Clefairy – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.00
Expanded: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Clefairy (SW – Vivid Voltage 063/185) is a baseline Pokémon; no Rule Box or altered name. Considering that means it doesn’t have to sweat any counters to such cards, and is only worth a single Prize when KO’d, that is probably a good thing. It is a Basic Pokémon, so no waiting to evolve into it, or need of other cards for it to hit the field. However, Clefairy can evolve into Clefable, and that’s a nice option to have whether or not any current Clefable cards are worth the effort. The Psychic typing is underwhelming in Standard, but can be potent in Expanded (more/better support). 60 HP is poor, and a little low even for a once-evolving Basic. Even some technical attacks focused on effects over damage will still score a OHKO! The HP almost makes the [M] Weakness irrelevant, but the two align just right for attacks of the 30-for-one variety to score a OHKO. There are a decent amount of 40 or 50 for two attacks that enjoy the same benefit. While any Resistance is better than none, -30 against a single type barely makes any difference with 60 HP. The single Energy Retreat Cost is good; easy to pay, to recover from paying, and to zero out with other effects.
Clefairy knows two attacks. The star is the second attack, “Mini-Metronome”. For [CC], this attack has you flip a coin. If tails, the attack does nothing and you’re done for the turn. If you get heads, you choose an attack printed on your opponent’s Active Pokémon; Mini-Metronome then copies the damage and effects of that attack, but not the printed Energy cost. Even with the coin flip, this is powerful; you can access anything your opponent’s Active can do for a Twin Energy. At least, if you flip heads. You can even copy GX-attacks, unless you’ve already used yours for the game. Some attacks aren’t worth copying, though; “Mad Party” does damage based on the number of Pokémon with Mad Party in your discard pile, so if you’re running none, you’re doing zero. The first attack is only relevant for that reason. “Pound” costs [P] and does 10 damage. Even for a single attachment, it is pretty badly overpriced, but at least you can do some damage when your opponent has nothing worth copying.
In the Standard Format, Clefairy really, really, really wishes the TCG Fairy type was still around. As is, it is still a potential deck focus, back-up attacker, or even TecH. The coin flip is a huge turn off, but if your deck is already focused on coin flips or you have the room to support Clefairy a little, there’s help. Glimwood Tangle eats up your Stadium slot and grants the same benefit to your opponent’s attacks, but it lets you re-flip your coins for an attack. Will costs you your Supporter for the turn, but lets you dictate the result of your next coin toss for an attack, Ability, or Trainer. Just make sure you don’t use Will then accidentally use something else that requires a coin toss. Is it worth all that to reliably copy attacks for [CC]? Certainly not in every deck, but remember that, if the combo is incomplete, you can still try with even odds of success or failure. [CC] is low enough for Twin Energy, Welder, and similar Energy acceleration to cover Mini-Metronome’s full cost in a single turn!
If you’re up against something like Mewtwo & Mew-GX, you can even exploit Weakness… though it will cost you your GX-attack, as the only attack printed on Mewtwo & Mew-GX is “Miraculous Duo-GX”. Clefairy really makes a person wish the TCG Fairy type had persisted into Sword & Shield. Had this been an actual Fairy type, Clefairy may have become the answer to Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX. As is, Mini-Metronome can still be scary good if the coin flips go your way. If you want to try Clefairy as your main attacker, make sure you have some alternates. Sadly, none of the Clefable cards are good attackers, though Clefable (SW – Rebel Clash 075/192) might be good for its Ability. Maybe even Clefable (BW – Plasma Storm 98/135) for its Ability, in Expanded.
Speaking of Expanded, that might be where Clefairy is at its best. You still have the option of Gimwood Tangle and/or Will. You gain access to Trick Coin, Victini (SM – Guardians Rising 10/145), or Victini (BW – Noble Victories 14/101, 98/101; BW – Black Star Promos BW32; BW – Legendary Treasures 23/113). No, you cannot stack the effects of Glimwood Tangle, Trick Coin, or the “Victory Star” Ability of the Victini cards. This was a mistake many, myself included, made because Glimwood Tangle’s effect says nothing about it. You can find the official ruling on the matter here. More options just mean you can either include redundancies (to avoid certain counters), or to allow other combos. For example, an opponent could drop Silent Lab to counter both Glimwood Tangle and either Victini, but Trick Coin would still work. Or maybe you don’t want to use Glimwood Tangle because Expanded has Dimension Valley.
Yeah, put it all together. You get two chances to flip heads for Mini-Metronome and Dimension Valley means you only need [C] Energy, not [CC]. Even if you don’t use Dimension Valley, Expanded has Double Colorless Energy to join Twin Energy, plus Special Charge to recycle them. Other more general perks of the Expanded card pool are Life Dew (give up one fewer Prizes when KO’d) and Muscle Band (do an extra 20 damage). Eco Arm or Lana’s Fishing Rod will let you keep recycling your Tools as well. You’ll still need a backup for when your opponent isn’t worth copying, but this sounds like a fun deck to me… and maybe even a good one. If you want to use Will, Tapu Lele-GX or Jirachi-EX can snag it from your deck, while VS Seeker can recycle it from your discard pile. You might even “go nuts” and try Magnezone (BW – Plasma Storm 46/135). This is Magnezone [Plasma], and its Ability lets you use two Supporters in a single turn.
Ratings
- Standard: 3/5
- Expanded: 3/5
Yes, Mini-Metronome, on average, will fail half the time. Even with that risk, it is a really, really nice option. That would only be good for a two-out-of-five, but I think Clefairy-focused decks have at least a slight chance of working, it gets a three-out-of-five instead.
Vince
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