Rhododendron maximum
A slow, even-tempo shrub that plays either role — an Eastern North American native or a European invader — taxing attackers on contact and taunting from level 68.
American rhododendron is a Shrub that fights as a slow, even-tempo trader with modest damage. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Alongside its stats and move kit it taxes every attacker on contact and, from level 68, pulls single-target picks onto itself.
Its starter attack, Tick Tumble, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 29 damage as a native and 29 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Shrubland Sere, arrives at level 25: Settles the slope: heal 35%, and the foe withers. The advanced attack, Blackthorn Barrage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (42 native / 42 invasive) and saps the target, weakening its attack. Most of your American rhododendron sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
American rhododendron works two traits, one per riser. Extrafloral Nectaries (level 10) recruits a guard: strike it and you shed 3% of your own max HP, straight past DEF and shields. Sapromyophily (level 68) suits its bulk — the great evergreen thicket takes the group's single-victim picks so the smaller cards behind it don't. See Abilities.
American rhododendron is non-toxic, so there is no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — firms its middling armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 American rhododendron reads 121 HP native and 106 invasive, with ATK of 23 native versus 23 invasive — a small invasive gain. DEF is 11, in the middle shrub band, so it holds a hit better than a soft herb but is no wall. Its tempo is even and slow: turn 1 runs on its initiative (18) and every turn after on its SPD (18), which match, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser and will often move last. Retreat costs 13 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; 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, American rhododendron swells to 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 42 / 42 ATK, and its DEF firms to 21 — a real gain for a shrub, though still short of a tree's wall. Retreat rises to 25 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature rhododendron acts last against almost anything younger.
As a shrub, American rhododendron 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; 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 American rhododendron as a native buffer that can lend your active the HP cushion and overshield, or as an invasive attacker that leans on its sap to wear an opponent down. Either way it is a middling card — slow, with only modest damage — so its main value is filling out the family tree, with the taunt as its one real job on a bench. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow, even-tempo trader that leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 2 as a native and 5 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, so there is no reason to hold it back.
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.