Celtis occidentalis
A heavily armoured Broadleaf tree card with the hardest starter attack in its bracket and tannins that punish anything striking it.
Hackberry is a Broadleaf tree card with both roles: native across eastern and western North America, invasive in East Asia, Europe and Oceania. Native it is a cushioned wall projecting a bench overshield; invasive it is a genuine attacker. See nativity and categories.
The starter attack, Limb Lash, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, reading 42 native and 46 invasive. Two lashes from a heavy limb. That is a very high number for a starter attack costing this little Sun, and it is the card's best value move by a wide margin.
The free once-per-battle ability, Canopy Recruitment, unlocks at level 25 and costs no Sun. Pushes a sapling into the canopy: heal 35% and +3 ATK.
The advanced attack, Out on a Limb, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, reading 42 native and 46 invasive. Two swings from the same limb. It matches the starter's damage at three times the Sun cost, so use it for its effect rather than expecting more damage. See moves.
Tannin Load arrives on the first riser at level 10 at full strength. When this card is struck, the attacker takes Wither and loses attack power for the rest of the fight. It costs no turn and no Sun, and it makes attacking into this card progressively worse.
Mycorrhiza stacks on at level 68, healing a benched ally each checkup. Like every sustain effect it triggers roughly 60% of the time rather than every checkup, so read it as a trend across a long fight rather than a guaranteed tick.
The species record lists no toxicity and no trait keywords, so no poison rider applies. For field gear, this card is already durable and already hits hard, so gear extending its time on the field converts directly into damage. Its growth habit is not vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte, so a Moss Pole does not apply.
At level 40 native reads 103 HP and 26 ATK; invasive reads 89 HP and 31 ATK. Armour is 25, among the highest in this batch. Retreat is 16 Sun. Tempo is unusual and worth reading carefully: opening tempo is 32 while sustained tempo is 51, so this card is middling on turn one and then among the fastest things on the field from turn two onward. Invasive it pays Faustian bench damage on every damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes on knockout. See stats.
By level 100 native reaches 190 HP and 47 ATK, invasive 165 HP and 59 ATK, with armour at 57. The tree shape: it climbs to a wall, armour rising with wood density rather than stalling. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor, so the turn-two speed advantage it enjoys at level 40 does not survive to the cap — contrast the tempo pips above.
Broadleaf tree is Competitor: strong into Ruderal — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — and weak to Specialist, meaning succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes. See weaknesses and resistances.
This is one of the strongest cards in this batch and the simplest to play: lead with the starter attack and keep using it. It costs almost nothing, hits harder than most advanced attacks in this bracket, and the card has the armour to survive the exchange. Tannin Load then makes every reply weaker than the last.
Invasive it is a real threat — the attack step is solid and the sustained tempo means it usually gets the second and third hits in. The Faustian bench cost is the only brake worth planning around. Native it is a wall that also does damage, which is a better deal than most buffers offer.
It is edible with a fruit economy group, so a phosphorus soil amendment pays ×1.25 coins. Strong in battle, strong in the economy, and cheap to run. See the battle lab.
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.