CAP 14 CAP 3 - Concept Submissions

[Wyverii]

This is where we discuss the general goal of the next Create-A-Pokemon project -- CAP 3. The Concept will be a guiding force throughout the ensuing project, to ensure the the final result is a cohesive competitive pokemon. Any discussions, suggestions, or submissions in later topics, that do not support the spirit of the Concept, will be moderated by the Topic Leader.

Concepts must be presented as high-level descriptions of a general idea. They cannot be detailed pokemon designs. Since we have polls to determine each aspect of the pokemon, we cannot allow any specific features of the pokemon to be determined by the details of the Concept.

We intentionally have many rules regarding Concept submissions. If you are not prepared to read and understand all the rules, then don't bother making a submission. These rules are made to help narrow the field of concepts down to those that have been carefully designed. This is not meant to be easy for everyone -- a good, legal Concept requires a lot of thought and careful wording.

The following rules must be followed when submitting a Concept:

• One submission per person. You may edit your Concept, but you may not change the fundamental premise after it has been posted. If editing your concept, please edit the original post instead of posting a new revision. Do not bump your Concept after you have posted it. If people do not comment on it, so be it.
• Do not duplicate or closely-resemble Concepts already posted by others. It is your responsibility to read through all previous submissions in this thread to ensure you are complying with this rule. Ignorance or laziness is not an excuse.
• Specific Pokemon types or type combos cannot be included or excluded in a Concept. Nor can other characteristics of the Concept specifically result in in the inclusion or exclusion of Types. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This is a Dragon pokemon with..."
  "The pokemon should be immune to Ghost attacks..."
  "The pokemon should have at least 7 resistances..."
  "The pokemon should get STAB on Thunderbolt.."​
• Specific Abilities are not allowed. This applies to existing abilities and new abilities. Do not attempt to circumvent this rule by mentioning specific battle effects that can only be achieved by the implementation of an ability. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This pokemon should have a defensive ability like Intimidate or Marvel Scale..."
  "This pokemon has an ability that steals the opponent's held item..."
  "When this pokemon is switched in, all weather conditions are nullified..."​
• Movepools or lists of moves are not allowed. A specific move can be mentioned if it is the basis for the entire concept. For example, the Concept "Rapid Spinner" would obviously mention the move Rapid Spin.
• Specific stat bias, base stats, or base stat ratings are not allowed. It is acceptable to use descriptive phrases like "fast", "bulky", "strong attacker", etc -- since there are a variety of ways a pokemon can fit those descriptions without specifically requiring certain stats. But, do not use overly-specific descriptions that would narrowly constrain the pokemon's base stat spread.
• Indications of Physical/Special bias are discouraged, but acceptable if it is essential to the Concept.
• Do not refer to any part of the pokemon's artistic design. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This is a bright blue pokemon..."
  "The pokemon looks like a..."
  "The pokemon uses its long tail to..."​
• A Concept Submission must be submitted in the proper format. The format is described below. If the proper format is not used, the moderators will not evaluate the submission, regardless of content.

Concept Submission Format
Use this format for all concept submissions:

Name: (short name)
General Description: (See rules below. No more than a sentence or two here.)
Justification: (See rules below.)
Questions To Be Answered: (See rules below.)

Explanation: (Whatever you want to say here.)

Here is the format with tags. Just copy/paste this into your post, and fill it out:

[noparse]Name: (short name)
General Description: (See rules below. No more than a sentence or two here.)
Justification: (See rules below.)
Questions To Be Answered: (See rules below.)

Explanation: (Whatever you want to say here.)
[/noparse]

• Name - Don't get too clever with the name. If the essence of the concept is not intuitively obvious in the name, then you are hurting your chances of people understanding it. If the essence of your concept cannot be expressed in a few words, then you need to seriously re-evaluate your concept.
• Description - This is the official description of the concept, and must follow ALL the content rules listed above. Do not make this a long description. Long descriptions are invariably too specific or too convoluted. Keep it short. Any more than a sentence or two is TOO MUCH. Do NOT include your Explanation of the concept in the Description. See "Explanation" below.
• Justification - A few sentences describing how the concept satisfies one or more of the following:
  • Has a positive effect on the metagame (e.g Fidgit’s Pure Utility)
  • Allows us to learn more about the metagame (e.g Kitsunoh’s Ultimate Scout)
  • Introduces a new niche in the metagame (such as Arghonaut’s Decentralizer)
  Do not make up your own categories for justification. If you cannot justify your concept against at least one of the three requirements above, then your concept is illegal for the CAP project.
• Questions To Be Answered - The purpose of the CAP project is to learn new things about the metagame, and each concept submission is a proposed "experiment". List out a few interesting competitive questions that should be answered after properly implementing your concept. At the conclusion of the CAP project, these questions will be revisited to see how well we implemented the concept. If your questions are not significant, relevant to your Justification, and well-written -- then your concept will be rejected.
• Explanation - This can contain just about anything. This is where you can explain your concept without restraint. You may make suggestions, even specific suggestions, regarding the possible implementation of the Concept. This explanation should help facilitate discussion of the Concept -- but the Explanation is NOT part of the Concept and will be omitted from the polls and any future use of the Concept. Since your explanation is non-binding, regarding future polls and threads, it will not be evaluated for purposes of determining if your concept is legal or illegal.

It is the submitter's responsibility to figure out how to make a legal submission within the rules listed above. Do not complain about the difficulty of making a submission in this thread. There are many, many legal concepts that can be presented within the rules. Here are few examples of good and bad Concepts from previous projects:

Good Concepts from Past Projects
"Pure Utility Pokemon"
"Anti-Ghost Rapid Spinner"
"True Garchomp Counter"
"Great Lead Pokemon"
"Ultimate Weather Abuser"
"Status Counter"

Bad Concepts from Past Projects
"Ice-Resisting Dragon"
"Super Luck User"
"STAB Explosion Glass Cannon"
"Auto-Stealth Rock Remover"
"A Pokemon with Special Intimidate"
"Pyrokinetic Pokemon (Fire/Psychic)"
"Special Guts"
"Typing Means Nothing"​

Here's a sample of a legal Concept post. This is not an actual submission. I'm just using it to illustrate the format and legal content:

Concept: "Kingdra of the Sun"
Description: A good pokemon with a varied movepool under normal conditions. But, it becomes a dangerous sweeping force in sunny weather.

Justification: Sunny Day is almost never used in the current metagame. This concept could make Sun teams playable in OU, much like Kingdra almost single-handedly makes Rain teams viable in OU. We will learn more about sunny weather battling strategies in OU, and the pokemon that can use sun to their advantage.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Are sun teams more viable with "Kingdra of the Sun" in OU?
• Which battle strategies are most effective and least effective using sun in OU?
• Which OU pokemon can best use sun to their advantage?
• Which lesser-used pokemon become relevant with "Kingdra of the Sun" in OU?
• Is "Kingdra of the Sun" viable in OU under normal weather conditions?

Explanation: A good Sunny Day abuser would be fresh and fun. Typing could be just about anything, although Fire and/or Grass are the most obvious. Water typing might be interesting to help it stop Heatran from becoming even more of a beast once the Sun goes up, and ruining the fun for this pokemon. Chlorophyll would be an easy way to make a good sweeper, but Solar Power doesn't get the love it should, and might be an interesting option. There are lots of nice abilities that could help this thing do its job. I think fiery art designs are always cool and I can imagine this pokemon having lots of colorful fire effects, if we make it part Fire.

Note that all the "illegal stuff" is in the Explanation. The Description is short, and very carefully worded to follow all the rules. It does not specifically dictate anything in later polls.

Please try to remember that we are simply pointing the project in a general direction, we are not trying to decide anything right now. We have several weeks of polls ahead of us where EVERYTHING about this pokemon will be dissected, discussed, voted, and decided. The Concept is a very basic guide for the creation process. It is hard to provide solid concept descriptions without basically designing the entire pokemon right off the bat. Submissions should be written and chosen very carefully, to avoid these problems.

