Approved by Hikari; stolen and edited from Bouff/Mazz
What is this?:
The Next Best Thing is a project where the community digs through a featured Pokemon's movepool and crafts novel sets under the objective of beating some of its common checks and counters. Through this project in the past, relatively hidden Pokemon sets between ADV and BW like SD Lucario in DPP OU or Sub-Disable Gengar in BW OU have ended up taking the respective metagames by storm. More recently in XY UU, Pursuit-trapping Mega Aerodactyl and SubCM Chandelure became very popular options as a result of this project, courtesy of Sage of the 6 and Calloflochie. Not every set that the community comes up in the project with will become metagame defining, however. In fact, a mass majority of new Pokemon sets made here won't end up becoming very popular in the end, which is okay.
The Process:
Each week, I will choose a different Pokemon, sometimes chosen by random, sometimes chosen by curiosity, of which participants will try to personally create a new set for that is not already on-site or in the process of being put on-site. Participants will be given 5 days to create their set, with discussion about the particular sets being promoted throughout, and on the 6th and 7th day of the week, a vote will be held to choose which user's set represented the most creative and simultaneously competitively viable set to utilize in the current UU metagame. Once the votes are tallied and a winner is crowned, the set will be archived in the OP and the process will start all over again for the next Pokemon specimen.
What are we looking for?:
Specifically, I want to stress the importance of the balance between creativity and viability when picking a set to post for the Pokemon in question. There's a very fine line between a "creative" set and a "gimmick", and this project is not meant to produce gimmicks, rather emphasize the ability to think outside the box when using a specific Pokemon in order to maximize it's potential. Having said that, I would also like to deviate from simple one move / item changes. For example, using Lum Berry over Life Orb on an SD Virizion does nothing to show any untapped potential Virizion has because we already have a basic understanding of what SD Virizion is and does, it's just now better at dealing with status and has less power. The same goes for using Iron Head over Stone Edge on SD Cobalion, it doesn't yield productive discussion or results for the project. I am looking for sets that test what we think we know about checks or counters, so-called standards, and what it means to be viable. Maybe a particular option for a Pokemon looks inferior at first glance for that particular Pokemon, but dig deeper and try and find what it might mean in the big picture, for the entire team.
So remember thesetwo three important rules:
I also set up a poll that will determine whether you guys allow me to vote. If you guys end up allowing me, my vote will only count for one vote, for all equality purposes.
That's about it! Our test subject for this week will be...
Courtesy of: my shit ass jokes
Whimsicott
The Next Best Thing
(someone hook us up with a dank pic please :])
(someone hook us up with a dank pic please :])
What is this?:
The Next Best Thing is a project where the community digs through a featured Pokemon's movepool and crafts novel sets under the objective of beating some of its common checks and counters. Through this project in the past, relatively hidden Pokemon sets between ADV and BW like SD Lucario in DPP OU or Sub-Disable Gengar in BW OU have ended up taking the respective metagames by storm. More recently in XY UU, Pursuit-trapping Mega Aerodactyl and SubCM Chandelure became very popular options as a result of this project, courtesy of Sage of the 6 and Calloflochie. Not every set that the community comes up in the project with will become metagame defining, however. In fact, a mass majority of new Pokemon sets made here won't end up becoming very popular in the end, which is okay.
The Process:
Each week, I will choose a different Pokemon, sometimes chosen by random, sometimes chosen by curiosity, of which participants will try to personally create a new set for that is not already on-site or in the process of being put on-site. Participants will be given 5 days to create their set, with discussion about the particular sets being promoted throughout, and on the 6th and 7th day of the week, a vote will be held to choose which user's set represented the most creative and simultaneously competitively viable set to utilize in the current UU metagame. Once the votes are tallied and a winner is crowned, the set will be archived in the OP and the process will start all over again for the next Pokemon specimen.
What are we looking for?:
Specifically, I want to stress the importance of the balance between creativity and viability when picking a set to post for the Pokemon in question. There's a very fine line between a "creative" set and a "gimmick", and this project is not meant to produce gimmicks, rather emphasize the ability to think outside the box when using a specific Pokemon in order to maximize it's potential. Having said that, I would also like to deviate from simple one move / item changes. For example, using Lum Berry over Life Orb on an SD Virizion does nothing to show any untapped potential Virizion has because we already have a basic understanding of what SD Virizion is and does, it's just now better at dealing with status and has less power. The same goes for using Iron Head over Stone Edge on SD Cobalion, it doesn't yield productive discussion or results for the project. I am looking for sets that test what we think we know about checks or counters, so-called standards, and what it means to be viable. Maybe a particular option for a Pokemon looks inferior at first glance for that particular Pokemon, but dig deeper and try and find what it might mean in the big picture, for the entire team.
So remember these
- Feel free to be as creative as you want, just make sure that you can prove that your set stands apart from the standard sets, especially if they do not appear much different from each other.
- Do not change your set after voting phase has started.
- DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS DO NOT RESERVE SETS ABSOLUTELY DO NOT RESERVE YOUR FUCKING SETS
I also set up a poll that will determine whether you guys allow me to vote. If you guys end up allowing me, my vote will only count for one vote, for all equality purposes.
That's about it! Our test subject for this week will be...
there ain't nothing in here
Courtesy of: my shit ass jokes
Whimsicott
You guys have until the upcoming Saturday (11:59 EST) to make your sets. HAPPY SETBUILDING! :]
Voting phase will go from Saturday (12:00 EST) until Monday (11:59 EST)so incase I don't make some kind of post regarding the voting phase, feel free to vote anyways. I suppose y'all can wait for me to make the announcement ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Voting phase will go from Saturday (12:00 EST) until Monday (11:59 EST)
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