Solanum muricatum
A soft-bodied perennial herb that plays a native buffer, leading early on high initiative and clinging on with a chancy last-stand revive.
Pepino is a soft-bodied Perennial herb that fights as a quick-opening native buffer: it leads turn 1 on a high initiative, heals mid-fight, and can cling on through one lethal hit. It is native to South America, and no invasive card exists, so it only ever plays as a native buffer. Its offense is low, so it is more a survivor than a threat.
Its starter attack, Rhizome Creep, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Autogenic Reaction, arrives at level 25: Remakes its own ground: +6 ATK and heal 25%. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Herbaceous Assault, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 damage) as another straight hit. Most of your pepino sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Pepino keeps one always-on trait, Resprout, which lets it survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter of its health. It arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 riser — a real difference for most of the card's life — and, as a sustain trait, it fires only about 60% of the time even when it would apply, so treat it as a lucky reprieve rather than a guarantee. See Abilities.
Pepino is non-toxic: striking it carries no contact recoil, and its attacks carry no poison rider. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — helps offset armor it badly lacks. See statuses.
At level 40 pepino reads 103 HP with 17 ATK — low offense that it never really overcomes. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on its heal and last-stand instead. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on a strong initiative (50), so it leads early, but every turn after runs on a lower SPD (34), so it is out-paced once the fight settles. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, pepino climbs to 190 HP and 30 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 — as a soft herb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature pepino acts last against almost anything younger.
As a perennial herb, pepino sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike 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 pepino as a native buffer that trades on survival rather than force: use its early lead to land a hit or a mend, then lean on the heal, the HP cushion, and the chancy last-stand to stretch the fight while its bench overshield helps your active. It is a weak attacker and a collection piece more than a carry. On economy, pepino is edible with a resolved part, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a fast-opening skirmisher that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 32 as a native — and it is 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.