Cardboard cycad

Overview

Cardboard cycad (Zamia furfuracea) is a Conifer in Supplant. A tanky cycad slotted as a conifer: a firm body and Sun-network support, with no regional posting so it plays neutral. It carries no native or invasive range on record, so in every arena it plays as a neutral card — it takes neither the native health cushion nor the invasive attacker's edge.

Numbers below are read at level 40, where every move in its kit has unlocked.

Moves

Its kit fills in as it levels. The starter attack, Whomp, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun: it deals 38 as a native card and 40 as an invasive one. In effect, The full weight of the tree, all at once.

At level 25 it gains its free once-per-battle ability, Litterfall (no Sun cost, one use per fight): Drops a season of needles — the foe's whole bench withers.

The advanced attack, Conifer Conniption, arrives at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing 38 native and 44 invasive: Thrashes twice with stiff boughs. None of its moves carry the initiative rider, so it never seizes first strike — turn order is decided purely by its tempo stats (see Stats).

Abilities

Every plant keeps at most two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool with the rest dropped for good. This card keeps two, and both are working traits:

• From level 10: Xylem Tracheids: cavitation-resistant wood that shaves a flat amount off every incoming direct hit.
• From level 68: Network: as a canopy plant it anchors the mycorrhizal network, projecting up to two gold Sun-overshield bars from your bench onto the active — and those back an active of any nativity, stacking on top of the first.

For most of a card's climb it is running on the first of these alone; the second only joins late.

Features

It is non-toxic and unarmed — it holds no Toxin or Thorns trait, so biting it carries no chemical or thorn recoil. Its useful field gear is therefore the general kit: a Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment for flat DEF, a Cloche or Stake to ward status, and Mulch for the economy. It is not a climber, so a Moss Pole does nothing for it.

Stats

Read at level 40, its DEF is 19 and it costs 16 Sun to retreat — a conifer reads its wood density as DEF, a firm cap well above the herbs. Turn order runs on two tempo stats: initiative (32) decides turn 1, and SPD (34) decides every turn after. Here SPD outruns initiative, so it is slow off the mark but quickens as the fight wears on.

With no native or invasive posting, it plays neutral: no +15% native health cushion, and no invasive attacker term on ATK. Its health and attack therefore sit between the two extremes the tokens show — a native card would read 103 HP, an invasive one 89 HP. Because it is never benched as a native, it projects no green overshield bar for allies.

See Stats for how each number is built.

At Level 100

By level 100 the floor-to-cap law carries its health up to around 103/89 (native cushion vs base) and its DEF hardens into a genuine wall (42), the payoff of its wood density. Retreat climbs to 33 Sun as it roots down, and its once-quick tempo has sunk to near its floor — a mature plant is slow. Maturing buys bulk and armor at the cost of the speed edge it had young.

Weaknesses & Resistances

Its succession group is Specialist. It hits Competitor cards (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for ×1.5, and is reclaimed by Ruderal cards (annual-forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which resist it to ×0.667. There is no type interaction beyond this succession wheel; see weaknesses & resistances.

Gameplay uses

Play it as a neutral body: it gets no arena cushion or attacker bonus, so lean on its kit and traits rather than a nativity role. It has no resolved edible part, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — grow it for levels, not income. On the power curve it leans on speed until about level 23, after which its accumulating bulk and attack take over (its raw level-100 stat sum is 215, a size readout, not a win rank).