CAP 10 CAP 10 - Concept Submissions

[beej]

This is where we discuss the general goal of CAP 10. The Concept that we select will be a guiding force throughout the ensuing project, to ensure that the final result is a cohesive competitive Pokemon. Any discussions, suggestions, or submissions in later topics, that do not support the spirit of the Concept, will be moderated by me. Considering that whichever concept we pick is effectively going to define the general direction that this project takes, I suggest you put a lot of thought into anything you submit here, and that you think long and hard about whichever concept you choose to support.

Concepts must be presented as high-level descriptions of a general idea. They cannot be detailed pokemon designs. Since we have polls to determine each aspect of the pokemon, we cannot allow any specific features of the pokemon to be determined by the details of the Concept.


The long list of rules that follows exists to ensure that all legally submitted concepts are well thought-out and carefully designed, so if you are not prepared to follow these guidelines, you shouldn't be submitting a concept. Any concepts that do not conform to these rules will be ignored and/or deleted.

The following rules must be followed when submitting a Concept:

* One submission per person. You may edit your Concept, but you may not change the fundamental premise after it has been posted. If editing your concept, please edit the original post instead of posting a new revision. Bumping your concept is not an appropriate response to a lack of direct feedback from other users. Silence from other users effectively IS your feedback.


* Do not duplicate or closely-resemble Concepts already posted by others. It is your responsibility to read through all previous submissions in this thread to ensure you are complying with this rule. Ignorance or laziness is not an excuse.

* Specific Pokemon types or type combos cannot be included or excluded in a Concept. Nor can other characteristics of the Concept specifically result in in the inclusion or exclusion of Types. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:

• "This is a Dragon pokemon with..."
• "The pokemon should be immune to Ghost attacks..."
• "The pokemon should have at least 7 resistances..."
• "The pokemon should get STAB on Thunderbolt.."

* Specific Abilities are not allowed. This applies to existing abilities and new abilities. Do not attempt to circumvent this rule by mentioning specific battle effects that can only be achieved by the implementation of an ability. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:

• "This pokemon should have a defensive ability like Intimidate or Marvel Scale..."
• "This pokemon has an ability that steals the opponent's held item..."
• "When this pokemon is switched in, all weather conditions are nullified..."

* Movepools or lists of moves are not allowed. A specific move can be mentioned if it is the basis for the entire concept. For example, the Concept "Rapid Spinner" would obviously mention the move Rapid Spin.

* Specific stat bias, base stats, or base stat ratings are not allowed. It is acceptable to use descriptive phrases like "fast", "bulky", "strong attacker", etc -- since there are a variety of ways a pokemon can fit those descriptions without specifically requiring certain stats. But, do not use overly-specific descriptions that would narrowly constrain the pokemon's base stat spread.

* Indications of Physical/Special bias are discouraged, but acceptable if it is essential to the Concept. Do not refer to any part of the Pokemon's artistic design. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:

• "This is a bright blue pokemon..."
• "The pokemon looks like a..."
• "The pokemon uses its long tail to..."

* A Concept Submission must be submitted in the proper format. The format is described below. If the proper format is not used, the moderators will not evaluate the submission, regardless of content.
Concept Submission Format Use this format for all concept submissions:
Name: (short name)
General Description: (See rules below. No more than a sentence or two here.)
Justification: (See rules below.)
Questions To Be Answered: (See rules below.)
Explanation: (Whatever you want to say here.)

• Name - This is basically the tagline for your concept; what people are supposed to think when they see it. You shouldn't get too clever with it, or you risk people misunderstanding it and going in a direction you didn't intend for.
• Description - This is the official description of the concept, and must follow ALL the content rules listed above. Do not make this a long description. Long descriptions are invariably too specific or too convoluted. Keep it short. Any more than a sentence or two is TOO MUCH. Do NOT include your Explanation of the concept in the Description. See "Explanation" below.
• Justification - A few sentences describing how the concept satisfies one or more of the following:
  • Has a positive effect on the metagame (e.g Fidgit’s Pure Utility)
  • Introduces a new niche in the metagame (such as Arghonaut’s Decentralizer)
  • Allows us to learn more about the metagame (e.g Kitsunoh’s Ultimate Scout)
  The previous is bolded for emphasis. Concepts MUST have potential to teach us about the metagame. Do not make up your own categories for justification. If you cannot justify your concept against at least one of the three requirements above, then your concept is illegal for the CAP project.
• Questions To Be Answered - The purpose of the CAP project is to learn new things about the metagame, and each concept submission is a proposed "experiment". List out a few interesting competitive questions that should be answered after properly implementing your concept. At the conclusion of the CAP project, these questions will be revisited to see how well we implemented the concept. If your questions are not significant, relevant to your Justification, and well-written -- then your concept will be rejected.
• Explanation - Here is where any otherwise illegal content goes. This is basically your opportunity to freely explain exactly what you may have in mind for your concept, and even make specific suggestions. The explanation has no actual effects on the project beyond what people interpret, and the concept may be interpreted in an entirely different way. But people may be interested in your ideas and promote them in discussions. Because the explanation is non-binding, it will not be factored into whether or not your concept is legal.

