Cardiospermum halicacabum
Cardiospermum halicacabum buffers when its region makes it native and attacks when its region makes it invasive.
Cardiospermum halicacabum is a card in the Broadleaf tree category in Supplant. It is native to Africa, East Asia, eastern and western North America, Oceania, South America, and South Asia, where the arena treats it as a buffer with a small HP cushion, and invasive in Europe, where it plays as an attacker. Which role you get is set by the arena region, not by the card.
Its kit fills in as it levels — most cards you catch are well below the snapshot level (Lv 40) where every slot is unlocked, so introduce them in order. The starter attack, Branch Bash (unlocks at Lv 1, 2 Sun), lands for 31 as a native and 34 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability is Shade Tolerance, unlocked at Lv 25 and free to use. Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal. The advanced attack, Crown Shade (unlocks at Lv 40, 6 Sun), hits for 36 native and 39 invasive. None of its moves carry the initiative rider, so it never seizes hard priority in a wild fight or an extra action in the arena. See Moves and Abilities.
It draws both of the canopy-tree traits, one per riser. Mycorrhiza arrives at Lv 10 and Network stacks on at Lv 68. Mycorrhiza heals a benched ally, and it is one of the sustain effects that only fires about 60% of the time, so treat it as an occasional top-up rather than a dependable heal. Network projects a gold Sun-overshield bar onto your active from the bench (see Stats) and is always on. See Abilities.
It carries no special status keywords — no toxin, thorns, or lifesteal — so nothing it does punishes an attacker or drains the foe on contact. It is not a climber (its growth habit is terrestrial), so a Moss Pole does not attach to it. As a tree it responds well to a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment, which stacks flat DEF onto an armor band that is already the highest in the game. An invasive copy leans the other way — an attack-boosting amendment turns its already-larger ATK into a real threat. See field gear.
Read at the snapshot level (Lv 40, where every move is unlocked): as a native it carries 140 HP (the +15% cushion is baked in) and 29 ATK; as an invasive, 122 HP and 38 ATK — the invasive edge is trait-sourced from how widely it spreads, so compare those ATK numbers to see the real gap. Its DEF is 24. Its opening tempo (19) outruns its sustained tempo (13), so it tends to land the first hit on turn 1 and then gets out-paced as the fight drags on. Its Sun bar caps at 120 and refills at +1 every 15 minutes; retreating costs 18 Sun. Benched, it feeds the overshield: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun-overshield bar (any nativity), and any benched natives add green HP bars that soak direct hits front-first. See Stats and Native strength.
Fully grown, this card hardens into a wall: DEF climbs from 24 at the snapshot level to 55 at Lv 100 — the category cap comes from wood density — while native HP swells to 276 (240 invasive) and ATK reaches 55. Retreat rises to 39 Sun as it roots deeper, and its already-low tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so it plays purely on bulk and armor by the endgame. This is a strong late card — a genuine heavyweight.
In the succession type chart it belongs to the Competitor group. It hits Ruderal categories (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, and bulbs) hard (×1.5) and is resisted by Specialist categories (succulents, conifers, ferns, and epiphytes) (×0.667); against its own group and the off-wheel Weird categories, damage is even both ways. See weaknesses & resistances and categories.
Play a native copy as a benched buffer or a durable body that soaks hits and props up your active's overshield; play an invasive copy as the aggressor, leaning on its higher ATK — but remember an invasive pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when it is knocked out. As a broadleaf tree it is one of the tougher bodies you can field, and its Network bar makes it valuable on the bench even when it is not your active. It is edible with a resolved leaf part, so feeding it the matching Nitrogen fertilizer pays ×1.25 coins; any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead — a steady coin earner in single-player battles. Because its bulk is large even as a seedling, its power and tempo curves cross very early (around Lv 1 native, Lv 1 invasive): it plays as a power-first heavyweight almost from birth, not a skirmisher. Leveling only makes it stronger.
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.