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 2/3. 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.
Strategies
With
Having less than average stats for a 4 cost zombie, Mad Chemist isn't mainly used for combat, but for his rather useful and interesting ability. As Super Brainz, you can boost him with Headstone Carver as he comes out from the gravestone. Using cheap tricks like Smoke Bomb can activate his ability easily. If you manage to protect Mad Chemist, he can compensate for trick usage. Note that you will only get one trick from this zombie per turn. If you want to keep him alive as long as possible, you can use Vitamin Z, Camel Crossing, or Rock Wall so you can keep using his ability.
Because of his ability, it is best to play this zombie with other zombies that benefit from trick usage, such as Paparazzi Zombie, who gets stronger whenever a zombie trick is played, or Trickster, who gets cheaper by the same method.
Try to play at least one trick per turn when he is on the field, and protect him as well as you can, since he gives you a random trick regardless of rarity or class, giving you a better chance to get very powerful tricks like Maniacal Laugh or Gargantuars' Feast.
Since he is part of the science tribe, you can synergize him with Zombot Drone Engineer to increase his base strength, Gadget Scientist to perform a bonus attack, and Interdimensional Zombie to activate his ability when this zombie is revealed.
Another good idea is to use Zombie Yeti, as when it is played, it provides a Yeti Lunchbox, a 1-cost trick for you to use. And at the end of each turn, it Bounces itself. Combine this with the aforementioned Trickster and Paparazzi, and you will overwhelm the field with tricks. However, this combo is Immorticia-exclusive.
A good pair with this zombie is Thinking Cap, which will not only activate his ability when it is the first trick played in a turn, but will also Conjure two cheap superpowers, which are usually tricks, which can activate this zombie's ability easily.
Against
This zombie spawns from a gravestone, so using a Grave Buster is an ideal counter to him. If you can't defeat him the first turn he is played, an effective strategy to prevent him from activating his ability again is to use a trick, such as Whack-a-Zombie or Berry Blast to deal with him during the Plants Play phase. Another strategy is using a powerful plant to deal with him, since he has low stats. Black-Eyed Pea and Sportacus can also be used to discourage the zombie hero from playing tricks, Brainana can shut down the use of tricks entirely unless there is a Gentleman Zombie on the field or if some tricks have had their costs lowered by any special means, while Dark Matter Dragonfruit and Forget-Me-Nuts can make it harder to use tricks. Also, try to get rid of any Dr. Spacetimes and Zombology Teachers on the field. Otherwise, the zombie hero can spam tricks a lot easier.
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 been 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.