Oenothera pilosella
A control-leaning herb that Binds and withers, trading raw damage for lockdown.
Meadow Evening Primrose (Oenothera pilosella) is a Perennial herb in Supplant. A control-leaning herb that Binds and withers, trading raw damage for lockdown. It is native to Eastern North America — where it plays as a defensive buffer — and invasive in Europe, where the arena turns it into an attacker.
Numbers below are read at level 40, where every move in its kit has unlocked.
Its kit fills in as it levels. The starter attack, Taproot Anchor, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: it deals 29 as a native card and 30 as an invasive one. In effect, Anchors deep and holds the foe with it.
At level 25 it gains its free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold (no Sun cost, one use per fight): Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe.
The advanced attack, Rhizome Lock, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 21 native and 22 invasive: Locks the foe down underground and saps it. None of its moves carry the initiative rider, so it never seizes first strike — turn order is decided purely by its tempo stats (see Stats).
Every plant keeps at most two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool with the rest dropped for good. This card keeps two, and both are working traits:
For most of a card's climb it is running on the first of these alone; the second only joins late.
It is non-toxic and unarmed — it holds no Toxin or Thorns trait, so biting it carries no chemical or thorn recoil. Its useful field gear is therefore the general kit: a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment for flat DEF, a Cloche or Stake to ward status, and Mulch for the economy. It is not a climber, so a Moss Pole does nothing for it. Played native, lean defensive (Ca/Mg to deepen its wall); played invasive, lean into offense.
Read at level 40: DEF 4, retreat 16 Sun — a perennial herb holds a low DEF band (a level-100 cap of roughly 1–15). Turn order runs on two tempo stats: initiative (32) decides turn 1, and SPD (32) decides every turn after. The two are close, so its tempo stays even across the fight.
Native, it gains a +15% health cushion (about 103 HP) and, while benched, projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active. Invasive, its attack climbs from 23 to 27 — the invasive edge is built from how widely it spreads, not a flat multiplier — but it pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when it is knocked out.
See Stats for how each number is built.
By level 100 its health reaches 190 native / 165 invasive, its attack 41 / 53, and its DEF barely leaves its soft band (8) — biomass swells but armor does not. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots down, and the inverted tempo has fallen to near its floor — the fast opener of its youth is gone. Growth buys raw power and trades away turn order.
Its succession group is Competitor. It hits Ruderal cards (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5, and loses ground to Specialist cards (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which resist it to ×0.667. There is no type interaction beyond this succession wheel; see weaknesses & resistances.
Play it native as a bench buffer and overshield source; play it invasive as an attacker, mindful of the Faustian self-damage to your own bench. It has no resolved edible part, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — grow it for levels, not income. It fights as a fast skirmisher until roughly level 22 native (24 invasive), after which its bulk and attack dominate.
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.