Erigeron strigosus
A frail ruderal forb with even tempo that plays either arena role — a North American native or an East Asian and European invader.
Common eastern fleabane is a soft Annual forb that fights as an even-tempo skirmisher — neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser — with a bench-borrowed defence and little armor of its own. It is native across Eastern and Western North America and invasive in East Asia and Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its own numbers are modest; it is a collection and coin piece.
Its starter attack, Seed Scatter, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 29 damage as a native and 31 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Ruderal Rush, arrives at level 25: Weedy haste — a burst of speed, kept for the match. It raises its own ATK for the exchanges ahead. The advanced attack, Covercrop Crush, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (32 native / 34 invasive) and can bind the target. Most of your fleabane sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
It keeps two always-on traits. The first, Duff Stuff, arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is the active plant its effective DEF rises by half the combined DEF of your still-alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed live, so the cushion shrinks as those allies faint, though the donors keep their own DEF. It is a genuine, always-on defence, not a one-off. The second, Reseed, arrives on the level 68 riser: when the plant is knocked out a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place — the annual-forb signature. See Abilities.
Common eastern fleabane is non-toxic, so it has no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. 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 — shores up its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 32 invasive — the invasive gap is wide (native ATK 26 up to invasive ATK 33). DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor and leans on its benched ruderals through Duff Stuff instead. Its tempo is even: initiative (37) and SPD (37) match, so it is the same off the mark as in a long fight — neither fast to lead nor fast to cruise. 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, it swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 49 / 62 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a soft forb it buys bulk in health and none to speak of in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 24 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature fleabane acts last against almost anything younger.
As a ruderal forb, common eastern fleabane 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, shrubs, vines, 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.
Play it native as a buffer whose Duff Stuff turns a full ruderal bench into armor while it is up front, with its overshield helping your active survive; if it does fall, Reseed keeps a body on the field. As an invasive its higher ATK and self-buff let it trade harder, but its thin shell means it wins by chipping and reseeding, not by soaking hits. Out of battle it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as an even-tempo skirmisher leaning harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 26 as a native and 28 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.