Salix myrtilloides
A sturdy native broadleaf tree that anchors the bench, projecting a Sun overshield and grinding on tree-grade armor.
Bog willow is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a durable bench support: it buffs your active from behind the lines and grinds through long fights on tree-grade armor. It is native to East Asia and Europe, and no invasive card exists, so the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer. Its own damage is unremarkable; its value is its bulk and its bench buffs.
Its starter attack, Branch Bash, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and deals about 30 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Shade Tolerance, arrives at level 25: Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Root Heave, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (22 damage) and saps the target as it hits. Most of your bog willow sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Bog willow keeps two always-on traits. Network arrives on the level 10 riser: from the bench it projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active plant, a canopy-tree buff that adds a layer of protection. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 68 riser and heals a benched ally, but it fires only about 60% of the time, so its bench mend is a bonus rather than something to rely on. See Abilities.
Bog willow is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider. 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 — stacks onto its already-solid armor to make it even harder to shift. See statuses.
At level 40 bog willow reads 103 HP with 25 ATK. DEF is 18, firm for its level and set by the broadleaf-tree band, so it soaks hits far better than the herbs and shrubs around it. Its tempo is split: a low initiative (37) is out-paced turn 1, but a higher SPD (48) makes it a relentless cruiser once a fight settles. Retreat costs 16 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, bog willow climbs to 190 HP and 45 ATK, and — unlike the soft cards — its DEF becomes a genuine wall at 40, so a mature willow is very hard to break. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so it acts last against almost anything younger. Maturity buys it real staying power at the cost of ever being fast.
As a broadleaf tree, bog willow 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 bog willow as a native anchor: keep it on the bench to project its overshield and drip bench heals onto your team, or send it in as a wall that trades hits all day on tree-grade armor. It will not close games with its own offense, but it is one of the sturdier supports here. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening cruiser that only grows tougher with levels, crossing over around level 27 — 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.