Card

Cards are the main collectibles available in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes. They are the main methods used by plant and zombie heroes to combat the opposing side.

Overview
Cards are divided into two major categories: fighter cards and trick cards. A fighter card spawns a friendly fighter on the field when it is played, which in most cases attack enemy fighters or the opposing hero, and is destroyed and removed once its health reaches 0. A trick card can do a variety of things when it is played, ranging from making additional friendly fighters, modifying their attributes or destroying them, to gaining or adding cards from or into the player's deck. After the ability ends, the trick card is automatically removed.

Each card also has a set of attributes, such as cost, strength, health, class and tribe - one of which is a superpower, a special kind of trick card that is only gained at the start of the game and every time the hero successfully blocks an attack.

At the start of the game, each player is given four cards in their hand, and is also given the chance to replace each card once with another random one taken from the player's deck. Each player is also given a random superpower card from the player's list of available cards, which cannot be replaced. The player also draws a card from their deck every turn, and there are certain abilities that can give the player additional cards, either from or outside the deck. Each player can only have ten cards in their hand at once before the game stops giving them cards.

Decks are required to have forty cards, and four of a single type of card can be put in at most. Therefore, it is very important to consider what cards are needed. One thing to notice is that superpowers do not count to the deck's total number of cards.

A card can be played providing that the card's cost does not exceed the player's currency stockpile balance, and that there are valid targets (for trick cards) or lanes (for fighter cards) for the card. Once the card is played, the player's currency stockpile balance is decreased by an amount equal to the card's cost. Plants can play both fighter and trick cards at the same time since they only have one play turn before the "Fight!" phase occurs. Zombies have separate fighter and trick phases, giving them two play turns before the "Fight!" phase occurs.

Tribes
Each side has unique tribes that can allow cards to create synergies. Each class has a main tribe, as well as two cards that can form synergy with the main tribe of the class, one basic and the other premium. An example of a plant synergy is  taking benefit from The Podfather, both part of the tribe, the main tribe of the  class, and an example of a zombie synergy is Zombot Drone Engineer boosting Space Cadet, both part of the  tribe, the main tribe of the  class.

Note that there are also examples of fighters within main tribes outside of the class, for instance Fume-Shroom being a mushroom plant in the class or  being a science zombie in the  class.

Turn order
The zombies' fighter turn comes first, followed by the plants' combined turn, followed in turn by the zombies' trick turn, after which the "Fight!" phase occurs during which fighters engage in combat against the opposing side. Destroyed/used cards are removed and the turn order starts over from the beginning.

In the "Fight!" phase, zombie fighters attack first, then plant fighters attack afterwards even if the plant fighter has its health down to 0 after being attacked. Because of this, the game immediately ends if a Strikethrough zombie defeats the plant hero, even if there is a plant in the same lane with Strikethrough that is about to finish off the zombie hero.

Traits
Although every fighter is unique, many of them share common traits, which the player needs to know to use them the best way. Present here is a list of traits that many fighters have, along with an explanation of them:

Afterlife
"When this is destroyed, you can play it a second time"

- Game Description

Exclusive to zombies.

Any fighter with this trait returns to the owner's hand as a "ghost" version of itself when it is destroyed. The ghost version has identical stats to the original card, but without the Afterlife trait.

Amphibious
"Play on Water or Land"

- Game Description

Any fighter with this trait is not restricted to just ground or heights lanes in terms of placement, but can also be played on aquatic lanes.

Anti-Hero
"+(Number of Strength Points) Strength against Heroes"

- Game Description

Any fighter with this trait does more damage if it hits the opposing hero. This only applies if the lane is clear of enemy fighters, so playing anything in front of that fighter nullifies the Anti-Hero trait.

Armored
"Reduce damage to this by (number)"

- Game Description

Any fighter with this trait takes reduced damage when it is attacked, with the number specifying the amount of damage that is subtracted. If the damage done is less than the resistance number, the fighter does not take any damage. However, this effect does not protect the fighter from any effect that reduces its stats by a set amount.

Bullseye
"Doesn't charge the opponent's Block Meter"

- Game Description

Any fighter with this trait does not fill up the opposing hero's Super-Block Meter upon a successful attack.

Deadly
"Destroy any Plant it hurts"

- Game Description

Exclusive to zombies.

Any fighter with this trait always destroys any enemy fighter it does damage to. Heroes are not affected by it, and Armored enemy fighters can survive the attack as long the fighter's damage does not exceed their damage resistance.

