CAP 20 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

[mphallor]

Name: The Underdog

General Description: A Pokemon that is able to perform its role(s) extremely well, despite having one or more flaws that are extremely undesirable for its job.

Justification: When discussing competitive Pokemon, there are certain traits that are traditionally associated with each role. Sweepers are fast and powerful, walls have good bulk and reliable recovery, etc. And while there are a plethora of Pokemon that aren't viable because they lack the traditional tools for their role, there are also many exceptions to these rules (To give a couple examples, Mega Slowbro is a slow, not that strong sweeper and Ferrothorn is a wall with no reliable recovery). The purpose of this CAP would therefore be to explore just how far we can push the limits of being "bad" for a certain job, while still producing a final product that is not just usable, but actually very effective. Additionally, it will give us some insights as to what allows certain Pokemon to bypass their flaws, while others are ultimately crippled by them.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What qualities are truly essential to fulfill the role we choose for CAP 20? Obviously Pokemon that don’t learn entry hazards can never be hazard setters, but with sweepers, walls, tanks, pivots, etc. the truly essential requirements can be a lot less obvious.
• How do the truly essential requirements from above compare with the qualities we normally associate with the given role? Are there certain qualities we usually consider “required” that a Pokemon can actually function without?
• Does this potential discrepancy open the door to unorthodox ways for CAP 20 to achieve its role without resorting to gimmicks?
• Which qualities are the most vital to overcoming certain flaws in a Pokemon?
• What can we extrapolate about OU viability from CAP 20? Can we pinpoint exactly why some Pokemon that seem to “have it all” come up short, while others that look inferior at first glance are extremely dominant?
• Does this project allow us to identify any underrated threats that don’t see usage because of their apparent flaws, but are actually capable of overcoming those with the tools they already have available?
• Finally, how will a Pokemon that is lacking in one or more crucial areas affect the OU metagame? Will we see a rise in Pokémon designed to target CAP20’s flaws? Or will CAP 20’s unusual method for fulfilling its role result in unusual methods of beating it? i.e. Will an unusual wall give rise to unusual wall breakers?

Explanation: My hopes for this concept are that it would give us a more in depth understanding of a certain role by really exploring all of the possible ways to "get the job done" without having the amazing stats/typing/ability/everything-else-that-catches people's attention when looking at what Pokemon to put on a team. That said, one advantage of this concept is that we would have the option to use a very good typing/ability/moves that are normally written off as "too good" knowing full well that we would be making up for it with some other liability on this Pokemon. I'm not talking about using banned abilities here, but rather the possibility of having a couple conversations where we can just brainstorm the best ways to make a Pokemon good without worrying about "crossing the line".
I don’t really have any preferences on what direction this concept goes. A couple ideas I bounced around were a relatively low speed/low attack/frail sweeper (like Lucario, only viable, with figuring out how to make it viable being the challenge of the project), as well as a Pokemon with sub-par defenses that would usually try to fit a wall role, but could scare away slower wall breakers with the threat of an offensive set (like wall Jellicent in Gen V if Specs Water Spout Jellicent hadn’t been so slow and gimmicky) Anyway, those are just two ideas I had bounced around, but there are so many possible paths to take that I think we could learn something from just about any role if we really do the project right.

 

[CapCrow]

Name - Trapping the Enemy

Description - A Pokemon that can trap the opponent on the field and weaken it's victims stats.

Justification- For the longest time, moves that lower the opponent's stats such as Screech or FeatherDance have been completely unused because the opponent can simply switch his/her Pokemon and make the move prove useless. Having a Pokemon based around trapping the opposing Pokemon on the field would not only give these stat lowering moves a purpose in Singles and Doubles, but would also give a chance to experiment with something that hasn't really ever been experimented with. Also, this would be a great new stall tactic, as the Pokemon can inflict a status ailment like toxic or will-o-wisp then follow up with lowering the opponents stats so the Pokemon would be safe.

Questions To Be Answered -

• Could a Pokemon that traps it's opponent on the field to lower it's stats be an effective new way to stall?
• Could stat lowering moves be effective in the current OU metagame?
• Would a Pokemon with this design be too effective? Or not effective enough?
• Would a Pokemon be able to completely lock down a powerful Pokemon such as Greninja or Aegislash?
• Could there be a trapping Pokemon that cancels u-turn or v-switch users?
• Would this Pokemon be a good match against another stale Pokemon such as Sableye?
• How would this effect Double Battles? Would this unlock a whole new breed of strategies for Doubles?

Explanation - Switching is a man's best friend, it gets them out of tight situations that are usually very dangerous. However, take that away from a strong attacker like Conkeldurr and then put it up against a soul leeching tank. They won't be able to do anything except fight it. Now, say that soul leeching tank inflicts its victim with will-o-wisp than uses Nobel Roar. All that the poor thing can do is watch it's life whittle away until it faints. The closest Pokemon that has come close to having these characteristics is Dugtrio with Arena Trap, base 120 speed, and the ability to learn Toxic and Screech. So why isn't he used more often in the current metagame? Well while he is very fast, he has no way of locking down the opponent with stat lowering moves. Screech isn't going to help him in any way because the only thing that it will accomplish is making the opponent's defense weaker which doesn't help because Dugtrio's defense stats is so low that he's going to die in a matter of one hit no matter how fast he is. The point is, a Pokemon such as this would do well in CAP if it has the right tools for the job. However, that does limit the Pokemon to a small number of useful moves unless it has the stats needed to succeed. The main goal of this set is to find a why to utilize the long forgotten stat lowering moves and find a way to utilize field trapping skills such as Arena Trap or Mean Look.

 

[DetroitLolcat]

Name: Sticky Web Support

General Description: A Pokemon that uses the move Sticky Web to support its team.

Justification: Sticky Web is considered one of the best moves in the game of Pokemon, but is not relevant in high-level OU play. This is because there is not a single OU-viable Pokemon that learns Sticky Web. As we've seen in the lower tiers (e.g. RU when Shuckle was allowed) and in certain Other Metagames (e.g. CAP metagame with Necturna), a viable Sticky Web user can completely reshape the metagame or at the very least introduce an entirely new style of offensive play. Furthermore, we don't really know what it takes to make a Sticky Web user viable in OU, so this concept will demonstrate what it takes for Sticky Web to be able to "redeem" a Pokemon; all we know about Sticky Web right now is that it's not great enough to redeem the likes of Galvantula and Shuckle. It goes without saying that this concept introduces a new niche in the metagame; in fact, I don't think there's another move in OU other than Sketch that can influence a metagame more than Sticky Web.

