CAP 20 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

[jas61292]

Lets do a QC sweep.

Use the Boost to Get Through! - I think this is a pretty interesting concept, as while it is something we have somewhat seen before, in the current generation at least, almost all pokemon that have significantly different boosting sets were either too good at them (ie. Mega Lucario) or not really all that impressive in OU (ie. Regular Lucario, Infernape). Looking at how the unpredictability itself effects the viability could be very worthwhile in my opinion. Approved
Burst Mage - I'm not really sure something like this is possible in competitive Pokemon. Draco Meteor and the like have a severe backlash effect, but they are still considered very good moves, and is not really considered to have the cooldown this is looking for. There is not really any mechanic that has a more severe downside, so I'm not really convinced you can get a Pokemon that has that can have this downside without being too weak at the start (short of throwing Simple on a super powered Draco Meteor user). I'd want to see some ideas about how this is actually attainable before we dive into a concept like this.
One Stat Pony - The problem with this concept is that such Pokemon do already exist in OU. As mphallor pointed out, Breloom, Skarmory and Talonflame are all examples of Pokemon with a single great stat and mediocrity everywhere else. What we would be doing with this would really not be anything we couldn't gather by just looking at the existing OU metagame.
Spotlight - The wording here is a bit hard to follow at first, but it seems you are looking for an anti-lead. This big issue here is the lack of real leads for a Pokemon to try and counter. At the same time, it is talking a lot about hazards and stopping them, but then talking about messing with items and abilities. Its hard to really see how this all comes together into one concept. I would advise rewording a lot of what you have here to focus a lot more on either the lead game or the ability/item game. If one is necessary for the other, the process with get to that, but trying to focus on both makes a confusing concept.
The Berserker - Low HP strategies were something that was seen a lot more in some older gens, but you don't see much use of Reversal or Flail nowadays. Priority proliferation is a prime reason for this, but in general, strategies that relied on you being suceptabile to revenge killing are never ideal. I'm not going to say this is not possible, but there is good reason why a lot of Pokemon that could in theory run sets like these do not usually do so, and I think it would be hard to make a Pokemon that relies on these and still make it relevant in OU.
Weatherman - Obviously having coverage moves or whatnot boosted by weather can be used to make a Pokemon ever so slightly appreciate any weather, and taking a Heliolisk approach is possible, where a Pokemon benefits from lots of weatehrs based on abilities, but only one or two for any given set, but beyond that, there is really no way for a Pokemon to be a fan of more than one or two of them without resorting to something like a custom ability, and that is not something we do here anymore. I just can't see this working.
New Typing Tank - Walls and Tanks are good for many reasons, but giving a new typing just to be new will not really confuse or change anything by itself. No typing is invincible, and every one can be countered. This concept seems too generic, and is just asking for a new type for its own sake.
Elephant in the Room - I don't really see Magic Room being viable at all, since, as we have seen with the proliferation of Knock Off, people can adjust to playing without items. Wonder Room on the other hand has a lot more potential. The ability to, in theory, use a single "set up" move to get by dedicated physical/special walls certainly has potential. With that said, I'm not sure this has enough flexibility to make a great project.
Checkmate - Late game play can be a very interesting concept. However, in the current metagame, which Pokemon are great late game varies a lot by team matchup. As ginga said, a wall "checkmate" would just be something that walls the last mon. But this is also true of offense, as an offensive checkmate is just a Pokemon that can clean through the remaining members of your opponents team. I think a concept like this needs to focus more genrically on late game play than specifically looking for a checkmate, since teams are far too varied for a single Pokemon to checkmate teams consistantly.
Dedicated win Condition This is another one looking at more late game stuff, however, while this is more focused, I don't really see a ton of potential here. Almost any Pokemon that makes a good sweeper should be able to win if their counters and checks are removed, so if a Pokemon can do that but is a liability until then, I don't see it getting use over Pokemon that can clean up and also play roles earlier game.
Against the Grain - This is really generic, almost to a fault, in my opinion. There are multiple Pokemon that exist that can take on multiple roles, so this would really need to be more specific if it is to really do something different than what we see all the time.
The Struggle - I like this concept. It takes something that is certainly possible, as shown in many metagames (and even some normal battles), but is never really thought much about, and puts it at the focal point. While I'm not sure how viable it could end up being, I think it would be at least worth taking a closer look at. Approved
Anti-Status - This concept seems to have an idea of taking advantage of status, but it doesn't really seem to want to do it with any of the ways that Pokemon already can do it. The description does not seem to really expand enough on what we actually want to do here, making it hard to base a project off of it.
Stop Hitting Yourself - The issue I have with this concept is that Pokemon like this already exist. You do mention they do, but not to the extent you want for this concept, but I don't really see how to do that much better. I mean unless we just combine them all together I don't see us doing much more than already exists, and even then, I hardly see a Pokemon wanting to utilize them all at once.
Mobius Double Reach-Around - Confusion is a status condition that I don't really think we can make work. It has never seen any use, bar the rise of Swagger early this gen, and even then, that was only used thanks to the Atk Boost, and, often, due to being paired with Foul Play. Despite being around forever, and it even being more accurate than Swagger, nothing ever used Confuse Ray. I just don't believe its benefits can be made worth using without added benefits that don't really exist on moves outside of the now banned Swagger. As for using it on yourself, while evasion boosts from Tangled Feet or what not can be nice, the boost is statistically just not worth it compared to how often it causes negative effects.
The Pacifist... or is he - I don't really see how this is different from other clerics. They all can at least do some damage. If the only criteria for that is that it has to be extreme situations, then either it already exists, or is just a worse version of something that does.

