Being busy and
easily distracted is a bad mix, so if I wanted to get a CotD in today, I had
to make it a “quickie”. Obviously I have decided to do just that or you
wouldn’t be reading this. ;)
Donphan
LV.48 shows some real potential. Rapid Spin has been a winner in the past,
and while it is denied its best tricks (Baby Pokémon protected by the Baby
Rule and Fossil Pokémon that don’t count as a Prize), you can always
find something with a low Retreat Cost and/or Rage (or similar) attack to
work with Donphan. I also like Bash In, just because Cessation
Crystal is a bane to me (I currently run a Poké-Power heavy deck). The
Energy that goes into the attacks seems fair, and the base stats for
Donphan are good: the only real drawback being some popular Water decks
and a three Retreat cost. But hey, it can Bench itself and look! It has a
Resistance! To a type that even sees some play! Woo-hoo! Even the
Phanpy from Secret Wonders looks solid: 60 HP, lower Weakness, same
Resistance, 60 HP and can use Flail. Unlike yesterday’s card, Cloyster
LV.40, it looks like Donphan was given due consideration for being a
fully Evolved Stage 1.
Since I like to
include some idea of how to use this card, I will give a deck idea that is a
pretty random mix but I almost like now that I think about it: run this with
the Gyarados and Mantine from Mysterious Treasures (and of
course Mantyke so you can use the Jumbo Fin Poké-Body). Gyarados
will become a free Retreating Stage 1 Pokémon with 120 HP and Fighting
Resistance, capable of doing easy damage via Dragon DNA allowing it to use
the attacks of Magikarp from Mysterious Treasures with an extra 30
points of damage to boot. They even handle each other’s Weaknesses
reasonably well.
Again, sorry to
make it so short and rushed.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3/5 – You can build a solid deck out of it, which older players will
remember from an older Modified format (right before they banned Slowking
from Neo Genesis). Slowking blocks Trainers, Baby Pokémon divert
attacks, and slowly damage accrues. If your opponent can’t hit your Energy,
Bash In might start OHKOing stuff: who doesn’t run Focus Band?
Modified:
3.5/5
– I haven’t seen this in action, and while it lacks any groovy Poké-Power or
Poké-Body, both attack seem pretty good and ready to be used. You just need
to find the right combo.
Limited:
4/5 – Rapid Spin is quite annoying. Odds are some fodder will be available
to your deck, even if its nothing too bid, it just needs some sort of half
decent attack and HP score and to be a Basic, and Rapid Spin will combo with
it. Bash In isn’t as good since there weren’t any Pokémon Tools in this
set, but it can still hit “okay”.
