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CAP 25 - Part 9 - CAP 25w Full Movepool Submissions

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I dont have anything competitive to add, but can Spider Web pleeaase get changed to Block? Spider Web is crappy optics because Snails are, in most cases, not spiders. Sticky Web is still fine because "web" can just mean a trap, or snare, or even a pool, so it could be snail slime or something similar. But Spider Web means a web created by a spider.
This probably doesnt need an entire paragraph for justification, and the moves are identical apart from PP which definitely was not the reason why Spider Web got accepted. Surely a change can be made
 
I dont have anything competitive to add, but can Spider Web pleeaase get changed to Block? Spider Web is crappy optics because Snails are, in most cases, not spiders. Sticky Web is still fine because "web" can just mean a trap, or snare, or even a pool, so it could be snail slime or something similar. But Spider Web means a web created by a spider.
This probably doesnt need an entire paragraph for justification, and the moves are identical apart from PP which definitely was not the reason why Spider Web got accepted. Surely a change can be made

I spoke briefly with cbrevan on Discord and he said that Spider Web is definitely not a required move because it is not on the final list for this thread.


I personally won't vote for a movepool that has Spider Web, because I agree it is terrible flavor that is not worth the additional PP. Also, the trapping set was approved specifically for toxic trapping, not for PP stalling.
 
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I spoke briefly with cbrevan on Discord and he said that Spider Web is definitely not a required move because it is not on the final list for this thread.


I personally won't vote for a movepool that has Spider Web, because I agree it is terrible flavor that is not worth the additional PP. Also, the trapping set was approved specifically for toxic trapping, not for PP stalling.

I am in 100% agreement on this matter - Spider Web equals a no vote for me since it is bad flavor and Block/Mean Look are valid options if trapping is required. Infestation is the required trapping move, so going any further is a matter of taste to begin with. Further, the PP should be a nonissue because I thought we explicitly didn't WANT a PP Stall build to be viable, which is one of many reasons why Disable, Spite, Taunt, all defense-boosting moves that also boost offense, and all serious recovery moves got banned.
 
Comments from me, generally a bit more technical in nature - Movepools are perhaps the most technical flavour step ^^;

(Oh, and I'm stealing people's ideas as I go. Fair is fair :P)

wadusher: You might want to read my post on Heart Scale and Level 1 moves, since at the moment yours might need a bit of a padding out. You're probably going to want a legality check on Healing Wish since that's quite a competitive option, though I do very much apreciate the flavour there. I do think that 9 Egg Moves is pushing it a smidgen though, given that the current G7 starters have 6/7/6 egg moves respectively. Finally, I'm not able to spot any sort of LU Pattern - it feels a bit random in terms of when Snael is learning stuff atm ^^;.

LucarioOfLegends: Again, just a head's up, you need 4 Level One moves before you can go into HS moves - at the moment your movepool only has t'three. I'd be tempted to swap Water Gun and the Level 1 Leer, and then add a Level 1 copy of Withdraw if you don't want to meddle around with the rest of your setup. I'm going to be interested to hear where you're developing the idea of Crunch from in particular.

icy_hot: Interesting to see that you're one of the few people that's opted for the Bug Egg-Group - you'd be right in pointing out that most Bugs do fall in the group, with the exceptions being Shedinja (Mineral), the Armaldo line (Water 3 ????), and then Buzzwole/Genesect/Pheromosa. I don't think I'm changing mine personally - Snael doesn't feel as 'Buggish' as, say, Drapion/Flygon/Gliscor (aka the non-Bug Bug egg groupers) - but it's a perfectly sound call. Beyond that nothing massive is screamin' at me here beyond your starting LU moves - whilst I'm glad to see four L1 moves, usually starters duplicate two moves, which means there's a part of me that's being a bit thrown by just the one move being echoed.

Madsi6: You're probably going to need to call for legality checks on a few moves there - Yawn in particular is standing out to me as a move that is competitively relevant, as is Knock Off. I'd also advise another look-over of your early moves - I'm noting in particular you're lacking anything like Pound or Tackle (standard starter moves), and your Heart Scale moves (aka relearner moves) aren't yet Heart Scale moves - because you've only got the two moves at Level 1.

