[Deck Knight]

I really believe we're being a bit too tight-assed here about having a "glass cannon ability."

Does anyone believe Conkeldurr is a glass cannon? After all, its Guts Set relies on it using a status orb. The fundamentals of the set are that you use the status orb to prevent an even nastier status from befalling you, and then you use the moves on the set (in Conkeldurr's case Drain Punch) to keep yourself healthy or sweep over a limited time.

Now the obvious follow-up is that Conkeldurr isn't weak to Stealth Rock. But Conkeldurr is vulnerable to Spikes and can't sufficiently harm Skarmory unless it runs Thunderpunch or Fire Punch, a suboptimal move because it's not powerful enough as a general attack to justify use over Mach Punch, Payback, or Facade.

We've already established an element of risk with CAP4's type in that it becomes less valuable with SR on the field. So does its brethren, Volcarona. Now, Volcarona doesn't have a Status Orb set, and yet it survives with a 50% SR weak. Is Volcarona a glass cannon? Because SR + Flame Orb x2 (25 + 12 + 12 = 49) on CAP4 does less damage to it than SR itself does to Volcarona (50). Both Pokemon are much more viable if you can get SR off the field, and while they don't like Spikes, are less affected by it.

So the entire notion that Flare Boost shunts CAP4 into glass cannon status is ridiculous, and I honestly believe we're being way too tightly would about either of these abilities. We chose a CAP project based around a high-risk concept. The same people getting apoplectic about Weak Armor's Defense Drop being shitty are the same people that SPAM Close Combat without worrying about it, because the Defense Drop never matters until you take a hit. Weak Armor facilitates the not taking of an additional hit.

What Flare Boost brings is the ability to slaughter priority attackers in the right situation, because without fail priority attacks are physical, (Vacuum Wave is irrelevant based on CAP4's typing alone) and Burn absolutely destroys them. I know this requires assumptions of attacks down the road, but we already have built-in assumptions of set-up sweeper which I don't think are entirely valid or invalid, since Weak Armor lets us use Choice Sets in the hopes of picking up a speed increase that will facilitate the Choice Sweep.

I believe there is way too much pigeonholing abilities because they lend "too comfortably" to one playstyle or another, in the same exhortation to "think outside the box." Glass cannonry is determined primarily by stats (See Conkeldurr and Volcarona examples above), and the TL has control over that slate, and thus if you want to mandate no defenses BELOW a certain BSR level, you can certainly do so. Would that also be exercising a large degree of control? Yes, but that vicegrip is also showing up in this thread right now.