 

[BigWigs]

The Berserker - Low HP strategies were something that was seen a lot more in some older gens, but you don't see much use of Reversal or Flail nowadays. Priority proliferation is a prime reason for this, but in general, strategies that relied on you being suceptabile to revenge killing are never ideal. I'm not going to say this is not possible, but there is good reason why a lot of Pokemon that could in theory run sets like these do not usually do so, and I think it would be hard to make a Pokemon that relies on these and still make it relevant in OU.

That's a good point, actually. As pointed out earlier, if we were to make my concept work we'd need something such as Extreme Speed to let it stand a chance, and it might take us off the concept.

Overall, thanks for the feedback. I think I'll still be lurking for this CAP, see if I can come up with something more fitting.

 

[Solstice]

Name: Pressure Point

General Description: A Pokemon that creates a certain weak spot on the opponent's team and can only function well by exploiting that weak point.

Justification: Creating openings on an opponents team is the essence of generating momentum. By having a Pokemon specifically tailored to creating a single weak point and perfectly exploiting the pressure generated by it, we can measure how fragile a team composition is depending on the success of the pressure point. CAP 20s capability to create the weak point will be critical in seeing if a single and predictable weakness is problematic enough to signal defeat.

Questions to be Answered:

- How easy is it to counter a Pokemon tailored around one specific tactic?
- How difficult is it to generate momentum around one weak point?
- How difficult is it to fit CAP 20 into a team composition?
- What is the most viable weak point that can be created?
- At what point does a Pokemon that can only do one thing become dead weight on a team? When are they at their peak performance.

Explanation: My interest in this topic lies in the fact that there are so many moves that interact with poison status that go unused. Poison can be manipulated and spread easily to increase damage, but a lot of the alternate ways go unused. A Pokemon that could target this weak point could see major success. Poison is the first example that comes to mind but there are dozens of others, like other status, field effects like Gravity, even stat drops or entry hazards. This is an open topic with a direct focus, something that gives us a creative building process while staying on track.

 

[Necrozer0]

Name: Lower Your Defenses

General Description: A pokemon that disrupts walls/tanks using stat lowering moves.

Justification: You hardly see stat lowering moves being utilized in battles. Only successful Pokemon that uses such moves are Tentacruel's Acid Spray which he uses to check Calm Mind users and Tyranitar's Crunch which is based off of small chance but able to squeeze out more damage the next move. If given to the right Pokemon it may be used for a devastating effect.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What are the viable moves that can be used to lower defensive stats.
- Will lowering the defenses of walls be enough to break, force out, and/or prevent them from switching in.
- Can we make moves with a effect chance to lower defensive stats become more viable.
- Will the Pokemon using this tactic have other uses other than disrupting walls.
- Do we prefer moves with immediate effect of lowering stats by two then burst with the next attack or keep clawing our way through one stat lowering attacks.

Explanation: I believe we can create a discussion around this concept as we have to decide whether we should focus on lowering defense or special defense, if such a tactic is viable in the metagame, and there are handful of such moves to work with. We seen the success of using these moves in play, I don't see why not we can create a basis around them as the potential to create openings in teams is beneficial. Plus it's an interesting alternative boosting moves as Unaware pokemon ignore boosts not debuffs to itself.

 

[Unsee]

Name: The Cowardly Lion

General Description: A Pokémon that can utilize a Substitute to its maximum use and capacity, while still dealing out powerful hits to the opponent.

Justification: Most Substitute users are stallers, cowering behind a Substitute, inflicting status conditions, and healing at opportune moments. There is, of course, the uncommon standout like Aegislash, but, of course, it was banned to Ubers. We've never seen a Pokémon yet completely based around the Substitute, and I think it would be great to toy with the idea.

