CAP 2 - Part 1 - Concept Poll 3

[Rising_Dusk]

Moving onto the last poll of the concept stage, we must now ultimately choose the concept that we will follow for the rest of the project. The decision made here will shape everything that is to come, so give it a lot of careful thought. I have left in my reasons for slating these concepts so that you can see what I see in them before casting your vote.

This poll will be a bold vote, which means that you vote for only one of the submissions. The details of bold voting can be found here. A typical vote might look like the following:

My Preferred Entry

If the voter wishes, he may post comments on his vote below the actual vote. As with IRV, only the vote itself should be bold and none of the supplementary text should be bold.

Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you warned. If you feel compelled to say something in your own vote, you may still do so, but don't try to incite a discussion. Keep discussion to #cap.

This poll will be open for 24 hours.

When voting, use only the name of the author! The list of possible votes include:

Korski
Fire Blast

Below are the concepts to be voted on, in the order they ranked in the last poll. Beneath the concept is a brief blurb where I explain my reasoning for picking it for the slate.

Originally Posted by Fat Korski

Concept: Sketch Artist

Description: A Pokemon that learns Sketch, once, and everything that goes along with that.

Justification:

In terms of uniqueness, I think that few existing Pokemon can match DPP Smeargle, an otherwise laughably worthless Pokemon trolling OU with access to every trick in the book (or at least 4 of them) but also affecting the metagame greatly by becoming a top threat in the lead metagame. This Pokemon will borrow some of that uniqueness by learning the move Sketch and thus having access to ONE surprise/strategic/gutshot bonus move to supplement its pre-existing movepool. Being otherwise competently built (read: usable stats), this Poke could be a top threat or specialist for reasons we can't even predict yet.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How will a Poke that has access to any one move out of all the moves in the game affect common battling tactics, namely prediction, scouting, and switching?
• Which Sketch moves will become most common on this Poke's best sets? Does Sketchmon's success rely on hiding that secret Sketch move until just the right moment or can it succeed with predictably powerful moves like Spore, Spikes, Hurricane, Shell Smash, etc.?
• Does this unique and powerful access to moves need to be counterbalanced elsewhere in the Pokemon's design? If so, then to what degree?
• What kind of impact can Sketchmon have on teambuilding in terms of being able to patch holes with common utility moves like Rapid Spin or Toxic Spikes?

Explanation: The key here is that we have a lot of freedom to construct a unique Pokemon while staying within the confines of the concept. Typing, stats, abilities, and even most of the movepool are completely fair game so long as the Poke learns Sketch only once along the way and that we keep that in mind during previous steps. Now, this doesn't mean the CAP process will be directionless; Rising Dusk is pretty well organized and good at keeping discussions focused, and the concept itself has firm grounding in Smeargle's precedent. What's really being studied with this concept is movepool diversity and effectiveness, so it should have the most effect on the movepool process, where movepool creators will have to carefully balance their Sketchmon's actual movepool with the possibility of adding any one other move to the list. In terms of the metagame, there is no doubt in my mind that throwing a wildcard like this into the mix will strongly affect the metagame.

Sketch Artist is a very bold concept, and through that has been a very heated focus of debate in IRC. It allows us to discuss so many unique things, such as what we consider the best move for what styles and how best to keep something with singular access to any move in the game in check. However, my favorite part of this concept is how it forces the CAP process to react to it, and creates a unique experience unlike that which we've ever seen in any past CAP. Lastly, before anyone has any concerns about this, I want to emphasize that Sketch Artist can be implemented in both PO and Pokemon Showdown. Do not let your vote be concerned with its implementation, as it is possible and doable.

Originally Posted by Fat Fire Blast

Concept: Theoretical Threat

General Description: A pokemon whose presence itself severly limits the opponent's options

Justification: Team Preview has severly impacted the way in which we play. By knowing what the opponent has, players can identify what threats are significant. For example, if someone sees an Electivire on the other person's team, they will be careful when using Electric-type moves. Electvire affects their choices without even being on the field. This is what can be called a "theoretical threat." Unfortuneately, Electivire cannot abuse the boost it gains very well. If we were to create a pokemon that could limit the opponent's option in a similar way, it would show us the value of theoretical threat. However, we could also give the pokemon tangible threat, the opposite of theretical threat. This would allow us to compare the two types of threat with eachother.