 

[Deck Knight]

Alright ladies and gentlemen, It's time to start up another CAP Project. Wyverii has graciously provided you with the rules.

Please follow all of them or we will find you!

So what am I looking for? Well, for starters, I've always wanted to do this, and like Dusk before me I want to make an indelible mark on CAP. I want big, bold, ambitious ideas that can stretch our discussions out for maximum value. The most important thing though, is that although I want bold visions, I also want them to be clear. What we learn is the most important part of the CAP Process, which means we need questions we can answer through testing and data.

I love the high wire act, so I'm willing to take risks. I've always been a little esoteric in my arguments, and I love testing and tweaking new and different sets. So basically, if you want your concept slated, intrigue me. Just remember that your clarity has to be equal to your ambition. CAP can do great things, but it needs to have a driving purpose to learn from.

So that's enough of me. Have at thee!

 

[Solstice]

Name: Speed Shifter

General Description: A Pokemon that fills separate roles depending on how high or low its speed stat is.

Justification: Speed has always been an enormous part of the game of Pokemon. Going first can mean the difference between victory and defeat. We all want to eke out those last few EVs, be able to move faster than those top threats. However on the other side of the spectrum we have Pokemon that benefit from going last. So what if there was a Pokemon who could take advantage of both aspects of the speed game? It would allow us to see how much prediction is founded on the ability to out speed an opponent, and give insight on the importance of acceleration in the OU metagame.

Questions to be Answered:
- How much is prediction based on speed tiers? Do different playing styles approach this differently?
- Do offensive Pokemon need speed? How essential is speed to a support Pokemon?
- How important is speed in using lures?
- Is it possible to properly balance a Pokemon while keeping one of its stats incredibly variable?

Explanation: Speed became a huge factor in what threw a Pokemon into stardom or sent it flying down into the depths of the lower tiers when Gen 5 appeared. I want to use Escavalier and Accelgor as examples. In Escavalier’s case it has high attack, solid defenses, and a typing with only one weakness. Seems like it should have been great, but its primary problems were speed and movepool. It had the stats to be defensive, but no recovery move and nothing to really distinguish itself in terms of support. And offensively it was outsped by effectively everything. Accelgor was incredibly fast, but had effectively the opposite problem. It had Spikes and Recover, had Toxic to spread poison, even had some Baton Pass capabilities. However with its support moves it did not have the stats to use them, it was taken out too easily. So even though in terms of speed they were exact opposites, they had the same problem, they couldn’t use what was given to them although if they could have changed that they could have succeeded. Which is why a Pokemon who can fill both niches could explore so much about how speed makes or breaks a Pokemon in OU, it would expand our knowledge of how specific Pokemon work now and why some of them fail despite having such potential.

 

[Destiny Warrior]

Name: Black Hole

General Description: This Pokemon is built around the field effect Gravity, and aims to popularize it as a viable oppion in the Standard metagame.

Justification: The field effect Gravity is one of the most neglected in the Standard metagame. A CAP built around this field effect has several avenues, offensive and defensive. Such a CAP would also be a good learning experience about how certain strategies can become viable. Gravity is a very unique field effect, which has not been explored much by players as it did not have the right tools to be used successfully. A good addition to such a team that is made to specifically work for it can boost Gravity's sagging fortunes, and bring a new addition the standard metagame's present "weather wars".

Questions To Be Answered:

• Can a single Pokemon give impetus to an unpopular strategy?
• How will the present OU metagame react to a new global effect making a stand?
• What tools does a Pokemon need to function effectively under Gravity?
• What does the field effect Gravity need to become popular?
• In general, what does a relatively underpowdered strategy require to become successful?

Explanation: Gravity removes Ground-type immunities, making a Ground type a possible pick. However, this is not the only way to take the CAP, as it can also use high-powered moves such as Blizzard and Thunder which have lower accuracy. A third possiblity would be to be build the Pokemon around setting up entry hazards, as they are the cornerstone of defensive Gravity teams. Abilities to consider would be those which either bolster offensive capabilities so as to give Gravity a solid sweeper, something it direly lacks, or ones which aid the team as a whole in order to make this CAP the fulcrum around which the rest of the team can revolve.

 

[imabanana]

Name: I kill you with Tackle

Description: a Pokemon that is unable to learn any good commonly used attacks but has a massive attack and/or special attack to equal it out. This forces it to use attacks that aren’t usually used.

Justification: There are several interesting attacks that don’t get used because Pokemon have better moves to use for example Rollout, Doom Desire, and Fling(while holding an Iron Ball). The purpose of this concept is to see what it would be like if a Pokemon was able to effectively use moves that aren’t usually used.

Questions to be answered:
• Can a Pokemon have good enough stats to make up for it not being able to learn good commonly used moves?
• What different uncommonly used moves can we make it have that it would be able to effectively use?
• How will a Pokemon being able to effectively use these uncommon moves affect the metagame?

Explanation: Since a Pokemon’s movepool is one of the main things that define a Pokemon, this Pokemon will be very different from most Pokemon. One important thing we will need to decide is if this Pokemon should be a physical, special or mixed attacker because that decision will directly impact which uncommonly used moves it can effectively use.
It will be a challenge making this Pokemon balanced because its extra good stats need to balance out its bad movepool. Creating this Pokemon’s movepool will be quite different than for past cap Pokemon. Although it can’t learn any good commonly used attacks it would be good if it could learn a good variety of uncommonly used attacks so we can experiment with several different moves. There could be some potential problems with its movepool legality but I’m sure we can make it work.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Concept: The Deceiver

Description: A Pokemon that is built around concealing information from the opponent or misinforming the opponent in a generation where information is more readily available than ever.

Justification: Information became very difficult to hide from your opponent in the generation shift for many reasons. The most eminent reason of the lot is team preview. Now you get to see your opponent's pinch sweeper Lucario, or the Electivire to your opponent's Gyarados, or whether they're running stall or offense, or which weather they're running. These things were all concealed from us prior to BW. Additionally, with being able to choose a lead, the concept of a no-lead metagame has made BW even more about team synergy and less about concealing information.

I'm not convinced, however. There are still many ways to hide information, just nothing serious in the metagame that takes advantage of it. I think exploring the idea of information as a concept driver would result in a very unique, diverse, and productive experience for a BW CAP both in the process and in the result.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Can information be concealed effectively from your opponent to give you the upper hand when you finally "reveal your hand" as it were?
• What sort of information is the most feasible to conceal from your opponent? The least feasible?
• What methods best facilitate the obfuscation of information?
• Which is more viable, misleading your opponent or simply leaving them guessing entirely?
• Which items and styles of play best suit a Pokemon that focuses on concealing information? Would defensive, offensive, or balanced be more appropriate?
• Does the threat of a lack of information require a diverse movepool, or can it be achieved through other means?

Explanation: CAP is where we explore concepts that don't get much or any gametime in real Pokemon. This concept came to me as soon as BW was introduced and the changes were made that included team preview and choosing a lead. I immediately asked myself: "But wait, what if you could still hide all of this information from your opponent? Would that put the fear back into the players?" Hiding information was something so pivotal for DPP OU, and I think being able to bring it back to BW OU would change the way we look at an otherwise predictable metagame.

There are many obvious ways to hide information. We employ a few of these strategies still, such as Expert Belt to hide under the guise of being choice-locked. This is based in misdirection, not obfuscation. The difference between these two types of information will need to be discussed at length by the community, but forms the basic principle of the flow of information to and from players. Obfuscation is something like having a diverse movepool such that an opponent cannot predict your set. Perhaps having diverse coverage, or diverse support options. Perhaps, even, having a diverse typing through the use of Multitype. On the other hand, the epitome of misdirection might be Illusion; your opponent thinks you're a completely different Pokemon altogether! What then if you have both Zoroark and CAP 3 on your team? Complete anarchy! As you can see, there are a wide variety of ways that we can handle a CAP based on deception and hiding information. I hope that this has piqued your all's interest as much as it has captivated me for countless months as I waited for the opportunity to present this concept to you.

