- For the Chinese version of the level, see Modern Day - Day 1 (Chinese version).
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Modern Day - Day 1 is the first level of Modern Day in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Portals make their first appearance in this level. When this level is finished for the first time, the player unlocks Moonflower.
Dialogue[]
Dr. Zomboss: Aha! Project Paradox begins...NOW!
Penny: Timeline alert, User Dave!
Penny: We have arrived moments before our departure!
Penny: If my guess is correct, Dr. Zomboss will attempt to prevent your initial taco-consumption!
Penny: Our journey will cease to exist!
Crazy Dave: NOOOOOOOOOO!
Crazy Dave: ...OOOOOOOO! Sorry, I was busy screaming "No." Did you say "taco"?
Penny: We must beware, User Dave. Dr. Zomboss will surely deploy all his time-varied zombies against us!
Crazy Dave: TACOOOOOOO!
Difficulty[]
The level itself is not too difficult, only consisting of the three zombie variants plus the Flag Zombies, and very few of them too. However, what makes this level escalate in that are the summoned zombies by one of the gimmicks of this world, portals. The zombies spawned appear in specific spots, which are generally in the player's defenses. The player should be aware of what portals spawn, where they spawn, and finally what zombies come out of it. Zombies like Mecha-Football Zombie, Robo-Cone Zombie, Pharaoh Zombie, Barrel Roller Zombie, and Shield Zombie can be devastating to the player.
Waves[]
- The small number next to the zombie icon means that zombie will always appear in that lane, with 1 being the topmost lane and 5 being the bottommost one.
| Waves | Non-dynamic zombies | Ambush zombies | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
None | |
| 2 |
|
None | |
| 3 | 
|
None | Carries 1x Plant Food. |
| 4 | 2 5
|
None | |
| 5 | 1 2 4 5 
|
None | First flag. spawns at C4R3.
|
| 6 | 1 3 5
|
None | |
| 7 | 2 1  4
|
None | |
| 8 | 3 3 3 3
|
None |  spawns at C6R2.
|
| 9 | 2 1 5
|
None | Carries 1x Plant Food. |
| 10 | 2 3 4 1 5 2 3 4
|
None | Final wave. spawns at C5R1.
|
Strategies[]
[]
Recommended plants: 
- Plant some Primal Sunflowers on the back rows. When the first zombie comes, stall or stun it.
- Start building some offense once you have enough Primal Sunflowers. Fill in three columns with Cacti.
- When the Ancient Egypt portal comes, stall zombies coming out with Stallia or Stunion and Primal Wall-nut. This will prevent the Pharaoh Zombie from eating your plants easily.
- Plant a Cacti next to the Pirate Seas portal to stop Barrel Roller Zombies from crushing your plants. Re-plant if needed.
- Use the E.M.Peach after all robots come out of the Far Future portal. If needed, stall or stun the robots.
- Give Plant Food to Cacti if a row is in danger. Use the Intensive Carrot if you cannot re-plant an eaten plant quickly.
[]
- Created by IDontCareAboutHistory
Awesome Strategy of Nostalgic Awesomeness
Recommended plants: 
- Start placing Sunflowers, have at least two columns of them.
- Potato Mine the first zombie.
- Now that you got sun, plant Repeaters, Peashooters and Snow Peas.
- When the first portal comes, plant Chomper and dig it up to eat the zombies that come out.
- When the Pirate Seas portal comes out, plant a Potato Mine to destroy the Barrel Roller.
- Collect as much sun, use the Plant Food on Chomper when the Far Future portal comes out, but do it when all three mechs come out, so it can push them, place a Cherry Bomb next to the mechs.
- Done.
[]
- Created by Moon Snail
This strategy can be done directly after you have completed Ancient Egypt - Day 8, but you also must have completed Far Future - Day 1. The point of this strategy is to help you obtain Moonflower early on, which will be used in the rest of my strategies.
- Required plants:
- (optional)
- Alternatives:
- , if you want to go really directly from AE to MD, and do not want to waste time completing FF day 1.
- , if you do not have Cold Snapdragon. Keep in mind that you will have to complete most of PS to do this.
- , if you do not have Explode-O-Nut. Alternatively, you can use , , or .
-
- Start by placing down Sunflowers. They will be planted in the first and second columns.
- When the first zombie comes, plant a potato mine in the third column.
- Plant Cold Snapdragons in the fourth and fifth columns, and Explode-O-Nuts in the sixth.
- Whenever a portal appears, plant an Explode-O-Nut in front of it.
- Plant Laser Beans in the third column.
- Once the Far Future portal appears, use Plant Food on a Laser Bean when all zombies appear from it. Using Explode-O-Nut will not work, since Mecha-Football will push it away.
- If all is done correctly, you should have completed the level, and obtained Moonflower. Moonflower is a very good sun producer, and will help you through most of the game from here.
