Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

The splashable water tech that counters Donphan and Reshiram (HGSS-on)

In my opinion Yanmega simply outclasses Donphan in the matchup. Many of you forget the fact that Donphan adds damage to its benched pokemon that is a HUGE factor when you consider the fact that mega can snipe for 40. Also, Mega decks play 4 Judge and in all the matchups that I have been testing, using Judge to stop them from hitting Donphan or the one energy when they need it has been game breaking. Not to mention the other forms of disruption that judge brings. This is a format where consistency barely exists. The fact that Yanmega allows players to disrupt, miss energy drops, and still hit for high damage is a big factor.
 
Let us all not forget Donphan can have RUINS OF ALPH! No resistance for yanmega means its getting 2hko'd while donphans are still only getting 3hko'd and all of this is barring the fact that yanmega can match your same amount of cards in your hand.
 
I don't see Yanmega outclasshing Donphan in the match up. Donphan and 3HKO the Yanmega just like Yanmega 3HKO the Donphan but the big difference is that Yanmega NEEDS to have both players with the same hand size. If the Yanmega players uses Judge, they are denying themselves resources. In my testing against Zekrom, Reshiram and Cinccino, running Yanmega Prime, it did nothing but stalled or hurt the player in the end because of Judge. It was a little better in Reshirom.
 
I have been constantly testing Yanmega and I don't have that problem at all. The fact that Yanmega attacks for no energy doesn't put you at a disadvantage after you judge, especially if you play 4 copycat as well. Your hand can easily be manipulated with cards such as collector and the use of Judge almost always hurts them more than it hurts you. Also, why run Runs of Alph in Donphan simply for the mega match up when it isn't even going to probably be the most dominant factor next format?
 
What I mean is Yanmega is not there all the time. 4 in 6 games I played I did not have yanmega while trying to stall with it. I was also using a 2-2 line of it. All Judge or copycat did was give me the yanmega and I still had to wait a turn to attack with it.
 
vaporeon said:
What I mean is Yanmega is not there all the time. 4 in 6 games I played I did not have yanmega while trying to stall with it. I was also using a 2-2 line of it. All Judge or copycat did was give me the yanmega and I still had to wait a turn to attack with it.
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I play a 2-2 as well but now that you say that I really believe that the specifics of each list is a big factor. Still I don't have a problem getting my mega out before using a initial Judge/Copycat.
 
That is also good but like in some games, I found myself really needing to stall with that Yanmega. I'm not saying it happens all the time. The test was against my Donphan deck so I was just faster then what they could get setup. I'm just saying watch out for that.
 
i'd rather play yanmega than a legend as my tech, that's for sure.

Both require two cards, but one gives up only one prize, requires no teched energy, and can be searched out by more trainers/supporters.

On the article i wrote for another site, somebody mentioned teching kingdra non-prime, as well, which i found to be a decent idea if you're running the prime, or if you have 4 candies.
 
Yeah, I can see that Kingdra seeing play until Basculin comes out. I wonder if that Basculin is finally going to be reason enough to put 4 rainbows in my Tyranitar build? I certainly see that thing getting played heavily as a Donphan and Reshiram counter. That's a good catch, and between that and Sigilyph from Battle Strength, I think Donchamp is going to be a LOT less of a win button in this format.

I also don't think ESL is that bad, overall. It's not a great solution, but it's certainly not a bad card, and most decks are running 4 pokecomm and 2-3 junk arm.
 
I would run Swanna B&W comboed with something that cant be oneshotted by either of those. Its really hard to find a card that can take 120 damae and not to die, therefore Emboar/Reshiram will be BDIF material.
 
I did not find Swanna all to useful in any deck. You'll need 2 attacking turns with it to just to kill anything weak to it. In that time, something could just switch in and kill it. I run Lanturn Prime for more then one reason.
 
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