CAP 13 CAP 2 - Concept Submissions

[Rising_Dusk]

This thread will result in the backbone of CAP2, the concept. The concept is what we will be following and adhering to throughout the entire project, so you all need to make sure that you put a lot of thought both into what you submit and what you ultimately choose to support for the polls. Any discussions, suggestions, or submissions in later topics that do not adhere to the concept we choose will be moderated harshly by yours truly. Consider yourself warned!

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.

We intentionally have many rules regarding concept submissions. If you are not prepared to read and understand all the rules, then don't bother making a submission. These rules are made to help narrow the field of concepts down to those that have been carefully designed. This is not meant to be easy for everyone. A good, legal concept requires a lot of thought and careful wording.

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. Do not bump your Concept after you have posted it. If people do not comment on it, so be it.
• 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.)

Here is the format with tags. Just copy/paste this into your post, and fill it out:

[noparse]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.)
[/noparse]

• Name - Don't get too clever with the name. If the essence of the concept is not intuitively obvious in the name, then you are hurting your chances of people understanding it. If the essence of your concept cannot be expressed in a few words, then you need to seriously re-evaluate your concept.
• 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)
  • Allows us to learn more about the metagame (e.g Kitsunoh’s Ultimate Scout)
  • Introduces a new niche in the metagame (such as Arghonaut’s Decentralizer)
  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 - This can contain just about anything. This is where you can explain your concept without restraint. You may make suggestions, even specific suggestions, regarding the possible implementation of the Concept. This explanation should help facilitate discussion of the Concept -- but the Explanation is NOT part of the Concept and will be omitted from the polls and any future use of the Concept. Since your explanation is non-binding, regarding future polls and threads, it will not be evaluated for purposes of determining if your concept is legal or illegal.

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. I'm just using it to illustrate the format and legal content:

Concept: "Venusaur of the Hail"
Description: A good pokemon with a varied movepool under normal conditions. However, it becomes a dangerous sweeping force in icy weather.

Justification: Hail is very rarely used in the current metagame. This concept could make Hail teams playable in OU, much like Venusaur almost single-handedly makes Sun teams viable in OU. We will learn more about icy weather battling strategies in OU, and the pokemon that can use Hail to their advantage.

Questions To Be Answered:

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

Explanation: A good Hail abuser would be fresh and fun. Typing could be just about anything, although Ice is the most obvious. Poison typing might be interesting to help with the Fighting and Bug attacks that tend to plague Hail teams. Ice Body or Snow Cloak would seem like obvious abilities to consider, but abilities like Sheer Force would work better for spamming Blizzard, demonstrating that there are lots of nice abilities that could help this thing do its job.

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 I am looking for:

This is probably the most important part of this entire thread-starting post, so pay close attention. My slate for concepts will ultimately be based on the sorts of things I describe here, and if your concept doesn't really match what I'd like to see (not specifically, of course), then it may not get slated. This will hopefully provide you with a clear picture of the type of CAP I want to see us work toward.

There are lots of things we've tried in the past for CAPs, but the primary motivation for all of the most successful of them were based on changing the metagame. The idea was to create a Pokemon that would have a unique effect on the metagame, though usually this was at the expense of learning about specific aspects of Pokemon in general. For instance, Tomohawk had us investigate momentum and how it can be controlled in the metagame. This worked really well for Tomohawk, and we learned a lot, but we really didn't touch on Pokemon at large, and instead the metagame. I want to talk about a different kind of Pokemon here, one that CAP has scarcely thought about, and one that I think would be brilliant as a focus for CAP 2.

Consider the alternate to the above Pokemon. Instead of a Pokemon that has a unique affect on the metagame, what about a unique Pokemon that has an effect on the metagame. There are so many facets to Pokemon, especially in BW with team preview, that there are so many unknowns for us to think about and so many ways for a unique Pokemon to change things drastically. Good examples of this are Pokemon like Scizor, with tricks like Technician Bullet Punch, or Dragonite, with terrifying movepools and Multiscale to give it added immediate bulk, or Ferrothorn, with impressive physical bulk, defensive typing, and damage return to contact moves. All of these Pokemon have unique features that aren't seen elsewhere in the metagame, and they all drastically change their environment as a result. I'd like us to spend some time thinking about the Pokemon and what it can teach us from how it changes the metagame, rather than the other way around where we choose an effect on the metagame and then develop a Pokemon around it. Ultimately, I want to see CAP2's process to focus on learning from the Pokemon a little more than the metagame. For reference, a great example of a past CAP that works like I want to see CAP 2 work was Voodoom's Perfect Mate concept. So much focus was given to the Pokemon, and as a result, we learned a lot about the metagame. That's exactly the train of thought I want to see here.

Lastly, I don't want to see concepts that attempt to change the metagame we're playing in. This hasn't been solidified in the rules yet, but was decided by a recently closed PR. No "Uber Tier" or "Doubles Metagame" concepts will be slated. When we choose to learn about those metagames down the road, we'll do so before the CAP starts, not at the concept stage.

I will be providing feedback throughout the process to clarify this and discuss your concept submissions and how well I think they fit my vision, so don't fret! Good luck!

tl;dr: Quack.

 

[Flarephoenix332]

Name - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Description - A Pokémon that can take advantage of Hail or benefit Hail as a weather in some form.

Justification - The point of this concept is to explore if a single Pokemon could bring Hail to the level of Sun, Rain, and Sand--through the use of a Pokémon built to properly use Hail and/or help cover the weather's weaknesses. The concept isn't looking to re-centralize the metagame but instead decentralize it a bit by making Hail another viable strategy.

Questions To Be Answered -

• Can Hail become a legitimate strategy in an OU environment where weathers are common?
• Would a greater threat/use of Hail move the OU metagame away from Rain and Sandstorm?
• Is it even possible to make Hail viable in the OU metagame?

Explanation - Gen V saw the introduction of two new auto-weather starters that weren't banned from OU--Ninetales and Politoed. Rain became very popular because of a combination of Politoed getting drizzle and the new threats Gen V brought. Sandstorm got a huge boost in Gen V with the introduction of Excadrill--a boost so large that Excadrill went the way of Garchomp. Even Sun got some great new Pokémon to abuse it. Yet Hail is still the red-headed step child of the weathers: regulated to UU and lower to be a popular strategy.

The Pokémon itself could go a few different ways. The first one that comes to mind is making a new Auto-Hail starter to replace Abomasnow and its glaring weaknesses. The Pokémon could be designed as a sweeper, defensive mon, or anywhere in between. The Pokémon doesn’t necessarily need to be Ice-type and could instead be used to help negate the few glaring weaknesses of Hail-using Pokémon—Stealth Rock and Fighting-types come to mind. This idea has a lot of leeway in how we can go and could have a great effect on our understanding of weather, in particular Hail. And with Excadrill and Thundurus gone—two Pokémon I think of as synonymous with Sand and Rain respectively—this might be the perfect metagame to do this.

