Quercus velutina
A steady, even-tempo oak that walls up and buffs the bench as a native or trades a little harder as an invader.
Black oak is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a steady defensive tree: strong armor, an even tempo, and bench support from the canopy. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can field it either way — a native wall and buffer or a slightly sharper invasive attacker. It is a dependable, all-round defensive card without a real weak spot beyond its speed.
Its starter attack, Acorn Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and lands a plain hit of about 27 damage native / 27 invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Climax Community, arrives at level 25: The forest as it ends up: heal 70% and +5 ATK. The advanced attack, Crown Shade, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (35 native / 35 invasive) and saps the target as it strikes. Most of your black oaks sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. See Moves.
Black oak keeps two always-on traits, one per riser. Network arrives on the level 10 riser and, as a canopy tree, projects a gold Sun overshield bar from the bench onto your active plant. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 68 riser and heals a benched ally, though it fires only about 60% of the time. Together they make it a strong bench anchor once mature. See Abilities.
It carries no special trait keywords and is non-toxic, so an attacker takes no recoil or poison for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear stacks onto its armor — a Cloche or a calcium/magnesium amendment; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its slightly higher attack.
At level 40 it reads 140 HP native / 122 invasive and 25 / 25 ATK — only a small invasive uplift, so it stays defensive-minded in both roles. DEF is 30, strong within the broadleaf-tree band, so it soaks hits well. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (25) and every turn after on its SPD (25), which match, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 20 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a benched HP overshield for your active; as an invasive it draws its higher ATK from traits but pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. Link Stats.
Matured to level 100, Black oak becomes an armored wall: 276 / 240 HP, 46 / 46 ATK, and DEF reaching 70 — as a tree it turns late growth into heavy armor as well as health, so it is very hard to knock out. Retreat rises to 42 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature oak acts last. Maturing buys a near-immovable body at the cost of speed.
As a broadleaf tree it sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them, but it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Black oak as a native wall and bench anchor: hold the front line, feed the Sun overshield, and heal your active with mycorrhiza. As an invasive it trades a little harder, but its main value is durability and bench support in either role. Economically it is an edible fruit plant (acorn), so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins (any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead), making it a dependable coin-earner. It holds an even tempo early and hardens into a wall as it grows, crossing over around level 6 as a native (about 9 as an invasive) — always stronger at higher levels, so keep leveling it.
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.