CAP 21 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

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Snaquaza

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  • Name - Full Stop
  • Description - This Pokemon invalidates a certain threat for its team as long as it is decently healthy.
  • Justification - Nowadays there are often concerns that the OU metagame is too match-up based. Although it's nearly impossible for a single Pokemon to fix this problem, it'd probably help with it. By introducing a new Pokemon to one, or more playstyles that can handle a Pokemon which is usually a large threat to them, they will be less at a disadvantage. Even though there'll still be other ways of having a bad matchup, it will give players better options when building teams. That said, the Pokemon countered shouldn't become totally unviable. Although it won't be able to be used as easily anymore, this Pokemon would still be able to be lured. If the player allows this to happen, then there's a good chance the "countered" Pokemon will still be able to sweep, so it adds some more strategy. Additionally, it will also allow us to learn about the Pokemon, its role in the metagame and what a Pokemon needs to effectively counter a Pokemon, even if there are things like weather or hazards on the field.
  • Questions To Be Answered
  1. Which Pokemon do we want to be countered?
  2. How can a Pokemon be invalidated?
  3. To which styles is this Pokemon usually a threat?
  4. On which of these styles do we want to make this Pokemon fit on?
  5. What elements of the countered Pokemon should be kept in mind while making the CAP?
  6. Which Pokemon could check/counter the countered Pokemon already?
  7. Why do they not succeed at countering it well enough, or don't they fit on this playstyle?
  8. What is needed for a Pokemon to fit on said playstyle?
  • Explanation - Obviously, I want this Pokemon to be able to check a Pokemon that is considered extremely dangerous to a certain playstyle. However, I think that if we decide not to make it a counter for a stall team, which usually have the most defined use of counters, the concept would become even more interesting. If we make a counter for a threat like Mega Lopunny or Weavile for offense, we'd have to consider how we can both invalidate the Pokemon and sustain momentum on the playstyle. For offense it'd be good to be able to switch into these threats and use the free turn to severely damage the opponent's team. Although I've used "countered" a few times during the Justification and Questions, this Pokemon would not have to be a hard counter per se. Although to stop the Pokemon, it'll have to at least be a soft counter, but for more offensive styles, they will generally not be able to keep themselves healthy, so will need to abuse the free turns given. The CAP would have to be useful while countering the Pokemon, as if it doesn't do a thing, it'll become too easy for the opponent to abuse it, effectively making it a liability for you, instead of for the opponent.
 

nyttyn

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I kind of like full stop, but historically, CAP has shown it has some...major problems when it comes to deciding which pokemon to handle when dealing with such an indefinite subject. I think this concept needs to be solidified a bit, to target one or two specific pokemon that give teams a really hard time (such as how Mega Lopunny and Mega Metagross are extremely painful against Hyper Offense). I also think the questions need to be redefined a bit, namely to refocus this concept to see how the metagame is shifted when the worst enemy/enemies to a team style are suddenly faced with an extremely harsh punisher. Finally, it really should be changed to be not only hard counter, but outright punishing towards users of that pokemon, because simply invalidating a threat is not enough - they'll just smash through your invalidater, and carry on. You need to outright make the targeted pokemon a liability for something like this.
 

WhiteDMist

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Name: Toxic Spike Supreme

General Description: This Pokemon would be a viable Toxic Spikes setter that can at least threaten some common Toxic Spikes removers.

Justification: As OU is oriented towards offense and balance, the effects of just a single layer of Toxic Spikes will have a significant effect on the battle. The difference between Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web, Spikes, and Stealth Rock is that Toxic Spikes will inflict the status on the opponent, which will stay with the opponent even if they remove hazards from the field. There are few viable grounded Poison-types in usage, so it is already unlikely that Toxic Spikes will be removed that way. It simply means that focusing on common Defoggers, namely the ones that hover over them, are the main priority. While there are still Toxic Spikes setters in OU (Dragalge and Scolipede), they are more often used for their offensive prowess as they have few methods of deterring the removal of Toxic Spikes. A setter that does deter hazard removal may prove to bring Toxic Spikes to the forefront.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Very few Toxic Spikers lack a Poison-typing, which hinders many of them. With the freedom to choose, how will typing affect the ability of this CAP to set up Toxic Spikes reliably?
  • Can Toxic Spikes become a prominent aspect of the metagame if this CAP is successful?
  • If successful, will grounded Poison-types rise to prominence to remove them?
  • What other nuances separate Toxic Spikes from the other entry hazards?

Explanation: Toxic Spikes are so undervalued despite their level of effect. Stealth Rock is arguably more crippling short term, but Toxic Spikes inflicts a status condition rather than just damage, which cannot be removed as easily (unless Natural Cure or a cleric is on the opposing team). So if a hazard remove switches in and gets hit by Toxic Spikes, they'll be get Poisoned. Defoggers are pretty common, and there are still several Poison-types that see a good amount of play. Magic Bounce can be a problem as well. But just being able to deter these threats for a turn or two can be enough, especially if you manage to get a couple members of the opposing team Poisoned in the process. This is a clear-cut goal, and there are several possible paths to take with it, since the only requirement is Toxic Spikes.
 
