aroramage |
Oh hey, I remember Cleffa! Not just
from looking back at older decks and what-not, but I
think my friend actually used to play with Cleffa or
something...or maybe I've got a Cleffa hanging around?
Then again, she is a rare.
Cleffa represents a currently
"extinct" form of card known as the Baby Pokemon...or at
least, it represents a newer version of Baby Pokemon.
The oldest forms of these cards stems back to the time
of the original Gold and Silver games, when the TCG was
starting up its new Neo series. Back then, these Pokemon
came with the clause that if an opponent tried to attack
them, they'd have to flip a coin and get heads -
otherwise their turn would end without an attack. They
also had the notable feature of evolving into their
regular Basic forms, meaning Cleffa could evolve into
Clefairy. Later on the Baby Pokemon would reappear with
the new Baby Evolution Poke-Power, which allowed to
evolve and remove all damage done to them once per turn.
The HGSS generation of Baby Pokemon
though...they were vastly different. For starters, they
weren't treated as "Baby Pokemon" - they were just Basic
Pokemon. Their regular evolved versions got their own
separate Basic forms, and the two became distinguished
between each other - that means no evolving this Cleffa
into a Clefairy. Not that it would be detrimental to the
line-up, cause the new Baby Pokemon do have one thing in
common: Sweet Sleeping Face. This is a Poke-Body, which
is different from a Poke-Power in that it's constantly
active rather than needing to be activated - and
furthermore, it's different from an Ability simply out
of being a different set of terminology. So Poke-Bodies
and Poke-Powers don't get shut down by things that shut
Abilities down, like Garbodor's Garbotoxin.
So what does Sweet Sleeping Face
do? Well as long as Cleffa is Asleep, she can't take any
damage. Seems like an okay Poke-Body, nothing special
there, but every one of these newer Baby Pokemon has an
attack that is not only costless but also puts them to
Sleep. And yes, I did say costless, as in it doesn't
require any Energy to use at all - you just say you're
using it, and bingo!
Now Cleffa's attack is just Eeeeeeek,
which effectively is an attack form of Professor Oak's
New Theory. That's right - you use this, you shuffle
your hand back into your deck, and then draw 6 new
cards. The only difference is, as I mentioned before, it
puts Cleffa to Sleep - triggering its Sweet Sleeping
Face and keeping your opponent from doing much of
anything. In the days of HGSS, this was a must as an
early game opener, allowing one to set-up their
resources with a single attack AND prevent their
opponent from getting an otherwise easy KO. And this was
back in the day when you could attack if you were going
first.
Cleffa was considered an essential,
though I don't know if the new rulings to the "first
turn attack" still apply in Legacy. No doubt otaku will
send me an email about it or announce it in his own
article if he knows, but otherwise, Cleffa is still a
noteworthy addition to any deck. It's like a fifth
Professor Oak's New Theory, in a way, and I would be
surprised if people weren't trying to run her in Legacy.
...I mean, unless you need Pokemon
to attack. That would be helpful.
Rating
Legacy: 4.5/5 (truly a must-have in
these times)
Limited: 5/5 (and draw power is
still draw power)
Arora Notealus: Part of me wants to
see a newer rendition of Baby Pokemon that could just
straight up evolve into their final forms - like a
self-motivated Rare Candy of sorts, although that could
end up being way too powerful with the right partner. Or
maybe an alternative would be to get Baby BREAK Pokemon.
Or Baby Pokemon that evolve into Pokemon-EX! The list
could go on for too long...
Next Time: I'm feeling a bit lost
after all of that...wait where am I?
|
Otaku |
Today we continue
our Legacy Format week with Cleffa (HeartGold/SoulSilver
17/123; HS: Black Star Promos HGSS12; Call of
Legends 24/95). Not sure what a Legacy Format
is? Click
here
for an article explaining it in some detail; otherwise
the short version is that it is a PTCGO exclusive format
that uses all the cards from the HeartGold/SoulSilver
series, Call of Legends, and the Black & White
series. No set rotation. No bans. No
new cards being added! It also means some
mechanics we haven’t seen for a while.
Cleffa
is a Colorless Type; it does no damage so the fact that
there are both Colorless Weak and Resistant Pokémon
among the HS-era releases (though not on the same card
of course). You could boost the HP by 20 with
Aspertia City Gym, and if someone is running
Haxorus (BW: Dragon Vault 16/20), that card’s
“Axe Slugger” attack (costs [CC], does 60 damage) would
do an extra 60 damage; not likely either of those will
matter. Being a Basic is the best; one card is one
copy of Cleffa, there is no waiting to Evolve
(you can Bench it immediately if you have room), it can
function as your opening Pokémon, and it can use Basic
Pokémon support. You also have to deal with a few
anti-Basic Pokémon effects; neither the Basic support
nor counters are as strong as they are in Expanded or
Standard. Cleffa only has 30 HP, so it’s quite
fragile; your opponent could take it out with
Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym alone,
which means you risk getting donked if it opens.
