Mad Chemist is a premiumsuper-rarezombiecard in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the Brainy class. He costs 4 to play, and has 3/4. He has the Gravestone trait, and his ability Conjures a random trick card when the first zombie trick is played every turn, starting from the turn he is revealed, unless the zombie hero has already 10 cards in their hand.
Origins
He is based on the Scientist variant in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 with a similar name. Their hair differs between the two in that Chemist's default hairstyle is spiked, while Mad Chemist's hairstyle sticks up. Mad Chemist's hairstyle is instead more similar to the "Perfect Hair" accessory for the Scientist in Garden Warfare.
Statistics
Class: Brainy
Tribe: Science Zombie
Trait: Gravestone
Ability: When you play your first Trick each turn, Conjure a Trick.
Set - Rarity: Premium - Super-Rare
Card description
He's not so much "mad" as he is "mildly annoyed."
Update history
Update 1.16.10
Ability streamlined: When you play your first Trick each turn, add a random Trick your hand. → When you play your first Trick each turn, Conjure a Trick.
Update 1.26.3
▲ Strength change: 2 → 3
▲ Health change: 3 → 4
Strategies
With
Having average stats for a 4 zombie, Mad Chemist is not mainly used for combat (although he can fight back decently), but for his rather useful and interesting ability; while it is luck-based, you have a good chance of obtaining tricks outside of your classes, which you will be able to surprise your opponent with. Mad Chemist also goes well with any deck, as long as it has a fair number of tricks.
If you want to use Mad Chemist, you must play at least one trick per turn. This means that you will have to spend brains to activate his ability; while it doesn't matter if you do need to play the trick for your strategy, it is beneficial to spend as few brains as possible in any other case. Therefore, it is recommended to bring many cheap tricks into your deck, or use Zombie Yeti, who provides you a cheap trick in the name of Yeti Lunchbox at the end of every turn (assuming they survive). However, the latter is exclusive to Immorticia. Thinking Cap is also a good pair with him, as while it isn't very cheap, it is a trick that Conjures two cheap tricks, which is enough for the next two turns (assuming the superpowers Conjured aren't Iron Boarder, Ice Moon, and Teleportation Station). If you are playing as Super Brainz or Rustbolt, you can use Dr. Spacetime or Zombology Teacher respectively to reduce the cost of tricks to result in more free brains.
Protecting Mad Chemist is also vital, as he is only able to Conjure one trick per turn; this means that he has to survive for a few turns to be worthwhile. While there are many cards that can improve his survivability, tricks are the preferred option as you can activate his ability as well. Examples include Vitamin Z, Healthy Treat, Rock Wall, and Escape through Time.
Mad Chemist isn't much of a threat in terms of stats, but his Conjuring ability is what makes him one. While you could confront him with a plant to destroy him, he will still be able to destroy most of them unless they do a bonus attack. Instead, play instant-kill or damaging cards to destroy, or at least weaken him. Grave Buster and Whack-a-Zombie are perfect examples for instant-kills, while two Banana Bombs are your best bet in terms of damaging cards.
Since Mad Chemist's ability is based on tricks, anti-trick cards (Black-Eyed Pea, Sportacus, Forget-Me-Nuts, Dark Matter Dragonfruit, Brainana) should work well against him too, although they won't be able to deal with him directly (minus with direct combat). Also, try to get rid of any Dr. Spacetimes and Zombology Teachers on the field, because your opponent will be able to spend less brains on tricks, and thus, prepare their bigger threats more easily.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Mad Chemist.
Since update 1.14.13, Mad Chemist was glitched so that he can also give cards that cannot be seen normally by the user. Examples of such cards included the Bungee Plumber used in the tutorial and a 99-brain cost Blank Zombie that cannot be played (which is used as a filler card in early AI and a few Puzzle Party decks to deramp the difficulty).
If Final Mission is the first zombie trick used in that turn, while the player chooses to destroy Mad Chemist, he will still activate his ability before being destroyed. The same also applies to Trick-or-Treater.
Prior to the Colossal Fossils update, tricks Conjured by Mad Chemist did not say they were in their statistics.
Brainy class. He costs 4
to play, and has 3
/4
. He has the Gravestone trait, and his ability Conjures a random trick card when the first zombie trick is played every turn, starting from the turn he is revealed, unless the zombie hero has already 10 cards in their hand.
→ 3
Brainy
Crazy
Hearty
Sneaky
