Asparagus officinalis
A fast-opening, self-regenerating perennial herb with near-zero armor but a big invasive attack, playable as a wide native or a wide-ranging invader.
Asparagus is a soft, quick Perennial herb that fights as a fast-opening aggressor with strong self-regeneration. It is native across East Asia, Europe and South Asia, and invasive in Africa, Eastern and Western North America, Oceania and South America, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). It is a glass cannon: almost no armor, but a fast first turn, steady regrowth, and a big invasive punch.
Its starter attack, Volatile Oils, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a native and 32 as an invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Chronosequence, arrives at level 25: Time on its side: +3 ATK and speed, kept. The advanced attack, Winterkill, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (27 native / 32 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your asparagus sit well below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See moves.
Asparagus keeps two working always-on traits. Succulence arrives at level 10 at full strength: it regenerates the plant in any weather, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so the healing is steady rather than certain. Resprout arrives at level 68 and lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, again only about 60% of the time. Together they give a fragile plant two chances to hang on. See abilities.
Asparagus carries the Succulence trait keyword, its in-weather regeneration. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear helps it survive; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its heavy attack.
At level 40 asparagus reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 38 invasive — a large invasive jump that makes the invader hit hard for a herb. DEF is just 1, at the very floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes essentially every hit at full force. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (53) — a genuine strength — and every turn after on its SPD (23), so it leads the opening exchange but is out-paced later. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active; as an invasive it pays self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, asparagus swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 45 / 78 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — a soft herb gains bulk in health and essentially no armor, so it stays wide open to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 22 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so its fast start is gone; a mature asparagus acts last against younger cards.
As a perennial herb, asparagus is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is hit for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play asparagus as a glass-cannon opener. As an invasive its high attack plus its fast first turn let it get a heavy hit in early, and its two regen traits give it a chance to shrug off a return blow — but with near-zero armor it will fold to a solid counter, so back it with a wall. As a native its cushion, overshield and regen make it a scrappy support piece. It is inedible in this card set, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a steady growth-earner. It fights as a fast opener early and gains health but no armor as it levels, crossing over around level 26 — and higher levels only add punch, so keep leveling it.
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.