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Name: Toxic Spike Supreme

General Description: This Pokemon would be a viable Toxic Spikes setter that can at least threaten some common Toxic Spikes removers.

Justification: As OU is oriented towards offense and balance, the effects of just a single layer of Toxic Spikes will have a significant effect on the battle. The difference between Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web, Spikes, and Stealth Rock is that Toxic Spikes will inflict the status on the opponent, which will stay with the opponent even if they remove hazards from the field. There are few viable grounded Poison-types in usage, so it is already unlikely that Toxic Spikes will be removed that way. It simply means that focusing on common Defoggers, namely the ones that hover over them, are the main priority. While there are still Toxic Spikes setters in OU (Dragalge and Scolipede), they are more often used for their offensive prowess as they have few methods of deterring the removal of Toxic Spikes. A setter that does deter hazard removal may prove to bring Toxic Spikes to the forefront.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Very few Toxic Spikers lack a Poison-typing, which hinders many of them. WIth the freedom to choose, how will typing affect the ability of this CAP to set up Toxic Spikes reliably?
  • Can Toxic Spikes become a prominent aspect of the metagame if this CAP is successful?
  • If successful, will grounded Poison-types rise to prominence to remove them?
  • What other nuances separate Toxic Spikes from the other entry hazards?

Explanation: Toxic Spikes are so undervalued despite their level of effect. Stealth Rock is arguably more crippling short term, but Toxic Spikes inflicts a status condition rather than just damage, which cannot be removed as easily (unless Natural Cure or a cleric is on the opposing team). So if a hazard remove switches in and gets hit by Toxic Spikes, they'll be get Poisoned. Defoggers are pretty common, and there are still several Poison-types that see a good amount of play. Magic Bounce can be a problem as well. But just being able to deter these threats for a turn or two can be enough, especially if you manage to get a couple members of the opposing team Poisoned in the process. This is a clear-cut goal, and there are several possible paths to take with it, since the only requirement is Toxic Spikes.
Just to clarify, offensive Toxic Spikes is a viable set on Dragalge, and Dragalge has enough power to dissuade common spinners and Defoggers from coming in on it. However, if we want to deter removal, it seems like you would want a Pokemon with both the bulk and power to make the remover regret coming in on them (or give the setter Defiant or Competitive, which is probably too easy of a way out). Considering that four of the most common OU spinners and Defoggers can force Dragalge out (Excadrill, Starmie, and Lati@s), it is not always able to deter them from attempting to clear Toxic Spikes if they manage to come in safely.

Before a CAP leader shoots this concept down like they did with Sticky Web, Toxic Spikes is a lot more viable strategy in ORAS than it was in XY, because there is more FatChomp, Hippowdon, and Slowbro in OU, along with less Rotom-W and Landorus-T, making Toxic Spikes a lot more threatening to balanced and offensive builds. It is not useless against faster-paced offensive teams either, as Pokemon like Mega Lopunny, Serperior, and Weavile all hate losing an eighth of their HP from poison damage (with only 1 layer of TSpikes down).
 
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Name: Build Triangle Versatility
General Description: This Pokémon has the ability to fulfill a role as a powerful wallbreaker, a bulky wall, or a speedy supporter, but never more than one of these.
Justification: Many Pokémon in the OU tier are extremely powerful and fast, or very bulky, but there is a very small selection that are able to do both if they so desire, ignoring sets like Rock Polish TTar which combines all aspects of the Build Triangle and is not what we're aiming for. The selection I'm talking about is the group of Pokémon that can pull off any number of sets due to their well-rounded stat totals and movepools, Pokémon like Mew, Celebi and Victini. Apart from the obvious well-rounded stats and movepool (which we do not have to copy, this is something we should aim to expand upon), what gives a Pokémon such versatility? We should aim to answer this question during this project.
Questions To Be Answered:
  • What stat spreads are most ideal for wide-ranging versatility, ignoring "boring" cookie-cutter base 100 spreads?
  • Can we delegate our stat points, movepool, and Ability in an ideal manner to create a Pokémon that isn't too bulky, fast, or strong from the outset but can become so potentially? (Mew is definitely bulky, so that's ruled out.)
  • What defines versatility in the current meta? Apart from merely having several possible sets, is there any way to really gauge what kind of selection of options will keep opponents constantly guessing?
  • What separates a secondary, generally inferior set from a gimmick or a lure?
  • Can a Pokémon succeed in today's meta when not given any particular outstanding qualities that define it?
  • Is only one part of the Build Triangle even enough?
Explanation: Although we know that these types of Pokémon usually have even stat totals and big movepools, there is still much to learn about this, because giving a Pokémon a simple even 600 BST and lots of tools may be one way to go about making a Pokémon that can choose to run one of many sets, but it is hardly the only way or the one we seek most. This project will aim to teach us what exactly versatility demands while forcing us to push so that the CAP does not have exemplary qualities in more than one field at a time, a stat spread that lets it do a couple of jobs while not making it a cookie-cutter pixie mon. You might say that we know what gives these Pokémon their ability to keep your opponent guessing at their set - stats and moves. However, the pixies are already quite bulky from the outset, allowing them to allocate their EVs more freely elsewhere and voiding the point of being able to choose power, bulk, or speed. Can a Pokémon succeed with only one of the three points? This is what I'd like to know.
 

