Name - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Description - A Pokémon that can take advantage of Hail or benefit Hail as a weather in some form.
Justification - The point of this concept is to explore if a single Pokemon could bring Hail to the level of Sun, Rain, and Sand--through the use of a Pokémon built to properly use Hail and/or help cover the weather's weaknesses. The concept isn't looking to re-centralize the metagame but instead decentralize it a bit by making Hail another viable strategy.
Questions To Be Answered -
- 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?
- Is it even possible to make Hail viable in the OU metagame?
Explanation - Gen V saw the introduction of two new auto-weather starters that weren't banned from OU--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.
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. 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.
And the process itself would be a fun learning experience. CaP always seemed to have the fear of making "too powerful of a Pokemon", and while that may have toned down after the last few projects, I still think some of the participators in the projects and the outsiders looking in still think that deep down. A lot like Tomohawk last project and those before it, there is a possibility that the process could end up with a bigger, unintentional effect. But like testing "momentum", building a Pokemon designed to improve Hail enough to make it viable, without making a Pokemon that rampages through the metagame that is also okay in Hail, would be a great test of the ability of community. To use the example Dusk provided in his "What I'm looking for" section, this pokemon could be the "Perfect Mate" to Hail.