Betula maximowicziana
A non-toxic native broadleaf tree that walls the arena, projects a Sun overshield onto the active and heals a benched ally, played only as a defensive anchor across East Asia.
Maximowicz's birch is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a defensive anchor: heavy armor, a Sun overshield projected onto your active, and a benched heal. No invasive card exists, so it appears in the arena only as a native buffer across East Asia. Its own attack is the lowest of these trees; its value is in walling and supporting the team.
Its starter attack, Deathshadow, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 24 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Old-Growth Reaction, arrives at level 25: Centuries of shade — the foe stalls and withers. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Barking Mad, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (about 34 damage) and saps the target as it lands. Most of your birch sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Birch keeps two always-on traits. Network arrives on the level 10 riser and, as a canopy tree, projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto the active from the bench — a durable support even while it sits behind a teammate. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 68 riser and heals a benched ally, though as a sustain trait it fires only about 60% of the time. See Abilities.
Birch is non-toxic: it holds no Toxin trait, so nothing recoils onto an attacker and its hits carry no poison. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment — stacks on its already-heavy armor to make it even harder to shift. See statuses.
At level 40 birch reads 121 HP with ATK of just 16 — the lowest attack of these trees, so it is no hitter. DEF is 24, in the broadleaf-tree band, so it is a real wall that soaks hits the softer cards cannot. Its tempo is back-loaded but slow overall: turn 1 runs on a low initiative (29) that is out-paced off the mark, and every turn after on a slightly higher SPD (30), so it is a slow starter that presses a little harder over a long fight. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, birch climbs to 233 HP and 28 ATK, and its DEF reaches 54 — as a broadleaf tree it hardens into a towering wall, buying bulk in both health and armor. Retreat rises to 34 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature birch acts last against almost anything younger.
As a broadleaf tree, birch sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play birch as a native wall and support hub: hold the active slot to soak damage, or bench it to project the Sun overshield and heal an ally with Mycorrhiza once mature. Its attack is too low to threaten anything, so pair it with a real hitter and let it keep them standing. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow, wall-first anchor leaning harder on its armor as it levels, crossing over around level 14 — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.