ginganinja

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Last Stop: Not feeling great about this. You need (as nyttyn pointed out) a way to make a pokemon a liability to use, which presents two problems. Firstly, the opponent can elect to just not use them, which renders the point of the CAP pointless and secondly, CAP has proven to struggle with making CAPs that have specific interactions with other pokemon in OU (like Perfect Mate #1, #2 and #3). Its not entirely the same thing, but I'm not sure the community would improve on its already seen weaknesses.

Toxic Spike Supreme
I like Toxic Spikes, and since there is no Tenta like there was in BW all the time, it might have a bit more use in ORAS. I do think its really going to struggle staying on the field, since Exca can spin, and defog is everywhere but hey, I guess the idea is possible. You really want a way to disuade Mega Venusaur casually switching in though (on like, anything), because it wastes your entire set up, and doesn't need to come in on this CAP, but rather, any other member of the enemy team that it can take a hit from.

Build Triangle Versatility
I think this can work, but its kinda hard to pull off a sweeper that doesn't combine two aspects of bulk/speed/power. Techloom I guess, was an example of that in BW since you had power, but Loom wasn't massively bulky or fast compared with the meta. That said, you also need something that can be a wall, and support as well, and I really think its going to be difficult to juggle that. Your wall for instance, is bulky, which makes your sweeper set bulky (like something like Scizor). Its doable I think, I just don't believe the CAP community could actually pull it off, because it requires the community to really tread carefully at every stage of the process and well...the community sometimes doesn't vote on a way that benefits the concept, and for an idea like this, you really need people voting for the right reasons, because it can easily go downhill.
 

nyttyn

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yeah toxic spikes seems like it can actually work now that we don't have a bajllion million fliers and tentacruel.

i mean it still has SOME issues but what the heck i think it actually has a shot in the ORAS meta. +1


build triangle i'm going to say i don't have a huge amount of faith in AT THIS MOMENT. if we can get a few more knowledgable users in the project to help steer leadership i think it could really work, but for now i don't think we have the leadership required.
 

Empress

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Name: Last Act of Defiance

General Description: A Pokemon that is defined by its use of the move Parting Shot.

Justification: Parting Shot is another move that's pretty amazing on paper, but its true usage has yet to be fully explored because it's only available to Pangoro. Pangoro isn't the most viable Pokemon in OU, and when I've used it in OU and in other tiers, I have found myself clicking an attacking move more often than not. With the optimal Parting Shot user in the OU metagame, we may be able to tap into this move's potential and figure out how it is best utilized. Maybe CAP 21 will be a pivot that aims to keep up offensive momentum. Maybe it'll use the move like it would use Memento to help a teammate use a boosting move. Maybe it'll do something completely different.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Whether it's pivoting, offensive momentum, Memento-esque support, or something else what is the "ideal" way to use Parting Shot? Why?
- Considering Pangoro rarely finds the time to use the move, how much should a Pokemon be willing to sacrifice another offensive option for Parting Shot?
- What makes Parting Shot different or similar from Volt Switch and U-turn?
- Pangoro is definitely not the ideal Parting Shot user, so what does the ideal user look like?

Explanation: Not a whole lot to say here. Parting Shot is relatively unseen, yet it still ostensibly has a variety of uses. We could make this mon a fast offensive momentum-builder that fits on VoltTurn teams. We can make this mon a supporter that can Parting Shot into your team's win condition. There are many, many ways to go about this concept using just this one move. It would teach us a lot about Parting Shot and introduce a brand new niche in the metagame, which are two things that the CAP Project strives for.
 

ginganinja

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I'm only supporting a Parting Shot concept if its for the Anything Goes tier, because thats legitimately how well the community will attempt to balance it for the OU tier.
 
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Name: Focus Sash Abuser

General Description: A Pokemon which is able to very effectively make use of a Focus Sash for several purposes.

Justification: In the past, many OU pokemon have made use of a Focus Sash as their primary item - either for the purposes of getting off an extra support move or two, revenging killing a powerful setup sweeper or simply increasing the number of attacks that it can make before fainting. This pokemon would excel at abusing a Focus Sash in multiple ways, thanks to a combination of movepool and stats. It should be able to function very effectively from 1HP, but still be threatening at full health. CAP may use typing and ability to gain immunity to certain moves, in which case choosing when to expend the sash would be a very important decision.

Questions to be Answered:
- What attributes in a pokemon encourage the use of a Focus Sash?
- How can CAP best make use of the 'extra life' afforded by its Focus Sash?
- How can CAP be designed to discourage the use of other items?
- Can a pokemon often at very low HP flourish in a metagame as dominated by priority as OU?
- If CAP is successful, how will the viability of strategies able to neutralize the Focus Sash before it comes into play be effected?
- Is a pokemon reliant on a Focus Sash only useful on certain types of team?
- In what ways can CAP be designed to emphasize the importance of the decision to expend the Focus Sash as an item?