Questions to be Answered:

• How can a Pokémon easily maintain a Substitute?
• How can a Pokémon be guaranteed a chance to even put up a Substitute?
• What are the best ways a Pokémon can regain its lost health in a Substitute, while still being a viable sweeper?
• Does a Pokémon's inability to be affected by status conditions while behind a Substitute greatly affect the momentum of the battle?
• Is the turn needed to put up a Substitute in the first place too risky, or does the opponent a free turn to set up?

Explanation: What happened to Substitute usage in OU? We had SubLoom and SubGar for a while, but these both phased out with the arrival of new mons. To be completely honest, I've forgotten that Breloom was even IN OU since the new entries into the Dex. It's a great concept: Lose 1/4 of your health to be completely impervious to attacks until an equivalent of the 25% is depleted by the opposing mon's moves. In that time, the one behind the Sub can easily recover the lost health with the right set. The problem is, all of these sets so far (or at least 80% of them) involve recovering through status moves, such as Soft-Boiled. What we really haven't seen yet is a Substitute Sweeper, one who can heal its depleted health by the means of moves such as (these are just examples) Giga Drain or Drain Punch. I believe that this would be a great and interesting addition to the meta, for it explores a vein of strategy we haven't really seen yet. Basically, I'd like to whip out a Max Revive and give it to the move Substitute, as it is not only a great move but deserving of a slot in a good Pokémon's moveset.

 

[P3DS]

Name: The Cowardly Lion

General Description: A Pokémon that can utilize a Substitute to its maximum use and capacity, while still dealing out powerful hits to the opponent.

Justification: Most Substitute users are stallers, cowering behind a Substitute, inflicting status conditions, and healing at opportune moments. There is, of course, the uncommon standout like Aegislash, but, of course, it was banned to Ubers. We've never seen a Pokémon yet completely based around the Substitute, and I think it would be great to toy with the idea.

Questions to be Answered:

• How can a Pokémon easily maintain a Substitute?
• How can a Pokémon be guaranteed a chance to even put up a Substitute?
• What are the best ways a Pokémon can regain its lost health in a Substitute, while still being a viable sweeper?
• Does a Pokémon's inability to be affected by status conditions while behind a Substitute greatly affect the momentum of the battle?
• Is the turn needed to put up a Substitute in the first place too risky, or does the opponent a free turn to set up?

Explanation: What happened to Substitute usage in OU? We had SubLoom and SubGar for a while, but these both phased out with the arrival of new mons. To be completely honest, I've forgotten that Breloom was even IN OU since the new entries into the Dex. It's a great concept: Lose 1/4 of your health to be completely impervious to attacks until an equivalent of the 25% is depleted by the opposing mon's moves. In that time, the one behind the Sub can easily recover the lost health with the right set. The problem is, all of these sets so far (or at least 80% of them) involve recovering through status moves, such as Soft-Boiled. What we really haven't seen yet is a Substitute Sweeper, one who can heal its depleted health by the means of moves such as (these are just examples) Giga Drain or Drain Punch. I believe that this would be a great and interesting addition to the meta, for it explores a vein of strategy we haven't really seen yet. Basically, I'd like to whip out a Max Revive and give it to the move Substitute, as it is not only a great move but deserving of a slot in a good Pokémon's moveset.

A good sub sweeper that currently exists is DD gyarados. It is a really good pokemon, especially the mega variant, since it get around rotom-w better.

 

[KhosroTheGreat]

Name: Clutch Shooter/Comeback Champion

General Description: A Pokemon that gets better as the chance of its trainer winning decreases.

Justification: As a battle wears on, the winner of the battle becomes increasingly obvious. Sometimes, the entire battle is decided by a single crit, predict or sweep. This Pokemon would aim to change all this, providing a new element of excitement and unpredictability to the game, because as the winner seemingly becomes more obvious, so does the effectiveness of this Pokemon. However, it is important to note that this is a Pokemon that gets better as your own no. of Pokemon/chance of winning decreases, as well as when the opponent has less Pokemon, although this usually happens, but not always, at the same time that your own no. of Pokemon/chance of winning decreases. Pokemon which get better when the opponent has less Pokemon, i.e. holes in the team, have already been done (cleaners/late-game sweepers), but the point is that the CAP would always work in a clutch situation whether or not the other team is weakened.