And the process itself would be a fun learning experience. CaP always seemed to have the fear of making "too powerful of a Pokemon", and while that may have toned down after the last few projects, I still think some of the participators in the projects and the outsiders looking in still think that deep down. A lot like Tomohawk last project and those before it, there is a possibility that the process could end up with a bigger, unintentional effect. But like testing "momentum", building a Pokemon designed to improve Hail enough to make it viable, without making a Pokemon that rampages through the metagame that is also okay in Hail, would be a great test of the ability of community. To use the example Dusk provided in his "What I'm looking for" section, this pokemon could be the "Perfect Mate" to Hail.

 

[LouisCyphre]

Name: Fatal Flaw

General Description: A Pokémon burdened by one or more "irredeemable" weaknesses or issues that would, more often than not, doom it to RU or below. However, with the correct support and just the right set of moves, it becomes an engine of destruction.

Justification: Often, Pokémon are overlooked for months before being brought to the forefront of competative play. Volcarona was overlooked for its Rock weakness, Reuniclus was set aside for its forgettable typing, Heatran was deemed "weak to everything and its mother", the list goes on.

By investigating how a Pokémon receives support from its teammates, and what burdens it sets upon them, a more accurate measure of a Pokémon's worth and viability can be attained. By deconstructing and reverse-engineering flaws such as this, the skills of supporting fatal flaws and even building synergistic teams can be analyzed in great detail.

Questions To Be Answered: How does a Pokémon with a Fatal Flaw...

• ...burden its teammates? The rest of the team has to carry the weight of the ball that this CAP drops; what does that entail?
• ...encourage or discourage certain teammates? How does its weakness aggravate certain matchups, and which matchups does it go unnoticed?
• ...make up for its Flaw? This CAP should be competent at its role, but not so overwhelmingly so that its flaw is justified. The Flaw must be truly fatal for it to impact the design of the Pokémon.
• ...overcome its Flaw? What makes this CAP stand out when side-by-side with similar, but less crippled, Pokémon? What reasons would a player have to choose this CAP over another user of the same advantages?

Explanation: For the most part, this concept should avoid issues of typing unless deemed necessary for another end, rather than being an end unto itself. I envision a CAP cripplingly weak to Taunt, or walled by common defensive staples, or utterly useless if there is a Ghost-type still alive on the enemy team.

Such a mon might be a defensive behemoth while allowed access to support moves; might be capable of dismantling anything not named Ferrothorn or Blissey, or might bring incredibly destructive (for both parties) Normal or Fighting STAB to bear. The idea is not to craft a Salamence or a Gengar - a mon with a slim list of checks and little to no true counters - and not a Volcarona or a Dragonite - a mon horribly weak to a common implement of most teams but manages to be a force despite it - but instead one that is shut down by a common and often-deemed-essential force in the metagame. However, once this force, whatever it may be, is removed, this CAP begins to contribute to its teammates in a way that validates the work done to support it.

This mon should be all take and no give until its weakness is nullified, at which point this mon should become a powerful (but not overwhelmingly so) player that will have opponents wishing that they had done a better job at keeping the flaw fatal.

 

[capefeather]

I really shouldn't have posted this in the middle of the night >_< To address the comprehension problems that I've been getting from people, I have rewritten this submission to be more in line with what I originally had planned for this concept (and Weather Slayer, really).

Concept: Geomancer

Description: This Pokémon is designed to adapt to most or all of the permanent weather conditions.

Justification: Permanent weather conditions, such as sandstorm and rain, have had a marked impact on this generation, largely due to the drastic effects that they bring. This concept could allow us to explore what a Pokémon needs to adapt to as many of the myriad effects of these field conditions as possible, and to bring them under control.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How can each aspect of a Pokémon (e.g. typing, moves, abilities) be made to help it under some weather conditions, without compromising its power under others?
• Is versatility a main concern for this kind of Pokémon, or should there be more of a focus on certain "sweetspot" aspects?
• Will teams that rely heavily on weather conditions tend to see this Pokémon as an ally or as an enemy? What about teams that don't rely on weather conditions?
• What similarities between the weather conditions can a "geomancer" use to its advantage?
• What are the specific aspects (e.g. opposing Pokémon) that need to be addressed for a "geomancer" to work effectively?

Explanation: In some ways, there are many possibilities for this, and in other ways, there are some heavy restrictions. What we have in the current metagame are Pokémon that partially fit the concept, such as Dragonite, Gliscor, and Volcarona. However, each of these has its problems in the grand scheme; Dragonite hates sandstorm and hail, Volcarona needs either the sun to use its Fire-type STAB or the rain to use Hurricane, and Gliscor has few discernible advantages beyond its immunity to Thunder and sandstorm. The problem that comes to mind is whether it is possible for a Pokémon to adapt to all of these conditions.

This is not to say that this CAP should necessarily "abuse" weather conditions. The first question is very relevant here because many aspects of the CAP may involve trade-offs between one weather condition and another. The complications will likely demand simple solutions that grant versatility (question 2) or exploit some common factor between multiple weather conditions (questions 2 and 4). This is on top of figuring out necessary conditions (question 5) to make the CAP viable in fulfilling its concept.

 

[ToastTyrant13]

Concept - Master of None

Description - A unique Pokemon with an array of offensive and defensive tools that are capable of turning the tables on its opponents to gain an advantage in the battle, without relying on other pokemon to do so. Something capable of altering how the metagame deals with specific threats and opponents.

Side Note

For those concerned with this being like Fidgit. Fidgit is meant to be supportive and and defensive. This isn't the case. We're looking at a pokemon who supports itself and shows great mixed prowess in the field, as opposed to supporting the team.

Justification - Very few pokemon are able to fend for themselves without having to rely on a team mate (or multiple team mates) to fall back on in a tough situation. The point of the concept is to see how well a single pokemon could handle a variety of the 5th Gen OU metagame without needing to rely on other pokemon.



Questions to be Answered -

• Can a single pokemon fend for itself without the need of other pokemon's support (be it offensively or defensively)?
• Can a single pokemon take advantage of attacking and defending options to turn the tables on a large variety of opponents?
• Can a trainer successfully build an effective team in 5th Gen OU without having to worry about excess support and synergy?
• Can a single pokemon present a potential threat to a majority of another player's team?

Explanation - In a majority of the OU metagame, there is a lack of balance. Powerful sweepers like Volcarona, Cloyster, and Salamence all need Spin Support or a Cleric to prevent them from the crippling harm of Entry Hazards, Burns, Poisoning, etc. When it comes to the defensive spectrum, it's hard to rely on a single pokemon that isn't wiped clean by specific threats. For example; when running Blissey, you have to run a Ferrothorn, Skarmory, or something of similar stature to take care of it's horrendously weak physical defenses. If you're faced with another tank or wall, you have to rely on a your own powerhouse to tread through it. Why must it be so complicated? Surely a pokemon could fend for itself in the power hungry metagame of 5th Gen OU.

