Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Donphan

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Salamence is pretty much as "Anti-Donphan" as you can get, but I don't see people playing something as mediocre as Salamence to defeat a deck that isn't even a deck yet. Crystal Shard could be added to the deck along with the Lake Boundary, so that would create a OHKO on Salamence. Don't forget that Stage 2 decks naturally will not play well against Donphan, so no matter how much it metagames it, it will still have a little trouble.
 
Salamence is just one of those cards that can really be a pain for 1 or 2 decks but TOTALLY tanks to just about everything else. If this got popular enough and Blissey got unpopular enough, I suppose some people would try to use it to counter, but that's pretty unlikely, and as mattalvis said, there are definitely ways to play around it.

Psy+WP is redundant, since your Mimes already have free retreat because of Phoebe's. Water+WP is the one that turns off effects.
 
I think that it's a good idea. You get mime out and they must have 3 or more energy to attack him or play CC. If they don't attack him good for you if they play CC better for you.Why? donphan can deal 130 to him ;)
 
The Phenom1993 said:
I think that it's a good idea. You get mime out and they must have 3 or more energy to attack him or play CC. If they don't attack him good for you if they play CC better for you.Why? donphan can deal 130 to him ;)
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Thats the idea! :thumb:

Unfortunately a lot of decks run something like 4 Castaway 4 Cessation, so it makes a quick Cessation Crystal quite probable. An early-mid or mid game Cessation shouldn't be a big deal, as that will fall right into the synergy of Mime/Donphan, but a T1 or T2 Cessation + attack can be a little trouble.

I tested a little more last night however and was able to take down a Blissey/Lucario build that ran 4 Castaway and 4 Cessation pretty easily. This deck needs more testing against big Stage 2 decks, which is where I think Skarmory might actually make some use of itself, because its obviously useless against most Blissey variants.

So who thinks this thing should be renamed Spinning Truk? hrhrhr
 
This deck looks very nice overall.

I was thinking "what a haus" when I saw Donphan.
Overall Donphan is amazing. 100 HP, 2 for 40 Rapid Spin, fighting, resistance to Vire, it's second attack OHKOs Empoleon w/ a Cessation, so annoying cause it never gets killed.

Your deck looks good.

I think
-1 Castaway
+1 Strength Charm
would be good.

And maybe
-1 Fighting
+1 DRE

Cessation Crystal is big right now and the DRE will help you get that 120 for 4 easily to OHKO bacically anything. (also Buffer Piece is increasing in popularity)

If you have trouble consistently gettin T2 Donphan maybe 4 Quick Ball would be the play.
 
I don't think so many DRE's are necessary, as it is a situational card and even then, it is still situational that you will even need to do that much damage in the first place. It isn't worth losing consistency and there are better things that can be played in its place. I'll post an updated list later tonight or tomorrow maybe.
 
I've been working with 3 DRE's, and most of the time it isn't needed, but it helps to combat the early cess versus Mime.

Having more than one strength charm comes in handy a lot, whether it be taking out a 50 hp basic with rapid spin, or killing something with 120 hp that has been hit already and needs to die.
 
mattalvis said:
Some ideas I definitely like are the Skarmory ex and the Lake Boundary. In the metagame we have right now I don't think Dugtrio is really worth fitting in but who knows.
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Great ideas. Skarmory adds a whole new element to your strategy, and Lake Boundary gives you a legitimate shot vs Blissey.

I think, like you said, the #1 technical issue is energy. You play about seven things that fetch energy from the deck, but you don't play that much energy! I'd up your count by 1, 2, or even 3 (and 'cause it's cool, you could play a single psychic to randomly Trick Play).

Now we gotta think about the metagame. You're already covering it kinda by playing Skarmory and Lake Boundary, but we really need to up those Blissey odds. Does Sableye (dark OR psychic) with Rapid Spin sound spiffy? I honestly don't know for sure, but I "think" it does. ;D
 
Generally, the more things you have that can search for energy in the deck, the less energy you have to play. You only really play more of cards if you need to draw into them, like Windstorm, DRE, or Scramble. I think 12 is pretty high as it is, and with Roseanna and Castaway there hasn't been any problems.
 
mattalvis said:
Generally, the more things you have that can search for energy in the deck, the less energy you have to play. You only really play more of cards if you need to draw into them, like Windstorm, DRE, or Scramble. I think 12 is pretty high as it is, and with Roseanna and Castaway there hasn't been any problems.
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The thing though is that you're banking on always going second with that logic, when the first two or three turns are critical. Your first post says that you can afford missing an attachment, but I disagree, and even one or two more energy would immediately solve that. My point was that 12 just "barely" doesn't seem like enough, but if you ran a little more, you'd be fine.
 
Cyrus said:
The thing though is that you're banking on always going second with that logic, when the first two or three turns are critical. Your first post says that you can afford missing an attachment, but I disagree, and even one or two more energy would immediately solve that. My point was that 12 just "barely" doesn't seem like enough, but if you ran a little more, you'd be fine.
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I think I actually said its critical for OTHER decks to not miss drops. This deck is one of the few decks in the format that actually can afford to miss some based on the fact that it can take a few turns for your opponent to even be able to attack a Mr. Mime. Granted you want to be able to Rapid Spin on T2, you are not at a serious disadvantage if you don't. So like I said, 12 Fighting, 4 Castaway, and 4 Roseanna should be plenty to keep it consistent.

Dark Weedle said:
so your strategy is for your opponent to be bad?

you must not have much legit comation
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The strategy doesn't revolve around your opponent being bad, I was simply saying that is part of essence of this deck - people misplay against it. That is just one of the reasons it makes it hard to play against.
 
RESURRECTED

If I go to Cities tomorrow, I'm playing this. I tested it out at league today, and it went 5-0 with noteworthy victories against Flygon ex decks; the Emp/Luc deck had an energy drought and was piloted by a 6-year-old. Also, I played a couple appr hands against some blissey variants. I'd venture to say the matchup is around 50-50 depending on their starts.
 
One of the great things about this deck I just realized is that Mr. Mime basicly negates the Honchkrow/Murkrow combo by forcing them to need anergy to attack.
 
They still discard or what not. The problem against DWD is getting set up, but the deck is really redundant so it can't be that hard. The only big problem is that you can't OHKO krows.
 
Not sure if anyone in this thread has mentioned the other nasty walls (and 50% walls) that Donphan can switch into...

Some Shuckle is nice, as well as some J....

=X
 
Shuckle doesn't have free retreat (and can't get it), and J... is a stage 2, which is way less consistent than a basic. That being said, there's always room for experimentation...if there's anything else that seems to fit the slot better I'll try it.
 
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