It is the submitter's responsibility to figure out how to make a legal submission within the rules listed above. Do not complain about the difficulty of making a submission in this thread. There are many, many legal concepts that can be presented within the rules. Here are few examples of good and bad Concepts from previous projects:
Good Concepts from Past Projects

• "Pure Utility Pokemon"
• "Anti-Ghost Rapid Spinner"
• "True Garchomp Counter"
• "Great Lead Pokemon"
• "Ultimate Weather Abuser"
• "Status Counter"

Bad Concepts from Past Projects

• "Ice-Resisting Dragon"
• "Super Luck User"
• "STAB Explosion Glass Cannon"
• "Auto-Stealth Rock Remover"
• "A Pokemon with Special Intimidate"
• "Pyrokinetic Pokemon (Fire/Psychic)"
• "Special Guts"
• "Typing Means Nothing"

Here's a sample of a legal Concept post. This is not an actual submission, nor is it something I'm looking for. It's just being used to illustrate the format and legal content:

Concept: "Kingdra of the Sun"
Description: A good pokemon with a varied movepool under normal conditions. But, it becomes a dangerous sweeping force in sunny weather.
Justification: Sunny Day is almost never used in the current metagame. This concept could make Sun teams playable in OU, much like Kingdra almost single-handedly makes Rain teams viable in OU. We will learn more about sunny weather battling strategies in OU, and the pokemon that can use sun to their advantage.
Questions To Be Answered:

• Are sun teams more viable with "Kingdra of the Sun" in OU?
• Which battle strategies are most effective and least effective using sun in OU?
• Which OU pokemon can best use sun to their advantage?
• Which lesser-used pokemon become relevant with "Kingdra of the Sun" in OU?
• Is "Kingdra of the Sun" viable in OU under normal weather conditions?

Explanation: A good Sunny Day abuser would be fresh and fun. Typing could be just about anything, although Fire and/or Grass are the most obvious. Water typing might be interesting to help it stop Heatran from becoming even more of a beast once the Sun goes up, and ruining the fun for this pokemon. Chlorophyll would be an easy way to make a good sweeper, but Solar Power doesn't get the love it should, and might be an interesting option. There are lots of nice abilities that could help this thing do its job. I think fiery art designs are always cool and I can imagine this pokemon having lots of colorful fire effects, if we make it part Fire.
​

Note that all the "illegal stuff" is in the Explanation. The Description is short, and very carefully worded to follow all the rules. It does not specifically dictate anything in later polls.


Please try to remember that we are simply pointing the project in a general direction, we are not trying to decide anything right now. We have several weeks of polls ahead of us where EVERYTHING about this pokemon will be dissected, discussed, voted, and decided. The Concept is a very basic guide for the creation process. It is hard to provide solid concept descriptions without basically designing the entire pokemon right off the bat. Submissions should be written and chosen very carefully, to avoid these problems.


What do I want?

Considering the increased emphasis put on the role of TL in recent CAP projects, I feel that it is entirely appropriate to elaborate on what I'm looking for in a concept here. Many of the previous CAP projects have had issues with main ideas presented in concepts getting lost in translation due to the implementation of conflicting interests and opinions. This has resulted in Pokemon that end up being "muddled". My ultimate goal is to run a highly focused CAP project. While I don't have any specific vision for what this Pokemon will end up like yet, I will emphasize that what I am looking for is a strong, centralized goal that provides plenty to work off of, yet doesn't constrain the project by being too specific.

Just because a concept is technically legal, it does not mean I will allow it into the polls if I think that the potential to learn from it isn't up to par. You have the ability to submit something that can have a major impact on the metagame, which means that the idea of submitting something like "Drain move abuser" is inherently ridiculous and somewhat of a joke. With that said, however, I will try my best to be fair while looking over concepts and won't remove anything that I feel has potential to go far with the help of the community.



Feel free to ask questions regarding the legality of a particular concept in PM. Good luck to all of you. CAP 10 is somewhat of a milestone for us, so let's kick it off right!

 

[tennisace]

I'd also like to mention that if your concept is deleted, don't ask why in this thread or post it again. You can post a different concept if yours is illegal.

Edit:
I would like to remind everyone that the point of CAP isn't to create Pokemon that make other Pokemon viable. That is self-defeating in nature since the CAP has to fail to succeed. The point of a CAP is to fill its own niche, not have another Pokemon fill it. If another Pokemon coming to power is a byproduct of a CAP (Shaymin and Colossoil), then that's fine. However it cannot be the main concept, and making it so is an illegal concept.

 

[Zari]

Concept: "STAB or SE?"

General Description: A pokemon that would show us the importance of Super Effective hits in pokemon, and how they relate to viability within the standard metagame.

Justification: We all know of the argument over whether having a good STAB move is more important than having good coverage, or vice versa. This CAP would aim to solve that riddle, providing us with key information (ie the answer to the question) about what makes a pokemon viable in the standard metagame.

Questions to be Answered:

~Do the top mons rely on SE coverage or strong STAB to stay at the top?

~If SE coverage, do they rely on the stats to back them up, or does the Base Power boost satisfy what is needed to be viable?

~Is STAB enough to rely on alone?
(Ex: Scizor, but does it rely on stats as well, or just STAB?)

~What Types of moves become viable when there is a SE hit target running around?

~Are the so called "Lesser OU" mons really lesser? If so what makes them that way? Does it have to do with coverage and / or STAB typing?

Explanation: This CAP would really bring a fresh spurt of creativity--The typing could be anything, though ideally this CAP would have a typing that would strike a balance between having good STAB and being hit SE, providing the most profit for both sides of the argument. I don't see any specific ability completely dominating this CAP, though this concept is just vague enough to bring good discussion over what it should be. Stat spreads and typing would be symbiotic, each dependent on the other. Really, this concept is all about creativity, while at the same time solving a riddle that has stumped pokemon masters for a long, long time.

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

I'll admit I'm not very good at this part of things, but that doesn't mean I won't try!

Name-The Living Entry Hazard

Description-A pokemon built to try and thwart prediction, excelling at killing/crippling on the switch due to it's versatility or ability.

Justification-Switching is a large part of the metagame. Switching to counters, U-turn, Baton Pass, they all play a major role in the game. There are certainly things that are meant to discourage pointless switching, in the forms of SR, Spikes, and TP, but with heavy hitters coming left and right setting up said entry hazards can be difficult. However a pokemon that discourages entry needs only be switched in, and can be better utilized to break down enemy switch ins.

Questions to be answered

~ What advantages will stall team gain from not having to setup entry hazards?
~ How do people deal with an entry hazard that can't be simply removed?
~ What counter will a raise for a CAP that is meant to prevent switching?

