Mallotus oppositifolius
Mallotus oppositifolius is a native-only African shrub card with a self-heal ability and a firm mid-band armor.
Mallotus oppositifolius is a shrub card. It is native to Africa and invasive nowhere, so it only ever plays the native buffer role — there is no attacker version. As a shrub it sits in the firmer middle of the armor bands, tougher than a herb but far short of a tree; see categories.
Its opening attack is Snarl, unlocked at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing 30 and snarling the foe up so it cannot pull loose (a trap). Its free once-per-battle ability, Shrubland Sere, unlocks at level 25, costs no Sun and deals no damage — it heals the card by 35% and withers the foe. The advanced attack Blackthorn Barrage unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun and is its heaviest blow at 43. No move carries an initiative rider. See moves.
This card keeps two always-on traits. Sclerophylly arrives on the level 10 riser and softens every incoming direct attack by a flat 3 damage — its tough, hard leaves shave that off the top, on top of whatever its DEF already blocks. Drupe-mast stacks on at level 68 and pays off when the card faints: on its own knockout it heals its whole bench for about 8% of their max HP, a heavy fruiting that feeds the rest of the stand. Both are passive, in force from the moment they unlock and lasting the whole match. It holds no Toxin trait, so its heavy attack carries no contact-poison recoil despite its thorny flavor. For most of its climb it runs on sclerophylly alone. See abilities.
As a shrub it is not a climber and takes no Moss Pole. Its DEF band is the firm shrub tier, so a calcium/magnesium soil amendment is a natural fit — it stacks flat DEF onto an already-respectable base. See field gear.
At the snapshot level 40 it carries 103 HP and a DEF of 13, firmer than the herbs and aquatics in its region, with a retreat cost of 16 Sun. Its tempo is back-loaded: initiative of 17 is low, so it is a slow opener, while its SPD of 34 is higher, giving it a steadier sustained tempo from turn 2 on. As a native it gains the +15% HP cushion and a benched overshield contribution. Being invasive nowhere, it has no attacker stat line. See stats.
Matured to level 100 it firms into the mid-band shrub wall: DEF climbs to 28 and native HP to 190, while the retreat cost rises to 33 Sun. The inverted tempo has fallen to roughly its 1% floor, so it moves late in the mature game. Leveling buys it durability at the cost of its already-modest opening speed.
As a shrub it is a Competitor. It deals ×1.5 to Ruderal cards (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) and takes ×1.5 from Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), whose armor also resists its hits down to ×0.667. It trades evenly with other Competitors and the neutral Weird group. See weaknesses & resistances.
This is a self-sustaining native anchor: its ability heals 35% while withering the foe, its firmer DEF lets it take hits the herbs cannot, and its advanced attack is one of the harder blows in its region. Combined with the trap on its starter, it can lock down and grind out a single foe. It has no attacker build, so it is purely a defensive or supporting card. It is not edible, so any fertilizer banks a ×1.25 XP boost rather than coins. As a shrub of moderate bulk its power overtakes its tempo at about level 12, after which its armor and attack are what carry 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.