Brainana is a premiumlegendaryplantcard in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes and a member of the Smarty class. It costs 6 to play and has 4/3. It has the Amphibious trait, and its ability resets the zombie hero's brain counter to zero the turn it is played. Its closest zombie counterpart is Template:PvZHLink.
It is based on the banana, an edible fruit, botanically a berry, produced by several kinds of large herbaceous, flowering plants in the genus Musa. Its head bears a resemblance to Megamind's, and also some of those in Murderous Maths.
Its name is a portmanteau of "brain," referring to its ability and head, and "banana," the real-life plant it is based on.
His card description which contains the word "brain drain" may refers to his ability, as he reduces the zombies' heroes brains to 0.
Statistics
Class: Smarty
Tribe: Banana Plant
Trait: Amphibious
Ability: When played: The Zombie Hero loses their Brains.
Set - Rarity: Premium - Legendary
Card description
In this case, "brain drain" is a good thing.
Update history
Update 1.4.14
▲ Trait added: Amphibious
Tribe change: Fruit → Banana
Update 1.16.10
▲ Strength change: 3 → 4
Rarity change: Super-Rare → Legendary
Update 1.22.12
Animation change: Legendary shine added.
Strategies
With
Brainana has low stats for a high-cost plant. This means that this plant is used not because of its stats, but because of its ability. While its ability seems very powerful, remember that since zombies play their fighters before plants do, Brainana's ability only prevents your opponent from playing tricks and environments. Therefore, it is better to play it in the late game, as your opponent gets more brains for tricks and environments. However, if you are against an opponent whose strategy involves lowering brain costs, be warned that they may play them anyway if their cards cost 0 brains.
Brainana does not synergize well with both Black-Eyed Pea and Sportacus, as they cannot activate their abilities due to Brainana making your opponent unable to play tricks. However, it is very effective against trick-based decks (especially Brainy heroes like Professor Brainstorm and Immorticia), as you are shutting down the main power source. Brainana also guarantees the safety of your plants leading into the Fight! phase, as your opponent cannot play tricks to destroy them or decrease their stats after they are played with exception of 0-brain cards. It can also be played to simply guard an aquatic lane, as it has the Amphibious trait.
Rarely or so, there is a chance that Seedling may transform into Brainana. In that case, Brainana resets your opponent's brain counter to 0 before the Zombies Play phase, effectively stalling a turn unless they have 0-cost cards. This strategy applies for Kabloom heroes only.
You could also play this when Teleportation Zombie is on the field if your opponent passes in the Zombies Play phase, as playing Brainana will then prevent your opponent from playing both tricks and the zombies that they were planning to play.
If you want to continuously steal brains from your opponent, play Rescue Radish to Bounce Brainana so you can replay it on the next turn.
Playing as Green Shadow or Nightcap with cards like Fertilize or Berry Angry gives you the option to boost Brainana to a decently strong fighter. If it also happens to be on the aquatic lane, it becomes a tough foe for your opponent if they haven't prepared strong Amphibious zombies or instant-kills.
Against
There are not many ways to counter its ability apart from having Gentleman Zombie on the field, which gives you brains at the start of the Zombie Tricks phase. However, do remember that Brainana only prevents you from playing tricks for the turn it is played, so you can still play your cards normally on the next turn. 0-brain cards can also be played after you lose your brains.
If you are playing as a Hearty hero, you can play Ra Zombie to prevent Brainana from being played. However, he can only do so on turns 6 and 7, unless Template:PvZHLink is on the field to reduce his cost.
If Brainana comes from Seedling, you cannot do anything since you can neither play zombies nor tricks, unless you have other zombies that can lower the cost of cards or give brains such as Gargologist, Gentleman Zombie, Zombology Teacher, and Flag Zombie.
Statwise, Brainana has low stats for its cost, so it is not that threatening, but it can cause you trouble due to its Amphibious trait. The best counters to Brainana itself are Dolphin Rider and Fishy Imp; if you don't have them, then move it out of the water or play a trick to destroy it. But keep in mind that if you decide to play tricks, you won't be able to destroy it on the turn it is played unless you get extra brains via Gentleman Zombie.