Carya ovata
An armored broadleaf tree that shields the bench with a Sun overshield and heals allies, playable as a native wall or a European invader.
Shagbark hickory is an armored Broadleaf tree that fights as a tanky support wall. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way - as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. It is one of the sturdier cards, built to soak hits and feed the bench rather than to race.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage native / 28 invasive - a plain strike. The free once-per-battle ability, Shade Tolerance, comes in at level 25: Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal. The advanced attack, Lignin Lockdown, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (25 native / 25 invasive) and mends the plant as it lands. Most of your hickories sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Hickory keeps two always-on traits. Network arrives on the level 10 riser and projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench - a canopy-tree effect that helps your front-liner absorb hits and fuel its moves. Mycorrhiza arrives later, on the level 68 riser, and heals a benched ally, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so it is a bonus rather than a plan. Together they make hickory a strong background support. See Abilities.
Hickory carries no special trait keywords - no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry - so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic, showing no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear that stacks DEF turns it into a serious wall; as an invasive, offensive gear sharpens its hits.
At level 40 hickory reads 140 HP native / 122 invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 28 invasive - native ATK 26 rising to invasive ATK 30, a modest gap. DEF is 28, high in the broadleaf-tree band, so it genuinely blunts incoming damage. Its tempo is a quick starter and slower cruiser: turn 1 runs on its initiative (41), where it leads, and every turn after on its SPD (11), where it is badly out-paced - it opens well but is one of the slowest cruisers here. Retreat costs 20 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench HP overshield; 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, hickory reaches 276 HP native / 240 invasive and 47 / 52 ATK, and as a broadleaf tree its DEF climbs to 64 - an armored wall few young cards can dent. Retreat rises to 43 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature hickory acts last but is extremely hard to remove. See Stats.
As a broadleaf tree, hickory is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and is struck for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play hickory as a bench anchor. As a native buffer it soaks damage, projects its Sun overshield onto your active, and drips heals to allies; as an invasive it is a heavy, self-mending front-liner. Its very low cruising SPD means you want it holding a line, not chasing. It is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins - grow it for stats. It leads early on tempo and becomes a durable wall as it levels, crossing over around level 8 native and 10 invasive; keep leveling it.
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.