Solanum umbellatum
A native-only shrub that opens fast, self-heals, pins, and taxes anything that strikes it — solid support that taunts late.
Nightshade is a Shrub that fights as a quick opener with a heal and a pin. It is native across eastern and western North America and South America, and the arena only ever casts it as a native — no invasive card exists — so it plays purely as a buffer for your bench. It is a dependable support shrub, taxing anything that strikes it and pulling single-target picks onto itself from level 68.
Its starter attack, Bramblemaze, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing a plain hit of about 29 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Shrub, comes in at level 25: Shelters the whole bench — evens their health, and calls the fallen back. The advanced attack, Hedge Fund, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 damage) and binds the target so it cannot retreat. Most of your nightshade sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
This nightshade holds two always-on traits. From level 10, Extrafloral Nectaries makes contact expensive: the attacker loses 3% of its own max HP, and neither DEF nor an overshield stops it. From level 68, Sapromyophily turns the bush into a decoy that soaks the engine's single-target picks — Seed Rain, a forced swap, an incoming spore-drift. See Abilities.
Nightshade carries no special trait keywords, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. Despite the name, this card is non-toxic in battle: no contact recoil and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Defensive field gear that adds DEF or HP best fits its supporting role.
At level 40 nightshade reads 103 HP and 23 ATK. Because it is native-only, there is no invasive variant to compare against — the arena never casts it as an attacker. DEF is 13, low in the shrub band, so it takes hits with little armor. Its tempo favors the opening: turn 1 runs on a high initiative (51) so it leads early, then every turn after runs on a lower SPD (34), so it is out-paced once a fight drags on. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, nightshade grows to 190 HP and 42 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 28 — a moderate shrub wall, sturdier than a herb but not a fortress. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so the fast opener of low levels becomes slow and acts last against younger cards.
As a shrub, nightshade is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for x1.5 and is hit for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants, which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play nightshade as a native support piece: pin a target that wants to flee, heal to stay on the field, and let its bench overshield keep a fragile hitter alive. Its pin makes it a useful lockdown partner even though its own damage is only fair. Its economy is growth-only — it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP rather than coins, making it an XP investment rather than a coin-earner. It fights as a fast skirmisher early and leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 28 — 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.