Questions to be Answered:
-How much significance can theoretical threat hold?
-Can the presence of one pokemon wipe out an entire aspect of the metagame?
(If Electivire was stronger, would Electric-type moves be obsolete?)
-How does theoretical threat compare to tangible threat? Which playstlyes prefer theoretical threat? Which playstyles prefer tangible threat? How does theoretical threat affect different playstyles? How does tangible threat affect different playstyles?
-How can players use theoretical threat to their advantage?
-How can players cope with theoretical threat?

Explanation: The way I see it, this pokemon would have two abilities, one that supports theoretical threat and another that supports tangible threat. The ability that is used for theoretical threat would give the pokemon a boost (+2 Atk or SpA, +2 Spe) when hit by <attack>. Some things that could give this boost are: status, priority, <type>, or Taunt. This would allow us to see the significance that some of these moves have on the metagame. Without the boost this ability gives, this pokemon should be fairly weak but still usable. The other ability would give the pokemon more direct sweeping potential, without becoming so powerful that it completely outclasses the other ability. A good way of doing this could be to make it a fairly average sweeping ability (Clear Body/Natural Cure) that comes with the bonus of a few extra moves.

Theoretical Threat is an interesting concept that snuck into the last page of concept submissions. I think the discussion of a theoretical threat like Electivire has a lot of merit to it, and that it could change a lot about the metagame with just its mere presence. It's also very relevant to BW, as team preview shows it off to the enemy and immediately makes them think twice about using the moves that the theoretical threat takes advantage of. The discussions stemming from this would be exquisite, and I particularly look forward to the possibility of discussing which abilities and styles of play best suit such a theoretical threat.

Now that I've presented the slate for this poll, hop to voting!

tl;dr: Quack! (Vote!)

[Fire Blast]

Fire Blast

[Flarephoenix332]

Korski

Quack. Sketch Artist is interesting and a rather novel idea to me. Fire Blast's concept just seems like "What if Electivire was better?" or "What if we make a generic sweeper than give it Motor Drive/Lightning Rod/Flash Fire?"

[Rising_Dusk]

Korski

[macle]

Fire Blast

i really don't like any of the concepts lol but Fire Blast's is the least worst. Korski's idea has no fucking direction.I don't even see what we could learn about the metagame with a sketch mon....

aka repost of my last vote

[srk1214]

Fire Blast

[Engineer Pikachu]

Fire Blast

Again, I think Sketch is a cool concept, but it might turn out to be super complicated and hard to handle.

[Birkal*]

Korski

When I originally read Korski's idea, I was very excited for the concept. And even though I have grown some reservations and apprehensions since then, I trust our crew for CAP2 to allow this concept to flourish. Best of luck to both contestants =D!

[Yllnath]

Korski

[WinstonShnozwick]

Fire Blast

i really don't like any of the concepts lol but Fire Blast's is the least worst. Korski's idea has no fucking direction.I don't even see what we could learn about the metagame with a sketch mon....

My thoughts exactly.

Fire Blast

[Solstice]

Korski

[tennisace]

FIRE BLAST

BECAUSE FIRE BLAST IS MOST POUWER OF ALL

IT BURN ALL

[RitterCat]

Korski

[Tayla]

Korski

[pele]

Korski

Both Korski and Fire Blast run on the same basic principal: Unpredictability, Korski moreso than Fireblast howerver. It just seems to me that the theoretical threat is too much like a psudo magic-bounce: It keeps your opponent from playing a certain move or else you get a boost from it. It seems odd to add a pokemon with a dumbed down version of an existing ability.

[Darkamber8828]

Korski

[Snunch]

Fire Blast

[V0x]

Fire Blast

[tangramman]

Fire Blast

[Ralts]

Fire Blast

[DetroitLolcat]

I have to agree with macle here. I don't think this is the strongest concept slate but I guess I couldn't come up with anything better.

Not to be rude, but it seems like it's a choice between little direction versus redundant direction. Fire Blast's concept already exists in the metagame...about ten times over... while Korski's is a bit gimmicky and doesn't give us much to go on. But I think a blank slate is better than a concept that would tell us absolutely nothing about the metagame.

I will definitely go with Korski's as it's unorthodox, doesn't already exist in the metagame (unlike Fire Blast's), and I guess could make for an interesting CAP.

I'm definitely participating in this thing, though!

[Adamnsm1]

Fire Blast

[jas61292]

Fire Blast

Unlike macle, I do think Fire Blast's is a great concept, but I have to agree with him about Korski's. It has no direction, and I really don't think we can do much with it. If it does get chosen, I do have enough faith in CAP that I believe we can turn out something decent, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

[Terrador]

Korski; I think we could learn a lot from trying to make this thing, plus there'd be virtually no skill ceiling with that mon.

[Silver Flame]

Korski