Questions to be answered:

• How does a Pokemon get better as the battle becomes increasingly harder to win?
• How would this Pokemon fit into teambuilding, as a Pokemon whose niche is that it does better when you are losing?
• Would it encourage a whole new type of luring whereupon players try to unleash its power through deliberately trying to make the battle harder for themselves, possibly through attacks such as Explosion, Self Destruct, Momento and Destiny Bond?
• How do we keep the Pokemon from becoming better as the opponent becomes weaker, rather than as the Pokemon's trainer becomes weaker, as has already been done?
• How would this affect tactics in battles and teambuilding to counter it?
• Would it encourage a greater dependance upon riskier set-up sweepers to finish up the game before this Pokemon can turn the tide of the game? Similarly, would it discourage tactics that grind the opponent down, such as Stall and VoltTurn, as they would risk unleashing this Pokemon's potential?
• Generally, how would it affect the endgame? Would it provide a greater importance to this part of a battle?

Explanation:
This concept came into my head after thinking about a game of basketball (hence the name, Clutch Shooter), in which one of the players get increasingly accurate as the match wears on and his team have an increasingly small amount of time in which to turn around the match. These vital points boost the morale of the team, as well as the shortening the point distance, allowing the team a better position from which to mount a comeback. It was also around this time when I wanted to make a CAP concept, and was suddenly struck by how interesting it would be to see this kind of Pokemon in battle, and started to wonder how it would affect how the opponent played. I also regularly try to predict who will win matches at different (random) points in battles, and was disappointed at how easy it was at times. Even when the very best players played, I could definitely see who the victor was going to be by the 'endgame'. This Pokemon would aim to change this, meaning that even what seems like the endgame could theoretically be turned around, as the Pokemon would allow its team to get back into a position to make a comeback.

 

[BrianFantana]

Name: The Unstapler

General Description: A Pokemon whose presence in the metagame drastically reduces the viability of a single OU staple.

Justification: Previous concepts, like Malaconda's 'Type Equalizer' and Voodoom's 'Perfect Mate', have focused on raising the viability of normally overlooked Pokemon, with varying degrees of success. This seeks to do the opposite by targeting the viability of an OU staple (though not necessarily an S-tier threat). This is differs from Arghonaut's 'Decentralizer' concept in that its aims are more pointed and specific, but it is similar in that it attempts to influence the metagame in a negative capacity: what happens to Pokemon BCDE if Pokemon A is removed as a factor? Seeing how one pokemon might completely shut down another, and what the knock-on effects of that might be, would be at least interesting, at best deeply educational. This would demand careful balancing work; to significantly affect another Pokemon's viability, this CAP would need to be a metagame-defining threat in its own right while, of course, stopping short of broken/suspect-tier status.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How powerfully can a single pokemon's metagame presence affect another's? Is it feasible to completely eliminate a pokemon from common usage? And would some low-OU/BL tier also-rans have risen to staple status by now if it weren't for the presence of a single, rock-hard counter?
• What level of metagame presence does a Pokemon have to have in order to significantly affect the viability of others?
• What harms a pokemon's viability most? Is it worse to be countered or outclassed? Obviously neither is ideal for the victim, but there is a lot of room for interpretation on this concept.
• How does a metagame restabilize after losing a staple pokemon? We often watch metagames readjust after a banning, where a powerful, overcentralizing force is removed, but the metagame is rarely disrupted on the mid-viability level - your A and B viability-tier troopers.
• How much impact does an individual OU mainstay have on the metagame's ecosystem? How many pokemon return to viability in its absence, and how many lose their appeal?
• What pokemon and playstyles does our chosen target specifically affect? As well as questions about the broader workings of the metagame, this concept allows us to zero in on the weight carried by a single pokemon - this time from the other side of the creation process.

Explanation: The notion of 'viability' is integral to the concept - assuming that teambuilders are generally rational actors, a pokemon's viability should define its metagame presence. And viability is something that the introduction of a single Pokemon definitely can affect; take Talonflame, for instance, whose presence is a huge threat to frail, priority-averse sweepers. Another example is Mega Gallade's complete eclipse of Mega Medicham. That second one isn't the type this concept is interested in; a straight-up, fuck-you outclassing doesn't really change the metagame around the outclassed pokemon, as the replacement will probably share similar checks and counters. But the first one is a good jumping-off point - what would an ORAS meta without Tflame look like, for example? Tflame is a top threat for sure, but it's not in a hurry to get suspect tested. It's just one example of the kind of Pokemon whose neutralization as a threat would be an interesting shakeup for the metagame - we may find that the meta balances itself pretty well on its own, or we may find that it is held in fragile equilibrium by a dense web of checks and counters.

[Edited: adjusted title for clarity, minor additions to Justification and Questions]

 

[Mowtom]

Name: The Cowardly Lion

General Description: A Pokémon that can utilize a Substitute to its maximum use and capacity, while still dealing out powerful hits to the opponent.

