It doesn't have any traits, and its ability instantly destroys all zombies, including those in gravestones, that receive the Freeze effect. This ability persists until all Winter Squashes are removed from the field.
It is based on the plant in real life with the same name.
Its appearance is based on the plant in Plants vs. Zombies with a similar appearance, and also a pun on "winter," referring to its ice blue color, icicles, earmuffs, and shivering motions, which are commonly associated with winter.
Statistics[]
Class: Smarty
Tribe: Squash Plant
Traits: None
Ability: When a Zombie or Gravestone becomes frozen, destroy it.
Ability animation change: Winter Squash now blows ice shards at the frozen zombie, compared to simply breathing at it before.
Update 1.16.10[]
Rarity change: Rare → Super-Rare
▲ Ability change: Winter Squash can now benefit from Cool Bean, instantly destroying all gravestones that are frozen.
Update 1.22.12[]
Ability wording change: Winter Squash's ability now mentions that it also destroys frozen gravestones.
Strategies[]
With[]
Winter Squash is a very useful plant, most of it due to its useful ability. It is one of the key plants in a Freeze deck, as it instantly destroys any zombie regardless of stats, as long as it gets frozen. This allows you to easily deal with any threat, as even one Iceberg Lettuce spells doom to a zombie, even those as powerful as Zombot 1000 or Octo Zombie. Winter Melon is another example of such a card, as Winter Melon's Splash Damage trait allows it to freeze up to 3 zombies per attack, instantly destroying all of them.
Cool Bean can benefit this plant if you are against heroes that rely on gravestones as Cool Bean can freeze all gravestones and in turn, Winter Squash can destroy them. And finally, Jolly Holly can destroy zombies next door while dealing a lot of damage in the way. However, Rolling Stone can destroy it easily. So be careful playing this plant as it is risky to do that.
Every Smarty Hero can use Winter Squash effectively:
Nightcap can boost its strength with Storm Front, such as it becomes immune to most hard removals. He can also use damaging tricks like Berry Blast to prevent powerful zombies from destroying it, or to stall for the first turns until Winter Squash is playable. He can also play it on Pair Pearadise or use Imitater just in case it gets destroyed, although there are much better plants to use with these cards.
Green Shadow can use anti-trick cards like Umbrella Leaf and Black-Eyed Pea to make her opponent think twice before using tricks on Winter Squash or outright prevent them from playing them. She can also move zombies out of the way, and boost Winter Squash if a zombie may confront it. Her card draw allows her to get freezing cards in her deck quickly, and one of her Superpowers, Big Chill, works well as it destroys a targeted zombie while getting another card back.
Rose can heal Winter Squash with cards like Aloesaurus if it is low on health, she can also play it earlier with cards like Solar Winds and Twin Sunflower. She can use stat-degrading cards or hard removals to support Winter Squash for zombies that it can't destroy. And just like Green Shadow, Rose also gets to use Big Chill as one of her Superpowers.
Any Smarty Hero can play it on the aquatic lane with Lily Pad to provide extra protection, although unless supported by other cards, many instant kills aren't avoided with this strategy.
Speaking of insta-kills, tricks such as Rolling Stone and Knockout are very likely to be used against this plant due to its low strength and it being an important plant in a Freeze deck, however, the above strategies can prevent this.
Even if you only consider its stats, it is still a decent plant. While its strength is poor, it has 6 health, which lets it survive a hit or two from most zombies. However, without any Freezing cards, it is much less useful, so remember to include them in your deck if you decide to use this.
Against[]
Combined with its high health and its ability, Winter Squash is annoying and dangerous at the same time. It can wreak a lot of havoc upon your zombies, especially if your opponent is running a Freeze deck. However, it is not invincible and has quite a lot of counters.
Playing Deadly zombies is one of them, as they instantly destroy Winter Squash in one attack. Since it has 2 strength, Rolling Stone, Weed Spray, and Celestial Custodian (when played in an environment) are good choices against it, and as a last resort, you can play Locust Swarm to instantly destroy it.
Be careful playing Mixed-Up Gravedigger while this is on the field, as if your opponent plays a Cool Bean, all your zombies will be destroyed.