Campsis radicans
A fast Vine card that binds whatever attacks it and hits very hard from its advanced slot.
Trumpet Creeper is a Vine card with both roles: native across eastern and western North America, invasive in Africa, Europe, South America and South Asia. Native it is a cushioned bench piece; invasive it is a strong attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Creeping Spread, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 24 native and 27 invasive. Creeps across the foe's whole bench.
The free once-per-battle ability, Structural Parasite, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Rides the foe down and takes its place — it's driven out, withering.
The advanced attack, Twist Ending, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 40 native and 42 invasive. One last turn of the coil. That is a very large step up from the starter and the reason to level this card past level 40. See moves.
Thigmotropic Coil arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength, and it is the most disruptive trait in this batch: when this card is struck, the attacker is Bound. Touch-directed coiling, modelled as a counter-lock. It costs no turn and no Sun, and it means an opponent who attacks into this card gets stuck doing it.
Structural Load stacks on at level 68 and fires when this card is knocked out, chipping the opposing bench rather than the plant that removed it. See statuses for what Bind does.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, gear that extends its stay is strong here — every extra turn is another chance to Bind an attacker. Its growth habit is a vine, so a Moss Pole does fit this card.
At level 40 native reads 103 HP and 25 ATK; invasive reads 89 HP and 32 ATK. Armour is 8, which is thin. Retreat is 16 Sun. Opening tempo is 51 and sustained tempo is 51, both at the top of the range — this card acts first against nearly anything. Invasive it pays Faustian bench damage per damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 native reaches 190 HP and 45 ATK, invasive 165 HP and 62 ATK, with armour only at 15. Soft-vine divergence: a large body, minimal plating. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor, so the speed edge is gone by the cap. The counter-bind is what it keeps, and that ages well.
Vine 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.
One of the best control cards available. It acts first, it hits genuinely hard once the advanced attack unlocks, and every attack made against it risks locking the attacker in place. Against aggressive opponents that combination can stall an entire line.
The thin armour is the real limit — a single large hit still removes it, and the counter-bind does not prevent damage, only punish it. Play it as a fast disruptive threat, not a wall.
It is not eaten, so a soil amendment earns no matching fertiliser coins and instead banks the ×1.25 XP an inedible plant pays. 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.