Questions To Be Answered:
1. Can Sticky Web fit into the OU metagame without either dominating it or fading into obscurity?
2. What else does a Pokemon need to have to be a viable Sticky Web supporter?
3. What Pokemon perform best while aided by Sticky Web, and what Pokemon become less viable because of Sticky Web's presence?
4. Can non-Sticky Web offense still exist in a metagame where Sticky Web is a viable strategy?

Explanation: Any OU player knows that Sticky Web is one of the best moves in the game, but its lack of distribution has made it the biggest question mark in OU right now. This concept intends to explore the move Sticky Web by making it a viable playstyle in OU. Given we know about CAP playtests, we'll definitely get a firsthand look at an OU with viable Sticky Web. Even if we fail to balance the Pokemon, we'll learn what makes a Sticky Web user broken or underpowered in OU.

This concept is difficult to fail; no matter how we go about this concept we will learn something about the move Sticky Web and how it fits into OU. It will hopefully make OU a more diverse metagame, and, most importantly, it's focused. There is no ambiguity to this concept, yet there are countless ways to accomplish it. One of the most significant reasons Concepts were overhauled over the last PR period is because selected Concepts were broad and difficult to define, or because they locked us into one specific typing/ability/stat spread/movepool early on in the process. This Concept avoids both of those pitfalls while nearly guaranteeing that we learn something significant about the metagame.

 

[Necrozer0]

Name: Public Enemy

General Description: A Pokemon with strong qualities to be determined a suspect.

Justification: Smogon has had many suspects over the generations. How interesting it will be for CAP to have its very own suspect worthy Pokemon. Helps us understand the process that goes in identifying such a Pokemon and to find out if it is ban worthy or not.

Questions to be Answered:
What is a suspect and the requirements to become one?
What trait or combination of traits can cause a Pokemon to become a suspect? (Is it their ability, move pool, types?)
What role will the suspect play? (Offense, Defense, Support?)
If a Pokemon is a suspect how do we deem if it is too much for the metagame to handle?
Can such a Pokemon make a shift in the metagame?

Explanation: As a long time lurker, I observed so many CAP projects and the community has been cautious on creating a CAP not too strong for good reasons though. What if we created a strong pokemon but borderline enough to where it's not broken but makes us doubt and think, "Hmmm...maybe this Pokemon is unhealthy for the metagame." Usually such a pokemon will be labeled a suspect and creates a debate whether it belongs in the meta or not. As I mentioned above, we can understand the minds that determines why a certain Pokemon is chosen for a suspect and perhaps we can have our very first CAP suspect test (doubt this will happen but I can dream).

 

[Snaquaza]

Name: No Restrictions

General Description: A Pokemon that minimally influences and limits the teambuilding process.

Justification: Teambuilding is an extremely important thing in competitive battling. It requires a lot of thought and can make or break a player. Most Pokemon need certain support, or teammates to function well, effectively limiting the options the player has. Other concepts play a role in teambuilding as well. Examples of those are keeping up momentum; checking or countering all other threats in the metagame among others. This CAP would try to keep this limitations to a minimum. This would cause teambuilding to be more diverse, as you can put most Pokemon on a team with the CAP and call it a day. This would learn us how teambuilding works in the current metagame; when a Pokemon gets picked on a team and how support influences the viability of a Pokemon. It would also help us understand the importance of teambuilding in the current metagame, seeing as a lot of people are stating that matchups are very important in this metagame.

Questions to be Answered:

• What are traits that cause a Pokemon to need a lot of Support?
• How can a Pokemon be useful when used together with a lot of different Pokemon?
• Can a Pokemon fulfill a role as an important partner for a lot of Pokemon so teambuilding gets opened up again?
• Will this Pokemon fulfill the concept within one archetype, or within multiple archetypes?
• Will this Pokemon be a jack-of-all-trades or have more specific options that are ever useful?
• Will this Pokemon be able to get better with certain support, but still good without it?
• How can a Pokemon be very flexible in teambuilding without being broken? What flaws would it have?
• How does the teambuilding process work?

Explanation: This Pokemon will influence teambuilding a lot. This Pokemon will help you get freedom in your teambuilding. That said, it shouldn't be broken nor universal / centralizing. It could be prevented from being broken by making it only fulfill the concept on a single playstyle, or that it could be used in some cases, but is outclassed in that specific case. The main problem of this cap is probably finding a way between outclassed (When the specific set you could use is done better by something else) and broken (It outclasses all the other things). A way to solve this is unpredictability, so it can surprise you with certain sets. Another way is to make it stand out on certain teams, while being usable, but outclassed on others as well. I'd be interested in seeing how the CAP community would make this work, as it won't be easy but should be a good progress. Of course, it can also have a very valuable niche lots of teams want, while not needing a lot of support. Finally, it'll be fun to see as well which typing/stats/moves and ability we're gonna pick as none of them are set in stone, and it will be interesting to see what kind of support we should deliver and how we limit the support we need and possibly the support teammates need. This shouldn't be something like the ultimate glue. It's not meant to be added as a last Pokemon per se, as by then teambuilding stops. It should preferably be added somewhere in the middle while building the team, hopefully not restricting the teambuilding and possibly clearing it up. It shouldn't always be the first choice, and other things might be favored over it, but if you add it it shouldn't restrict you when you go on teambuilding.

 

[En Passant]

That is never true. That is why I said 'hardly ever' in stead of 'never'.
In the 'old metagame' a set-up wall was common, and not a gimmicky tactic, while this is not the case in the new metagame.
The offensive pokémon dominate the metagame now. I would prefer to have more balance here, and I think CAP20 is able to have such an effect.

There are a lot more set-up walls than you think. Going through the viability list, there's also Mega Sableye (S Rank), Mega Slowbro (A+), and the one and only CroCune (B). This doesn't include set-up sweepers that happen to be bulky, such as Mega Gyarados (A+) and Tyranitar (A). It's not gimmicky.

