Catha edulis
A neutral shrub with no nativity role that opens fast, saps its target, blunts every hit and cannot be Burned.
Qat is a Shrub that the arena runs on its neutral base line: it has neither a native nor an invasive assignment, so it gains no native cushion and pays no invasive penalties. It is a plain, front-loaded card that opens quickly and drains its target. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Hedge Hammer, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 31 to 34 damage as a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Thicket Formation, comes in at level 25: Closes into thicket — Bind, and the foe can't heal. It raises the plant's own attack. The advanced attack, Briar Cage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (21 / 23) and saps the target, withering its output. Most of your cards sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. No move carries an initiative rider. See moves.
Qat carries one working trait per riser. Sclerophylly (level 10) is the tough evergreen leaf doing defensive work: a flat 3 off every direct hit. Lignotuber (level 68) gives it a burl that refuses fire outright — Burn cannot land, and an attempt to land it heals the card. See Abilities.
Qat carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic, so it shows no hazard ring and gives attackers no contact recoil or poison. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. With no nativity role, any field gear you fit simply adjusts its base numbers.
At level 40 qat reads 103 to 89 HP and 22 to 29 ATK on its base line — because it holds no nativity role, neither a native HP cushion nor an invasive ATK bonus applies. DEF is 13, mid-range for the shrub band, so it takes hits with a little armor. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (51) and every turn after on its lower SPD (34), so it leads the opening exchange and is out-paced afterward. Retreat costs 16 Sun. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, qat swells to 190 to 165 HP and 40 to 56 ATK, while its DEF climbs to 28 — a shrub earns a moderate wall, better than a soft herb but short of a tree. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant loses the fast opening it had when young.
As a shrub, qat is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike 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 qat as a neutral opener: strike first with its initiative lead, buff its own attack, and sap the target to blunt the return fire. Without a nativity edge or an ability it is a fair card, best kept for the collection or as filler. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a fast opener until about level 32, after which its bulk takes over; 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.