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Defensive End is an event zombie card in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the Hearty 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 with each Defensive End on the field, and persists until all Defensive Ends are removed from the field. His closest plant counterpart is Dark Matter Dragonfruit.
He was introduced in update 1.10.22, along with Template:PvZHLink 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
His appearance is a combination of two zombies in Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2 with similar appearances.
He appears to be holding a field goal post, which is what football players must kick the ball through to score points from field goals.
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: 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 history
Update 1.10.22
- Added to the game.
- ▼ Brain cost change: 5 → 6
- ▲ Strength change: 5 → 6
Update 1.12.6
- Became craftable.
- Design change: Defensive End's helmet design has been slightly changed.
Strategies
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 and Template:PvZH Link. 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 Template:PvZHLink. The only tricks that can remove Defensive End from the field on the 6th turn are Shamrocket, Template:PvZHLink (assuming he is played on the ground), transforming tricks like Transmogrify or Template:PvZHLink, or bouncing tricks like Template:PvZHLink 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 4 with two Template:PvZH Links or a Gargologist, which can make your opponent only be able to play 1 or 2-sun cost tricks. Rustbolt can play this on turn 3 much easier due to his methods of gaining extra brains with the help from his Brainy cards.
Regardless of his tribe, he can work in any Hearty deck as well due to the sheer usefulness of his ability. Due to being in the sports tribe, he can be protected by Zombie Coach or boosted by Team Mascot at the start of each turn. He is also good in Beastly decks, because he has synergy with Smashing Gargantuar and Supernova Gargantuar.
His ability, however, diminishes later in the game, as there will be enough sun for your opponent to play tricks even if they have become more expensive. You should also note that his ability does not affect environments.
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 Template:PvZHLink, 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 Template:PvZH Link, Template:PvZH Link, Jolly Holly or Template:PvZHLink is another great idea, since he will be destroyed without the use of any tricks, but be careful if you are using Template:PvZH Link. If there is either a Smashing Gargantuar or Wizard Gargantuar on the field, try using Template:PvZHLink 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 he will be transformed into any zombie with 1/1, which will remove his ability.
If you are playing as a Solar hero, you can simply overcome his ability by creating excess sun or playing Smashing Pumpkin in the same lane as Defensive End to destroy him at the same price. However, you must also watch your sun-producing plants so they won't be destroyed. Also, if you are using a flower deck, you can play Briar Rose along with cheap flower cards such as Morning Glory in the line of Defensive End to destroy it.
If possible, rely on powerful environments like Template:PvZH Link of The Red Plant-It instead, as environments are not affected.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Defensive End.
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Trivia
- Originally, Defensive End's ability was to make all Gargantuars on the field immune to anything that does less than 4 damage.
- He and Rodeo Gargantuar are the only Gargantuars in the sports tribe.
- Coincidentally, they are both in the Hearty class.
- He is the only Gargantuar with the Armored 1 trait.
- In the Chinese version of the game, there is a mistake in his description. It says that "Plant tricks cost at least 2 sun."
- Unlike Template:PvZHLink 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 hero's cards.
- He, Forget-Me-Nuts, and Dark Matter Dragonfruit are the only cards that can increase the cost of the opposing hero's tricks.
- Out of the three, Defensive End is the only zombie card.