Name: Climate Control (aka The PHANTom Menace)
General Description: A Pokemon that traps and counters all five weather starting Pokemon and is able to consistently remove them from the opponent's field.
Justification: Weather Wars. We're all weary of them. They have been the subject of countless suspect tests and metagame theory threads. What if a Pokemon existed that could reasonably prevent them from escaping while only having a small impact otherwise on the metagame.
To be perfectly clear, this Pokemon will be a trapper, and an inherent part of it will be an Ability like Arena Trap that effects all weather starters, but not every Pokemon in the metagame.
The problem stems from the weather starters. Politoed, Hippowdon, Abomasnow, Ninetales, Tyranitar (PHANT) are all too bulky to be able to be eliminated by something like Pursuit. Of the five, only Tyranitar and Hippowdon have a lot of offensive strength outside their own weather. This Pokemon would be designed to prevent them from switching out and continuing the weather war via a sacrifice.
Questions To Be Answered:- How would a Pokemon that deliberately counters and eliminates weather starters effect the usage of weather?
- If a Weather Starter can be reliably eliminated by a single Pokemon, how does that effect the play of an opponent using that Weather Starter - do they play a more conservative game and try to eliminate the Climate Control Pokemon before unleashing their weather? Do they send out their weather starter immediately even in the face of a bad team match-up to ensure they can exploit it early?
- What other threats would a Climate Control Pokemon reduce the prevalence of by virtue of being able to counter PHANT?
- In an environment where Weather Starters are more at-risk, what kind of weatherless strategies would prevail?
- If the typing of the Climate Control Pokemon is more conducive to another weather, how often will it find a place alongside a weather starter as opposed to in weatherless teams using the Climate Control Pokemon to neutralize the weather.
- Is neutralizing the Weather Starter enough, or is it too costly to also fit a weather changing slot to remove the weather after its starter has been removed?
- Will items like Shed Shell (and possibly Air Balloon) increase in usage on weather starters because the tradeoff in bulk via leftovers or damage via a Choice Item or Leftovers is worth being able to keep them in action?
Explanation: Yes, I know a dedicated trapper is VERY specific, but I feel this particular concept is necessitated by the nature of the BW metagame since its inception. BW2 made it no better by introducing even more powerful weather-related threats, so I'm willing to risk a lot on this very specific concept to test out a true neutralizer deliberately designed to trap and defeat weather starters and pave the way for other team types.
What mosts interests me is whether this will repeat something like the Mollux playtest where a Pokemon ostensibly designed to operate against Rain is instead incorporated into Rain teams themselves to give them an advantage against more traditional teams. I know people hate the idea of trappers generally, but I feel a targeted one would be a massive opportunity in a generation that has been gripped by weather ever since Dream World Politoed and Ninetales were released, and sooner if you count the DW Ladder.