Green Shadow

Green Shadow, or Penelopea (her secret identity), is a plant hero in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and the leader of the and  classes. Her signature superpower is Precision Blast, which does 5 damage to a zombie or the zombie hero on the middle lane.

She is the hero version of, and the starting hero for players on the plants side.

Origins
Green Shadow, like the rest of the peashooter family, is based on the Pisum sativum, commonly known as the pea. She bears a resemblance to Raven from Teen Titans, Green Arrow, or The Shadow, all of which are from the Detective Comics franchise. Her description somehow references Penelope from the ancient Greek epic Odyssey, who is depicted as the faithful wife of Odysseus, and also a devised trickster (which may allude to her Smarty class).

Her name seems to be inspired by Green Arrow and The Shadow, thus further indicating that she may be based on the aforementioned superheroes. The green bit also refers to how she's green, and the shadow bit refers to how she has a cloak, and appears and disappears, like a shadow. Her alternate alias is a portmanteau of "Penelope," a feminine name of Greek origins, and "pea," the plant she is based on.

Her description references how many superheroes hide their true identity. It also refers to her name both during development and in the code.

Statistics

 * Classes: ,
 * Superpowers:
 * Signature: Precision Blast - Attack for 5 damage in the middle lane.
 * Other:
 * Big Chill - Freeze a Zombie. Draw a card.
 * Whirlwind - Bounce a random Zombie.
 * Embiggen - A Plant gets +2/+2.
 * Boss Fights:
 * Zombie Mission 01: Battle at the BBQ
 * Zombie Mission 20: A Shadow Falls
 * Zombie Mission 29: Shadow of the Peashooter
 * Zombie Mission 31: The Sack of Seedling City


 * Battle Area: Roof

Hero description
Little known fact: When she takes off the cape and mask, she goes by the name Penelopea.

PvZHeroes.com Strategy
Green Shadow can put together awesome Peashooter combinations, increasing the strength of Threepeater, then using that extra Strength for a devastating triple attack.

With
As the main starting plant hero, Green Shadow is a decent hero. Her Mega-Grow and Smarty classes make her a very versatile hero when it comes to tricks and useful cards. She has access to almost all plants (only missing Sting Bean, Pea-Nut, Three-Nut and Wing-Nut), which synergize with, especially  and Skyshooter, as they can make use of a wide variety of strategies including peashooting plants. Judging from her description, she can be a good mid-lane destroyer if played well, using powerful plants with self-boosting like Muscle Sprout and  with Torchwood in the middle lane, while Precision Blast is still kept in mid-late game can be a devastating strategy. Precision Blast also leads to many tactics during a match, as the zombie hero may never know when Green Shadow has this card, and might start placing zombies in the middle lane to protect against it.

Green Shadow is also a good anti-trick hero, especially against decks that rely on using tricks. She has access to both Black-Eyed Pea and Sportacus to discourage zombie tricks, Brainana to prevent them completely, and Dark Matter Dragonfruit, as well as Umbrella Leaf to basically prevent the usage of tricks. While this has a lessened (though still significant) effect against non-Brainy heroes, it will devastate heroes that rely on tricks, as they would be forced to either ignore their trick strategy (making their decks useless), find a way to overcome it (which would likely be disadvantageous and brain and card-intensive), or continue with their strategy (giving you a huge edge).

Her available superpowers tend to have basic usages. Although Big Chill has where it goes for Green Shadow, as it gives the player an extra card while ideally Freezing the zombie, making it a slightly better copy of, and a better superpower for practical use. Embiggen and Whirlwind, on the other hand, are mostly used as niches to provide extra strength and health or to get rid of a dangerously buffed zombie that is in play. Embiggen increases a plant's stats by +2/+2, making this useful for weaker plants, especially Peashooter, to at the least survive from incoming attacks or tricks like Weed Spray or Rolling Stone, and dealing more damage dealt to the opposing side. Whirlwind, while it can be a bungle at times, can be used to bounce zombies that can threaten your team. Be careful when using Whirlwind when the field is filled with zombies, as it may bounce the wrong zombie and, unless otherwise was received from a fully charged Super-Block Meter, costs you 1.

