Brassica juncea
An attacker-only Annual forb card — native nowhere — that is the fastest thing in its bracket and leaves a seedling behind when it dies.
Brown Mustard is a Annual forb card, and it is attacker-only: the species record lists no native range at all, and marks it invasive in Africa, Europe and eastern North America. There is no buffer version of this card to build toward — it never takes the native health cushion and never projects a bench overshield. Everything below is written for the attacker role. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Colonize, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun. Pioneer spread that ignores armor and hits harder each time it lands. This is a pioneer-spread attack, which means it carries no fixed damage number — it hits harder each time it lands, and it ignores armour. Against a heavily plated opponent that is worth far more than a printed figure would suggest.
The free once-per-battle ability, Ruderal Rush, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Weedy haste — a burst of speed, kept for the match.
The advanced attack, Covercrop Crush, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and reads 34 in the attacker role. Blankets the ground — the foe and its bench wither. See moves.
Ephemeral Bolt arrives on the first riser at level 10 and adds attack power — but only while the card is above half health. It burns bright and then fades, so the bonus is on your opening exchanges and gone once the card is worn down. On a fragile plant that window is short, so use it early.
Reseed stacks on at level 68. When this card is knocked out it leaves a fresh Seedling token on your bench, once per match. It does not save the card, but it does mean removing it costs the opponent a turn and still leaves you a body.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, this card wants anything that keeps it above half health, because that is where its attack bonus lives. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 the attacker reads 73 HP and 32 ATK. Note the health figure runs below the usual baseline — this is a small card. Armour is 2, effectively nothing. Retreat is a cheap 12 Sun. The headline is tempo: opening tempo is 56 and sustained tempo is 56, the highest pair in this batch. It acts first against nearly anything. It also pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 the attacker reaches 128 HP and 62 ATK, with armour only at 3. It stays a glass cannon — the body grows, the plating never arrives. Retreat rises to 24 Sun, and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor, which costs this card more than most since speed was the whole plan. What it keeps is the armour-ignoring starter attack, which does not care how slow the card has become.
Annual forb is in the Ruderal succession group. Ruderal reclaims from Specialist, so this card hits succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes harder. It loses to Competitor — perennial herbs, vines, shrubs and broadleaf trees. See weaknesses and resistances.
A pure racer, and a good one. It acts first, its starter attack ignores armour and escalates the longer it keeps landing, and the attack bonus is live while it is healthy. Lead with it and apply pressure immediately.
The armour-ignoring starter is the reason to pick it specifically: heavily plated walls that shrug off ordinary attacks have no answer to it. Against Specialist-group opponents the type bonus stacks on top of that.
The weaknesses are severe and worth stating plainly: no armour, a below-average health pool, an attack bonus that switches off at half health, and no native role to fall back on. It wins fast or not at all.
It is edible and its economy group is leaf, so a nitrogen soil amendment pays it ×1.25 coins. 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.