Donphan (Prime) from HeartGold & SoulSilver (#107), 4/27/2010

dmaster

dmaster

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Guiding questions:
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
5. How's the artwork?

Posts MUST be several sentences long with proper grammar and spelling or they will be deleted - this forum is to discuss specific cards so other people can learn about their potential in the current metagame.
 
On it's own, it's beast! It doesn't really need that much support. Except Flygon, to lower that bad retreat cost.
It's used in many popular decks, like Flyphan.
You can use it with Flygon, to reduce it's retreat cost.
7.5/10 is my rating on it. It has it's problems, and it's really over rated, but in the next format, it'll be even beastlier.
Artwork, it's ok. I'm not a BIG fan of it, but, it's ok.

YES! FIRST POST!
 
1.) Quite good on its own. It has the potential to abuse both BTS and Expert Belt, and to donk your opponent with ease. Luxray GL LV.X will have trouble, because of Donphan's Exoskeleton plus its -20 Resistance to Lightning-types. However, the hype for Donphan seems to have died a little, due to the fact that Gyarados and Kingdra are still around. Sableye/Honchkrow G is just as good at donking, and Donphan will find it difficult to switch out with such a bulky Retreat Cost.

2.) It's primarily used on its own or with Flygon RR, to cut the Retreat Cost. I could see it being used with Nidoqueen RR, in order to constantly heal a powerful Pokemon with so much HP.

3.) I...explained that above?

4.) I will give it a 3/5. It's good, but not great. It's setup may be superior, but I see possible tragedy late-game. Gyarados still owns this dude.

5.) Great artwork! The close-up of Donphan's face makes it look mean and intimidating, and the shine on his tusk make it look even more kick-butt. Very nice work, Kent.
 
1.) Donphan stands on it's own because it is just about the only card in the Heart Gold Soul Silver that can hit a decent amount with decent energy requirements and little catches. Also the fact that it has 120 hp and it's "Exoskeleton" Poke-Body. It is a good card with in reason it does have it's boundaries though but it is worth being played with all the Luxray GL and other Sp variants in our format. Overall it has potential and is worth being played.

2.) The only half competitive deck it is played in is DOnphan/Luxray or a straight Donphan build there were a lot of variants when it first came out but it was another over hyped card that was dumped soon after.

3.) DOnphan can be combined with tons of thing I have seen it pared with Luxray GL X, Regice, Nidoqueen, Blissy (prime), Lubunny, Uxie, and I have even seen it included in a plox build believe it or not.

4.) I would rate it a 3/5 because it definably has potential but isn't necessarily used a lot and has some drawbacks.

5.) Not that amazing or eye poping in my opinion. I could care less about the artwork.
 
Here's a card I'd like to say a few nice things about, but there's nothing nice about it.

The HP of a stage 2, a good PokeBody, attacks that do a heap of damage for low cost, with a hefty retreat cost. And it's just a stage 1. Can this card work by itself? Let me put it this way: My brother got one in the pre-release. Two of his opponents forfeit right after he played it. It's a beast. There's nothing about it that's hard to understand. It's pure, non-elegant power.

There are a few cards it works well with. With an Expert Belt, it's doing 80 damage for only 1 energy. Nidoqueen helps it make the most out of it's Exoskeleton PokeBody, and gives you a way to cope with the residual damage from Earthquake. Flygon eliminates it's retreat cost, which was it's only drawback. I wouldn't be surprised to see it paired with other cheap fighting types, such as Machamp.

There's no special formula to killing it, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. It's Exoskeleton can get in the way, but it's not too dependent on it. Dialga G lv X would be great to have to eliminate Exoskeleton, with the fringe benefit of eliminating the pokebodies we usually see on pokemon that accompany Donphan, Maternal Comfort on Nidoqueen and Rainbow Float on Flygon. If you have water types, good. If you rely on electric types, your match is almost an auto-loss at that point. Anything you use, prepare to take a beating. As with many quick-donk pokemon, it loses it's impact as the match drags on, and it's outclassed by the giants that find their way into play. The tough part is getting to that point. Oh yeah, it can't do anything to Shedinja from Supreme Victors.

Donphan from HeartGold and SoulSilver gets a score of 3.5 out of 5.

My peers have already called this card over-rated. Do I agree with them? Yes. But Donphan is still a beast, and brutalizes anything that doesn't set up as fast. And that's nearly anything.
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
Pro card. 1 energy for 60 damage? WHOA. You bet its worth being played.
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
Flygon to remove retreat costs.
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
Above. :)
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
4.5/5, only because it has such a huge retreat cost.
5. How's the artwork?
Hottt. Looks mean and ready to ram. Looks powerful and relentless.
 