Explanation

Personally I think that a custom ability would work best for a CAP like this, truly making it a hazard to switch in on, like maybe something that burns or toxic poisons on entry or an auto SR / 3 layer Spikes. Typing isn't something that really matters, though for such a concept, being able to be more easily dealt with once the counter has safely switched in sounds like it would keep the pokemon from being broken. High attack on one side of the spectrum also sounds like it would help to try and force switches.

(And congrats on CAP X people!)

 

[Brambane]

Concept: Down To Earth

Description: A Pokemon that preforms best with the presence of Gravity and/or other Field Effects.

Justification: A Pokemon who relies on field effects can teach us quite a lot about the current OU metagame. It could teach us how the current metagame will adapt to the presence of Field Effects (other than Sandstorm, which is common in OU thanks to Tyranitar and Hippowdon). We could also learn how to combat the presence of Field Effects in the metagame, which could help in the future if theme teams like Rain Dance and Trick Room become common. It could also spawn new movesets for currently OU Pokemon, or cause lesser used Pokemon to jump in usage, furthur expanding the OU metagame (whether that is a good thing or bad thing is a matter of opinion, though).

Questions To Be Answered:

- What kind of Pokemon will benefit/suffer from the presence of Field Effects in the OU metagame?
- Will Pokemon change their movesets to adapt to the presence of Field Effects?
- How will a player combat the presence of Field Effects in the metagame?
- Can a Pokemon with such a huge niche fit on the standard team, or will it need a team based around it?
- Can a Pokemon that relies heavily on Field Effects function without them?
- If this Pokemon does not take advanatage of Sandstorm, how will a Pokemon relying on other Field Effects deal with the most common one in OU?

Explanation: Now, when I say Field Effects, I don't mean just weather. Field Effects include weather along with moves like Gravity, Trick Room and Tailwind. Basically, this concept can go anyway it wants with these Field Effects, whether being a Hail staller or a Hustle user taking advantage of Gravity. There are quite a few options to look at, but remember: trying to take advantage of all Field Effects WILL lead to a mess.

 

[Deck Knight]

Concept: Dragons [No] Be Here

General Description: A Pokemon which breaks new ground in reducing the potency or usefulness of Dragon-type moves.

Justification: Dragon Steel Dragon Steel blah blah blah. One of the biggest problems with Dragons is that the only current way to defang them in the slightest is to resist Dragon STAB (e.g. be Steel type). This has generally been ineffective, no matter how many Scizor, Metagross, Bronzong, Jirachi, Skarmory, Forretress, and Heatran infest your metagame, they are eventually worn down by the sheer power of Dragon attacks combined with most Dragon's ability to slaughter them with a backup Fire, Fighting, or Ground move.

Questions To Be Answered:

- Is it even possible to stop Dragons, or are their stats/coverage too overwhelming?
- If there were a Pokemon that could actually punish, field lock, or otherwise negate Dragon Moves rather than just resist them, would their usage decline?
- If Dragon attacks are more easily addressed, will the metagame then revolve entirely on Steel types because of resistances, ushering a more defensive era? Or will Steel's weaknesses to Fire, Fighting, and Ground become a death knell simply because many effective defensive pokemon can utilize these attacks with STAB?

Explanation: While it wouldn't necessarily require an ability, it's clear that typing alone has been unable to stop this centralization. This leaves the options of ability, moves, and stats. There's no real barometer for stats because Ubers has access to even more powerful Dragons than OU. However, I think a defensive pokemon with an ability that punishes the use of Dragon moves would make them far less flippantly used. If you had a pokemon that posed enough of a threat that Mence and Latias would rather try spamming UNSTAB moves that hit this theoretical Pokemon effectively instead of Draco Meteor, that alone might prove an interesting point of study.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Name - Varied, Reliable Trapper

Description - A versatile Pokemon that can reliably trap and then subsequently take advantage of the trapped Pokemon in numerous ways.

Justification - Pokemon is all about switching to a check or a counter to whatever the enemy has out. Trapping Pokemon reliably and potentially in various ways forces players to play more conservatively with what might get trapped, or invent ways to scout for it and deal with it once it's revealed. A varied trapper will benefit the metagame by allowing Pokemon to sweep with specific threats removed, or perhaps even allow it to stall better with that offensive threat removed. We, as a community, can learn about trapping and its immediate impact on the metagame as well as learn about how a metagame will adapt to such a threat once introduced. Its niche role might merit different answers to it, and learning how else the metagame progresses from there will be very insightful to competitive battling.

Questions To Be Answered -

• How will trapping certain types of Pokemon change how these Pokemon have to take on the metagame?
• Can temporary trapping options be made viable in the metagame?
• Can trapping be exploited successfully on both offensively- and defensively-oriented teams?
• How would having multiple options for trapping on a single Pokemon cause players against it to react to it?
• Would trapping certain types of Pokemon enable potentially underrated, yet powerful, sweepers to thrive? If so, which?

Explanation - Switching in checks and counters is one of the most, if not the most, important aspects of competitive Pokemon battling. A Pokemon that threatens to remove an opponent's ability to do this with some of its Pokemon in various ways can exploit holes or create them in the opponent's team strategy. There are dozens of different ways to approach trapping, including abilities that trap individual types of Pokemon like Magnet Pull or Arena Trap and moves that trap Pokemon for multiple turns. Trapping certain types of Pokemon, Water-types, for instance, would open up other Pokemon on your team to sweep with less opposition. The Pokemon's typing could be anything, depending upon where the community wanted to go with what it can trap and how.​

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Finally, I'm reasonably early.

Sub Destruction

Description: A Pokemon that can destroy substitutes, and still damage the Pokemon that created them

Justification:
(Has a positive effect on the metagame): Let's face it, Subs are a pain in the ass. They keep their users alive for longer than they should; allowing them free turns to do their stuff. If we can make something that specializes in disposing of these subs and rendering subbing futile, we can put an end to one method of gaining these valuable free turns.
(Introduces a new niche in the metagame): We currently don't have anything that can even viably attempt such a feat as destroying subs and continuing to deal damage. Sure, we can randomly throw in Spike Cannon, Pin Missile or Bonemerang on our Pokemon to accomplish this, but would anyone recommend it? Probably not. We could also throw in Cloyster, who has Skill Link for maximum effect. Thing is, UU and NU exist for a reason.
(Allows us to learn more about the metagame): The thing I wanna know is this: What's so important about the free turn a Pokemon can gain through throwing up a sub on the switch? Why are Pokemon so much less fearful when they're behind a sub? If we could put the fear right back into them with this concept, we should be able to get the answers we need.