A recommended strategy to use with Green Shadow is the "Snowdrop Freeze combo". Use the Snowdrop along with cards such as Iceberg Lettuce,, Jolly Holly, and Big Chill to help the Snowdrop get stronger while also preventing zombies from attacking. Winter Squash can also take out frozen zombies. Green Shadow also has access to stat boosting abilities from the Mega-Grow side, such as Fertilize or to make it even stronger. Grow-Shroom is also a good addition to your deck, as you can give another fighter a stat boost while you also defend that lane. However, while this card combination might seem strong, remember to have some other options if the "Snowdrop Freeze combo" does not do its job. Also, beware Cryo Yeti, which will very much discourage these types of decks, as it will get +2/+2 whenever a zombie is frozen.

A -themed deck mainly consisting of Admiral Navy Bean and Black-Eyed Pea + Torchwood combo works out pretty well if guarded correctly. Admiral Navy Bean does 2 extra damage to the zombie hero every time a bean card is played, and Black-Eyed Pea makes the opposing hero think twice before using tricks and can benefit from the Torchwood boost. Other beans such as Bean Counter and Jumping Bean are good supporting cards. Bean Counter gives 2 extra Weenie Beanies, which also benefit Admiral Navy Bean, and gains buffs when a bean is played. Jumping Bean bounces a zombie that can potentially threaten your play.

While these combos prove to be dangerous if executed properly, keep in mind that these combos require the player to use a lot of their cards in their hand, which may lead to the player having a lack of cards, preventing the player from being able to defend themselves. However, Green Shadow should not have much issues with card draw as she not only have access to the typical Mega-Grow card draw cards like Flourish and Party Thyme, but also card draw options from the Smarty class such as Sow Magic Beans and Planet of the Grapes.

The only issue is that she lacks ways to instantly destroy zombies. Since she cannot use direct damage tricks either, her only way to deal with powerful zombies is to buff plants and fight fire with fire or make clever use of bonus attacks. If all else fails, she can Bounce them to stall. Additionally, she can use Precision Blast or use Freeze + Winter Squash combo.

Against
Though Green Shadow doesn't have a clear description for her battle style, using the suggested strategy for the battle suggestions can easily be used to counteract it. Green Shadow has access to lots of strong cards like The Great Zucchini and Doubled Mint. Along with her access to Bounce and Freeze cards, they make her a hard opponent to hit. Bringing along Gadget Scientist or Lurch for Lunch can help with Freeze cards. Using Gravestone zombies or Mixed-Up Gravedigger can easily protect your zombies against The Great Zucchini or Bounce cards. As for Precision Blast, either putting a weak zombie for fodder or blocking it with a gravestone should do. Instant-kill tricks such as Rocket Science and Cut Down to Size also tend to be useful against her, since she will most likely focus on boosting her plants.

Easy Peasy
This deck consists of boosting many pea plants, alongside the use of Bananasaurus Rex. Using Rocket Science is recommended since it will destroy the boosted plants. Deadly zombies also work, since they can destroy anything in one hit. Beware of Brainana, which can prevent the use of tricks. The best hero against this deck is, since he has access to both Rocket Science and Deadly zombies.

Mean Beans
This deck now uses bean plants, which can cause Admiral Navy Beans to activate their abilities. Black-Eyed Peas are also a thing, so they should be destroyed quickly. Doubled Mints are a must to remove, since they will do heavy damage if you don't remove it. Since Flourish is not in the deck, wasting your opponent's cards might be the thing. To stop Espresso Fiesta, use Bonus Track Buckethead. The best hero is Z-Mech, which can use The Chickening or Weed Spray to remove bean plants then do sheer damage to the boosted plants.