Frostbiyt: Obviously you're still in a WIP stage (esp. given the LU Levels), so I'll go a bit more flavour focussed here. Sandstorm is a pretty interesting choice in the TMs, and I'm also curious as to the sheer volume of Poison-typed flavour - I understand where you're going from Poison Heal, but you have got a lot of potentials there for a movepool which has a size limit, especially when you consider that even Breloom only had the 4 Poison-typed moves ^^;.

G-Luke: "Explanation: Whenever Final Subs are ready" is a mood. This is a solid submission, and whilst I think we're going to be told "no." on certain options (Ice Punch), and I'm not entirely sure I'd have Water Pulse and Brine that way around (feels like they should be swapped around to a degree?), this should do well once you get your explanations up.

iFeedback: Working from the WIP posted later (you can probably delete the one you posted earlier ^^;). I'm noticing that you've got a lot of your Psychic flavour tied away in your Pre-Vo exclusives, which feels a bit odd (especially since your Psychic flavour tends to come in quite late) - for instance, which move do you imagine Snaelstrom's prevos not learning, with Confusion in their place? Obviously you don't need to make those decisions, but make sure that you leave some space for the prevo movepool makers to be able to make sensible changes. As an example, look at how Vikavolt basically subs out some of Charjabug's moves - Guillotine on Vikavolt is Crunch on Charjabug, etc.. Beyond that, at a personal level in t'Egg moves I'm not hugely fond of Spider Web, especially when Block does much of a muchness, and neither is actually required as far as we're aware.

Reiga: Your ability to consistently make movepools that look pulled straight from the game is genuinely impressive. I'm not personally fond of Dragon Claw, but that's like my only niggle here - beyond any legality check on Megahorn and Baneful Bunker.

Granny Pie: Obviously you're going to have to trim back your moves (85 Move Limit, 105 Moves Currently), but 15 Egg Moves goes beyond stretching it, and then some ^^;. There is a bit of weirdness in the LU movepools - you go from Level 33 Bug Bite, to 42 Magic Coat - a 9 level hop that early on is a bit of a stange 'un. I'm not entirely sure how I feel on the distribution of your moves - your standard strong options in Zen Headbutt, Scald, and Leech Life are all really early on, with Leech Life in particular standing out - as of SM, the lowest level the move is learnt is at Level 29 (Placing it at Level 10 would be similar to Rowlet learning Drill Peck at that level, for instance). Last point of interest is Water Gun/Bubble - you have Bubble listed in your L1 moves, then Water Gun at L6 marked as a repeat... I think you've swapped one but not t'other? Beyond that, a lot is waiting on explanations (Hurricane, Thunder), so I suspect you still have edits t'get to...
 
WIP

Bold = required moves
Italics = repeated moves

1 Magic Coat
1 Purify
1 Gravity
1 Spiky Shield
1 Pound
1 Tail Whip
1 Bubble
1 Withdraw
Evo Purify
4 Tail Whip
6 Water Gun
8 Withdraw

10 Stuggle Bug
14 Water Pulse
19 Confusion
23 Amnesia
28 Leech Life
33 Scald
37 Magic Coat
42 Zen Headbutt
49 Infestation
56 Future Sight
60 Brine
64 Gravity
68 Megahorn
70 Hydro Pump

I struggled for a bit whether to capitalize on Snaelstrom's name and go for a "stormy" level up movepool, but I found that I much preferred the imagery of a gentle and wise king residing in the ocean for Snaelstrom. His moves tell a story of a boy king, one who grew into a wise and powerful ruler. His early years are full of angst and fear, as he Withdraws into his castle and struggles to run a needy country, full of confusion and doubt. But as he grows up, his resolve grows as well, and he begins reaching out into the world and interacting with it, shown with his new high-power moves. As his wisdom and power grow, he learns how to remain calm in the face of danger, how to predict the future and act accordingly, to understand the gravity of the power he holds, and sometimes, to just lower one's head and charge into battle. One of the most important things, though, is that Snaelstrom has a deep desire to make his kingdom not just livable, but beautiful for his citizens, first shown by his Evolution move being Purify, and exemplified throughout the rest of his entire movepool later on. Purify also allows Snaelstrom to hunt and eat Toxapex without succumbing to poison and dying horribly. :>
CAP25W-1 Bug Bite
CAP25W-1 CAP25W-2 Extrasensory
CAP25W-1, CAP25W-2 Psycho Shift