Additional Information

Question picked up on IRC: Didn't we already do that with Krillowat?

While the concepts are rather different, you could say that they are similar as well. Krillowat, however, was built to deal with and play in the 4th Gen Metagame. The 5th Gen Metagame is extremely different than late 4th Gen (and 4th Gen in its entirety). Nothing like Trick Room Reuniclus, Quiver Dance Volcarona, Ferrothorn + Jellicent cores, Drizzle, Drought, Prankster, Sheer Force, etc. ran amock during Krillowat's time of creation.

Also

Situational counter for a variety of common threats

We're not looking at a Situational Counter. We're looking for something that can fill plenty of roles while being able to function on its own. We're looking for what you could call a a "Living Swiss-Army-Knife" that doesn't require anything besides itself (abilities, and movepool) to function in a positive and effective way.

Question picked up on IRC: So you want a pokemon that can do everything on its own?

No, we'd want something that can perform a variety of roles on its own. NOTE: NOT ALL AT ONCE. That would be easily broken. With 4 slots, you can't do everything on your own. With a large movepool, however, you have a large amount of variety in what you choose to do, and how you choose to do it. That way, you aren't being corruptly inbalanced by your movepool. The player can utilize the pokemon in multiple ways to get the job done.

 

[ungulateman]

Name: A Weight On Your Mind

Description: A Pokemon which specialises against heavy opponents.

Justification: Some of the best Pokemon in the game are incredibly heavy - Ferrothorn, Snorlax, Hippowdon and the pseudo-legendary Pokemon, to name a few. What happens when a niche Pokemon capable of punishing these Pokemon for their weight exists?

Questions to be answered:

* What happens when common Pokemon come under threat due to their physical size?
* Is there enough variety in the 5th Generation for such a niche Pokemon to exist and work?
* How much do light Pokemon benefit from a new Pokemon which is ineffective against them?

Explanation: There are enough heavy Pokemon for this design to be open-ended to allow for almost any role, but regardless, it'd lead to us seeing interesting concepts form surrounding what happens when the heavyweights have to watch out for a Pokemon designed to punish them. There are few weight-based moves in the game, but one is ubiquitous (Grass Knot) and the other would see more use if it wasn't for Close Combat's existence (Low Kick).

Given the two types available, it seems likely that this design would have to be either Grass or Fighting-type, but that's not necessarily the case. Many Pokemon have access to these moves without sharing a type, and the lack of a STAB bonus could be compensated through its Ability or simply having high Attack stats.

The presnece of a niche counter like this could easily dissuade players from picking heavy opponents, which could have dramatic effects - both Sand Stream Pokemon are very heavy, so this CAP's presence could be a major blow to Sandstorm's dominance; at the same time, Ferrothorn, Gyarados and other central Rain team members (along with Snorlax on Sun teams) may also be vulnerable. It would likely make the metagame less centralized around the fatties of Pokemon.

It also has several counters basically built into itself in the form of good, lightweight Pokemon, such as the 600 BST pixies (as an example). At the same time, these aren't set in stone as counters, merely likely candidates to a weight-based CAP.

What's also interesting is seeing what this CAP would be capable of in Ubers, with both Groudon (the heaviest Pokemon ever) and Kyogre (also extremely heavy and with a weakness to Grass Knot) present, along with other unusually heavy enemies. That's more of an aside to the main focus, however.

 

[Camisado]

Concept: 3rd Degree Burn.

Description: A Pokemon can reliably use the status Burned to benefit defense-oriented teams, and increase the overall viability of them.

Justification- Many would argue that as every generation passes, Stall-oriented teams become progressively less viable. This concept aims to see if there's any validity to that statement, and if so, what needs to change in the team-building process to make it more viable.


Questions that can be answered:

Is the current approach to stall teams outdated?
What alternative methods can stall-oriented teams do to match up against the new generation's power creep?
If that status "Burned" was more easily-accessible, what would it's niche in the metagame be?


Explanation: As with every generation, the power creep tends to make Stall teams harder and harder to build. With more Pokemon comes a greater number of threats, these stall-oriented teams have to not only accommodating to even more threats, but have to invest more heavily into one defense or the other to play it's role well. With Burn's attack-cutting and damage properties, it may be an option that these teams need to consider.vLooking at the ripple Scald made in the metagame, changing today's view of the standard 'Bulky Water' it would be incredibly beneficial how applying Burn in a more reliable fashion could positively affect Stall-oriented teams.

 

[jdesai927]

Name:


Entry Hazard Counter

General Description:

A Pokemon with the movepool, stats, and abilities to prevent the setup of entry hazards and severely threaten or set up on users of entry hazards.

Justification:


In a metagame so utterly dominated by entry hazards and entry hazard users, it would be interesting to see how battlers would respond to a Pokemon that was able to take advantage of the importance of entry hazards to the various types of teams. This Pokemon would particularly have a niche on offensive teams that hate being shuffled by stall teams, and would essentially reduce the effectiveness of impenetrable defensive cores that relied on this shuffling to rack up entry hazard damage. However, it could also be used by stall teams fearing other stall teams or even to prevent offensive teams from ensuring those crucial OHKOs. I'm kind of unsure about whether this constitutes an improvement or not, but I think that this will reduce the dominance of stall teams in the OU metagame, which would therefore create a more balanced metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Will the metagame become focused around the removal of the new Pokemon, or will it progress to become less centralized with respect to entry hazards?
• What effect will the presence of the new Pokemon on teams have on the movesets of the common users of entry hazards?
• What defensive cores in the current OU metagame would have their effectiveness reduced by the new Pokemon?
• Would players of stall play around this handicap using the same defensive cores, or would they now adopt different ones? If the latter, which cores would be effective in the new metagame?
• Would offensive teams build their teams to account for the lack of entry hazards, or would they dedicate teamslots/moveslots to countering the new Pokemon?
• Which sweepers would fail to leave an impression on the OU metagame without the ubiquity of entry hazards, and which ones would rise to fill the vacuum?
• Overall, will stall teams benefit more from the nerf to entry hazards, or will offensive teams?

Explanation:


Throughout the fourth and fifth generations of Pokemon, we have found ourselves in a metagame completely centered around entry hazards, be it stall teams that abuse entry hazards to cause indirect damage or offensive teams that use entry hazards to turn 2HKOs into OHKOs. Nearly every seriously competitive team ever made has featured Stealth Rock, and nearly every stall team has made use of Spikes and Toxic Spikes. In addition, Rapid Spin, a move which would never have any competitive use in a metagame without entry hazards, is now a staple on teams of all kinds.


