Parthenocissus quinquefolia
A vine with moderate armor and a wilt aura that saps the enemy active, playing either arena role — a North American native or an Old World invader.
Virginia creeper is a climbing Vine that fights as a wearing-down bruiser: it carries moderate armor, hits solidly, and projects a wilt aura that saps whatever it faces. It is native to eastern and western North America and South America and invasive across Africa, East Asia, and Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is one of the stronger cards in this set, especially as an invasive.
Its starter attack, Creeping Smother, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a native and 31 as an invasive — a plain strike. The free once-per-battle ability, Inhibition, comes in at level 25: Chokes off recovery — the foe can't heal. It raises the plant's own ATK for the rest of the fight. The advanced attack, Vine and Dandy, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (27 native / 31 invasive) and binds the target, pinning it so it cannot retreat. Most of your copies sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Virginia creeper keeps a single always-on trait: Allelopathy. It draws only one eligible trait, so Allelopathy arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. It projects a wilt aura onto the enemy active plant, sapping it while it stands across from your creeper; it is a steady, reliable effect rather than a chance-based one. Read more at Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so despite being a vine it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear such as a Cloche suits a buffer; as an invasive, offensive gear turns its solid ATK into a real threat.
At level 40 Virginia creeper reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 36 invasive — a wide gap that makes the invasive form hit much harder. DEF is 7, in the mid vine band, so it has meaningful armor without being a wall. Its tempo runs turn 1 on its initiative (33) and every turn after on its SPD (48): out-paced early, relentless once a fight settles. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield; as an invasive its ATK is trait-sourced, it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack, and it concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it reaches 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 48 / 72 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 14 — real, if not wall-tier, armor, so it ages into a durable hitter rather than a soft one. Retreat rises to 27 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys damage, health, and moderate armor at the cost of speed.
As a vine, Virginia creeper is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit 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 Virginia creeper as an invasive attacker: high ATK, a binding advanced move, and the wilt aura let it grind down whatever it faces while pinning it in place. As a native it makes a sturdy buffer thanks to its armor and overshield. It is a genuinely useful card in either role. Its economy is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward growth rather than coins. It fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 27 as a native (about level 29 as an invasive), then its bulk and armor take over — 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.