Donphan - Could it do well in a post-DE format?

Blui129 said:
Which Donphan is this? The CoL one? If so wait for rotation. There mighht not be any Donphan left after rotation, and Terrakion and Landoeus are better, both attacks are very useful.

Oh, HS one, GONE.
Click to expand...

not till rotation. theres 3 tournaments between dark explorers and rotation
 
Hmm..I think maybe more than "possibly" an eels variant I would plan to see since zekeels is still really good.
 
I used to play D and D, but it has a terrible CMT matchup and against things that are not lightning or dark it struggles. I do think speed donphan has potential though and maybe adding some aerodactyl or terrakion
 
I have a Donphan/Yanmega built now. It handles Dark Toolbox well enough, and Zekrom Eels fine. CMT isn't that hard- Yanmega, Mewtwo and Zekrom take care of that. Plus Donphan kills Celebi, so it isn't a total deadweight in that matchup. I truly don't see anything wrong with it. The issue is that you have to keep swarming Donphans, but that shouldn't be too hard. Heavy Ball picks it out.
 
I've found that with the addition of Heavy Ball in combination with Dual Ball it is extremely consistent, and easily swarms Donphans. The only supporters I run are draw supporters, the rest is a very heavy trainer line. I can post the list, if anybody cares to see it.
 
The reason this doesn't see play is the same reason Typhlosion doesn't see play. They're both outclassed by other cards. Typhlosion has been replaced by Eelektrik, and Donphan has been replaced by Terrakion.
 
I think that, if played correctly, it can do things Terrakion can't. It can abuse Max Potion amazingly, while Terrakion takes damage permanently. It's also quite a bit faster than Terrakion, and can take out basics much more effectively.
 
Cinema said:
The reason this doesn't see play is the same reason Typhlosion doesn't see play. They're both outclassed by other cards. Typhlosion has been replaced by Eelektrik, and Donphan has been replaced by Terrakion.
Click to expand...

Well, Donphan has an amazing resistance to Lighting, and theoretically more HP. I like Donphan more because it has tech room for things. And, it just seems more consistent, probably because it doesn't rely on always getting that Energy drop and EXP Share.
 
So what would work with donphan? Since there have been cards released since the initial d@d lists, what would help the big elephant keep up with the meta?
 
I think that, based off of the fact that it has a tremendous amount of speed cards to work with, a speed/counter deck is the way to play it right now. I personally use Donphan as the main attacker (obviously with a 4-4, countering the abundance of {D} and {L}), with Zekrom (for any random {W} decks), Tornadus (for other {F} decks) and a Terrakion (for revenge KO's). However, I only run 1-2 of each of the techs and a 4-4 Donphan. This is so I can just use speed to keep up in the prize exchange, with the tech to make sure that I come out ahead in said prize exchange.
 
Snorlax_71 said:
So what would work with donphan? Since there have been cards released since the initial d@d lists, what would help the big elephant keep up with the meta?
Click to expand...

Yanmega? Donphan will only hit for 40 on a Tornadus however, Yanmega hitting for 70 will finish the job obviously without the Eviolite. I know there has been talk of possibly including Aerodactyl in there as well. I personally don't know what EX's you could include. Groudon might be the obvious choice however, Mewtwo to counter CMT as that's probably your worst match up. On the flip side, I've also heard about pairing Terrakion with Yanmega so it's player preference. I would personally like to think Donphan has a place in the new format.
 
Donphan is much better than Terrakion IMO. He can hit harder and faster. 60 damage for 1 energy is excellent. I'm still using Donchamp after all this time and I love it! I've got 2 Landorus in TCG Online, but 1 Terrakion IRL. He's kind of a placeholder until I get Landoruses IRL! I need to get my hands on a few more copies of that card, as well as some Aerodactyls! With a couple Aero's, Donchampland can OHKO 170 Basic EX's!! Add a pluspower or Rocky Helmet, and he can beat the new 180 Basic EX's, too!
 
I've tested it and not really. Most of these decks can beat Donphan because Donphan can't pull off big moves like the energy accel. decks. It is just 60 a turn and they can't really surprise anyone.
 
iisnumber12 said:
I've tested it and not really. Most of these decks can beat Donphan because Donphan can't pull off big moves like the energy accel. decks. It is just 60 a turn and they can't really surprise anyone.
Click to expand...

Do I get to say I told you so? :p

Anyways, Donphan has a lot of things that make him inferior to Groudon and Terrakion. Whenever I face a random Donphan, I always go aggro Zekrom EX and then aggro Mewtwo. Donphan cannot OHKO Zekrom EX like Terrakion can, and Zekrom EX only needs to use 1-2 Pluspowers to OHKO until Donphan's bench damage have made them unnecessary. Because they are Stage 1s, a prize trade will always be in my favor. Once Zekrom EX is knocked out, Mewtwo EX just cleans up, only being 3HKOed by Donphan but harder to set up. If the Donphan player has one of his own, then I'll KO that one with another Mewtwo. He should struggle to get the 2nd if he even plays it, especially if you N him to 2.

Donphan has a pretty good CMT matchup though, and I think it's Darkrai matchup would be ok.
 
alexmf2 said:
Do I get to say I told you so? :p

Anyways, Donphan has a lot of things that make him inferior to Groudon and Terrakion. Whenever I face a random Donphan, I always go aggro Zekrom EX and then aggro Mewtwo. Donphan cannot OHKO Zekrom EX like Terrakion can, and Zekrom EX only needs to use 1-2 Pluspowers to OHKO until Donphan's bench damage have made them unnecessary. Because they are Stage 1s, a prize trade will always be in my favor. Once Zekrom EX is knocked out, Mewtwo EX just cleans up, only being 3HKOed by Donphan but harder to set up. If the Donphan player has one of his own, then I'll KO that one with another Mewtwo. He should struggle to get the 2nd if he even plays it, especially if you N him to 2.

Donphan has a pretty good CMT matchup though, and I think it's Darkrai matchup would be ok.
Click to expand...

Yes you do. Terrakion is just much better than Donphan and Donphan's time is over.
 
Donphan is arguably the biggest troll in the format aside from Durant that doesn't know when to give up regardless of Type Disadvantage. It can do 120 damage to at least 2 out of 3 popular metagame decks and with the new Aerodactyl and Twist Mountain it could be a major beast. Infact just the idea of running Donphan with Aerodactyl and Twist Mountain, yeah I wouldn't be surprised If it makes the Top Cut at Spring Battle Roads.

The only popular {W} Types in the format that give Donphan problems are Kyurem and Cryogonal both of which are weak to {M} which means that Cobalion NV is an amazing tech with Donphan and If they stall with Tornadus EX then run Regular Zekrom to counter it with Outrage since the recoil from Donphan's Earthquake attack works so well with it. Here's a sample decklist I came up with:

Pokemon (16)

4-4 Donphan Prime
0-3 Aerodactyl DE
2 Cobalion NV
2 Zekrom BW
1 Cleffa HS

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums (32)

4 Pokemon Collector
4 Junk Arm
4 Professor Juniper
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
4 Twist Mountain
3 N
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Heavy Ball
1 Pokegear 3.0
1 Switch
1 Revive

Energies (12)

8 {F}
4 Prism Energy

Deck Total (60)
 
NO 4 Twist Mountain, You only need 2 because you will draw into them quickly anyway and you don't want the other 3 clogging up your hand.
 
Whoa, 7 spots dedicated to a bad Pluspower? If you want extra damage, just run 4 Pluspower. More consistent, easier to get, can't be denied by the opponent (Catcher), etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top