Generation 5 gave us the ability Magic Bounce, which allowed Xatu and Espeon to play mind games with entry hazard users and make players think twice before grabbing that Stealth Rock on the switch or setting up Spikes on a helpless Taunted Pokemon. However, Xatu and Espeon are both flawed Pokemon for a variety of reasons (such as improper stat layouts, poor coverage, and poor defensive typing) and cannot truly counter the users of entry hazards (which is the reason entry hazard users are as omnipresent as always in the current metagame).


It would definitely be interesting to turn the metagame on its head by providing a hard counter to entry hazards users without the flaws of the common anti-leads (Deoxys-S, Ambipom, Taunt users and Rapid Spin leads like Forretress and Donphan), Espeon, and Xatu. We'd get to see a restructuring of the metagame as we know it, as well as see the true potential of Pokemon that have failed to impress with the presence of entry hazards, like Moltres and Yanmega. We would learn more about the metagame by observing this restructuring; it would become evident which Pokemon are truly self-sufficient and which require support to be threatening. Above all, the adaptation of playstyles to an anti-entry hazard Pokemon would give us deep insights into the ideas that lie at the core of teambuilding; it would force players to think hard about whether it would make more sense to use a valuable teamslot to counter the opponent's strategy or to develop better synergy and further the implementation of their own strategies.

 

[Deck Knight]

Name: Hyper Offense Specialist

General Description:

A Pokemon designed to use excellent STAB coverage and high offenses to plow through enemies swiftly. This can be achieved either by forcing a switch and utilizing a stat-up, or simply having the right combination of threatening moves to regain offensive momentum after an opponent makes a KO and subsequently putting their team in a rough spot.

Justification:

Fifth Generation seems to be focused on taking out one battle style after another, as the sheer number of threats in combination is simply too much for a team to handle defensively. Additionally, new abilities like Sand Rush combined with high bulk, and a general increase in the number of bulky attackers have made bulky offense much more prevalent than hyper offense. There are no two better examples than Conkeldurr and Reuniclus, which both have terrifying offensive prowess and the bulk to match. Even Excadrill could be argued as a bulky attacker before its removal.

Questions to be answered:

• How important are resistances to a Pokemon utilizing Hyper Offense? Does it still need enough defense to switch in, or would it work better as a Pokemon that can sweep from a revenge kill or a teammate sacrifice ala Explosion, Healing Wish, etc.?
• What kind of teammates does a Pokemon that specializes in hyper offense need? Do they just need to cover its type weaknesses, or should they be supporting the hyper offensive Pokemon with screens and hazards?
• How important are sacrifices if allowing a Hyper Offense Pokemon in to sweep the opponent?
• What offensive and defensive qualities are the most important in a hyper offensive Pokemon in the 5th Gen metagame?
• How will balanced and stall teams react to a new hyper offensive threat built to savage the current largest threats in the metagame?
• Which Pokemon would be ideal partners for this new offensive presence, either as an offensive core or as a sacrifice?
• Where is the actual line between Bulky Offense and Hyper Offense? Is it just a matter of the Pokemon not increasing its defenses or is there more to it than that?
• In general, is Hyper Offense viable with so many threats in the 5th generation possessing a significant amount of bulk?

Explanation:

As mentioned above, all of 5th Gen has by and large been dominated by Pokemon that can be considered bulky offense. Multiscale Dragonite has to be the personification of this, but Reuniclus and Conkeldurr certainly fit the description, as do bulky Gyarados and Salamence to an extent. Even Latias is no slouch defensively, and before its removal, Excadrill could be considered somewhat bulky with 110/60/65 Defenses. Most of the Hyper Offense strategies I've seen revolve around sacrificing something to put up Screens, then trying (often unsuccessfully) to plow through your enemy on that timer. Mostly I think its the fact there's a vacuum in something that can hit the new threats hard, since you often have to rely on dragons that lure in Ferrothorn like the plague, and Jirachi isn't exactly uncommon either.

This would allow us to really explore a specific playstyle and really tailor a Pokemon unique to that niche, as well as answer questions about the effect of increasing the options for one playstyle over another. It gives a fair amount of flexibility. Mostly these questions are focused on creating a hyper offensive sweeper, but there is some wiggly room to figure out if the sweeper can also act as a support to teammates under the right conditions.

 

[zarator]

Name: Leading the Barrier

Description: A Pokémon which can fit as a lead on defensively-minded teams

Justification: Since Team Preview, defensive team struggled to find a way to reliably lead their teams besides a weather inducer such as Politoed or Tyranitar. While offense can rely on several good all-around choices (Deoxys-S, Rotom-W, a brutal CBer like Haxorus... there are a lot of possibilities), defensive teams get the short end of the stick, as most walls are very focused, so leading with one against the wrong Pokémon can spell doom for the entire team (whereas very few can actually turn the tables against the likes of Deoxys-S and Haxorus). This Pokémon would fix this flaw, being able to tackle a wide array of responses while being bulky enough to fit on defensively-minded squads.

Question to be answered:

• Will the new Pokémon change the viability of offensive/defensive teams?
• How will the new Pokémon affect the way offensive teams pick their lead for the match?
• Is it possible to make a defensive Pokémon in the 5th generation without making it overly specialized?

Explaination:

The Pokémon I have in mind is Swampert from the DPP era. It was able to match up well against just about any possible lead - aside from stuff like Roserade or Breloom which would've been at a disadvantage against almost all other the more popular leads (Azelf, Aerodactyl, etc). Today, your best shot is to lead with either Ferrothorn or a weather inducer, as mentioned before. However, Ferrothorn allows a lot of Pokémon to set up on himself (unlike Swampert, who had wider offensive coverage and the ever useful Roar). Any other wall is a hazardous choice at best as a lead.

It would be interesting to see how we may go about this concept. On one hand, it could be a multi-purpose quick staller like Mew in the UU or Mewtwo in Ubers, with high speed and respectable defenses along with some disruptive moves. This would allow defensive teams to lead without the fear of suffering a set up from the likes of Terrakion or Haxorus right off the bat. Another way could be going under a more Swampert-esque way; resorting to a relatively balanced defensive type, good but not exceptional coverage, some sort of support move (like SR) and/or anti setup means (ex: Roar, or Haze).

 

[Destiny Warrior]

Name: Two Swords

General Description: A Pokemon that through a combination of stats, movepool and abilities can pull off two entirely different roles with great success, but these roles do not necessarily cover each other's weaknesses.

Justification: In Generation 5, team preview makes one-dimensional Pokemon significantly less useful. A Pokemon that can function in 2 completely different roles allows us to learn how the metagame deals with a threat that cannot be predicted on the team preview screen.

Questions To Be Answered:

* How will the metagame react to a Pokemon whose role can only be guessed based on its teammates?
* Can a Pokemon with 2 fundamentally different roles retain the usage of both these roles equally, or will one be favoured over the other?
* Is it possible for a Pokemon to combine its 2 roles to create a third effective role, or will this third role always be inferior to its focus and build?