Explanation: The Focus Sash has often been labelled a tricksy or anti-meta item in the past, but its popularity has died off somewhat with the rise of priority in ORAS. This concept would aim to return it to prominence and investigate the uniquely powerful properties of the Focus Sash as an item and investigation whether it still has utility for something beyond suicide hazard setters in ORAS. In addition, we'd discover whether a correctly designed pokemon can make effective use of a focus sash even on balanced/defensive teams, or whether the nature of the item is inherently only compatible with teams based on sacrifice and offence.
 

ginganinja

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The Focus Sash has often been labelled a tricksy or anti-meta item in the past, but its popularity has died off somewhat with the rise of priority in ORAS. This concept would aim to return it to prominence and investigate the uniquely powerful properties of the Focus Sash as an item and investigation whether it still has utility for something beyond suicide hazard setters in ORAS. In addition, we'd discover whether a correctly designed pokemon can make effective use of a focus sash even on balanced/defensive teams, or whether the nature of the item is inherently only compatible with teams based on sacrifice and offence.
Yeah ok so it seems that you might be a little unfamiliar with how Focus Sash works and why it suffered a little since BW. Firstly, Focus Sash will always work best in the early stages of the match, because once sandstorm and/or a hazard like Stealth Rock is up, you lose the benefits of your entire item. Therefore, this is why it is most often seen as a lead, where this is not as common. Unfortunately for Focus Sash, BW brought in this thing called Team Preview, so people can see if you have a dedicated lead and then counter it. Sure, some suicide leads still function, but anything else struggles to really work with Focus Sash because if you don't lead with it, then you are under a tremendous amount of offensive pressure to keep Stealth Rock and the like off the field before you can bring your pokemon in. For Focus Sash to work in ORAS, you really need to look at Zam which has magic guard. It cannot really switch into anything, because it loses its one time benefit to totally fuck over revenge killing attempts but without Magic Guard, its really hard to make it work. I'm rejecting this idea simply because I cannot really find a workable idea that doesn't require Magic Guard to function, AND because I feel that Zam answers most of the questions the concept seeks to answer anyway.
 
Name: Breaking the Mold

General Description: A pokemon that takes a typing that's typically thought of for fitting one style of play, but using it differently.

Justification: Typing is huge a huge aspect of pokemon, and some type combinations scream fit molds very well. Steel is a great defensive type, Ice has great super effective coverage, Bug has tons of status options, ect. But some combinations can be used in multiple ways. Look at Scizor and Forretress. Both have the same type but use their typings in different ways. But other types see less variance, and tend to be used in the same way over and over. The point of this pokemon is to explore possibilities in existing types in the pokemon universe by looking at them in unconventional ways.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Depending on the chosen typing, can we change how people see a specific pokemon?
- How much flexibility can a typing allow in how a pokemon functions?
- Can a typing completely doom a pokemon to just one role?
- What typings can be expanded upon the most?

Explanation: I'm sick of always seeing the same thing from types. Balanced pure Water, bulky Water/Ground, support Bug/Grass, and offensive Fire/Fighting to name a few. Some combos fill their roles because that's what they're best at, but there has to be other ways of seeing them. We can easily explore these and many more typings and push our understanding of them. Maybe Bug/Flying can be an excellent defensive type with some work, or maybe Rock/Ground can be a great fast sweeper. Just because a trend has been set doesn't mean we can't break it.
 
Name: Breaking the Mold

General Description: A pokemon that takes a typing that's typically thought of for fitting one style of play, but using it differently.

Justification: Typing is huge a huge aspect of pokemon, and some type combinations scream fit molds very well. Steel is a great defensive type, Ice has great super effective coverage, Bug has tons of status options, ect. But some combinations can be used in multiple ways. Look at Scizor and Forretress. Both have the same type but use their typings in different ways. But other types see less variance, and tend to be used in the same way over and over. The point of this pokemon is to explore possibilities in existing types in the pokemon universe by looking at them in unconventional ways.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Depending on the chosen typing, can we change how people see a specific pokemon?
- How much flexibility can a typing allow in how a pokemon functions?
- Can a typing completely doom a pokemon to just one role?
- What typings can be expanded upon the most?

Explanation: I'm sick of always seeing the same thing from types. Balanced pure Water, bulky Water/Ground, support Bug/Grass, and offensive Fire/Fighting to name a few. Some combos fill their roles because that's what they're best at, but there has to be other ways of seeing them. We can easily explore these and many more typings and push our understanding of them. Maybe Bug/Flying can be an excellent defensive type with some work, or maybe Rock/Ground can be a great fast sweeper. Just because a trend has been set doesn't mean we can't break it.
Someone please tell me if I'm wrong, but this is just Stratagem's concept, no?
 
Name: Mysterious Wall

General Description: A defensive Pokemon that is unpredictable, able to threaten different Pokemon with different sets and options.

