Hibernating Beary

Hibernating Beary is a in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the  class. It costs 3 to play, and has 8. It has no traits, and its ability gives it +4 every time it takes damage. Its zombie counterpart is Newspaper Zombie.

Origins
Its name is a portmanteau of "bear," the real-life animal this is based on, "hibernating," referring to the habits of said animal, and "berry," the type of plant this is based on.

Statistics

 * Class: Guardian
 * Tribes: Berry Animal Plant
 * Traits: None
 * Ability: When hurt: This gets +4.
 * Set - Rarity: Premium - Rare

Card description
Don't poke the beary.

With
Hibernating Beary is naturally very bulky, and becomes a heavy hitting threat when it takes enough hits. Boosting its stats in general benefits Hibernating Beary greatly, as a health boost enables it to take more hits, while a strength boost pressures your opponent into playing a zombie to guard the lane. However, using tricks like Root Wall to make it unable to be hurt is unnecessary, as Hibernating Beary needs to take hits to get stronger, unless Hibernating Beary is facing a Deadly zombie or any other zombie powerful enough to destroy it in one attack while it has some strength.

If you think Hibernating Beary has gained enough strength, then you may play a Team-Up plant to protect it.

Certain heroes synergize well with Hibernating Beary. Spudow can use Sergeant Strongberry to do 2 extra damage when Hibernating Beary attacks, while Grass Knuckles can make it do bonus attacks when it has a lot of strength to immediate destroy the zombie in front of it, or finish off your opponent.

Against
Hibernating Beary can wreck some serious havoc, and even make you lose early if unprepared. However, Hibernating Beary's ability makes it susceptible to Rolling Stone and Weed Spray when it is unscathed, and Rocket Science if it has gained strength, so having said cards in your deck is very useful against it. Locust Swarm is recommended if you have none of the aforementioned tricks. A definite counter for Hibernating Beary is playing Deadly zombies because it destroys it instantly, regardless of Hibernating Beary's health. Alternatively, you can play Squirrel Herder, whose ability can destroy it instantly as Hibernating Beary is a berry.

If you don't have a card that can destroy it instantly, destroy Hibernating Beary with as few hits as you can manage, as playing lower strength zombies equal Hibernating Beary taking more hits for the same amount of health, which is very bad against you.

The best strategy, however, is to simply ignore Hibernating Beary: If you don't hurt it, it can't hurt you. Even if your opponent gives it some base strength or plays a damaging Team-Up plant with it, try to take care of it without hurting Hibernating Beary, like playing Landscaper.

Trivia

 * Its description is a reference to the phrase "Don't poke the bear."
 * It is the only berry plant that is not in the class.
 * If it is given strength via a trick and is not attacked, when it attacks it will wake up, do its attacking animation and then fall back to sleep.
 * In the release trailer, it is missing the large leaf it has on its head.
 * Also, the "z"s it create when sleeping are green in the trailer, while they are blue in-game.