<The pattern is the way things are. It is the way the universe works, extinction. See, the Winnower is the patron of death while the Gardener is the patron of life. Together, they observe the pattern. Light and Darkness (the acausal powers, not the concepts) do not naturally belong in this universe. All there is was the pattern that life unfit to live gets exterminated, whether through supernova or asteroid. It wasn't until the Gardener became vexed by this that both Light and Dark entered this universe.>

The gardener and the winnower are metaphors for the light and the dark. The gardener the light, as gardeners live to see things grow. The winnower the dark, as a winnower separates the char from the grain. The sword logic is based on this principal. The darkness is simply a more unrefined version. However the game is what it basis it’s beliefs on. Now here is what worries me. A gardener knows that if the plants start to overgrow, or take over the garden, they must be pruned to allow the rest of the garden to thrive. So at the height of our golden age, was it humanity and the traveler that called the darkness to come and cause the collapse? Or was it the rules of the game and we were too crowded and needed to be pruned?

Isn't the new card them playing the flowers game?