Plants are definitely OP
I want to start this off saying I am not complaining and I genuinely want to learn so if there is something that I am missing then please educate me. I have been playing this game for awhile and made ...
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Plants and Zombies are fairly balanced, however, it comes down to the decks you use and the playstyle that works for you.
Zombie decks I favour are sports or pet theme or a grave deck that has a lot of control (sumo, landscaper, pogo and MUG to refresh).
BPRD
I guess I should say that for all the complexities and different playstyles implemented into this game it has always been surprisingly balanced. But I can also tell a huge swing in favor of plants since they implemented the new set and rebalanced. Almost like an over-correction in response to all the complaints about zombies being overpowered. I can honestly say that there have been points during this games life cycle that I felt zombies were op but now I feel like even generic plant decks can take any zombie deck due low cost synergies. I've seen time and time again recently and it just seems a little crazy to me. And trust I've played all types of zombie decks. Like I said I research strategies and deck builds and test them out before going into competitive and this has been my experience. I've gone from a healthy 70% win-rate on the zombie side (which includes testing decks, and my strong decks that I have a really good feel for) to now 25% win-rate with nothing changing other than the new set and rebalancing. As people have accumulated the galaxy garden set for plants it's just been more and more apparent. Again, I don't claim to be the best ever, I'm not saying that I don't still love this game, and I'm not even that upset because I kind of like the challenge on the zombie side. But I feel like I had share my experience in case others see this too and hopefully to balance out the outcry against zombies that caused the over-correction.
I agree with much of what you say. I don't know about plants being "OP" (depends on your definition I guess) but they are strongly favored over zombies right now. Over on the PvZ Heroes subreddit, there's a lot of talk about how plants seem to be generally more powerful than zombies at the moment. Specifically, there's a lot of hate towards clique peas.
For what it's worth, I also find it much easier to rank up as plants, both due to the matchmaking often giving me games against lower ranked opponents, and also the quality (cost, stats, abilities) of the cards I'm able to play.
That being said, I like the challenge of playing the zombie side sometimes, so after reaching a new rank, I'll switch it up and play Huge Giganticus / Bad Moon Rising for a little while. It doesn't win as consistently, but when it does, it absolutely destroys heal decks, clique peas, flower decks, and whatever other garbage the opponent tries to throw at me. Occasionally it'll give you something bad... it's RNG after all... but more often than not, I win either that same turn or the following one. I also once pulled off a turn 3 Plankwalker with HG, and there was absolutely nothing the opponent could've done to prevent it!
I think in general, as a zombie player you have more to "think about" during the game. It goes without saying that the plants are able to play more reactively, given the turn order. As a zombie player, you have to think... what plants can they play this turn, and how can I prevent them from being a problem? Are they likely to have certain cards in their deck based on what I've seen so far? If I play a certain card, are they likely going to have a good answer to deal with it? How many brains should I save for the trick/environment phase? Am I doing enough to keep the opponent guessing? Can I force them to stray from their strategy to deal with mine? As a plant player, all you have to do is look at what the zombie player did initially, look at how many brains they have left for tricks, and play accordingly. Predicting gravestones is another skill you need, but it gets much easier with experience... and at the higher levels you might as well assume the opponent already knows what it is.
In the end I've decided that if I feel like winning easily and ranking up, I'll just play as plants. Once I'm bored of that and I need a challenge, I'm playing as zombies!
