Fraxinus americana
A well-armored, critically endangered broadleaf tree that heals its bench and withers foes, playable as a North American native or an Old-World-and-Oceanian invader.
White ash is a heavy, well-armored Broadleaf tree that fights as a defensive support: strong DEF, respectable damage, and heals for the rest of your team. It is native to eastern and western North America and invasive across East Asia, Europe, and Oceania, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is a strong, versatile wall-and-healer card, and one of the rarer species in the wild, listed as critically endangered.
Its starter attack, Whomp, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 39 damage as a native and 41 as an invasive; it splashes a little onto the enemy bench. 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, Transpiration Drain, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (30 native / 31 invasive) and saps the target, withering its strength as it hits. Most of your ashes sit below level 40, where only the starter is available, and none of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
White ash keeps two always-on abilities. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so the mend is likely rather than guaranteed. Network arrives on the level 68 riser: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Neither is dropped once earned.
It carries no special trait keywords and, as a terrestrial tree, is not eligible for a Moss Pole. It is non-toxic, so it shows no hazard ring and nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. As a native, defensive field gear leans into its armor and supportive game; as an invasive, offensive gear helps convert its higher ATK into pressure.
At level 40 it reads 121 HP as a native and 106 as an invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 30 invasive — a real, useful invasive edge. DEF is 24, high in the broadleaf-tree band, so it shrugs off hits that would fell a softer card. Its tempo is even — turn 1 runs on its initiative (32) and every turn after on its SPD (32), both the same — so it keeps a steady, middling pace. Retreat costs 19 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; 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, white ash climbs to 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 47 / 59 ATK, and its DEF hardens to 54 — as a broadleaf tree it becomes a formidable armored wall. Retreat rises to 41 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature ash acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys heavy toughness at the cost of speed.
As a broadleaf tree, white ash is 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 hit 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 white ash as a defensive anchor and healer: front it to soak damage while its bench heals and overshield keep your hitters alive, and use its withering advanced attack to sap an aggressive opponent. As a native it is one of your steadier walls; as an invasive its higher ATK lets it push damage, though its own bench pays for it. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward growth rather than coins. It fights as a steady skirmisher until about level 15 as a native (around level 17 as an invasive), after which its bulk takes over — 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.