Rhus copallinum
A fast-opening shrub with a self-buff, a pin, a contact tax and a late taunt — a wide-ranging native or a European invader.
Winged sumac is a Shrub that fights as a quick opener: it leads on turn 1, buffs its own attack, and can pin a target in place. It is native across eastern and western North America and South America, and invasive in Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is a competent aggressor early, though it lacks any always-on trait to carry it late.
Its starter attack, Snarl, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing a plain hit of about 30 damage as a native and 30 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Chaparral Climax, comes in at level 25: Owns the dry hillside: heal 60% and +4 ATK. It raises sumac's own attack for the rest of the fight. The advanced attack, Briar Cage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 native / 22 invasive) and binds the target so it cannot retreat. Most of your sumac sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn.
Winged sumac carries a working trait on each riser. Extrafloral Nectaries starts at level 10 — the nectar glands buy it an insect guard, and every attacker pays 3% of its own max HP for the privilege of hitting it. Sapromyophily lands at level 68, drawing any single-victim pick in a group onto the sumac rather than the ally behind it. See Abilities.
Sumac carries no special trait keywords — nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear shores up its thin DEF; as an invasive, offensive gear presses its early lead.
At level 40 sumac reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 26 invasive — a small invasive edge. DEF is 13, low in the shrub band, so it is not built to soak hits. Its tempo favors the opening: turn 1 runs on a high initiative (51) so it leads early, then every turn after runs on a lower SPD (32), so it is out-paced once a fight drags on. Retreat costs 16 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, sumac swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 47 / 47 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 28 — a moderate shrub wall, tougher than a herb but not a fortress. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so the fast opener of low levels becomes slow and acts last against younger cards.
As a shrub, sumac is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for x1.5 and is hit for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants, which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play sumac as a front-loaded aggressor: buff early, pin a fleeing target, and close before its tempo fades. As a native it is a passable buffer; as an invasive its higher attack and early lead make it a real, if fragile, finisher. Its economy is a genuine draw — it is edible with a resolved fruit, so feeding it Phosphorus pays x1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks x1.25 XP. That makes sumac a dependable coin-earner alongside its arena work. It fights as a fast skirmisher early and leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 27 as a native and 30 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.