Pokémon Mega Clefable

[ausma]

Pre-Mega Stats:
HP: 95
Atk: 70
Def: 73
SpA: 95
SpD: 90
Spe: 60

Pre-Mega Abilities: Cute Charm / Magic Guard / Unaware
Pre-Mega Type:

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Mega Stats:
HP: 95
Atk: 80
Def: 93
SpA: 135
SpD: 110
Spe: 70

Mega Ability: Magic Bounce
Mega Type:

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Notable STAB-boosted Moves:
- Moonblast
- Draining Kiss
- Misty Explosion
- Play Rough
- Bounce
- Dual Wingbeat
- Air Slash

Notable Coverage Moves:
- Flamethrower
- Fire Blast
- Mystical Fire
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Stored Power
- Future Sight
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot

Notable Utility:
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Tickle
- Wish
- Imprison
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Moonlight

Notable Setup:
- Calm Mind
- Cosmic Power

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Advantages & Disadvantages

+ Mega Clefable, despite being its own form, has one of the best possible pre-Mega forms you could ask for of a Pokemon. It's no secret that base Clefable is renowned for its inter-generational success and reliability as a disruptor and general-purpose defensive Pokemon. Despite a couple of options being removed, Clefable still does everything you would want a Clefable to do. This quality is especially important in a metagame where there's not only an Item Clause, but one where a majority of powerful items seen in past games have been removed. Because of this and how Mega Stones are immune to item manipulation, Mega Clefable can find opportunities to join teams for the utility of its base form alone, letting you give valuable items to Pokemon in greater need of them while granting its base form added resilience to Knock Off and Trick.
+ Its pre-Mega form has access to two fantastic and unique abilities with good Magic Bounce synergies. Magic Guard Clefable has a very unique interaction with its Mega Evolution being both Stealth Rock weak and having access to Magic Bounce. If you plan to use Mega Clefable, you won't be forced to Mega Evolve it as soon as possible, letting you keep a positional advantage and apply pressure earlier in the battle. In practice, this means you can save the Mega Evolution for when hazards have been removed by a partner and when you're ready to keep hazards off for good with Magic Bounce. Unaware on the other hand commits to a riskier matchup against Stealth Rock, but lets Clefable force switches against setup attackers more reliably and find opportunities to dish utility, deal damage, or set up. Most importantly, though, it can let you also emulate the effects of Magic Guard if needed -- primarily a Toxic immunity -- while having an Unaware Clefable.
+ Mega Clefable actually really likes Item Clause due to the above reasons encouraging the use of multiple Mega Evolution users on the same team, mitigating some opportunity cost often associated with this form.
+ Magic Bounce itself is incredible in this metagame climate due to the culling of Heavy-Duty Boots. Furthermore, due to its defensive typing and extremely wide utility and coverage profile, it can innately pressure hazard setters.
+ Mega Clefable offers a giant array of powerful utility and coverage options that lets users customize its set to the needs of a team. Being a Stealth Rock setter and a powerful disruptor through options like Knock Off, Thunder Wave, and Encore make it and its base form a flexible choice for balance and bulky offense alike.
+ Mega Clefable is much stronger offensively than its base counterpart, letting it make more noteworthy use of its wide coverage profile and powerful Moonblast to beat even more hazard setters 1v1, such as Araquanid, Empoleon, Skarmory, and Gliscor.

- Mega Clefable's added type isn't an incredible synergy and can severely limit Clefable's defensive applications, despite the added bulk. It's true that the added Flying type lets it more reliably beat the likes of Garchomp -- a Pokemon likely to be a top metagame threat -- but introducing a Rock-, Electric-, and Ice-type weakness can make it more difficult to check the wide range of Pokemon you would normally expect Clefable to, such as Weavile, Meowscarada, and potentially even Garchomp running Rock-type coverage. This could limit opportunities you would want to actually Mega Evolve Clefable for. If Stealth Rock manage to be on the field while Clefable is Mega Evolved, this can also be a problem and further cut into its defensive applications.
- Mega Clefable more acutely suffers from 4MSS than its base form. Part of why you would want to Mega Evolve Clefable is for the added power boost, letting you run coverage more potently. However, if you want Mega Clefable partially for Clefable, this can be a bit weird. Clefable's coverage options are less threatening in its base form, which often finds places on teams for its utility profile. This means that toeing the line of utility attacker between having good offense and competent utility can be tricky if you choose to use Mega Clefable for Clefable. You also have the innate problem of your coverage being unlikely to cover all bases; you want Flamethrower for Tinkaton on one hand, Thunderbolt for Toxapex and Empoleon on another, and without very specific options Volcarona/Delphox/Glimmora can generally switch into you very well.
- Mega Clefable is still pretty slow. For an offensive Pokemon, this isn't great, especially with the added weaknesses. This means it will probably be playing more of a juggernaut role in practice, which isn't bad, but could limit how much pressure it can deal into offense. It may also force some Speed investment.

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Potential Sets:

Sets

3A
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast / Air Slash / Draining Kiss
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast / Thunderbolt
- Thunderbolt / Psychic / Shadow Ball / Focus Blast
- Moonlight / Substitute

This set leans into offense and bulk; tanking hits, bouncing back utility moves, and pressuring hazard setters. 8 Speed EVS are to outspeed uninvested Skarmory. Air Slash can be nice to ensure Volcarona doesn't rock your shit, and it's still a decent general purpose STAB as needed. Focus Blast I specifically suggest if running Air Slash so you aren't checked by Archaludon. Substitute I like as a slash since Clefable's speed tier may force some predictions, which Substitute alleviates.

