Acer japonicum
A supportive native broadleaf tree that shields the front line and heals the bench late - a defender, never an attacker.
Downy Japanese-maple is a Broadleaf tree built for support: it projects a Sun overshield from the bench and later heals allies, all behind solid tree armor. It is native to East Asia and has no invasive form, so it always plays the native side - a buffer for your bench, never an attacker. Its damage is low; its job is to keep the rest of your team alive. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Limb Lash, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 34 damage as a plain strike. The free once-per-battle ability, Stand Replacement, arrives at level 25: A fire that takes the whole stand — the foe burns, and so do its neighbours. The advanced attack, Lignin Lockdown, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (21 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your maples sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. No move carries an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Maple keeps two always-on traits. Network arrives early, at level 10, and from the bench projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto whichever plant is active - a reliable front-line shield. At level 68 it gains Mycorrhiza, which heals a benched ally, though that mend triggers only about 60% of the time. Together they make it a patient protector that shields early and heals late. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic - no contact recoil, no hazard ring, no poison on its strikes. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Since it only plays the native side, defensive field gear that reinforces its protector role suits it best.
At level 40 it reads 140 HP and 16 ATK; there is no invasive card, so it always plays the native side. DEF is 23, solid tree-tier armor, so it is genuinely hard to knock down. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its low initiative (18), but every turn after runs on its higher SPD (24), so it is out-paced on turn 1 and steadier once a fight settles - though both numbers are modest. Retreat costs 19 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects the Sun overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, maple climbs toward an armored wall: 276 HP, 28 ATK, and DEF reaching 52. Retreat rises to 41 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it acts late but is very hard to remove - exactly what a bench protector wants. Leveling buys durability, not offense.
As a broadleaf tree, downy Japanese-maple is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit 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 it as a bench anchor: a tough tree that shields your active with the Sun overshield from turn one and heals allies once matured. Its damage is low, so pair it with a real hitter and let it soak and protect. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP toward faster leveling rather than coins. In player-versus-player (PvP) matches it never wins on its own numbers, but its wall and shield make a fragile team much harder to break, and it only grows sturdier with levels.
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.