Justification: Unpredictability is a very common challenge many battlers face in Pokemon, from OU to Doubles and any metagame inbetween. That Metagross could easily destroy your defensive Gyarados if it has Thunderpunch, leaving you in a pickle if you fall victim to it. But, unpredictability is often exclusive to offensive Pokemon, as they can run different coverage moves and various offensive items. Rarely is a passive Pokemon able to throw someone off-guard.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Is a defensive Pokemon able to utilize multiple niches, without being overpowered in any of them? Can we limit the amount of niches this Pokemon can perform at once?
- Can you create an unpredictable Pokemon with little/any offensive presence?
- What role do abilities play on defensive Pokemon? Can they make or break a specific kind of wall?
- Can a Pokemon like this differentiate itself enough to be worth using over standard defensive stalwarts, such as Skarmory?

Explanation: I came up with this concept after discovering how fun it is to use Mirror Coat on Alomomola. It's my first time experimenting with defensive Pokemon and interesting movesets, and it gives me much the same joy as sweeping with an unorthodox sweeper. I think it's very interesting, however, that these defensive surprises are overshadowed by offensive pokemon, who can just run a coverage move and call itself a lure. With defensive Pokemon, it's not as easy, because you have to use the right move, at the right time, and the rest of the moveset and EV's greatly influence how well these surprises work. The utility and surprise is still there though, and can be very rewarding.



First concept, and I'm not that great at putting my thoughts into words, I'll answer any questions.
 

The Avalanches

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Name: Zone Coverage

General Description: A Pokemon that is able to adequately (but not amazingly) check a significant portion of the OU tier, thereby reducing problems related to matchup.

Justification: Time and time again, I see matchup regarded as one of the biggest competitiveness issues in the ORAS OU metagame. With the ever-increasing threatlist, it's becoming increasingly hard to find six Pokemon that can consistently hold up against a wide array of playstyles. This concept would hope to ease pressure on team builders, allowing them to pick a Pokemon that can prepare for a good chunk of the metagame. Although OU already has several defensive Pokemon able to wall a chunk of Pokemon each, matchup problems persist, as it is too difficult to wall all the threats one would expect in OU with our current Pokemon.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Of the 50-or-so threats in the S-and A-ranks of the OU viability rankings, what is the largest number our concept could possibly check?
- Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and Hippowdon already wall a solid chunk of the OU metagame each. Would this concept seek to wall an even greater amount less effectively, or would the ease on teambuilding be greater felt if the concept effectively walled a portion of the metagame that OU's defensive behemoths don't?
- Could introducing a new Pokemon really put a dent in the issues matchup has? Or would adding a new Pokemon simply make for another threat that teams need to account for?
- Should the matchup issues be impossible to resolve, does the original concept of a Pokemon with widespread walling capabilities still hold up as a concept?

Explanation:
Matchup has kinda turned me off playing OU. While having a lot of threats is not necessarily a bad thing, creating a team that can account for all of them is an exhaustive process, and even then, you can still be blindsided by a threat you overlooked. Defensive Pokemon seem to be in the spotlight right now, with Hippowdon reaching #2 on the ORAS OU WCoP usage list, thanks to its ability to wall a wide array of foes (plus set up sand and rocks, but w/e) so capitalizing on this trend could make defensive teams able to wall a wider variety of threats.
 

Qwilphish

when everything you touch turns to gold
The past few concepts are looking eerily like concepts that we have already completed. Although this is not necessarily a bad thing as metagames obviously change and thus a concept can be looked at through various lenses, the ones posted simply would not lead to good projects for the following reasons (be warned many of these are the thoughts that are flowing into my head and then trying to make sense of them):

Breaking the Mold: As has been mentioned, this concept basically mirrors Stratagem's concept from Gen 4. The problem with this concept is that Gen 6 has does not have as rigid type-role biases as the Pokemon in Gen 4. Through the sheer volume of Pokemon, it is difficult to find a typing which does not have a Pokemon which usually conforms to a certain role (i.e. Fairy types have Physically Offensive Azu, Specially Offensive Mega Gard, Support Clefable) and thus going into this concept would mean that our options would be incredibly limited from the very beginning. This concept would not teach us anything new about the current metagame because type-role biases simply do not exist in the OU metagame for the most part.

Mysterious Wall: This seems like basically a defensive Naviathan. The concept is interesting in theory but I cannot envision it working in the OU metagame because of the passiveness of defensive Pokemon. Lures work in OU because a Pokemon has a main set, and the lure works to take advantage of the opponent's assumptions. With defensive Pokemon, you are not able to achieve this sort of high reward scenario because Support moves are not permanent in the same outside of things like Destiny Bond, Status, and Counter moves (like the aforementioned Mirror Coat Alomomola and even Metal Burst M-Sableye). In order for this concept to work, it would need a substantial niche in OU firstly and then it would need to have a movepool which allows for it to punish Pokemon which switch in on the CAP (because it likely just forced something out) but I can't see any scenario in which a game can be flipped by a surprise support option in the same vein that offensive Pokemon can as you are envisioning. Feel free to disagree with a way this concept could work because I am having difficulties even thinking of a move beyond the ones mentioned which can cause a drastic impact on a game.

