Chenopodium album
A hardy annual-forb that pools bench defence behind a ramping, armor-ignoring opener and plays either role — a wide-ranging native or an invader in Oceania and South America.
Lambs quarters is a vigorous Annual forb that fights as a pioneer bruiser: it borrows defence from its bench and opens with a ramping strike that ignores armor and grows the longer it lands. It is native across Africa, East Asia, Europe and North America and invasive in Oceania and South America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. It carries the highest attack in this batch, but that still reads as modest by the wider roster.
Its starter attack, Cultivate, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun with no fixed damage number — it ignores armor and hits harder each time it lands. The free once-per-battle ability, Nudation, arrives at level 25: Strips the ground bare — heavy Wither, and the foe can't heal. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Floormat Chokeout, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (30 native / 34 invasive) and pins the target as it strikes. Most of your lambs quarters sit below level 40, where only the ramping starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Lambs quarters keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is active, its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed live, so the cushion shrinks as those allies faint while the donors keep their own DEF. Reseed arrives on the level 68 riser: when lambs quarters is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place, the annual-forb signature. Both work at full strength from the riser that grants them. See Abilities.
Lambs quarters is non-toxic, so it carries no contact recoil and no poison rider — nothing punishes an attacker for striking it. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium or magnesium amendment for a little DEF — offsets its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 lambs quarters reads 84 HP native and 73 invasive, with ATK of 30 native versus 41 invasive — the invasive gap is wide, and this is the firmest attack in the set even if it is still only fair. DEF is 2, low in the soft annual-forb band, so it relies on Duff Stuff to borrow bulk from the bench rather than on its own armor. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its lower initiative (36) and every turn after on its higher SPD (48), so it is out-paced off the mark but faster once the fight drags on. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; 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, lambs quarters swells to 147 HP native / 128 invasive and 55 / 83 ATK, while its DEF climbs only to 3 — a soft forb buys bulk in health and little in armor, so the bench cushion stays the better shield. Retreat rises to 24 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature card acts last against almost anything younger.
As an annual forb, lambs quarters sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderal plants and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play lambs quarters as your ruderal front-runner. As a native it doubles as a buffer: keep other ruderals benched to feed Duff Stuff and let its overshield harden the active. As an invasive its higher ATK makes it the best pressure of this batch — lead the ramping opener, pin with the advanced attack, and reseed back in when it falls, accepting the self-damage it pays its own bench. It is edible at the leaf, so feeding it Nitrogen pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a slow opener that gathers force in long fights and leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 33 as a native and 33 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.