Opuntia maxima
A steady-tempo succulent that regenerates in any weather and hits hard as an invasive; plays either arena role.
Prickly Pear is a Succulent that fights as a self-regenerating grinder: near-zero armor, big HP, and two recovery traits. It is native to eastern and western North America and invasive in Africa, Europe and South America, so the arena can cast it as a native buffer for your bench or as an invasive attacker. Its invasive form hits genuinely hard, which makes it one of the better attackers among the softer cards here.
Most of your prickly pears sit below level 40, so the unlock levels matter. The starter attack, Deadly Surprise, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 26 damage native / 30 invasive — a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Water Reservoir, arrives at level 25: Opens the whole store: heal 50%, and the foe can't heal. — it restores HP. The advanced attack, Glochid Storm, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (48 native / 60 invasive) and strikes multiple times. None of its moves seize the initiative. See Moves.
Prickly Pear keeps two always-on traits. Photosynthesis arrives full-strength on the level 10 riser and heals the plant in sunny weather. Succulence arrives on the level 68 riser and regenerates it in any weather. Both fire only about 60% of the time, so the recovery is real but unreliable turn to turn. See Abilities.
It carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear that pads HP suits it, since it has no armor to build on; as an invasive, favor offense to press its damage.
At level 40 it reads 121 HP native / 106 invasive, with ATK of 16 native versus 26 invasive — a large invasive edge. DEF is just 1, at the succulent floor, so it survives on HP and healing, not armor. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (44) and later turns on its SPD (44), which match, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 13 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and a benched HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays self-damage to its own bench on damaging attacks and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, it becomes a huge-HP, near-zero-armor body: 233 HP native / 203 invasive and 28 / 52 ATK, with DEF only reaching 1. Its two regen traits and deep health pool let it grind, but any sustained hitter still chips it down. Retreat rises to 25 Sun and tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it acts near-last. See Stats.
As a succulent it is in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, trees) for x1.5 and is struck for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group are neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play the invasive as a hard-hitting grinder: its multi-hit and strong ATK trade well, and the two regen traits keep it in the fight against Competitor targets it is strong into. As a native it is a durable buffer with the HP cushion and bench overshield, though its armorless body means it leans on health. It is inedible, so feeding it any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins, and it banks that bonus reliably. Its tempo is even from start to finish, with the power crossover around level 29 native (or 31 invasive) — higher levels are always stronger, 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.