1. This card stands great on its own. Arguably its better solo with just a few uxies for company and a whole lot of T/S/S like the one that won in (Texas?) states.
2.On its own, with flygon,machamp or even the occasional luxchomp parings.
3.Its best when with an e-belt on it in my opinion.Its low energy cost lets it be very social with other decks especial those with a luxchomp/SP problem.
4. 4.0 not a groundbreaking card but solid nonetheless.
5. 4.2 like its pose, it looks powerful as a card like this should, but wish I could see more of it. Not a big fan of the prime artwork compared to the Lv.Xs.
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
Defiantly worth being played 60 for 1 energy.
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
It can be used with Luxray GL but its very hard. Iv'e only seen that played once.
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
Great with Mantric, and Nidoqueen.
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
4.5 of 5 stars
5. How's the artwork?
I personally love the artwork on this card 10/10 :)
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
this card can stand on it's own. doing 60 for 1 energy and no draw backs. if you go sceond you can belt it and do 80 damage.

This card can also take down alot of decks like Luxchomp and Blazray. any elcetirc decks are done for and for any other deck like machamp and SP can be in trouble.

2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
this card can be used on it's own as well with a load of other cards like flygon and machamp.

4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).

I give this card a 8.9 out of 10. this card can be used in a deck of it's own or with other cards. however this deck falls to the mighty Gyarados and Kingdra because of it's water weakness.

5. How's the artwork?
the artwork isn't that bad. i like the close up of Donphan's face. it's very detailed.
 
1. Awesome Card. 60 damage for 1 energy is always worth being played. Not to mention is awesome survivability.

2. Works great with Flygon. Takes out the nasty retreat cost.

3. I personally use it with flygon, nidoqueen, and manetric. Pones my brother every time. It is an awesome combo, great for survivability and hard-hitting.

4. 4/5. Great card. I love it. Resists a lot of stuff and hits hard and fast. But, as mentioned before, water decks destroy it. Gyarados is a big one, for sure.

5. 5/5. Come on! Who doesn't love a stubby elephant looking cool? :p It looks so ready for battle, with shining tusk. It rules. :cool:
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played? YES it hits hard, hard to kill
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
Flyphan is the best but that is it
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
It needs exploud, nidoqueen, i tried nidoking, it did well it won me the game once.
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
I 5/5 it doesn't have any cofusion how to play it, it is simple attack no switch and discard it is the way the game should be played. As long as exploud is played then it does well.
5. How's the artwork?
3/5 it is cool but it would be better if it was like a level x it comes at you :cool:
 
Great Card and was seen very often in the masters division and also seniors at Regionals as well as Juniors Played it
 
1. it's 1 energy for 60 dmg make's it a fast and annoying card to play against your opponent.
2. donphan? flyphan.
3. manectric PT (to stop dmg done to your bench pokemon), blissy prime (heal), various other's that can offer a secondary line of attack and complement donphan of his chubbyness at the same time.
4. 3/5 can be stalled, x2 weakness, power shutdown and smacked around (if you were to play a very odd deck meant to takeout donphan t1).
5. i'm not a fan of the artwork.
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or has potential? Is it worth playing?

Donphan really can be a beast on its own. He is basically a tank. He can hit hard and take hits very nicely. The Poke-body is what makes him a tank. The ability to reduce 20 damage for every hit it takes is very nice. His ability to hit for 60 for one energy is really why he is very popular. Through this attack, he can donk. Now that's monstrous. Of course, I'm not so sure if you'll be using Earthquake (90 for 3 {F}) though as it really does cost lots of energies. Thus, it is good, has potential, and it is worth playing, especially when it comes to countering Luxray Gl Lv.X

2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?

There are lots of decks Donphan is used in, but I'll name a few that are actually quite recognizable. Flyphan is one deck. It uses Flygon and Donphan as main attackers; however, the deck also uses Flygon to give Donphan a free retreat, which greatly helps because Donphan has a heavy retreat cost. Another deck that, right now, is the most focused on Donphan deck is Donphan/Uxie. This focuses heavily on Donphan, with Uxie used for drawpower. It will also run 1 Relincanth too. The deck will notably use lots of trainers as well.

