Names: Raichu & Raichu-Alola
Types: Electric/
Fairy & Electric/Psychic
Abilities: Static /
Fur Coat /
Lightning Rod (hidden ability)
Surge Surfer /
Swift Swim /
Sand Rush (hidden ability)
New Moves: ((from previous slates) (both) Electroweb, Chain Lightning, Peekaboo; (
only) Psycho Boost)
(both) Dazzling Gleam, Magnet Rise, Rising Voltage
{apparently still in the game}, Skull Bash, Parry, Round
(
only) Moonblast, Snatch, Tail Slap
(
only) Meteor Beam, Rapid Spin, Wind Breaker
Removed Moves: [none, though I'll understand if Electroweb and/or Nasty Plot has to be removed]
Justification: Given none of the rodent mons have managed to get any type of buff in this mod so far (poor
Mimikyu), I figured I would try my hand at trying to buff the most eternally overlooked of the rodent mons due to its mascot preevo overshadowing it and try to do so without relying upon some type of Light Ball change again. So here we are.
Raichu jumps on the Fur Coat train to shore up its by far worst stat in "exchange" for making it that Fur Coat is pretty much the only ability it will ever use. It gets Fairy since
Dedenne is still trash and yet it looks closest to an evolution for that than it does
Pikachu weirdly. Not much else to say about it really since Pikachu and Raichu already have rather good movepools. They just don't have the stats to back it up, with this being an attempt to fix that given their still great Speed tier.
Raichu-Alola, meanwhile, gets a bit screwed over ability-wise since I didn't want to both Raichus defensively oriented if they would remain different typing. Electric/Fairy is overall a better defensive typing anyway since Fairy is so busted defensively, so instead Alolan Raichu is all in on Speed but gets to vary what type of team it wants to be on, making it sure it has a move for each of its three potential teams even if all that took was adding Meteor Beam for Sand since it already has Psycho Boost for Psychic Terrain and Thunder & Surf for Rain. This as well as being able to abuse Electro Ball (and Parry) for all its abilities.
(I guess default Sawsbuck is implicitly Sawsbuck-Spring)
Type: Normal/Grass | Normal/
Fire | Normal/
Ghost | Normal/
Ice
Abilities: Chlorophyll |
Adaptability (replaces Serene Grace) |
Color Change (hidden ability; from previous Slate; replaced Sap Sipper)
Added Moves: Curse, Flare Blitz, Forest's Curse, Ice Spinner, Icicle Spear, Poltergeist, Rage, Rage Fist (...just go with it), Raging Fury, Root Pull, and Skull Bash {previously Trick Or Treat, which is apparently
not still in the game}
Removed Moves: [none]
Justification: Oh, right. I did say I would try to save Sawsbuck "later" back in my Zarude entry, and later is...now, apparently, since this is the last Slate. I
think this can be done, and I think technically that we could even give the sawsbuck different abilities and movesets, but I'm not sure about that, I don't want to be a pest even more than I already am, so this is enough and can be excused by "Normal mon movepools". Despite the typing changes that would probably see the autumnal Sawsbuck being used the most, even on Sun teams (since Tie-Dye Band exists), in theory they all have some merit in hitting hard with their coverage and Adaptability. This is really the best I can do with giving it some really busted move. (Otherwise I'd just give it Last Respects and call it a day.)
RESUBMISSION:
&
IRON BUNDLE
Type: Ice/
Fairy (instead of Ice/Water)
Abilities: Neuron Drive (from Slate 02) |
Sand Rush (hidden ability)
Added Moves: Dazzling Gleam, Draining Kiss, Peekaboo, Psychic Terrain, Rapid Spin, Sandstorm, and Wish. {previously Moonblast too}
Removed Moves: Air Cutter, Aurora Veil, Flip Turn, Hydro Pump, Water Pulse, and Whirlpool.
FLUTTER MANE
Type: Ghost/
Rock (instead of Ghost/Fairy)
Abilities: Protostasis (from Slate 02) |
Levitate (hidden ability)
Added Moves: Defog, Eerie Spell, Flash Cannon
(because screw Ninetales-Alola),
Latent Venom, Sandstorm, Snowscape, and Stealth Rock. {previously Meteor Beam too}
Removed Moves: Calm Mind, Charge Beam, Dark Pulse
(flinch is cringeworthy when you can avoid it), Dazzling Gleam, Disarming Voice, Draining Kiss, Energy Ball, Moonblast, Mystical Fire, Psybeam, Psyshock, Stored Power, and Wish.
