Have them all but Warlock). In the matches I've played him my opponent has ignored him to their peril! His board control is great. I had a fun time tking my opponents away when they finally walked through his garden.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Awesome article, detailing EXACTLY why he is soooooo dangerous!!!