Lycopus exaltatus
A wetland herb native across Eurasia that fights as a plain-hitting perennial-herb buffer, healing mid-fight and hanging on through Resprout.
Cut leaved gipsywort is a Perennial herb that fights as a native buffer: it trades plain hits, mends itself through its kit, and can survive a lethal blow when its trait fires. It is native across East Asia, Europe and South Asia, with no invasive card, so it only plays the native buffer side. Its armor is paper-thin and its damage modest, so it survives on healing and its comeback trait rather than force.
Its starter attack, Bitter Sap, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and deals about 30 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Allelochemical Priming, arrives at level 25: Primes root chemistry — Poison the foe. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Deep-Seated Grudge, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (37 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your gipsywort sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Cut leaved gipsywort keeps one always-on trait, Resprout, which arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 riser — so it works at the weaker half for most of the card's life. When it fires it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter of its health, but only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a lucky reprieve rather than a guarantee. See Abilities.
Cut leaved gipsywort does not hold the Toxin trait and is non-toxic, so striking it carries no contact recoil and its attacks add no poison. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native buffer, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — helps offset its almost non-existent armor. See statuses.
At level 40 gipsywort reads 103 HP with ATK of 25. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with essentially no armor and leans on its heal and Resprout instead. Its tempo is nearly flat: turn 1 runs on its initiative (38) and every turn after on its close SPD (37), so it opens a touch faster than it cruises but stays roughly even throughout. Retreat costs 11 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, gipsywort swells to 190 HP and 44 ATK, but its DEF barely moves to 2 — as a soft herb it buys bulk only in health and none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 21 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so it acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing brings its Resprout to full strength.
As a perennial herb, Cut leaved gipsywort sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Cut leaved gipsywort as a native buffer and attrition piece: mend through exchanges, let Resprout buy an extra turn when it fires, and lend its HP overshield from the bench. It is a light support card rather than a heavy hitter. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a near-even skirmisher leaning on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 26 — 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.