tldr: remove analytic, process good, learnt a lot
Has Obliteryx fulfilled its concept?
Oh, and how. There were worries about Beak Blast not being conditional enough, as it is still a 100 BP, 24 PP move on a type with no immunities. Even the burn effect does not activate too often in games. But I think this “
threat is greater than the execution” build really explores conditionality in practice, where opponents have a choice in whether to activate it or not. Obliteryx was built to make progress no matter or
because of what they do. So the question for opponents becomes: what among attacking, switching, setup, status, and other utility options can you use when Obliteryx might have an answer for everything?
I think of what playtest winner ILSB
said, that Obliteryx can “develop its own condition 100% of the time by itself”, although their point was more so that it is so oppressive in its power that it overshadows the more interesting conditionality aspects. But something I've noticed due to this process is that successful users of conditional moves often make themselves “less conditional” due to an intersection of various factors, as Obliteryx has done here. The ultimate reverse sweep Pokémon Kingambit, with Sucker Punch, Supreme Overlord, and Swords Dance, combined with its good bulk, is also fairly unconditional in its gameplan. It punishes most things you can do against it, and even when you are in an endgame 1v1 against it, the odds are always in its favour. Substitute + Focus Punch follows the same plan. Mirror Coat Alomomola has Assault Vest and Regenerator as well as utility moves and pivoting to take the least amount of punishment while having the maximum flexibility. And so on.
I personally have learnt a lot about conditionality through Obliteryx’s process as well as Obliteryx the product. If Obliteryx is somewhat unconditional in practice, this is a result of its options against varying conditionalities (opponents’ Physical attacks, setup, status, switching, using attacks on it) layering on top of each other and leaving a very narrow space for counterplay. This is more interesting than plain ol’ power… which Obliteryx also possesses through Analytic, and which is somewhat overshadowing these interesting dynamics at the moment.
How has Obliteryx performed in the CAP metagame? Is its role in the metagame significantly different than what we envisioned for it? What aspects of Obliteryx have the most impact on its current metagame state?
To say it has done very well is an understatement. One of the top usage % in CAPPL (although this might also be new toy syndrome), along with a high winning % during most weeks. Its offensive prowess as well the power boost from Analytic have pushed it more into a wallbreaker role rather than a progress-making tank. On ladder, usage during the first month was 60-40 in favour of Opportunist, although I imagine the trend has somewhat shifted to favour Analytic even though I don’t have the raw stats. Our designated targets are still good, but Revenankh, Zamazenta, and Great Tusk all need to be more careful now, needing team support or different team structures to deal with the Obliteryx threat. Opportunist has provided some dopamine activation, clip-worthy moments of stealing boosts from Gliscor, Snaelstrom, Ogerpon, Chuggalong, Dragonite, the Bulk Up bros Hemogoblin and Revenankh, among others, and is a major factor in teambuilding as well as in-game decisions. No longer can you start setting up mid-game with some of these Pokémon and get your free win. On the other hand, Obliteryx’s teammates really appreciate how it limits options for opponents just through its existence in the back. I have a core I call “guys that sit in the back, menacingly”, with Opportunist Obliteryx/Hatterene/Chuggalong, and it narrows opponent options by denying setup, status, hazards, and priority while opening up your own. Very fun to use. Taunt is the bane of slower teams, and I’ve seen high-level players also run Stealth Rock successfully.
Spammernoob cooked up the now iconic Red Card set, which can turn games into 6v5s with a pretty good chance for such a strong outcome. Analytic generally improves this strategy with the power boost it provides. Heavy-Duty Boots is the vanilla set as expected, but other items like Dark Glasses have also seen use. Life Orb and Choice Band combined with Analytic give ridiculous levels of power but are not the main sets.
Sets are often maximum HP combined with either maximum Attack or Defense, with quite a lot of flexibility in how many Speed EVs to run. Benchmarks include outspeeding in the mirror or underspeeding for Analytic sets; being able to Taunt uninvested Corviknight or Arghonaut; or, for Body Press sets, outspeeding maximum Speed Tyranitar.