 

[Jukain]

Infamy's Defensive Trapper: That sounds like it would be really broken. If you manage to create this perfect trapper for defensive teams that eliminates the common ways of beating them then, well, how do you beat defensive teams? The other possibility is that the project is a flop and the Pokemon isn't effective on stall at all because creating an all-encompassing glue like this is impossible. It also forces the CAP into a single ability, which is too restricting on the project as a whole.

DetroitLolcat's Sticky Web Support: I'm skeptical that this would work because Sticky Web isn't really that good in OU in the first place. I don't think the reason Sticky Web isn't used is because the current setters are especially bad because Shuckle is a very reliable setter and also has access to Stealth Rock while being able to punish setup with Encore. The reason that Sticky Web isn't used is that it's inherently rather matchup reliant. Many of the common Pokemon in OU are non-grounded or don't care about the Speed drop that much; Sticky Web is really only effective against certain brands of offense. It can also be a liability against Bisharp, which is never something you want. This concept might work better if you make it more focused and attempt to make this setter address some of these matchup concerns.

Snaquaza's No Restrictions: What this looks like is that you're essentially trying to create an ultimate glue of some sort, a Pokemon that blanket checks a lot of things in order to free up space in teambuilding. This screams making something like Aegislash because to make a Pokemon this effective it has to be that good. Pretty much, whatever Pokemon would be created from this would have to be broken in order to do what you're saying.

 

[Qwilphish]

This is kind of important so let's not let it die...

I'll comment on concepts I think are interesting / good:
trc Distribution Revolution

I like this concept from a teambuilders perspective as I know that it is extremely easy to just hit 252/4/252 or go with whatever spread is put on the analysis and be done with a Pokemon without going through what that Pokemon's purpose is and what more can ve done to maximize efficiency for your team. For example, a long time ago I was reading Ojama's BW RMT (I believe it was GoGolbat or something like that) and seeing all of his unconventional spreads that he used because they made sense in the context of his team's goal. I know this concept of maximizing efficiency is extremely prevalent in VGC where spreads are based around surviving one hit from a certain Attack or being able to 2HKO a certain Pokemon and I would like to see this applied to OU. I do think that the examples can be better but they get the point across well enough imo.

srk1214 Choice Scarf is not Dead

This concept is focused yet it still inspires many questions about the role of priority, speed creep, and item cost. Unlike several other concepts whose effects can only be seen in the teambuilder, this one has direct impacts in battle and thus will make discussions much better than trying to discuss abstract concepts that may not even exist. Choice Scarf was one of the leading items in BW yet in ORAS you only see it on Lando-T and maybe Keldeo or Latios. It will be interesting to see how much a speed boost is worth and what makes it worth losing out on Power and Survivability (I.e. what role will be its main role as we have this far seen three: Revenge Killer (Keldeo), Momentum (Lando-T, Genesect), Disrupter (Latios, TrickScarfers)). Overall clean and interesting concept.


Surprised I haven't seen much discussion on these as they both can make great projects imo :)

 

[Burt Racecar]

So I've wanted to post some response and feedback but not had much time lately.

Yuelia's Element of Surprise
Difficult concept as I really think we'd struggle to successfully create an element of surprise. Really, we're better off talking about psychological warfare here. I think the concept needs to modify itself away from being about a total element of surprise and more towards constant uncertainty, and you never know a surprise set might come out of the left field as it often does. For example creating a mon with two or more viable sets that play fairly differently but not so different that the team archetypes differ a great deal.
The now banned Greninja is a good example to use because of the versatility it has. It was a difficult mon to play around until its full moveset became known. I might have a Tentacruel as a check, but there's always the chance it has Extrasensory. Or similarly, Empoleon, but again it could be running Low Kick.
Questions you could ask might be ones such as;
'How will the opponent react to uncertainty?'
'Is it possible to reliably conceal the whole moveset even when on the field?'
'What is the cost of using one moveset over the other?'

These changes still fits in with the basis of surprise in my opinion, and actually strengthens the comparison you made to UU Krookodile. Although, I'm not sure whether this is too much of an overhaul in your eyes or in anyone else's.

CerberusSONE's All Animals Are Equal, But Some More Than Others
The short description makes the concept sounds impossible, anything that can constantly decentralise the top Pokemon inevitably will become pretty centralised or at least a low-cost pokemon that can be slapped on every team without much thought. To be fair though, you've highlighted the issues in your explanation and questions.
My concern is that it's too broad of a concept to pull off, perhaps it needs more direction in order to avoid issues that a community would have trouble agreeing on in the concept assessment stage?

Goddess Briyella's Dangerous Greed
I like this concept, it would allow us to potentially explore a number of seldom seen mechanics, moves and abilities.

Tarontos' The Mediocre Mon
Unfortunately, I don't think this would make for a very fun or interesting CAP, as it somewhat inhibits creativity, plus you gave a few examples of pokemon with mediocre stats and typings that already occupy OU.
I really think Clefable is the result of GameFreak doing this concept. It has nothing really unique or outstanding about it, but when its all combined together it produces a really good pokemon.

LightningLord2's Missing Link
I'd love to see Rototiller get some use, or for an Electric Terrain user to come along and counter Crocune, but the problem is they are very niche moves with inherent problems of being extremely easy to play around.
Other questions I think could be worth asking:
'Of the Pokemon that learn these field effects, what prevents them from actually reserving a move slot for one these moves?'
'How much team support is needed to make such a playstyle usable?'

trc's Distribution Revolution
I liked this concept when you submitted it for the previous CAP, I still do in a way, but it's not without its issues imo. Since we're talking about modifying EVs just to net/survive the OHKO/2HKO from our opponents of choice, wouldn't we have to be even more anal than usual about stat spreads and checks and counters?
Speaking of targets to meet, choosing those will be a huge task, since we don't have any tangible objective to go off or any inkling of a direction to head in.

