Sketchmons

[WasSollDas]

So...I'm not completely sure whether somebody else already posted about this, but...oh well, let's get on with it.

Sketchmons

Basic information
So basically, this is about...oh, no, it's not about smeargle.
In this metagame, every single pokemon can learn sketch.
But ONCE. Only once.
It's basically like necturna, but I was also inspired by my friend who thought it would be interesting if escavalier learned bullet punch.
Because of this, the possibilities are endless: Dragon Dance Metagross, Kyurem-B with a physical Ice move,
Quiver Dance Gothitelle, Safeguard Shedinja (although it'll suck anyway)...Many things can be experimented with.

Other points
* Sketchmons can be played in Balanced Hackmons in Pokemon Showdown!.
Only OU-and-below pokemon are allowed, and the metagame, therefore, follows all the current clauses in OU:
Sleep Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Moody Clause, Species Clause.
More information about clauses are here: http://www.smogon.com/bw/banlist/

* I'm thinking that, potentially, moves such as shell smash or v-create could be overpowered,
so there might be some moves which will eventually be banned.

*Some Pre-analysis:
First of all, set-up sweepers will be deadly, with quiver dance, dragon dance, tail glow and shell smash available to every pokemon.
Secondly, because of this, bulky pokemon who can learn a phazing move will be useful (I was thinking about whirlwind + copycat Hippowdon :P)
Coverage moves and u-turn/volt switch will be welcome on choice users, but I doubt they'll see much use other than that.
Wobbuffet and Shuckle with recover...Oh god. Recovery moves will certainly be useful, but I'm also doubtful, as you might as well have another coverage move or a set-up move.
In terms of entry hazards, I was specifically thinking about bulky Ghost types using spikes/stealth rock, but I'm not completely sure how useful they'll end up being.
Lastly (and this guy gets a special mention), sableye with recover/will-o-wisp/leech seed/taunt or encore will certainly piss the shit out of some people.

*Just a little information site I made: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/99162807/Pok...ketchmons.html

Please, have a go at it and post suggestions, criticism, or anything that could be helpful.
They're all welcome :D

[Sewa]

OMG, Jirachi's gonna be even more annoying with 100% burn rate Sacred Fire!
And thumbs up for Brave Bird (or HeadSmash) RockHead Aerodactyl.
Haxorus will become a monster with Shift Gear allowing it to double its speed.

Also: 252 SpA Latios Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 344-408 (85.14 - 100.99%) -- 81.25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

More random thoughts will come later D:

[Mario With Lasers]

I think you meant Endeavor+Shadow Sneak Shedinja.

[youngjake93]

252+ Atk Choice Band Darmanitan V-create vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kingdra in sun: 200-235 (68.72 - 80.75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Kingdra DOUBLE RESISTS V-Create
252+ Atk Choice Band Darmanitan V-create vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Ninetales in sun: 416-490 (118.85 - 140%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Bulky Ninetalse is destroyed with plenty of overkill.

Lol.. Darmanitan so strong.

Also, Regigigas and Slaking get Skill Swap lol GG.

Tail Glow Jolteon?
+3 252 SpA Life Orb Jolteon Thunder vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 215-254 (61.07 - 72.15%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+3 252 SpA Life Orb Jolteon Thunder vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey: 331-390 (50.76 - 59.81%) -- 85.94% chance to 2HKO
lolololol

Perish Song Dugtrio/Wobb/Goth? Eh?

[WasSollDas]

Man, those are pretty cool pokes :o

Rockhead BB / Headsmash Aerodactyl and endeavor + shadow sneak shedinja catches my eye: I hope more lower-tier pokemon could be used in the metagame.

Additional thought: Moves which are good but have really bad distribution (sacred fire, seed flare, aura sphere, etc) would have a lot of use. On the other hand, moves such as focus blast (MISS), wild charge, spatk-lowering moves (overheat, leaf storm etc) and others will be overshadowed by better moves.

Stall seems almost impossible with all this powerful attacks and great set-up moves...I'll see how it goes.

Perish song trappers have potential to be banned, although I think gothitelle would be the only one which is actually capable of pulling it off (duggy and wobb is too frail, and wobb doesn't even get protect/sub).

[youngjake93]

Tail Glow Swoobat.
140 base power Stored Power with 1012 sAtt after one turn of set-up with 114 base speed.