Questions To Be Answered:
How much damage does an attack HAVE to do in order to break a substitute from any Pokemon?
Is the free turn a Pokemon can gain through substituting crucial to its success on the battlefield?
Can we put the fear back into a frail substituting Pokemon if we accomplish this concept?
What would Pokemon resort to if they knew they couldn't throw up a sub and expect it to protect them?

Explanation: Attacks that can strike multiple times maybe a no-brainer, but that doesn't mean that we're too restricted in options. The strongest of such attacks in the game is Bonemerang, and even that can be boosted by Technician. There's also Skill Link, which guarantees that enemy Pokemon get hit 5 times (except when using Bonemerang), and thus allowing OHKOes to the more frail subbing Pokemon. And since all multi-striking attacks are physical, abilities that increase attack or prevent attack drop can also prove useful to an extent, such as Huge Power, Anger Point, Hyper Cutter and Trace in some cases. Possibilities are endless when it comes to stat spreads too. We can make it fast so then we can possibly KO even if we come in on a sub, bulky in case the subber was a scout the whole time, or powerful enough to guarantee KOes of certain Pokemon before they even get the chance to use their stat boosts they mave have gained. Hell, we could even make a stat spread with more than one of these qualities. I highly think this niche should've been fulfilled by an OU Pokemon a long time ago, but after a whopping 9 CAPs went by, it never has...

 

[Elevator Music]

Name: Feel the BURN

General Description:A Pokemon that can effectively spread Burn.

Justification:Most of the top threats in OU are primarily physical. Salamence, Tyranitar, Gyarados, etc. These physical attackers can be crippled with the effects of Burn, however most pokemon that run Will-o-wisp (or have other means of Burning opponents) either cannot stay in safely against such pokemon for fear of being crippled or killed, or do not like Heatran/other Fire-types/"the rare Guts users in OU", or both. Having a Pokemon that could potentially do both ("Introduces a new niche in the metagame") would help check these powerful top threats ("Has a positive effect on the new metagame") while allowing us to learn how potent Burn can really be ("Allows us to learn more about the metagame").

Questions To Be Answered:

- Can a good user of Burn really make an effective check to physical threats like Salamence?
- Is being able to stay in against common physical threats and not being deeply threatened by means of blocking Burn all it takes to make a good Burn user?
- "Is this even possible to do well?"

Explanation: (Whatever you want to say here.)
This is a bright blue pokemon that looks like a chinchilla and uses its long tail to...
(I'm trying to keep my opinion out of the concept to make it as pure as possible)

 

[Ezekiel]

Concept: Priority Override (New Behavior Dictated)

Description: A decently laid-out pokemon that performs best when weakening, ignoring, or punishing altered-priority moves.

Justification: Priority moves can have an enormous effect on the structure of the game. Scizor is a prime example of priority increasing a pokémon's offensive power--other questions can be answered by removing priority as a concern through a variety of means (type immunity, abilities, or moves). Shutting down priority is something never done before, and could be worked to check or counter significant threats of the CAP metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How can priority avoidance be used for offensive and defensive strategies?
• What options are available for controlling priority usage (types, abilities, stats, etc.)?
• Which OU pokemon can survive--or thrive--when priority is marginalized?
• How significant is priority in team selection and/or usage rates?
• Is it even possible to make a realistic, appropriate "priority overrider" pokémon?

Explanation: Priority moves are a critical, almost unquestioned part of both the CAP and OU metagames. Having the capability to discourage/disable priority could dismantle opponent teams/strategies. Follow this up with a pokémon that has no fear of the remainder and your job is done. Finally, speaking from experience in other games, there are very few things quite as satisfying as having your opponent come at you with a strategy, only to find that you've pulled the lynchpin, turning a good gameplan into garbage. Certain types, particularly those with immunities, would have more favor here than others, but every step of the process can and should contribute to controlling priority usage. I'd personally imagine a pokémon with moderate to strong defenses, whose offensive power only comes out when dealing with priority-manipulators, but a sweeper (or any other 'role') could easily fit the bill.
(And if anyone gets the title reference, they are awesome and deserve kudos.)

 

[Vaz]

Name: "The Mirror Image"

General Description: A pokemon that "copied" a certain aspect of the opponent's current pokemon.

Justification: In the OU tier, we generally use different pokemon to "counter" other pokemon. What about a pokemon that could "counter" a multiple group of pokemon depending on what set they are using (e.g, stall, utility etc). this could be the "mimicer", a pokemon that is partly defined through your opponent's pokemon.

Questions To Be Answered:

- "If you fight fire with fire, are you really just going to end up getting burned?"
- Like using a rock to break a rock, can we use the same aspect of a pokemon against itself to beat it?
- Will using the same aspect as your opponent be too powerful to stop?

Explanation: Usually we cannot find a team that perfectly and effectively shuts down all other pokemon or types in the metagame. Well, how about shutting down a pokemon using itself? But can also be somehow turned against you if you use this pokemon in the wrong way. Sometimes the only thing that can stop a certain pokemon in a certain stage is by using a pokemon similar to itself. "Sometimes the only thing that can stop a +6 Salamence is a +6 Salamence".

---------------------------------------------------
I hope that this concept might be of value to you guys. Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped make this possible and allowing the ordinary person like me to be able to make a contribution.

 

[Fuzznip]

Ok here's my concept:

Name: Adaptability (Not the Ability!)

Description: A Pokemon that adapts to different situations presented by its enemy in a given battle.