Zone Coverage: We have seen the effect of a superb "catch-all" Pokemon being added to a metagame with Arghonaut in DPP. Instead of making the teambuilding process simpler by only needing to pack one Pokemon to wall a lot of the meta, the metagame shifts to centralize around that one Pokemon. So to answer your second question: yes, it will simply add yet another threat for teams to prepare for. Defensively is the only way to go about simplifying the teambuilding process as Offensive pokemon in OU are simply too fast and bulky enough so that if we were to go an offensive route, we would create the ultimate offensive powerhouse. Maybe things would be different in the new generation but adding another Pokemon who should be able to single handedly fix the match-up situation seems like nothing but bad news. (side note: this reminds me of the April Fools Giratina-O suspect that did work to completely blanket check a lot of the metagame.... at the cost of being stupidly broken. Obviously we won't create something like that but the idea is still there imo...)
 
Mysterious Wall: This seems like basically a defensive Naviathan. The concept is interesting in theory but I cannot envision it working in the OU metagame because of the passiveness of defensive Pokemon. Lures work in OU because a Pokemon has a main set, and the lure works to take advantage of the opponent's assumptions. With defensive Pokemon, you are not able to achieve this sort of high reward scenario because Support moves are not permanent in the same outside of things like Destiny Bond, Status, and Counter moves (like the aforementioned Mirror Coat Alomomola and even Metal Burst M-Sableye). In order for this concept to work, it would need a substantial niche in OU firstly and then it would need to have a movepool which allows for it to punish Pokemon which switch in on the CAP (because it likely just forced something out) but I can't see any scenario in which a game can be flipped by a surprise support option in the same vein that offensive Pokemon can as you are envisioning. Feel free to disagree with a way this concept could work because I am having difficulties even thinking of a move beyond the ones mentioned which can cause a drastic impact on a game.
The way I envisioned it, this concept would not resemble Naviathan. It's not supposed to be "Physical or special wall, choose one or the other", it's meant to have several different options to use on many sets. I talked with Heal about this, and we both agreed that my concept is similar to Krilowatt, except with much more focus on walling. However, even Krilowatt had little in the way of these surprise support moves, with Counter/Mirror Coat being the only unique things on it that I can immediately think of.

Those moves you mentioned are just some of the options that could potentially work, and that's just scraping the top of the barrel. We could give it Encore, making set-up sweepers think twice about coming in. We could give it Trick Room + Baton Pass, allowing it to snatch momentum right after setting up. We could finally give something Parting Shot that won't be garbage (I'm aware of the parting shot concept). There's tons of stuff that you can use, if you look at just how many status moves there are. Not every move is supposed to have an enormous impact; all of them combined is what makes the Pokemon as good as it ought to be.

And that is just moves. Stats, Abilities, and Typing can all influence what this CAP can and can't do, and multiple abilities can allow the Pokemon to do very different things. Stats could be like Clefable's, where you have to pick and choose what to invest in order to wall what you want to wall. Typing combined with moves can lure in different things and wall stuff it's not supposed to, like how Magnet Rise Klefki makes Landorus-T set-up bait.
 

dex

Hard as Vince Carter’s knee cartilage is
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Name:
Resourceful

General Description:
A Pokemon that is capable of using one or several different held items not usually seen in the metagame to maximum effect.

Justification:
I would like to redirect the attention of the CAP project away from solely Pokemon and on an external source not usually examined: items. To design a Pokemon around unconventional or underused items would allow us to examine just how powerful of an effect these held items can have, as well as introducing a rather wacky element to the metagame.

Questions to be Answered:
- What makes an item powerful? Is it the Pokemon commonly found using them, or the effect of the item itself?
- Are there items out there that are not used simply because there have been no Pokemon to fully utilize them?
- How dependent are Pokemon on their held items?
- To what degree does changing a Pokemon's item have on its role in a team, and how does not knowing (or discovering) the opponent's held item affect the decisions he or she makes?

Explanation:
Choice items, Leftovers, Life Orb, etc. are staples of the metagame. But as I was browsing Bulbapedia, I came across the list of held items, and was absolutely staggered by the number of them compared to the 5-10 items that are so commonly used in the metagame. Because of the flexibility afforded by the CAP, I would like to see how powerful of an effect items could have on a Pokemon, either by maximizing the ability of a single item by building a Pokemon around it, or by making the Pokemon versatile by using unconventional items to complement its typing, ability, moveset, etc. I also really wanted to have us research, explore, and discover the vast array of items that are forgotten or overlooked in the game of Pokemon. Hopefully, there are items out there that simply have untapped potential and are waiting to be used.
I don't know why but when I read this I immediately thought of giving a Pokemon an ability to allow it to use items in battle that it normally can't use such as an x attack or a full restore. I'm sure giving a mon a free stat raise or full heal would change how we view the items that aren't used competitively at all and actually put a use to them. It was just a thought sorry if that isn't an ok idea! :)
 

dex

Hard as Vince Carter’s knee cartilage is
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Name: The Status Sponge

General Description: A Pokemon that's sole purpose is to take a status condition for a teammate.

