Centaurea stoebe
A self-healing perennial weed that can cling to life and chip the bench, playable as either a native buffer or an invasive attacker.
Spotted knapweed is a tough Perennial herb that fights as a self-healing skirmisher: it mends itself through its ability and advanced move, can survive a lethal hit, and later chips the enemy bench. It is native to Europe and invasive across eastern and western North America, so the arena can cast it either way, as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. It is a durable, well-rounded weed that trades and recovers rather than bursting anything down. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Steady Growth, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 35 damage as a native and 39 as an invasive, as a straightforward strike. The free once-per-battle ability, Allelochemical Priming, unlocks at level 25: Primes root chemistry — Poison the foe. The advanced attack, Perennial Problem, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (43 native / 46 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes, giving it a second heal. Most of your knapweeds sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See moves.
Spotted knapweed keeps two always-on traits. Resprout arrives on the level 10 riser and lets it survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat that save as a coin flip. Spore-drift arrives on the level 68 riser and chips the enemy bench, spreading pressure past the front plant. Neither is dropped once earned. See abilities.
Spotted knapweed carries no special trait keywords, and it is non-toxic: nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it, and it lays no poison. Its terrestrial growth habit means it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear reinforces its stalling; as an invasive, offensive gear makes its trades count. See abilities for how its heals stack with Resprout.
At level 40 spotted knapweed reads 84 HP as a native and 73 as an invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 36 invasive, a solid invasive jump. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it survives on health and healing, not armor. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on a fair initiative (39), but every turn after runs on a slightly lower SPD (35), so it leads the opening exchange and is edged out slightly later. Retreat costs 11 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, spotted knapweed swells to 147 HP native / 128 invasive and 45 / 72 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1: as a soft weed it gains health and almost no armor, so it stays vulnerable to any real hitter and leans on its heals and Resprout to stay up. Retreat rises to 20 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature knapweed acts last against almost anything young.
As a perennial herb, spotted knapweed is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and is hit for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play spotted knapweed as a self-healing trader that wears opponents down while topping itself back up: open on the front foot with its higher turn-1 tempo, use both heals to win long exchanges, and let Spore-drift chip the bench once it matures. As an invasive its higher ATK makes it a genuine attacker; as a native it is a sturdy buffer, so either role works. It is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a grower. It opens as an even skirmisher and leans on bulk and healing as it levels, crossing over around level 30 as a native and 31 as an invasive; its stats only climb, so there is no reason to hold it back.
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.