Strategy 4[]
- Required plants:
When the round starts, focus on planting Primal Sunflowers. Try and get two columns of those. Use Primal Wall-nut to stall the first zombie and then Primal Potato Mine. Do that to the next zombie and then use Primal Peashooter. Try and get one column of those. Then plant another column. When the first portal arrives, use Stallia to stall the first zombie and then Chard Guard. Primal Wall-nut for the Buckethead Zombies. Do the same until final wave. Also, use Cherry Bomb for the tomb-raisers (the zombie who barfs up bones). In the final wave, use Primal Potato Mines to kill the far future zombies. And cherry bomb too. If you do that, you will still have two Plant Foods. No premiums. No 8th seed slot. Brilliant!
Snapdragon Attack! (Strategy 5)[]
BY BRANDONPVZ
Needed:
Snapdragon(SN)
Sunflower/Sun-shroom/Primal sunflower/Twin sunflower(S)
Wall-nut or its primal variant(W)
Spikeweed/Spikerock(SP)
Potato Mine Or its primal variant(P)
S SN SN W SP
S SN SN W SP
S SN SN W SP
S SN SN W SP
S SN SN W SP
Plant S first. When the first zombies come, plant P to kill them.
Plant SN and W.
Plant SP. By the time the first portal appears, you should have planted at least on of them.
You should be fine.
Use Plant Food in emergencies
I only lost a few Sn, 2 W and 1 SP
You Should be able to complete the level without losing lawn mowers, premium or gemium plants
[]
- Required plants:
- (or if possible )
- (optional, if you don’t have this then replace it with or )
- (for disabling the Far Future machine zombies)
- (or if possible )
Try planting as many Twin/Primal Sunflowers as possible (1 row is enough) with the aid of Gold Bloom if possible. Use Snapdragons/Cold Snapdragons (plant on the 4th column) to kill the first few zombies, also plant Primal Wall-nuts (on the 5th column) to protect your offence and sun production. You also start planting Primal Peashooters on the 2nd and 3rd column to provide more offence. Once the Ancient Egypt portal arrives at the first flag (spawns on row 3, column 4), it’ll bounce your Snapdragon/Cold Snapdragon if you planted there. Shovel up the bounced Snapdragon/Cold Snapdragon and plant a replacement one where the portal is. The Primal Peashooters will neutralize the Ancient Egypt zombies so do not worry. Use the Primal-Pea-Blover method to get rid of regular lawn zombies and also to deal with the Pirate Seas portal that will spawn next but since it doesn’t spawn too deep into your defenses, it’s okay. During the final flag, your defenses can deal with Shield Zombie, but when both Robo-Cone Zombie and Mecha Football Zombie appear, use E.M. Peach on them. If Shield Zombie is defeated, it is most preferable to use the Primal-Pea-Blover strategy to defeat both the Cone Mech and the Football Mech. Then you succeed! Congratulations!
Primary Corn Freeze (strategy 7)[]
- Awesome hood strategy created by Master Chief Peter Griffin Epic
- Required Plants
A salad full of plants you get early on, this is a great strategy to begin your Modern Day journey. Plant Puff-Shrooms early on while your sun builds up, then plant Primal Peashooters once your sun gathers up. If a Sarcophagus zombie appears, feed it a Chili Bean. This is because Pharaohs get stunned by Chili Beans no matter what. When a Tomb Raiser comes in, freeze it with an Iceberg Lettuce as the first thing it'll do is create more tombstones. While the time-traveling craziness is gathering up, plant Kernel-Pults in the lane the Pirate Seas Portal takes place. It can stun Seagull Zombies and Pirate Captain Zombie, which you can plant a Puff-Shroom in front so the Parrot targets it first, while the Primal Peas push the barrel. The Far Future Portal is the most dangerous one here. Shovel up sunflowers in that lane to make way for more Primal Peas, pushing the robots. You could spend the plant food on Primal Peashooter to knock back two birds with five stones or Kernel-Pult to butter and stall them up. Note that these mechs are immune to Chili Bean, meaning they will just eat the bean.
- Other tips:
- Use Grave Buster on Tomb Raiser Zombie’s summoned tombstones.
- Use Cherry Bomb for neutralizing big groups of zombies, such as the machine zombies from the Far Future portal.
- Use Blover to clear the Seagull Zombies and Zombie Parrot from the Pirate Seas portal. In fact, you can also use it to blow away the Imp Pirate Zombies inside of Barrel Roller Zombie’s barrel. But this requires great timing.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This level and Jurassic Marsh - Day 1 are the only 'Day 1' levels that have two flags.
- Coincidentally, they share the same waves, only the zombie themes that were changed
- It is currently the only regular level where Dr. Zomboss speaks, similarly, this is the first time he speaks during the first day of the world.
Walkthroughs[]
- *: Removed ~: Epic Quest