Mush-stache

Mush-stache is a defensive plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2 introduced in the 10.5.1 update as part of the Mush-stache's Well Groomed Arena season. He can block damage from zombies, when taking enough damage, he would sneeze and push all zombies in front of it back 2 tiles, as well as applying fungus onto them, which makes them take 1.5 times the damage.
Mush-stache has 3 damage state, changing appearance each time and sneezing after doing so.
==Origins==
Mush-stache is based on the purple-spored puffball, (Calvatia cyathiformis), a large edible saprobic species of Calvatia; and possibly the violet webcap (Cortinarius violaceus), also known as the violet cort, a fungus in the webcap genus Cortinarius native across the Northern Hemisphere, as it is the same mushroom as Puff-Shroom and Scaredy-Shroom.
His name is a portmanteau of "Mushroom", the plant it is based on, and "Mustache", referring to his appearance of having a mustache.
His high health comes from mustache's function in real life, which is to protect skin surface and follicles from dirt and bacteria. His sneezing ability comes from mustache tickling nose to make people sneeze more, and the push back is based on another plant, Ragweed, who sneeze to push back zombies.
The fungus ability is based on how a mushroom reproduce, by releasing spores.
==Almanac entry==
==Upgrades==
===Plant Food effect===
Mush-stache when fed with Plant Food sneeze at a large area to push all zombies in 3x3 back 3 tiles, then apply fungus on all of them. It also heal Mush-stache to full.
===Costume ===
When costumed Mush-stache is given Plant Food, there is a small chance that the zombies will be push off the screen, dying instantly.
===Ail-mint effect===
When boosted by Ail-mint, Mush-stache will have 2 more tile of range, knockback zombies 4 tiles backward and apply fungus that make zombies take 2.5 times more damage.
===Level Upgrades===
Level	Seed packets	Coins	Upgrades	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades
Level	Seed packets	Coins	Sun Cost	Recharge 	Toughness 	Special (Knockback Range)	Special (Fungus Damage Boost)	Range
1 	0 	0 	150 	20 seconds	2000 Damage	2 Tiles 	1.5 Times 	1 Tile ahead
2 	50 	0 	150 	19 seconds	2100 Damage	2 Tiles 	1.6 Times 	1 Tile ahead
3 	100 	0 	125 	18 seconds	2200 Damage	3 Tiles 	1.7 Times 	1 Tile ahead
4 	200 	0 	125 	17 seconds	2300 Damage	3 Tiles 	1.8 Times 	2 Tile ahead
5 	300 	0 	125 	16 seconds	2400 Damage	3 Tiles 	1.9 Times 	2 Tile ahead
6 	400 	0 	100 	15 seconds	2500 Damage	4 Tiles 	2 Times 	2 Tile ahead
7 	500 	0 	100 	14 seconds	2600 Damage	4 Tiles 	2.1 Times 	2 Tile ahead
8 	600 	0 	100 	13 seconds	2700 Damage	4 Tiles 	2.2 Times 	3 Tile ahead
9 	800 	0 	75 	12 seconds	2800 Damage	5 Tiles 	2.3 Times 	3 Tile ahead
10 	1,000 	0 	75 	10 seconds	3000 Damage	5 Tiles 	2.5 Times 	3 Tile ahead
=== Mastery upgrades ===
* Chance to Boost
* Damage Pierce
=== Level Upgrades ===
== Strategies ==
Mush-stache is a strong defensive support plant thanks to their strong health and ability to weaken zombies. He can handicap zombies that are eating him and allows other plants to defeat them quicker. His main strength is against high health zombies like Brickhead Zombies, especially in levels where Instant-killing plants are not ideal, such as Don't lose more than X amount of plants challenge.
Mush-stache can only use its effect when its layer get damaged, which means you can repair it with Wall-nut First Aid for more knockback and fungus. However this also means instant-killing zombies will ignore it, making it a worse option than Primal Wall-nut in those situation.
Mush-stache is useful in Pirate Seas at the front of the water as they can knock zombies into the water to instantly kill them, especially when there's a lot of zombies eating him, allowing him to defeat all of them (Except Seagull Zombie) in one go.
Just like Chard Guard, when a zombie is knocked back, it will count as airbourne, meaning Blover, Hurrikale and Draftodil can clean up all zombies that were pushed. And like Chard Guard, Aloe and Penny's Pursuit's Hyper-Healing Perk can regen his health, allowing him to have extra knock back attempt.
Compared to Chard Guard, because the knockback can only be used when damaged, it is way worse against Gargantuar, Mecha-Football Zombie and Punk Zombie. However this can be useful against other zombies, as he can group up a bunch of zombies for Banana Launcher or Coconut Cannon to clean them up, paired with the damage boosting fungus, it outshine Chard Guard when paired with the right plants. Do keep in mind of its higher sun cost.
As mentioned above, area of effect attacker plants is really good with the fungus effect as Mush-stache can put fungus on a group of zombies, then they can attack the zombies that will take a lot more damage.
== Gallery ==
File:Mush-stache.png|Mush-stache HD
File:Mush-stache Lawn.png|Mush-stache in a lawn
File:Fungus'd Zombie HD.png|A zombie covered in fungus after getting hit by Mush-stache
== In other languages ==
== Trivia ==
* Mush-stache is the first 24 hour contest entry the creator made.
* He is the only contest entry the creator made that isn't a recycled plant from older creations he made.
Category:Mushrooms
Category:Defensive plants
Category:Knockback Plants
Category:Plants obtained with seed packets
Category:DarkMatter Creations
Category:Premium plants
Category:Mustache
Category:Ail-mint Family plants