Acer caudatifolium
A native-only broadleaf tree that plays as a defensive buffer and collection piece.
A quiet, low-attack maple — a collection piece with a big HP pool and a late Sun network. It is a broadleaf tree in battle. It is native to East Asia and is recorded as invasive nowhere, so it only ever plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker scenario for this card.
The starter attack Deathshadow unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: Casts a shade nothing recovers in — the foe can't heal. It deals about 23 damage.
The free once-per-battle ability Shade Tolerance arrives at level 25: Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal. It costs no Sun — its price is being usable only once per battle.
The advanced attack Crown Shade opens at level 40 for 6 Sun: Casts deep shade that saps the foe. It hits for about 31.
Most cards you field sit well below level 40, so introduce these slots in order — a young plant has only its starter.
This card keeps two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool; the rest of that pool was dropped and it never gets it. Tannin Load (from level 10) loads the wood with tannins, so any attacker that lands a damaging hit on the tree withers in return.
A second, different trait stacks on later: Network (from level 68) is the canopy-tree Sun overshield: while this tree sits on your bench it projects a gold Sun bar onto your active card, backing up your Sun supply once the base bar is spent. It does this for an active of any nativity. So for most of its playable life — including at the level 40 snapshot the stats below are read at — this card runs its first trait alone, and only a fully levelled specimen holds both.
This card carries no special trait keywords, and as a broadleaf tree it is not eligible for a Moss Pole (that is for climbers — vines and epiphytes). A Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment adds flat DEF, which suits a wall like this. Playing native, lean into bench support that feeds the overshield it and its benched natives project. See field gear for the full list.
Read at level 40, it carries 140 HP, including the +15% native cushion, with DEF 23 and a retreat cost of 19 Sun. Its attack reads 15 ATK.
It is a quick starter but a slow cruiser: a higher opening tempo (22 initiative) than sustained tempo (16 SPD), so it tends to land the first hit and then get out-paced from turn 2 onward.
As a native it and any benched natives project a bench overshield onto your active. It never holds the invasive role, so it pays no Faustian self-damage. See stats.
As a broadleaf tree it hardens into a wall. HP swells to 276 native / 240 invasive and DEF climbs to 52 as the heartwood sets, so a mature specimen genuinely soaks hits a young one cannot. ATK caps at 25 / 25. Retreat rises to 41 Sun as it roots down with age, and its once-brisk tempo has sunk to near its floor — the tempo pips in Stats above are as fast as this card ever moves. Levelling buys raw bulk and reach; it costs turn-order speed.
In the succession type chart this broadleaf tree is a Competitor. Its attacks hit Ruderal cards (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs) for ×1.5, while Specialist cards (succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes) hit it for ×1.5 and shrug its own blows down to ×0.667. Matchups against the off-wheel Weird categories (carrion-aroids, carnivorous plants, mycotrophs and vascular parasites) are neutral both ways. See weaknesses & resistances.
This is a native-only card: play it as a buffer and wall, soaking hits and feeding the bench overshield. It earns its keep in single-player battles for coins and as a family-tree collection piece more than as a top-tier attacker. It is not tagged with a resolved edible part, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP rather than paying a coin bonus — feed it to level, not to earn. As a tree it is bulk-favored almost from birth — its crossover into power-dominance sits at a low level (see the Total power gallery below).
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.