Tilia americana
A large broadleaf tree that shields your active from the canopy and later heals the bench on a coin-flip, standing behind a true DEF wall — plays either arena role, a North American native or a Eurasian invader.
American basswood is a large, canopy-forming Broadleaf tree that fights as a bench anchor: it shields your active from behind, mends its team, and stands behind a true wall of DEF. It is native across Eastern and Western North America and invasive in East Asia and Europe, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer that guards your bench or as an invasive attacker. It is one of the sturdier support cards in this batch, though its own damage stays middling.
Its starter attack, Branch Bash, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, slamming a heavy branch down for about 30 damage as a native and 30 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Shade Tolerance, arrives at level 25: Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal. It is a strong mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Forest Fire, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (35 native / 35 invasive) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your basswoods sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Basswood keeps two always-on traits. From the level 10 riser it carries Network, which projects a Sun overshield from the bench onto whatever plant is active — the signature canopy-tree buff, working whenever basswood is benched. At the level 68 riser it adds Mycorrhiza, which heals a benched ally each turn, though it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat that heal as a coin-flip bonus rather than a steady drip. Together they make basswood most valuable sitting behind your active, feeding the front line. See Abilities.
Basswood carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry — so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it; it is non-toxic, so nothing chemical bites back either. 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 — deepens its already-strong armor; as an invasive, offensive gear makes its slams count.
At level 40 basswood reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 27 invasive — compare the two: the invasive edge is the case for playing it aggressively. DEF is 19, up in the tree band — a genuine wall next to the soft herbs and grasses — and since damage is diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK+DEF)), not flat subtraction, that high DEF sharply blunts incoming hits. Its tempo splits across two clocks: turn 1 runs on initiative (37), every turn after on SPD (37); whichever is higher tells the story — a higher SPD means a slow opener that cruises, a higher initiative means a fast start that fades. Retreat costs 12 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, basswood swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 48 / 51 ATK, and as a tree its DEF climbs to 42 — a towering wall, the full payoff of its category. Retreat rises to 23 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature basswood acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys it an enormous wall and steady bench support; it costs speed.
As a broadleaf tree, basswood 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 basswood as a bench anchor: parked behind your active it shields the front with Network and, once matured, tops up the team on its coin-flip Mycorrhiza, while its wall of DEF lets it soak hits whenever it has to step forward. As a native it is a strong buffer; as an invasive it hits harder but bleeds its own bench for the privilege, so weigh the Faustian cost. On economy, it is not an edible-part plant, so fertilizer earns no coin bonus — any nutrient instead banks ×1.25 XP, a growth boost that levels it a little faster. It plays as an even-tempo support tree early and leans on its wall as it levels, crossing over around level 22 as a native and 24 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, 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.