Explanation:

Even if a Pokemon has 2 possible effective roles, it is rare for both of them to see equal usage. One of them is usually favoured over the other, depending on the state of the metagame, and the Pokemon that can maintain the roles equally are usually considered too powerful for the standard metagame(such as Salamence in DPP). I believe there exists a niche for such a Pokemon within acceptable limits, and following through with this concept would be a great learning experience about the "limits of power" and the possible roles a Pokemon can have.

Best of all, this concept is extremely broad, and the 2 roles can be anywhere in the competitive spectrum. Offense is not necessarily the only solution here, and we can explore the entire offense-defense-support gamut to find the right combination. There are some moves that are not seen much due to poor users of them, and it is even possible to build one of the roles around such a move.

 

[Nintendoofus]

Name: Itemnerfer

General Description: A Pokemon that can nerf an enemy's potential through a method of item manipulation.

Justification: Let's face it, items are an important part of the game. Choice items give Pokemon a boost in their offensive prowess, whilst leftovers give defensive Pokemon that extra bit of bulk. Every Pokemon uses them and it's hard to think of a situation where an item would not be put on a Pokemon. That's why the idea of an "itemnerfer" intrigues me. What I would like to see is a Pokemon that can take away a Pokemon's item and the results that follow. Once a Pokemon has no item, will the player use it differently? Did their plan revolve around abusing their item? Maybe the CAP could turn a situation around with the change of an item. What this CAP would do is let us see the value of items in today's metagame, the effects of limiting their usability in the competitive battle scene, and how pivotal items become during a battle.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Just how important are items? Are there Pokémon that become much less usable without them?
- Is there a way a Pokémon can abuse the opponent's reliance on their item?
- Does knowledge of an item aid with tactics against the enemy? Does it effect them if they know you know?
- What pressures are there in choosing an item if you know it could easily be removed? Would you plan to prevent this or abuse what you know is likely to happen?
- When this CAP is introduced, what changes will occur to accompany it? What existing Pokémon can function just as well without their item?

Explanation: Right, items. Big deal in the competitive battle scene, so if this is to happen, let's take a look at how a Pokémon can remove items from opponents: Trick/Switcheroo swap items, Knock off removes their item, and thief and, interestingly, Pickpocket steals the item. I wouldn't mind seeing a Pokémon with Pickpocket, I think it'd be nice to see how people could use that. Frisk, whilst not an itemnerfer, would certainly help in knowing when to strike, and klutz would aid the CAP in not having any negative effects when taking an item off the opponent.

 

[Scoopapa]

Name: The Anti-Weather

General Description: This pokemon would be a solid check or counter to the auto-weather inducers themselves as well as their common abusers.

Justification: This is intended to create a new niche in the metagame by increasing the viablilty of weatherless teams. Currently, building a solid weatherless team is quite difficult because you must devote most of the team to checking various high-powered weather abusing threats. With this pokemon available, a weatherless team would need fewer team slots devoted to checking specific pokemon and thus would have more room for creativity and to develop and abuse a unique strategy.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Will a pokemon dedicated to checking weather teams decentralize the metagame and add diversity, or will a new "cookie cutter" team arise in place of the auto-weather teams?
• Will a pokemon dedicated to checking weather teams be useful on weather teams themselves? Would such a pokemon help make weather vs. weather battles more interesting by giving a fighting chance to a team whose has lost their auto-weather inducer?
• Will weather teams have to adapt to this new threat, and in so doing, have less room for abuse of their particular weather condition?

Explanation: Many players are frustrated with the prevalence of weather in OU. The reasons for this include the limits it places on viable playstyles, the fact that most battles are won or lost by who kills the opposing weather inducer first, and the sheer power of weather abuse pokemon under their desired weather. This concept aims to weaken the stranglehold that weather teams have on the metagame, hopefully leading to something that is more diverse and interesting. Ideally, a player in this metagame would encounter fewer battles where his goal would be "snipe politoed or ninetales" and more battles where he would need to figure out his path to victory on the fly. By no means to I want to rid the metagame of weather completely - I simply want to put weatherless teams on at least an even footing. Hopefully, by forcing weather teams to check or counter CAP11, they will have less room for weather abusers and thus will be easier to deal with even without using CAP11 directly. Given that weather is such a major issue in the current generation, I think this concept would be very relevant, and hopefully informative as to the role of weather in the current metagame.

I also think this is a good CAP concept because it doesn't really predetermine much about the pokemon (aside from a high likelihood of a weather nullifying ability). There are a variety of ways in which we could pull this concept off, so each stage of the process should be interesting and exciting.

P.S. I know this is superficially similar to capefeather's submission but I feel it is a fairly different approach. While both are about not losing to teams with different weather, his idea is more about abusing whatever weather is available while mine is about specifically checking or countering the weather inducers and their abusers.

 

[a fairy]

Concept: Oh great, what is it supposed to do!?
Description: A Pokemon with a large number of roles it can fit: Sweeper, Revenge Killer, Lead, et cetra

Justification: In the current metagame, when a Pokemon switches in, even if it has multiple sets, the counters remain the same for the most part. Except for some Pokemon like Reuniclus and Dragonite, who have a few sets who each require a different approach, most Pokemon have 1 solid counter. This Pokemon should hopefully be able to run a multitude of sets that work, to give the opponent a run for their money, a moment of "Oh great, what is it gonna do? Set up, lay down hazards, Sub, or just plain sweep?" (all these situations were picked at random, and does not reflect my ideas for the movepool)

Questions To Be Answered:

• Will this Pokemon be too powerful, to the point that it cannot be given a free turn?
• If it's capable of running so many sets, will any of them work as well as a standard OU Pokemon?
• Will it be outclassed by Pokemon who specialize in 1 set? Will a possible DDance Set be outclassed by Dragonite and Salamence? A hazards set outclassed by Ferrothorn and Forretress? (These were random sets, and do not reflect my ideas for the movepool)
• If it needs so many different counters, wouldn't that mean it will be too dangerous?
• If the first and above questions are deemed true, would it be possible a standard OU mon, or even a UU mon could be a flat-out counter, a complete stop to any set?

Explanation: As I said in the justification, most Pokemon have 1 solid counter. A Pokemon that would require the opponent to guess the set and then take appropriate action. Another complete side point would be that he could be a ace in one, a Pokemon that could patch up a large hole in the team: "Great, I need a X, but I can't run Y because of reason Z... Hey, why not use the CAP 2 mon? Yeah, that'll work."

 

[theseriddlesthree]

Name: Anti-Strategy

General Description: This pokemon would be able to counter focused strategies, specifically; teams that are dedicated to one method of winning battles.

