Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Donphan, Johto Giant

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DonphanAtoZ

New Member
Donphan, Johto Giant​
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July 31, 2010
MD-On Format​
Donphan is one of the most straight-up cards in the format. I'm referring to the Prime, of course. Ever since It's come out, Donphan has been a good SP counter that can also tank quite a few hits. It's been played on its own, along with other variations. So let's go ahead and take a look at Donphan Prime.
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Donphan has a whopping (For a stage 1, anyways) 120 HP, one of the best PokeBodies in the game, and a cheap attack. (Although with a cost.) Donphan's Exoskeleton reduces ALL damage done to Donphan by attacks by 20. Not only does this allow Donphan to survive for a long time, but Benched Donphans take no damage from Earthquake. Donphan's Earthquake is what you are going to be using for most of the game. It's 60 for 1, but you do 10 damage to each of your benched Pokemon. There are ways to stop or take advantage of this, however, and I will be discussing them later in the article. Next, you'll see Heavy Impact, its other attack. Heavy Impact is a nice addition to Donphan, doing a nice 90 for 3. Donphan has a bit of an unfortaunate weakness to water, which means Gyarados will beat it 99% of the time if you don't tech, donk, or get flat-out lucky. Donphans fighting type means it hits for double damage against Luxray GL Lv. X, which is possibly the best card in the format. In addition, its high HP and PokeBody means it will do well against SP in general. Donphan has an absolutely terrible retreat cost, which has lead players to use lots of Warp Points or play it with Flygon RR, which gives Donphan free retreat assuming you have a fighting energy attached to Flygon.

I'm going to give you my list for straight Donphan or "Donkphan". So, here it is.

4 Phanpy HS
4 Donphan Prime HS
3 Uxie LA
1 Uxie Lv. X

12 Pokemon

4 Pokemon Collector
4 Bebe's Search
3 Expert Belt
4 Pluspower
4 Buck's Training
3 PONT
3 Pokemon Reversal
3 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
1 Palmer's Contribution
4 Broken Time-Space
4 Pokedex Handy910is

38 T/S/S

10 Fighting Energy

10 Energy Cards

This is a pretty standard Donphan list. I play 3-1 Uxie over 2-1. I have tried both, but I think 3-1 is better, as having one Uxie prized with 2-1 hurts you, and 3-1 gives you more drawpower. You can also play Unown Q, which will help get Uxie X out.
Now, for the trainer line. 4 Pokemon Collector is a must for consistency. I play a 3 Bebe's/2 Comm. split, as I don't play very many Pokemon. Expert Belt explains itself. Pluspower and Buck's Training are nice damage boosters, and Buck's allows you to draw two cards while you're at it. Warp Point and Pokemon Reversal allow you to take out benched Pokemon and mess up your opponent's field. 4 BTS is obvious, as you want to get Donphan out as soon as possible. I use Pokedex, however Pokedrawer + works quite well also.

Techs, Partners, and Variations​
Donphan has been played with quite a few partners. Some of these can sway matches in your favor that you otherwise wouldn't win.
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One of best Donphan variants out there is Donphan/ERL. The deck uses Stark Mountain, Regirock, and Warp Point to drop a surprise ERL. Manectric (Played with Bench Shield) is there to keep your Uxies and Regirock(s) from dying from Thunder Fall. Manectric also protects your Pokemon from Earthquake's recoil. On top of this, Regirock allows quick Heavy Impacts from Donphan. You can run Regice LA , Blissey PT, or Volkner's Philosophy to get your Energy in the discard.

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Next, Nidoqueen RR. Nidoqueen heals damage off your bench AND allows Donphan to take more hits. Pretty cool, huh? The downside is it's a stage two, and it doesn't protect your bench from sniping. However, it's still a good choice for your deck.

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Good ol' Flygon. Flygon has found itself paired with just about every evolved Pokemon in the format. It gives Donphan free retreat and is a nice backup attacker. Since Donphan is a stage 1, you can get easier heavy Power Swings going than FlyChamp.

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LuxPhan is a deck that became well known at Spring Battle Roads. It is similar to LuxPluff, as you take cheap prizes by Bright Looking your opponent's Pokemon and then KO them with Donphan. The deck also techs Lucario GL and Lightning Energy. Lucario doubles Gyarados's weakness to Luxray GL LV. X, allowing Donphan to make the matchup a lot better.

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Giratina Let Loose is a tech that can swing games in Donphan's favor. It is a very good tech that can get rid of Magikarps in a Gyarados player's hand, or ruin SP's Cyrus chain. It also provides pseudo-drawpower. It is a very good tech that gives you a fighting chance against Gyarados.

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Pokemon Circulator is an option in Donphan. It allows you to force your opponent to switch while keeping your active up, as opposed to Warp Point moving both Pokemon. It can be a good choice if you don't have Unown Q, as you don't have to waste energy to retreat back to Donphan after a Warp Point.

Matchups​

SableLock: 55/45
I've played SableLock twice, and 6-0'd my opponent twice. (It was a fairly good player, BTW. 5-4 at Nats in Masters.) However, the matchup can be hard. A T1 Judge can devastate you. But as soon as you get one Donphan rolling, it can work wonders. If they don't play Honchkrow, they really don't stand a chance if you get going.