Justification: Hitting the right Pokemon with the right statuses can be the key to success in OU. Chansey loses its viability after a Toxic and Azumarill and Bunnelby are crippled by a burn. Having a sponge to take those statuses for them and allow those Pokemon and others that are crippled by a status to better fulfill their roles could bring new walls, physical attackers, and fast sweepers to an OU metagame densely populated by Chanseys, Charizard Xs, and Alakazams.

Questions To Be Answered:

Is it viable to have a team slot taken up by a sponge?

How much do statuses really effect the metagame?

Would a sponge actually cause a drop in the use of status-inducing moves?

To what degree are certain Pokemon reliant on their ability to inflict status on others?

Explanation: Since I can say whatever I want here and it won't be deemed illegal I really was thinking about either a Natural Cure- or Guts-type ability that would allow for the more open use of other walls and physical attackers. A variety in walls would be much appreciated as one does tire of seeing Chansey and Gliscor everywhere. A problem I could see with a Pokemon like this would be a massive loss of momentum, but that wouldn't be a problem with a Guts or Toxic Boost user who could even utilize a VoltTurn strategy to great effect. I was kind of thinking Swellow except not as fast and fragile. Hopefully being so specific in the explanation won't get me banned forever! :)

(Also this is my first CAP idea so yeah this probably isn't all that good anyways)
 
I don't know why but when I read this I immediately thought of giving a Pokemon an ability to allow it to use items in battle that it normally can't use such as an x attack or a full restore. I'm sure giving a mon a free stat raise or full heal would change how we view the items that aren't used competitively at all and actually put a use to them. It was just a thought sorry if that isn't an ok idea! :)
That would require reprogramming the simulator, which is not happening. The concept is talking about items like, I don't know, Eject Button or Absorb Bulb.
 

EternalSnowman

DPL Champion
Name: The Status Sponge

General Description: A Pokemon that's sole purpose is to take a status condition for a teammate.

Justification: Hitting the right Pokemon with the right statuses can be the key to success in OU. Chansey loses its viability after a Toxic and Azumarill and Bunnelby are crippled by a burn. Having a sponge to take those statuses for them and allow those Pokemon and others that are crippled by a status to better fulfill their roles could bring new walls, physical attackers, and fast sweepers to an OU metagame densely populated by Chanseys, Charizard Xs, and Alakazams.

Questions To Be Answered:

Is it viable to have a team slot taken up by a sponge?

How much do statuses really effect the metagame?

Would a sponge actually cause a drop in the use of status-inducing moves?

To what degree are certain Pokemon reliant on their ability to inflict status on others?

Explanation: Since I can say whatever I want here and it won't be deemed illegal I really was thinking about either a Natural Cure- or Guts-type ability that would allow for the more open use of other walls and physical attackers. A variety in walls would be much appreciated as one does tire of seeing Chansey and Gliscor everywhere. A problem I could see with a Pokemon like this would be a massive loss of momentum, but that wouldn't be a problem with a Guts or Toxic Boost user who could even utilize a VoltTurn strategy to great effect. I was kind of thinking Swellow except not as fast and fragile. Hopefully being so specific in the explanation won't get me banned forever! :)

(Also this is my first CAP idea so yeah this probably isn't all that good anyways)
The real problem with this concept idea is that it pretty much already exists in OU, with popular examples being M-Sableye (blocks Toxic/WoW), Conkeldurr, Celebi, Reuniclus, Clefable, Gliscor and Chansey. These mons either don't care about status or inherently block it out. Paralysis is really the only one that bothers some of these, but in general these mons pick up status like no other. So this would pretty much be a redundant mon.
 

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
So, this is going out on a limb, but based on feedback saying "we need more concrete concepts" I'll try this one:

Name: Ultimate Finisher

General Description: A Pokemon held until late in the game, and then utilized to effect an efficient, difficult to stop sweep after opponents are weakened.

Justification: Every facet of the game is considered in phases - Lead, Early Game, Mid-Game, Late Game. While obviously game state transitions over time such that "Early-Mid" and "Mid-Late" can come almost simultaneously in some matches, it seems to me your Late Game is always a battle of which Pokemon can seal the deal for your victory. This Pokemon is sometimes referred to as the "wincon", or win condition. Since the object of the game is to win, looking at this particular avenue for winning has great potential.

Questions To Be Answered:
What are the qualities that differentiate "early game" and "late game" Pokemon?
What kind of support does as effective late-game cleaner need? Which of the many options (spreading status, setting hazards, etc.) is the best support for such a Pokemon?
What playstyle (6th mon on Stall, Balanced, Hyper-Offense etc.) does a late-game cleaner most appreciate?
With team preview, how does one protect this Pokemon for Late Game, or does it need enough flexibility to be used earlier (i.e. potentially set up first in mid-game, and then come back later.)

