Sisyrinchium patagonicum
Yellow maiden (Sisyrinchium patagonicum) is a bulb that plays a native buffer, with no introduced range to make it an attacker.
Yellow maiden is a bulb — a soft, quick plant built around its opening move rather than a war of attrition. It is native to South America and has no introduced range, so it only ever plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker scenario for it.
Its kit unlocks in three stages. Its starter attack, Surprise (unlocked at level 1, 2 Sun), deals 32 as a native: Up before anything expects it: first in the wild, acts again on a kill. Its once-per-battle ability, Colchicine Charge (level 25, free), is pure utility: Releases its alkaloid load — Poison the foe. Its advanced attack, Scape Goat (level 40, 6 Sun), deals 22 native: Whips the flower stalk across — the foe wilts and misses its turn. Surprise carries an initiative rider. In a wild encounter it takes hard priority and strikes first regardless of speed; if it lands a killing blow, the plant seizes the turn and acts again. In the arena the rider works differently — it does not grant first strike but pays out on a kill, letting the plant keep going after it finishes off an enemy. If both sides bring a rider move, they cancel and normal turn order decides.
These are the always-on traits this card actually keeps, and the level each one arrives at (a plant draws at most one trait per growth stage). From level 10, Tunic Layers reduces incoming direct-attack damage by a flat few points — the papery bulb skin absorbing part of every blow. From level 68, Perennating Reserve banks the bulb's own store of Sun as a reserve bar of spendable energy above the normal cap, so it can keep paying for attacks after its main Sun bar runs low.
On the field it draws on field gear to shore up its weaknesses. With little natural armor it leans on amendments that add DEF or on healing gear to offset its fragility.
Read at level 40, where every move is unlocked, it holds 103 health and 17 attack as a native, with 2 DEF. That is thin armor, so it takes close to full damage from any real attacker; its defense is its health pool and its tricks, not its DEF. Its retreat costs 16 Sun. On tempo it opens at 32 initiative (which orders the first turn) and cruises at 34 speed (which orders every turn after). Its opening and sustained tempo are close, so it holds a steady place in turn order across the fight. As a native it carries a 15% health cushion (103 versus 89 as an invader), and while benched it projects a green overshield bar onto your active plant, sized by how threatened it is.
Grown to level 100, its health swells to 190 and its attack to 30, but its armor stays low (3 DEF) — it never becomes a wall, just a bigger version of the same soft plant. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as the older plant grows more rooted, and its once-quick tempo has sunk to a sliver — it goes late in turn order now. Maturing buys it raw bulk and hitting power; it costs it the speed edge it had as a seedling.
In the succession type chart, Yellow maiden's category (bulb) belongs to the Ruderal group. Ruderal, Competitor, and Specialist form a wheel: Ruderal hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, and epiphytes) for 1.5× damage, and takes 1.5× from Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, and broadleaf trees), resisting each the other way at about two-thirds. The off-wheel Weird categories are neutral both ways.
Its value is almost entirely front-loaded: the Surprise opener strikes first in the wild and can act again on a kill, so it is best as a lead that trades early. Its low attack and near-zero armor make it a poor closer. Collection and early-tempo duty are its lane. It is not a coin-earner through fertilizer — feeding it any nutrient banks 1.25× experience rather than coins, so its off-battle value is leveling and family-tree collection. On the power curves below, it fights as a fast skirmisher until about level 25, after which its growing bulk and attack take over from its fading speed — a shift in which edge dominates, not a sign it is weaker when grown.
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.