Before you start reading this, I want to make clear a few things:
1) This post is being written in the wake of an IRC discussion with several ASBers which happened yesterday, not because got hit on the head today while tidying up my room
2) This post will probably stir up a shitstorm. So, please, don't try to gutrip me, don't jump to conclusions, and stay reasonable. Please read everything I will say before replying.
Most of you are probably aware of the big mess CAP 4 has been, due to BMB's questionable leadership. The first thing which dawned to my mind (and not just to me, I believe), is that Aurumoth is potentially very broken for ASB. Let's take a look at stats first:
Bug/Psychic
HP 110
Atk: Rank 5
Def: Rank 4
SpA: Rank 4
Spe: Rank 2
Spe 94
Size Class: 4
Weight Class: 5
Abilities: Weak Armor, No Guard, Illusion
The first thing that is immediately apparent is Aurumoth's beastly offensive potential. If it runs a Quiet Nature (which is hardly an issue, thanks to No Guard), it reaches 5/5 offenses, backed by a defensive layout that rivals Dragonite's one (who indeed boasts the same offensive stats). Now, why would Aurumoth push the edge, unlike Dragonite? The answers are many, actually:
1) Illusion: This is the biggest worry in my opinion. Aurumoth has the full potential to completely disrupt any Pokemon treating him as the wrong Pokemon... and there are a LOT of Pokemon Aurumoth can disguise as which have the same destructive potential (Most Fighting types, many Steel types, several Rock types, etc)
2) Movepool: A simple comparison between Aurumoth and Dragonite shows how the former is on a whole new level from ASB's perspective:
Physical movepoolAt a first glance, it's obvious that Dragonite's movepool is larger. It also gets a few assets Aurumoth misses out on (priority, Brick Break, Dragon Tail, Bulldoze/Earthquake to name a few), but as far as sheer power goes, Aurumoth probably has a (small) edge over Dragonite here. STAB Megahorn, backed by No Guard, outshines absolutely everything Dragonite can muster, even because Bug has a much better supereffective coverage than Dragon (and SE coverage > Neutral coverage in ASB, from my experience). But it doesn't end here. Dragonite may have Superpower, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and so on... but Aurumoth has Close Combat, and this alones means a lot (not to mention Feint and its utility in Doubles). Still, all things considered, Dragonite may have an overall edge in this area (Sky Drop, Dive, and Fly can't be underestimated), but Aurumoth isn't very far behind.
Special movepool
Again, Dragonite's movepool is undeniably larger. It also gets a VERY powerful STAB in Hurricane, and Aurumoth has little to oppose in this sense (although with the recent fixes, Psychic is not far behind, and a lot more reliable). But once again, coverage comparison is very tricky. Aurumoth may miss out on Fire-type moves, but it gets Solarbeam, Hydro Pump, Shadow Ball... and basically everything else Dragonite can boast - Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Focus Blast... you got the picture. While I was willing to say Dragonite has a better physical movepool, I believe Aurumoth gets the edge when it comes to special offense.
Support movepool
As you may expect, this is the tiebreaker - and a tiebreaker which is completely onesided. First of all, let's look at what Dragonite has over Aurumoth: Agility, Bide, Detect, Endure, Haze, Heal Bell, Sandstorm, Thunder Wave... there are some assets here, indeed.
But what happens if we look at what Aurumoth has over Dragonite? Heal Pulse, Wish, Counter (I know technically it is a physical attack but whatever), Disable, Ally Switch, Will-O-Wisp, Magic Coat, Skill Swap, Trick... and I didn't even mention everything! A lot of ASB's big hits are here, and this includes a lot of disruptive moves which can go wonderfully with Illusion and that kickass offense to secure an immediate advantage for Aurumoth from the getgo.
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Now, let's take a deep breath. I haven't written this thread to discuss Aurumoth's brokenness (or not such). What's interesting, though, is the conclusion that spurred from the first debate about CAP 4. It quickly became apparent to a lot of us (I'm referring to the IRC convo) that there was something inevitably off between CAP and ASB.
To put it as briefly as possible, CAP doesn't make Pokemon taking ASB into account. This is obvious, but it also means that, realistically, we have absolutely no assurance that a CAP can or can't break ASB, because the two systems are so different that something crucial in CAP can be worthless in ASB and viceversa (Consider Quiver Dance and Magic Coat or Disable, for example). It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, that a CAP which is balanced in itself could be too much for ASB, and viceversa. The two systems are just too different, as I already said.
