Thelypteris noveboracensis
A soft fern that pins, heals, and punishes whatever kills it, played on a neutral footing with no native or invasive role.
New York fern is a soft Fern that fights by pinning, healing, and punishing whatever kills it. It has no native or invasive card in the arena, so it plays on a neutral footing — neither a native buffer nor an invasive attacker, just its base line. Its armor is thin and it wins by frustration, not by force.
Its starter attack, Smothering Spores, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 26 damage and pinning the target in place. The free once-per-battle ability, Understory Ecesis, arrives at level 25: Takes the forest floor: heal 30%, and the foe can't heal. The advanced attack, Crozier Crush, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (31 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your New York fern sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
New York fern keeps two always-on traits. The first, Unpalatable, arrives on the level 10 riser: it makes the fern an unappealing target. The second, Spores, arrives on the level 68 riser: when it is knocked out it poisons the plant that killed it. See Abilities.
It is non-toxic, so striking it carries no contact recoil and it lays no poison on the attacker. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — offsets its thin armor. See statuses.
At level 40 New York fern reads 103 HP with ATK of 22. DEF is just 2, at the fern floor, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (32) and every turn after on its SPD (32), which match, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 16 Sun. With no native or invasive role it carries neither a benched HP cushion and overshield nor invasive self-damage — it fights on its base stats. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, New York fern swells to 190 HP and 40 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — as a soft fern it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature fern acts last against almost anything younger.
As a fern, New York fern sits in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play New York fern as a frustrating pinner: lock a target in place, heal through the exchange, and let its Unpalatable trait and its dying Spores tax anyone who commits to killing it. With no native or invasive role it has neither a bench buff to project nor an attacker's edge, so it is a niche neutral piece that wins by attrition rather than by pushing damage. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as an even-tempo skirmisher leaning harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 26 — 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.