Rubus flagellaris
A non-toxic, thorny shrub with real armor that self-buffs and saps, playing either arena role — an Eastern and Western North American native or an invader across Africa, Oceania and South America.
American dewberry is a Shrub that fights as a durable bruiser: it carries real armor for its tier, thorns that punish attackers, a self-buff, and a sapping advanced hit. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and invasive across Africa, Oceania and South America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native wall or as an invasive attacker. Of the softer cards here it is one of the sturdier, thanks to its shrub-band DEF.
Its starter attack, Drupe Drop, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 27 damage as a native and 28 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Thicket Formation, arrives at level 25: Closes into thicket — Bind, and the foe can't heal. It is a mid-fight lift to its attack. The advanced attack, Coppice Comeback, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (25 native / 25 invasive) and saps the target as it lands. Most of your dewberry sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Dewberry keeps one always-on trait, Thorns, which arrives on the level 10 riser and stays at full strength thereafter. It punishes foes that strike the plant with contact recoil, so aggressive attackers pay to trade with it. See Abilities.
Dewberry is non-toxic: it holds no Toxin trait, so its recoil is thorn contact, not poison, and its hits carry no poison. 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 — stacks on its already-firm armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 dewberry reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 28 invasive — the invasive role lifts its attack modestly. DEF is 12, in the firmer shrub band, so it soaks hits far better than the herbs and forbs around it. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (49) and every turn after on its SPD (49), which match, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 14 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, dewberry swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 47 / 53 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 25 — as a shrub it firms up into a genuine wall, buying bulk in both health and armor. Retreat rises to 29 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature dewberry acts last against almost anything younger.
As a shrub, dewberry 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 dewberry as a durable front-line piece: its armor lets it hold the active slot, its thorns tax every attacker, and its self-buff plus sapping hit let it grind a fight down. As an invasive its higher ATK sharpens the offense; as a native it makes a solid wall and buffer, projecting an overshield from the bench. On economy, it is edible at the fruit, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as an even-tempo bruiser leaning harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 32 as a native and 35 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.