Justification: Most Substitute users are stallers, cowering behind a Substitute, inflicting status conditions, and healing at opportune moments. There is, of course, the uncommon standout like Aegislash, but, of course, it was banned to Ubers. We've never seen a Pokémon yet completely based around the Substitute, and I think it would be great to toy with the idea.

Questions to be Answered:

• How can a Pokémon easily maintain a Substitute?
• How can a Pokémon be guaranteed a chance to even put up a Substitute?
• What are the best ways a Pokémon can regain its lost health in a Substitute, while still being a viable sweeper?
• Does a Pokémon's inability to be affected by status conditions while behind a Substitute greatly affect the momentum of the battle?
• Is the turn needed to put up a Substitute in the first place too risky, or does the opponent a free turn to set up?

Explanation: What happened to Substitute usage in OU? We had SubLoom and SubGar for a while, but these both phased out with the arrival of new mons. To be completely honest, I've forgotten that Breloom was even IN OU since the new entries into the Dex. It's a great concept: Lose 1/4 of your health to be completely impervious to attacks until an equivalent of the 25% is depleted by the opposing mon's moves. In that time, the one behind the Sub can easily recover the lost health with the right set. The problem is, all of these sets so far (or at least 80% of them) involve recovering through status moves, such as Soft-Boiled. What we really haven't seen yet is a Substitute Sweeper, one who can heal its depleted health by the means of moves such as (these are just examples) Giga Drain or Drain Punch. I believe that this would be a great and interesting addition to the meta, for it explores a vein of strategy we haven't really seen yet. Basically, I'd like to whip out a Max Revive and give it to the move Substitute, as it is not only a great move but deserving of a slot in a good Pokémon's moveset.

In addition to Mega Gyarados, Chesnaught does this with a Belly Drum/Substitute/Drain Punch/Seed Bomb set.

 

[Unsee]

A good sub sweeper that currently exists is DD gyarados. It is a really good pokemon, especially the mega variant, since it get around rotom-w better.

I don't want a "good" Sub sweeper. I want a Pokémon that's purpose is based around the Substitute, and to be completely honest, I don't see Gyarados that much in OU, especially SubDance. Then again, I'm not that much of an OU player... but we still don't have a mon FOR Substitute.

In addition to Mega Gyarados, Chesnaught does this with a Belly Drum/Substitute/Drain Punch/Seed Bomb set.

Chesnaught isn't OU. :3

 

[Mowtom]

Chesnaught isn't OU. :3

It isn't OU by usage, but it is in B+ rank along with OU Pokemon like Breloom, Chansey, and Dragonite.

 

[Valmanway]

Alright, since it's been well over a week since my last submission, I'll make another one.

Name: "Li"Ability

General Description: This CAP is designed to put the opponent in an unfavorable position by taking out ability-reliant Pokemon

Justification: There are a lot of Pokemon that are used in OU for varying reasons, but one of the biggest reasons that Pokemon see usage is their abilities, such as Azumarill's Huge Power, Mega Sableye's Magic Bounce, and Mega Altaria's Pixilate. However, what would happen to their viability if a Pokemon were to suddenly make their abilities useless? Abilities are pretty much the backbone of a good deal of Pokemon seen in OU, so seeing how the metagame would change from this CAP might be worth a look-see.

Questions To Be Answered:

-How important are abilities in the OU metagame?
-Is a Pokemon's ability the main reason why a Pokemon's OU in the first place?
-How well can this CAP combat against abilities?
-Will the teambuilding process change simply because they don't want to rely on an ability that can become useless?
-Will this Pokemon be usable in a battle even when the opposing team doesn't have ability-reliant Pokemon?

Explanation: Now I know some of you are thinking "Let's just give this Gastro Acid, make it defensive, and call it a night. Nuff said." While that would be understandable, the truth of the matter is there are a wide variety of ways to approach this CAP. We could use Mummy to cripple physical attackers like Huge Power Azumarill and Technician Scizor, or Mold Breaker to slip past Mega Sableye's Magic Bounce and Mega Venusaur's Thick Fat, or we could even use Trace to take advantage of Excadrill's Sand Rush and Thundurus's Prankster. If we're daring, we could even see if Skill Swap + a mediocre ability is worth looking into. In fact, it might even be worth debating over if this should be offensive or defensive, so from what I can tell, there's a lot to talk about here. While Gastro Acid is the most direct way of handling abilities, it's far from the only way, and I think discussion on it would be quite interesting and informative.

 

[Unsee]

It isn't OU by usage, but it is in B+ rank along with OU Pokemon like Breloom, Chansey, and Dragonite.

Chesnaught isn't really a threat to the OU metagame (at least from what I've seen) with the wide usage of Talonflame and Lati@s - it really can't manage in the OU battlefield. Even if it does get off a Sub, the Sub will most likely be gone before a Belly Drum usage. There are just too many checks to its unfortunate typing.

