Large Yellow Loosestrife

Overview

Large Yellow Loosestrife is a perennial herb, a Perennial herb card that trades on staying power rather than speed. It is native to Europe, where it plays as a defensive buffer, and invasive across East Asia and both eastern and western North America, where it plays as an attacker. That nativity split sets everything else about how it fights.

Moves

Its starter, Herbal Draught, unlocks at Lv 1 and costs 2 Sun: Brews its own remedy — strike and heal 12%. It hits for 29 as a native and 32 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Chronosequence, comes online at Lv 25 and deals no damage — Time on its side: +3 ATK and speed, kept. The advanced attack, Herbaceous Assault, arrives at Lv 40 for 6 Sun and reads 31 native / 35 invasive: A season's growth thrown at once — the foe wilts. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it takes its turn on raw tempo. See Moves.

Abilities

This card keeps two always-on abilities, and they do not arrive together. Basal Rosette comes in at Lv 10 — a low, ground-hugging defensive posture that is on from that point. Resprout stacks on much later, at Lv 68: it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at a sliver of HP, but only 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip-plus save rather than a guarantee. For most of a card's life it has only the rosette; the Resprout safety net is an endgame addition.

Features

It holds no toxin or thorn trait, so biting it draws no contact recoil. It is not a climber, so it takes no Moss Pole. For field gear, the native build wants defensive amendments — a Calcium/Magnesium dose for a little DEF, since its base armor is thin — while the invasive build wants anything that presses its attack.

Stats

At Lv 40 it reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive — the native gets the +15% cushion, and while benched a native projects an HP overshield onto your active. DEF is only 4, a soft perennial-herb floor, so it leans on HP, not armor. ATK is trait-sourced: 23 native versus 33 invasive, a real step up because its introduced range is wide. The invasive also pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on every damaging hit and concedes 2 prizes when it is knocked out. On tempo, initiative 13 orders turn 1 and SPD 34 orders turn 2 onward; both are middling, so it is neither a notably quick starter nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 16 Sun. See Stats.

At Level 100

By Lv 100 its HP swells to 190 native / 165 invasive and ATK to 41 / 67, but as a soft-bodied herb its DEF barely leaves its band, reaching only 8 — it never becomes a wall. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo pips sink to roughly 1% of cap, so the quick-turn edge it had young is spent. Maturing buys biomass and attack, not armor.

Weaknesses & Resistances

As a perennial herb it is in the Competitor succession group: strong (×1.5) into Ruderal cards — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — and weak (×0.667) into Specialists — succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. Poison ignores its DEF entirely, which matters because its armor is thin anyway.

Gameplay uses

Native, it is a durable bench buffer: park it to project an overshield and let its HP cushion absorb hits. Invasive, it is a serviceable attacker with a genuine ATK jump and a self-heal on its starter, though the Faustian bench damage and thin DEF mean it wants backup. It is inedible, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP (growth) rather than coins. Overall it is a solid mid-tier card that earns coins in single-player battles but is not a standout. It fights as a quick-enough skirmisher early and leans on rising bulk and attack after about Lv 12 as a native (Lv 15 invasive), after which its power outweighs its falling tempo.