Rosa × damascena
An invasive-only shrub attacker with a bind-and-deny ability and a bench-protecting taunt.
Damask rose is a Shrub that plays purely as an attacker here. In the current regions it is native nowhere and invasive in Europe, so it is an invasive-only card — there is no native buffer version to describe. It leans on a bind-and-deny ability and steady damage.
The starter, Hedge Hammer, unlocks at Lv 1 for 2 Sun and deals 34: The whole hedge comes down on it — the foe weakens. The free ability, Thicket Formation, unlocks at Lv 25: Closes into thicket — Bind, and the foe can't heal. It Binds the foe and shuts off its healing, a strong tempo tool. The advanced attack, Hedge Fund, unlocks at Lv 40 for 6 Sun, deals 31 and heals it: Draws on its reserves — heal 30%. Neither attack carries an initiative rider.
Marcescence arrives at Lv 10: it retains dead leaves as armor, adding a flat DEF bonus while the card is below half HP — a defensive kick exactly when it is hurt. Sapromyophily (the Lure trait) stacks on at Lv 68 and is a live taunt: wherever the engine picks one victim out of a group — a forced swap, a single-target splash, incoming spore-drift — this card draws that pick onto itself instead of an ally, protecting the bench. A young one holds the foe's focus only while above half HP; matured, it always holds. The one caveat is that against a lone wild plant there is no group to choose from, so the taunt does nothing in that fight — a scope limitation, not an inert trait. Both are working traits.
It holds no toxicity trait and no thorns trait on this card, so it neither poisons nor recoils on contact (those mechanics only apply to cards that hold those traits). As a shrub it is not a Moss Pole climber. For field gear, as an attacker it wants offensive gear, and the taunt also pairs well with bench-protection builds. See /wiki/abilities.
At Lv 40 as an invasive: HP 89, ATK 29, DEF 13 — mid-tier shrub armor, firmer than a weed but no wall. Opening tempo (Initiative) 45 is a little above sustained tempo (SPD) 39, so it opens slightly quicker than it cruises. As an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging hit and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out; it can still hold a bench HP overshield of its own. Retreat costs 15 Sun. See /wiki/stats.
By Lv 100 HP reaches 165 and ATK 56, while DEF firms only to 27 — a shrub hardens past a weed but never into a tree wall. Retreat rises to 31 Sun and tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap. It matures into a solid mid-weight attacker with a useful taunt, not a tank.
Shrub sits in the Competitor group: strong at x1.5 into Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), weak at x0.667 to Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), and even against other Competitors and Weird cards. See /wiki/weaknesses-resistances.
Play it as an attacker with utility. Thicket Formation's Bind-and-no-heal locks a foe and stops it recovering, letting you grind it down while Hedge Fund tops you back up, and Marcescence keeps you alive when low. Once Sapromyophily is online it also shields your bench in multi-plant fights, so it fits a team build better than a solo wild scrap (where the taunt idles). It is edible with the eaten part being its leaves, so Nitrogen pays x1.25 coins and other nutrients bank x1.25 XP. It fights a touch quicker early and leans on power past about Lv 30.
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.