This also means it is small enough that something like
Darkrai-EX (BW: Dark Explorers 63/108,
107/108; BW: Black Star Promos BW46; BW:
Legendary Treasures 88/113) can use its “Night
Spear” attack and while it’s hitting the Active with the
bulk of the damage, the bonus Bench hit damage can OHKO
Cleffa. Cleffa has totally blank bottom
stats; that means the best Weakness and Retreat Cost but
the worst Resistance. With the HP neither Weakness
nor Resistance would likely matter, but the Retreat Cost
is great!
Cleffa
has a Poké-Body; we discussed Poké-Powers
yesterday
and Poké-Bodies are very similar. One major
difference is that Poké-Bodies don’t have text stopping
them from working while that Pokémon is affected by a
Special Condition, and tend to be a bit more passive in
nature. The other major difference is that Poké-Bodies
and Poké-Powers can be singled out by card effects, so
that (for example) one or the other is being shut down
while its opposite still functions. Getting back
to Cleffa itself, its Ability is called “Sweet
Sleeping Face”, and as long as Cleffa is Asleep
attacks can’t damage Cleffa. Cleffa has
an attack that costs no Energy, called “Eeeeeeek”; it
has you shuffle your hand into your deck, draw six cards
afterwards, then Cleffa is Asleep. The card
itself states “Cleffa” instead of “this Pokémon” because
for some reason, that is just how they wrote cards until
Black & White. Yes, it was really confusing
and it made for longer, clunkier card text when a
situation would arise like when a modern card states a
particular Pokémon name. So… Cleffa just
puts itself to Sleep at the end of using Eeeeeeek; other
Cleffa remain awake. Due to the Poké-Body,
what would normally be a drawback is a significant
bonus, and allowing Cleffa the potential to wall
despite its low HP.
Now those familiar
with the video games know that the designers like to
expand upon an existing Evolution line. Sometimes
it means adding a new final Stage of Evolution, but
sometimes it means adding a new Basic Stage. In
the TCG this has been handled by releasing the new
Pokémon as a Basic, but keeping the next Stage of its
Evolution line as a Basic as well. The original
versions of such Pokémon were a specific subclass of
Basic Pokémon called “Baby Pokémon” by the card text
itself, protected by a Special Rule (the Baby Rule) that
forced an opponent to flip to attack if the opponent’s
Active was a Baby Pokémon. There was also text
that allowed you to Evolve these Baby Pokémon into the
appropriate Basic Pokémon. These were released in
the Neo Genesis and e-card sets, with the latter being
notably weaker. After these, we got Basics that
were not officially referred to as Baby Pokémon by any
in game text, but were still called as such by players
because they all shared a common Poké-Power called “Baby
Evolution” that allowed them to fake Evolving into the
appropriate Basic Pokémon, with the added bonus of
removing all damage counters present. Then comes
the HS-era Pokémon that… can’t Evolve at all.
Sorry! They do all have Sweet Sleeping Face, zero
Energy attacks, and the same bottom stats.
The low HP of
Cleffa (and the other HS-era “Baby” Pokémon) makes
them a huge risk, but ones like Cleffa come with
a huge reward. Eeeeeeek lets you draw the same
amount as you would get from Professor Oak’s New
Theory, which we looked at on
Tuesday.
So every time you can attack with Cleffa it is
similar to having a bonus Supporter… at the cost of your
attack for the turn. So definitely not for
aggressive decks that will use that attack for something
else, but if you have a slower deck that isn’t super
crowded already, you get something to aid in setting up
and (with some luck) stall your opponent. It also
can work with Smeargle, which we covered
yesterday
yesterday,
which has good odds of also allowing you to take an
extra Supporter for the turn. So if all goes well,
that is an effective three Supporters and a little wall.
Not as general usage because - like Smeargle -
it’s a Pokémon and so it takes up Bench space if your
opponent doesn’t KO it and gives up a Prize if they do,
but it is worth at least considering in the Legacy
Format and often great in slower decks. I don’t
think it would do so hot if it were re-released though;
I’m assuming Sweet Sleeping Face would become an
Ability, so plenty of effects like Silent Lab
could easily shut it down, plus Lysandre gets
around it as due the multiple attackers that ignore
effects on the Defending Pokémon. On the unlikely
chance you can participate in a Limited Format event
using cards from HeartGold/SoulSilver or Call
of Legends, Cleffa is a great pull because…
well the same reasons it is good elsewhere, it is just
you have even less options in Limited.
Ratings
Standard:
N/A
Expanded:
N/A
Limited:
5/5
Legacy:
3.65/5
Summary:
Cleffa is a good card in general, and great in
certain decks in the Legacy Format. You usually
won’t need too many; even though you want to open with
it, as a Basic it is often easy enough to search out the
one or two copies you do run. As I didn’t bring it
up in the review,
here
is the one time the review crew looked at this card in
the past. Much like Smeargle it didn’t fare
as well due to the intense competition for opening
Pokémon at the time. Don’t believe me? Pojo
did an
entire
week
of
reviews
for
them.
|
