Ipomoea hederifolia
The most aggressive of the morning-glory vines — a quick opener with a front-loaded attack and a bench-chipping finisher.
Scarlet creeper is a Vine and the hardest-hitting of the climbing morning-glory weeds. It is native to eastern and western North America and South America, where the arena runs it as a buffer, and invasive across Africa, East Asia, Europe, Oceania and South Asia, where it becomes a genuine attacker. Every vine is a Competitor in the succession wheel. It is still a soft, lightly-armored card, but it leans harder on early aggression than its relatives.
Its opening attack, Tendril Whip, comes at Lv 1 for 2 Sun — A lashing tendril. It hits for 35 native and 39 invasive, the biggest starter of the three morning glories.
At Lv 25 it gains its free once-per-battle ability, Liana Loop: Loops around the foe — Bind and Wither. That is pure control — it deals no damage but Binds and Withers the foe, blunting both its speed and its attack.
The advanced attack, Kudzu Crawl, unlocks at Lv 40 for 6 Sun — Crawls over everything, bench included. It reaches the whole enemy bench for 27 native / 31 invasive. No move carries an initiative rider, so turn order is decided normally. Below the Lv 40 snapshot a card will be missing part of this kit.
This card keeps two always-on traits. From Lv 10 it holds Heteroblasty: +4 ATK, but only on the first two turns of a fight — a front-loaded burst that rewards opening the exchange, then fades. That pairs well with its high opening tempo (see Stats). From Lv 68 it adds Structural Load: whenever it scores a knockout, it chips 5% of maximum HP off each of the enemy's benched plants — a snowballing finisher that softens the next card up. Scarlet creeper is not toxic, so contact carries no poison recoil.
As a vine it is Moss Pole eligible — isClimber resolves it to a climber, so a Moss Pole is a natural fit. Otherwise pick field gear by role: warding gear native, aggressive gear invasive. It holds neither a thorns nor a toxin keyword, so it does not recoil on the plants that strike it.
At the Lv 40 snapshot it reads 103 HP native / 89 invasive, with ATK 26 native climbing to 36 invasive — the widest native-to-invasive attack gap of the three, so this is the one to run as an invasive when you want damage. DEF is a soft 8 and retreat costs 16 Sun. Its tempo tells the opposite story to red morning glory: opening tempo (initiative) is 48 against a sustained tempo (SPD) of 34, so it is a quick starter that tends to land the first hit and then settles to an ordinary cruise — exactly what its turn-1-and-2 Heteroblasty burst wants (see Stats). Native, it takes a +15% HP cushion and projects a small overshield sliver from the bench (it is Least-Concern). Invasive, it hits hardest but pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on a knockout.
By the endgame its HP has grown to 190 native / 165 invasive, while DEF only firms to 15 — still a soft vine, not a wall. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo has fallen to about 1% of cap, so the quick-opener edge that defines it early is spent by Lv 100. What maturing buys is biomass and a bigger attack ceiling; what it costs is the speed that made it fun to open with.
As a vine it is a Competitor. It strikes Ruderal categories (annual-forb, grass, aquatic, bulb) for ×1.5 and is resisted, taking ×0.667, against Specialists (succulent, conifer, fern, epiphyte). Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird categories it is neutral both ways.
Of the three morning glories this is the closest to a real attacker, and its invasive form is worth fielding for damage: open with the Heteroblasty burst, use Liana Loop to lock down a dangerous foe, and let Structural Load snowball once bodies start dropping. It is still fragile and low on armor, so it wants backup on the bench and will trade badly into a heavier card. Native, it works as a quick, disruptive buffer. It is inedible, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins. As a collection card it extends the Convolvulaceae family line. One line on the arc: it fights as a fast skirmisher until about Lv 28 native (Lv 30 invasive), after which its bulk and attack take the lead — it is not stronger young, it just leans on speed before that point.
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.