Enter the deceiver.

 

[capefeather]

Name: Break the Mold 2

Description: This Pokémon uses one or more moves or abilities in unconventional ways.

Justification: Many moves and abilities are good for one function and one function only (e.g. Swords Dance, Huge Power). However, some moves and abilities are more ambiguous, either because of subtle mechanical quirks (e.g. Nature Power bypassing Sucker Punch), or because of multiple effects (e.g. Drizzle being used for stall), or because the main effect of a move or ability does not entirely favor one tactical style (e.g. Agility on defensive Pokémon). This concept aims to explore alternate, neglected roles of moves and abilities, in order to gain a deeper understanding of how move and ability effects interact, as well as perhaps a greater appreciation for subtle game mechanics. It is also a throwback to the original Break the Mold (Stratagem), which aimed to break flavor stereotypes of Pokémon typings. It is important to keep in mind that this concept is about rethinking moves and abilities themselves, NOT about rethinking the kinds of Pokémon that can use certain moves or abilities.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Will "breaking the mold" create a new niche in the metagame, or will it force us to rethink an existing one?
• How will using a move or ability in a different way change the way we look at existing Pokémon that also use said move or ability?
• Is it easier to use a primarily offensive effect in a defensive manner, or vice versa?
• How can a move or ability be used in a role that is not outclassed by a different move or ability that seems more tailored for said role?
• How do moves/abilities that seem one-dimensional differ from moves/abilities that actually are one-dimensional?
• Could certain move/ability combinations be exploited to "break the mold" with multiple possible sets?
• Is there really more to certain move or ability effects than what we think of them?
• Can conventional niches for moves and abilities "coexist" with unconventional ones?

Explanation:

New ways of looking at moves and abilities change the metagame, and we have ample proof of this in the development of OU and other metagames. People once found "rain stall" a baffling concept. Now it's commonplace. Speed was once considered entirely an offensive trait. Now we have "quickstall" (okay, Ubers, but still) and even individual defensive Pokémon using Speed to their advantage (Deoxys-D even uses Agility sometimes).

One occurrence that gave me this idea was the inclusion of Nature Power in Tomohawk's movepool. At the time of its development, I was just amused by the weird properties of Nature Power. But what if Prankster Nature Power as a combo were put onto a Pokémon more able to use it highly effectively? This is just one example of several possibilities. Defensive Speed Boost? Sure! Offensive Prankster with Bulk Up / Calm Mind? Why not? Defensive Serene Grace? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you! What about a defensive user of Arena Trap or Shadow Tag? Contrary could be a really fun ability to use for this, since it's often seen as a power sweeper's dream and yet there are lots of defensive options as well.

What I do not envision here is an ability that has a single role but is useful for both offense and defense. Something like Multiscale or Poison Heal, which are characterized as "defensive", would not be very good for this concept, because all they really do is reduce the overall damage the user has. An offensive Pokémon with such an ability (e.g. Dragon Dance Dragonite) is not really using it offensively, but rather, the ability is more of a "helper" that allows the Pokémon to do its "real" job more easily. What we want here is a re-imagining of the move or ability itself, NOT a focus on the Pokémon using it.

I've added a question to highlight this: "How do moves/abilities that seem one-dimensional differ from moves/abilities that actually are one-dimensional?" It's easy to see why Swords Dance and Shell Smash are one-dimensional. They boost offensive stats, and the latter even cuts defensive stats. It might be harder to see why moves/abilities like Prankster, Serene Grace, and Agility may not be one-dimensional. That is why I listed three avenues for fulfilling this concept in the justification, and all of them are important:

• Subtle mechanics
• Multiple effects
• Tactic-independent effects (e.g. Speed alteration)

It is a disservice to look at one and judge the concept on it. If it looks like this concept will lead to picking moves and abilities traditionally considered "broken", well, there's really nothing wrong with that in the end. In fact, it may be MORE insightful to work with traditionally "broken" effects. Honestly, I don't see how anyone can claim to be "ambitious" and then not see the merit in this concept on account of the possibility of legitimately bringing up really crazy abilities. People on IRC routinely come up with variations on this theme spontaneously. I think it's about time we acted on them.

Finally, I urge you to consider the reactions of people seeing a CAP like this for the first time, and getting completely baffled. Say, they thought it would be an offensive Pokémon by quickly looking at its ability or movepool, only to find that it's actually a mean stall Pokémon. Would that not be hilarious? Come on, I dare you not to laugh. (It would also be rather impeccable timing considering we're waiting for an actual sequel to shake up the OU metagame.)

 

[Asylum_Rhapsody]

Name: Battle of the Sexes

General Description: A Pokemon that makes Gender matter.

Justification: Gender mechanics are probably the least explored existing dimension of competitive Pokemon, with good reason considering the ways that they've been implemented in the past. This Pokemon will introduce a new niche to the metagame by making the best possible use of what little it has to work with and single-handedly making Gender a factor to be legitimately considered by competitive battlers.

Questions To Be Answered:
* What would it take for such a poorly supported dimension of Pokemon as Gender to become competitively significant?
* Is it possible for a Pokemon to threaten or even counter another Pokemon solely due to Gender?
* If a Pokemon could introduce significant Gender mechanics into the metagame, would other Pokemon then make use of the Gender mechanics that had previously been available to them but ignored?
* If so, then how?
* In a metagame where Gender can give you an edge or be your downfall, how are the values of single-gendered or genderless Pokemon affected?
* Would the few existing Gender mechanics be enough to allow this Pokemon to make Gender a significant influence on the competitive metagame?

Explanation:

The appeal of CAP to me has always been the idea that maybe we can use our creativity to take something totally ignored or totally irrelevant and turn it around into something with considerable metagame effects. What better a test of this than taking the least significant dimension of competitive Pokemon and making it matter? This will be a true test of CAP's capabilities, and there are a lot of ways that it can be accomplished.

For a list of battle-relevant game mechanics that work off of Gender, take a look here. As you can see, the list isn't very long, and yet it has just enough potential to bring up some ideas. For example, a Pokemon with both the ability Rivalry and the move Attract might be formidable if given the right tools to take advantage of that combination. Cute Charm too can be a very annoying, if unreliable, ability. Of course, many genderless Pokemon would likely put a stop to such tactics, but that's good that the concept already comes with some theoretical limitations.

The real trick to making the selection of your Pokemon's Gender competitive and not merely luck, though, would of course probably be for this to be a single-gendered Pokemon, like Necturna, though not even that is necessarily a given if we do something weird like give all of the Males of this new species Cute Charm and all of the Females Rivaly (or vice versa). Additionally, we probably want to build around single-gendered Pokemon already relevant to the metagame (Landorus, Latias, Latios, Necturna, Tornadus), though it will be up to the community to decide who will be a check or counter to whom.

I would be really excited to see experienced competitive battlers putting their minds to something completely new, a practically unexplored dimension of the metagame.

 

[TheTraininator]

Name - The Weather Tyrant

Description - A Pokemon that could effectively abuse all four types of weather.

Justification - Anyone who tells you that weather is not a defining part of the competitive battling metagame has been living under a rock since the end of the 2nd generation. More than ever now, weather is predominant in the OU metagame due to access to all four kinds of perma-weather and many Pokemon to abuse them. Many Pokemon work well under certain weather conditions, like Tornadus in Rain or Venusaur in Sun, and some Pokemon, like Volcarona and Gastrodon, can even abuse multiple kinds of weather, but no Pokemon can truly abuse all four. A Pokemon that could would be a truly versatile threat and a no-doubt top tier threat.

