Erigeron canadensis
A soft annual-forb pioneer that plays either arena role — a North and South American native buffer or an Old World invasive attacker — pooling defence from its benched ruderal allies.
Horseweed is a soft Annual forb that fights as a low-armor pioneer, leaning on the ruderal allies on your bench for staying power. It is native to eastern and western North America and South America, and invasive across Africa, East Asia, Europe, Oceania and South Asia, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its armor is among the thinnest here, so its defence rides almost entirely on its bench.
Its starter attack, Hypergrowth, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun; it ignores armor and carries no fixed damage number — it hits harder each time it lands. The free once-per-battle ability, Ruderal Rush, arrives at level 25: Weedy haste — a burst of speed, kept for the match. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Floormat Chokeout, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 native / 34 invasive) and can bind the target in place. Most horseweed sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Horseweed keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while horseweed 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 horseweed is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place. See Abilities.
Horseweed 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 almost non-existent armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 horseweed reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 28 native versus 40 invasive — the invasive form hits distinctly harder. DEF is just 1, at the very floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with practically no armor — which is exactly what Duff Stuff is there to shore up while its bench holds. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (34) and every turn after on its faster SPD (43), 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, horseweed swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 52 / 82 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a soft annual forb it buys bulk in health and effectively none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and still leans on Duff Stuff's pooled defence. Retreat rises to 22 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature horseweed acts last against almost anything younger.
As an annual forb, horseweed 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 horseweed 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 let its armor-ignoring starter ramp up while it heals. As an invasive its higher ATK lets it push damage, but its paper-thin armor means it still wants that bench behind it, and each hit costs it a little of its own team. It is a modest card either way — a buffer and a collection piece more than a carry. On economy, horseweed is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening cruiser that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 26 as a native and 27 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.