Most of Snaelstrom's pre-evo moves are just weaker and less "wise" versions of his "wise psychic" moves. Aside from Bug Bite just being a weaker Leech Life, Extrasensory is a weaker Future Sight with less ability to predict the future, and Psycho Shift being a pseudo "reactive" version of the "proactive" Magic Coat.
Liquidation (Araquanid)
Purify (Pyukumuku)
Swords Dance (Golisopod)
Iron Defense (Golisopod)
Aqua Jet (Surskit)
Rapid Spin (Blastoise)
Sticky Web (Surskit)
Stealth Rock (Crustle)


Snaelstrom's Egg Moves are more biological than illustrative, rounding out much of Snaelstrom's Bug and Water-type moveset, inheriting much from Golisopod and Surskit.
CAP 25 Celebration

Snaelstrom @ Bottle Cap
Level 50
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: Doug
ID: 478414
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Rain Dance

Clean Up Australia Day

Snaelstrom @ Lum Berry
Level 50
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Hardy
OT: Ian Kiernan
ID: 030319
Met: Great Barrier Reef (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Special Ribbon
- Hold Hands
- Recycle
- Purify
- Protect

I wanted Snaelstrom's two events to be the standard CAP25 Celebration distribution, holding a Silver Bottle Cap to exemplify CAP's silver anniversary, but I also found an inspiration in Clean Up Australia Day, the first Sunday of every March in Australia, a day dedicated to cleaning up Australia's environment, especially the Great Barrier Reef, a place that Snaelstrom would definitely live, due to it and Corsola's strong bonds of friendship, but also an event that Snaelstrom would participate in, as throughout his movepool, I have included many references to him cleaning and caring for his environment.
Snore
Round
Heal Bell
Uproar
Helping Hand
Block
Last Resort
Bug Bite
Recycle

Signal Beam
Gravity
Stealth Rock
Iron Defense
Water Pulse

Aqua Tail
Endeavor
Icy Wind
Zen Headbutt
Laser Focus
Magic Coat
Hydro Cannon
Water Pledge
TM01 Work Up
TM03 Psyshock
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power

TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM16 Light Screen
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance

TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM24 Thunderbolt
TM25 Thunder
TM27 Return
TM28 Leech Life
TM29 Psychic
TM32 Double Team
TM33 Reflect
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract

TM48 Round
TM49 Echoed Voice
TM52 Focus Blast
TM55 Scald
TM63 Embargo
TM68 Giga Impact
TM69 Rock Polish
TM75 Swords Dance
TM77 Psych Up
TM81 X-Scissor
TM83 Infestation
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-Turn
TM90 Substitute
TM92 Trick Room

TM94 Surf
TM96 Nature Power
TM98 Waterfall
TM100 Confide

Snaelstrom's TM set is much like his Egg moves, mostly just a way of rounding out his biological moveset with Bug, Water, and Ice-type moves, with a few references to his shell, but still with a few references to his healthy environment with Recycle and Embargo, a move working double duty as his only Dark-type move, as he is a very honest and caring lord, and will only perform negative actions such as employing embargoes on goods when it is absolutely neccessary. Snaelstrom also shys away from as many Poison-type moves as he can, seeing them as nasty moves detrimental to both his kingdom and his health.

85 moves

Edited down to 85 moves, and changed around Snaelstrom's Level Up movepool a touch. Still calling for an official check on Purify, Thunder and Thunderbolt.
 