Deck Knight's Field Marshall
Sound concept.. I can think of a couple of potential directions we could take. One thing I'm uncertain of is whether or not this concept should be designed for any and all playstyles or if it should pigeonhole itself into filling one niche, screen support for example?
If it's the former it might be in danger of being too much Utility 2.0, and the latter might become a bit too boring.

zepkhan'sSpeed Trick
The concept needs some more work, it's not reading as if it's fully developed in my opinion.
The metagame has got faster over the mid-gen transition from XY to ORAS which is pretty absurd actually. So generally speaking the faster the better as being first to move has an enormous advantage, with the odd exception (some u-turn/volt switch users). I'm not quite sure how we could create a pokemon to change it's speed at will throughout the match. Did I misunderstand that, or is it actually meant to increase and decrease its speed throughout the game?
Can you expand on any other items that modify speed beside choice scarf? maybe there's some merit in both slowing the opponent down while increasing your own speed.
Some questions to consider for the concept:
'What are the benefits to being the slower pokemon in such a fast paced meta?'
'Does base speed directly correlate with the team archetype a pokemon fits on? (Some Hyper Offense teams will have no pokemon below 100 base speed, similarly some Stall teams won't have pokemon above 100 base speed)'
'What strategies will speed trick have on maintaining momentum?'

srk1214's Scarf Is Not Dead
Could be an interesting concept, especially seeing as the scarf set by default has to be its most viable. The biggest question for me regarding Choice Scarf usage is;
'What advantages does a scarfer have over the abundance of priority users? Especially when some of the bigger threats this gen are weak to some forms of priority (not an extensive list but; M-Lop, M-Diancie, Bisharp, Altaria, Keldeo)'

noobiess' Building the Great Wall
CM Mega Bro is a win con for certain teams. In fact, I don't think the great wall can be done any better than this, as it can still switch in to take hits throughout the game and still keep its health high thanks to regenerator, and when the time is right it can go mega and start buffering special attack and defense to clean up.
One thing I will agree with is that power creep has outdone defense creep, M-Hera with a single sword dance has frightening power (thank goodness it's slow); there's not much out there that gains absurd defense from a single boost. There may still be merit in the concept in identifying some threats floating round OU that have very shaky switch-ins.

Infamy's Defensive Trapper
This sounds like it could be pretty OP if we wanted it to be and as Jukain said we're restricted to the one ability which is quite undesirable.
Anyway trappers as we know it are momentum breakers, or remove a specific threat. It's quite interesting to envision a defensive trapper; sort of a 'catch-all' wall Pokemon. If you want to increase stall's viability then I'm not sure that creating a trapper is the way to go.
What are the biggest threats to stall right now? The prevalence of certain Megas? An increased variety in Stallbreakers?

Unfortunately, I don't have time to get through the third page of submissions right now.

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Name: VoltTurn Floodgate
General Description: A Pokemon that punishes and/or restricts the usage of Volt Switch and U-turn as much as humanly possible, and easily checks known users of those moves
Justification: U-Turn: An attack that, ever since its introduction in DPPt, has been relied upon to grant great momentum to the player, via not only inflicting physical chip damage, but also allowing the player to to switch to something that could check whatever it was that got said chip damage. Volt Switch was introduced in BW so certain special attackers could do the same thing, and it's because of those two attacks that there's such a thing as a VoltTurn team in the first place. We can ascertain that things like Scizor (Mega or no), Talonflame, Thundurus, M-Manectric, Rotom-W and Landorus-T will often use VoltTurning to maneuver their way in and out of the battlefield whenever they want to. However, rather than just allow them to come and go whenever they damn well want to, why not have a go-to mon to act as a floodgate for such cheap tactics?
Questions To Be Answered:
How important is the momentum that VoltTurning can provide? Is it worth any punishment that the users may suffer from it?
Can Pokemon that are known to use the moves adapt to the presence of this Pokemon?
What strengths and weakness do the majority of VoltTurners share? Can this Pokemon take advantage of them?
Which Pokemon would rise and fall in usage, should the act of VoltTurning decline upon the presence of this Pokemon?
How would a floodgate Pokemon affect momentum as a whole, for one player or both?
Explanation: Should this concept come to pass, we can learn a decent amount about VoltTurning as a whole. True, there's quite a bit that some of us know already, like how great a tool it is for pivoting, and how annoying it is for the opponent to have to deal with. But more knowledge is nice.

I've already covered everything else that needs to be said... for the most part.

 

[Athicus]

Name: Sweep Stopper
General Description: A Pokémon designed to halt opponents who would otherwise plough through teams.
Justification: When two teams focused on setting up for the sweep face off, the battle is often determined by (1) who successfully finishes preparations first, and (2) what the opposing team has to check and/or counter the sweeper(s). With OU remaining a heavily offensive tier thanks to dangerous foes such as M-Gallade, Latios, Talonflame, and the deadly-since-conception Garchomp, the Sweep Stopper would be among the go-to team members to prevent a 0-6. A Pokémon capable of saving a team from what would otherwise appear to be hopeless defeat would be invaluable to many teams.
Questions To Be Answered:
(1) Is it possible for a player to come back from 3-6 or worse, regardless of how threatening the opposing team is offensively?
(2) Would sweepers or Hyper Offense teams need to modify their sets in order to stop this Pokémon from slowing them down or stopping them?
(3) Is it possible to be able to at least slow down every offensive Pokémon OU has to offer in just four moves, an ability, and an item?
(4) Is there a way to use an offensive enemy's own damage-dealing capabilities against them not named Foul Play, Imposter, or confusion?
Explanation: The Sweep Stopper would generally focus on crippling opposing sweepers, including those who are already on their way to ending the match. It could do this through the use of hindering status effects, such as burn and paralysis, or even outright stat drops such as Intimidate, Scary Face, or Noble Roar. It could go for the fast approach, outspeeding the threat through either a huge speed stat or priority (Prankster comes to mind), or alternatively it could be extremely bulky, taking the hits the sweeper throws at it (*cough*Sturdy*cough*), and slowly taking less and less damage as the opponent's Pokémon gets weaker and less dangerous. However, for balance reasons as well as straight-up logic, the Pokémon would have decreased offensive capability, and either reduced defenses or speed depending on which path the project decides to take.

 

[Unsee]

Name: The Trickster (aka Master Trololol)

General Description: A Pokémon who has several different but viable abilities to trick the opponent into using the wrong move against it.