I think at the moment Analytic is the biggest winner (in terms of all the benefits it gets, not necessarily due to its viability being better than Opportunist’s) even though perhaps Opportunist has the bigger metagame impact. Opportunist forces considerations in teambuilding and move-choice during games until Obliteryx is brought out, but then Obliteryx can KO you with an Analytic-boosted attack anyway. You cannot really predict that opponents are running Analytic and start boosting up either, because that might lead to a quick 6-0. This was the kind of bluff game that our ability leader brought up during secondary ability discussion, and ironically, the condition of “which ability is it running” does lead to a better synergistic whole than the Pokémon with either ability alone. But surely this is not healthy.
What changes to Obliteryx are needed, if any? Does its power level and overall viability need to be adjusted? If so, in which direction?
Due to all of the reasons above, removing Analytic has been the most popular suggestion by far and I back it 100%. I think other than that, a small nerf in bulk could be warranted. I like a small nerf to Special Defense as it is not crucial to the dynamics that follow from Beak Blast, but spoo mentioned that a HP nerf could make choosing between bulky or offensive sets more of a decision.
If Analytic is removed, it also affects the viability of Stealth Rock and Taunt sets, so I don’t think we need to worry about these options being too strong on their own.
What are some key takeaways from CAP37 as a whole? What have we learned?
At a concept level, it was a fantastic exploration of conditional moves and conditionality in general.
From a process level, I really liked viol and bass’s
dichotomy of “needs versus wants” while designing a Pokémon. Viability was never the most pressing issue, with Beak Blast being an underrated but undeniably good move as seen from its usage in STABmons. Further choices like Dark/Flying; a compressed but complete three-move combination in Beak Blast, Knock Off and Roost; our fourth-slot options; and tanky stats meant that it would be quite surprising if Obliteryx
wasn’t viable. Maybe Analytic as a secondary was a step too far, maybe it wasn’t, but our options throughout were
wants in service of the concept, not viability. I prefer this to directionless bloat in service of viability or patch-up options in case decisions during previous parts of the process weren’t enough. Although perhaps we as a community need to appreciate the value of “less is more” in CAP (I, for example, still placed Analytic above No Competitive Ability during the secondary poll)
Perhaps we could afford both direction and viability because of the nature of the concept (i.e., focus on a specific type of thing). This kind of concept is not nourishing soil for the innovative solutions that emerge when both viability and concept-fulfilment are in question, such as No Guard Inferno for Ramnarok from recent memory. But Perfect Conditions was still a deep exploration of its target topic, and is not any lesser for the relatively easier implementation.
Finally, I want to just touch on the Stakeout -1 decision from a process level. While I was personally okay with either having it on the slate or not (same for Analytic during secondary), I believe that a little more discussion time regarding this decision with the TL participating in the thread would have been better. This extra discussion time would
not be in hopes that people could convince the TL with just one more argument that they missed, of course not, but more to adhere to the community engagement vision of CAP. I think the TL’s word having so much weight makes their situation a tightrope walk: if they say too much, they can have undue influence on the process; if they abstain, some of their decisions might come as a surprise to the community. I think a signal of intention and a short discussion period thereafter would allow for voices both in support or against their decisions to be heard (and there would be both), even if the final decision might be unaffected by this.
but we're not really all that sad about it. Third (technically fourth) highest attack stat we've given to a CAP, though with the Analytic boost its an equivalent 181 Attack. In my experience, Analytic really only functioned as a tool to dominate the Terry 1v1, but yeah the damage is kinda absurd and further cements the bird as having no counters, only decent checks. Same with Encore, I've seen it like never but it shakes up Terry's game a little too much. Go on, axe Encore for the third time.
, and 
, so another reliable remover like 
who actually threatens the string cheese man 
would be great. Don't mind keeping Stealth Rock, as being an unconventional setter is neat, though I'm not against its removal.
, 
still hits us with both coverage moves tho. Essentially, we'd be trading Terry's passive utility for the ability to fiddle with soft checks reliant on burn. Every other status should be kept on the table. If not 
signature, I'd at least like something mildly useful. I know Terry is far from a one-trick pony, though the purpose of this PPL is to make him more of one.
, 
, 
, and 
to outspeed obliteryx, who will still invest in speed enough to taunt 
, 
or 
(With the move gone, the rolls are all in the defensive mon's favour). The sheer amount of damage has to be addressed somehow, and without removing Analytic this is the simplest way.
/
