Pongamia pinnata
A fast, armored broadleaf-tree legume with a bench-nicking opener and an early bench-heal, native across Asia and Oceania and invasive in Africa and South America.
Karanj is a broadleaf-tree and a Competitor — an armored tree that, unusually, is also quick. It is native to East Asia, Oceania and South Asia (buffer role) and invasive in Africa and South America (attacker role). Its blend of durability, tempo and bench support makes it one of the more capable cards here.
It opens with Branch Slam at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing 35 native / 37 invasive — a bench-splash attack that also nicks the foe's bench. At level 25 it gains Canopy Recruitment — Pushes a sapling into the canopy: heal 35% and +3 ATK. — a large 30% self-heal. Its advanced attack, Crown Shade, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and lands 35 / 37. No move carries an initiative rider.
It keeps two canopy traits, and in an unusual order: Mycorrhiza comes online first at level 10, a bench-heal that triggers about 60% of the time, and Network stacks on at level 68, feeding a gold Sun overshield bar to your active while benched. So it is a bench healer early and adds a Sun overshield later — a support-leaning tree throughout.
A tree, so naturally armored (see Stats). No thorns, no toxin trait, and not a climber, so no Moss Pole. A calcium/magnesium amendment raises its DEF further for the wall role.
At level 40 it reads 103 / 89 HP, 25 / 30 ATK, and a firm 26 DEF that climbs with level. Both tempo stats are high for a tree — opening 44, sustained 42 — so it is quick off the mark and stays fast, a rare combination of armor and speed. Native it carries a 15% HP cushion and a bench overshield; invasive it hits harder, pays Faustian self-damage each attack, and concedes 2 prizes on a knockout. Retreat costs 14 Sun.
By level 100 DEF reaches 60 on its wood density, HP climbs to 190 / 165, and ATK to 46 / 59. Retreat rises to 27 Sun and even its high tempo has eased toward the floor. It matures into a durable, hard-hitting anchor that keeps some of its early quickness longer than most trees.
As a Competitor it deals 1.5× to Ruderals (annual-forb, grass, aquatic, bulb) and takes 1.5× from Specialists (succulent, conifer, fern, epiphyte), resisting Ruderal hits at 0.667×; Weird is neutral. Poison is its main threat, since it ignores DEF and bypasses the overshield.
A strong, flexible card: native, a fast bench support that heals allies and stacks overshields; invasive, a durable, quick attacker with a bench-nicking opener. As a legume (Fabaceae), one in four wild catches arrives with the Nitrogen amendment applied — a free economy head start that fills a soil slot and decomposes after about a month. Inedible, so fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP. With its tree bulk it is power-favoured from a low level (about 25 native, 27 invasive); level it freely, as it only gets stronger.
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.