Justification: The OU metagame is full of blind sweepers, ones that can pretty much take any challenge that comes to them. Still, though, the ability to predict an opponent's move lies near, if not at, the center of a battle. One small mispredict, and it can be came over. With this CAP, it would be cool to enhance that need to predict an opponent's decision, not just with moves but with abilities now, too. This Pokémon's abilities could greatly affect the way it plays, each one playing a different role, maybe even to the point of win and lose. Not only would this be a great addition to any team, but a great momentum modifier, too, hence the name Master Trololol. Luck has always been a large part of the Pokémon battle... why not make it more crucial?

Questions to be Answered:

• How can abilities greatly affect the outcome of a battle?
• Will the need for concise predictions enhance the OU metagame?
• Can a Pokémon sufficiently fill many possible roles, while only focusing on one at a time?
• Is it possible for there to be a universal check under certain circumstances?
• How easily can an opponent be fooled?
• Judging by the rest of a team, is it possible to decipher a Pokémon's unknown set?
• Could a Pokémon with many useful abilities fit in to any team?
• Would a Pokémon like this be able to slow momentum on the opposing team while retaining momentum on the user's?
• Could a Pokémon like this be risky for both sides if it is in play?
• Is stalling possible without status moves?

Explanation: I think I speak for everyone when I say that I HATE mispredicting. From Faking Out a Protect to using Thunder Wave on a recently switched in Garchomp, a mispredict will ruin the momentum of the battle and maybe turn the tables. What I'd like to see is a Pokémon whose existence revolves around predicting; stalling yet retaining (or beginning) the momentum on the user's side. With several different abilities at hand, an opponent should be able to mess up and use the wrong attack against the Trickster, or if the player is smart enough, figure out the set based on the rest of the team. Basically, what I'm looking for is a staller that stalls by switching in, or just being on the field, no status moves required. The OU meta could use more thinking; more logic put in to the formula. I think this would be a cool new concept to experiment with, as it could completely change a player's way of thinking.

This CAP would be a great combo for U-Turners and Volt Switchers like Rotom, and the scary thing is that it could be a PERFECT CHECK TO ITSELF. Kinda scary :3

 

[Birkal]

QC Sweep

Yuelia - Kind of hard to experience this in the playtest though... We already know what surprises are, but I like the differentiation between lure and gimmick as one of your questions. I'm not quite sure there is a difference, to be honest. Cool idea, but I don't think it's feasible for us
CerberusSONE - While I like the idea, I'm not sure we can necessarily determine a CAP's usage through a playtest. Sounds like we'd be setting ourselves up for failure.
Goddess Briyella - Wow, this is intriguing! What do I know though, haha. I am not sure how viable this is, but let's look at it under the microscope. APPROVED
Tarontos - This sounds like a fun challenge; I think it stretches the CAP process without necessarily inhibiting it. Let's dive into this. APPROVED
LightningLord2 - We sort of know that there are thousands of way to not invent the lightbulb at this point. This is a bit too open-ended for CAP. Good thinking though!
trc - This was good last CAP and just as relevant now. Moving on. APPROVED
Deck Knight - I'm not convinced that this concept would be pretty limiting to concept discussion. Once we've selected our way to alter the opponent's playing field, what left is there to learn? Maybe tweak this to be more specific?
Zepkhan - This is so limiting to stats and abilities. How would this address typing or movepool?
srk1214 - I am glad you tweaked the questions on this; nice work. The last questions are the most inspiring; can we force Choice Scarf to be the best option? APPROVED
noobiess - I am inclined to agree with NumberCruncher... I fear creating a wall greater than our current ones would be outright broken by Smogon's standards.
Defensive Trapper - Trapping is difficult in that they can be so versatile in their role. I am not convinced we could make one that would solely prey on defensive users. Rather, most trappers remove the opponent's greatest inhibitor to a win condition, no?

There will be most QCers popping up over the next day, so we'll be moving faster on this :)

 

[Ahhhhhh......Clefable.]

Name: Limit Glove

General Description: A Pokémon that succeeds in the metagame with an incredibly minimal movepool.

Justification: CAP has approached the concept of exploring typing, abilities, and teamwork and their influence in the metagame. However, there has yet to be a CAP that explores the specific importance of movepool and its influence in the metagame. This Pokémon would allow us to determine what moves in an extremely limited movepool would allow a Pokémon to succeed despite the disadvantages of having a limited movepool.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What moves are the most critical to the success of Pokémon in the CAP environment?
• How few moves are possible to work with in order for a Pokémon to survive and thrive in the OU environment?
• How influential are typing, stat spread, and ability when developing a CAPs movepool, especially a limited movepool?
• What moves are the most defining in the current metagame and would best lend themselves to the success of CAP with a limited movepool?
• What other factors (teambuilding, stat spread, type, ability, item choice) have to be predetermined in order to successfully create a CAP with a shallow movepool?

Explanation: So, I thought of this idea one day when looking at Wobbuffet, a Pokémon that is potentially very deadly in the right hands. I wonder if the CAP community can create a Pokémon with similar movepool restrictions. Wobbuffet has 8 moves in its incredibly shallow yet precise movepool, and when combined with its very intentional stat spread and ability, can dismantle a critical component of your opponent's team. Wobbuffet's usage has been all over the place during its existence, and I think it would be really interesting to take a long, hard look at moves and determine, as a community, whether a Pokémon with an extremely limited movepool can be successful in this environment, and, if so, what other elements (ability, type, stat spread) it would take to make said CAP successful.

 

[WhyAxis]

Name: Death by Feather.

General Description: A Pokemon that uses a host of residual damage aside from significantly powerful attacks to attack and faint other Pokemon.

Justification: While many Pokemon make use of leech seed or iron barbs/rough skin, the amount of Pokemon that utilize residual damage to harm enemies is fairly low. Using this Pokemon could introduce an interesting method of playstyle to trap enemies with attacks like infestation but tank their attacks as the damage compounds instead of being a fast attacker or setting up. This would also force the use of lesser used moves and items.

Questions to be Answered:
- What moves and abilities can this Pokemon use to cause enough residual damage to enemy Pokemon to be a significant threat?
- Additionally, what typing is the most potent to achieve this goal? Specifically, which how can this Pokemon complete its goal most efficiently with its given typing?
- How to avoid this Pokemon becoming taunt bait and ultimately losing to fast taunt users? And how can this Pokemon break through Pokemon with magic bounce or rapid spin?
- Will this Pokemon function as support or will it stand alone as preforming its job? Specifically, how will this Pokemon's moves affect how its team plays around it?
- Which OU Pokemon will be a threat to the preformance of this Pokemon and how can this Pokemon protect against them?
- How will this Pokemon utilize actual attacking moves? Ones that do damage over time and trap like infestation should be thought of, as well as ones that cause status.