Justification: My contribution to the seemingly obligatory Slate 09 theme of "nerf adjustments only please". And, yeah. I know these
technically aren't direct analogs of each other officially, but they unofficially might as well be given they're two overpowered Paradox mons that each represent an opposing side and are both based on rather underwhelming Gen 2 mons, even if
Delibird is far more underwhelming than
Misdreavus of course. Besides also sharing BSTs and being the only two banned Paradox mons (
Walking Wake wipes its brow), if you squint, then I guess you can also pretend they're both united by being holidays mons too. Just shush and let me have this since it seems like a waste to do both of them separately, though I will understand if I have to do so even given what the Slate already looks like it's shaping up to be. I also admittedly was going to go with
Spectrier and
Glastrier, but gods, even if you take away Grim Neigh and butcher its movepool harder than I did Flutter Mane, Spectrier is still just too damn fast with too much power to the point it would end up overpowering literally ever other (special) Ghost; sorry, Glastrier. Finally, they would both be mons to help check and murder Gliscor, meaning that they get to jump on that hate train too. Yay!
Iron Bundle Justification: Somehow easier to justify than Flutter Mane perhaps despite me buffing its typing simply because I want an Ice/Fairy mon that
isn't a goddamn Aurora Veil bot and nothing else. I think it keeping Freeze-Dry is actually fine for all its Speed and SpA between a) already being nerfed to go off of Neuron Drive but having no Psychic attacks at all still to take advantage of that (or any other) terrain and b) my further nerfs to ensure that it can't get around its dual STAB being not very effective against both Fire and Steel types at all by way of taking away all of its Water types. Besides, keeping Freeze-Dry will benefit its Sand ability--a "Sandy Claws" joke, honestly--by giving Sand a "natural" way to body Water types since poor
Brambleghast stays losing. Not much else to say about it except that it still has U-Turn despite losing Flip Turn, so it can still pivot while being forced to use a move that both Fire and Steel types also resist; Rapid Spin and Wish are minor concessions to that nerfing as well as Delibird having both, while Moonblast
may be a bit much but doesn't worry me as much as Meteor Beam on Flutter Mane does. Oh. I will note that this gives us another (special) Ice type without stepping that heavily on the just upgraded
Froslass's non-existent toes since this has greater Speed but far less coverage and, with Froslass using Sheer Heart, less power too even ignoring the secondary type differences and movepool differences. (Also, gods, we need at least
one mon that would actually like to use Neuron Drive.)
Flutter Mane Justification: In trying to bring down a Ghost mon that wouldn't be a huge pain, a greatly nerfed
Flutter Mane is probably the least evil option, especially since
Decidueye-Hisui getting made Ghost/Fighting means bringing down
Annihilape would just obviate it and
Giratina is too fat even if it might somehow be legitimately less problematic than Spectrier overall. I was originally going to make nerfed Flutter Mane into a Ghost/Flying type given its being based on a flying head (and given
Drifblim unfortunately rather sucks still)...until I realized that doing that would mean it would just end up making another spin locker that also blocked Defog given Wind Breaker would end up its go-to STAB, with the flinch from Air Slash not being that much of a lesser evil. Ghost/Psychic and Ghost/Dark were then considered before realizing that, respectively, either it would just forever obviate the already struggling
Hoopa on top of that type combination sucking or be stuck with
another flinching move--Dark Pulse--as one of its strongest moves. So Ghost/Rock it is as a unique typing that somewhat fits given its jewels and already having Power Gem. In a weird way, the weird and unique Ghost/Rock typing might be for the best since it can help both Snow and Sand without being overpowering in either (...I hope) as well amusingly being able to stunt on the most common Gliscor set and use it as a set-up fodder with Levitate and Substitute (and Hex). Not much else to say about it except that I am admittedly a bit wary about Meteor Beam and Sand Clock as well as thankful that it didn't already have Protocrysalis.