Justification: Some games you just can't win no matter how much more powerful, faster, bulkier your team is. You may be the most skilled player in the world but you don't have a chance against their strategy, whether they power through your team like they're made of glass with a bulked-up conkeldurr, or they brave your attacks without taking a scratch with a cradily in a sandstorm. There needs to be something to stop the one trick ponies (e.g. weather teams, hyper-offense...etc) from dominating the metagame and turn quick losses into actual battles where both sides actually stand a chance of winning. This pokemon is intended to stop those "hit-or-miss" teams that will tear you to shreds, and rarely fail.


Questions To Be Answered:

• Will a pokemon designed to stop teams dedicated to a specific win-strategy, promote more real teams in the OU metagame that use synergy, prediction, and downright skill to win games?
• If successful, how will the one-trick-ponies be afftected? Will they simply become more approachable, or will they be rendered completely unviable?
• In dealing with this new threat to their gameplan, will this pokemon have a signifigant effect on their stability, and thereby: their consistency in achieveing victory?

Explanation:
It is very easy to fall victim to those over-abused strategies that you just cant deal with. This pokemon is intended to make those "metagame monsters" less threatening and easier to deal with. I hope that this pokemon will promote variation, player 'skill', and lots more "rogue" teams in the the OU metagame, instead of playing those same games over and over again. This pokemon will punish the opponent for being overly predictable.

If selected, I am very excited to see what players can come up with to achieve such a feat, in dealing with the few strongers strategies out there.

P.S.(this isn't quite finished yet, i have alot more to say about what i hope this pokemon will achieve)

 

[Raikaria]

Name: Bulwark
General Description: A pokemon designed to help re-invigorate Stall within the 5th Generation, in some way, shape, or form.

Justification:
It's no secret that in Gen 5, Stall has taken a massive knock. The power creep, combined with the power spike granted to offense through various forms of weather [particually rain], has combiend to make stall a somewhat rare playstyle in 5th Generation OU, outside of the weather-dependant Rain Stall.

However, when you look at what 5th Gen brought, outside of weather [And Renkulus]... you wonder... why? Ferrothorn is made to be a wall that's not far off Lugia. Jellicent is a pretty awesome spinblocker. It's not like a type got a power-spike in moves like in 4th Gen [Although Fighting got HJK revamped, it's only 10 BP up from Close Combat/Focus Blast/Cross Chop/Dynamicpunch]

Then, you see things like Whimsicott, which, in theory, should help Stall with Encore, SubSeed, and everything else, as well as hinder it.

Yet it continues to decline.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Why has Stall taken a nosedive in the 5th Generation?
• What can be done to re-invigorate Stall?
• What are the main things keeping Stall from being a major playstyle in the 5th Generation?
• Can a single pokemon fix it, or is the power creep simply TOO large?

Explanation: There are loads of ways we could take this. We could make a new wall. We could make a Wish-supporter to help keep like likes of Ferrothorn healthy. We could make a new spinblocker, or hazard-setter. It could even end up as a Ultility Counter pokemom, one that can stop common threats to stall, such as Dragonite and Renkulus.

Not to mention Stall isn't fully explored type-wise. We know what makes good offensive combinations like the back of our hands, but, what, in practise, is a good defensive combination, especially with synergy with the other teammates? With this project, we can worry far less about STAB types and whatnot, and we might be able to use types which we haven't explored in CAP much.

 

[enthalpy]

Name: Oh Gengar where art thou…?

General Description:
A Pokemon that personifies the versatility, disruptiveness and devastation of RSE and DP Gengar

Justification:
The power creep of DPP first and now especially BW has filled the metagame with powerful Pokemon who seldom stray fro their most effective roles. Not so long ago, when a wasted turn didn’t result in a sweeper getting a boost and running through your team, Pokemon could carry a plethora of disruptive options along side their standard moves, and the KING of this was Gengar.

Now the only Pokemon that employ these disruptive strategies are ones who simply can’t sweep. By attempting to return an old niche a new metagame, we will learn if a Pokemon in BW can be devastatingly disruptive whilst maintaining ability to sweep and not be sent straight to Ubers.

Questions To Be Answered:
-With the power creep of BW, can a Pokemon have the disruptive and sweeping options of RSE/DP Gengar without being broken?
-With great versatility, will this Pokemons potential to sweep have to be limited to prevent it from being broken?
-Has the power creep of BW made disruptive options obsolete on a Pokemon with the potential to sweep?
-Will one dominant metagame defined role emerge, or is flexibility still an option in BW?
-Is it possible in today’s metagame for a pokemon to fill the role that Gengar of old once did?


Explanation:
Think back to RSE and early DP and remember the awesomeness that was Gengar in his prime… He could lead and trick/attack/sleep/burn/explode, or he could come out late game and sweep/trick/explode/sleep/trick/subpunch…

Its not hard to see why Gengar was so good; he could get in easily due to resistance, he was bloody quick, he could lead, he could sweep, but he could just as easily be ready to screw you around with status and blow up in your face… or he could do everything with some crazy hybrid set. At the same time thought Gengar was never near broken.

Its also easy to see what happened to Gengar; hypnosis nerf, explosion nerf, physical pursuit, Scizor, Lati@s dropping to OU, power creep (both offensive and defensive), speed creep…

There is nothing in todays metagame that can currently function as Gengar of old did; not even Gengar! Most Pokemon that do have options tend to stick to a specific role, and only use 1 or 2 sets, because they are simply the best sets in the brutality that is today’s metagame. So I propose that we explore what made Gengar, in his prime, as versatile and powerful as he was and try to emulate these traits in a 5th Gen Pokemon without breaking it.

 

[reachzero]

Concept: Eater of Subs
Description: Discourages and punishes spamming of Substitute.

Justification: Dragonite, Landorus, Breloom, Gliscor--let's face it, the most annoying sets of many of the most annoying Pokemon have abused Substitute, the best non-attacking move in Pokemon. This Pokemon would become a significant deterrent to using a game-changing move which currently offers tremendous returns with remarkably few drawbacks.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What strategies and tactics best discourage Substitute abuse?
• With less Substitute abuse, will secondary attacks (status, Trick, etc) become more popular? If so, how will offensive teams adapt?
• What situations make Substitute spammable to begin with, and how do we stay out of them?
• Can we realistically design a Pokemon that can handle the sheer diversity of the most common OU Substitute abusers?

Explanation: The first tool most users will think of is multi-hit moves such as Icicle Spear, but that is only one tool available to us, in fact a rather limited one, considering that Ice, Rock, Grass and Normal are types traditionally shunned by CAP voters. I could see phazing being a focus, as well being geared in general to take on the actual common Substitute abusers themselves.

 

[Morty]

Concept: I don't think so!