Explanation: I wanted to make use of moves that have interesting effects but don't see nearly enough usage, like fire spin and infestation. This Pokemon would cause trouble to many stallers or set-up sweepers by causing lots of damage even through boosts by moves like leech seed and infestation/fire spin. Pokemon like Gliscor that tank hits and heal lots of damage would presumably be hampered by this Pokemon, which would likely be defensive because it fulfills its role mostly by percentage damage. To fulfill its role effectively this Pokemon needs to prevent Pokemon from switching out on it because them doing so would remove helpful damage dealers like leech seed. This Pokemon should be able to switch in against many Pokemon and threaten them so they need to switch out.

 

[NumberCruncher]

Name: Death by Feather.

General Description: A Pokemon that uses a host of residual damage aside from significantly powerful attacks to attack and faint other Pokemon.

Justification: While many Pokemon make use of leech seed or iron barbs/rough skin, the amount of Pokemon that utilize residual damage to harm enemies is fairly low. Using this Pokemon could introduce an interesting method of playstyle to trap enemies with attacks like infestation but tank their attacks as the damage compounds instead of being a fast attacker or setting up. This would also force the use of lesser used moves and items.

Questions to be Answered:
- What moves and abilities can this Pokemon use to cause enough residual damage to enemy Pokemon to be a significant threat?
- Additionally, what typing is the most potent to achieve this goal? Specifically, which how can this Pokemon complete its goal most efficiently with its given typing?
- How to avoid this Pokemon becoming taunt bait and ultimately losing to fast taunt users? And how can this Pokemon break through Pokemon with magic bounce or rapid spin?
- Will this Pokemon function as support or will it stand alone as preforming its job? Specifically, how will this Pokemon's moves affect how its team plays around it?
- Which OU Pokemon will be a threat to the preformance of this Pokemon and how can this Pokemon protect against them?
- How will this Pokemon utilize actual attacking moves? Ones that do damage over time and trap like infestation should be thought of, as well as ones that cause status.

Explanation: I wanted to make use of moves that have interesting effects but don't see nearly enough usage, like fire spin and infestation. This Pokemon would cause trouble to many stallers or set-up sweepers by causing lots of damage even through boosts by moves like leech seed and infestation/fire spin. Pokemon like Gliscor that tank hits and heal lots of damage would presumably be hampered by this Pokemon, which would likely be defensive because it fulfills its role mostly by percentage damage. To fulfill its role effectively this Pokemon needs to prevent Pokemon from switching out on it because them doing so would remove helpful damage dealers like leech seed. This Pokemon should be able to switch in against many Pokemon and threaten them so they need to switch out.

The issue I'm seeing is that any Pokemon built this way would do more damage with Toxic than with actual residual offense. Since Toxic is something everybody gets, this is basically going to turn into a Toxic-staller instead of being used for its residual damage.

 

[Calugia]

Name: The Ledge Runner

General Description: A pokemon that is capable of sweeping while frequently on the brink of death, often through the use of recoil moves. It would have access to recovery, but would constantly be at risk of being KOed by a foe or by it's own move. The concept is to reward strategic damage calculation, being able to measure just how much you are injured by a move and how much you can inflict on the opponent.

Justification: While recoil moves are used frequently, they are usually just thrown out to break particularly tough walls. I am interested in seeing a pokemon that completely embraces the mathematical side of pokemon by making the player constantly think about his actions while at the same time causing the opponent to panic. The idea is to reward matchup familiarity as well as careful planning and calculation, maximizing offensive capability while making sure you don't accidentally kill yourself.

Questions to be answered
-Is there competitive hope for a pokemon who constantly sits on the brink of destruction, and if so how can we make it work?
-Can we make a pokemon with such emphasis on the details that it rewards those who play the numbers game?
-Is it worth it to run such a variety of potentially-crippling recoil moves, especially when priority is so prevalent?
-Is stall such a potent threat that it is worthwhile to run pokemon who specifically counter it but are at the same time completely shattered by offensive teams?
-What, in the end, ultimately makes or breaks a glass cannon?

Explanation: The idea for this pokemon emerged when I was on the brink of defeat to a stall team and was managing a comeback through some judicious use of brave bird. I got to a point where one wrong prediction could make or break the game, and the idea of a pokemon who was constantly riding the ledge of being dead weight or an absolute force of nature based on how well a player could analyze the game started to seem more and more interesting. As a competitive theorist, I would greatly enjoy a pokemon that rewards caution yet at the same time encourages taking frequent risks, a stallbreaker who is never more than one or two mistakes away from defeat yet at the same time can sweep through unprepared foes with ease.

 

[Zepkhan]

Name:Speed Trick (attempt 2)
General Description:A mid-paced pokemon whose speed can be determined by abilities and items with a mix of strategies based on each combination.
Justification:Speed can be a key factor in battles. Often being the determinant of matches, shown by Blaziken’s banning to ubers. Subpunch and Trick Room are also good strategies for slow pokemon. Speed Trick is a pokemon that can play fast or slow depending on playstyles.


Questions To Be Answered:
-What effect would a speed-changing pokemon have on the metagame as a whole?
-Will it be played fast or slow?
-Will speed changing alone make it viable?
-How will it function with various team strategies?
-What trade-offs will it get if low speed (e.g. high attack/def stats)
-What other items can be used (FlingBall perhaps)

Explanation:Unburden has been a good ability in OU with Hawlucha in combo with Fling and in Ranbats with Slurpuff, Hitmonlee and Accelgor and Red Card. Or if you’re up against an already fast mixed attacker, Tricking it a choice scarf can make an opponent lose momentum or force a switch. Or is it better to take it slow with a SubPunch to a key target a la Breloom. As a trade-off for a speed ability, the pokemon can also have an attack ability.
Item related speed combat is used a lot with scarves but the aim of this pokemon is to be a speed trick pokemon enough for people to not be sure (i.e. have non-speed trick moves as a secondary strategy, kinda like Rotom mech.

