Verbena peruviana
A neutral-stance perennial herb built around Binding foes and punishing attackers with Wither.
Peruvian mock vervain is a perennial herb (Perennial herb) that plays as a low, sticky control piece. In the current arena regions it is neither native nor invasive, so it fights on the neutral base line: it gets neither the native HP cushion and bench overshield nor the invasive attack edge and its Faustian bench cost. It is judged on its kit and base stats alone.
It opens with Taproot Anchor at Lv 1 for 2 Sun: Anchors deep and holds the foe with it. On its base line it deals about 29, and it holds the foe in place. Its free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, unlocks at Lv 25 for no Sun: Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe. — it both Binds and Withers, cutting the foe's output while pinning it. Its advanced attack, Deep-Seated Grudge, arrives at Lv 40 for 6 Sun and deals about 36: Roots in deep and refuses to let go. No move carries an initiative rider.
It keeps two always-on traits. Bitter Principle arrives at Lv 10: any attacker that strikes it is Withered (its bitter sesquiterpene lactones), so trading blows into it is costly. Deep Taproot stacks on at Lv 68: the taproot makes it immune to Bind, so nothing can pin it back. Below Lv 68 it has only the Wither-on-contact retaliation.
It carries no special trait keywords, and as a perennial herb it is not a climber, so it takes no Moss Pole. Standard field gear fits; with soft herb armor, a Ca/Mg amendment is one of the few ways to firm it up.
Read at Lv 40, where every move is unlocked, its DEF is a soft 4 and it is fragile. Holding neither role here, its HP sits on the base line between what a native (103) and an invasive (89) would carry, and its ATK likewise between 22 and 29. On tempo it is close to even: opening initiative (34) and sustained SPD (34) are nearly matched, so turn order tends to come down to the matchup rather than this card's speed. Retreat costs 16 Sun. See stats.
Matured, its biomass HP swells toward 190 (base line; a native read would be a little higher), but its DEF barely leaves the soft herb band, settling around 8 — it never becomes a tank. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots in, and its already-even tempo sinks toward its floor with level. It stays a control piece that wins by Binding and Withering, not by trading damage.
As a perennial herb it is in the Competitor succession group: strong (×1.5) into Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) and on the losing side against Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes).
Its value is control: Bind from its moves keeps a foe stuck, Wither cuts its damage, and Bitter Principle makes attacking into it hurt — a frustrating card to fight through even though it hits softly and is thin on DEF. As a neutral card it earns none of the native or invasive bonuses, so it is best used to lock down a dangerous attacker while a stronger teammate does the closing. It is not edible, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP for growth rather than coins. Below about Lv 27 it leans on its tempo; above it, on its slowly growing bulk — though bulk is never this card's strength.
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.