Tradescantia sillamontana
A slow Perennial herb card with a weak starter, a much better advanced attack, and a trait that only pays from turn three.
Velvet Plant is a Perennial herb card with both roles: native to western North America and invasive in Africa and Europe. Native it is a cushioned bench piece; invasive it is a slightly sharper attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Volatile Oils, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 23 native and 25 invasive. Releases volatile oils — Poison the foe.
The free once-per-battle ability, Seral Persistence, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Refuses to be replaced: heal 60%, and the foe can't heal.
The advanced attack, Deep-Seated Grudge, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 34 native and 35 invasive. Roots in deep and refuses to let go. It is a large step up from a soft starter, so this card improves considerably at level 40. See moves.
Basal Rosette arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength, adding a small flat amount of armour.
Vernalization Memory stacks on at level 68, adding attack power from the third turn onward only. For the opening two turns it contributes nothing, so it rewards fights that run long.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, survivability helps this card reach the turns where its trait works. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 native reads 103 HP and 15 ATK; invasive reads 89 HP and 19 ATK. Both attack figures are low. Armour is 4, modest. Retreat is 16 Sun. Opening tempo is 31 and sustained tempo is 34, both middling to low. Invasive it pays Faustian bench damage per damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 native reaches 190 HP and 25 ATK, invasive 165 HP and 36 ATK, with armour only at 8. The soft-herb divergence. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor. Longer fights at the cap do at least suit its turn-3 trait.
Perennial herb is Competitor: strong into Ruderal — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — and weak to Specialist, meaning succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. See weaknesses and resistances.
A slow starter that becomes reasonable once its advanced attack unlocks. Below level 40 it is genuinely weak — a soft hit, low tempo and little armour. After that it has a real attack and a trait that rewards staying in.
It is not eaten, so a soil amendment earns no matching fertiliser coins and instead banks the ×1.25 XP an inedible plant pays. See the battle lab.
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.