General Description: A Pokemon that can be sent in to stop a sweeper regardless of it's current boosts, attacking preference (special, physical or mixed), coverage and ability. AKA the sweep checker
Justification: Currently, heavy offense has once again dominated the ou metagame. People have remembered that great dual screen speed deoxys and have paired him with frightening powerful sweepers that easily set up bhind screens for devastating results (examples: Smashpassing Gorebyss, Dragonite, Scrafty)
Questions To Be Answered:
-What are the best ways to stop sweeps and how can they be best combined in one pokemon?
-Will this pokemon reduce the prevalence of hyper offense, or increase it by giving hyper offense teams an all around check on defense?
-How can a single pokemon shut down both physical and specially boosted sweepers without having broken stats
-Will this pokemon be able to stop multiple sweeping attempts or be a utility to be used once to end a crucial sweep?
-Will such a pokemon be useless against stall or semi stall?
-Can a single pokemon really balance out the metagame in a generation where offense is so much more attractive than stall?
-Will there always be some way to break a wall?
Explanation: The intent of this idea is to introduce a pokemon unlike any we have ever seen, a true anti-sweeper rather than a wall. It will be important then to ensure this pokemon is more than just a defensive titan like ferrothorn. This pokemon will have just the right moves, ability, typing and defenses to stop hyper offense in it's tracks, thus balancing the metagame. Unlike a "hail venusaur" who would change the metagame about as much as venusaur, this pokemon would be similar to Blissey in that its unique defensive capabilities would change everything.

 

[GtM]

Concept: "The Alternative"

Description: A pokemon that provides an alternative to another pokemon in the OU metagame, which fills a specific role that no other pokemon can fill effectively.

Justification: Many teams are forced to add a pokemon which does not synergise, either in terms of offense, defense or playstyle, with the rest of the team. Often this is since the specific roles and services that a pokemon provides are unique and cannot be executed at all without the inclusion of this pokemon. For example, stall teams based around FWG cores are more or less obliged to use Heatran as the Fire type due to a lack of other suitable defensive Fire types. Creating an alternative pokemon which fills a similar role to its target, but has different characteristics that make it more suitable to certain teams and playstyles, would increase the diversity of the metagame and help prevent players from running pokemon that are "dead-weight" to their team just because they have a specific role that no other pokemon can fill. I think this concept would be really interesting to pursue, not only in designing "The Alternative", but also in analyzing how the metagame reacts to it, and whether it competes with its target pokemon or supports it.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Which roles in the OU metagame can only be fulfilled by specific respective pokemon?
• How would the metagame change if an alternative to one of these specific pokemon was created? Would certain playstyles and cores become more popular when a similar pokemon replaces one of a core's original members?
• Would "The Alternative" be used alongside the pokemon it was based on (a la 4Drag2Mag teams), or would they act in direct competition with each other for a teamslot (ie Ferrothorn vs Forretress)? Is this dependent on the role being fulfilled?
• Are we able to create a pokemon with a similar playstyle to an existing one without copying too many elements of the original? Can we be creative in ensuring that whilst the CAP fills the same role as another, it also has several distinct characteristics?
• Are we able to ensure that "The Alternative" is not straight-up better on worse than the pokemon it was originally based on? (ie Audino vs Blissey)

Explanation: GameFreak has long had a history of creating pokemon that are direct alternatives to others made earlier in the series, especially with the most recent generation. Salamence vs Dragonite, Hydreigon vs Latios, Whimsicott vs Jumpluff and Conkeldurr vs Machamp are all good examples of this. Often times, they also have the tendency to either completely outclass the old pokemon (such as Whimsicott vs Jumpluff) or be completely outclassed by it (such as Audino vs Blissey) and only occasionally do they get the balance right. I think that trying to create an alternative to a popular pokemon would be a great exercise for Smogon, not only in creating a good pokemon but also in restraint; ensuring that one does not outclass the other means walking a fine line, and would require skill and expertise to pull off.

This concept is both highly versatile and highly focused once we select the role that we want our CAP to fulfill. This role can be based on a number of factors, such as typing, stats, abilities, movepool or just general playstyle, that are exhibited by existing pokemon. Once we've chosen the role, there's plenty of potential for us to get creative in how to create a pokemon that's both distinct from the target one but also fulfills many of the same duties. Going back to my previous example, if we were to specify the role as "Specially Defensive Fire Pokemon" and thus the target pokemon as Heatran, we could explore ways of making a similar pokemon that also varies in key aspects. It could be a Fire / Water type with a different ability to better complement its typing, and there is plenty of potential to change its stats and even its support movepool to ensure that whilst it fills a similar role, it's not a clone, a lazy re-hash or a "pokemon 2.0". To re-iterate, I don't want this to turn into "What if Heatran was a physical attacker?" or "Lets make Latias physically defensive!" We can do better than that.

At its heart, this concept is centered around the pokemon itself (and obviously its respective target) and not an effect I intend for it to have on the metagame. Creating an alternative to an existing pokemon can give us something that is both fresh, new and exciting, but also something that we're already comfortable using, and I get the feeling it'll be a great CAP both to design and to play with.

 

[P_K]

Name: Poor-Typing Champ

General Description: A Pokemon able to excel in the OU metagame, despite having a type combination that would otherwise be a disadvantage in OU, and perhaps even being able to take advantage of its typing.

Justification: It's obvious that the metagame is very biased towards certain types. Some Pokemon are simply doomed to obscurity for being weak merely because of their typing. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each type, we can also learn why exactly some of these Pokemon preform poorly, and what these Pokemon would need in order to become a viable choice in the OU metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What types have a natural dis/advantage in the metagame?
• Are there less obvious factors than Typing Effectiveness (Such as Super Effective), STAB, and Weather?
• If a Pokemon's stats and typing conflict, are the abilities and/or movepool enough to "save" the Pokemon?

Explanation: Like I've mentioned earlier, it's obvious certain types are at a heavy disadvantage in comparison to others. The Ice Type, for example, is more of a curse than anything else; Fighting, Steel, Fire, and Rock are all very common types in the current metagame, and so any Ice types are immediately at a huge disadvantage. There are other types out there, such as Poison and Normal. But not all types are strictly bad all-around. The Bug type, for example, is great offensively, but terrible defensively. There are even some type combinations that work great alone or with other types, but together generally have sub-par performance, such as Fire and Flying. The purpose of this concept is to give a Pokemon a terrible type combination, and tweak it to see how we can make said Pokemon excel. If we learn how to make a Pokemon excel with poor typing, this may help bridge certain gaps other low-tier existing Pokemon are facing, since we will better understand how typing affects Pokemon.

(I plan on revising it later if I have the time... but I probably won't have the time)

 

[kd24]

• Name - Worth Luring

• Description - A Pokemon that's primary use is to lure in threats for other Pokemon to sweep.

• Justification - Let's face the facts - many of the once proud threats of the metagame simply don't have the same effect they once did - simply because its easy to just counter things. A pokemon that not only presented itself as a viable sweeping threat, but could change it's sets to make certain counters to other teammates feel they are safe, only for them to be lured in. This allows teams to diversify their creativity and has an overall positive effect on the metagame.

