Liriodendron tulipifera
A moderately armored broadleaf tree that shields your bench and saps its target, playable as an Eastern North American native or a European and Oceanian invader.
American tuliptree is a tall Broadleaf tree that fights as a mid-armor front-liner and bench supporter. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in Europe and Oceania, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). It is a well-rounded card with a steadily relentless tempo and a draining advanced move.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a native and 28 as an invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Log, arrives at level 25: The fallen feed the next: heal 25%, even the bench, and call back the lost. The advanced attack, Transpiration Drain, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (30 native / 31 invasive) and saps the target, withering its output as it deals damage. Most of your tuliptrees sit well below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See moves and statuses.
Tuliptree keeps two working always-on traits. Network arrives at level 10 at full strength: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active plant from the bench. Mycorrhiza arrives at level 68 and heals a benched ally, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so it is a bonus rather than a reliable clock. See abilities.
Tuliptree carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no spore chemistry. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear deepens its wall; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its damage edge.
At level 40 tuliptree reads 140 HP as a native and 122 as an invasive, with ATK of 25 native versus 28 invasive — a moderate invasive jump. DEF is 16, mid-pack for the broadleaf-tree band, so it holds up better than a herb but is no fortress. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (22) and every turn after on its SPD (37), so it is out-paced off the mark but relentless once a fight settles. Retreat costs 20 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active; as an invasive it pays self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, tuliptree climbs to 276 HP native / 240 invasive and 44 / 53 ATK, and its DEF reaches 35 — a real armored wall, since a tree keeps converting growth into armor. Retreat rises to 42 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature tuliptree acts late but stands firm. Maturing buys durability at the cost of tempo.
As a broadleaf tree, tuliptree is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is hit for only ×0.667 by 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 tuliptree as a native wall-and-supporter or an invasive front-liner that grinds a fight out with its sapping advanced move. Its Network overshield and bench cushion make it a strong support body, and its middling armor is enough to hold the front while your team works. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a steady growth-earner. It fights as a back-loaded skirmisher early and settles into a durable wall as it levels, crossing over around level 11 — and higher levels only add armor, so 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.