Furthermore, Chesnaught can't maintain the Sub all that well. I've tested with it and it's not the kind of mon I'm looking for. :/

 

[En Passant]

Name: Clutch Shooter/Comeback Champion

General Description: A Pokemon that gets better as the chance of its trainer winning decreases.

Justification: As a battle wears on, the winner of the battle becomes increasingly obvious. Sometimes, the entire battle is decided by a single crit, predict or sweep. This Pokemon would aim to change all this, providing a new element of excitement and unpredictability to the game, because as the winner seemingly becomes more obvious, so does the effectiveness of this Pokemon. However, it is important to note that this is a Pokemon that gets better as your own no. of Pokemon/chance of winning decreases, as well as when the opponent has less Pokemon, although this usually happens, but not always, at the same time that your own no. of Pokemon/chance of winning decreases. Pokemon which get better when the opponent has less Pokemon, i.e. holes in the team, have already been done (cleaners/late-game sweepers), but the point is that the CAP would always work in a clutch situation whether or not the other team is weakened.

Questions to be answered:

• How does a Pokemon get better as the battle becomes increasingly harder to win?
• How would this Pokemon fit into teambuilding, as a Pokemon whose niche is that it does better when you are losing?
• Would it encourage a whole new type of luring whereupon players try to unleash its power through deliberately trying to make the battle harder for themselves, possibly through attacks such as Explosion, Self Destruct, Momento and Destiny Bond?
• How do we keep the Pokemon from becoming better as the opponent becomes weaker, rather than as the Pokemon's trainer becomes weaker, as has already been done?
• How would this affect tactics in battles and teambuilding to counter it?
• Would it encourage a greater dependance upon riskier set-up sweepers to finish up the game before this Pokemon can turn the tide of the game? Similarly, would it discourage tactics that grind the opponent down, such as Stall and VoltTurn, as they would risk unleashing this Pokemon's potential?
• Generally, how would it affect the endgame? Would it provide a greater importance to this part of a battle?

Explanation:
This concept came into my head after thinking about a game of basketball (hence the name, Clutch Shooter), in which one of the players get increasingly accurate as the match wears on and his team have an increasingly small amount of time in which to turn around the match. These vital points boost the morale of the team, as well as the shortening the point distance, allowing the team a better position from which to mount a comeback. It was also around this time when I wanted to make a CAP concept, and was suddenly struck by how interesting it would be to see this kind of Pokemon in battle, and started to wonder how it would affect how the opponent played. I also regularly try to predict who will win matches at different (random) points in battles, and was disappointed at how easy it was at times. Even when the very best players played, I could definitely see who the victor was going to be by the 'endgame'. This Pokemon would aim to change this, meaning that even what seems like the endgame could theoretically be turned around, as the Pokemon would allow its team to get back into a position to make a comeback.

There's a reason why predicting the outcome of games is quite easy. Most game-changing turnabouts come from lucky crits or godlike outplay from the would-be loser allowing the last stop to the loser's win condition to be eliminated, which requires the game to be close at that point and cannot be guaranteed through the definitions of those turnabouts.

Valmanway: There are already good, or at least viable, users of Mold Breaker (MegaDos, Excadrill) and Trace (Porygon2, MegaZam), and Cofagrigus is D-Rank, so Gastro Acid's really the only unexplored avenue for this.

 

[Sunfished]

Name: Moveset Minimizer

General Description: A Pokemon designed to neutralize the core moves of the opponent

Justification: Moves are a major point in Pokemon, but although there is a vast majority of moves that a Pokemon can learn, there is always "that one", or a few, that is always reserved a space in their move set. While most of these moves are often attacking moves such as Gengar's Shadow Ball, oftentimes they may as well be utility moves such as Ferrothorn's ability to set up the field when given enough time.This is also extremely apparent in some Pokemon such as Bisharp, who uses Knock-Off quite effectively. What all of these moves have in common is that they essentially can put an end to the roles of a Pokemon, with a major emphasis on the loss of an item, or being crippled with status problems. What this CAP plans to do is attempt to "neutralize" these moves while in play, and when given enough time, affect how the battle will play out when an opponent loses the usage of its core moves for a while.

Questions To Be Answered:
-Are core moves vital to a Pokemon's moveset? Can they function well without it?
-Does a core move define a Pokemon? Can another Pokemon fill its role with similar moves, but differing stats?
-How well will a Pokemon be able to neutralize a core move?
-Will stalling or offensive/defensive pressure be useful in neutralizing core moves? What exactly will "neutralizing" be defined as?
-Will this Pokemon's role in stopping the opponent's core moves affect the player's other teammates?