Justification: In today’s metagame, teams usually rely on countering the opponent to win the match; however, this Pokemon would offer a completely new niche in the OU environment. This Pokemon would adapt to the enemy instead of countering the enemy to conquer it. We could investigate how well adapting to the opponent instead of countering the opponent performs.

Questions to be Answered:

• Is adapting to the opponent more viable than countering the opponent?
  
  
• How would an adapting Pokemon impact any style of team?
  
  
• How does the metagame change in response to the adapting Pokemon?
  
  
  • Will unique strategies be used to prevent this Pokemon from adapting to the opponent?

Explanation: I would love to see a new way to take down your opponent instead of relying on the ever-present strategy of switching to counter whoever you're up against. This Pokemon can literally have any kind of style, typing, movepool, or stat spread bias, so it can be built to fit what everyone thinks is most suitable for this Pokemon. The ability for a Pokemon to adapt to the battle it's in is nearly unprecedented, so if this concept were to be made, it would be extremely rewarding.

 

[Engineer Pikachu]

lol, submitting something that's probably going to get deleted:

Concept: Anti-Revenge Revenger
Description: A revenge killer that resists most ways of revenging (e.g. Priority, common scarfed attacks) through resistances, immunities, and priority of its own.
Justification: Revenge killing is a large part of the OU metagame. As stated above, the most common ways of revenging is a Scarfed pokemon launching a powerful attack, or priority:
- When a Scarfed pokemon revenges, the other player almost always switches in a pokemon that both resists the attack and can pose a significant threat with a free turn.
- Priority is most common on pokemon that pack a punch with priority (Scizor, CB Weavile) or pokemon that use it to finish off weak enemies while still setting up (a variant of Empoleon that utilized Agility, Aqua Jet, and some other move).
By introducing a CaP to the OU metagame that serves as a revenge killer and resists most ways of revenging, we can learn even more about both how important revenging is to the metagame and how being able to resist revenging can prolong the longevity of a pokemon (the former reason is probably more... more).
Questions to be Answered:
~ What type of pokemon is able to revenge top threats?
~ How will this type of pokemon affect the usage of other pokemon almost always used as revenge killers?
~ Is it possible to revenge a revenge killer that is not easily revenged?
~ Can a pokemon who abuses priority be beaten by hard-hitting priority moves, even if not very effective?
Explanation:
Not sure what goes here, I'll just recap:
Revenging is vital to the metagame today. Some battles are very straightforward, kill, revenge, revenge the revenger, revenge the revenger of revengers, etc. That's just a boring battle. By introducing a pokemon that can revenge while not being easily revenged, simple methods of revenging won't always work, even if this pokemon is weak (looking at the BST/BSR), so all the players will have to come up with new (or more unused then, say, ScarfTran or CB Scizor) ways to revenge (e.g. Scarf U-Turn).

 

[Korski]

Name: Momentum
General Description: This will be a Pokemon that can be utilized to gain or regain momentum for a player's team at any point in the match as its primary function.
Justification: Momentum is an oft-mentioned and used aspect of competitive Pokemon battling; however, the concept itself is rather vaguely defined and never explored in concrete terms. Keeping opposing teams on the defensive? Keeping defensive teams from setting up? Forcing switches? Moving a particular team strategy forward? Good prediction? Spamming U-turn? These have all been approaches to achieving momentum, but they are also player-side and largely synonymous with "strategy," as opposed to Pokemon-side and regarding a Pokemon's role on the team. Certainly there are Pokemon like Scizor and Salamence that can achieve momentum as we know it, but there is no current niche for a "momentum Pokemon" because the concept has been purely delegated to players and not to Pokemon.
Questions to be Answered:
-How do we define momentum in terms of competitive Pokemon?
-How do different styles of play use momentum to achieve their goals?
-If indeed possible, how can one Pokemon be created to effectively achieve or maintain momentum?
-How integral to individual battles is the concept of "momentum"? Is it purely player-side strategy or can it be quantified?
-How will the different playstyles be affected by the addition of a Pokemon that can regain offensive/defensive momentum at any given point? Will offensive teams play more conservatively? Will defensive teams play more recklessly? Will it overcentralize? Will it decentralize?
Explanation: This concept could potentially teach us more about the metagame during its creation process than through actual playtesting (although I'm sure playtesting will be as useful as always), especially considering how loosely-defined the concept of "momentum" is. It will surely spark some great debates. Since momentum has largely been defined at the discretion of the battling community and takes many forms, so too could this CAP. Scizor, Blissey, Flygon, Skarmory, Magnezone, Bronzong, Celebi, Heatran, etc. can all achieve momentum according to their strengths, yet all are very different. The way I envision the concept personally is a Pokemon that is risky to stay in on if you can't OHKO it (which would have to be a common occurrence for this CAP to be successful) and is even riskier to switch into, for all types of teams (not necessarily all types of Pokemon).

 

[IceBug]

Dang it! Knew I needed to keep track of when this thread opened, someone stole the Priority move countermon...oh well, still want to submit something, so let's go!

Concept: Predictable but Deadly
Description: A pokemon who is largely overwhelming is some offensive area (be it stats, move strength, or something completely different), but is easily countered because of sheer predictabilty.
Justification: Pokemon are often praised because of the number of options they can utilize even if their actual power level is mediocre at best, and often they find themselves at the tops of the usage charts with many different sets posing a threat to the metagame. But, can this be reversed? Can a pokemon rely on power alone, with only one or two options, without negatively affecting the playability and balance of the pokemon in any detrimental way? This is what my concept seeks to explore.
Questions to be Answered:
In addition to the questions that poetically found their way into my justification:

