Cirsium brevistylum
A self-healing thistle with a late Resprout save — durable for a herb, and an edible-leaf coin earner.
Clustered thistle (Cirsium brevistylum) is a Perennial herb in Supplant. A self-healing thistle with a late Resprout save — durable for a herb, and an edible-leaf coin earner. It is native to Western North America and invasive nowhere, so it is a native-only card: a defensive buffer, never an arena attacker.
Numbers below are read at level 40, where every move in its kit has unlocked.
Its kit fills in as it levels. The starter attack, Stolon Reach, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: it deals 30 as a native card and 30 as an invasive one. In effect, Runs a stolon out fast — and keeps the speed.
At level 25 it gains its free once-per-battle ability, Autogenic Reaction (no Sun cost, one use per fight): Remakes its own ground: +6 ATK and heal 25%.
The advanced attack, Tonic, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 33 native and 33 invasive: Strikes and mends — heal 15%. None of its moves carry the initiative rider, so it never seizes first strike — turn order is decided purely by its tempo stats (see Stats).
Every plant keeps at most two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool with the rest dropped for good. This card keeps two, and both are working traits:
For most of a card's climb it is running on the first of these alone; the second only joins late.
It is non-toxic and unarmed — it holds no Toxin or Thorns trait, so biting it carries no chemical or thorn recoil. Its useful field gear is therefore the general kit: a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment for flat DEF, a Cloche or Stake to ward status, and Mulch for the economy. It is not a climber, so a Moss Pole does nothing for it.
Read at level 40: HP about 103 with its +15% native cushion, DEF 1, retreat 12 Sun — a perennial herb holds a low DEF band (a level-100 cap of roughly 1–15). Its attack sits at 19. Turn order runs on two tempo stats: initiative (43) decides turn 1, and SPD (45) decides every turn after. Here SPD outruns initiative, so it is slow off the mark but quickens as the fight wears on.
As a native it is a buffer: while benched it projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active, sized by its rarity, that soaks direct attack damage before your active's own health. It is invasive nowhere, so it never takes the attacker role.
See Stats for how each number is built.
By level 100 its native health reaches 190 and its attack 34, while its DEF barely leaves its soft band (1) — biomass swells but armor does not. Retreat climbs to 23 Sun as it roots down, and its once-brisk tempo has sunk to near its floor. Maturing buys bulk and armor at the price of the speed it had as a seedling.
Its succession group is Competitor. It hits Ruderal cards (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5, and loses ground to Specialist cards (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which resist it to ×0.667. There is no type interaction beyond this succession wheel; see weaknesses & resistances.
Play it native as a bench buffer — its best job is projecting an overshield onto a stronger active. It has no attacker role. It is edible with a resolved leaf part, so feeding it Nitrogen (N) pays ×1.25 coins — a steady, low-effort earner. Any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead. It leans on its speed edge until about level 33, after which its growing bulk and attack take the lead.
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.