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Aquapolis Donphan
This card is good, I daresay. It's
not just because it's the Donphan with the highest HP of all
Donphans available in the TCG. Right now, the Neo Genesis
Donphan actually overshadows it. However, it will be much better
once Modified again rotates out next June (although I'm now
doubting if it will, seeing that Skyridge will be the last set
that WotC will print). Why will it be better? This will be a
Lightning hoser instead of Tyrogue. Won't Best-Of Promo
Hitmonchan be that too? Well, yes, but consider that Donphan has
the added advantage that, besides hitting a Lightning Pokemon
for twice the damage, it is also resistant to lightning itself.
(Actually, Hitmonchan won't be that good to beat lightning,
seeing that it forces you to put Fighting energies in your deck.
So you're better off building a Fighting deck in the first
place.) Think about it. If Tyrogue will be banned, then
Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with. For just one
Fighting Energy, Earthquake does a massive 60 damage to a
fighting-weak Pokemon, at the expense, however, of doing 10
damage to all of your Benched Pokemon. But you could use that
bench damage to your advantage, for example, using Expedition
Machamp with this card. When (or if) Modified rotates out, I'll
warn you in advance: fear this card.
Unlimited: One word: Tyrogue. Use it
over this card. I can think of 4 reasons why you should: (1)
Tyrogue doesn't need to evolve, Donphan does. (2) Tyrogue has
the baby rule protecting it, Donphan doesn't (3) Tyrogue doesn't
require a Fighting Energy to attack, unlike Donphan for
Earthquake (4) Tyrogue doesn't damage your own bench, again
unlike Donphan. Calm down, I didn't forget about the second
attack. It does 40 on average for 3 colorless, which actually
isn't that bad. But Tyrogue can do 30 for 1 colorless and you
only hit it 50% of the time. Whoops, I guess Tyrogue wins again.
Not to mention that Scyther eats Donphan alive, since it does to
it what Donphan does to Lightning Pokemon: Scyther hits Donphan
for twice the damage and takes 30 less damage from Donphan.
1/5
Modified: Well, right now it's
pretty useless since Tyrogue, again, can hose Lightning Pokemon
much more efficiently. Here, Donphan has to contend with cards
such as Promo Scyther, Crobat or Jumpluff (the Neo versions).
(These are the Scyther in Unlimited.) Admittedly, grass Pokemon
as a whole are not too common in Modified. When (or, if) Tyrogue
is rotated out, this card will see play, as I said at the
beginning of this COTD. So I won't needlessly repeat myself
here.
2/5 (for current modified)
Draft: This is another card from
that seemingly endless list of Rares that Aquapolis boasts.
Well, it does have a colorless attack, and a nice [F] for 30
attack, although that bench damage would be tough to get rid of.
I dunno. Phanpy, at 40HP, is quite weak, but you might like to
risk it. I wouldn't, but whatever floats your boat.
2/5
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