Frenzy
"When this destroys a Plant, it attacks again"

- Game Description

Exclusive to zombies.

Any fighter that has this trait attacks once more if it destroys the enemy fighter in front of it and survives without being destroyed itself.

Gravestone
"Hides in a Gravestone until it's time for tricks"

- Game Description

Exclusive to zombies.

Any fighter with this trait is not revealed until the user's trick stage begins, they are instead concealed by a gravestone. The opposing hero cannot see how much brains are spent on that fighter until the "Zombie Tricks" phase. While it is concealed, the fighter is immune to all methods of damage and card abilities (from both the plant and zombie side), with and Spyris being the only exception.

Splash Damage
"When it attacks, it also deals (amount of damage) damage to Zombies next door"

- Game Description

Exclusive to plants.

Any fighter with this trait does a certain amount of damage on adjacent lanes, in addition to the lane it is on when it attacks. Heroes, however, do not take Splash Damage if adjacent lanes are empty. Splash Damage cannot be increased in any way, even if the fighter's strength has been increased.

Strikethrough
"This hits the Zombie here and the Zombie Hero"

- Game Description

"This hits all plants here and the Plant Hero"

- Game Description

Any fighter with this trait does damage to all enemy fighters in its lane, including the opposing hero.

Team-Up
"You can fit two Plants here"

- Game Description

Exclusive to plants.

Any fighter with this trait can be played in a lane that is already occupied by an allied fighter, regardless of whether that fighter already occupying the lane has the Team-Up trait or not.

Effects
Some cards afflict other fighters with certain effects. Present here is a list of effects that a fighter can receive, along with an explanation of each of them:

Freeze
"That (Zombie/Plant) skips its next attack"

- Game Description

Any fighter that receives this effect is immobilized, forcing it to skip its next attack. Using a card that makes the immobilized fighter do a bonus attack instantly cancels out the Freeze effect.

Bounce
"Put it back in its owner's hand."

- Game Description

Any fighter that receives this effect is returned to the owner's hand, with any stat changes and damage taken removed.

Bonus Attack
Any fighter that receives this effect attacks again.

Heal
Restore health to a damaged ally unit or hero.

Shielded
Any fighter that receives this effect is unable to get hurt in any way in that turn. However, they are not immune to tricks that can instantly destroy the target like Lawnmower, or stat-degraders like Nibble.

Crafting
Crafting is a feature that can be accessed through tapping the desired card in the Collection or the Deck Building section. It allows the player to directly create new cards without having to purchase Packs.

Crafting a new card requires Spark, a special kind of resource that cannot be purchased with money and can only be gained by recycling cards and completing certain Hero Quests. Currently, most collectible cards in the game can be crafted and recycled, with the exception of certain Event cards that are slated to become craftable in the near future. In addition, all Basic - Common cards cannot be recycled, and cards with 4 copies of will have their crafting option disabled.

The amount of Spark required for crafting, and rewarded with recycling, is determined by rarity. Crafting a new card will always require more Spark than the amount given by recycling a card of equal rarity, making the process generally extremely inefficient.

1. 10 prior to update 1.8.23 2. Only applies to cards made craftable some time after release.

Trivia

 * As stated above, some traits are exclusive to either side:
 * There are no plant fighters that have the Gravestone, Deadly, Frenzy, or Afterlife traits.
 * There are no zombie fighters that have the Team-Up or Splash Damage traits.
 * Prior to update 1.2.11, there were no zombie fighters with the Strikethrough trait either.
 * has the only zombie card so far that gives the Freeze effect, Frozen Tundra, his signature superpower.
 * Prior to update 1.2.11, cards were referred to as teammates.
 * Prior to update 1.2.11, Bullseye was named Truestrike.
 * The spark symbol is similar to the Power Zap symbol except being blue instead of purple.
 * If a fighter has two or more attack traits, it has a green star in place of the strength symbol.
 * Prior to update 1.6.27, if a fighter had a trait, it wasn't shown in their card.
 * If a card's cost is reduced via any card abilities or gimmicks in some missions, the cost number is colored green instead of black. On the other hand, if its cost is increased, the number is shown red instead.
 * Bringing 4 of the same card cause the "Add" button to appear gray for the remaining ones. Tapping "Add" causes the number "x4" to flash red, indicating that no more of that card can be added anymore.