Defensive End

Defensive End is an event zombie card in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the class. He costs 6 to play, and has 6/5. He has the Armored 1 trait, and his ability increases the cost of all plant tricks by 2. This ability stacks for each Defensive End on the field, and persists until all Defensive Ends are removed on the field.

He was introduced in update 1.10.22, along with Blooming Heart and Fire Rooster. He became craftable in update 1.12.6.

He was made available in the Backyard Brain Bowl event and was available from 31 January 2017 to 7 February 2017.

Origins
The name "defensive end" relates to a player position in American football, located on the defensive line. They are traditionally used to counter running plays by the offense that could allow it to evade or slip through the defensive line.

Statistics

 * Class: Hearty
 * Tribes: Sports Gargantuar Zombie
 * Trait: Armored 1
 * Ability: Plant Tricks cost 2 more.
 * Set-Rarity: Premium - Event

Card description
''Somebody once told him the best defense is a good offence. He disagrees. Da fence he like best is da one he SMASH through.''

Update 1.10.22

 * Added to the game.

Update 1.12.6

 * Became craftable.
 * Design change: Defensive End's helmet design has been slightly changed.

With
In general, this zombie has decent stats, and an ability that is extremely useful against plant heroes that play lots of tricks, such as Captain Combustible or. Defensive End synergizes well in most decks due to him being a Gargantuar and sports zombie and having the Armored 1 trait.

Playing him on the 6th turn can protect him from most threats like. The only tricks that can remove Defensive End from the field on the 6th turn are Shamrocket, (assuming it is played on the ground), transforming tricks like Transmogrify or, or bouncing tricks like  or Whirlwind. Using him in a sports deck is ideal, and additionally a Gargantuar deck, preferably with The Smash. All Hearty heroes can play him on turn 3 with Gargologist and, which can make your opponent almost unable to play tricks.

However, regardless of his tribe, he can work in many decks as well due to the sheer usefulness of his ability. He can be protected by Zombie Coach or boosted by Team Mascot at the start of each turn.

His ability, however, diminishes later in the game, as there is enough sun for your opponent to play tricks even if they have gotten more expensive.

Against
This zombie makes it harder for you to play tricks, as all trick cards in your hand cost 2 more sun. In this case, you have to resort to strong plants to deal with him. Tough Beets is a good counter against this, as it can be played on the turn he is played, possibly surviving while destroying Defensive End in a single attack. Cheaper options include, or the tricks mentioned above. In general, try to avoid using tricks as you may not have enough sun to weaken or destroy Defensive End as well as other strong zombies and rely on strong plants in general to stop strong zombies.

Pairing Winter Squash with, , Jolly Holly or is another great idea, since he will be destroyed without the use of any tricks, but be careful if you are using. If there is either a Smashing Gargantuar or Wizard Gargantuar on the field, try using to clear them out, or you may end up in a big trouble. The same goes for Team Mascot and Zombie Coach. However, this can only be done at least on turn 7, and it can also destroy plants. As a last resort, you can use The Great Zucchini to render him, as well any combos, useless, since it will be transformed into a, which will remove his ability. If you are playing as a hero, you can simply overcome his ability by creating excess sun or play Smashing Pumpkin, which could destroy Defensive End at the same price. However, it is important not to let your sun-producing plants to be destroyed. Also, you can play Briar Rose along with Flower cards of small sun cost in the line of Defensive End to destroy it, using a flower deck.

Trivia

 * He and Rodeo Gargantuar are the only Gargantuars in the tribe.
 * Coincidentally, they are both in the class.
 * He appears to be holding a field goal post, which is what football players use to score points on.
 * His helmet resembles the Football Zombie and All-Star Zombie's helmet from Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2 respectively.
 * If the plant hero blocks an attack while there is a Defensive End on the field, the player can see the superpower card's cost is 3 suns but it can be deployed for free like normal at that time.
 * He is the only Gargantuar zombie with the Armored 1 trait.
 * Unlike and Gargologist that lower the cost of cards, he is the first card that increases the cost of cards.
 * He is also the first card that changes the cost of the opposing team's cards.
 * Originally, Defensive End's ability was to make all Gargantuars on the field immune to anything that does less than 4 damage.