Cleffa vs. Smeargle
- Thread starter Blui
- Start date
There's no doubt in my mind that Smeargle is by far the better card and there's no real question about it.
Cleffa's uses are barely even comparable to Smeargle's. Cleffa is normally used early game to help refresh your hand after playing down your first supporter, attaching your energy, and whatnot. It can also be used mid to late game if your hand is completely dead and you need something new to carry you through the rest of the game. An effective use yes, but using your attack per turn to refresh your hand instead of using said attack for a KO/setting up a KO can give your opponent an opportunity to get ahead in the prize trade or simply pull ahead even further on their following turn. Not to mention Darkrai EX has become popular so if you have a Cleffa sitting on the bench it's an easy prize card for your opponent
Smeargle on the other hand has a lot more going for it. Instead of using your attack for the turn, Smeargle can just sit the bench and be used to help you out every turn whenever needed. The one retreat cost doesn't even hurt it with most of the top decks playing Skyarrow Bridge and Switch now. One of the simplest ways to use Portrait is to promote Smeargle after one of your active Pokemon gets KO'd. With 2 Smeargle, Skyarrow Bridge, and Switch in your deck, abusing Portrait becomes extremely easy to and gives you a potential 3 supporters in 1 turn which is just incredible. The only small downsides I can see is not having Skyarrow Bridge or Switch at the correct time and of course the fact that your opponent may not have a supporter, but I find that most of the time my opponent usually has some form of supporter sitting in their hand for their next turn. In the event that they don't have a supporter, you still get to take a look at what's in your opponent's hand which is quite useful for many other reasons.
The ability to use more than one supporter in a single turn is almost too good to pass up. In this fast paced format where setting up quickly should normally be your number one priority, being able to use an extra supporter early on can make all the difference when it comes to setting up and taking your first prize before your opponent.
Cleffa's uses are barely even comparable to Smeargle's. Cleffa is normally used early game to help refresh your hand after playing down your first supporter, attaching your energy, and whatnot. It can also be used mid to late game if your hand is completely dead and you need something new to carry you through the rest of the game. An effective use yes, but using your attack per turn to refresh your hand instead of using said attack for a KO/setting up a KO can give your opponent an opportunity to get ahead in the prize trade or simply pull ahead even further on their following turn. Not to mention Darkrai EX has become popular so if you have a Cleffa sitting on the bench it's an easy prize card for your opponent
Smeargle on the other hand has a lot more going for it. Instead of using your attack for the turn, Smeargle can just sit the bench and be used to help you out every turn whenever needed. The one retreat cost doesn't even hurt it with most of the top decks playing Skyarrow Bridge and Switch now. One of the simplest ways to use Portrait is to promote Smeargle after one of your active Pokemon gets KO'd. With 2 Smeargle, Skyarrow Bridge, and Switch in your deck, abusing Portrait becomes extremely easy to and gives you a potential 3 supporters in 1 turn which is just incredible. The only small downsides I can see is not having Skyarrow Bridge or Switch at the correct time and of course the fact that your opponent may not have a supporter, but I find that most of the time my opponent usually has some form of supporter sitting in their hand for their next turn. In the event that they don't have a supporter, you still get to take a look at what's in your opponent's hand which is quite useful for many other reasons.
The ability to use more than one supporter in a single turn is almost too good to pass up. In this fast paced format where setting up quickly should normally be your number one priority, being able to use an extra supporter early on can make all the difference when it comes to setting up and taking your first prize before your opponent.
Depends on what deck you're playing. Vileplume decks in general benefit more from Cleffa than Smeargle because you rarely play SAB and Switch in those, plus you often can not afford to dedicate a bench spot to Smeargle. Also Cleffa allows you to possibly buy turns when the lock is up. In most other decks, Smeargle is definetely the best choice. Especially with Darkrai EX in the format.
Portrait is a pretty skill-intensive Poké-Power though, so newer players might want to stick with Cleffa until they feel they're ready to move on to Smeargle.
Portrait is a pretty skill-intensive Poké-Power though, so newer players might want to stick with Cleffa until they feel they're ready to move on to Smeargle.
Blui129 said:
That's part of the skill used when using Smeargle's Power as well as the risk. Obviously you won't want to use Portrait in that kind of situation but you can gamble and hope they have another Supporter there.
Personally, I think all 30 HP Pokemon are too high of a risk to be played anymore with things like Darkrai EX in the format. Even in a kind of Trainer Lock deck, I honestly don't think it's viable at all. You go behind in Prizes too fast and all at once too because Darkrai's great ability to take multiple Prizes in one attack allows him to do so.
dmaster out.
I think smeargle may be better because it can't get donked (at least not very easily) as easily as cleffa can. Though cleffa is a guarantee, smeargle's draw power is a poke power so it can help a lot in many situations. Probably the biggest draw back is that it has a one enerGy retreat cost but that can be covered by SAB or trainers.
Smeargle isn't a free prize to Darkrai. That's reason enough to make the switch.
Anything with 30 hp in this format should not be played with Darkrai ex being so prominent. You just can't give up two prizes on a turn where an Ex isn't KO'ed. Even worse, you could lose 3 prizes if an Ex is KO'ed. That is a horrific prize trade. Not to mention that Cleffa has to use an attack whilst Smeargle is only a Poke Power.
This wasn't really a debate before DEX, now it's released, it's just put the final nail in the coffin.
This wasn't really a debate before DEX, now it's released, it's just put the final nail in the coffin.
I think Smeargle is better in most instances but I am kinda curious:
Do you think it's viable in some decks to use both Smeargle and Cleffa? You can use Smeargle's Power and then Cleffa's attack in the same turn. I think I see a way this could be used very effectively although I'm not sure.
Do you think it's viable in some decks to use both Smeargle and Cleffa? You can use Smeargle's Power and then Cleffa's attack in the same turn. I think I see a way this could be used very effectively although I'm not sure.