- Can something with immense power but little in the way of options fit into the metagame (will it be too overwhelming despite its flaws, or too predictable to the point it falls into obscurity)?
- How much does diversity play into a pokemon's playability?
- Will having counters to said pokemon provide too centralizing (i.e. if the pokemon is countered by Hariyama, will every team need a Hariyama to pontentially beat it)?
- How much power is too much power (before predictability doesn't matter)?
Explanation:
My idea for this concept, and what I believe to be the best way to approach it, would be to REALLY crank the stats on the pokemon, offensively and defensively, so it poses an offensive threat and has staying power, but murder its movepool, so that it is beat very easily by anything that can deal with one, maybe two sets that this pokemon would possess. Ideally, I wouldn't want anything that made it so you'd have to pack a counter to it to win, but something that, if your team was highly unprepared or you didn't know what do to with it, it would wreck you, or at least be very hard to take down. Kind of like a giant character in Tastunoko vs. Capcom; you know they have super armor, a ton of health, and ridiculous strength, but they're balanced in the game because they are predictable (grab, followup, repeat or light, light, mid, repeat) and can't recover health (this would be a nice feature on the pokemon too, no recovery, not even Rest). Other ways this could be done could be having lots of low accuracy, high damage moves, augmenting the accuracy so that they hit reliably, but once again, don't let it have flexibility. Even more, you could keep the stats "normal", give it a decent movepool, but make it so it only uses one or two types of moves (like all Water and Steel moves, no other types). Another, even more crazy idea would be an auto-Choice ability so it gets stuck to one move when it attacks. The possibilities are endless; just don't let them be for this pokemon!

 

[KnightoftheWind]

Name: Summon the Stall
General Description: A Pokemon that can shift the metagame to a more defensive style.
Justification: Whilst full stall hasn't completely died out, it certainly has become much less viable in today's metagame. There are powerful stall-breakers in the form of Scizor, Salamence, Tyranitar, Lucario and Infernape that see very high usage. Nowadays, stall has changed to adapt to these threats, but they've gravitated away from their traditional structure to stall-based balanced teams, or "semi-stall". A Pokemon that can cause a rise in traditional stall will definitely let us see how offense would be able to break through stall with a new foe to overcome, and it's something that should be looked into.
Questions To Be Answered:
- Can traditional stall still function well without the need of a new Pokemon?
- How can offensive teams break stall with most stall-breakers being shut down by a new Pokemon?
- What new stall-breakers can emerge with a new Pokemon's addition.
Explanation: Just one thing I want to state. This CAP should not be a sweeper. The reason for this is that it is counterproductive to the concept. If we make a sweeper, every stall team out there will just be a stall team with the sweeping CAP thrown in. Not really a return to traditional stall.

 

[Raikaria]

Concept: Special Striker
Description: A pokemon that uses Special attacks, but has some methord of getting around the blob of fat known as Blissey.
Justification: It is no secret the OU is physically based, arguably, the main reason for this being Blissey. The pink lardball literally absorbs special-type attacks. However, what if a threatening special attacker could also take out Blissey? Would this herald a more specially-based metagame?
Questions To Be Answered:

• Just how powerful are special sweepers in today's metagame?
• What lengths will we have to go to defeat Blissey?
• How will the metagame adapt to a special attacker that Blissey can't stop? [There may still be other counters]
• Which OU pokemon can best use this pokemon to their advantage... or suffer from it?
• Will we be able to overpower Blissey without resorting to a physical attack, or being broken?
• Is Blissey possibly Suspect under the Defence Characteristic? [All special sweepers kinda fall under 'A significant Majority, last time I checked]

Explanation: The most common special sweepers in today's Metagame are Latias, who often carries Trick, or may run a defensive set, and Heatran, who carries Explosion. Either way, both of them are crippled by the blob of lard called Blissey, either by being forced to run a choice set for Trick, or being forced to commit suicide. Several special attackers certainly have the ability to be threatening, such as Azelf, but Blissey twarts them every single time. So, this CAP will not only be testing the effectiveness of Special attacking in the metagame, but also Blissey's limitations, and how the metagame would react if suddenly, Blissey wasn't the be-all-end-all wall to Special Attacking threats.

 

[Squitle]

Name: Love at First Sight
General Description: A pokemon that can use gender-specific abilities/moves to disrupt a Pokemon's role.
Justification: There are several pokemon that abuse volatile status. However one non-volatile status was introduced in the second generation. Attraction. The concept was introduced right along with genders, however no competitive pokemon has yet been made that can effectively use it. Out of the pokemon that have abilites refering to gender (rivalry, cute charm) none use the ability in the OU metagame.
Questions to be Answered: Why is the non-volatile status attraction not used competitively?
Can gender actually be a factor in choosing Pokemon?
Can a gender-specific Pokemon do well in competitive play?
Is it possible that attraction could be broken on the right pokemon?
Explaination: Being "Infatuated" is a common thing in normal game play. I'm sure most people remember learning about it in Whitney's gym against her Miltank and the headache it caused. It would be interesting to see why this stall tactic never is used in competitive play.

 

[Skymin_Flower]

• Name - Ultimate Weather Abuser
• Description - A Pokemon that, through use of ability, movepool and possibly typing, can excel under any given weather condition (though maybe not simultaneously).
• Justification - Weather effects are running in AT LEAST 22% of battles. This is owing to the high usage of Tyranitar, and the occasional Hail, Sandstorm or Rain team. However, true weather teams are quite rare in OU. This concept could make weather teams more viable in OU, or in the right conditions, simply destroy an unwary opponent.
• Questions To Be Answered -

To what extent does weather assist or hinder a Pokemon's ability to do well in a battle?

What would be the impact of the increased number of weather teams on the metagame?

Would this Pokemon be viable without weather?

Are any of the top Pokemon in the current metagame majorly assisted or hindered by weather?

Would certain rarely used Pokemon rise in popularity due to the increased amount of weather teams?

• Explanation - I think that an ultimate weather abuser would be a new niche in the metagame. The typing could really be whatever the community decides, although, if the Pokemon is to be able to benefit from hail AND sandstorm, it would need to be an ice/ground. However, this could be fixed by the Multitype ability. This ability would give players the ability to change this Pokemon to suit their needs for the team. An obvious attack would be Weather Ball, and I think this Pokemon would need a fairly varied movepool to be able to work in all conditions. This would bring into the light a part of the metagame that is often seen, but rarely taken advantage of.

