Sportacus is an event plant card in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes and a member of the 
Smarty class.
He costs 3
to play and has 3
/3
. He doesn't have any traits, and his ability does 2 damage to the zombie hero every time a zombie trick is played. This ability stacks with each Sportacus on the field and persists until all Sportacuses are removed from the field.
He was introduced in the 2017 Valenbrainz event, along with Hot Date and Stupid Cupid. He became craftable as of update 1.12.6.
He was made available in a Weekly Event, and was available from 21 February 2017 to 28 February 2017.
Origins
He is based on a mushroom, the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, specifically the panther cap (Amanita pantherina); and a gladiator, an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.
His name is a portmanteau of "spore," a reproductive cell or group of cells produced by some plants, referring to his Mushroom tribe, and "Spartacus," a Thracian gladiator who was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War.
His appearance is based on actor Kirk Douglas' portrayal of Spartacus in the 1960 historical drama film Spartacus directed by Stanley Kubrick. His description is a reference to the iconic "I'm Spartacus" scene from the aforementioned Kubrick film, wherein captured slave revolutionists all claim to be Spartacus as to not reveal the true identity of their leader, knowing that he would be horribly tortured by the Roman empire if found.
Statistics
- Class: Smarty
- Tribes: Mushroom Nut Plant
- Traits: None
- Ability: When a Zombie Trick is played, do 2 damage to the Zombie Hero.
- Set: Event
Card description
"I am Sportacus!"
Update history
Update 1.10.22
Update 1.12.6
- Became craftable.
- Sound change: Previously the same as Fume-Shroom and Punish-Shroom.
- ▼ Ability change: No longer activates if Sportacus is destroyed by a trick.
Update 1.14.13
- Sound change: Now uses the same sounds as Fume-Shroom and Punish-Shroom again.
Update 1.16.10
- ▲ Ability change: Now activates if Sportacus is destroyed by a trick.
- Sound change: Now uses his sound effects from update 1.12.6.
Update 1.22.12
- ▼ Ability change: No longer activates if Sportacus is destroyed by a trick.
Strategies
With
Sportacus has the same stats, cost, and class as Vanilla, though he has a good anti-trick ability and is in two other beneficial tribes. He functions like Punish-Shroom and Black-Eyed Pea, with an ability that discourage your opponents from making a certain type of play. In his case, he serves as an answer tailored to specifically counter enemy tricks. He is also able to pressure your opponent from playing most free superpowers from a Super-Block as the vast majority of them are also tricks. Sportacus himself also has the stats to resist many damaging tricks, while being immune to Rolling Stone/Rocket Science.
A clever strategy is to play this in Planet of the Grapes. If your opponent plays a trick that does not destroy him, Sportacus will damage them and you will draw an extra card.
Each hero can use him effectively in their own ways:
- Citron and Beta-Carrotina can use him in their nut deck alongside Mirror-Nut and Smackadamia, making him tougher and punishing your opponent for trying to damage him.
- Nightcap can take advantage of mushroom synergy, such as with Buff-Shroom, or pressure his opponent from just recklessly destroying him with Punish-Shroom due to Sportacus being also in the mushroom tribe.
- Green Shadow can use this alongside Black-Eyed Pea as part of her anti-zombie trick deck to punish her opponent severely for playing tricks with a boost to Black-Eyed Pea and two damage to them from Sportacus. She can alternatively boost Sportacus' stats and use Umbrella Leaf to further hamper the use of tricks.
- Rose can heal him with 2nd-Best Taco of All Time to allow Sportacus to stay longer. She can also destroy zombies in his way.
You might need to watch out for Squirrel Herder when facing beastly heroes as she can destroy Sportacus instantly. If they notice you with a nut deck and play a gravestone, refrain from playing Sportacus and play something else. Enemy environments, despite being played alongside tricks, don't count either, so they will not activate his ability.
Against
Like Black-Eyed Pea, using tricks while Sportacus is on the field is not a very good idea. The best option is to destroy Sportacus at once so he can't activate his ability. Knockout and Zombot's Wrath are some of the best answers to Sportacus as he will not do anything if the trick destroys him first.
If you don't have any tricks that can destroy him, aim on using powerful zombies like Drum Major and Tennis Champ to destroy him instead. Squirrel Herder is very useful, as Sportacus is a nut plant, but watch out for Citron and Beta-Carrotina, who may counter her with Grave Buster and Blockbuster or any other Smarty hero, who can also counter her with Spyris, Cool Bean and Winter Squash or Grave Mistake. Electric Boogaloo is the most efficient at destroying Sportacus out due to his wide range of zombies and tricks to use. Those include Stayin' Alive, Electrobolt, Exploding Fruitcake, Cakesplosion, Zombot's Wrath, Locust Swarm, Alien Ooze, Squirrel Herder, and Abracadaver (assuming it hits his opponent and targets Sportacus with its ability).
You can also play environments such as Black Hole and Total Eclipse to weaken him and reduce the damage he does directly, although you will still take the full burnt of his ability. Then, you may destroy him with tricks like rolling stone.
Gallery
Sportacus' grayed out card
Sportacus activating its ability
Alien Ooze being played on Sportacus
Sportacus tinted gray due to a glitch
Sportacus on the advertisement for the Event Rewind Bundle
In other languages
Please note that only official translations are used.
| Language |
Name |
Description
|
 English
|
Sportacus
|
|
 Simplified Chinese
|
斯巴达克斯孢
斯巴达孢子 in description
|
"Spartacus Spore"
"Spartan Spore" in description
|
| Traditional Chinese
|
斯巴達孢子
斯伯達克斯 in description
|
"Spartan Spore"
transliterated from the English name in description
|
Trivia
- The Wall-Nut shield he is holding is alive, for example he opens his eyes during its idle animation.
- When he uses his ability, he makes a sound effect that roughly sounds like "wake up."
Strikethrough trait
Kabloom
Mega-Grow
Smarty
Solar