Now that we talked about the decks we see Donphan as an attacker, lets talk about the decks that seems to use Donphan as a tech. That's right, Donphan has been used in decks as a tech. The main reason? To counter Luxray GL Lv.X. One deck that seems to use this is Gyarados/Luxray. It is your average Gyarados, but it has Donphan as a backup for attacking Luxrays that come in your way. Of course, there my be other decks using this concept too, but I'm not so sure of which other decks will use Donphan as a tech since Gyarados is the only one that comes into mind.

3. What comboes can you use it with? How so?

Manectric really does come into mind. Have one in play on your bench, and then put a Bench Shield on it, and Earthquake won't be making any damage at all to your bench. Nidoqueen seems to come into mind as well. It lets you heal Donphan every turn. Out of the two though, Manectric seems to be better because it is a stage 1; so, it is faster to set up. Nidoqueen would work when you run Donphan with a stage 2, like Flygon.

4. Give it a rating and exxplain why you would give it that rating.

I would give Donphan a 4/5. Donphan is a really good card. He has a very nice potential to donk with an attack that can do 60 for one {F} energy. He can even take damage very nicely because of the Poke-body. Since he is fighting and has {L} resistance, he is an excellent counter to Luxray GL Lv.X. Now the main problem with Donphan is that he has {W} weakness, which really hurts because of Gyarados and Kingdra being in the format right now, and it has a very heavy retreat cost, so you may need to consider runnning Warp Energies, Switches, Warp Poins, Super Scoop Ups, or maybe even Flygon.

5. How's the artwork?

It does look cool I must say. Donphan really does look like its giving you an evil stare. It even gives you the look that says, "I'm ready to battle!" The shine of his tusk really emphasizes this also.
 
1. the beast stands on it's own quite nicely. with expert belt and defenders coming out next set(go hs unleashed!!!!)take away 40d.
being a one stage evl makes it even more beastly having 2trns to come out.
2. flyphan with nidoqueen and manetric.
3. ditto and not the pokemon:rolleyes:
4. 10/10 i just cant beat the donphan decks
5. its ieyt
 
1. By itself, it's pretty bad. 80 belted doesn't look like bad damage, but with the new Kingdra coming out that does the exact same thing without 10 to benched, it will be looked upon as useless. It is destroyed in today's metagame and once Unleashed is released it will be dead. 2 New water decks coming out in Unleashed - Gatr/Toise and Kingdra.
2. Flyphan is it's biggest metagame. I've seen DonChamp and Donphan just by itself played before, but they don't do much better than Flyphan.
3. Flygon gives it free retreat and (you can't play Flygon without Nidoqueen at all!!!) no damage to benched. Champ is a substitute for Flygon with basically the exact same list, and Donphan by itself plays Manectric and Bench Shield so you only play BTS and no candy.
4. 6/10. A mediocre card at best that has itself beat in today's metagame.
5. Meh. Okay.
 
{F}This donphan is by far one of the best cards to use in a fighting deck because it can attack very quickly and the fact that donphan is a stage one means u can put him into battle nearly on your second turn every time, if your deck is set up right. Also that means you would be dishing out atleast 60 damage 2nd turn. I can see myself running this with an ursaring prime from the unleashed set, and having ursaring take the 10-20 damage on the bench from donphan's earthquake because it only makes ursarings attacks stronger. So it really comes together, and maybe running a pokemon that can heal the damage like blissey prime because the fact that donphan doesnt need much energy to attack means blissey's discard energy/completely heal your pokemon works out fantastic because you can attach an energy that same turn to donphan and continue to attack and have his hard to kill steven seagal ass ready for another war!!!
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
very good, only with one energy it can one hit kill almost basic pokemon (usually non SP).Also the pokebody allows u to defend 20 damage every attack that hit.

2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
FLYGON lv x!! lol

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
i used in my steelix prime and flygon lv x deck

4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
4.7 stars

5. How's the artwork?
it looks like cool and for me it is really awesome design for the prime card...
 
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential? Is it worth being played?
Donphane stands out on its own very good! i as once facing a flyphane and lost because of how Donphane's energy cost. i think it is a little to good for three fight energys and no discarding energy's or damage to it's self.
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
Flyphane
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
the combos is when you have a flygon with the pokepower that any pokemon can have a free retreat cost if flygon has the same basic energy as the retreating pokemon does. flyphane makes it that there is bearly any weakness.
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
rating 5/5, i think its just to good
5. How's the artwork?
the art works great!
 
1. this card is definetly worth being played
2. this card is played in donqueen and flyphan
3. a card that is played with donphan prime is nidoqueen because it heels it off the bench
4. 5/5 stars, donphan is a beast
5. the artwork is awesome as well
 
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