Pachylobus edulis
An African broadleaf tree built for defense and support — a self-healing wall with a Mycorrhiza bench heal and a big once-per-battle recovery, invasive nowhere so it only ever plays as a native.
The Eben Tree (also known as safou or African plum) is a broadleaf-tree card. It is native to Africa and invasive nowhere, so it only ever fights as a native — a durable wall and bench nurse, with no attacker stance. It is a support-first tree that keeps itself and its team standing.
The starter attack, Whomp, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and hits for 38, bringing the tree's full weight down at once. The free once-per-battle ability, Climax Community, arrives at level 25: it heals the card for 70% of its HP and grants +5 ATK — a powerful mid-fight recovery. The advanced attack, Canopy Closure, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and deals 26 while closing the canopy so the foe cannot recover beneath it. No move carries an initiative rider.
Its trait schedule keeps two always-on traits. Buttress Roots comes in at level 10 and makes the tree immune to Bind — it cannot be pinned in place. Mycorrhiza stacks on at level 68: each checkup it has a 60% chance to heal a benched ally, the nurse tree feeding its network through the soil. Because that heal lands only about 60% of the time, treat it as a strong tendency rather than a guarantee. Both traits arrive at full strength.
A tree is not a climber, so it takes no Moss Pole. Its value is as a bench nurse: keep it benched and its Mycorrhiza tops up your wounded allies. A Calcium/Magnesium amendment adds flat DEF to an already firm card. Being native-only, there are no attacker-side gear picks to weigh — build it to endure and support.
At the snapshot level 40, where every move is unlocked, it reads HP 103, ATK 22 and a firm DEF of 24. Retreat costs 16 Sun. Its opening initiative is 31 and its sustained SPD is 34 — a slow tree that will usually act after a quicker foe. As a native it gains the +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an overshield bar onto your active. It never takes an invasive attacker role, so it pays no Faustian self-damage.
By the cap the Eben Tree becomes a wall: DEF climbs to 55 on wood density, with HP swelling to 190 and ATK reaching 38. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots in, and its already-slow tempo has fallen to about one percent of cap — the mature card leans entirely on bulk, armor and healing rather than turn order.
As a broadleaf tree it is a Competitor in the succession wheel: strong (×1.5) into Ruderal categories (annual-forb, grass, aquatic, bulb), resisted (×0.667) by Specialists (succulent, conifer, fern, epiphyte), and neutral against other Competitors and Weird categories.
The Eben Tree is a defensive support card. Its Mycorrhiza keeps the bench healed (about 60% of the time), Climax Community hands it a 70% self-heal plus an ATK bump, and Canopy Closure denies the foe its own recovery — together a genuinely self-sustaining wall. Its ATK is modest, since it never gains the invasive edge, so it wins by outlasting rather than out-hitting. It is edible with a resolved fruit part, so Phosphorus (the fruit match) pays ×1.25 coins while other nutrients bank ×1.25 XP. Bulky from the start, it is power-favored from about level 18 onward, but its real job is anchoring a defensive bench.
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.