Tagetes erecta
A soft annual-forb skirmisher that pools armour from its benched ruderals and plays either arena role — a native of the Americas or an invader across the Old World and Oceania.
African marigold is a soft Annual forb that fights as a bench-fed skirmisher: on its own it carries almost no armour, but while it is your active it borrows defence from the other ruderals waiting on your bench. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and South America, where it serves as a native buffer, and invasive across Africa, East Asia, Europe, Oceania and South Asia, where the arena fields it as an attacker. Its raw attack is modest, so it leans on tempo and its pooled armour rather than force.
Its starter attack, Hypergrowth, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and carries no fixed damage number — it hits harder each time it lands. The free once-per-battle ability, Disclimax, arrives at level 25: Holds the ground open — the foe stalls and withers. The advanced attack, Scatterseed, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing about 23 damage as a native and 29 as an invasive. Most of your marigold sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
African marigold keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is your active its effective DEF rises by half the combined DEF of your still-standing benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed every turn, so the cushion shrinks as those allies faint, and the donors keep their own armour. It is a real, always-on defence, not a chance effect. Reseed arrives on the level 68 riser: when the plant is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place. See Abilities.
African marigold is non-toxic: it holds no Toxin trait, so striking it costs an attacker nothing in contact recoil and it lays no poison. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium or magnesium amendment for a little DEF — helps offset its thin armour; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its higher attack. See statuses.
At level 40 African marigold reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK climbing from 20 native to 35 invasive — a real gap, though its attack stays low either way. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so it takes hits with almost no armour of its own and depends on the pooled Duff Stuff bonus instead. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on its initiative (40) and every turn after on its SPD (43), so it is out-paced off the mark but relentless in a longer fight. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, African marigold swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 35 / 73 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a soft forb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armour, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and still depends on its bench for defence. Retreat rises to 23 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature marigold acts last against almost anything younger.
As an annual forb, African marigold sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants — succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes — for ×1.5 while taking only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants — perennial herbs, shrubs and trees — which strike it for ×1.5 and shrug off its blows. Against other Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play African marigold with a bench of other ruderals behind it so Duff Stuff can prop up its armour, and lean on its faster cruising speed to grind out longer fights. As a native it is a serviceable buffer whose pooled defence lets it trade above its own DEF; as an invasive its higher attack helps, but it still wins by attrition rather than force, and it is a modest card overall. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening skirmisher that leans harder on its pooled bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 30 as a native and 30 as an invasive — but 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.