Tsuga heterophylla
A tanky conifer that heals in sun and props up the bench, playing either arena role — a Western North American native or a European invader.
Western hemlock is a sturdy, shade-tolerant Conifer that fights as a durable staller: it soaks hits behind heavy armor, mends itself in the sun, and drops cones that chip the enemy bench. It is native to Western North America and invasive across Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer that shores up your bench or as an invasive attacker. As a tree-scale card it is genuinely tanky, but its damage is ordinary, so it is a wall first and a threat second.
Its starter attack, Needle Rake, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 33 damage as a native and 35 as an invasive while also nicking the enemy bench. The free once-per-battle ability, Fire-Climax Forest, arrives at level 25: A forest that needs to burn — the foe is set alight, and the fire spreads home too. It is a mid-fight mend that stretches its longevity. The advanced attack, Duff Dive, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (25 native / 27 invasive) and snares the foe in resin. Most of your hemlocks 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.
Western hemlock keeps two always-on traits. From the level 10 riser it carries Photosynthesis at full strength — it heals in sunny weather — but it rides the sustain chance, firing only about 60% of the time, so the heal is a coin-flip rather than a guarantee, and it does nothing when the sky is not sunny. On the level 68 riser it adds Network: while benched, it projects a Sun overshield onto your active, the canopy-tree bench buff. See Abilities.
Western hemlock 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 punishes a hit. Its growth 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 for a little extra DEF — leans into its wall game; as an invasive, offensive gear helps its otherwise plain attacks land harder.
At level 40 hemlock reads 140 HP native / 122 invasive, with ATK of 20 native versus 26 invasive — compare the two to judge how much the invasive form actually gains. DEF is 19, up in the tree band where armor is a real wall, so it soaks hits far better than any herb or grass. Its tempo: turn 1 runs on its initiative (7) and every turn after on its SPD (7) — read the two to see whether it opens fast and fades or starts slow and cruises. Retreat costs 18 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, hemlock climbs to 276 HP native / 240 invasive and 36 / 51 ATK, and as a conifer its DEF reaches 43 — a genuine wall that keeps it hard to dent at the top of the ladder. Retreat rises to 39 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature hemlock acts last against almost anything young. Maturing buys durability and bench support at the cost of ever moving first.
As a conifer, hemlock sits in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, 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 hemlock as a native wall and bench anchor: its high DEF, HP cushion, overshield, and sunny-day heal let it absorb punishment while a real hitter cleans up, and its Specialist typing makes it a strong answer to Competitor teams. The invasive form trades that support for slightly more pressure but bleeds its own bench to attack, so it is the riskier way to field it. On economy, it is inedible, so it earns no fertilizer coin bonus — any nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead, a steady growth boost. It fights as a slow, durable defender whose bulk grows more decisive with level, crossing over around level 1 as a native and 1 as an invasive — and 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.