Picea engelmannii
A steady conifer that heals in the sun and, late, shields the front line — a Specialist wall that trades bulk for a slow clock.
Columbian spruce is a Conifer that fights as a patient, healing wall. It is native to Western North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — a native buffer for your bench or an invasive attacker. It is a sturdy Specialist card that wins by outlasting rather than by tempo.
Its starter attack, Raysteal, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for about 31 damage native / 33 invasive, splashing a little onto the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Fire-Sealed Vault, arrives at level 25: Cones that only fire can open: +4 ATK and heal 20%. The advanced attack, Needle Point, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (42 native / 44 invasive), mending the plant and pinning the target so it cannot retreat. Most of your spruces sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Columbian spruce keeps two always-on traits. Photosynthesis, which heals it in sun, arrives at level 10 at full strength but fires only about 60% of the time, so the heal is frequent rather than guaranteed. Network arrives on the level 68 riser: a canopy trait that projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it: no contact recoil and no poison rider. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native buffer, defensive field gear reinforces its wall; as an invasive, offensive gear helps its otherwise slow offense land.
At level 40 Columbian spruce reads 140 HP native / 122 invasive, with ATK of 22 native versus 28 invasive — a modest invasive bump. DEF is 17, respectable for the conifer band, so it turns hits aside better than most soft cards. Its tempo is even: turn 1 on its initiative (7) and every turn after on its SPD (7) sit at the same low value, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser and tends to act late either way. Retreat costs 18 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a bench overshield; 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, spruce grows toward an armored wall: 276 HP native / 240 invasive, 39 / 53 ATK, and DEF climbing to 37 — as a conifer it earns real armor, unlike the soft cards. Retreat rises to 39 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature spruce acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys a genuine tank and the network overshield; the cost is that slow clock.
As a conifer, spruce is in the Specialist succession group. It strikes Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, vines) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them, but it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, bulbs), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
As a native, play spruce as a front-line wall: its DEF, sun healing, and late overshield keep it and a benched hitter alive through long fights. As an invasive it is a slower attacker that leans on the same durability, better as a grinder than a racer. Its value is also economic — it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP toward leveling. It fights as a slow, even skirmisher until about level 1 as a native (about 1 as an invasive), then its bulk takes over; there is no reason to hold it back from leveling.
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.