Performage Trick Clown
Performage Trick Clown

Performage Trick Clown – #VASM-EN042

If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 “Performage” monster in your GY; Special Summon it, but its ATK/DEF become 0, then you take 1000 damage. You can only use this effect of “Performage Trick Clown” once per turn.

Date Reviewed:  February 1st, 2024

Rating: 3.63

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.

Reviews Below:


KoL's Avatar
King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Performage Trick Clown is the Throwback Thursday choice this week and one that is fit for the Vaalmonica archetype.

A card that once saw some time on the ban list when mixed into decks that revolved around milling cards to the grave, the “60-Card” style decks. In addition to those decks, it was a weapon in any deck that ran Brilliant Fusion.

Trick Clown is Unlimited now and a must in the archetype. Not only is it an effect monster that will fulfill the requirement for the Link Monsters we review tomorrow, but his ability to bring himself back once per turn when he hits the grave at the cost of 1000LP ensures another Resource Counter in your Pendulum Zone (as long as you have them occupied) and a monster on board. Summon him and link him away for one of your Vaalmonica Link Monsters, bring him back, take the 1000LP, gain a Resource Counter and Link Summon again if you want. Trick Clown being a body on the field isn’t a bad thing either, as him going to the grave via an opponent’s card or battle will only trigger his effect again and net you another Resource Counter.

Trick Clown is a must for the archetype. The LP damage he does to Special Summon himself helps with Resource Counter gathering, is a minimal cost, and he provides the material for your Link Monster. It’s a shame his Type is not Fairy or Fiend, otherwise you would’ve thought he was a precursor to the archetype with how well he fits in. Performage with the their LP effect(s) are a thought to mix into the Vaalmonica archetype, as well as any monster that has an easy LP effect (Destrudo).

Advanced- 3.5/5     Art- 3/5

Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby


Crunch$G Avatar
Crunch$G

Throwback Thursday for this week is a card that once had its shine in the meta in some powerful strategies, and now fits in perfectly with a Deck like Vaalmonica: Performage Trick Clown.

Trick Clown is a Level 4 LIGHT Spellcaster with 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF. Stats are fine, LIGHT is good, and Spellcaster is good. The lone effect triggers when it is sent to the graveyard, letting you target a Performage monster in your graveyard and revive it with 0/0 stats and you taking 1000 damage. Classic for back in the day with Lavalval Chain and Heroic Challenger – Thousand Blades that ran wild in the OCG and never saw the light of day over here, and later it was a good target for Performage Plushfire and Performage Damage Juggler in Performage Pendulums and later Performages and Pals for good Xyz fodder to detach and revive itself for another Xyz. You usually see this in Decks that would mill it to the graveyard to get the free Level 4 body now for a Synchro, Xyz, or Link. Vaalmonica can use this to Pendulum Summon it for those same plays and revive it once it goes to the grave so the 1000 damage gives you a Resonance Counter on Dimonno Vaalmonica. Hard once per turn on this effect, so you can’t revive it as much as your LP allow it in a single turn. Trick Clown isn’t the mainstay in the game it was on release nearly a decade ago, but it has certain Decks it can still go into. The extra body you get for it reviving itself is more valuable than the 1000 damage you’ll take more than likely, but the bricky nature of it likely means you’d only need 1. You got Damage Juggler to search for it, and solid options like Hat Tricker and Flame Eater if you need extra names for something like Vaalmonica.

Advanced Rating: 3.5/5

Art: 2/5 Hardly care for a ton of Performages and Performapals in terms of artwork.


Mighty Vee
Mighty
Vee

Depending on how long you’ve been playing, you will either like or despise Performage Trick Clown, this week’s Throwback Thursday topic. A member of the Performage archetype, Trick Clown is a level 4 LIGHT Spellcaster searchable with Performage Damage Juggler. Presumably, it being a level 4 body is why we’re covering it for Vaalmonica, though they don’t really need it. With a stat spread of 1600 attack and 1200 defense, its stats are unimpressive, though that’s not why you run Trick Clown.

Trick Clown’s claim to fame is its sole hard once per turn effect, triggering if it’s sent to the Graveyard to Special Summon any Performage monster from your Graveyard (notably including itself), at the cost of making both of its stats 0 and inflicting 1000 damage to yourself. Those drawbacks pale in comparison, as Trick Clown is one of the most prominent monsters that help perpetuate the idea that “discarding and being destroyed is a plus!”. In ancient times, Trick Clown was used with Heroic Challenger – Thousand Blades for the infamous Clownblade combo, which weaponized Trick Clown’s damage effect to summon Thousand Blades and set up an easy Rank 4 Xyz. Trick Clown also saw play in Brilliant Fusion combos as a common LIGHT target, becoming a free body. Fortunately, while Trick Clown is still a good card, it’s no longer a game-breaking threat as most decks have caught up with Clownblade’s ability to seemingly summon monsters out of thin air. Mill-focused decks like Tearlaments and Lightsworn can run it as a free body, but for the most part it doesn’t do much else, especially without Lavalval Chain to seamlessly weave it into combo lines.

+Effectively free level 4 body for decks that can dump it
+Enables Rank 4 plays
-Hard to integrate into archetypal combos
-Can brick in some decks if you can’t discard it

Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 3/5 Where is his nose???


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