Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

R/S Donphan, Quite Frustrating......

T

TrueGamerX

New Member
Donphan seems to be bad in a variety of ways. I wanted to know about what you guys think. First of all his first attack ain't that bad with 40 on second turn. 80 HP ain't too shabby. One retreat cost is quite good. But IMO his second attack is what brings him down. Now I know what you guys say that Hariyama is much better, but he only does good when its a EX pokemon. 40 for 3 Energies, but with Donphan a possibility 120 with 4 Energies. Now I was thinking you could combine Donphan with Boost Energy to have a better chance to do 120 on second turn. BUT its only 2 coin flips and the chances are quite low depending on the flip. But after Boost Energy is discarded you can either retreat or do Rend for 40. In addition, in order to make a deck out of Donphan, you could throw in some Hitmonchan EX, Best Hitmonchan or even some other type of pokemon like Magmar EX to help out the Grass weakness. Even Delcatty could go along. If and only if Donphan had a good stalling pokemon like Hitmonchan it could be good.


Donphan
80 HP
(F/C) Rend
If the Defending Pokemon has any damage counters on it, this attack does 20 damage plus 20 more damage.

(F/C/C/C) Double Spin
Flip 2 coins. This attack does 60 damage times, the number of heads.

Weakness: Grass
Resistance: None
Retreat Cost: C
 
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You give lots of examples why Donphan is actually a good card??? So I'm confused.

Even without Double Spin it is a decent card. Energy Switch gives you the ability to guarantee a 40 damage attack on turn two.

Would you take a turn two 1in 4 chance to win the game by knocking out your opponents only pokemon? (Tyrogue anybody) Heck, with many basics having less than 70HP the odds are 3 in 4 that you can knock out your opponent with boost.

In two-on-two play with Light Dragonite active you get to keep your boost energy! BROKEN!.

In RSon play you probably have to retreat Donphan and wait a little while before using his second attack. I don't see how that strategy makes Donphan bad.
 
NoPoke said:
You give lots of examples why Donphan is actually a good card??? So I'm confused.

Even without Double Spin it is a decent card. Energy Switch gives you the ability to guarantee a 40 damage attack on turn two.

Would you take a turn two 1in 4 chance to win the game by knocking out your opponents only pokemon? (Tyrogue anybody) Heck, with many basics having less than 70HP the odds are 3 in 4 that you can knock out your opponent with boost.

In two-on-two play with Light Dragonite active you get to keep your boost energy! BROKEN!.

In RSon play you probably have to retreat Donphan and wait a little while before using his second attack. I don't see how that strategy makes Donphan bad.
Click to expand...

Did I say "bad", please pardon me for my stupidity. :confused:
I see what you mean, and certainly agree with you. I'm guessing he would be good in E-on. Magmar EX would go great to take care of that Grass Weakness, if Donphan ever comes across Sceptile, Dustox, or Beautifly etc.
 
Okay card, not broken. Useful in Modified and R/S Block (as I call it), still pretty slow with a four-energy attack and a conditional attack. Three out of five stars (i.e. "okay card, not overly good").
 
Remember, that second attack's cost is (F)(C)(C)(C). That means that you can use it turn 2 by using Boost Energy.
 
Well, SER at least. ER might be a little too powerful, according to the cardmakers' current trends for Trainers. As I said in another thread, Trainers seem to be getting weaker and weaker while Pokemon get stronger and stronger.
 
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