Alchemilla vulgaris
A saturating-Poison herb — its ability is its whole game plan; the body behind it is thin.
Lady's mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) is a Perennial herb in Supplant. A saturating-Poison herb — its ability is its whole game plan; the body behind it is thin. It is native to Europe and Eastern North America — where it plays as a defensive buffer — and invasive in Western North America, where the arena turns it into an attacker.
Numbers below are read at level 40, where every move in its kit has unlocked.
Its kit fills in as it levels. The starter attack, Steady Growth, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: it deals 35 as a native card and 35 as an invasive one. In effect, A reliable, even strike.
At level 25 it gains its free once-per-battle ability, Alkaloid Reservoir (no Sun cost, one use per fight): Empties a season of alkaloids into the foe — saturating Poison.
The advanced attack, Rhizome Lock, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 22 native and 22 invasive: Locks the foe down underground and saps it. None of its moves carry the initiative rider, so it never seizes first strike — turn order is decided purely by its tempo stats (see Stats).
Every plant keeps at most two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool with the rest dropped for good. This card keeps two, and both are working traits:
For most of a card's climb it is running on the first of these alone; the second only joins late.
It is non-toxic and unarmed — it holds no Toxin or Thorns trait, so biting it carries no chemical or thorn recoil. Its useful field gear is therefore the general kit: a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment for flat DEF, a Cloche or Stake to ward status, and Mulch for the economy. It is not a climber, so a Moss Pole does nothing for it. Played native, lean defensive (Ca/Mg to deepen its wall); played invasive, lean into offense.
Read at level 40: DEF 2, retreat 14 Sun — a perennial herb holds a low DEF band (a level-100 cap of roughly 1–15). Turn order runs on two tempo stats: initiative (38) decides turn 1, and SPD (37) decides every turn after. Here initiative leads SPD, so it opens fast and then gets out-paced.
Native, it gains a +15% health cushion (about 103 HP) and, while benched, projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active. Invasive, its attack climbs from 25 to 26 — the invasive edge is built from how widely it spreads, not a flat multiplier — but it pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when it is knocked out.
See Stats for how each number is built.
By level 100 its health reaches 190 native / 165 invasive, its attack 44 / 47, and its DEF barely leaves its soft band (4) — biomass swells but armor does not. Retreat rises to 28 Sun as it roots down, and the inverted tempo has fallen to near its floor — the fast opener of its youth is gone. Growth buys raw power and trades away turn order.
Its succession group is Competitor. It hits Ruderal cards (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5, and loses ground to Specialist cards (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which resist it to ×0.667. There is no type interaction beyond this succession wheel; see weaknesses & resistances.
Play it native as a bench buffer and overshield source; play it invasive as an attacker, mindful of the Faustian self-damage to your own bench. It is edible with a resolved leaf part, so feeding it Nitrogen (N) pays ×1.25 coins — a steady, low-effort earner. Any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead. It fights as a fast skirmisher until roughly level 26 native (30 invasive), after which its bulk and attack dominate.
Leveling trades speed for power. A plant’s tempo (SPD + INI, the turn-order edge) fades as it grows, while its power (HP + ATK + DEF, net of the rising Sun cost to retreat) climbs. The crossover is the level where power overtakes tempo: below it the plant is a fast skirmisher, above it a heavyweight. Shown for each stance this plant can actually hold — native adds a HP cushion, invasive an attack edge, neutral neither — with the card at its crossover and fully grown at Lv 100.