Questions To Be Answered:
Would the Pokemon be a more offensive of defensive threat, or would that be variable?
Would the Pokemon be able to simultaneously abuse all four kinds of weather, or would it be limited to one type of weather per set?
Would it be unique in anything it was able to do, or would it act as a jack of all trades, master of none?
Would it be possible to limit it so that no possible individual set could be broken in any type of weather?

Explanation - There are so many ways for a Pokemon can abuse weather, as there are many moves, abilities, and types that take advantage of it. To be able to cram a lot of them onto one Pokemon would be a very hard task, but would make the result a real versatile threat. Access to multiple weather-abusing moves and abilities would help it be able to adjust to any situation, and perhaps even take advantage of your opponent's own strategy. Perhaps to add to its overall flexibility, if it was able to function in either bulky offensive, powerhouse sweeping, and team supportive roles would keep the opponent guessing what it plans to do. A Pokemon with as much versatility as this one would truly rule over weather teams as a true weather tyrant.

 

[Dr Sloth]

Name - Stall Me, Please

Description - A Pokemon able to take full advantage of its opponents stalling tactics

Justification - Whether it's just an annoyance tactic or a careful wittling down of your own Pokemon, facing an effective stall can be daunting. Previously, you had two main options: Taunt or sweep. A Pokemon that didn't break or prevent the stall, but let it occur and still benefited would be quite a powerful addition to the metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What are the most commonly used stall tactics?
• Are there any ways that a Pokemon, being the target of the stall, might benefit from these moves?
• How effective would such a Pokemon be against a non-staller?

Explanation: A well-run stall team can be quite devastating. And there just seems to be too few ways to attempt to stop it. I would be very interested to see if there would be a way to let your opponent pull off the stall but fail to come out on top.

A few abilities, like Magic Bounce, Magic Guard and Arena Trap do play havoc with stalls, but they still only set up for the traditional stall breaks. And moves like Magic Coat, while powerful when used properly, are only really useful in a few, rare circumstances.

I think it would be interesting to find a new counter to an old problem.

 

[Choice Socks]

Concept: Anti-MetaMon

Description:
An Anti-MetaMon is a pokemon that is designed and built to counter the most common battle tactics used by the majority of players on the ladder, including volt turn and weather.

Justification:
The meta-game is currently very balanced, the top 10 rarely shifts, the most dominant play styles have all cemented themselves as effective strategies. In order to disrupt the balance we need ourselves a anti-metaMon. This will allow us to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the top 10 used pokemon from a holistic view, and not just by singling out every individual pokemon.

Questions To Be Answered:
What are the most used strategies that need to be countered?
Is there already any anti-meta pokemon that are work effectively?
If no, what are the qualities this pokemon must need?
Will any less used pokemon become more viable if a effective anti-metaMon is able to counter the strategies that prevent it's use?
?

Explanation:
Good anti-meta pokemon are very effective at countering the most common strategies used. Abomasnow counters weather well, with a scarf it can make short work of all other weather starters and summon it's own weather. Celebi is able to counter volt turn, resisting rotom-w and outspeeding and killing scizor. Like these mons, I propose the next CAP we do is anti-meta, able to change the face of the metagame by countering the most common strategies and giving pokemon that do not see much light, because of the popularity of the more common pokemon, a chance to shine.

 

[Gemini Taurus]

After Much talk on IRC Deck and Wyverii have allowed me to edit my concept

In other news Wyverii may kill Deck Knight

Name: Double Team (not the move)

Description:
In tandem, we create a NFE, and a FE mon, both competitively designed, but for different roles and release both upon the metagame.

Justification: Two Pokemon, same (or similar) typing, but two completely different roles. If we release two Pokemon, one Defensive (eviolite) and the other offensive, we can truly test how effective a certain type (combination) can be. Also we can test how Offensively viable and Defensively viable a certain type is. We can also see how mons with the same movepool choose different moves based on their stats or orientation (offensive/defensive)

Questions to be answered:

•Will these Pokemon effectively teach us how effective a Type is?
•Despite being the same type, will these Pokemon be effective on the same team?
•Which of the Pokemon will prove more useful, or will they be used equally?
•Will releasing two Pokemon on the metagame shake it up more than one would
•Will the same Pokemon counter both CAP's or will they be different?

Explenation: Many people when they look at my concept may think, "We'd pretty much have 2 of the same Pokemon," or, "Won't the 2 CaP's be Identical?" (Or in Wyverii's case "Kill Deck Knight!") however there are many cases of pokemon with the same types having VERY different roles. Take Landorus and Gliscor for example, both are OU, both are Flying/Ground, however they are VERY different Pokemon! One is clearly offensively based, and the other defensively. Both are the same type, but they both have their OWN impact on the metagame!

If we release 2 different Pokemon with the same type, we can see how effective a "Double Team" is on the metagame. Something never previously done. We have no idea where this could go, but it gives us two competitively viable Pokemon, the only restriction being 1 offense, 1 defense.

In conclusion, we could have much to gain releasing 2 different CAP's on the metagame, also it allows more Create-A-Pokemon goodness! (and who doesn't love that???)
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Thanks to Deck Knight and Wyverii to letting this be slateable, also good luck to the other concepts!

 

[Choice Socks]

Name: Eviolethal!
A NFE Pokemon whom, through the use of the eviolite, becomes a formidable force.

Justification: There are only two NFE commonly used in OU, Chansey and Porygon2. Chansey is arguably worse than Blissey because of a lack of leftovers. And Porygon2 is not even OU

We have no Pokemon who completely outclass their evolutions in OU. So by having a NFE created we can see what effect eviolite has on Pokemon other than Chansey and P2, which no Pokemon currently are effective at doing.

Another thing unexplored in OU is a physically defensive Eviolite mon which we don't know how effective it would be

Questions to be answered:

•How will this Pokemon outclass its evolution, and is it because of eviolite?
•Will this Pokemon be completely ineffective if it's eviolite is taken?
•Will this Pokemon be able to use items other than eviolite effectively?
•How must the stats of this Pokemon be handicapped because it's an NFE?
•Will the Pokemon create a new niche in the metagame with NFE only abilities (i.e. friend guard)

Explenation: This Pokemon can basically go any which way. As long as we make an NFE mon. As stated earlier Chansey is the only OU NFE, meaning eviolite in OU has not been fully explored.

*Chansey, with eviolite, does not have leftovers like its big sister this could make Blissey used in favor of it.

Porygon2, the second eviolite user I always think of isn't used for it's defenses, it's used for trace, which it's outclassed at by Krillowatt in CaP

All in all, eviolite has not been explored to its full potential, we should make a Pokemon to fix that.
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The best submission I think I've seen so far is the "battle of the sexes" as it is true, one of the only unexplored mechanics is gender so I think it would be very effective.

Will make better justification later

Dusclops > Dusknoir.
He also counts as a physically defensive mon I'd say

 

[Mari]

Name
Diversitymon

Description
A Pokémon bringing more type diversity into the OU metagame
I observe that some types like steel or fighting have a wide range on the usage lists, while other types like normal or ice come too close. If a Pokémon could reinforce the usage of a specific type, there would be more competition and diversity (and no 25% usage stats anymore, for example).


Justification
I think this concept would have a positive effect on the metagame, because it can increase the diversity and makes it more interesting, because the usage spread is dispersed on more distinct Pokémon.

Questions To Be Answered
Can a single CAP be able to promote some less used types?
Well, in Gen1, psychic was a very overused type. Then Gen2 came with Umbreon and Steelix who decreased the usage of psychic type Pokémon like Exeggutor a lot.

Which effect would promoting a underused type have on the entire usage list?
Would CAP 3 have the potential to reshuffle the whole threat list or will there be only minor changes?