Explanation: I have no idea how this will be handled, but an apparent direction for this is to allow other party members within the party to have a chance to switch into an opponent that has a devastating advantage just with a single move alone. Bisharp's Knock-Off is a major thing to look at, with his ability to come in on unsuspecting pokemon and putting pressure on who he would knock off, as well as the moves Return and Will-o-Wisp. While most Pokemon in the team have diverse moves, this CAP could potentially lock up one of them, to allow another to switch in with enough time to perform their role, being it to cripple or kill off the opponent. Another interesting take on this is to see how a Pokemon will be able to perform without its core move. Pokemon that rely on a single move to dish out damage will end up having to resort to moves that do less damage, or end up having to spend a few turns switching back in.

 

[KhosroTheGreat]

There's a reason why predicting the outcome of games is quite easy. Most game-changing turnabouts come from lucky crits or godlike outplay from the would-be loser allowing the last stop to the loser's win condition to be eliminated, which requires the game to be close at that point and cannot be guaranteed through the definitions of those turnabouts.

Valmanway: There are already good, or at least viable, users of Mold Breaker (MegaDos, Excadrill) and Trace (Porygon2, MegaZam), and Cofagrigus is D-Rank, so Gastro Acid's really the only unexplored avenue for this.

Clutch Shooter/Comeback Champion would aim to give those in a bad situation a third option to crits and godly plays as a way of turning around the game. Note that the Pokemon itself doesn't necessarily have to do all the work in getting the team into a good situation from which to mount a comeback, but whether or not it does is something that can be discussed.

 

[Yveltal]

Name: Lower Your Defenses

General Description: A pokemon that disrupts walls/tanks using stat lowering moves.

I just had to say no. The reason you don't see a lot of negative stat affliction in the metagame is because you're giving your opponent the power to choose what to do after you've spent time lessening the effectiveness of their Pokemon, and they'll likely just switch out to an option for taking care of whatever Pokemon you gave a stat-hindering move to.

 

[En Passant]

Clutch Shooter/Comeback Champion would aim to give those in a bad situation a third option to crits and godly plays as a way of turning around the game. Note that the Pokemon itself doesn't necessarily have to do all the work in getting the team into a good situation from which to mount a comeback, but whether or not it does is something that can be discussed.

Do you have any ideas on possible third options? One's chances of winning are an abstract idea that can only be estimated by the players due to the sheer complexity of the game and of the metagame. It's the reason why the two most common ways of a game flipping are pure luck and inhuman knowledge (perfect play's never been acceptable reasoning in viability discussions because nobody's perfect. Oftentimes, these flips are the result of the winner making a big mistake anyway, which the loser cannot control), neither of which are entirely in the hands of the player. I don't see how it can be possible to try and engineer a similar situation.

 

[Zepkhan]

Do you have any ideas on possible third options? One's chances of winning are an abstract idea that can only be estimated by the players due to the sheer complexity of the game and of the metagame. It's the reason why the two most common ways of a game flipping are pure luck and inhuman knowledge (perfect play's never been acceptable reasoning in viability discussions because nobody's perfect. Oftentimes, these flips are the result of the winner making a big mistake anyway, which the loser cannot control), neither of which are entirely in the hands of the player. I don't see how it can be possible to try and engineer a similar situation.

An Unaware mon could be used in some cases to stop/slow a boost sweep. But apart from that, there are many win conditions and it would be difficult at best to stop them all.

 

[KhosroTheGreat]

Clutch Shooter/Comeback Champion isn't meant to stop win conditions - it's meant to do 2 things: get better as the game goes, and also to put the team into a better position to stage a comeback.

Do you have any ideas on possible third options? One's chances of winning are an abstract idea that can only be estimated by the players due to the sheer complexity of the game and of the metagame. It's the reason why the two most common ways of a game flipping are pure luck and inhuman knowledge (perfect play's never been acceptable reasoning in viability discussions because nobody's perfect. Oftentimes, these flips are the result of the winner making a big mistake anyway, which the loser cannot control), neither of which are entirely in the hands of the player. I don't see how it can be possible to try and engineer a similar situation.

I have to confess that I don't really have any ideas on how to achieve this game-flipping, but I must also stress that:
Firstly, This Pokemon doesn't have to shoulder all of the burden - it simply has to help in getting the team back into a better position to stage a comeback.
Secondly, the CAP's concept isn't necessarily to flip the game, but rather to get the team into a better position to do so.
Lastly and most importantly, the main pillar of the concept is that the Pokemon gets better as the match becomes increasingly unfavorable, while this may be an idea, it can still be measured through things like: no. of Pokemon, the survival (or not) of your win condition, the survival (or not) of the opponent's win condition, the survival (or not) of the enemy's counter of your win condition etc. etc. - and therefore, by making this Pokemon improve as a result of a measure of the situation of a match, I think this concept is fulfill-able.

