Sorbus decora
A native-only North American tree that opens fast and hardens into a wall, with a heal-denial kit built around outlasting the foe.
The Northern Mountain Ash is a Broadleaf tree — a bulky, defensive tree that wins by outlasting rather than out-hitting. It is native to eastern and western North America and invasive nowhere, so it plays only the native buffer/wall role. As a tree it is a strong bench anchor and a serviceable coin-earner.
Its starter, Deathshadow, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, deals 27, and casts a shade the foe cannot heal in — heal-denial stapled to a cheap attack. The free ability Gap Capture arrives at level 25: Takes the fallen giant's light: +5 ATK, kept for the match. The advanced attack Deadfall unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and lands its heaviest blow, 42. No move carries an initiative rider.
It keeps two always-on traits. From level 10 it holds Buttress Roots, which makes it immune to being Bound — it cannot be trapped in the active slot. From level 68 it adds Epicormic Buds, a seeded revive: when a lethal hit would drop it, there is a 35% chance it survives at 35% HP instead, from dormant buds under the bark. That is a real but unreliable save — read it as one-in-three, not a coin flip and not a guarantee.
It carries no combat keyword. As a broadleaf-tree it is not Moss-Pole-eligible. It is, however, a Network carrier: while benched it can back an active's Sun bar with a gold overshield segment regardless of nativity — useful even on an aggressive team. A Calcium/Magnesium amendment stacks flat DEF on an already-high tree armor value.
At level 40: HP 103, ATK 24, DEF 26 — the tree DEF band, and it only climbs from here. On tempo it is a vigorous seedling but a slow grower: it leads turn one on a high initiative (49) and is then out-paced from turn two on by its low sustained speed (19). It lands the first hit and cedes the tempo afterward. As a native it also gets the +15% HP cushion and projects a bench overshield. With diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK + DEF)), its rising DEF makes each incoming hit land for progressively less.
By level 100 it becomes a wall: DEF hardens to 61 from its wood density, HP reaches 190, and ATK 43. Retreat climbs to 31 Sun as it roots in, and its opening tempo has fallen to roughly 1% of cap — the turn-one lead it enjoyed early is gone. Maturing turns it from a fast-opening skirmisher into a slow, near-immovable body.
Broadleaf-tree is in the Competitor group: ×1.5 into Ruderal (annual-forb, grass, aquatic, bulb), ×0.667 from them, and ×1.5 damage taken from Specialists (succulent, conifer, fern, epiphyte). Neutral against other Competitors and the Weird categories.
Lead with it to land the first hit and its heal-lock, then let its bulk and Epicormic Buds grind the fight out; bench it to lend a Sun overshield to an attacker. Its heal-denial makes it a good answer to sustain-reliant opponents. Off the battlefield it is an edible fruit plant, so the matching Phosphorus fertilizer pays ×1.25 coins — a solid, low-maintenance earner and family-tree anchor. 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.