Explanation
Current OU metagame is spammed by steel types like Heatran, Jirachi, Ferrothorn, Scizor and Skarmory and fighting types like Terrakion, Breloom or Infernape. However some other types are very seldom used.

For example the normal type. There are 97 normal type Pokémon at the moment, however there are only 14(-15) being really competitive, those are:
single normal type
Clefable
Chansey
(Snorlax) - only in Trick Room
Granbull
Porygon2
Smeargle
Blissey
Ambipom
Porygon-Z
Stoutland
Cinccino

double type
Swellow
Staraptor
Togekiss
Sawsbuck

(Arceus is banned and I don't know anything about Meloetta)

Now there are two major reasons why this type is so underused:

• The normal type does not affect any other type very effective.
• The current metagame is dominated by steel and fighting Pokémon.

If CAP3 would be supposed to promote the normal type, it must have the potential to deal with many steel and fighting type Pokémon. But there is the problem, that steel and fighting provide a great coverage each other. A flying or a psychic type CAP3 could be dangerous for fighting types, but is laughed down by steel Pokémon; while a fire type CAP3 can handle steel as ease, but comes in trouble against fighting Pokémon because most of them can learn Stone Edge.



However I do not want to specify on normal type, there may be other uncompetitive types like ice or posion; to foster the normal type is only one possibility.


I have got three ideas to this concept:


Idea 1
A strong Pokémon with a clear weakness against the seldom used types. For example there could be a Pokémon with sligthly overpowered stats or a huge movepool but an negative ability which gives a weakness against the normal type. Maybe we could give it Entrainment, so that it can copy this ability to the opponent's Pokémon as well.


Idea 2
A Pokémon with an ability or a move or whatever which swaps its weaknesses and resistances or it's opponent's weaknesses and resistances, respectively. This means:
0.25x -> 4x; 0.5x -> 2x; 1x -> 1x; 2x -> 0.5x; 4x -> 0.25x; 0x -> 0x (resistance remains resistance). So we could create a steel type Pokémon with an ice and a normal weakness, but a fighting resistance or a Pokémon which is able to hit rock types with a super effective Hyper Voice.


Idea 3
A Pokémon which causes a new weather effect or a pseudo weather effect like Gravity which boosts the usage of damaging move types which are actually considered to have a bad coverage like normal, steel or posion moves. For example there could be something like cloudy weather in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 (which makes all non-normal type moves weaker) or an entry hazard which lowers the defense stat of all non-normal type Pokémon by one stage when switched in, or anything other like this.

 

[GRs Cousin]

Name: Riser of a Lower-Tier Threat
General Description: A Pokemon whose very presence makes an existing, lower-tiered Pokemon viable competitive play.
Justification: There are many Pokemon in the UU and NU tier that have concepts that, while are interesting and could have changed a lot, just weren't done right to fit in our current OU play. This CAP3 concept is to see if one can successfully make a lower-tiered Pokemon be able to find use within competitive play, be it through complimenting or countering our CAP.
Questions To Be Answered:

• Can a low-tier Pokemon successfully counter/complete something our current metagame can't?
• If we center the CAP3 specifically around a selected lower-tier Pokemon, what measures would need to be taken to make CAP3 itself still viable in OU without being broken?
• What style of play would CAP3 have? What non-OU Pokemon has a niche that further explores CAP3's style?
• If a lower-tier threat truly does counter the CAP, what niche allows this? What would counter CAP3's counter?
• If a non-OU Pokemon acts as a partner for the CAP, what aspect of it synergizes with the CAP? Is there anything that can mimic this synergy with better results?

Explanation: Controversial? Maybe. Possible? I think so. We're allowed plenty of elbow room for designing a Pokemon that brings usage out of non-OU Pokemon. Instead of just creating a new guy that outright replaces the lower-tier Pokemon, the concept will let us see if a lower-tier threat can truly shine in the main metagame. Azumarill is virtually unchanged, but it found a metagame that it can stand a chance in. Let's see if we can do the same for something else. Who knows, maybe we'll end up dragging more than one non-OU Pokemon into OU as well?

CAP3 can be a counter to most of OU or partner to something from a lower tier. We're not really limited to much, only that the main goal is seeing if we can construct a CAP that isn't broken nor useless, yet at the same time brings about the use of something from a lower tier.

 

[Meganium Sulfate]

Concept: Slow Shifter

Description: A pokemon that uses a shifting move (Baton Pass, U-Turn, or Volt Switch) at the end of the turn to allow a different pokemon to come in safely.

Justification: The strategy that begs itself to be used is Slow Shifting, the practice of having one pokemon sponge damage before switching to allow other pokemon to switch in without taking a hit. Sadly, switching always happens first, and most pokemon with a shifting move are fast. This strategy has been tried before, mostly on Magnezone, Forretress and Scizor, but never with optimal results, as these pokemon have harsh double weaknesses and are usually not bulky enough for the job (and lack reliable healing. This may be what makes CAP3 stand out from the OU steels). Should the most optimal Slow Shifter be created, it would profoundly impact the metagame, possibly allowing the fast, frail pokemon usually reserved for revenge killing to see more outside use.


Questions To Be Answered:

• What would be the metagame impact of an effective Slow Shifter?
• How would this affect other types of pokemon, such as sweepers and stalls?
• Can a pokemon even be intrinsically an effective enough Slow Shifter to make that strategy more appealing than Bulky Sweeping or Stall?
• What attributes are needed for the perfect Slow Shifter?

Explanation:

Slow Shifting is a theoretically good strategy that has never yet seen widespread use. The pokemon would have to be slow and bulky, but beyond that, anything is possible. Yet, if done right, its effects would be monumental. Pokemon like Weavile, which are great, hard-hitting counters but are seen infrequently due to lack of bulk, might become more common if they could be given an easier switch-in. Having never been able to witness the effects of Slow Shifting in OU, I would be intrigued to see what it does to the CAP metagame.

To clarify, this is not merely a pokemon that, among its many strategies, might possibly, maybe, I-think-I-saw-something-like-that-once, use the Slow Shifting strategy. This is a pokemon that uses this strategy so effectively that the common metagame will change. Like GRs Cousin's idea, I think the net effect of this will be to bring lower tier pokemon (like the aforementioned Weavile) into the higher tiers with a vengeance. It will be a challenge to build this pokemon with such precision that it can fill such a specialized purpose, but it's a challenge like that which drives the CAP.

 

[zyrefredric]

Name: RESTRICTOR

General Description: A pokemon that directly or indirectly limits the opponent's move options, through a combination of abilities, typings, items, etc.

Justification: The outcome of a Pokemon match depends on the skills (sometimes luck) of the trainers. Usually the one that could better predict the opponent's moves is the victor. A single mispredict can cost anybody a match. Great skills in prediction comes with experience. However, one way of increasing your chances of predicting correctly would be by limiting the options the opponent could do. If you can control the situation in such a way that he is restricted to a single option, what's there to predict? That's what this concept is all about.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How much of the metagame is susceptible to move restriction?
• To what degree can a certain Pokemon affect the options of an opponent?
• Would the opponent choose the less ideal option, knowing that the option he has been restricted to is what you chose?
• How do other Pokemon adjust their movesets and strategies with the Restrictor Pokemon around?

Explanation:
To better understand what I'm trying to say, take a look at this Move Restriction Guide onsite. The article "takes a close look at the workings of moves, items, and abilities that restrict the move options available to Pokémon". There's a multitude of ways that this can be accomplished, so we don't even have to be restricted by this article. It is possible for the Concept to go for an offensive route, using its threat as a restricting factor as well. However, a more defensive approach may be better suited for it. For example, when pulled off right, a Pokemon with enough defenses to take a hit with the moveset of Spider Web / Substitute / Disable / Encore with Prankster completely restricts the opponent's option to Struggle!