[DarkBlazeR]

I like this metagame idea, I've actually had the same concept in mind for a while now. I would definitely consider some initial bans though. This will A) promote a degree of balance and B) encourage creativity. Whilst craziness will definitely be one of the appeals to people looking to play this metagame, at the moment, it just seems a little too easy to just put Shell Smash/Shift Gear/Quiver Dance/Spore etc on everything and call it a day. Ditto usage would probably go through the roof! I'd personally prefer it if moves such as those were banned immediately, but it's your call.

Here's a few cool sets I can think of right now. I'll add more as they come along.



Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SAtk / 188 Spd
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Hurricane
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast

Move over Tornadus. Landorus finally gets that awesome Flying STAB it so always wanted, but this takes things to a whole new level. Factoring in STAB, Sheer Force and rain, this gets to use a 100% accurate, 234 BP attack with no drawbacks; boosted even further by Life Orb. How overpowered is that? Former checks such as Celebi, Latias and Gyarados are now pulverised by Landorus. You won't miss the coverage from HP [Ice] since Hurricane just smashes all those things it would be hitting anyway. The only things that can stomach hits from this set are Blissey, Chansey and SDef Zapdos, but even those aren't fully reliable checks. Offensive teams lacking strong priority will be easily swept clean after a Rock Polish If you choose to run Calm Mind instead, stall teams are toast. I'm certain Landorus would get banned from OU in a flash if it were to ever get Hurricane somehow. Hell, it would still be borderline broken with just Air Slash.



Gengar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

A little less ridiculous than my Landorus set, but cool nonetheless. We got a taste of a hazard laying ghost already in Froslass, but lets face it, Spikes were never as useful as Stealth Rock anyway, plus its stats let it down quite a bit. Gengar would be such an awesome lead if it could learn Stealth Rock. Excluding faster leads with Taunt and/or Magic Coat users, you are guarenteed to get Stealth Rock up and keep them up whilst preserving offensive momentum, thanks to being a Ghost type and holding a Focus Sash. This quality essentially makes it the perfect lead for a HO team. Once the rocks are down, Gengar is still no slouch offensively with unresisted Ghost/Fighting coverage, and has the ability to take out something with Destiny Bond.



Ursaring @ Silk Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Crunch
- Close Combat

Already a big hit in Glitchmons, ExtremeSpeed provides the very tool Ursaring needs to be as dangerous in OU as its appearance and base 130 Attack would suggest; +2 ESpeed annihilates teams with some hazards down. Interesting to note that this Ursaring actually has higher attack than Extremekiller Arceus, meaning that this hits even harder. Crunch and Close Combat form appropriate coverage to deal with bulky Normal resists. You could use Life Orb over Silk Scarf for even more power, though preserving some bulk is nice.



Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Rapid Spin

Good luck trying to spinblock this

There's also some obvious things like Recover Ferrothorn, Water Spout Keldeo, Icicle Crash Terrakion, Blue Flare Lati@s etc

[Arizona]

Originally Posted by Fat youngjake93

Tail Glow Swoobat.
140 base power Stored Power with 1012 sAtt after one turn of set-up with 114 base speed.

Nice thinking, also focus sash Shell Smash gets 260 Base power and 759 SpA with a Speed beyond any scarfers. A bulkier Quiver Dance with Reflect support could definitely get multiple boosts.

Spore would be on every team. Spore Sableye could be quite nasty.

The OP refers to Dragon Dance, but Shift Gear would be preferable.

Kyurem-B would like to have a physical Ice move, but I think it might like V-Create more if it's Choiced, or even U-turn for that sweet momentum. Shift Gear, Swords Dance, and Coil are options if unchoiced; Haxorus has even less of a niche now.

A lot of pokemon will enjoy recover/milk drink/softboiled/roost/heal order such a Bronzong, if they even get a chance to use it.

Cotton Guard Blissey might be hard to break.

ninja'd on Rapid Spin Tyranitar.

[Punchshroom]

So basically everything that had to rely on Focus Blast for coverage (Alakazam, Gengar, Tornadus) now has access to Aura Sphere. Oh boy.

[Organization Member XIV]

Can someone say SLACK OFF SNORLAX?! Also, Zekrom finally gets EQ, although it'll probably appreciate either V-Create or Sacred Fire more. Interestingly enough, can i please get some love for a Choice Specs Kyurem-W Water Spout in the rain? Dear God, how threatening that could be in Ubers.

EDIT: FREE SACRED FIRE JIRACHI!!! Jk, jk.

DOULBE EDIT: WasSollDas, can we just do the same thing for Ubers exclusively?

