Ilex opaca
A native-only broadleaf tree that walls up behind heavy armor and shields your bench, cast only as an Eastern North American native.
American holly is a heavy Broadleaf tree that fights as an armored wall and bench supporter. It is native to Eastern North America and has no invasive card, so the arena only ever casts it as a native buffer (see nativity). It is a solid defensive anchor: slow, tough, and built to keep your other plants alive rather than to deal big damage.
Its starter attack, Branch Slam, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 35 damage — a plain hit, since holly is here to soak, not to swing hard. The free once-per-battle ability, Leaf Litter, arrives at level 25: Buries the ground in litter — the foe's whole bench withers. The advanced attack, Root Heave, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 native) and mends the plant as it strikes, extending its stay. Most of your hollies sit well below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See moves.
Holly keeps two working always-on traits. Network arrives at level 10 at full strength: as a canopy tree it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active plant from the bench, adding a layer of protection your front-liner would not have alone. Mycorrhiza arrives at level 68 and heals a benched ally, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so it is a bonus rather than a reliable clock. Together they make holly a strong support presence even while it sits in reserve. See abilities.
Holly carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no spore chemistry. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear that adds DEF or HP deepens its wall.
At level 40 holly reads 103 HP with ATK of 25; there is no invasive form, so it always fights as a native. DEF is 22, high for the broadleaf-tree band, so it shrugs off most hits. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (19) and every turn after on its SPD (19), which sit at the same value, so it is neither fast nor slow to act. Retreat costs 15 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active — stacking with its Network trait to make it one of the better bench guardians. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, holly climbs to 190 HP and 44 ATK, and its DEF reaches 50 — a genuine armored wall, since a tree keeps converting growth into armor where a herb never would. Retreat rises to 31 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature holly acts late but barely cares, absorbing hits while your team works. Maturing buys durability at the cost of ever being quick.
As a broadleaf tree, holly is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is hit for only ×0.667 by 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 holly as a native wall and bench guardian. Its job is to hold the front while its Network overshield and bench cushion keep your hitters alive, and its healing moves let it stay parked for a long time. Damage is not its strength, so pair it with an attacker that can close fights. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a steady growth-earner. It fights as an even-tempo body early and settles into a durable wall as it levels, crossing over around level 3 — and higher levels only thicken its armor, so keep leveling it.
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.