Orobanche minor
A fast, fragile Vascular parasite card that plays both roles — a native drainer in Europe and a genuine attacker across North America.
Common Broomrape is a Vascular parasite card, and unlike most parasites in the game it has both roles. The species record lists Europe as its native range and both eastern and western North America as invasive, so the arena region decides which card you are holding. Native it is a buffer with a health cushion and a bench overshield; invasive it is an attacker. See nativity for how that switch works and categories for the parasite concept.
The starter attack, Lightsteal, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun. It reads 28 native and 29 invasive. Siphons light it never earned — strike and heal 12%.
The free once-per-battle ability, Host Scent, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Germinates only on the right chemistry: +4 ATK, kept for the match.
The advanced attack, Broomrape Bind, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 25 native and 27 invasive. Fastens onto the root and will not be pulled off — the foe wilts. This is a species-unique attack. Notice that it does not simply out-damage the starter — it costs more Sun for a control effect rather than a bigger number, so the starter remains the efficient attack and the advanced one is what you reach for when the effect matters. See moves.
Haustorial Drain is innate, live from level 1 and never dropped. On knockout it takes a final measure of health from the opposing active plant, and that drain goes through the overshield rather than being soaked by it.
Sun Siphon arrives on the first riser at level 10 but matures only at level 68, so it spends the long middle of the card's life at half strength before reaching full effect. Say the card is a partial resource engine until quite late and you will have it right.
Spore Drift arrives on the second riser at level 68, adding a chip that reaches the opposing bench rather than only the plant in front.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords for this card, so there is nothing on that axis to build around. For field gear, the very low health pool means survivability gear does more here than damage gear on the native side, while the invasive side would rather have anything that helps it land a hit before it is removed. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not fit.
At level 40 the native side reads 65 HP and 28 ATK; invasive reads 57 HP and 32 ATK. Compare those directly — the invasive step here is a real attack gain paid for with a smaller health pool, and it comes from how widely the species has spread rather than from any flat multiplier.
Armour is 10 and retreat is only 9 Sun, which is cheap and genuinely useful: this card can be rotated out of danger without wrecking your Sun curve. Opening tempo is 48 and sustained tempo is 48, both very high — this card moves first in most matchups. Played invasive it also pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack, scaling as it levels, and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See stats.
By level 100 the native health pool reaches 103 and attack 50, with the invasive side at 90 HP and 62 ATK. Armour only reaches 20. This is the soft-weed shape at the cap: biomass swells, plating barely moves, and the card stays fragile no matter how long you level it. Retreat rises to 15 Sun, so the cheap escape that defines it at level 40 is no longer cheap, and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor — losing the speed advantage hurts this card more than most, because speed was the reason it worked.
Vascular parasite is in the Weird succession group, which is neutral both ways against every other group. There is no type matchup to exploit or fear. See weaknesses and resistances.
Invasive is where this card is genuinely dangerous. It moves first, hits meaningfully harder than its native form, and the cheap retreat lets you strike and withdraw before the fragile health pool becomes a problem. The Faustian bench cost is the real constraint: every damaging attack chews your own back row, so this is a card for short, decisive lines rather than long grinds, and it wants a bench that can absorb that.
Native it is much more modest — a fast, frail bench piece contributing an overshield and a knockout drain. Say plainly that it is not a wall and will not hold a lane.
It is not edible, so a soil amendment earns no matching fertiliser coins from it and instead banks the ×1.25 XP that feeding an inedible plant pays. Its value is battlefield tempo and collection, not income. See the battle lab.
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.