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Donphan / Sigilyph

Carpey

Carpey

Deck Experimenter
Member
Pokemon:15

  • 4 Donphan
    4 Phanpy
    2 Sigilyph LTR
    1 Kyurem LTR
    1 Zekrom LTR
    1 Dedenne LTR
    1 SeismitoadEX
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:33

  • 4 Professor Juniper
    4 N
    1 Colress
    2 Korrina
    1 Lysandre
    1 Lysandre's Last Resort
    2 Bicycle
    3 Ultra Ball
    1 Computer Search
    1 Professor's Letter
    2 VS Seeker
    1 Startling Megaphone
    3 Muscle Band
    3 Float Stone
    2 Switch
    3 Fighting Stadium
Energy:12

  • 4 Strong Energy
    4 Double Colorless Energy
    4 Fighting Energy

Strategy:
Ok so I'm deciding to make a Donphan deck because I found a good deal on a Plasma Storm booster box and it's my favorite type of deck: Cheap with a lot of options. I do not expect this list to be anywhere near final because I have 0 experience in using/playing against Donphan and thus have no knowledge of what a list should look like. Everything is standard for now(eg. 4 Juniper 4 N). I would prefer to have input from people that have experience or some kind of knowledge about Donphan but any feedback is welcome :D.

Here's the idea of Donphan: You use Donphan's Spinning Turn attack to deal massive damage quickly and then promote the ideal Pokemon for the situation. Promoting Sigilyph forces the opponent to waste resources and run out of steam early on. This is the main wall and is especially effective against Vir/Gen and Plasma Lugia. Zekrom forces an YveltalEX player to waste resources to OHKO Zekrom. Then Dedenne can take advantage of the loaded Yveltal for easy prize trade. If they can't OHKO Zekrom, then chances are it will have enough damage to OHKO Yveltal using Outrage. Kyurem is for LandorusEX, who can't OHKO Kyurem without wasting a bunch of resources. Then Kyurem can take care of Landorus. Dedenne's Entrainment isn't too bad in a tight spot. MewtwoEX takes care of any Psychic-weak Pokemon and is great to force a 7th prize. Usually you'll be closing games out with Donphan's Wreck attack though, which does 80+60 damage if there is a Stadium in play.

Thanks for reading all this, if you actually did read it :p. Here's a cookie (#)

Oh, and two more things. 1: I'm not going to consider Trevenant. It takes up too much space. 2: I'm just kidding there was only one extra thing I wanted to say.

Past Lists
Pokemon:14

  • 4 Donphan
    4 Phanpy
    2 Sigilyph LTR
    1 Kyurem LTR
    1 Zekrom LTR
    1 Dedenne LTR
    1 MewtwoEX
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:33

  • 4 Professor Juniper
    4 N
    1 Colress
    1 Shauna
    2 Lysandre
    2 Bicycle
    3 Ultra Ball
    1 Computer Search
    1 Professor's Letter
    1 Sacred Ash
    1 Startling Megaphone
    4 Muscle Band
    3 Float Stone
    2 Switch
    1 Escape Rope
    3 Fighting Stadium
Energy:12

  • 4 Strong Energy
    1 Double Colorless Energy
    7 Fighting Energy
Pokemon:15

  • 4 Donphan
    4 Phanpy
    2 Sigilyph LTR
    1 Kyurem LTR
    1 Zekrom LTR
    1 Dedenne LTR
    1 Mr.Mime
    1 KeldeoEX
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:33

  • 4 Professor Juniper
    4 N
    1 Colress
    2 Korrina
    2 Lysandre
    2 Bicycle
    3 Ultra Ball
    1 Computer Search
    1 Professor's Letter
    1 Sacred Ash
    1 Startling Megaphone
    3 Muscle Band
    3 Float Stone
    2 Switch
    3 Fighting Stadium
Energy:12

  • 4 Strong Energy
    4 Double Colorless Energy
    4 Fighting Energy
 
Looks quite solid to me. I've come across a few similar builds on TCGO and they are fast and deadly.

I notice you have a lot of tools. Would some Skylas or even an Elesa help you get them more quickly? Or do your current draw supporters work well to bring you all the tools you need?

Since you're into the idea of walling and making the opponent over-extend themselves I think Soul Dew would make a good ACESPEC for this deck (given that you add 2-3 Skyla to make up for loss of Computer Search). All but one of your Pokemon are non-EX so Soul Dew really would force the opponent to take 7 prize cards, giving you time/opportunity to set up again if you were in a tight spot.
 
I think you need more Double Colorless. The whole reason you play Outragers is to do some serious damage with them once they take a hit. You should drop Dedenne for Reshiram as a Virizion / Genesect counter. It's a perfect starter against that deck too. If they Emerald Slash Reshiram, then with a Muscle Band you can one shot back.

