Chenopodium quinoa
A soft annual-forb pioneer that plays either arena role — a South American native buffer or a European invasive attacker — pooling defence from its benched ruderal allies.
Quinoa is a soft Annual forb that fights as a low-armor pioneer, borrowing much of its staying power from the ruderal allies on your bench. It is native to South America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its damage is modest and its armor thin; it is a support body and a collection piece rather than a hitter.
Its starter attack, Colonize, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, a plain strike dealing about {{move.starter.power.native}} damage as a native and {{move.starter.power.invasive}} as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, r-Selected Riot, arrives at level 25: All-out reproduction: +8 ATK and speed, kept. It is a self-buff that sharpens its attack for a stretch. The advanced attack, Allergenic Odor, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (26 native / 29 invasive) and can bind the target in place. Most quinoa sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Quinoa keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while quinoa 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 fades as those allies faint while the donors keep their own DEF. It is a real, always-on defence, not a chance effect. Reseed arrives much later, on the level 68 riser: when quinoa is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place. See Abilities.
Quinoa is non-toxic: it has no contact recoil and no poison rider, so 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/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — offsets its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 quinoa reads 84 HP native and 73 invasive, with ATK of 19 native versus 26 invasive — the invasive form hits harder, though both numbers stay low. DEF is just 2, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor — which is what Duff Stuff is there to shore up while its bench holds. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (39) and every turn after on its faster SPD (48), so it opens a step behind and then cruises relentlessly. 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, quinoa swells to 147 HP native / 128 invasive and 33 / 49 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — as a soft annual forb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and still leans on Duff Stuff's pooled defence. Retreat rises to 24 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature quinoa acts last against almost anything younger.
As an annual forb, quinoa 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 Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, play quinoa as a support body: keep a bench of ruderal allies alive so Duff Stuff can pool their DEF onto it, let its HP cushion and overshield steady your active, and use its bind and back-loaded tempo to grind out longer fights. As an invasive its higher ATK lets it push damage, but it still wins by attrition rather than force, and each hit costs it a little of its own bench. It is a modest card either way — a buffer and a collection piece more than a carry. On economy, quinoa is edible at the fruit, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a slow-opening cruiser that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 38 as a native and 40 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.