 

[En Passant]

It can be measured, but not by the game. We call it the metagame because it goes far beyond what the game knows about. The game doesn't know anything about win chances or conditions or anything like that, which was my point. We can make CAPs based on metagame concepts only when there are things in-game that follow that concept, which is a lesson we learned the hard way in CAP 19.

 

[mphallor]

In a similar vein to what Dry Paratroopa was saying about the clutch shooter, there aren't any ingame mechanics that can really work this way. If you wanted to make the opposite, a Pokemon that does better when you have a good position, then we could talk about things such as a powerful Beat Up user, or a mon that can pretty much force you to make a 1 for 1 trade (thus making your lead more significant). And if custom mechanics were on the table, then I think this could be an interesting concept to brainstorm for. But as it stands, I don't see a single way to execute it. Let alone enough diversity for conversations.

 

[KhosroTheGreat]

Since technically every single Pokemon is better when your position is better, the provenance of such a concept would be questionable, although I suppose it could be interesting.

 

[azureleaf17]

Name: Poor Synergy (One-'mon Army)

General Description: A Pokemon with incredible power (offensively or defensively), but extremely difficult to work into a team due to a lack of teammates that work well with its strength.

Justification:
Pokemon is a team game, where you use 6 team slots to face off against a huge variety of threats. There are some Pokemon that are just not worth using because they are so bad and/or require too much support to be effective. I wanted to explore the importance of team play by creating a Pokemon that is the exact opposite, and by seeing if a hugely powerful Pokemon with extremely limited or no good teammates could overcome the limitations of its poor synergy and still pull its weight in the game.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What defines "synergy"? The ability to set up other teammates, defensive and offensive typing, keeping up momentum, etc.?
- Does the lack of synergy between all the teammates doom a team? Are you essentially playing five-vs-six instead of six-on-six?
- With so many possible teammates, is it possible to create a powerful Pokemon that matches with so few of them?
- If such a Pokemon existed, would the lack of teammates and the strain it puts on one's own teambuilding make it worth using?

Explanation:
I think the closest thing we have in this game is Kyurem-B. On its own, it is an incredible Pokemon, with huge power, disgusting bulk, and good coverage. However, its poor typing and the fact that it just doesn't mesh well with other teammates (either stacking weaknesses or attacking with moves that are better done by other faster, more synergistic Pokemon) demotes it in OU. As a project, I wanted to see how a Pokemon built essentially to stand alone as a one-'mon army could fare in this metagame. In other words, can a five-Pokemon team with one extremely powerful but poor outlier overcome a bond made of six well-built links? Or could a powerful Pokemon with only a very few select teammates be easily prepared for? It would be a difficult balancing project, but seeing how interestingly the Necturna project turned out, this would be a welcome challenge.

 

[NOCturnal Hunter]

Name: Neutralizer

General Description: A Pokemon that can work as a player's "panic button" when no other possible route seems possible....with a steep price.

Justification: There is a select group of moves known as "self-KO moves," which do exactly as they say. However, they always seem to act as a method to support another Pokemon instead of doing what they initially were designed to do: act as an emergency fail safe with a steep price. Even in Pokemon today, we hear of people referring to Pokemon as "panic buttons," which they only use in case the situation turns sour. What we don't know, however, is what exactly a panic button is, or why the price to so many seem to be rewarding. That is what this project will focus on: figuring out the science behind a fail safe.

Questions:

• What is a panic button exactly? What makes it a panic button?
• Why do the price of so many "fail safes" seem to be a benefit to ones team?
• How exactly can we make a true panic button? Is there more to it than meets the eye?

Explanation:
As far as I know of, we have only two moves that seem to fit in with this project like peanut butter and jelly: Lunar Dance (which, if I remember correctly, is banned from CAP) and Healing Wish. Both of these moves are highly effective a turning a a bad situation and playing it into your hand if played correctly. Also, in this case, only one ability seems to fit nicely: Prankster. I don't think we should just immediately jump at this option, however, as then this thing would basically destroy all forms of offense and stall alike. Only Hyper Offense would remain, and I'm not quite sure if that would count as a "balanced" metagame. Of course, the part about this is that you have to lose something significant to your team; if you simply use this thing to use Healing Wish, then you instantly ruin the whole point of this project. So, I'm thinking of a scenario of where you lose a late game win-condition or you lose a game guaranteed. Catch my drift?

(Also, this is my first time through. I hope I don't screw everything up!)