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Btw, from the submissions so far, the following are what strikes me as interesting/worthwhile:

• Destiny Warrior's "Black Hole" - Gravity needs some love. It's in the same boat as Trick Room in that they are both underused global effects, but at least TR's getting some usage. (In the very least, I've used TR for good to great effect) However, rarely do you see Gravity being used in a successful competitive team.
  
• imabanana's "I kill you with Tackle" - Although the concept name is a bit tacky, and the submission may be illegal (in that "a massive attack and/or special attack" should not be in the description, I'd say the concept itself is very good. There ARE moves that are virtually unused (weak attacking moves, most of which have very nice secondary effects; or situational/poorly distributed non-attacking moves), and a CAP that brings them into the OU limelight is great!
  
• Asylum_Rhapsody's "Battle of the Sexes" - It's true that gender's competitive value is very minimal, but the fact that it HAS competitive significance gives us enough reason to explore it to its fullest. Also, it even allows us to explore the least seen status effect: infatuation.

 

[MLaRF]

Final Submission

Concept: The good gimmick

General description: A competitively viable pokémon with some kind of ability or other trait that can be both good and bad.

Justification: Gimmick pokémon are generally terrible due to their typing and stats, but as we have proven with Necturna, a concept Game Freak uses for a weak pokémon can become a potent threat with proper attributes. However, we'd need a gimmick with both pros and cons, unlike sketch basically having only a pro, or unlike truant only really having a con, where it's the pokémon's stats that are meant to balance it.

Questions to be answered:

• How would a pokémon with a less reliable function work in a metagame where pokémon are generally tailored to their main function?
• How much does a gimmick that's both beneficial and hindering affect the potential of an otherwise standard OU pokémon?
• How much does a gimmick truly need before it can be regarded as useable? Would a decent-mediocre typing, movepool, and stat distribution be sufficient with the potential benefits of the gimmick, or would the other factors have to moreso compensate for the negative potential?

Explanation: Exactly as stated above. A gimmicky ability or other trait (ability would be easiest) that can be both beneficial and hindering, dependent upon the circumstance, but typing, movepool, and stats would still make the pokemon viable in OU. We have three real ways of approaching it, in that we make it really good but hindered greatly in a certain condition (i.e. a better Regigigas), make it somewhat poor in performance but still powerful thanks to its gimmick (i.e. a conditional Azumarill), or make it average to slightly underwhelming for OU with an ability that takes it either way. There are probably a lot more ways to approach it, but these are the most general ones.

Hide

Feedback:
Solstice: Pretty good concept, but making its speed range large enough to fit the roles may be a bit difficult.
Destiny Warrior: I like the general idea of making something more competitively viable. Gravity is a good choice for this, but we can really apply this to everything (my idea could be considered making gimmick more competitively viable, even).
Imabanana: This one might be considered a rule-breaker, unfortunately, but it is a somewhat good idea. However, I'm sure there's enough pokémon with great stats and a terrible movepool in-games.
Rising_Dusk: I love this one so much, it's way relevant to 5th gen metagame.
Capefeather: I'm unfortunately having a bit of a hard time imagining a "break the mold" that doesn't use typing as a basis for the mold. However, mold breaker would be a really funny ability for this.
Asylum_Rhapsody: Love it way much. It's so true. No one really gives a shit what gender you use in PO outside of... NU maybe? Would be cool.
TheTraininator: Probably lots of potential, but would probably have to be an either/or kind of weather user.
Dr. Slothlove, or How I Learned to Stop UUing and Love the CAP: This is really cool. I especially appreciate it since stall isn't quite that popular in OU, but if Necturna is still available, we could even play off her stalling capabilities for a great concept.
Choice Socks: Like the idea, especially with this last tier list making no changes. Like, come on, smogon.
SubwayJ: If the unevolved form is supposed to be that good, I'd hate to see what we have to do to make its fully evolved form without making it better. That would be an experience.
Joeyboy: Like it, see my concept for further info.
Mari: Good idea, especially idea 1, however I think you might be overcomplicating it with the other ideas. We could just make something like Cloyster, where its typing is underwhelming, but its stats and movepool give it reason enough to be OU.
GRs Cousin: This I also like. Though I think I mentioned something like this on a different concept, so yeah.
Meganium Sulfate: Sounds pretty cool, though I think this could really be part of the first concept with the speed variance.
Zydenfreude: Kind of a cool idea. I hate that playstyle but it's still a cool concept. Also, your name is an adventure in itself.

 

[Flarephoenix332]

All hail Hail!


Name – Snow Emergency

Description - A Pokémon that can take advantage of Hail or benefit Hail as weather in some form.

Justification - Rain and Sand are the most common OU weathers--but I see Sun a lot more than I ever see Hail. Hail teams are the lowest tier of the weathers. This concept would try to make Hail a weather as viable as Sun, Rain, or even Sand by fixing one of the weather's weaknesses, replacing the autostarter, or something along those lines.

Questions To Be Answered -

• What would it take to make Hail viable in OU, or is it even possible?
• Can Hail become a legitimate strategy in an OU environment where weathers are common?
• Would a greater threat/use of Hail move the OU metagame away from Rain and Sandstorm?
• What factors are necessary for a weather to be “good”?
• Could an increase in Hail’s prowess actually decrease the overall use of weather-teams in general?
• Could an increase in Hail decrease the use of Dragon-types?

Explanation - Gen V saw the introduction of two new auto-weather starters: Ninetales and Politoed. Rain became very popular because of a combination of Politoed getting drizzle and the new threats Gen V brought. Sandstorm got a huge boost in Gen V with the introduction of Excadrill--a boost so large that Excadrill went the way of Garchomp. Even Sun got some great new Pokémon to abuse it. Yet Hail is still the red-headed step child of the weathers: regulated to UU and lower to be a popular strategy. This concept isn’t looking to recentralize the metagame around Hail, but instead is looking to allow Hail to be used as regularly as Sand or Rain.

The Pokémon itself could go a few different ways. The first one that comes to mind is making a new Auto-Hail starter to replace Abomasnow and its glaring weaknesses. The Pokémon could be designed as a sweeper, defensive ‘mon, or anywhere in between—or even a bridge between both Auto-Hail and Sweeper. The Pokémon doesn’t necessarily need to be Ice-type and could instead be used to help negate the few glaring weaknesses of Hail-using Pokémon—Stealth Rock and Fighting-types come to mind. This idea has a lot of leeway in how we can go and could have a great effect on our understanding of weather, in particular Hail. And with Excadrill and Thundurus gone—two Pokémon I think of as synonymous with Sand and Rain respectively—this might be the perfect metagame to do this.

Responses

Solstice - Speed Shifter
I would enjoy working on this just to see how we could work the pokemon to run both slow and fast. My only concern is people will always choose Fast--because if you ain't first, you're last! People love going first.

Destiny_Warrior - Black Hole
With the seeming openness to new abilities now, this seems a lot more viable and interesting. I really like this concept. I'd be highly interested to see how the greater increased accuracy affects things--Zap Cannon or Dynamic Punch, anyone?

imabanana - I kill you with Tackle
I don't see the value in using weaker attacks as a learning experience--we'd need basically twice the attack stat to get the same use out of a Tackle as we would a Return.

Rising_Duck - The Deceiver
The holy, mythical concept! I didn't look it in the face as I read it. I think this is up there with Momentum--something many people won't truly appreciate until we really get down to the bones talking about this. My only concern is people will nail down a few favorite sets and the misinformation factor impact might lessen. CAP couldn't go wrong with this one.

capefeather - Break the Mold 2
Like the original Break the Mold, I love how wide open the concept is--and I love that you're focusing more on strategy than on doing something Gamefreak didn't. Like Momentum, this would be one we'd have to define early--but I'm intrigued.

Asylum_Rhapsody - Battle of the Sexes
This general idea is often neglected because there's not much that uses it. Rivalry, Attraction, Captivate--then you have to add in the oft unpredictability of the gender of pokemon--I honestly don't see this as very viable because it is restricted.

