Playing this zombie is basically like playing a free zombie, provided the player has 3 brains available. This is because he gives back the amount of brains he costs, thus making him free in a sense. Using this early is a good strategy to put some pressure onto the plant hero by filling a lane while allowing you to save your brains for other zombies or tricks. If you want to play the Brain Vendor, make sure to play this before the other zombies otherwise you may not have enough brains. However, quantity is not always better than quality. By that, this zombie has very low stats, compare to a Template:PvZHLink he only has 1 extra . The zombie hero could use this zombie to gain a profit of 1 if a Template:PvZHLink is present on the field, due to the fact that Flag Zombies decrease zombies' brain cost by one. Doing this can create allow a Shieldcrusher Viking to be placed on turn 3. Out of all the Brainy heroes, only Rustbolt can do this normally, but other Brainy heroes can get Flag Zombie via Summoning, Eureka, or Portal Technician's ability.
Super Brainz can combine this with Mixed-Up Gravedigger, hiding all Brain Vendors in Gravestones. During the trick phase, the hero could potentially get up to 12 brains, allowing for extremely powerful combinations of tricks. Professor Brainstorm can also do this, but the player must gain Mixed-Up Gravedigger from Eureka.
Note that this is a sports zombie, and thus will have synergy in Rustbolt sport decks. This being essentially free, he can be used to fill a lot of lanes followed by using a Zombie Coach to make it so all of them can't be hurt, protecting Rustbolt from most forms of damage except for Strikethrough, Amphibious plants or direct damage.
Against
Because of his low stats, this zombie should be very easy to destroy. If playing as a Kabloom hero, Sour Grapes is a great counter to this zombie as its ability will destroy all Brain Vendors on the field provided they didn't get a health buff. Using tricks is not recommended on this zombie. Only use one if the zombie hero has lots of zombies on the field and a trick is needed to ease off the pressure. Avoid bouncing this zombie, as he will only support the zombie hero due to his refunding ability.