-1 Dedenne
-1 Shauna
-1 Escape Rope
-3 Fighting Energy

+1 Reshiram
+2 Korina; Really good in Donphan. Similar to Skyla, but you get to pull out Donphan.
+3 Double Colorless Energy

Other choices to consider:

Keldeo EX:
This card makes retreating that much easier. Just one Float Stone on your field, and you can retreat anything, which is really good because it preserves your Float Stones in case your opponent plays Startling Megaphone. That way you don't lose all of your Float Stones because you had to retreat different things during the game.

Pokemon Fan Club:
Helps out a lot in getting set up, but getting a lot of Basics out quickly turn one is not as important in Donphan / Sigilyph as it is in Donphan / Trevenant. You also have to play more than one for it to really matter, and at that point, it starts to take up space. I don't think it's a bad idea to consider it though.
 
One option to consider is raichu, raichu is a great counter to yvetal decks and gives free retreat.
Also, have four float stone, they are your bread and butter of the deck.
Replace some muscle bands with silver bangle: you will be mostly facing against exs and denenne with silver can hit yvetal for 170 if yvetal has three energy attached. Zekrom is not needed as much to lightning weak pokemon. Denenne or raichu can get the job done.
Take out mewtwo ex, mr. mime is more important as it can block bench damage. You can use sigilyph to block exs anyway.
Robo subsitute is a great option because it acts like a wall and your opponent takes no prize cards for it. You can discard it whenever you want during your turn. Take out some cards for korrina because its a really great card to search out phanpy and donphan.
Add a Xerosic as a one of: you don't want to have an automatic loss against item lock decks.
 
Hi everyone! Thanks for the replies.

I'm definitely going to add Korrina, which somehow slipped my mind. Maybe even a 3rd one. It just seems like the most important card to this deck besides Strong Energy. Life Dew is cool to annoy your opponent but then I can't attach Muscle Bands or Float Stones.

I considered PFC but I just don't like it. Korrina is way better anyways. I also want to add KeldeoEX if I can find a spot to put it in. Does replacing a DCE with Keldeo seem like a good move, since Enhanced Hammer and Xerosic are going to become things? My logic here is that I can be more careful in when I play the DCE if I can abuse switching power, but there's also the argument that if I play 4 then having one discarded doesn't hurt too much. Reshiram... well I'm unsure about it but am aware of it's power against Virizion because I play two in my other deck. Playing it as a one-of also means that it will be harder to start with it but I'll keep Reshiram in mind.

I like the Mr.Mime idea. Using MewtwoEX has been pretty rare since I keep using my DCE on other attackers. Robo-Sub and Xerosic are still really new so I'll start adding Phantom Forces cards after I have tested thoroughly and found good counts for them(So far I can say for sure that 2 Vs Seeker is best as a 2-of from my testing). The deck doesn't do too bad against Item lock anyways, provided I can get a Float Stone on a Pokemon first turn. Maybe I could bump them up to 4 to ensure that. Silver Bangle could be maybe a one-of at most, because they would hurt my mirror match a lot.

And Raichu is a definite no. More evolution cards will shred the consistency.
 
Yay, Phantom Forces is officially released. Time to add the new cards in.

I did some testing and don't really like KeldeoEX that much. It's great when I'm able to draw into it quickly, but there are better things to search for. Lysandre's Last Resort can get back any Megaphoned tools anyways. I decided against Mr.Mime too, because really the only major bench hitter is Landorus, but that deck plays Garbodor. SeismitoadEX seemed like a good 10th Basic, because it should help out a lot in a mirror match.

Added 2 VS Seeker, as it's a pretty solid card.

I've noticed that there are far too many bad Junipers during testing, but I don't know what to replace one with.
 
Hello! So here is my personal opinion on Donphan decks. Have you tried Trevenant? I know I personally play "the trees" and I find it is super consistent and fast. I love Donphan, and I have tested this kind of list. Actually, a very similar kind. I feel that Trees are better, because you get the item lock, and if you come up against Weavile/Eggs (a deck which I think we will a see a lot more of, thanks battle compressor) which can OHKO your walls fast, I feel like you would be in a lot of trouble.
 
Hello, thanks for replying :)

A friend of mine actually played Donphan/Trevenant, and it does look like a cool version of Donphan. My only problem with it is that Yveltal is still a big player in the format and Garbodor even more so. In the same deck, they work really well against Trevenant because Yveltal only needs 2 energy to KO a Garbodor, then they might have an opening to attach a tool. If Garbodor already had a tool on it, then the Yveltal player can use Seismitoad to keep it there, and Xerosic is going to be hard to fish out of the deck.

I'll keep a Trevenant family in the back of my binder in case the meta shifts with these interesting new Trainers that Phantom Forces has brought, but for now I'd rather just play one evolving Pokemon.
 
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