Carpinus betulus
A heavily armored broadleaf tree that walls the front and heals the bench, played as a European native buffer or an Eastern North American invader.
European hornbeam is a non-toxic Broadleaf tree that fights as a heavily armored wall and a bench-healer. It is native to Europe and invasive in Eastern North America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or an invasive attacker. Its strength is bulk and support, not fast damage.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a native and 28 as an invasive, with some of that splashing onto the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Log, arrives at level 25: The fallen feed the next: heal 25%, even the bench, and call back the lost. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Deadfall, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (43 native / 44 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your hornbeam sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
European hornbeam keeps two always-on traits. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, but as a sustain trait it fires only about 60% of the time — treat the mend as likely, not guaranteed. Network arrives on the level 68 riser and, from the bench, projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active, the canopy-tree buff. See Abilities.
It is non-toxic and holds no Toxin trait, so it deals no contact recoil to attackers. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear reinforces an already stout wall; as an invasive, offensive gear turns its bulk toward pressure. See statuses.
At level 40 hornbeam reads 121 HP native and 106 invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 28 invasive — a modest gap in the invader's favor. DEF is 25, firm for the broadleaf-tree band and a genuine wall, so it soaks hits where softer cards fold. Its tempo is slow off the mark and quicker later: a low initiative (24) turn 1, a higher SPD (33) thereafter, so it is a slow starter and a steadier cruiser. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and projects a benched 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, hornbeam swells to 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 44 / 52 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 58 — as a tree it hardens into a true wall, buying armor as well as health. Retreat rises to 34 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature hornbeam acts last against almost anything younger but shrugs off far more when it does.
As a broadleaf tree, hornbeam 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 European hornbeam as a native wall-and-support: park it to wall the front, heal your bench on the roughly 60% its mycorrhiza fires, and drape a Sun overshield over your active once network is online. As an invasive its higher ATK and bench-splashing starter add real pressure, though it pays self-damage and concedes prizes; either way its bulk is the draw. 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-opening wall that only grows harder to shift as it levels, crossing over around level 12 as a native and 14 as an invasive — 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.