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Today we’ll start by wishing my mother, Birdie, a happy birthday.
This would be more meaningful if she was actually going
to see it and if it actually had gone up in time (this
review was posted late because it was written late).
Still I’m very fortunate to have had this wonderful
woman as my mother. No, today’s selection is in no way
connected to this fact; the Pokémon I associate with my
mother is Happiny. ;)
We look at the first honorable mention that did not make anyone’s
Top 10 list. Why? It wasn’t eligible; not because it
was a reprint but because it released in 2013. Today we
look at Donphan (BW: Plasma Storm 72/135);
the original review is dated
April 8, 2013. I am embarrassed to say that this is a review I missed; I don’t
recall if I had a good reason or not, but I’m about to
remedy it regardless.
Donphan is a Fighting-Type, which was good back then but is great right
now; while Resistance can be a pain from time to time
that doesn’t offset being the Type that most Colorless-,
Darkness- and Lightning-Types are Weak to and having
great direct and indirect Type support (obviously, that
last bit didn’t apply when the card was new). Being a
Stage 1 is a better now due to the change in first turn
rules and errata received by Pokémon Catcher:
when Donphan was first released you could still
attack Turn 1 and Pokémon Catcher didn’t require
a flip. Its 130 HP is functional; given that it is only
worth one Prize, while this is still low enough most
decks can score a OHKO it is high enough that it will be
a little tricky and you won’t be out as much as you
would if a Pokémon-EX had been KOed.
Of course the card’s Water Weakness voids the previous statement in
relevant match-ups, and Kyurem (BW: Plasma
Freeze 31/116) was already known about by the time
those of us outside of Japan got our hands on Donphan;
Kyurem [Plasma] decks would be one of the best
decks for a bit and a solid deck for some time. You
also had to worry about the odd Water-Type attacker in
general; after all a Keldeo-EX with three Energy
and either a Muscle Band or one of those Energy
providing [W] was good enough for a OHKO. The Lightning
Resistance was useful in some match-ups thanks to the HP
and fact that most Lightning-Types were also Fighting
Weak, but even all that still amounted to a fringe
benefit. The massive four Energy Retreat Cost was
something you had to plan around, but both then and now
most decks already had incentive to work around manually
retreating at full price, and back when the card first
released (and still in Expanded), you were able to use
Heavy Ball for Donphan.
Spinning Turn and Wreck were attacks that were just a bit too weak
to cut it when Donphan first released; the Energy
costs were alright as you had one nice, inexpensive
attack for just [F] (Spinning Turn) and one massive
attack to build to for [FFCC] (Wreck), which meant that
Double Colorless Energy and similar tricks could
help. The issue was that 40 per turn wasn’t enough,
especially at a time when you still had an Item to
easily force a Benched Donphan Active. Wreck
precludes making use of Hypnotoxic Laser
alongside Virbank City Gym, at least if you
wanted to get 80+60 by discarding the Stadium in play
and not just the base 80. Muscle Band and a
Hypnotoxic Laser back then were necessary to
score 170. Remember, this was before even Silver
Bangle was an option! Both of these attacks are
much better thanks to the damage bonuses available via
Strong Energy and Fighting Stadium (which
kicks in before it is discarded, if I understand the
ruling correctly). Combined with a Muscle Band
or Silver Bangle and especially additional
Strong Energy and even some Mega Evolutions are
within OHKO range! Mostly those the important thing is
that Spinning Turn easily starts hitting hard enough for
2HKOs while the nerfing of Pokémon Catcher means
your opponent needs an Ability, a Lysandre or
some luck to force Donphan Active to even attack
it.
Breadth: Directly Donphan is only run in Donphan decks;
running it well means its going to take over the build.
Indirectly it affects most decks because Donphan
decks are popular and can’t be handled the way you would
a typical beatdown deck where the attacker is staying up
front between turns.
Depth: Donphan revived (or at least reinvigorated) hit-and-run
style decks for 2014. Again its own deck is built
around it while other decks have to cope with something
that isn’t a Pokémon-EX both hitting hard and being able
to hide on the Bench. It is a long time strategy that
we were seeing recent, significant success pre-Donphan,
helping to lessen the impact.
Time: Donphan really didn’t matter much at first; it at least
needed BW: Plasma Blast so that Silver Bangle
could help with damage and really even Muscle Band
(so that you could hit more than just Pokémon-EX a
little harder) still wasn’t enough though people tried.
XY: Furious Fists is when Donphan decks
picked up the needed momentum to start winning
tournaments, so despite being too old to be eligible for
the official list, even bending the rules this card
doesn’t get a huge boost.
Ratings
Standard: 3.5/5 -
Donphan is a solid card that works because of all
the little things it has going for it, including a lot
of other great cards that cause the deck to function as
if it has a better attacker.
Expanded: 3.5/5 - I am
honestly not that sure about how well Donphan
does here; it regains Heavy Ball and Level
Ball to help with set-up but that holds true for
many other decks. This is mostly a score so that I have
a score, so I gave it the same as I did for Standard, as
with many cards the differences tend to even out (if
only because people forget to take advantage of them).
Limited: 4.75/5 - If you didn’t pull a big, Basic Pokémon worth building a
+39 deck around, you really should make room for this in
whatever deck you do manage to build, unless it is clear
you just won’t gain enough out of the deal. The Water
Weakness is a concern, and if you just lack decent
fodder to hide behind (or Stadiums to discard for
Wreck), it might not be worth it.
Summary: Donphan really helped to shape 2014, though mostly the last
third or so, even if it was released back in 2013. It
kept hit-and-run style decks in the forefront of the
metagame, as well as being one of the few currently
worthwhile Evolving attackers. Since it is both deck
specific and relies on the strengths of many other
cards, I probably wouldn’t have rated it too high on my
list, but had it been a card originally released this
year, it certain would have made it.
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