This was a very difficult slate for me to determine. There were so many good submissions that I had to weigh many of them against each other and use their competitive logic to determine which I slated. There were also a lot of things that I changed my mind on. Walking into this stage, I was convinced that anything under 81 Speed was too slow and anything over 100 Speed was too fast. As you'll notice below, two slated spreads defy that, and it is through the logic presented that they make it here. Below I will explain the logic behind my slate so that you might know how I feel before you vote.
Recall that this poll operates on IRV voting, the details of which are outlined here. This means that you can upvote your favorite typing and downvote your least favorite. Be aware that order does matter in your votes! The first line is your favorite, the last line is your least favorite. Make sure you vote properly. Make sure that you bold your votes and nothing else! A typical vote might look like the following:
This poll will be open for 24 hours.
When voting, use only the author's name! The list of possible votes, in order of submission, are:
The fast Speed spread was particularly difficult for me to swallow, but between a combined effort of Deck Knight and Aldaron, I've come to understand their point of view and the value therein. That said, I chose Deck Knight's spread over Aldaron's for competitive reasons even though I personally like Aldaron's a lot more. I think that Deck's defenses are better balanced to what CAP 2 needs (higher ST), and the higher PS enables more Sketch options through Choice Band and other such sets. Those two points are so clutch that I simply had to slate Deck's over Aldaron's.
reachzero's spread really attests to how important it is to have standardized checks and counters, and he convinced me fairly easily that underspeeding Heatran at the cost of underspeeding Dragonite is a legitimate strategy. He also has the highest slated Atk stat, which I feel goes a great way to enable non-boosting offensive Sketch coverage sets as viable alternatives to boosting sets.
capefeather's spread is perhaps in the ideal place for how I envisioned CAP 2. 81 Speed is wonderful because it just barely beats Dragonite, which is the breaking point for where I think CAP 2 is 'fast enough' to use a plethora of support moves effectively. It also enables offensive sets in a big way, as it's a boosting position that is well known by another famous 81 Speed Pokemon: Gyarados, a well-known bulky offense Pokemon. The other big seller here is the lower HP to Def/SpD, as this means that CAP 2 can achieve solid EV'd balanced bulk without splitting EVs too far. I think this is critical to CAP 2's success. The balance of offensive stats to defensive stats makes this an exceptionally solid choice for the CAP.
The other two spreads, Korski's and Spork's, are very good in their own rights, and balance slightly higher Speed stats than capefeather's against lower attacking stats. They also play to different strategies with the HP and Def/SpD stats, which gives them each their unique twist. As is usually the case with CAP stats, Speed is a major player, and the biggest selling points of these two spreads is that fewer EVs are needed in Speed to reach necessary benchmarks, allowing those EVs to go into either bulk or the offenses. That's a big point that isn't to be overlooked!
For those of you who didn't make it, don't fret! There is always another stage to play your talents in, and always new CAPs down the road to work toward. I want to thank you all for your hard work and great submissions. The harder a slate is to make, the better I feel the CAP will be as a result. Cheers.
Below are the original posts of the slated submissions.Good luck, and may the best spread win!
CAP 2 thus far:
Typing: Grass / Ghost
tl;dr: Quack! (Blah! I vant to vote for stats!)
Recall that this poll operates on IRV voting, the details of which are outlined here. This means that you can upvote your favorite typing and downvote your least favorite. Be aware that order does matter in your votes! The first line is your favorite, the last line is your least favorite. Make sure you vote properly. Make sure that you bold your votes and nothing else! A typical vote might look like the following:
Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you warned. If you feel compelled to say something in your own vote, you may still do so, but don't try to incite a discussion. Keep discussion to #cap.
This poll will be open for 24 hours.
When voting, use only the author's name! The list of possible votes, in order of submission, are:
Deck Knight
reachzero
Korski
Spork
capefeather
Below is the logic for my slate.reachzero
Korski
Spork
capefeather
The fast Speed spread was particularly difficult for me to swallow, but between a combined effort of Deck Knight and Aldaron, I've come to understand their point of view and the value therein. That said, I chose Deck Knight's spread over Aldaron's for competitive reasons even though I personally like Aldaron's a lot more. I think that Deck's defenses are better balanced to what CAP 2 needs (higher ST), and the higher PS enables more Sketch options through Choice Band and other such sets. Those two points are so clutch that I simply had to slate Deck's over Aldaron's.
reachzero's spread really attests to how important it is to have standardized checks and counters, and he convinced me fairly easily that underspeeding Heatran at the cost of underspeeding Dragonite is a legitimate strategy. He also has the highest slated Atk stat, which I feel goes a great way to enable non-boosting offensive Sketch coverage sets as viable alternatives to boosting sets.
capefeather's spread is perhaps in the ideal place for how I envisioned CAP 2. 81 Speed is wonderful because it just barely beats Dragonite, which is the breaking point for where I think CAP 2 is 'fast enough' to use a plethora of support moves effectively. It also enables offensive sets in a big way, as it's a boosting position that is well known by another famous 81 Speed Pokemon: Gyarados, a well-known bulky offense Pokemon. The other big seller here is the lower HP to Def/SpD, as this means that CAP 2 can achieve solid EV'd balanced bulk without splitting EVs too far. I think this is critical to CAP 2's success. The balance of offensive stats to defensive stats makes this an exceptionally solid choice for the CAP.
The other two spreads, Korski's and Spork's, are very good in their own rights, and balance slightly higher Speed stats than capefeather's against lower attacking stats. They also play to different strategies with the HP and Def/SpD stats, which gives them each their unique twist. As is usually the case with CAP stats, Speed is a major player, and the biggest selling points of these two spreads is that fewer EVs are needed in Speed to reach necessary benchmarks, allowing those EVs to go into either bulk or the offenses. That's a big point that isn't to be overlooked!
For those of you who didn't make it, don't fret! There is always another stage to play your talents in, and always new CAPs down the road to work toward. I want to thank you all for your hard work and great submissions. The harder a slate is to make, the better I feel the CAP will be as a result. Cheers.
Below are the original posts of the slated submissions.Good luck, and may the best spread win!
CAP 2 thus far:
Focus: Bulky Offense
Typing: Grass / Ghost
tl;dr: Quack! (Blah! I vant to vote for stats!)