Explanation: There have been over the generations Smog articles on the subject of Pokemon Roles, and ORAS has its own compendium of them. While there's no role for "Cleaner" per se, there are "Wallbreakers" and "Stallbreakers" and of course "Setup Sweepers." Thing is, many articles do refer to a Pokemon as a "Cleaner" or suggest a Pokemon be "held for late-game."

To me then, it seems like this is a Pokemon that is very powerful in many respects but has a limiting principle, say susceptibility to rocks, the need for prior damage, or some other flaw (say low speed) that prevents you from using this otherwise powerful Pokemon earlier in the game. That being the case, I think it would be fascinating to try a build a Pokemon that is literally "the best" at securing this late game sweep while still building in a weakness that prevents it from being generically good. A few Pokemon I think fit this kind of mold are Crocune (difficult to break once things that can OHKO or 2HKO it are removed, but you can't just throw it out there) or the Curselax in UU (or prior Gens). Kyurem-B might also qualify in a different sense in that it can inflict amazing amounts of damage but also Roost to shrug off weaker hits and prevent neutral priority from KOing it.
 
So, this is going out on a limb, but based on feedback saying "we need more concrete concepts" I'll try this one:

Name: Ultimate Finisher

General Description: A Pokemon held until late in the game, and then utilized to effect an efficient, difficult to stop sweep after opponents are weakened.

Justification: Every facet of the game is considered in phases - Lead, Early Game, Mid-Game, Late Game. While obviously game state transitions over time such that "Early-Mid" and "Mid-Late" can come almost simultaneously in some matches, it seems to me your Late Game is always a battle of which Pokemon can seal the deal for your victory. This Pokemon is sometimes referred to as the "wincon", or win condition. Since the object of the game is to win, looking at this particular avenue for winning has great potential.

Questions To Be Answered:
What are the qualities that differentiate "early game" and "late game" Pokemon?
What kind of support does as effective late-game cleaner need? Which of the many options (spreading status, setting hazards, etc.) is the best support for such a Pokemon?
What playstyle (6th mon on Stall, Balanced, Hyper-Offense etc.) does a late-game cleaner most appreciate?
With team preview, how does one protect this Pokemon for Late Game, or does it need enough flexibility to be used earlier (i.e. potentially set up first in mid-game, and then come back later.)

Explanation: There have been over the generations Smog articles on the subject of Pokemon Roles, and ORAS has its own compendium of them. While there's no role for "Cleaner" per se, there are "Wallbreakers" and "Stallbreakers" and of course "Setup Sweepers." Thing is, many articles do refer to a Pokemon as a "Cleaner" or suggest a Pokemon be "held for late-game."

To me then, it seems like this is a Pokemon that is very powerful in many respects but has a limiting principle, say susceptibility to rocks, the need for prior damage, or some other flaw (say low speed) that prevents you from using this otherwise powerful Pokemon earlier in the game. That being the case, I think it would be fascinating to try a build a Pokemon that is literally "the best" at securing this late game sweep while still building in a weakness that prevents it from being generically good. A few Pokemon I think fit this kind of mold are Crocune (difficult to break once things that can OHKO or 2HKO it are removed, but you can't just throw it out there) or the Curselax in UU (or prior Gens). Kyurem-B might also qualify in a different sense in that it can inflict amazing amounts of damage but also Roost to shrug off weaker hits and prevent neutral priority from KOing it.
This concept sounds difficult to balance out and execute correctly. We have gone through several CAP sweepers, such as Cawmodore, Aurumoth, Naviathan, and the results are almost never what they were intended to be. In addition, most late-game sweepers, such as Dragon Dance Zard X, Dragon Dance Mega Altaria, Swords Dance Mega Scizor, and Swords Dance Talonflame all have merits that allow them to be used earlier in the Pokemon to check any particular Pokemon - you have worded this CAP as though we want to avoid this, so we would be leaning towards something like Hawlucha but improved to be more consistent, which is not that easy to create. However, if we do it right, it would be an interesting CAP concept, since we usually butcher these types of CAPs by accident.
 

ginganinja

It's all coming back to me now
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Name: Ultimate Finisher
Yeah, I have issues with this concept so here we go

Firstly, a cleaner is either a revenge killer, a late game sweeper, or a pokemon that has access to powerful priority and therefore pick off whats left of the enemy team (like something like CB Azu or something). This creates problems for us concept wise, because we just did "set up sweeper" as a concept, and thats really what this concept is, unless you go for a revenge killer option, in which case the concept is "make a revenge killer". Furthermore, this concept has optics issues, because several of these "cleaners" (ie some sweepers or revenge killers), come in at multiple stages of the game, and not purely as "finisher" mons. Look at something like Greninja, that could be lead with, or come in at any stage of the game, while still retaining the ability to clean. The fact that the concept talks about nerfing a mon in order to force it to come in later makes me uncomfortable, mostly because existing "cleaners" have this flexibility, whereas our CAP seems to be going in the direction of having this quality removed. Depending on the team you are facing, pretty much any pokemon could technically "clean" and as a result, I really doubt this concept will come out successfully, or even teach us anything about the OU meta that we don't already know, due to the presence of existing cleaners in the meta.
 
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