TheTraininator - Weather Tyrant
This one seems to wide in scope to pull off effectively. If it can legitimately abuse all four types of weather, it could probably do fine without the weather anyway. Versatility is hard to manage and wrangle in.

Dr. Sloth - Stall Me, Please
A concept about a Stallbuster? I know we've lost a few pokemon who were really good at that, but I don't feel stall is a big enough threat currently to warrant a pokemon to break it--plus, I don't know what we would even learn.


Choice Socks - Anti-MetaMon
I don't know what we would learn--we've basically done this idea before. We know how a Decentralizer affects the metagame.


Mari - Diversitymon
This seems like an decentralize concept wrapped in "boost this type"--I just don't know what we'd learn. That "X-Type isn't OU great unless we improve it"?

GR's Cousin - Riser of a Lower-Tier Threat
If we tailor-made a CAP to only be Hard-Countered by one lower-tiered pokemon, people would design a team around that one weakness and then just run roughshaw. I don't think this is very viable.

Meganium Sulfate - Slow Shifter
Can't you just run Curse and then Baton Pass? Or lagging tail? I don't see the point in this concept, honestly.

Zyrefredric - Restrictor
Outside of Gravity, maybe, we already know the effect of all of those moves. And your example moveset--then what? Switch out and break all of that? Kill the pokemon and then another comes out?

MLaRF - The Good Gimmick
This just seems like "Sketch Artist"--a Gimmick placed on a good pokemon, but controlled. I don't see what we'd learn.

Flarephoe--Oh, that's me.

 

[lars]

My idea is too specific, and there are already a ton of good ones here so...

My comments

Hide

Solstice – interesting idea, although I think there are already a few examples. Generally Pokemon with decent bulk, but also access to Speed boosting or attack boosting moves and stall oriented moves somewhat fill your description, unless you wish to bolster this with abilities, etc.
Destiny Warrior – I have never used gravity, but I think it would be excellent to give it more of a chance to be used. Fidgit seems like it fills a similar role, but an ability that summons gravity (only for a specific number of turns or I fear it would be over powered) would give it a much more competitive nature.
Imabanana – slightly against the OP rules (but mine is too I guess). I do like the idea and I agree it would be fun to actually see moves like Rollout or Bubblebeam used.
R_D – I like! My least favorite change from DPP to BW was team preview as I generally enjoyed using surprise tactics. I am all for anything that uses prior assumptions against the opponent or keeps them guessing until it’s too late.
Capefeather – Breaking the mold is something that somewhat relates to Dusk’s idea, although in a more basic form. I particularly like the idea of certain abilities that could make a Pokemon with seemingly no offensive abilities or vice-versa turn completely opposite. Perhaps an extremely defensive Pokemon could have Simple and Shell Smash!
Asylum Rhapsody – Gender is underused, but I think it will be hard to create a Pokemon that can effectively bring it to the front of decision making when team building. In my mind, any ability that can allow one Pokemon to single-handedly influence genders, will probably be over powered and if we limit the ability, then it will not generate enough attention. Although CAP is about challenges, I’m sure we could make it work!
TheTraininator – this is certainly an interesting idea, but to effectively abuse all forms of weather at once would be hard. Generally I think it would end up being much like you described “a jack of all trades, master of none”
Dr Sloth – gratz on the first post! Cool idea, it would certainly be a challenge to build a Pokemon that works well when being stalled. Perhaps leech seed or toxic immunity and access to support moves that allow it to continue to be effective even when stalled.
Choice Socks – a good idea, and it leaves plenty of room for options. I think the biggest benefit could be your last question to be answered, “Will any less used pokemon become more viable if a effective anti-metaMon is able to counter the strategies that prevent its use? If this ends up as a “Yes” essentially two Pokemon can get usage for the price of one.
SubwayJ – I’m very intrigued. The easiest way I can think of making the evolution less viable would be the introduction of an ability like Truant or Slow Start (Slaking, except with a better 2nd stage) Truly new CAP territory!
Joeyboy – Finally I can use a type plate viably! (also a bit against the OP rules) This idea is pretty straight forward, but it kind of fits under R_D’s broader topic, which would allow for more options.
Mari – Give some normal and poison love! I’ve always been a fan of poison and grass types which, needless to say, have not seen the best usage. Typing has interesting influences on Pokemon styles and strategies, this would be beneficial to get a better understanding of.
GRs Cousin – I like the idea, but I’m skeptical that it would work. Terrakion case in point. Nidoqeen and Golurk just are not being used to counter him. And to make something even stronger than Terrakion? Shudders… might be a good challenge though.
MeSO4 – this seen sometimes in the lower tiers with Lanturn or Mandibuzz, an OU threat in addition to Forretress would be nice to see as a slow U-turner.
Zyrefredric – This is truly a challenge, it would certainly be fun and interesting to try.
MLaRF – wouldn’t that be against the definition of gimmick? Haha. Joking aside, I like the idea of a Pokemon that can be viable for certain reasons and then completely surprise the opponent with a gimmick set. A powerful Pokemon with Truant with Skill Swap and protect is an interesting example of this. Think this has a good mix of a fun and challenging project for CAP. Perhaps this Pokemon can even embrace the whole gimmick idea?

 

[Sharpteeth]

Name: Weather Stopper

General Description: A Pokemon that has a reliable way of cancelling weather.

Justification: As anyone can tell you, Wi-Fi OU is an all-out weather war between Sand, Rain and Sun, with Hail behind. The problem is, once they are started, there is no way to stop them save from using another weather.

Questions To Be Answered:
•Can a true weatherless team (not a team that functions in any weather, but a team that functions best in *no* weather) work out, given appropriate support?
•How would the metagame change given the possibility of losing your weather to something that isn't another weather?
•Would the metagame shift towards trappers and weather starters in response?
•Would we see a shift back towards setting up stats instead of controlling the weather?

Explanation: Well, this could be done in a bunch of ways. One of them is to make a Pokemon that knows a move to clear out Weather, kind of like a Haze for weather conditions. Or a move akin to Trick Room that has the effect of Cloud Nine. Or even an Ability that's the opposite of Fidgit's Persistent, in that all field effects used would actually last a few turns less, so you can just use Hail, and have it run out in 2 turns. An attacking move like an enhanced Weather Ball, that draws its power from the weather, but clears it in exchange. Or an ability like Unaware, that ignores the weather's effect on the opponent only. There's a ton of stuff you can do with it.

 

[toshimelonhead]

Name: Checkmate

General Description: A pokemon that has plenty of counters, but once these are removed the game is effectively over.

Justification: When building teams in BW OU compared to DPP OU, I find it easier to look at pokemon that can sweep at the end and find pokemon that can eliminate these counters. With Team Preview, it is easier than ever to find these counters and eliminate them.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How has team preview changed the endgame of Pokemon?
• What makes a good end game sweeper? Is it better, for instance, to have something like Choice Scarf Moxie Salamence which needs no setup, or something like Volcarona, which can sustain a sweep longer but needs Stealth Rock removed and a Quiver Dance or two to win?
• How do weather and entry hazards impact endgame?
• Is there even such a thing as a "endgame"?
• What is the difference between a middle game and an end game sweeper?

Explanation: Although anything can be an end game sweeper, I have found my best teams have something designated for ending a game. In Eternal's Ark, for instance, I used a Scarf Moxie Gyarados that could end games just by using Waterfall and gaining attack boosts. On my recent Sun team, Sawsbuck swept most of the time once priority users like Scizor had been taken out. Strategies like Baton Pass focus exclusively on the endgame, not attacking for the whole battle just so that they can get a perfect sweep at the end. The challenge here, though, is to not make this pokemon completely broken. Even though Lucario in DPP, for instance, can sweep at +2 with Close Combat and Extremespeed, I wouldn't call it broken because it is so frail. That's what I'm looking for in this CAP. Volcarona is an example on the special side because it can sweep once hazards are gone and it can get a few Quiver Dances up. To use a chess analogy, I want Cap 3 to be a Rook, not a Queen. I think this concept gives us a good chance to discuss something that does not hinge on a single ability, but a greater overall idea of how to win battles.

