Fagus sylvatica
A heavily armored canopy tree that shields your active from the bench and heals allies once matured, playing either role — a European native or an invader in Africa and eastern North America.
Beech is a large broadleaf canopy Broadleaf tree that fights as a heavily armored bench support and wall. It is native to Europe and invasive in Africa and Eastern North America, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). Its high defense makes it one of the sturdier cards you can field.
Its starter attack, Limb Lash, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 40 damage native / 42 invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Canopy Recruitment, arrives at level 25: Pushes a sapling into the canopy: heal 35% and +3 ATK. The advanced attack, Buttress Bash, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (34 native / 35 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your copies sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
It keeps two always-on traits. Network arrives at full strength on the level 10 riser: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 68 riser and heals a benched ally, but it fires only about 60% of the time, so it is an occasional top-up rather than reliable sustain. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and no status chemistry, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic, with no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear magnifies an already tanky body; as an invasive, offensive gear helps its higher attack.
At level 40 it reads 140 HP native / 122 invasive, with ATK of 24 native versus 27 invasive — the invasive form hits harder. DEF is 26, high in the broadleaf-tree band, so it shrugs off a lot of damage. Its tempo leads then fades: turn 1 runs on its initiative (31) and later turns on its lower SPD (26), so it opens acceptably but is out-paced in a long fight. Retreat costs 18 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a benched HP overshield; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it swells to 276 HP native / 240 invasive and 44 / 50 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 59 — it hardens into a genuine armored wall, one of the toughest bodies in the game. Retreat rises to 39 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it always acts late. Maturing buys near-immovable durability at the cost of speed.
As a broadleaf tree it is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants, which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, this is an excellent bench wall: the Sun overshield protects your active, its own armor keeps it standing, and the matured riser heals allies. As an invasive it makes a durable front-liner, though its damage is only moderate, so it is often better as a wall. Its value is also economic: it is edible with a resolved part (fruit), so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP. As a native it fights as an armored skirmisher until about level 10, and as an invasive the crossover to bulk comes around level 12 — 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.