Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri
A neutral, collectible succulent that regenerates and heals in sun but is neither native nor invasive in play.
Easter cactus is a fleshy Succulent that fights as a self-healing staller: it soaks damage on a deep health pool and quietly regenerates between blows. It is neither native nor invasive anywhere the game tracks, so it always plays on the neutral base line — a purely collectible card with no nativity bonus or penalty. Expect durability rather than damage.
Its starter attack, Water Leech, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 25 damage — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Barb Priming, comes in at level 25: Raises its barbs — Poison and Wither the foe. It mends the plant. The advanced attack, Drought Stand, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (28 damage) and heals as it strikes. Most specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. No move carries an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn; see Moves.
Easter cactus keeps two always-on traits. Photosynthesis arrives at full strength on the level 10 riser and heals the plant in sun, firing about 60% of the time. Succulence arrives on the level 68 riser and regenerates it in any weather, again on roughly a 60% chance. Together they make it hard to grind down, though neither is reliable turn to turn. See Abilities.
Easter cactus carries no trait keywords beyond its self-healing passives — no thorns, no toxin chemistry — so nothing extra punishes an attacker for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider. Since it plays on the neutral line, general defensive field gear such as a Cloche best complements its self-healing stall in either seat.
At level 40 it reads 121 HP with ATK of 13; as a neutral card it takes neither the native HP cushion nor the invasive ATK boost, so its numbers sit on the base line. DEF is just 1, at the floor of the succulent band, so despite its bulk it has essentially no armor and relies on HP plus regeneration. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (44) and every turn after on its SPD (44), which sit at the same value. Retreat costs 13 Sun. Because it is neither native nor invasive, it neither projects a bench overshield nor pays Faustian bench damage. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, Easter cactus reaches 233 HP and 20 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a succulent it becomes a huge health pool with near-zero armor, absorbing hits by bulk rather than deflecting them. Retreat rises to 25 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last. Maturing buys enormous HP and its second heal, never real toughness.
As a succulent, Easter cactus is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Easter cactus as a neutral wall of health: stack its two regeneration traits and the once-per-battle heal, and let its deep HP pool outlast attackers that cannot burst it down. Its own damage is low, so pair it with a real hitter and use it to buy turns. Economically it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP toward faster leveling. It fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 34, then its bulk takes over — 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.