Arena

Battlez is a game mode in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that was introduced in the 6.6.1 update. This mode can be unlocked after getting the Map of Space-Time-Ness from Ancient Egypt - Day 1 and requires to get at least six plants to unlock.

To start a match, the player has to pay one gauntlet. Gauntlets can be bought with gems. However, every four hours, the player receives a free play. Two free gauntlets per day can be obtained by watching ads.

When an opponent is found, the player needs to choose five plants, with the first slot reserved for the currently featured Weekly Premium Plant (This week, it is Explode-O-Nut). Once you have chosen the plants, you are set in a Last Stand format, then after setting-up, the "battle" begins. The player gains points based on the distance the zombies are away from the house. 500 is the most for a single zombie and 100 being the least. However, higher scores can be obtained as the game continues.

This mode is time-based, as the time decreases the zombies get stronger and stronger, to a point where they could be unkillable unless you either have some instant-kill plants or leveled up plants to take on this challenge. The faster you kill the harder the zombies will get.

Each week, there will be a different type of tournament that the player will have to compete in. Each type of tournament has its own way of changing the gameplay (the change can be quite minor), for example shorten the time it takes for a match to finish.

Also, this mode also has several different leagues, the player gets promoted if they place top 3. If they get one of the last three spots, they will be demoted to the league before that one. Several gems and coins are rewarded in promotions.

It has been noted that this mode does appear to be lacking a "real" matchmaking feature that pairs you as the player fairly. There have been reports of people that had low-leveled plants to still be paired with a person with max-level plants or still high level plants. Of the players with max level plants, there has been speculation and proven facts that either a bot, a cheater from PopCap, or someone who took the effort of high-leveled plants ran that through.

There could be a fix coming soon though as per this Reddit post.

Tournament list
The "restricted plants" column will not include plants that are normally restricted, such as Gold Leaf and Lily Pad.

Trivia

 * When tapping on the Battlez icon, the Dark Ages Zomboss Battle intro plays, along with the boss music.
 * The player gets five crowns for winning and one for losing.
 * If the player breaks a streak, they can pay ten gems to retain/fix it, with the cost increasing by ten per break.
 * This is the only mode in the game where zombies cannot eat your brains. This is because when a lawn mower is activated, it is automatically regenerated. If a zombie somehow manages to reach your house, it will get instantly killed.
 * All upgrades, except for Wall-nut First Aid, Instant Recharge and Mower Launch, are disabled on Battlez.
 * Also, plants that are boosted in the Zen Garden will not have the boost in this mode.
 * The player does not get points for the zombies destroyed by lawn mowers.
 * However, it scores points when it destroys a Surfboard.
 * World exclusive plants can’t be used in this mode.
 * Wasabi Whip’s Blitz Tournament is one of the four levels/battles where dinosaurs appear outside of Jurassic Marsh. The others are Modern Day - Days 12, 26 and 29.
 * Perfume-shroom still can’t be used in those levels/battles even knowing there’s dinosaurs in them.
 * According to a PopCap community manager (referred to Haemophilus EA on Reddit), the player is not actually fighting against other players in real-time, rather, just "ghosts". The score progression seen in gameplay is just a replay of the "ghost" player's previous Battlez round.
 * Other affirmations that support this is:
 * One can spend infinite time on the pause menu, Choose Your Seeds screen, and Last Stand defense preparation stage.
 * The Turbo Button can be used.
 * There is no feature in which time must be synchronized with the other player due to lag, pausing the game, or the Turbo Button.
 * A list of over 9900 names for these "ghost" opponents may also be found here.
 * Some bot names also includes Solar Flare, Spudow, Rose from Plants vs. Zombies Heroes.
 * In the textures for the trophies that identify for each league, there appears to be an unused crystal-like trophy.
 * Potions from Dark Alchemy also appear in Dandelion's Brainstorm Tournament.
 * The setting in this mode is the same as Player's House and Modern Day worlds, but in the style of Dark Ages.
 * This can be seen that if a zombie in this mode eats a boosted Hypno-Shroom, it transforms into a hypnotized Dark Ages Gargantuar.
 * Removing armor with Magnet-shroom can score you points.