Armoracia rusticana
A Perennial herb card with a small body and a low attack that survives its first lethal hit most of the time.
Horseradish is a Perennial herb card with both roles: native to Europe and invasive across East Asia, both halves of North America, Oceania and South America. Native it is a cushioned bench piece; invasive it is a considerably sharper attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Rhizome Creep, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 26 native and 32 invasive. Creeps underground into the foe's back row.
The free once-per-battle ability, Chronosequence, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Time on its side: +3 ATK and speed, kept.
The advanced attack, Self-Medicate, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 26 native and 32 invasive. Strikes and treats itself — heal 30%. It lands for the same damage as the starter at three times the Sun cost, so take it for its effect only. See moves.
Bitter Principle arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength: strike this card and the attacker takes Wither, losing attack power for the rest of the fight.
Resprout stacks on at level 68 and is the trait that changes how the card plays. The first lethal hit it takes does not necessarily kill it — it survives at a quarter of its maximum health instead. Like the other sustain effects it does not fire every time, landing roughly 60% of the time, so treat it as a strong chance rather than a guarantee. It is a seeded roll, not something you can influence.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies despite the plant's reputation. For field gear, anything that buys an extra turn pairs well with a survival trait. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 native reads 84 HP and 16 ATK; invasive reads 73 HP and 32 ATK — a large step for the attacker role. Note the health figures sit below the usual baseline. Armour is 4, modest. Retreat is a cheap 12 Sun. Opening tempo is 30 and sustained tempo is 48, so it trails on the first turn and moves well afterward. Invasive it pays Faustian bench damage per damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 native reaches 147 HP and 28 ATK, invasive 128 HP and 66 ATK, with armour at 8. A bigger body, still lightly plated. Retreat rises to 24 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor. The survival trait matters more at the cap, not less — a quarter of a much larger health pool is a real second life.
Perennial herb is Competitor: strong into Ruderal — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — and weak to Specialist, meaning succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. See weaknesses and resistances.
Below level 68 this is an unremarkable card — low attack, small body, modest armour. From level 68 it becomes something an opponent has to plan for, because the obvious removal often does not work the first time.
Invasive is where the numbers become respectable, and the survival trait suits that role well: a fragile attacker that gets a second swing after being knocked down is much better than its stat line implies. Pair it with the cheap retreat and use it to trade above its weight.
It is edible and its economy group is root, so a potassium soil amendment pays it ×1.25 coins — potassium rather than the nitrogen or phosphorus most cards want, which makes it useful for spending an amendment type that otherwise sits idle. See the battle lab.
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.