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Madsi6: You're probably going to need to call for legality checks on a few moves there - Yawn in particular is standing out to me as a move that is competitively relevant, as is Knock Off. I'd also advise another look-over of your early moves - I'm noting in particular you're lacking anything like Pound or Tackle (standard starter moves), and your Heart Scale moves (aka relearner moves) aren't yet Heart Scale moves - because you've only got the two moves at Level 1.
I appreciate the feedback, unfortunately i locked it in as a final submission so i am not able to change them, however i have requested a legality check on yawn and knock off, aswell as ice punch.
Given it was/is my first submission it's not a huge surprise i forgot about pound or tackle, however i'm not able to change them unless i get a go from cbrevan, since i locked it in, but thank you i appreciate the feedback :)
 
I appreciate the feedback, unfortunately i locked it in as a final submission so i am not able to change them, however i have requested a legality check on yawn and knock off, aswell as ice punch.
Given it was/is my first submission it's not a huge surprise i forgot about pound or tackle, however i'm not able to change them unless i get a go from cbrevan, since i locked it in, but thank you i appreciate the feedback :)
You can still change it to WIP, and work on your movepool I'm pretty sure without needing the permission of Cbre
 
Work In Progress

My main flavor theme here is ongoing evolution, especially in regard to psychic-type moves. This comes naturally from the already-existing idea of Snaelstrom hunting and protecting against Toxapex and Mareanie. You'll notice that Snaelstrom's dual STAB is unable to harm these two pests effectively, and the matchup in the wild is further harmed by Toxapex's signature ability, Merciless, and unresisted poison-type STAB. How then do Snaelstrom manage to hunt Toxapex? Adaptation has the answer: Snaelstrom are evolving psychic-type moves! Snaelstrom is not inherently adept at using psychic power, but nature demands adaptation. Thus, over time Snaelstrom has learned to use Confusion and, more recently, Extrasensory. The elegant and precise Psychic still eludes Snaelstrom, but perhaps with further evolution they will one day learn it!

As far as the functional construction of the movepool, I put utmost care into designing the level-up movepool according to GameFreak's structural precedent and also specifically to make it well-designed for a player using it in a main-series Pokémon title. I recommend that other submissions consider these factors as well. I haven't seen any previous submissions specifically mention these aspects of design, and I detail the numerous resulting design decisions in the Level-Up spoiler.

Required moves are in Bold.
Repeated moves are in Italics.
There are 81 total moves.

HS - Psycho Shift
HS - Dive
HS - Whirlpool
HS - Muddy Water
HS - Liquidation
LV0 - Pound
LV0 - Bubble
LV0 - Withdraw
LV0 - Infestation
Evo. - Muddy Water
LV4 - Withdraw

LV9 - Infestation
LV11 - Rain Dance
LV14 - Aqua Jet
LV16 - Acid Spray
LV19 - Confusion
LV24 - Brine
LV28 - Bug Bite
LV33 - Magic Coat
LV38 - Extrasensory
LV44 - Bug Buzz
LV49 - Stealth Rock
LV55 - Hydro Pump
LV60 - Spiky Shield

Process: The level-up move pool takes Primarina's as a template with the other Gen-7 starters also reviewed for comparison, but makes key design choices based off of a number of factors. Obviously moves were chosen with flavor in mind, but on a deeper level I designed this move pool with the intention of being playable in-game. This direction was behind a number of points which I consciously emphasized: First, I kept the moves rewarding to receive in-game. I'm not happy when I take a long time to level up my Pokémon only to receive a bad status move that would have been acceptable-at-best 10 levels earlier. I tried to ensure that every move would be a useful one at the point received in the game. Second, I avoided putting TM and tutor moves in the level-up move pool. If you are on your way to the Pokémon league and your starter learns a move so strong that you will never change it, then you are really happy! But when you find the TM for it later, you are apathetic. This is why you don't see moves like Leech Life or Ice Beam in this level-up movepool; a strong STAB move like Bug Buzz will give you the satisfaction of learning the moves that you need at the time while saving the joy of running into the Pokemart and buying 6 TMs to optimize your team's moves. A similar process is behind giving Muddy Water as the Evolution move while leaving Liquidation as the fully-optimized Heart Scale move. Third, I thought about what sets players would use as they progressed. I didn't put moves in the level-up section like Psycho Shift that rely on Poison Heal and wouldn't likely be useful in a normal playthrough. Instead, I considered what sets players would want to use at that point in the game. You start with suitably weak flavor appropriate moves as with every starter, but before long players receive moves that are not only useful individually in a normal playthrough - such as Aqua Jet - but also work well together for a cool set. For example, by level 14 the player will have Aqua Jet and Rain Dance. Both moves are good alone, but together they can be used to set up rain, take a hit, and then retaliate immediately with a torrent-boosted, rain-boosted Aqua Jet. Newer players will get a kick at strategizing that. Later on, Snaelstrom is granted coverage moves and Stealth Rock to make use of before the Pokémon League.

