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A Zebra Bloon as a Bloon isn't much of a threat with its relatively low stats, but the dual card draw effects allows for more total draws in a single card (up to 4 per Zebra card, the most amount out of any single card), in addition to generating a lot of Bloontonium. However, the cost and draw power makes it hard to use in the early-game and more prone to bricking. It's more often useful for the late game where it's more affordable and cards may be played more often.
OTK decks may find that Zebra bricks their hand too easily in comparison to other cards. Zebra is best used in full on Control decks that don't require holding as many cards in their hand; in fact, some of those decks can afford to run only Zebras and a few other Bloon cards as their only Bloontonium for the whole match.
The cost of a Zebra is enough for some important Bloontonium generation thresholds for Heroes, notably Obyn Greenfoot unlocking his Nature's Shield immediately with one card, two of them provide enough for maxing Adora, and all Heroes with 18 max Bloontonium (Mountain Obyn and Gwendolin) only need 10 Bloontonium (usually two Bloon cards costing 5 Gold) + Zebra.
The thing about Zebra Bloon is that 8 cost is a huge buff for it in terms of Bloontonium gain and the basic structure of it being a really good support Bloon for control. Control loves having high Bloontonium generation / high card draw cards that make huge value in one deck slot. You might be saying, 'Well, why does it have to be 8 cost for this? Seven cost means it's even cheaper, and cheaper is better, right?' Well, not really with Zebra. The thing about these cards is that, because they're so expensive already, 7 is not cheap by any means for a card like this. Seven is still expensive for a card like Zebra. The higher cost doesn't really matter as much in comparison to what 8 Bloontonium actually gives you.
8 Bloontonium gives you stuff like Obyn's shield in one Bloon. 8 Bloontonium gives you stuff like Mountain Obyn Dire Wolves, with two Black Bloons or two Extra Shot Bloons, for a clean 18. That also applies to Gwen. Two Zebra Bloons at 8 give you a sacrifice with Adora without having to run another card that actually gives you Bloontonium [...] All these Bloontonium interactions are very powerful and make Zebra Bloon even better, even though on paper, this looks like a really harsh and flat nerf. It was so good, in fact, that in testing, this did not get the health decrease at first, but it would just completely outclass every single other card draw option in the entire game for these lategame Heroes. There was pretty much no reason to run Black Bloon, or White Bloon, or any other card draw when you could just run Zebra for all the Bloontonium you'd ever need with its incredible card draw, so its health was reduced from 180 to 150 to make it less good at pressuring the opponent.
Now, Black Bloons, although they draw a little less hard and they don't give you as much Bloontonium, they still pressure the opponent more than something like Zebra does with its 150 health, and if you've played this game since launch, Zebra's stats actually mirror the exact same stats they had at launch, which is kind of a funny coincidence. If — u/No-Appearance1780's commentary, 21:54–24:02 (with most disfluencies removed)
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Gold cost increased ― 7 → 8
Bloontonium gain increased ― 7 → 8
Health decreased ― 180 → 150
Development
Both of the Zebra Bloon's balance changes from Version 3.4 were reverted in Version 6.4 because of the opposite philosophy of its balance design.[1] Zebra Bloon was considered more of a Control card rather than for Tempo, and the Gold cost increase was designed to be more friendly to opening up Hero thresholds, namely Obyn, Adora, Mountain Obyn, and Gwendolin.[1] However, while the Health was considered not to be reduced, the high Health made Zebra Bloon too threatening of a rush for how valuable it is for passive players, while outclassing other draw cards.[1] To avoid Control decks gaining too much value, the health was reverted back.[1]
Advanced
Classic
8
Now draws a card when any other Bloon leaks, in addition to itself (bug)
Zebra Bloon no longer draws cards when another Bloon leaks (bug fix)
Icon
Placeholder art
Screenshot (pre-3.4)
