Aronia melanocarpa
A thorn-backed shrub that plays either arena role - a native buffer that hurts attackers or a modest invasive bruiser.
Black chokeberry is a hardy Shrub that fights as a thorn-backed bruiser: solid attacks, a self-heal, and a coat of spines that makes it painful to attack. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive across Europe, so the arena can field it either way - as a native buffer that shields your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is a serviceable mid-tier card rather than a standout, and it works best beside a heavier hitter.
Its starter attack, Drupe Drop, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for a straightforward blow of about 27 damage as a native and 28 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Bramble Barrier, arrives at level 25: A wall of thorns — the foe withers against it. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Fruit Drop Kick, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (27 native / 28 invasive) and saps the target, weakening it as it deals damage. Most of your chokeberries sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn out of order. See Moves.
Chokeberry keeps one always-on trait: Thorns. Because a card holds only one trait per riser, Thorns arrives in full on the level 10 riser and is never dropped. Whenever an opponent lands a melee hit, a share of that damage is reflected straight back, so a patient attacker grinds itself down against it. See Abilities.
Chokeberry carries the Thorns keyword, the source of its contact recoil. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. It is non-toxic - no contact poison and no hazard ring - so nothing beyond its spines punishes an attacker. As a native, defensive field gear (a Cloche, a Ca/Mg amendment for a little more DEF) suits its stalling; as an invasive, offensive gear makes its aggression count.
At level 40 chokeberry reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 28 invasive - a real but modest invasive edge. DEF is 11, mid-range for the shrub band, so it takes hits with some armor but is no wall. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (37) and every turn after on its slower SPD (31), so it leads early and is out-paced in a long fight. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, chokeberry swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 46 / 53 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 21 - a shrub gains a moderate amount of armor, enough to blunt weaker hitters but short of a tree's wall. Retreat rises to 27 Sun as it settles in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature chokeberry acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys bulk and a firmer Thorns bite; it costs you speed.
As a shrub, chokeberry sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them, while Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) strike it for x1.5 and shrug off its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the trade is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play chokeberry as a durable, self-mending pivot. As a native its Thorns and HP cushion make it a fine buffer - a benched shield that also hurts anything that swings at your active - while as an invasive its damage is only average, so it supports better than it finishes. It is inedible, so feeding it any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a steady leveling target. It fights as a quick skirmisher early and leans on its bulk as it grows, crossing over around level 21; there is never a reason to hold it back, since higher levels only raise its raw stats.
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.