Someone could say "But no Pokemon has been created for the ASB mechanics!". And it is true. Someone in IRC mentioned this as well. But consider the following three points:
1) Our tiering system (I'm using this word in a loose meaning of "what's available to us") is very different from Smogon's, and funnily enough, much closer to GF than theirs. This is a natural consequence of the radically different systems. Smogon may find Excadrill overwhelming, but no ASBer in his right mind would think the same thing within ASB. The same is true for Blaziken, etc. On the contrary, many of the legendaries Smogon allows in OU (Like Landorus, Terrakion, Cresselia, Kyurem, etc) would be VERY dangerous in ASB if ever released.
2) In the metagame CAP works for there are a lot of Pokemon which are unavailable (mostly) in ASB. For example, the gap in power between OU's Electric-types and ASB's Electric-types is appalling (right, Dogfish?^^)
3) When the ASB system was first created, we did consider the existing Pokemon, and tuned the mechanics to make sure they couldn't be overwhelming. Maybe Pokemon weren't made with ASB in mind, but ASB was certainly made with Pokemon in mind. The same thing obviously can't be said about any future CAP which could be created.
I hope this extended answer clarifies why I believe CAP creations have a sort of "special place" in our discussion.
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Now, on to the main point of this post. Our system has been generally referred to as CAP ASB. With CAP meaning, generally, the addition of the Pokemon created by the CAP process. These Pokemon, however, are often more of a source of problems than anything else, because of the reasons I stated above. Not to mention all the rumors about ASB influencing the CAP process and viceversa that ran amok in the past months. Therefore, I want to make the following proposal.
Let's sever our boundaries with the CAP process
This means, in practice, stop adding CAPs to the ASB meta. For the sake of common sense, I'd allow the ones up to Mollux to be kept - if anything because of how many ppl already own them etc. But for the future, I suggest we take either of the following two avenues:
1) We "freeze" the metagame, and stop adding Pokemon altogether besides what GF gifts us with. This is perhaps the simplest solution, but not the most exciting. Plus, aside from the existing CAPs, it wouldn't offer much of a reason for us to keep calling ourselves CAP ASB. This would be the best solution if we want to take a "less CAP ASB, more ASB" route.
2) We start a CAP creation process of our own, aimed for the ASB metagame. This is the most radical proposal, which attempts to save the "CAP" concept of ASB while stopping to add CAP creations as explained above. It is not my intention here to tackle such a big proposal all in a single post (how would we structure the process? Would we use threads or another subforum/social group? Would we get artists/spriters to support the project? How would we treat leadership? etc etc...), but I want to clarify two things:
- This is the proposal I personally favor over the aforementioned one.
- I believe there are strong reasons for running such a project within ASB, as well as little reasons to fear a backlash for the rest of Smogon.
Give me just some more lines to elaborate the second point. I honestly believe ASB is a much deeper game than in-game Pokemon. The array of viable abilities, moves, items, types, Pokemon altogether has no comparisons in any other meta. As such, not only there would be a LOT to discuss in terms of concepts and ideas, but we would have less problems in terms of overcentralization and overpower.
Let's say that, at a certain point, there are 50 Pokemon in OU. If you add 5-10 CAPs to that - all designed to be OU - the metagame will change drastically, because of the sheer number proportions. Not only that, but to make sure those CAPs can actually get enough usage to sit comfortably in OU you would have to make them quite beastly - as most CAPs are or have been in their first inception. This is not true in ASB. ASB has a metagame of 150 or more viable Pokemon at the very least, and adding 10 CAPs (over a span of, say, 2 years) would hardly change the meta dramatically. Not only that, but to get actual usage, these CAPs wouldn't need to be anywhere as overpowered as their OU counterparts, and there would be a lot more room for experimentation and originality. Just ask yourselves: would ASB be very different without the current CAPs, metagame-wise? If so, how could the addition of another 10 CAPs, which would be nowhere as powerful as the current ones, alter it in a bad sense (especially when compared to keep adding OU CAP creations).
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This is all... for now. This post is already insanely long, there's a lot to discuss and for what I may know, DK or someone else could jump out of nowhere and veto the entire thing. Or I could get a bunch of insults and be forced to drop the question in less than 24h. So for now I'll leave the post as it is now: a sort of input (no matter how big-looking) to the entire community, to gauge any interest in what could be the biggest chance ever introduced in ASB since its inception over a year ago... and a way to involve more people in the discussion we had over IRC, as well as a way for IRC ppl to state their opinions in a more thought-out way.
Let the shitstorm begin.