Name: Leading the Barrier
Description: A Pokémon which can fit as a lead on defensively-minded teams
Justification: Since Team Preview, defensive team struggled to find a way to reliably lead their teams besides a weather inducer such as Politoed or Tyranitar. While offense can rely on several good all-around choices (Deoxys-S, Rotom-W, a brutal CBer like Haxorus... there are a lot of possibilities), defensive teams get the short end of the stick, as most walls are very focused, so leading with one against the wrong Pokémon can spell doom for the entire team (whereas very few can actually turn the tables against the likes of Deoxys-S and Haxorus). This Pokémon would fix this flaw, being able to tackle a wide array of responses while being bulky enough to fit on defensively-minded squads.
Question to be answered:- Will the new Pokémon change the viability of offensive/defensive teams?
- How will the new Pokémon affect the way offensive teams pick their lead for the match?
- Is it possible to make a defensive Pokémon in the 5th generation without making it overly specialized?
Explaination:
The Pokémon I have in mind is Swampert from the DPP era. It was able to match up well against just about any possible lead - aside from stuff like Roserade or Breloom which would've been at a disadvantage against almost all other the more popular leads (Azelf, Aerodactyl, etc). Today, your best shot is to lead with either Ferrothorn or a weather inducer, as mentioned before. However, Ferrothorn allows a lot of Pokémon to set up on himself (unlike Swampert, who had wider offensive coverage and the ever useful Roar). Any other wall is a hazardous choice at best as a lead.
It would be interesting to see how we may go about this concept. On one hand, it could be a multi-purpose quick staller like Mew in the UU or Mewtwo in Ubers, with high speed and respectable defenses along with some disruptive moves. This would allow defensive teams to lead without the fear of suffering a set up from the likes of Terrakion or Haxorus right off the bat. Another way could be going under a more Swampert-esque way; resorting to a relatively balanced defensive type, good but not exceptional coverage, some sort of support move (like SR) and/or anti setup means (ex: Roar, or Haze).