 

[nyttyn]

QC sweep
The Underdog I think Mediocore Mon explores this far better, unfortuantely.
Trapping the Enemy Lord of the Crossing already has trapping covered, and if you can trap a pokemon, it's to either boost your own stats for a sweep, or outright delete a threat. Too narrow, and I don't think the concept could work.
Sticky Web Support While I think the move has problems, there has been a call for exploring it, and the concept itself is well laid out. +1
VoltTurn Floodgate Landorus-T and other ground types in OU already discourage half of VoltTurn, and Rocky Helmet Ferrothron is a thing. I don't see how this could get much better than that.
Sweep Stopper Thundurus-T, Talonflame both exist already. What would this be doing that they don't?
The Trickster I'm...not even sure what is this is attempting to do. A pokemon with three different absorb abilities? I don't get it.
Limit Glove 90% of a pokemon's movepool is already pointless most of the time. In fact it's actually more uncommon that a mon has more than 4 or 5 moves they actually can use than the other way around.
Death by Feather This is literally what stall has done since GSC.
The ledge runner Talonflame, Staraptor. In theory this sounds cool, in practice you just spam recoil moves anyways because they make things break.
Speed Trick Way, way, way too vague and unfinished.

 

[Unsee]

QC sweep
The Underdog I think Mediocore Mon explores this far better, unfortuantely.
Trapping the Enemy Lord of the Crossing already has trapping covered, and if you can trap a pokemon, it's to either boost your own stats for a sweep, or outright delete a threat. Too narrow, and I don't think the concept could work.
Sticky Web Support While I think the move has problems, there has been a call for exploring it, and the concept itself is well laid out. +1
VoltTurn Floodgate Landorus-T and other ground types in OU already discourage half of VoltTurn, and Rocky Helmet Ferrothron is a thing. I don't see how this could get much better than that.
Sweep Stopper Thundurus-T, Talonflame both exist already. What would this be doing that they don't?
The Trickster I'm...not even sure what is this is attempting to do. A pokemon with three different absorb abilities? I don't get it.
Limit Glove 90% of a pokemon's movepool is already pointless most of the time. In fact it's actually more uncommon that a mon has more than 4 or 5 moves they actually can use than the other way around.
Death by Feather This is literally what stall has done since GSC.
The ledge runner Talonflame, Staraptor. In theory this sounds cool, in practice you just spam recoil moves anyways because they make things break.
Speed Trick Way, way, way too vague and unfinished.

nyttyn, ignore the absorb abilities example. I was just trying to give the most simple example possible with that one. At the heart of my idea is, essentially, exploring how one Pokémon can explore several different but unique roles by giving it different abilities. The opponent, unknowing of the assigned ability, would have to guess the set. Hence "The Trickster."

 

[Kankuro195]

Well, here goes:

Name: Ability Neutralizer

General Description: A pokemon that is capable of neutralizing ability dependent opponents, or using the opponents’ abilities to its advantage.

Justification: Generation 6 is a strong metagame with many pokemon that receive high usage because of their powerful abilities. Azumarill, Clefable, Gothitelle, and Slowbro are just a few examples of pokemon that fill important roles because of their incredibly useful abilities. This CAP would allow us to explore the impact of niche and common abilities on the metagame and whether inhibiting those abilities can vastly affect the effectiveness of those pokemon and the momentum of the match. In addition, the concept can create a pokemon that can be offensively potent by capitalizing on opponents abilities or defensively powerful that can shut down opposing threats.

Questions To Be Answered:

· How can a pokemon capitalize on neutralizing opposing abilities gain momentum?

· What pokemon are hindered through ability loss? What pokemon are still threatening without losing their ability?

· How can this pokemon utilize opponents abilities to make itself more potent?

· What kind of role (offensive, defensive, wall) would this pokemon fit in to most effectively abuse abilities? Should the pokemon rely on weakened allies for offensive openings, or rely on forced switches to set up and gain momentum?

· How will different play styles be affected by this kind of pokemon? Will it have extremely limited effect in certain playstyles? Or will it be able to easily capitalize on other play styles?

· How will the presence of a pokemon that neutralizes ability affect battle momentum? Will it dissuade the opponent from bringing out specific pokemon? Or will it have little to no impact on the opponent's decision making?

Explanation: This concept will hopefully be able to utilize the plethora of moves and abilities that alter the effects of abilities/completely eliminate them. Moves like gastro acid, simple beam, worry seed, entrainment, and make friends all neutralize the opponents ability by either suppressing it or changing it to your ability. In addition, abilities like mummy, despite having to take a hit, also eliminate the abilities of those that make physical contact like t-flame, azumarill, medicham, and even the effectiveness of physical m-altaria, breloom, excadrill, gliscor, and m-heracross (close combat).

Conversely, the concept allows the player to capitalize on the great abilities of opponents. Role-play, skill swap, and trace are great examples that allow the user to take advantage of opponents ideal abilities and use them effectively offensively or defensively. Offensively, this pokemon could take grand setups by taking huge power, turning the tables on gothitelle by taking shadow tag, or even abusing small ability swaps like intimidate. Defensively, there are numerous useful abilities that can be capitalized on (regenerator, natural cure, thick fat, levitate for that nifty ground immunity, magnet pull) to shut down opposing pokemon and create an opportunity to heal up your team, or create opportunities for stronger pokemon to set up/clean.

Ultimately, this concept seeks to determine just how critical abilities are to powerful threats in the OU metagame, and whether they can still function effectively without them. It will also show if this kind of strategy can be effective, and how it would be useful.

 

[Burt Racecar]

I've just got time to comment on a couple of concepts right now.

Necrozer0's Public Enemy
Well this is controversial, but not so dissimilar from a submission from a previous CAP. After being told my idea for a concept had been submit before I went back through the most recent few concept submission threads of CAP out of curiosity. I found one by our very own CAP head moderator, Birkal and his submission Fully Uncompetitive.
Well, controversial topics are always pretty popular, I can't see why this would be any exception, CAP has tended to err on the side of caution, so it would be interesting to see if we can create something on par with an S-rank threat. After all something that's banned this generation might well be average in the next gen, looking at you Tornadus-T.
I do believe this is worth discussion though, what comprises something of being suspect worthy?

