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The Return of Donchamp (with special guests Landorus and Terrakion)

JackOfSparks

JackOfSparks

Just Crazy Enough To Work
Member
Evolved from several days of trying and discarding deck ideas, I have stumbled upon a new way to invigorate an old deck. Donchamp's problem has always been its speed. Getting four energies onto a Stage 2 is a slow and methodical process. Initially, I tried to get around this with Emerging Power's Gigalith, but it ran into many consistency problems, essentially boiling down to the problem that I was trying to use one Stage-2 to support another.

And then, something magical happened. Someone on PlayTCG suggested Landorus. What follows was the result.

~~~

{F} Harvest Buster
Pokemon (15)
4 Landorus
4-1-3 Machamp Prime
1 Shaymin
2 Noble Terrakion

T/S/S (33)
2 Cheren
4 Junk Arm
1 Max Potion
2 N
3 Pokemon Catcher
4 Pokemon Communication
4 Pokemon Collector
2 PONT
4 Rare Candy
4 Sage's Training
1 Super Rod
2 Switch

Energy (12)
12 {F}

~~~

Ideal play goes something like this:
Start with Landorus, with Machop on bench.

Turn 1: Discard {F} for Engineer's Adjustments, attach {F} to Landorus, and Harvest the discarded energy back.

Turn 2: Fill the bench with some combination of Pokemon Collector and Pokemon Communication. Rare Candy Machop into Machamp, or Machop into Machoke. Attach {F} to Landorus, and Gaia Hammer, putting 1 damage on everyone.

Turn 3: Evolve to Machamp, if I haven't already. Fighting Tag in Machamp, attach {F}, (optional: Catcher out a prime target) and let it rip with a 150 Champ Buster.

Priorities for later turns involve setting up Terrakion for a revenge kill, and evolving Phanpy, and possibly another Machamp to tag in when the first gets weak. Super Rod is in to pull back lost mons, or occasionally energies.

This deck does exceptionally well against Magnezone decks, as Terrakion can come in with a Retaliate and OHKO anything in their deck for {F}{F}.

Engineer's Adjustments, a lot of basic energy, and a complete lack of Special Energies are absolutely crucial to make sure Landorus is ready to Gaia on turn 2, and thus Machamp is ready on turn 3.

Tips? Help? Comments?
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan (Rock and Rollout)

You might want to try a Super Rod in case a Pokémon gets Sheared and you need it back. Maybe take out a Bouffalant or Cleffa for it, test it, and if it works, keep it or throw it away if it doesn't work well. I don't see a way to pull discarded Pokémon out of the discard pile, so that may be important. Like you said, Cleffa would be okay to take out and 3 Bouffalant might not be nessecsary, but you should probably try with Cleffa first. I also prefer the Phanpy with Thick Skin, but I think that would come down to preference more than anything, and if you haven't tried it you might want to see if it works well for you.
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan (Rock and Rollout)

9Tailz said:
You might want to try a Super Rod in case a Pokémon gets Sheared and you need it back. Maybe take out a Bouffalant or Cleffa for it, test it, and if it works, keep it or throw it away if it doesn't work well. I don't see a way to pull discarded Pokémon out of the discard pile, so that may be important. Like you said, Cleffa would be okay to take out and 3 Bouffalant might not be nessecsary, but you should probably try with Cleffa first. I also prefer the Phanpy with Thick Skin, but I think that would come down to preference more than anything, and if you haven't tried it you might want to see if it works well for you.
Click to expand...
Super Rod's a good idea, I didn't even know that card existed. Do you think I have enough Junk Arms? A lot of people seem to be saying to always use four. Think I'll try with both, see what works. Thick-Skin Phanpy might be a good idea, too. I'll give it a shot.

golferboy69 said:
What if Vileplume is out; you're locked up.
Click to expand...
Hopefully by that point, I either have someone up and rolling enough to threaten it (Donphan, Bouf, maaaaaybe a fully-charged Giga, if I can time it right). If not, I think I might have to take the loss. Do you have any suggestions? A colorless Pokemon that makes a good counter to that VP?

Or maybe I could try to wedge in Fighting Tag Machamp? Seems like it'd work well with Gigalith (Shear) and Donphan (Earthquake), but I don't know if I could make him fit.

Edit: I've made some fairly major adjustments, and added a new spinoff deck, as well.

