Black Pine

Overview

The Black Pine is a conifer in Supplant. It is native to Africa and Europe and invasive in Eastern North America and Oceania, so it can take whichever role the arena hands it — a defensive buffer on its home turf, or an aggressive attacker where it counts as an introduced weed.

Moves

Its kit fills in across three slots, and most of your copies will be well below the snapshot level of 40 where all three are live — the plant unlocks them as it grows. Limb Lash is the starter attack, available from level 1 for 2 Sun. The free once-per-battle ability, Old-Growth Stand, unlocks at level 25: Ancient and immovable: heal 70%, and the foe is pinned. The advanced attack, Resin Flood, comes online at level 40 for 6 Sun — Floods the foe in resin until it sets — pinned, and weakened.

As a native its attacks land for about 40 (starter) and 24 (advanced); as an invasive those rise to 46 and 26 as the introduced-range aggression matures.

Turn order splits across two stats: initiative (22) decides who moves first on turn 1, and SPD (22) decides every turn after. The two are close on this card, so it neither dominates nor loses the tempo battle outright. See turn order for how the two interact.

Abilities

It reads Photosynthesis from level 10, and a second passive, Network, stacks on at level 68.

Photosynthesis. A 60% chance to heal itself in sunny weather — reliable-ish grind, but weather-dependent and never guaranteed.

Network. While this plant sits on your bench it lends the active card a gold Sun-overshield bar — a reserve that is only spent once the base Sun bar runs dry. It is a support perk it plays for any active, native or invasive, so its real value shows when it is benched, not fighting.

Features

For field gear, a Calcium/Magnesium amendment adds flat DEF (most worthwhile on a bulky front-liner, least on a soft body), and the N/P/K fertilizers drive its economy (see Gameplay uses). This species is not Moss-Pole-eligible: that gear is keyed on a climbing growth habit (vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte), and its species record carries no growth-habit tag. Played native, favor defensive gear; played invasive, favor anything that pushes its attack.

Stats

At the snapshot level (40) it reads roughly HP 140, DEF 20, with a retreat cost of 19 Sun and tempo pips of 22 initiative / 22 SPD. Its DEF is conifer-grade wall, hardening with level on its wood density; damage is diminishing armor, not flat subtraction, and only poison bypasses it. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active. As an invasive its ATK rises toward 31 (against 23 native), and it pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging hit it lands. Sun refills at +1 every 15 minutes up to a cap of 120; an empty bar attack-locks the plant. From level 52 it regenerates Sun mid-battle, and a level 85 capstone drops its starter to free. See stats.

At Level 100

It hardens into a wall — DEF rising to about 44 on wood density and HP toward 276. A slow, very durable endgame body. Retreat rises to 41 Sun (an older plant is more rooted and costlier to pull), and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor by now — the fast opening it had as a seedling is gone, so a mature copy leans entirely on power rather than turn order.

Weaknesses & Resistances

In the succession wheel it is a Specialist. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs and broadleaf trees) for extra damage (×1.5), and takes extra damage from Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs). Against its own group and the off-wheel "Weird" categories it is neutral. See the type chart.

Gameplay uses

Play it native as a defensive buffer — the HP cushion and bench overshield make it a body that protects the rest of your team. Play it invasive as an attacker, remembering it concedes 2 prizes on a knockout and bleeds its own bench with Faustian self-damage each hit. Conifers are walls: high wood-density DEF and deep HP make this a genuinely strong front-line card — slow, but very hard to shift, and its 60% heals help it grind. It is inedible in the game's economy, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — useful as level fodder, not as a coin source. In the Total power gallery below you can watch it trade a fast-skirmisher opening for raw bulk as it levels: it leans on speed until about level 4, after which its power takes over. It is monotonically stronger the higher it goes, so there is never a reason to hold it back.