Lycopodium clavatum
A native-only fern that pins early and poisons whatever kills it — a globally native buffer that punishes trades.
Running Ground Pine is a Fern that fights as a native-only buffer, native across Africa, East Asia, Europe, Eastern and Western North America, Oceania, South America, and South Asia. It opens with a pin and punishes its own killer with a poison, but it hits and armors softly. It has no invasive form.
Its starter attack, Spore Broadcast, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 29 damage and pinning the target in place. The free once-per-battle ability, Frond Chemistry, arrives at level 25: Bitter frond chemistry — the foe is poisoned and weakened. The advanced attack, Primordial, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and deals about 39 damage. Most of your running ground pine sit below level 40, where only the starter is live. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Running Ground Pine keeps two always-on traits. Unpalatable arrives on the level 10 riser and makes it an unappealing target. Spores arrives on the level 68 riser and poisons the plant that lands the killing blow, so it bites back even as it falls. See Abilities.
Running Ground Pine is non-toxic — no contact recoil and no poison rider on being struck, though its Spores trait poisons its killer once it is mature. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native-only card, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — best offsets its thin armor. See statuses.
At level 40 running ground pine reads 103 HP with ATK of 30; it has no invasive form, so those are its only figures. DEF is just 2, at the soft fern floor, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is sharply back-loaded: turn 1 runs on a very low initiative (13) and every turn after on a higher SPD (34), so it is slow off the mark and steadier once a 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, running ground pine climbs to 190 HP and 56 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — as a soft fern it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything younger.
As a fern, running ground pine sits in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play running ground pine as a native buffer that punishes trades: pin a target, soak a hit behind your team, and once mature make anything that finishes it pay with a poison. Its own damage is modest, so it holds ground and taxes attackers rather than closing games. On economy it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening buffer that leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 11 — always stronger higher, 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.