Huperzia selago
A soft, unpalatable clubmoss that poisons whatever kills it, playing as a neutral card with neither a native nor an invasive role.
Fir Clubmoss is a small Fern that fights as a spiteful, thin-skinned attrition piece. In the arena it is neither native nor invasive anywhere, so it plays on a neutral baseline with no home-turf cushion and no invader package (see nativity). Its appeal is the pair of traits that punish opponents for engaging it, not its raw stats.
Its starter attack, Frond Whip, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 34 damage — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Frond Chemistry, arrives at level 25: Bitter frond chemistry — the foe is poisoned and weakened. The advanced attack, Silica Shatter, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (42 damage), splashing the enemy bench and laying a poison status on top. 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. Unpalatable arrives at full strength on the level 10 riser, making the plant less appealing to attack. Spores arrives on the level 68 riser and poisons whatever plant deals it the killing blow, so even in death it costs the opponent. See Abilities.
It carries no thorn keyword, and although its spores riser and advanced move deal poison, it does not hold the Toxin contact trait, so it shows no persistent hazard ring and does not recoil poison onto everyone who touches it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Because it is neither native nor invasive, general defensive field gear is the natural fit for its fragile body.
At level 40 it reads 103 HP with ATK of 22 — light-to-moderate damage. DEF is just 2, near the floor of the fern band, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is a slow start into a faster cruise: turn 1 runs on its lower initiative (32) and later turns on its higher SPD (34), so it is out-paced early but steadier once a fight settles. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a neutral card it gets neither the native +15% HP cushion and bench overshield nor the invasive attack bonus, self-damage or prize penalty — it plays straight off its base line. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it climbs to 190 HP and 40 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — it gains health, never real armor, so it stays very exposed to any hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap. Maturing buys a larger, spiteful body that still folds to a solid blow.
As a fern it is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants for ×1.5 and is struck for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Ruderal plants, which hit it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play it as a neutral attrition piece: it is unpleasant to attack, its bench splash and poison wear down a team, and its dying spores punish the plant that finishes it, so trading into it is rarely clean. Its thin armor and lack of any role package keep it niche rather than strong. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward leveling. It fights as a slow-then-faster skirmisher until about level 27, 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.