DialgaChomp: 40/60
This is the one SP deck that can run with you. DGX turns off your body, and Phan doesn't like trainer lock. However, if you play Giratina, this match can be improved, as with all SP matches. Overall a difficult match for you. If Dialga is popular in your area, you can play the ERL version of Donphan, which runs through DialgaChomp relatively easily, as ERL one shots Dialga G Lv. X.

Gyarados: 10/90
90/10 may seem outrageous, but it's the truth. However, a Donphan list that got 3rd at Colorado regionals beat Gyarados three times in three tries. The list used Exploud SV and Giratina (Let Loose) to make the matchup favorable. Another decent card for this matchup is Ruins of Alph UD, which removes Gyara's resistance to you.

LuxChomp: 70/30
Luxray GL Lv. X is double weak to Donphan, and Donphan has two things SP hates, great tanking ability, and cheap damage. LuxChomp will try to poison you with Crobat G, then Dragon Rush you. Because of Crobat G's resistance, you may not be able to one-shot it. You can, once again, tech Ruins of Alph. Just remember, it removes your resistance too!


Machamp: 70/30
Machamp doesn't do very much damage at all to Donphan. You set up quicker and deal more damage while taking more hits. An easy win for you.

CurseGar: 45/55
I've had a couple close games with CurseGar in a couple tries. However Compound Pain eats you alive after an Eartquake, and Curse can mess you up good since you'll be using EQ. I's still possible to win as you take out Spiritombs in one shot, and the matchup is better without Mime in the format. Still, CurseGar gives you trouble.

Vileplume/Gengar: 40/60
This is, of course, in theory, as I've never even played this deck. It's hard to work around Fainting Spell without trainers, and Trainer Lock blocks a lot of your key cards. It's a possible win, as I often can set up Donphans without trainers, (Under Tomb Lock, against other decks) but this is a hard match.

That's about it on matchups. I hope this made a good read for you guys! Have a nice MD-on format! :p
 
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Where's your luxchomp matchup? (Although we all know what it is)

---------- Post added 09/06/2010 at 12:55 PM ----------

And why do you lose against cursegar? Cursegar is terribad now, it lost everything. In fact, you should never expect to face one.

---------- Post added 09/06/2010 at 01:10 PM ----------

Who rated this 1/5? It's not that bad of an article.
 
Where is my LC matchup?! I had it in there! I'll edit it.

---------- Post added 09/06/2010 at 12:48 PM ----------

As to who rated it 1/5, I have a lot of enemies on this website, lol. I dont expect it to get rated very high. Also, yeah CurseGar should be better now. This was written...a while ago.

EDIT: My LC matchup was in there, just i forgot to space it out from Gdos. Fixed.
 
That's probably because of your screen size. I don't have to scroll side to side on my computer.

---------- Post added 09/06/2010 at 12:58 PM ----------

Also...People sound like they expected this to suck <_<
 
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Eh, yeah, I guess your right. However Mesprit was actually better LAST format, when decks were more power reliant and less T/S/S reliant.
 
Hey, this article is ok. This isn't something like Fulop's Jumpluff article, but it's ok.

Good Job, dude!
 
What are you tying to say? I don't think Donphan is the best deck in the format. LuxChomp is. However, Donphan beats quite a few of the best decks out there, and I think it will make quite a splash next year.
@General, I looked to Dredd's list for help :p I didn't quite agree with a couple things in his list, such as 2-1 Uxie and 4 Belt, but I did like the majority of his deck.
 
I really like that you included PokeHealer+ to get around the typical Luxchomp strat of Toxic Fang + Dragon Rush.

That said, this looks like a solid reference list to point curious newcomers to.

Edit: I would like to see someone comment though on why all these untested articles are getting published? This one doesn't look too bad on a first scan, but the principle is the issue.
 
Very solid article about a very straightforward deck.

One complaint is that the line of huge pics spoils the look of the article (even though I don't need to side scroll). They could have been made smaller (as in the Gengar/Vileplume arrticle). Especially as they are just techs.

A bit more testing would have been nice. Saying you played Sablelock twice and then giving a % match up is not very convincing.

Other than that, it's pretty good - sound list and tech options.
 
Honestly, Sablelock is not prominent in my area at all. However, I wanted to include it, as it is one of the top tier decks out there. It's mostly LuxChomp. Sorry about the pics. It's my first article, so I don't really have a good layout. Uh, PF, I don't remember anything about PokeHealer, unless you're being sarcastic. I think I'm going to write a new article about this deck sometime, and go a little more in-depth.

Also, about untested stuff. Do you expect people to write about DP-on decks they've used? C'mon now. Pretty much all articles are untested right now, as we haven't had any MD-on tournies yet.
 
DonphanAtoZ said:
Also, about untested stuff. Do you expect people to write about DP-on decks they've used? C'mon now. Pretty much all articles are untested right now, as we haven't had any MD-on tournies yet.
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Well, you could playtest the matchups multiple times with friends/at league/over Redshark.

At least you were honest about it though . . . and Sablelock is impossible to give match ups for anyway. If that deck goes off, it wins without caring what you run. If it doesn't, then things get more interesting.
 
This is a good deck i got to say it hase very good defense just enti and raikou legend could be a problem if it delverd a ending blow. But maybe not.
 
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