Frangula rupestris
A firm-armored shrub that plates up at low HP and feeds the bench when it falls, playing a plain native buffer.
Rock buckthorn is a firm-armored Shrub that fights a plain game: it hits, mends once mid-fight, and saps the target with its advanced attack. It is native to Europe, and no invasive card exists, so it only ever plays as a native buffer. It is a modest card that trades on shrub-band bulk more than offense, with extra plating once it is hurt.
Its starter attack, Chipmunk Horde, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 25 damage as a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Arrested Succession, arrives at level 25: Stops the forest before it starts — the foe stalls and can't heal. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Bramble Scramble, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (36 damage) and saps the target as it strikes. Most of your rock buckthorn sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Rock buckthorn carries one working trait per riser. Marcescence (level 10) adds +4 DEF once the card drops to half HP or below. Drupe Mast (level 68) turns its knockout into a bench heal worth 8% of max HP to each surviving ally. See Abilities.
Rock buckthorn is non-toxic: striking it carries no contact recoil, and its attacks carry no poison rider. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment — reinforces the durability it already has in the shrub band. See statuses.
At level 40 rock buckthorn reads 103 HP with 19 ATK — modest offense. DEF is 13, firmer than a weed or herb in the shrub band, so it takes hits reasonably well and relies on that bulk. Its tempo is lopsided: turn 1 runs on a low initiative (13), so it is out-paced early, but every turn after runs on a stronger SPD (34), making it a steadier cruiser once the fight settles. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, rock buckthorn climbs to 190 HP and 33 ATK, and its DEF reaches 28 — as a shrub it firms up into decent armor, better than a soft card though short of a tree's wall. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature buckthorn acts last against almost anything younger.
As a shrub, rock buckthorn 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 rock buckthorn as a plain native buffer: with no trait to lean on, it works by soaking hits behind its shrub-band armor, mending once, and taxing the enemy active with a sapping advanced attack while its bench overshield helps your own. It is a modest card, not a carry. On economy, rock buckthorn is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a steady cruiser that gets tankier with levels, crossing over around level 11 as a native — and 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.