[WasSollDas]

More analysis: Many pokemon with a niche of having a rare attack (e.g. Shift gear Klinklang) will be totally overshadowed by other pokemon with the same attack but better stats / typing (e.g. Shift Gear Kyurem-B sounds amazing :O).

I did make a rule that you can't use the same move as a sketched move for multiple pokemon, but yes, I do think there should be several bans.
I'm thinking of a set-up + exclusive moves ban:

- All moves which boost a pokemon 3 or more times are banned as a sketched move (meaning that pokemon which originally learn these moves are allowed to use them).
(for example, shell smash gives +2/-1/+2/-1/+2. Add the numbers up and you get +4. Because shell smash boosts your pokemon 4 times it will be banned. Other examples are quiver dance, coil, shift gear, etc.)

- EDIT: All exclusive moves are banned as a sketched move if it gets STAB by the user. (same as above).
(examples are v-create, blue flare, seed flare, bolt strike, volt tackle, sacred fire...this is too make stuff like v-create darmanitan or blue flare chandelure relatively easier to counter.)

What do you guys think about these?
EDIT2: This is not a real ban yet, so go ahead using your shell smash Kyurem-B or seed flare Venusaur.

[PureQuestion]

Honestly I'm not a fan of that idea. I think the fun is in those ridiculous options.

[Organization Member XIV]

WasSollDas, perhaps you could change the banning of sig moves to banning them ONLY for Pokemon that get STAB on them. That would make it a little more balanced while not sucking the fun out of the wacky options.

[WasSollDas]

That sounds very reasonable :)
I'll probably add a banlist later, but right now I'm trying to test this metagame with someone else.
How about the set-up moves ban? Would it make the metagame more boring or would it enable it to maintain balance?

[Organization Member XIV]

Eh, just leave them and then see how it works out.

[Sewa]

Originally Posted by Fat Punchshroom

So basically everything that had to rely on Focus Blast for coverage (Alakazam, Gengar, Tornadus) now has access to Aura Sphere. Oh boy.

So basically everything that had to rely on Focus Blast for coverage has SECRET SWORD, which is even better than Aura Sphere :o

[Deluks917]

Shift Gear seems like a pretty dominant move imo.

[Wobble]

Decent idea but remove the restraints on Sketch moves for multiple pokemon. It's an extremely dumb rule that's restricting for no reason.

If someone wants to use 6 Shell Smashers its not going to be OP it's going to be bad because that won't work.

[thesynchrohero]

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

Why : Its a Gengar with the best legal Special attack boosting move there is.

[Soul Fly]

So Kyurem-B finally gets that Icicle Crash huh.

[KuKumber]

Originally Posted by Fat thesynchrohero

Why : Its a Gengar with the best legal Special attack boosting move there is.

Um...Tail Glow?

[Rayquaza_]

U-Turn/Volt Switch Wobbuffet looks ridicolously OP.

[WasSollDas]

Originally Posted by Fat Wobble

Decent idea but remove the restraints on Sketch moves for multiple pokemon. It's an extremely dumb rule that's restricting for no reason.

I agree. I was starting to theorymon a bit too much there. I should probably make banlists after this metagame was actually tested (if that would even happen...). I'll reset the metagame without any type of ban / restrictions (except the one sketched move restrictions, of course)

By the way, what do you guys think about stall in this metagame? Will they also benefit from the extra recovery or status move, or would they struggle to keep up with the amazing power of shell smashers, tail glowers and shift gearers?

Originally Posted by Fat Rayquaza_

U-Turn/Volt Switch Wobbuffet looks ridicolously OP.

Wobby would also like a recover move so it could do its counter + mirror coat shenanigans over and OVER and OVER again.

[DrRobotnik]

Snorlax @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def
Adamant nature
-Belly Drum
-ExtremeSpeed
-Fire Punch
-Earthquake

Tell me that shit ain't Uber.

[DarkBlazeR]

I imagine Unaware Quagsire would probably be very anti-metagame in Sketchmons. Though it isn't amazingly bulky, with the right EV investment it can at least survive pretty much anything that isn't a Grass move, regardless of how many boosts they have, and be able to phase them out with Whirlwind as its Sketch move. Unaware Clefable would also be able to fulfil this role, and differentiates itself from Quagsire by having much higher Sp. Defense.

As I've said earlier, Scarf Ditto is sure to be one of the most used 'mons in this metagame, if not the most used. Not only can it easily revenge kill anything that has obtained boosts, it can even make setup sweepers somewhat of a liability. Its presence is sure to have such a massive impact that most sweepers will be forced to run Substitute in order to not fall victim to Imposter.