Cimicifuga ramosa
A soft native perennial herb from Eastern North America that opens with a poison strike and self-heals - no invasive form.
Brunette fairy candles is a low Perennial herb that fights as a poisoning staller: it opens by inflicting poison, mends itself, and clings on with little armor. It is native to Eastern North America, and there is no invasive version, so it only ever plays as a native buffer for your bench. It is a soft card whose one trick is chip damage over time, so it supports better than it finishes.
Its starter attack, Herbal Draught, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for about 30 damage, and it leaves the target poisoned so it keeps losing health each turn. The free once-per-battle ability, Chronosequence, arrives at level 25: Time on its side: +3 ATK and speed, kept. It restores health mid-fight. The advanced attack, Winterkill, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (27 damage) - a straightforward heavier hit. Most of your fairy candles sit below level 40, where only the poison starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves and Statuses.
Fairy candles keeps a single always-on trait: Resprout. Because it draws only one eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health - but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve. See Abilities.
Fairy candles carries no special trait keywords. Although its starter move inflicts poison, the plant does not hold the Toxin trait, so it is non-toxic to the touch - there is no contact recoil and no hazard ring, and an attacker takes no damage for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native it wants defensive field gear to prop up its stalling game.
At level 40 fairy candles reads 103 HP with 25 ATK; there is no invasive card, so it only ever fights as a native. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its slower initiative (51) and every turn after on its faster SPD (34), so it opens behind and gains a step as a fight runs long - useful for letting poison tick. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, fairy candles swells to 190 HP with 44 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 - as a soft herb it gains health and almost no armor, so it stays fragile against any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys HP and a firmer Resprout, not toughness.
As a perennial herb, fairy candles sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them, while Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) strike it for x1.5 and resist its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the trade is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play fairy candles as a chip-damage buffer. Open with the poison strike, then stall behind its self-heal and let the poison wear the opponent down while your stronger cards set up. Its own hits are light and its armor is thin, so it is support, not a finisher. It is inedible, so feeding it any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It plays as a slower opener that gains a step in long fights, crossing over around level 31; higher levels only raise its stats, 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.