Rubus egregius
A native-only European bramble in the shrub pool that punishes anything that bites it, but hits softly of its own accord.
Rubus egregius is a Shrub — a European bramble that plays as a defensive body rather than a threat. It is native to Europe and invasive nowhere, so it only ever fills the native buffer role: there is no attacker scenario for this card. It is a modest coin-earner that wants an aggressive teammate to actually close out fights.
The starter, Bramblemaze, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and deals 27 as a native. Its once-per-battle ability, Frugivore Pact, opens at level 25 and is free: Trades fruit for carriage: +3 ATK, and the foe's whole bench sickens. The advanced attack, Blackthorn Barrage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and hits for 40 — its biggest single blow, but an expensive one on a card whose base attack is low. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so turn order is decided purely by tempo.
This card keeps two always-on traits. From level 10 it holds Thorns: every time an attacker lands a damaging hit on it, the attacker takes flat recoil back off the bramble's armature — a multi-hit attack eats that recoil once per hit. From level 68 it adds Lignotuber: it refuses the Burn status outright and actually heals a little when something tries to Burn it, because a chaparral-type shrub is released by fire rather than harmed by it. Thorns is the reason to bench this plant — anything melee-range that keeps hitting it bleeds for the exchange.
It carries the thorns keyword, which drives the contact recoil above. As a shrub it is not eligible for a Moss Pole (that is for vines and epiphytes). A defensive field gear loadout suits it — a Calcium/Magnesium amendment adds flat DEF on top of its shrub floor, hardening the body you are asking it to soak with.
Read at level 40, where every move is unlocked: HP 103, ATK 18, DEF 11. Its DEF sits in the middle shrub band — firmer than a weed, far short of a tree. On tempo it is fairly even, leading turn one on initiative (39) and holding a similar sustained speed (38) from turn two on. As a native it also carries the +15% HP cushion and, while benched behind another active, projects a green overshield bar onto that active sized by its rarity. Damage is diminishing armor — a hit lands for ATK ÷ (ATK + DEF) — so its low ATK punches through very little, which is the plainest statement of its weakness.
By level 100 its HP climbs to 190 and its DEF hardens to 23 — a genuinely tougher body than the level-40 read, though still a shrub wall rather than a tree one. ATK reaches 31, retreat rises to 30 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap — the fast-young initiative it opened with is essentially gone. Maturing buys durability, not punch.
As a shrub it is in the Competitor succession group: it hits Ruderal categories (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is hit by Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 in return, taking only ×0.667 from those it beats. It is neutral against other Competitors and against the off-wheel Weird categories.
Play it as a native wall: bench it to feed an overshield, or lead with it to soak while its Thorns tax the attacker, then hand the kill to a harder-hitting teammate. It will not win many fights on its own damage. Its real value is off the battlefield — it is an edible fruit plant, so feeding it the matching Phosphorus fertilizer pays ×1.25 coins, making it a decent low-effort coin generator and a family-tree collection piece. Each plant runs one Sun bar (cap 120, refilling +1 every 15 minutes). The starter attack costs 2 Sun, the advanced attack 6, and the ability is free — it is priced by being usable only once per battle. Retreating to the bench costs 15 Sun, and an empty bar attack-locks the card until it refills. From level 52 it regenerates Sun mid-battle, and at level 85 a capstone makes the starter free and drops the advanced attack to 2 Sun.
See nativity, moves, abilities, stats, statuses, field gear, weaknesses & resistances, the Battle Lab and the category guide for the mechanics referenced here.
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.