• Questions To Be Answered

- Can a pokemon that can lure the majority of hard counters to Pokemon be a viable teammate in most team builds?
- Is luring other counters a legitimate strategy?
- Does creating a higher risk for defensive teams to make one mistake make the metgame too offensive - and is this a good thing to create more variety?

• Explanation - Basically, I want a Pokemon that isn't strong enough to break teams on his own because of poor defenses and a somewhat meh typing. However, he would more than make up for it with the ability to boost either stat (which should be fantastic), while still being able to run moves from the other side of the spectrum to help certain Pokemon on your team. Ideally, it should be able to beat a Pokemon that would commonly switch in based on the boosting move it uses - thanks to typing. It should have 372 Speed - Not fast enough to sweep offensive teams but more than enough to take on defensive teams (including Starmie, as one of the Pokemon it should help benefit are things like Infernape and Terrakion).

 

[bugmaniacbob]

Name: Psychological Warfare

General Description: A Pokemon which can turn the tide of battle in one's favour simply by breaking the opponent's willpower or train of thought, rather than breaking the opponent's team directly.

Justification: The nerve and good judgement of a battler, as well as their capacity to handle stressful situations, is a well-documented factor in the outcome of a competitive Pokemon battle, but is relatively unexplored in terms of the assessment of Pokemon that currently exist and, in this case, for those that are created. Mostly, these explorations are limited to "Whimsicott annoys the [insert word for faecal matter here] out of your opponent", which, while devilishly insightful as comments go, does not stem from any particular kind of strategy in mind. Lord knows that a battle can be a stressful time, and a particular Pokemon can exacerbate this situation by itself. So, then, CAP offers us an excellent opportunity to investigate this ill-explored area of competitive Pokemon, by designing a CAP specifically for the purpose of forcing your opponent to make mistakes, bad judgements, or simply peculiar plays to alleviate the stress. This is, to my knowledge, something that has not been attempted before, and would no doubt be of great value both as a learning experience and a test for the CAP community.

Questions To Be Answered:

• To what extent will a Pokemon that relies primarily on the strength of the enemy controller be effective and viable in the BW metagame?
• Is the ability to confuse the opponent to such an extent indeed a large factor in the outcome of a competitive Pokemon battle, as is currently thought?
• To what extent will this Pokemon's viability differ from battle to battle? Will it be more effective against different opponents? If so, which ones will it be more effective against?
• How strong and/or viable is "psychological warfare" as a strategy against more traditional, well-developed team strategies?

Explanation: You could have any number of different interpretations of this concept. To clarify, however, I am not here looking for something "unpredictable", such as DPP Salamence. While you had to play mind games against it for a while, it lost its confounding ability as soon as you figured out its set. On the other hand, this shouldn't be a pure "annoyer" like Whimsicott, which is easy enough to deal with, because it only really has one set. What I'd be envisioning this concept turning out to be is some kind of amalgamation of the two - something that forces the opponent to be extremely cautious when dealing with it, but which is also very frustrating to actually deal with. Such a combination will, under the stress of high-end competitive battlers, generally throw the opponent "off his game", as it were, and this is the effect we should be seeking to emulate.

In this way, the Pokemon should have some sort of capacity to play multiple roles; however, all of them should be in some way threatening, and also played in such a way as to make the opponent make careless mistakes in the hope of defeating it. This is NOT because of evasion/critical hits/anything else that makes the opponent scream "hax". That's not what the goal is. Part of the charm of this CAP concept is that because it is so very much unexplored, there is a lot of room for innovation and outside-the-box thinking - this is something that cannot really be compared to anything else at present.

 

[Korski]

Concept: Sketch Artist

Description: A Pokemon that learns Sketch, once, and everything that goes along with that.

Justification:

Originally Posted by Fat Rising Dusk

I'd like us to spend some time thinking about the Pokemon and what it can teach us from how it changes the metagame, rather than the other way around where we choose an effect on the metagame and then develop a Pokemon around it.

In terms of uniqueness, I think that few existing Pokemon can match DPP Smeargle, an otherwise laughably worthless Pokemon trolling OU with access to every trick in the book (or at least 4 of them) but also affecting the metagame greatly by becoming a top threat in the lead metagame. This Pokemon will borrow some of that uniqueness by learning the move Sketch and thus having access to ONE surprise/strategic/gutshot bonus move to supplement its pre-existing movepool. Being otherwise competently built (read: usable stats), this Poke could be a top threat or specialist for reasons we can't even predict yet.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How will a Poke that has access to any one move out of all the moves in the game affect common battling tactics, namely prediction, scouting, and switching?
• Which Sketch moves will become most common on this Poke's best sets? Does Sketchmon's success rely on hiding that secret Sketch move until just the right moment or can it succeed with predictably powerful moves like Spore, Spikes, Hurricane, Shell Smash, etc.?
• Does this unique and powerful access to moves need to be counterbalanced elsewhere in the Pokemon's design? If so, then to what degree?
• What kind of impact can Sketchmon have on teambuilding in terms of being able to patch holes with common utility moves like Rapid Spin or Toxic Spikes?

Explanation: The key here is that we have a lot of freedom to construct a unique Pokemon while staying within the confines of the concept. Typing, stats, abilities, and even most of the movepool are completely fair game so long as the Poke learns Sketch only once along the way and that we keep that in mind during previous steps. Now, this doesn't mean the CAP process will be directionless; Rising Dusk is pretty well organized and good at keeping discussions focused, and the concept itself has firm grounding in Smeargle's precedent. What's really being studied with this concept is movepool diversity and effectiveness, so it should have the most effect on the movepool process, where movepool creators will have to carefully balance their Sketchmon's actual movepool with the possibility of adding any one other move to the list. In terms of the metagame, there is no doubt in my mind that throwing a wildcard like this into the mix will strongly affect the metagame.

 

[JellyOs]

Concept: Complete the Trifecta!
Description: A Pokemon that completes a 3-way pokemon core, as seen in many G/F/W cores, and the Jirachi/Rotom-W/Gliscor core.

Justification: Many stall inclined Pokemon have simply fallen by the wayside because they lack the proper typing to actually be useful to most teams (Looking at you, Rotom formes other than W). If their typing was put to good use in a core, or a third member of an already existing core (FerroCent) was added, it could easily raise the usage stats of all three 'mons.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Would a new Pokemon in a core spring other Pokemon's usage?
• Are usage statistics a "Right typing in the right time" thing?
• Can RU Pokemon survive an onslught from OU with proper support?
• Finally, can another 'mon added to a defensive core make the core that much better?

Explanation: Experimenting with new, different typing combinations is always fun, and trying to find a great match when put with other Pokemon is great. I'm sure everyone's pondered "What would happen if there was an x/x 'mon to stop y attack from hitting z and u?" It would be a change from the bog-standard defense in CAP, and maybe even shake around the tiers.