Schreber's aster

Overview

Schreber's aster is a perennial herb — a fast, soft plant that Withers attackers and bolts late. It is native to eastern North America, where it plays a defensive buffer, and has become invasive in Europe, where it fights as an attacker.

Moves

Its kit unlocks in three stages. Its starter attack, Rhizome Creep (unlocked at level 1, 2 Sun), deals 29 as a native or 29 as an invader: Creeps underground into the foe's back row. Its once-per-battle ability, Autogenic Reaction (level 25, free), is pure utility: Remakes its own ground: +6 ATK and heal 25%. Its advanced attack, Perennial Problem (level 40, 6 Sun), deals 42 native or 42 invasive: It was always going to come back.

Abilities

These are the always-on traits this card actually keeps, and the level each one arrives at (a plant draws at most one trait per growth stage). From level 10, Bitter Principle Withers any plant that strikes it, sapping the attacker's attack power (its sesquiterpene lactones). From level 68, Vernalization Memory builds bonus attack power from turn 3 onward — a slow bolt that arrives only after the fight has run a few rounds.

Features

On the field it draws on field gear to shore up its weaknesses. With little natural armor it leans on amendments that add DEF or on healing gear to offset its fragility. Native and invasive copies want different gear — the native buffer favors defensive and healing picks, the invader favors damage and speed.

Stats

Read at level 40, where every move is unlocked, it holds 103 health and 23 attack as a native, with 1 DEF. That is thin armor, so it takes close to full damage from any real attacker; its defense is its health pool and its tricks, not its DEF. Its retreat costs 12 Sun. On tempo it opens at 40 initiative (which orders the first turn) and cruises at 46 speed (which orders every turn after). It is slow off the mark but relentless afterward — it often cedes the opening hit, then out-paces the foe from turn 2. As a native it carries a 15% health cushion (103 versus 89 as an invader), and while benched it projects a green overshield bar onto your active plant, sized by how threatened it is. As an invader its attack identity is built from how widely it has spread, so its 24 attack outstrips its native 23; it pays for that aggression with self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack, and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out.

At Level 100

Grown to level 100, its health swells to 190 and its attack to 42, but its armor stays low (2 DEF) — it never becomes a wall, just a bigger version of the same soft plant. Retreat rises to 22 Sun as the older plant grows more rooted, and its once-quick tempo has sunk to a sliver — it goes late in turn order now. Maturing buys it raw bulk and hitting power; it costs it the speed edge it had as a seedling.

Weaknesses & Resistances

In the succession type chart, Schreber's aster's category (perennial herb) belongs to the Competitor group. Ruderal, Competitor, and Specialist form a wheel: Competitor hits Ruderal plants (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatic plants, and bulbs) for 1.5× damage, and takes 1.5× from Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, and epiphytes), resisting each the other way at about two-thirds. The off-wheel Weird categories are neutral both ways.

Gameplay uses

A middling card: quick, with Bitter Principle to sap attackers and a late attack ramp, but paper-thin defense. It plays the invader in Europe for extra prizes. Best as a nimble skirmisher and collection piece. It is not a coin-earner through fertilizer — feeding it any nutrient banks 1.25× experience rather than coins, so its off-battle value is leveling and family-tree collection. On the power curves below, it fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 31 as a native (level 35 as an invader), after which its growing bulk and attack take over from its fading speed — a shift in which edge dominates, not a sign it is weaker when grown.