 

[Dogfish44]

Name: Controlling the field.
General Description: By using a variety of moves, this mon can control the field, keeping statuses like toxic for longer, as well as other statuses which involve an opponent not switching.
Justification: Trapping moves can make all the difference, particulary on mon like blissey, who remove status when they leave the battlefield.

• This would allow us to see the effects of Toxic based stall quite well, perhaps a rise in the number of steel types.
• We would also be able to see if the metagame becomes more offensive, or defensive with toxic and toxic spikes being far easier than the attack cutting burning attacks, like will-o-wisp. sweepers would lose defense, but that would not be too improtant. The same cannot be said for stall however, who would perish with low defense.

Questions To Be Answered:

• If enough people use toxic stall, will steel go up and dragon go down?
• Does stall want something based on toxic trapping, or would it be there worst nightmare?

Explanation: For this concept to work, the main issue is the difficulty of poisoning steels. So i hope that CAP10 would be able to complete this, perhaps using Normalise? Also, would the mon be just using status, or could it use odd moves like Curse. Finally, would the trapping to prolong effects be worth the moveslot, or would this end up only being a niche for poisoning things easily?

 

[ShravanP]

Name: Jack of All Trades (aka Unpredictable)

General Description: A Pokemon that can effectively (but not dominantly) play a vast array of different roles.

Justification:
As competitive battlers, we often like to have things predictable, to know just exactly what the opponent has in store so that we can fight it. But because of this, I feel that the number of effective team strategies has sort of plateaued, as people are making the same sorts of teams repeatedly. What I feel this metagame lacks is a true wild card, something absolutely unpredictable. As it stands, every Pokemon has its own role (or a couple of roles) that it plays and has no means to effectively operate beyond that set role. And the extent of unpredictability is one move -- once it uses one move, the opponent can more or less guess which set you're running. But what if there were a Pokemon that can run so many different sets effectively that even after using a move or two, it can still have tricks up its sleeve? I think it would certainly open up a lot of interesting possibilities for team building, team synergy, and strategy.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Does the presence of a wildcard disrupt the proper execution of certain popular team strategies?
• How does having a wildcard Pokemon enhance creativity in team synergy and strategy?
• Does gathering intelligence become more important or less important in the face of such a Pokemon?
• Will prediction become a more subtle art in the presence of a wildcard -- i.e. not predicting based on the Pokemon or its set but based on the opponent's behavior itself?
• Can such unpredictability enhance strategic and tactical play or will it force battlers to resort to brute force?

Explanation:
When you take any Pokemon, you can generally guess what kind of role it plays in an opponent's team. You see a Heatran, you can guess with near certainty that it's going to either sweep, status, tank, or revenge kill, all on the special side (barring explosion). Salamence is going to either tank or try to blow you to smithereens. So on and so forth. But what if you were to face something that was just as likely to P-Haze you, to blow up in your face, to set up entry hazards, to attempt a sweep, to status, to tank, to stall, to stall-break, or anything else you might dream of. There's really no way of knowing what this Pokemon is set out to do, and by the time you know, you've already given the opponent enough of a chance to gain an advantage over you. THIS is the kind of unpredictability I have in mind for this.

Now I also don't see this Pokemon dominating in any particular role (like it will not become a better special tank than Blissey). And I also don't see its unpredictability leading to the demise of half your opponent's team or anything drastic like that. Instead, (if you can excuse a chess analogy here) it would give you the advantage of being up a pawn. That is, you can gain a slight advantage in either battle momentum or net a kill or hamper a key opponent or assist a key player on your team. I see this Pokemon as something that can be used to easily gain a slight advantage but one that is slight enough that it will take a fair amount of skill to capitalize on it. Now this is all on the competitive side of things. I also want this to make it more fun for everyone. It's great to be able to do completely off the wall things with your Pokemon but still have it be effective.

As far as specific things that might work nicely with this, Multitype and Klutz are good bets.

 

[Helios]

I apologize in advance for my lack of eloquence.

Name - Paranoia Fuel
Description - A pokemon whose very existence, or the existance of a specific set(s), allows you to take advantage of an opponents 'precautions' by simply not using it.
Justification - Obviously, most pokemon used in the OU/CAP metagame will affect your battle despite not being involved; team building is all about this. However, sometimes it's simply not possible to prepare for a threat without giving up your protection from another. This pokemon encourages players to take advantage of this by simply choosing to avoid CAP 10 and use something that is countered by things that the CAP 10 counters.
Questions To Be Answered -

• Where does rational preparation stop and paranoia begin (considering a single pokemon/style of play)?
• When given a choice between countering a major, main stream threat and the possibility that they're getting duped, which do they more likely take?
• Is it possible for the metagame to be manipulated this way despite the player base being aware this is happening?

Explanation - The most likely scenario is that the pokemon discourages the use of pokemon X, who would normally be the only/best counter for another. E.g. This pokemon really hates on collosoil. Because of this, people use T-tar more. You grab someone who is normally countered by the whale and destroy people despite never using CAP 10. Yes, I know this happens whenever someone uses a gimmick, but this is meant to see if its (in a way) possible to 'encourage' a gimmick.

 

[Chomper The Sharptooth]

* Name - Save the Enviroment

* Description
-The focus is on countering weather or other field effects potentially.

* Justification
- A pokemon that can offset damage from hail or sandstorm (especially without the cumbersome typings) and still hold leftovers or another item could be a defensive force to be reckoned with. We can learn how weather inducing pokemon affect the meta without using their respective field effect.

* Questions To Be Answered
* Can Tyranitar, Hippodown, and Abomasnow be effective without the benefit of sandstorm/hail?
* How large is the impact of weather in the metagame? Can it still be used effectively with a proper counter to it in place?


* Explanation
- One of the more dangerous aspects of classic stall is no doubt the slow but sure pile up of damage by the weather. A pokemon that can ignore these properties and make an effective wall breaker could possibly have an ability like Clefable's one of a kind magic guard. Other abilities not seen in OU are Rayquaza's air lock and Golduck's slightly lesser Cloud Nine. Something else that has not been explored is bringing the weather fog to the metagame by having a pokemon induce it (which would also test the effectiveness of an effect that reduces both sides accuracy).

