Can Donphan Make a Comback???

DeepSleepDarkrai

DeepSleepDarkrai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey everyone, I was wondering with all the Zekeel decks running around I was wondering if Donphan is good enough to make a comeback.

The reasons why I feel it can are because of 3 things:1st Donphan has resistance and Exoskeloton which means Zekrom EX can OHKO unless it has pluspower. 2nd Mewtwo EX would have to have 7 energy on it to OHKO Donphan. Lastly because Donphan only needs one energy to attack recovery cards like Max potion and Blissey Prime can keep Donphan out and pumping out the damage. So let me know what you think. Can Donphan get one last go at BDIF.
 
BDIF? No. Not at all. Can Donphan once again become a contender in the metagame? Maybe, it seems to be seeing some success, mostly in Seniors. It is a pain for a lot of decks to play against, but there are simply too many counters. It doesn't fair well against Durant, at all, and MTC carries Tornadus and Eviolite, that gives Donphan some major issues. Not to mention Reshiram EX still gets the OHKO and Donphan struggle against any google's variants still out there. Keep in mind that it can't OHKO Zekrom EX either without Heavy Impact, and even then, if Zekrom has an Eviolite...
 
Vulpix Yolk said:
BDIF? No. Not at all. Can Donphan once again become a contender in the metagame? Maybe, it seems to be seeing some success, mostly in Seniors. It is a pain for a lot of decks to play against, but there are simply too many counters. It doesn't fair well against Durant, at all, and MTC carries Tornadus and Eviolite, that gives Donphan some major issues. Not to mention Reshiram EX still gets the OHKO and Donphan struggle against any google's variants still out there. Keep in mind that it can't OHKO Zekrom EX either without Heavy Impact, and even then, if Zekrom has an Eviolite...
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I do agree not BDIF, and MTC does give it quite the problems. Yes Reshiram EX OHKO it, but considering the setup it takes for Reshiram EX to make that OHKO Donphan can swarm for revenge KO for the prize lead. It can't OHKO ZekromEX with Eathquake, but with Max Potion Donphan can 2HKO Zekrom with or without Eviolite. Donphan isn't used for it attack, but mainly for is great defence and great recovery aspects.
 
I think that Donphan/Dragons with the new Gigalith could be lethal. The ability to KO anything Zek/Eels related the turn after you attack with Donphan can be lethal.

Dragon BladeGigalith - Fighting - HP140
Stage 2 - Evolves from Boldore

[F][C][C] Revenge Cannon: 10+ damage. This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on all of your Benched Pokemon.
[F][F][C][C] Reckless Charge: 120 damage. This Pokemon does 40 damage to itself.

Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 4
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Who else thinks this could see a return of Donphan/Dragons? The only problems I see with this card is its hefty retreat and the fact that its Stage 2 (Not that big of a problem, considering the fact that you can attack with Zekky/Reshi/Kyurem early game while setting them up).
 
Yeah Nigel! I was thinking the same thing: teching Zekrom early-game to assist during setup! I'm also pretty eager to try Twist Mountain and Aerodactyl, with an Aerodactyl AND Plus Power, Donphan can get some KO's quicker!
 
Donphan/dragons will probably not be the BDIF with the arrival of gigalith, but it gains from it. Gigalith can be OHKOd by some of the EXs and it has 4 energy retreat cost. The opponent will probably just catcher up your pokemon and OHKO them. I can see it in Truth I guess where catcher can't be used but still setting up gigalith will be hard. Its too slow to setup and zekeels and MTC will set up a lot faster. The problem I see with it is setting up. I'd rather play it with the Truth will I can just stack up with reuniclus but by then raikou EX will destroy reuniclus and vileplume. Sure it will be better but setting up is the problem. I think that straight terrakion is a better counter against zekeels because its a basic and is faster to set up.
 
I don't see why it can't, seeing as it can't be OHKO'd by Zekrom-EX without a PlusPower, but its damage output just isn't high enough for it to really do anything.
 
don()shinobi said:
I don't see why it can't, seeing as it can't be OHKO'd by Zekrom-EX without a PlusPower, but its damage output just isn't high enough for it to really do anything.
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120 to Electric for a single energy and the fact that it is unable to be return KOd (which means it can attack again, dealing a total of 240) seems like a very high damage output.
 
A huge problem with it is that a single Zekrom EX can OHKO two Donphans in a row with a plus power, and most Eels should be playing at the very least 2 plus powers. That with 4 Junk Arms is plenty of plus powers, and Zekrom EX's are probaby easier to recover than Donphans.
 
Hey hey, while we're on the topic of Donphan, I'd like to say that I'm still working at playing with Donchamp =D! Its not the deck that I'll bring to states, but I've been working at building it to counter-attack the current metagame, and when Dark Explorers is realeased, I think that'll help a lot! Yessiry, Donphan still has plenty of promise in my opinion. Swarming Phan's, and disrupting your opponent with energy/hand removal. I think that's the way to go!
 
Cinema said:
A huge problem with it is that a single Zekrom EX can OHKO two Donphans in a row with a plus power, and most Eels should be playing at the very least 2 plus powers. That with 4 Junk Arms is plenty of plus powers, and Zekrom EX's are probaby easier to recover than Donphans.
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That and 3 Eviolite is staple in ZekEels...
 
IMO, Donphan can make a comeback. It won masters at NJ states with Max Potion tech. It beat all the Zekeels and a Strait Terrakion in the finals.
 
Well Donphan & Dragons seemed to make a comeback with Regigigas EX for Raging Hammer. Perhaps Reuniclus could benefit to the decks' advantage but I feel it's too slow and easy to disrupt.
 
A friend of mine has run donphan for 3 states now and made 2 top cuts almost a third.

Metagame donphan, not at all, it is just an underestimated card. Along with few others.
 
Jason Chin, a prominent Norcal senior, ran Donphan/Tornadus/Mewtwo EX for CA states and was the 7-0, defeating the CTM of Rayvn Pollack, the only player in the area better than Jason.

So yes, Donphan can come back.
 
I created a Donphan/Terrakion/Landorus with a Zekrom (CMT counter, I think the Zekrom needs to be traded for a Mewtwo though, because while Zekrom helps, it doesn't help enough.) tech deck and it seems to do good. I run three plus power to help Donphan OHKO Zekrom, but I haven't seemed to need it, thanks to Landorus. I know the deck seems a bit odd as far as Terrakion decks go, but it does pretty good on set up.

And besides, with Dark Explorers/Rush being domonated by Zoroark/Darkrai EX (such a fun deck), LTD can OHKO that whole deck, so yeah, between the two set's metagame domonates, Donphan could make a huge comeback.
 
Donphan might be able to make a comeback because of darkrai EX but that is in my opinion.
 
zacko2910 said:
Donphan might be able to make a comeback because of darkrai EX but that is in my opinion.
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How? It still takes 2 shots to KO Darkrai and it would waste 2 Catchers.
 
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