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Ness' Card of the Day Clefable
"After seeing what it did at the STS, I think we definitely need to have a look at it."-PoJo "Extraordinarily strategically advantageous!"-Colin Peterik "I have wings, but I can't fly. I have a headache. What's next? Is a trainer going to catch me? Ah!! Erika!"-Clefable (Joe Brom) "Clefable? What a copycat!"-Doll "A quote to describe Clefable? Umm... pink?"-Souper "Clefable.. is pink."-Dux "The greatest Pok�mon there is. Just for one day."-Scott 11.23.00 I haven't really got a CotD for a while, I've been really busy with the STS, school, and a bunch of other things, but now I'm back. I met a lot of people that know me online at the STS, and I met a bunch of really cool people. Somewhere on the web-site Scott posted that he "designed my deck" for the STS. This is a misunderstanding, I was playing a Wiggly/Fable, and he talked me into playing Mewtwo as extra back-up, that's all. I got a little quote happy, I like how Dux and Souper decided not to mention how to play it, but how it is.. pink. Scott's quote, if you don't know, refers to Clefable's power at the Super Trainer Showdown. Well, I'm done with the quotes and news, or whatever this section is, time to look at Clefable.
When Clefairy evolves, it keeps the same attack, but it goes down from 3 to 1 energy. The ability to copy any attack, and even more importantly, not have to do anything required in order to use that attack, is just amazing. Clefable gains a large advantage over a lot of Pok�mon with this.
Let's look at some popular, or at least semi-popular cards that Clefable has a huge advantage over because of metronome. Rocket's Zapdos- for one colorless energy, Clefable simply just does 70 to it. One-hit KO, for one energy. And the damage? As long as Clefable has a non-lightning energy card attached to it, it takes NO damage. If it's a lightning, it takes 10. Rocket's Zapdos is becoming very popular in tournament environments, and because of that, Clefable might actually become more of a tournament-level used card. Ninetales- yes, I know: not too many people play Ninetales. But if they do, you can get another one hit K.O for one energy, with no drawbacks! Clefable does not have to discard an energy, it just simply does 80, and KO's a Ninetales. Wow. Zapdos- base Zapdos is even more fun to KO with Clefable, as one colorless does 100! No drawbacks! The cards mentioned above are among the used cards that Clefable has the biggest advantages over. Clefable's metronome gives it still a huge advantage, but not one hit KO's against: Arcanine- metronome can do a simple 50 with no drawback, or Clefable can take 80 and 30 to itself. I personally think it would be best to get 20 on Arcanine, then Take Down for the K.O! If Arcanine can't build up fast enough, Clefable's one colorless metronome gains the advantage and double Flamethrower's for the knockout. Charizard- yes, we all know Charizard pretty much just stinks, but anyone that does use it will be in trouble when Clefable fire spins for 100, with no drawbacks. Rocket's Mewtwo- for one energy, Clefable is a PlusPower away from the knockout, plus it could Juxtapose to heal itself, but flips are annoying, plus it is impossible to knockout a Mewtwo with Clefable by using Juxtapose, as Clefable can never have more than 60 damage. Remember that Clefable stays colorless, and does not do 120 to Mewtwo by copying Psyburn. Gyarados- double Dragon Rage for the KO, or if it has at least 10 damage, you might consider trying to paralzye it by metronoming a Bubblebeam, then Dragon Raging for the KO. Wigglytuff- Wiggly is just so fast, that made it hard to put on this list, but it is possible for a one hit KO with 2 PlusPowers, or once it takes 20, Fable makes the one energy KO Blaine's Ninetales- Also a PlusPower away from a K.O. Remember, Clefable will not have to discard the energy if it flips tails with the attack. You probably wouldn't flip, anyway. Mewtwo- if your opponent is low in cards, you can try to keep his Mewtwo active, afterall, it's hard to get out of the way, with a three retreat cost, and psychic won't hurt a Fable unless it's got a lot of energy cards attached, which it won't. You can metronome Barrier to stall, which does not require you to discard the psychic energy. Not a bad idea, but who plays base Mewtwo anymore? These are just some of the many cards that Clefable has a huge advantage over.
Where does metronome fail to gain a large advantage? Against small attackers, or against surprise one hit KO's. Here's a good example: You have your brand new shiny Clefable out! It has no damage! It just took out a Ninetales and a Zapdos! Your opponent sends out Jigglypuff and pounds for 20. "Big deal, it's only 20." So you keep smiling and singing and pound it back. Then next turn Wiggly, FULL BENCH, 3 UNNECESSARY PLUSPOWERS, DO THE WAVE!! KNOCKOUT!! You lose the game!! And you're screaming "Oh my what have I done," and your opponent is just throwing your cards all over the table, the little kids watching the game are screaming- the 4 year old kid wet himself and is bawling his eyes out, all because you didn't play the energy removal. Well, small attackers do have an advantage over Clefable, especially small fighting attackers. By small attackers, I mean decent HP, and an attack that doesn't do too much, but enough. For example, base Machop. Boom. 40. Metronome only deals 20 back, ouch. Even if Clefable attacks first it will get knocked out first, unless you play a PlusPower. Another decent card against Clefable is base Onix, unless they metronome Harder and manage to stall. Even Minimize stops Rock Throw. Machop is just better. Hitmonchan isn't bad against it either, it pretty much comes down to who attacks first. Ditto against Clefable is really just a stalemate. What's interesting though, is minimize becomes an option for one colorless now because of metronome. Ditto is normally put up against Fable to buy time to get some threats on Clefable.
Only needing one energy to copy all of the defending Pok�mon's attacks means Clefable is not vulnerable to Energy Removal, infact it works great with Super Energy Removal, and Pok�mon Center, since you lose one energy to remove up to 60. Just make sure you don't have something built up with damage on it, on the bench if you play Center, since you'll lose all your energy.
Minimize really isn't something that you'll use a lot if you play Clefable, it needs more energy then Metronome. It can be useful, or at least more useful than metronome, in situations where you need to stall, or when Metronome is useless. (another Clefable, Ditto, damaged Mr. Mime)
Sing is terrible, you have a 50% chance to put them asleep, then they have a 50% chance to wake up if you do even manage to get them asleep. Metronome can still be used, but it cost 3 energy, making Clefairy vulnerable to Energy Removal, but it's more vulnerable to knockouts. Chan gets the one hit knockout, and a lot of games have ended on turn one because of Hitmonchan against a Clefairy. Clefairy should be evoled as soon as possible, and so should almost anything with 40 HP that's weak to fighting!
Clefable has gained power with the release of Challenge, but it's important to evolve it immediately, or it won't have a chance to perform some if it's amazing abilities. I think Clefable deserves a 7.0. Clefable has been able to do decent in tournament environments, but Rocket's Zapdos will make it more popular. At the Super Trainer Showdown, Clefable shut down Venusaur and especially Rocket's Zapdos. Under 15/3 format, Clefable deserves a higher rating of 9.5. Clefable is the reason that my rating of Rocket's Zapdos might actually be a 9.5 instead of a perfect 10. I described my rating system better, but remember, just because something has less than a 7 level doesn't mean it can't be in a deck that will win a standard tournament, it just probably won't be, and if there are any in a tournament-successful deck, there's probably only one in the deck.
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