Bouteloua dactyloides
A non-toxic grass that binds its target and pools defence from its benched ruderals, playing either arena role — a North American native or an Old World invader.
Buffalo grass is a low, sod-forming Grass that fights as a binding skirmisher: it pins what it hits, later chips the enemy bench, and borrows armor from the ruderals behind it. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and invasive across East Asia, Europe, and Oceania, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker.
Its starter attack, Blade Runner, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 31 damage as a native and 33 as an invasive and pinning the target in place. The free once-per-battle ability, Tillering, arrives at level 25: Throws new shoots from the crown: +4 ATK and speed, kept. The advanced attack, Burn Season, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (31 native / 33 invasive) and splashes damage onto the enemy bench as it strikes. Most of your buffalo grass sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Buffalo grass keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is your active plant its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, and bulbs. It is recomputed live, so the bonus shrinks as those allies faint, and the donors keep their own DEF; it is a genuine, always-on defence, not a chance-based one. Spore Drift arrives later, on the level 68 riser, chipping the enemy bench each turn — a dispersal-derived effect that pairs with the advanced attack's bench splash. See Abilities.
Buffalo grass is non-toxic, so it has no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium or magnesium amendment for a little DEF — shores up its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 buffalo grass reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 24 native versus 28 invasive — the invasive gap is real, though its raw attack stays modest. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the grass band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on the Duff Stuff pool instead. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on its initiative (26) and every turn after on its higher SPD (41), so it is out-paced on the opening exchange but relentless once the fight settles. Retreat costs 13 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, buffalo grass swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 44 / 52 ATK, but its DEF stays at 1 — as a soft grass it buys bulk in health and none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and depends on the benched-ruderal pool for real toughness. Retreat rises to 25 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature card acts last against almost anything younger.
As a ruderal, buffalo grass sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play buffalo grass as a bench-pressuring skirmisher: keep a couple of live ruderals behind it so Duff Stuff holds its armor up, pin the enemy active with the starter, and once the advanced attack and Spore Drift are online, grind the enemy bench while you trade up front. As a native it is a fine buffer that stiffens while your other weeds are alive; as an invasive its higher ATK lets it push, though it still wins by pinning and chip rather than force. On economy, buffalo grass is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening, fast-cruising skirmisher that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 22 as a native and 26 as an invasive — 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.