Is there a good Stadium for this deck? I chose Bouffalant over Terrakion because having two heavy hitters with the same weakness seemed like a bad idea. Maybe Druddigon could find a place? I'm not sure, is there a common deck that he'd be helpful against?
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

For vileplume, bellsprout works. Kind of like a catcher that works under trainer lock.
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

pokemonjoe said:
For vileplume, bellsprout works. Kind of like a catcher that works under trainer lock.
Click to expand...
It seems kind of, I dunno, a bit risky/daft to put in a Pokemon that can't attack to deal with one 'mon. Is it really that dangerous? Is there another way to deal with it? A Colorless or Fighting one would be nice. Maybe Smeargle or Landorus would work as a roundabout solution?
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

I don't see how smeargle and landorous deal with vileplume at all. Bellsprout only requires {C}, so he's easily splashable. You just said that you need a {C} pokemon to counter vileplume, and bellsprout is essentially that.
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

Alright, fair enough, I guess I just don't like teching in something that fragile (both in terms of HP, and how many counters for it there are) for a single Pokemon, T1 or not. This deck has consistency problems as it is, and I feel like I'm giving away a prize (and more than one dead draw) for a chance to deal with it.
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

Well, Cleffa and Afro Bull can be one-ofs, as can bellsprout. You're not really giving up a free prize because you only place it down when you need it. What counters bellsprout?
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

DCE.

I'm still struggling with getting consistency in the decks. Ending up with just the Bellsprout sounds like an absolutely wonderful way to die horribly. Still, I've put it in, plus a Throh to deal with Durant, and just because it's an amazing card. Switched Terra for Bouf. The weakness isn't worth Bouf being pretty much useless at everything but RKing. We'll see how it works out, I guess.
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

Yes, but every time they use a DCE, they have one less in their deck and if they need an energy attachment for that turn, they can't attack. Ending up with any one pokemon is a wonderful way to die horribly. Bellsprout is the best counter for vileplume. I don't see how throh counters durant, care to explain?
 
RE: Gigalith/Donphan Prime (/Machamp Prime?)

Maybe my logic is flawed. I dunno, Throh's unreliable, but I like the idea of him stalling for a couple turns while I set up.

Someone on PlayTCG had the idea of pulling out Gigalith, and doing what he does with Landorus instead. Would that be a viable option for either deck?
 
-2 Energy Search (You only run one type of energy, and since you use energy acceleration, there's no point in wasting deck space thinning the deck. Leaving 2 in just in case you are hung out to dry without energy, you can Junk Arm them back and scrape by.

+2 Collector (You need max Collector to keep your deck consistent.)
 
1. Since the strategy banks on starting with Landorus, you need 4 so you can start with it.
2. You don't really need 3-3 Donphan. Donphan sucks in this metagame with Eviolite; it won't score many kills at all. The only reason Donphan is in there is to use Earthquake for cheap damage while you recharge Machamp. 2-2 should be enough for that. Besides, Phanpy starts are bad.
3. 4-1-3 or 4-2-3 Machamp is better, since your opponent will try to catcher your Machops.
4. 4 Rare Candy, 4 Pokemon Communication otherwise you won't draw into it for fast Machamps.
5. Energy Search is worthless. Add energy instead...
6. Terrakion is a bad starter. 4 Retreat cost, no thanks. 1 should be enough for countering stuff.


In short,
+1 Landorus
-1 Phanpy
-1 Donphan
+1 Machop
+1 Rare Candy
+1 Pokemon Communication
-2 Energy Search
+1 Fighting Energy
-1 Terrakion
 
I think that DCE would help this deck a ton late game. It may make turn 1 a little bit risky, but you can make up for that energy with DCE
 
Sage's Training > Engineer's Adjustments. So much

- 4 Engineer's Adjustments
+4 Sage's Training

Your lack of hand refresh cards scares me. If you hit an energyless or bad hand off the bat, you could be in serious trouble.

-3 Fighting Energy. This should work, 12 energy means 1 in five cards, so you should have at least one in your opening hand, you should hit one with Sage's, and hit the third you need to Gaia Hammer from an N or a Juniper.

+3 N. Late game disruption is going to be key, and N provides sufficient early game hand refresh as well.

I think Donphan is a little bit of a space case, you should invest in more consistency cards and Terrakions as opposed to more situational attackers.

-2-2 Donphan Prime
+ 1 Terrakion
+1 Switch (Machamp Prime in your active is gross)
+2 PONT or Cheren. I don't know which you prefer, both should help drastically.

I hope that these suggestions are helpful.
 
I was just about to make the Sage's Training change when I saw that post.

Do you think one Shaymin would be out of place? It's not quite a Switch, but something about punishing a Catcher with a Terrakion Land Crush really appeals to me. Plus, it'd be a decent way to get an attacker up to speed in a hurry (for example, under trainer lock).
 
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