Kankuro195's Ability Neutralizer
This has an interesting subject, as there are very few pokemon in OU that don't make use of their abilities. Having the option to suppress an opponents ability can severely impact on their strategy as you said. My only concern about this concept is, will we have much discussion beyond what role this pokemon will take?

 

[Kankuro195]

I've just got time to comment on a couple of concepts right now.

Necrozer0's Public Enemy
Well this is controversial, but not so dissimilar from a submission from a previous CAP. After being told my idea for a concept had been submit before I went back through the most recent few concept submission threads of CAP out of curiosity. I found one by our very own CAP head moderator, Birkal and his submission Fully Uncompetitive.
Well, controversial topics are always pretty popular, I can't see why this would be any exception, CAP has tended to err on the side of caution, so it would be interesting to see if we can create something on par with an S-rank threat. After all something that's banned this generation might well be average in the next gen, looking at you Tornadus-T.
I do believe this is worth discussion though, what comprises something of being suspect worthy?

Kankuro195's Ability Neutralizer
This has an interesting subject, as there are very few pokemon in OU that don't make use of their abilities. Having the option to suppress an opponents ability can severely impact on their strategy as you said. My only concern about this concept is, will we have much discussion beyond what role this pokemon will take?

Definitely! Along with determining the role of the pokemon (of which there can be many), it is important to understand the threats that inhibit this pokemon from completing its task of neutralizing, and how best to accomplish it. Through this, there is a lot to discuss in regards to typing (what counters this? What pokemon won't suffer from ability loss and will inhibit this CAP from accomplishing its task? How can we create opportunities for it?), stats, and movepool. Though movepool and ability could be considered limited by options that alter the opponents ability (or your own), there are plenty of different directions that the CAP can take, and thus allow it freedom in movepool options and abilities.

Ultimately, there would be plenty to discuss with this CAP, and it could be a very rewarding concept if fulfilled suitably.

 

[viperfang4]

Name: Paranoid Predictor
General Description: A pokemon that forces both the user and the opponent to take prediction to the next level or suffer the consequences.
Justification: Something very interesting happened the day pokemon xy was released, a new type of pokemon. It was a pokemon that messed with your mind like no other, Aegislash. This pokemon later got banned through much controversy, but was by far the most interesting pokemon game freak ever created. A very interesting psychological phenomenon occurred while it was on the field, it forced everyone on the field to predict for their life. The paranoia level skyrocketed the instant it was on the field. It is not that it got banned from being overpowered, but that it messed with people's minds too much. You can feel the psychological tension when an aegislash is on the field, it's like you can cut it with a sword (pun intended). Prediction has many levels to it. First, a person can just do a move, like let's just attack the aegislash. But this can lead to trouble if the opponent uses level 2 and bases their move off yours, so they king's shield to block the attack and lower yours. Oh, but you decided to do level 3 and think they are going to king's shield and therefore do a boosting move to wait out the shield. But wait, the paranoid predicting continues, your opponent expected you to think you would boost to wait out the shield and uses level 4. Your opponent goes nuts and attacks you or boosts with swords dance themselves. You expect your opponent to expect your boost from a king's shield that they would do because of your initial attack and do level 5 and predict this entire war into a full circle and attack them anyways. People almost never end up on levels 3-5, but aegislash caused it, it forced it, predict or suffer and go paranoid because of it. Now keep in mind I am only using aegislash as an example, a few other movesets and pokemon have accomplished this, aegislash just did it best. This is also not necessarily an element of surprise like said above, this concept led to greninja and genesect's bans. Zoroark just being present on a team can be an example of paranoid prediction. In the end, in this concept we will analyze what makes a pokemon force prediction.
Questions To Be Answered:
-What will force people to predict or suffer?
-What can introduce serious paranoia on the battlefield?
-What does a pokemon that makes you use brains over brawn look like?
-What moves, abilities, and types add to this concept?
-What makes a player choose the move they do?
-What role does prediction play in pokemon?
-What is the difference between a mindful and mindless strategy?
-Does a pokemon that forces you to think increase the users ability to play pokemon or any strategy game for that matter over time?
-Does a pokemon with forced predictions change the way a person would design a team or play against it?
-What type of players benefit from heavy prediction?
-Can this pokemon be a psychological scout in seeing how your opponent thinks and makes their moves?
-Can we actually use a pokemon like this to experiment with the human psychology of strategy games?
Explanation: I explained my share in the justication without breaking rules, I have no idea how we will make this concept, but it is very intriguing in its nature. I am one of the top ghost monotype users and continue using aegislash. I have nailed human psychology in strategy games and have used aegislash as the primary tool to collect my data on how people play strategy. It affects how I play in any meta heavily now because I understand prediction of different types of people and pick up on subtleties, like how long it takes a person to make a move choice. I think it would be great to tear apart what made this possible and put the pieces back together to form something completely new out of it.

PS If this is not formated correctly, please do not delete this post, I will fix it tomorrow. I worked for over an hour typing this and do not want to retype it as it is my only saved copy.

 

[Necrozer0]

Been a week might as well submit my previous concept.

Name: Little Man Big Heart

General Description: A pokemon with a base stat total (BST) that is considered below average or worse but can strive in OU.

Justification: OU is full of titans with high BST and yet there are pokemon with low BST that can stand toe to toe with these titans. Pokemon such as Breloom, Azumarill, even Sableye. We create such a pokemon that can pull their weight in OU despite a handicap.

Questions To Be Answered: What is considered the minimum average for BST in OU?
What roles are a pokemon able to accomplish with such a low BST?
What makes a pokemon with a low BST to be viable for OU? (Is it their ability, move pool, types?)
Can such a pokemon make a difference in the OU metagame? (e.g. Pokemon running Sleep Talk for Breloom's Spore in BW.)
Does having a low BST hinder a pokemon from achieving its full potential?
Does having a low BST balance out having great abilites, types, and/or moves?
How low can a pokemon BST go without becoming too weak for OU?

Explanation: It'll be interesting to work with this concept because we'll find out what make these little guys so good at what they do and how they fare against the OU elite, especially the mega evos. And we'll learn what abilities and certain moves are fantastic tools available to such pokemon supplemented by excellent types. We'll discover which combination of these traits are able to provide a great asset thus outweighing the cons of having a low BST. Thus proving you don't need a high BST to be successful in OU. There's a reason why Kyurem-B is in OU.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."