Aloe zebrina
A native-only succulent that pins, heals, and regenerates in any weather — a sticky, low-damage staller.
Small Maculate Aloe is a Succulent that fights as a self-regenerating staller: it opens by pinning, then heals and quietly recovers between turns. It is native to Africa, and the arena only ever casts it as a native — no invasive card exists — so it plays purely as a buffer for your bench. It is a durable, low-damage card that wins by not dying.
Its starter attack, Parch, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 28 damage and binding the target so it cannot retreat. The free once-per-battle ability, Water Reservoir, comes in at level 25: Opens the whole store: heal 50%, and the foe can't heal. The advanced attack, Areole Assault, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (33 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your aloe sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Small Maculate Aloe keeps two always-on traits. Succulence arrives on the level 10 riser and lets it regenerate in any weather, but it triggers only about 60% of the time. Photosynthesis arrives on the level 68 riser and heals it in sun, again firing only about 60% of the time. Both are recovery traits, so they reward long fights rather than fast ones. See Abilities.
It carries the Succulence trait keyword, which drives its all-weather regeneration; it has no offensive keywords, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Defensive field gear that adds HP or DEF deepens its stalling game.
At level 40 the aloe reads 121 HP and 20 ATK. Because it is native-only, there is no invasive variant — the arena never casts it as an attacker, and its attack is low regardless. DEF is just 2, near the succulent floor, so despite its bulk it takes hits with little armor. Its tempo is slightly front-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (23) and every turn after on a marginally lower SPD (21), so it opens first and then lags. Retreat costs 19 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, the aloe swells to 233 HP and 36 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — a succulent becomes a huge health pool with almost no armor, so raw HP is its only defense. Retreat rises to 41 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature aloe acts last against almost anything young. Its healing traits, though, scale with that larger health pool.
As a succulent, the aloe is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants for x1.5 and is hit for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Ruderal plants, which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Small Maculate Aloe as an anchor: pin the enemy, heal, and let Succulence and Photosynthesis grind out a slow win, especially against Competitor-group foes it resists. Its bench overshield helps a fragile partner survive. The catch is its low attack, so it stalls and supports rather than finishes. Its economy is growth-only — it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a soft opener that leans entirely on its bulk and healing as it levels, crossing over around level 9 — and higher levels always improve its stats, 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.