Ilex verticillata
A native-only deciduous shrub with firm armor and a draining attack that plates up when hurt and pays the bench out when it falls.
Winterberry is a dense deciduous Shrub that fights as a firm-bodied bruiser: shrub-grade armor, a draining advanced attack, and a once-per-match ATK boost. It is native to Eastern North America, and no invasive card exists — the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. It is a fair defensive shrub, and its dead-leaf plating arrives exactly when the armor is needed.
Its starter attack, Chipmunk Horde, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, a thorny lash for about 27 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Shrub, arrives at level 25: Shelters the whole bench — evens their health, and calls the fallen back. It is a permanent ATK boost that pays off across a long fight. The advanced attack, Briar Cage, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 native), a bristling, draining blow. Most of your winterberries 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.
Winterberry carries a trait on each riser, and for a holly famous for holding scarlet fruit through the winter both are on the nose. Marcescence (level 10) gives +4 DEF at half HP or below. Drupe Mast (level 68) is the berry crop itself: when winterberry is knocked out, each surviving ally heals 8% of its max HP. See Abilities.
Winterberry carries no special trait keywords — despite the "thorny" flavour of its lash, it has no thorns keyword, so striking it deals no recoil; and it is non-toxic, so nothing chemical bites back. Its 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 — plays to its shrub armor.
At level 40 winterberry reads 103 HP and 26 ATK. DEF is 11, in the firmer shrub band, so it genuinely blunts hits where a soft herb would fold — damage is diminishing armor (ATK ÷ (ATK+DEF)), not flat subtraction. Its tempo is worth reading off the card: turn 1 runs on its initiative (20) and every turn after on its SPD (35); if SPD sits higher it is a slow starter that cruises, and if initiative leads it opens fast and fades. Retreat costs 14 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, winterberry swells to 190 HP and 46 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 23 — as a shrub it hardens into a real wall, holding armor where a soft herb never would. Retreat rises to 28 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature winterberry acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys bulk and armor; what it costs is speed.
As a shrub, winterberry sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from 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 winterberry as a native wall: bench it to project the HP cushion and overshield onto a fragile hitter, or lead with it and use its shrub armor to soak blows while the Dense boost and draining advanced attack wear the enemy down. It relies on that armor and its bulk, with extra plating once it is hurt and a berry crop that heals the bench when it goes down. On economy, winterberry is inedible, so no fertilizer pays coins — any nutrient instead banks ×1.25 XP, a growth boost rather than income. It fights as an even-tempo skirmisher early and leans on its bulk and armor as it levels, crossing over around level 14 — but 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.