 

[zarator]

Although I know that the CAP community looks down upon already submitted concepts in the past, I decided to submit again the concept I made for CAP9. I think it really has some merit, and I hope it may at least get into the poll. For those who missed it:

Name: Type Twist

Description: A Pokémon that is able to put to use one or more underused physical or special based type thanks to STAB, stat distribution, movepool etc.

Justification: There are a lot of attack types which have the potential to be very damaging to the metagame, but that, due to bad moves or a bad distribution of the good moves, are underused (not tier-wise). This Pokémon should be able use on or more of them, shaking the metagame around itself a bit. Maybe walls that previously didn't fear an uncommon type will now start to be more on guard, and other answers will rise to fight the new threat. So, I'd say that:
- Has a positive effect on the metagame. The increase of type variety definitely promotes a more diverse offense which will possibly lead to a change in the otherwise quite stagnant Stall game-style.
- Allow us to learn more about the metagame. All of these underused types have some potential yet flawed abuser. Maybe, if the playtest show the power of a specific type in conjunction with a more traditional offense, people will try the already existing Pokémon (maybe with hazard, field or Baton Pass support to overcome the flaws)
- Introduces a new niche in the metagame. This goes without saying. These types lack (by definition) a combination of good user and good movepool, so creating one will necessarily shape a new niche, with all the consequences outlined above.

Questions to be answered
1) Which are the most potientially damaging but underused types in OU, and how CAP9 takes advantage of one or more of them?
2) How much standard walls relied on the absence of this/these type/types? How the introduction of CAP9 affect the viability of walls and checks in general?
3) How the metagame changes around to combat the new threat? Different EV distribution? Or different Pokémon altogether?
4) How are the other sweepers influenced by CAP9? Does the introduction of the new threat overshadow previously common attacking types? Or there are attacking types which, thanks to sinergy, thrive even better in the new environment?

Explanation: Physical Fire, Physical Ice, Special Flying, Physical Electric, Special Fighting, Special Dark... the list goes on. All of these types share a common trait: they are underused but potentially very dangerous. The reason why these types are generally unviable are multiple. Some have very few possible candidates (like Infernape for physical Fire, or Lucario and to a lesser extent Infernape for special Fighting), others suffer from low BP moves (like special Flying and physical Electric), and there are ones who lack dedicated abusers in OU (Special Dark for example).
All these moves have the potential to affect the metagame greatly, because walls intended to wall that certain type are prepared to wall just a part of the physical/special spectrum. Special Ice or Fire, Physical Flying etc. Just think of how much a powerful Aura Sphere (maybe Nasty Plotted) would put the hurt in Blissey (leaving the opponent who relied on Blissey alone for sp. atks in fear), or how a boosted Volt Tackle would hurt Skarmory and Gyarados (two very common physical walls on stall).
I think there is enough choice type-wise and stat-wise to not make this concept restrictive (at least, far less than others). And to those who may think this concept is a bit directionless at the start (at least in the type choice threads), they are wrong. The discussion should not be about the favourite type of someone, but instead about which type has the potential to be more dangerous (valuing common threats, SR factor, available movepool etc). All in all, I think that, even when it comes to choose the type, there are enough point for a non-clueless discussion.

 

[Zystral]

Name: Perfect Counterpoint

General Description: This CAP will similarly act as a sort of fulcrum or a pivot-point, if you will, to slot into a team that combines more than one play-style, adding what is necessary for all the strategies present and allowing for the pivoting of said multiple strategies.

Justification: In CAP, there is little to no balance or middle-points when it comes to whole teams. Most are either a form of offence that relies of sweepers such as Pyroak or Salamence to break through the foe's team, or a form of stall that uses entry hazards and status to wear the foe down. A Pokémon which can fill either roles will act as a good rotational point to help find the right balance to fit both Stall and Offence on a team, with the ability to interchange between the two play-styles as the situation calls.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Why is there no middle-ground in-between offensive and stall-based teams and play-styles? or Why is it so small or difficult to define?
• Is is possible to viably use Stall and Offence on a single team?
• Is it possible to achieve perfect balance in terms of Offence and Stall?
• If so, what is that perfect balance and how would it be achieved?
• How would teams and strategies need to be changed to support and combat multiple play-styles and tactics on a single team?

Explanation: Stall and Offence are two radically different play-styles. One is slow and makes hell for your opponent, the other is fast and also makes hell for your opponent, albeit in a different way. Words such as 'Semi-Stall' and 'Tankish/Bulky Offence' can be thrown around until the cows come home, but really, the whole team itself boils down to a single tactic in such cases.

Being able to switch between two different styles is one way of keeping a good amount of pressure on your opponent; they have to prepare for two different forms of attack in a single battle. If you either change styles when they don't expect it or don't change styles when they do expect you to, then that's one of their turns wasted, allowing you to continue with your current method and plough through until you hit some sort of blockage, at which point you can switch back and keep the pressure on your foe and the momentum in your favour.

This is where the different play-styles of Offence and Stall come into play; each are stopped by different things, and each can deal with different styles. Normally, fitting three walls and three sweepers on a team almost never works. However, when it does work, the effects are often devastating as your opponent will cannot tell what will happen next, whereas often, Stall teams are easily predictable down to what the line-up is and what sets they run, and Offence teams can be stopped once the sweepers are effectively weakened.

As well as people experimenting with their own teams to try and take advantage of the situation, people will also need to adjust their teams in accordance to try and stop the new wave of multi-threats. This may lead to a rise in new sets being discovered, or new Pokémon being used which wouldn't have been used prior. Some previous tactics or strategies may become redundant while others become more popular.

It's also worth mentioning at this point that the two play-styles that can be combined won't necessarily be Stall and Offence; any two play-styles can be combined, potentially, be it Sun Stall or Hail Offence or Sandstorm Gravity or whatever. The point is that this CAP would allow those two styles to merge easily into one team.