Utility Attacker
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 160 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Mystical Fire / Flamethrower / Fire Blast / Thunderbolt / Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight

This set is my personal attempt at towing the line between offense and utility. Thunder Wave is central to this set, letting Clefable hit Speed tiers that it would otherwise struggle with while disrupting setup sweepers like you'd like a regular Clefable to do, and you have Mystical Fire to prevent shenanigans from Quiver Dance Volcarona and the like while still pressuring Steel-type Pokemon. Specifically, this spread goes for Max Speed Timid Mega Lopunny after paralysis (post-Mega ofc).

I Am Clefable, Waller of Worlds
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Magic Guard / Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Encore / Knock Off / Wish
- Thunder Wave / Stealth Rock / Wish

This set is more or less just Clefable but holding a Mega Stone, meaning that I wouldn't expect a set like this to Mega Evolve often. However, it has the option to, which can be situationally nice! I expect this set to be a fixture of semi-stall/stall for Magic Bounce and its flexibility due to the Mega Stone's utility.

Bulky Calm Mind
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower / Thunderbolt / Knock Off / Thunder Wave
- Moonlight

This set leans into the chemistry between Unaware and Magic Bounce to have a nice blend of strength into opposing setup and status.

Offensive Calm Mind
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast / Air Slash / Draining Kiss
- Flamethrower / Thunderbolt
- Moonlight / Thunderbolt

This set commits to being full force Mega Clefable, taking full advantage of the added strength to exert pressure and potentially win into bulkier balances.

Crit Me Not
Clefable-Mega @ Clefablite
Ability: Unaware / Magic Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Moonblast / Draining Kiss
- Moonlight / Calm Mind

This set takes advantage of the chemistry between Unaware and Magic Bounce to be resilient to setup and status, and, of course, the combination of Cosmic Power and Stored Power to become an unbreakable game-winning force.

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Checks & Counters


These are Pokemon Clefable can situationally beat depending on its coverage and utility profile. If running a more offensive set without Air Slash or the correct coverage move, these Pokemon can either beat us 1v1 or awkwardly force us out. However, none of them like soaking Thunder Wave and some that are a bit faster can be dispatched by a subsequent proper coverage move. A good amount of these checks can also super-effectively threaten Mega Clefable, so you may need to be more aggressive to account for them either with a prediction, Thunder Wave to then outspeed and KO them securely, or Substitute.


These are Pokemon that base Clefable normally is fine into, but are uniquely problems for Mega Clefable due to its added Ice-type weakness. These Pokemon you have to watch out for and gauge the movesets of when choosing the most opportune Mega Evolution moment.


Glimmora is particularly obnoxious for us since it can soak most of our most widely encompassing coverage moves, naturally outspeed us, and threaten us back hard with its STABs. As one of the most likely hazard setters of the tier, Glimmora is a really rough problem for Mega Clefable and a very unfortunate foe to deal with.

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Potential Teammates


Excadrill is an excellent innate removal option that can let Clefable play around in its base form more aggressively, while also having great defensive synergy with it. Excadrill appreciates the added pressure Mega Clefable puts on Pokemon like Skarmory and Corviknight.


Corviknight is a dedicated removal option that has a couple of good defensive synergies with Clefable (both Mega and otherwise) and appreciates not having to click Defog as much once Clefable Mega Evolves, while being able to support Mega Clefable with removal itself. Mega Clefable loves Corviknight's pivoting in general, too.


Volcarona can take advantage of Triple Axel users like Weavile, Meowscarada, and Mega Lopunny and burn them with Flame Body, while also appreciating Mega Clefable's ability to disrupt hazard setting.


Archaludon has a uniquely resilient matchup into Triple Axel thanks to Stamina, but also boasts great defensive synergy with Clefable while providing Stealth Rock support and a secondary Thunder Wave user which can help more offensive sets find breaking opportunities. It likes Clefable's Wish too, if applicable.


Rotom appliances can help ease the pressure into Mega Clefable's added weakness profile while providing a nice pivot into Dragon-type Pokemon and Grass-type Pokemon like Chesnaught. Rotom-Heat appreciates Magic Bounce in particular.

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Overall, I think Mega Clefable has a lot of really interesting synergies and interactions under its belt that most people would not expect nor give much appreciation for. I expect that because of the unique mechanics of the metagame (namely Item Clause) that Mega Clefable may actually be a decent sidegrade to Clefable that may see play more often than we expect, and can in itself provide some utility for the base form into Pokemon like Garchomp and some resilience into item disruption. All of this, I believe, makes Clefable itself better. I don't expect it to be a meta force but I do think it will require a lot of respect despite some clever planning to get full use of. I expect it, however, to be very fun and a lovely addition to the metagame/Clefable's kit.

 

[Espeonage.]

Wonder if we'll see double mega teams with all the item restrictions- good few mons like clef garchomp ttar slowbro which are good without mega evolving and might let you decide which one to evolve situationally

 

[ausma]

Wonder if we'll see double mega teams with all the item restrictions- good few mons like clef garchomp ttar slowbro which are good without mega evolving and might let you decide which one to evolve situationally

I think we will, 100%, and that Clefable will be a big element of them.

 

[TheTraininator]

Yeah, I think the fact that you can run Clefable with its Mega stone without feeling you’re losing too much utility lacking an item while also being able to Mega Evolve for Magic Bounce and less passivity at any point if your other Mega doesn’t prove useful is huge for it. A true option select Mega.