 

[Treadshot A1]

Name: Limit Stall

General Description: A Pokemon who is able to limit the opponent's attacks to a finite (or at least very low) amount/percentage of damage, not necessarily through it's stats and/or EV's.

Justification: Almost all stall available in the current metagame rely on huge HP and defenses (be it in the form of stats or typing or ability) to simply shrug off the opponent's attacks, but this still leaves them open when their specific defenses are caught unaware (such as a physical attack smashing Blissey). This concept would seek to reverse the current principle: instead of raising one's own ability to take hits, limit the opponent's ability to damage to a small or finite amount. In the process, one would seek to see how the use of any boosting move/setup in general is affected, when the opponent is focused on doing the exact opposite (instead of now, where phazing and fainting are the main options).

Questions To Be Answered:

• How much will the pokemon still depend on the traditional "defensive spreads"/"defensive stats", if at all?
• To what extent can an opponent's damage output be limited, and is it directly linked to the attack strength, or do other factors (number of turns, typing, etc.) count?
• Could an ability to limit damage reduce the usage of setup moves, or actually force an increase in them instead?
• How would different types of attackers (LO + 4 Attacks, Choice Users, to name just a few types) be limited in damage, and is this different per 'type' of attacker?
• Would one set be able to limit most 'types' of attackers, or would it be a situational counter, and would teams by extension need to pack two 'types' of offense?

Explanation: This concept was born of the idea that Stall might not just be limited to traditionally 'defensive' pokemon. Many attackers, for example, run Substitute to limit damage output to 25% no matter what attacker they are facing, but this concept is seen more rarely on defensive pokemon.

In terms of the pokemon that would be formed from this CAP, it could be a variety of different styles. One might take the aforementioned Substitute concept and run with it, abusing the physical limit of 25%, while another might choose to limit damage output without a finite number, like using recovery (Aqua Ring, Ingrain, etc.) to reduce the net loss of HP. Given that there are many different ways to attack in the current metagame, the pokemon is free to be made to work well against any of these types, or even to be variable in its sets (thus increasing its surprise factor, as you don't know what it would be able to limit damage from).

The other thing that would be considered would be how this pokemon actually forces damage on the opponent while effectively shutting down attacks thrown at it. If a lot of time is concentrated in voiding an opponent's offense, how do you find time to knock a few dents into them? Hazards? Weather? Some new player thinking Future Sight is a good idea? This might be the metagame where pokemon boast huge attacking stats (I'm looking at you, Chandelure), but when you take that away with a damage limit, what's left?

 

[Tpyo]

Name: The Psychologist

General Description: A pokemon that uses nature in a more significant way.

Justification: A pokemon’s nature is a pretty significant part to a team-member’s design. In order to min/max most effectively a pokemon must suffer loss in one stat in order to excel in another. Why limit a major element of pokemon implementation to such an invisible background role? Let a pokemon’s nature shine and take a step forward to the front lines and show the opponent what being “careful,” or “modest” really means while offering the player a versatile and customizable pokemon to suit their needs.

Questions To Be Answered:
-How to balance nature in favor to a pokemon’s roles with a new benefit.
-What does each nature really mean in regards to planning a team-member?
-How can every nature be possibly useful? How to make natures like Hardy, Quirky, or Serious have some impact?
-How to make nature more readily visible?

Explanation: Players who breed their own pokemon will release countless newborns of “useless” nature. Having a positive nature can be extremely important to getting a slight advantage versus your opponent in some fashion.

Think about the possibility of a pokemon who changes the enemy’s Nature: Suddenly that Modest Alakhazam becomes Sassy, losing both speed and and special attack. The changes are subtle but can be significant. However, this example itself might be laden with problems: Are you imposing your own nature on the opponent, if so, is your own nature too detrimental to effectively run? If you are randomly generating a new nature on the opponent, then what are the chances of actually using a turn to do this effectively? Are stat-changing moves more effective at this at all times?

Perhaps a pokemon that derives a slightly different movepool based on its nature. Imagine that this pokemon has two moves that are based on its nature: One that takes advantage of the boost and one that compensates for the bad. A “brave” pokemon might learn Substitute at level 15 and Focus Punch at level 30; offering a greater chance to drop a sub on the ground at the end of a turn because of lower speed and taking advantage of a hard hitting focus punch on the next with its boosted attack. A “bold” pokemon might learn a recovery move at level 15 instead to make use of its better bulk while using psyshock (learned at 30 in place of focus punch) to hit the enemy’s defense.

Think about what a pokemon’s nature really means to you and run with it! Who knows what impact these choices could have and what natures might suddenly show up in the game!


My Impressions:

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I really like the Traninator's Weather Tyrant idea, I imagine an evolution to Castform whose ability changes a with the weather: When it rains the pokemon becomes a water type with swiftswim, in the sun it becomes a firetype with solar power, in the sand it becomes a rock type with sandveil and in hail it gets Ice Body! I always thought Castform had potential to be fun!

I also liked Powergrid's Leech Idea (below). A pokemon I run on my team is a Bulky Venusaur with Leech Seed, Gigadrain, Sludgebomb, and Ingrain and holds a Black Sludge. He, admittedly, isn't the greatest 'mon to run on a team but he's close to my heart and when he works, he works wonders. I like the idea of an effective drainer.

 

[ZhengTann]

Concept: Unconventional Status Quo

Description: A Pokemon with a status-dealing moveset that specifically bypasses conventional defensive measures.

Justification: Status-inducing moves were always regarded as complementary strategies, whether defensively (to stall as statuses help wear the opponent down) or offensively (to cripple the opponent and unlock a chance for a fell sweep). Several factors, however, made relying on them too much not an effective way to achieve victory. Therefore, this proposition aims to investigate the impact of statuses, both primary and secondary, in the current OU metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Can status-inducing tactics become a feasible primary strategy in the OU metagame?
• What combination of status would be make the most impact in the metagame, given enough distribution?
• What methods would best bypass conventional defensive measures against status-inducers?
• Which playing style best suit a Pokemon that focuses on delivering statuses to the opponent's team? Would defensive, offensive, or balanced be more appropriate?
• How would such a unconventional multiple-status-inducing strategy be checked or countered?

Explanation: This proposition was conceived when I was lurking around in PS!, when a user mentioned in the chat room about discrepancies concerning statuses and their impact on the current metagame. The idea that came to mind was, "What if, there exist a CAP 3 that fills a unique niche of a status-inducer, not just the all-round utility? How then, would the CAP 3 impact the metagame?"

Well, to start, the proposed CAP 3 would still face serious problems in Prankster back-status-ing, Magic Bounce/Guard immunity, etc. Yet if driven well, the concept could acquire the answers to the proposed questions. Perhaps with a specific movepool, ability, statspread, or any combination of the three, we could devise measures that bypass the aforementioned counters, and begin to realize the importance of statuses, or perhaps the lack thereof, in competitive battling.

I would also like to suggest that secondary statuses (such as infatuation and confusion) get to be investigated as well. Most of the time, these pseudo-statuses are neglected due to their "incompetence", so to speak. By bringing them into the limelight, we could research the effects of these game mechanics, which will help us understand more about their options in competitive battling.

Confusing Infatuation? Toxic Confusion? No Guard Parahax? These are but some of the combinations that can be utilized through this proposal. I hope that CAP 3 could adopt it, refine it, and realize it - in turn, gaining insight on the questions asked in the submission. I hope you who read this would interested and willing to propose that CAP 3 is set upon this direction, as I had.

Welcome to the status quo.