Winter Melon is Coming
The deck is more focused on freezing zombies. Using gravestones and tricks to get rid of the plants are useful, since they can remove most of Green Shadow's defense or render freezing them useless, though Cool Bean will put a dent in your deck if you use gravestone decks. The best hero to use are either Professor Brainstorm or Rustbolt, both of whom can destroy buffed plants and Winter Melon with Rocket Science and destroy the rest with The Chickening or Weed Spray, respectively. Flourish is also not in the deck, so letting your opponent run out of cards is useful.

Wish Upon a Starfruit
This deck is about boosting Shooting Starfruit to lethal stats via Lily of the Valley, Onion Rings, or Grow-Shroom followed by using on it to instantly win Green Shadow the game, all the while controlling your zombies with usage of early game cards such as  and Mars Flytrap. Use Bonus Track Buckethead to put a dent to such attempts and Rocket Science to take down buffed plants. The best hero to counter this deck would be Rustbolt as he can use both cards. He can also use Rolling Stone and Weed Spray to take out the low-strength plants like Captain Cucumber before they become too much of an issue.

Sow the Seeds
This deck focuses on shuffling and drawing cards. This deck may be troublesome for you in the early-game, and even later on if you don't prepare well. Magic Beanstalk has very powerful stats for its cost and comes with the ability of drawing a card, and Green Shadow won't have trouble using them since Lima-Pleurodon will be able to activate its Dino-Roar ability multiple times thanks to the abundance of card drawers and Conjurers in her deck. Clique Peas themselves are also a big problem because they can slowly boost and multiply themselves. Later on, Bananasaurus Rex and Bamboozle, the main powerhouses of this deck, will kick in. Try to destroy any setup plants and environments as early as you can with cards like your own environments, Rolling Stone, Slammin' Smackdown, Pied Piper, Nibble, or Locust Swarm. The best zombie hero to use against this deck is The Smash, since he has all the aforementioned cards.

Trivia

 * She is the first and only non-elemental female Peashooter in the series, based on her flavor text.
 * Green Shadow is the only hero who has no defined battle style because she is used as the opposing hero for the zombie tutorial right in the first battle of the first zombie mission.
 * However,, who appears as the opposing hero for the tutorial of the game, has a defined battle style, which is stated in the second battle of the fourth plant mission.
 * But according to Green Shadow's flavor text, it may be depicted that she likes to control the middle lane for as long as possible.
 * When Green Shadow manages to land Precision Blast on the zombie hero, she apparently does her pose while still being in mid-air, as the zombie hero is damaged more than 4.
 * She is one of the three plant heroes with a unique battle theme. Her theme is a slightly altered version of and Captain Combustible's theme, namely with different instruments used.
 * The other heroes are Spudow and Beta-Carrotina.
 * She and Beta-Carrotina are the only female plant heroes that do not lead the class.
 * Despite being a Peashooter, Green Shadow has less cards than Grass Knuckles excluding her signature superpower, Precision Blast.
 * She also has access to the most bean cards out of all plant heroes.
 * Green Shadow is seen unhooded in the comic that appears when the player unlocks the zombie hero Neptuna.
 * She is the only plant hero with an alias.
 * She is the only plant hero who shows up in another plant hero's Introducing comic strip (Solar Flare's).
 * Green Shadow actually uses the eyeshadow that matches her mask color.
 * The name of Green Shadow's Legendary Strategy Deck is a reference to an iconic phrase, "Winter is coming," from the novel and television series Game of Thrones.
 * Her hood also appears in Garden Warfare 2 as a customization item for Peashooter.
 * This is also true with The Smash's mask, available as a customization item for Super Brainz.
 * Both of these items are unlocked by linking the Plants vs. Zombies Heroes account to an EA account.
 * She is the only Smarty hero to have a specific plant fighter counterpart.