Mahonia aquifolium
An invasive-only shrub that taxes every attacker, can pin its target, and heals the bench on its own knockout.
Holly-leaved barberry is a Shrub that fights as a stat-based attacker with a lockdown tool. In this game it exists only as an invader — of Europe — so there is no native buffer version; you always play it as an invasive attacker. It is a serviceable card despite lacking any passive: it hits hard as an invasive and can pin its target in place.
Its starter attack, Snarl, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and hits for about 32 as an invasive — a plain strike. 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 buffs its own attack. The advanced attack, Fruit Drop Kick, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 invasive) and pins the target, keeping it from retreating. Most of your barberries sit below level 40, where only the starter is live. None of its moves carry an initiative rider.
Holly-leaved barberry carries one working trait per riser. Extrafloral Nectaries (level 10) makes it costly to hit — the attacker sheds 3% of its own max HP, past DEF and the overshield. Drupe Mast (level 68) pays the bench out when the barberry falls, healing every surviving ally 8% of that ally's max HP. See Abilities.
Barberry carries no trait keywords, so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it. It is non-toxic — no hazard ring, no poison rider. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. Offensive field gear presses its damage lead as an invasive, while Extrafloral Nectaries quietly bills every attacker that answers back.
At level 40 barberry reads 89 HP as an invasive, with ATK around 32 — a strong punch for a shrub. DEF is 11, mid-band for a shrub, so it shrugs off a little of each hit. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on initiative (22) and every turn after on SPD (37), so it is out-paced off the mark but steadier later. Retreat costs 13 Sun. As an invasive it pays self-damage to its own bench per damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, barberry reaches 165 HP as an invasive with DEF climbing to 21, and ATK around 64. A shrub picks up moderate armor as well as health, so a mature one is sturdier than a herb but no wall. Retreat rises to 26 Sun and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so it always acts late.
As a shrub, barberry is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants, 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 barberry as a straightforward invasive beater: buff up with the ability, then use the pin to trap a wounded target so it cannot retreat before you finish it. Its worth is damage and lockdown, backed by a contact tax on attackers and a bench heal when it finally goes down. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster leveling. It fights as a slow skirmisher early and its bulk takes over around level 19 — always worth leveling.
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.