Overall, these choices matter because 1.) GameFreak designs these Pokémon to be fun to play in games, and so it is actually good flavor to design these Pokémon as though players will level up with them in a playthrough because that is exactly what GameFreak would do. 2.) People actually may end up using these Pokémon in ROM hacks and fan games, especially because they are starters. I encourage all submissions to at least consider their move pools in these contexts.

(On the note of Rain Dance and Stealth Rock, I consciously chose to offer those by level up despite being a TM and Tutor move respectively because those moves wouldn't be a big deal by the time they are eventually received otherwise; Stealth Rock would be post-game and Rain Dance would grow gradually less important, likely not being worth considering by the time it could be found as a TM. The same logic applies to Infestation. If you have any feedback, though, I'll be looking for a replacement for Magic Coat [at level 33] until I move out of WIP.)

Purify (From Pyukumuku)
Struggle Bug (From numerous Bug types)
Sticky Web (From every sticky-webber except Swirlix)
Rapid Spin (From Blastoise, Forretress, Kabuto, Delibird)
Sludge (From Mudkip, Shellos)
Metronome (From Poliwrath, Ludicolo)
Rock Throw (From Mudkip, Tirtouga)

These egg moves are mostly flavor-based. Sticky Web and Rapid Spin are egg moves because they are a bit too farfetch'd to be learnable without getting it from a parent. Metronome is mildly psychic-y but is also simple fun. Rock throw, Sludge, Struggle Bug and Purify are simple flavor. I ended up going with the Water1/Bug egg group because every breeding bug-type (Besides the understandable exception Shedinja, and the fossilized Armaldo line which is in Water3 instead because all evolving fossil Pokémon are either part of the Monster or Water3 egg groups) falls into the Bug egg group while every water starter falls into Water1; precedent practically mandates these egg groups. I considered other egg groups such as Water3, Amorphous, and Monster, but none of them have quite as much going for them in my personal opinion. A lot of people seem to be opting for the Fairy egg group, but that is probably more so for getting Psycho Shift by egg move as opposed to Snaelstrom naturally fitting there. Really, though, egg group choice would be a toss up for me were it not for the strong precedent.

TM06 - Toxic
TM07 - Hail
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect

TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM28 - Leech Life
TM32 - Double Team
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM55 - Scald

TM56 - Fling
TM60 - Quash
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM69 - Rock Polish
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM77 - Psych Up
TM79 - Frost Breath
TM83 - Infestation
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM89 - U-Turn
TM90 - Substitute
TM92 - Trick Room

TM94 - Surf
TM96 - Nature Power
TM98 - Waterfall
TM100 - Confide

The TMs are pretty much what you would expect. Dream Eater and Psych Up for Psychic flavor, Safeguard, Rock Polish, Frost Breath, and Nature Power for extra flavor. And of course, many of these TMs are unique moves because I avoided using them during level-up to preserve meaningful options to be made regarding moveset in the late-game.

Water Pledge
Hydro Cannon
Snore

Helping Hand
Block
Bug Bite
Ally Switch
Signal Beam
Stealth Rock
Telekinesis
Role Play
Water Pulse
Pain Split
Trick
Zen Headbutt
Magic Room
Wonder Room
Liquidation
Gastro Acid
Skill Swap
Magic Coat
Iron Head

There are a lot of simple psychic-reinforcing moves here, but the only potentially-unexpected move is Iron Head. Snaelstrom's "helmet" is a part of the design, and so from a flavor perspective it is justified. It also gives an extra coverage option in-game. Iron Head doesn't hit anything on our threatlist besides Jumbao, but we already have Ice Beam to pressure that. Just in case, though, I'm going to request a legality check. (cbrevan)

CAP 25 Celebration

Event Description: "To celebrate CAP's 25th Pokémon anniversary, come and get this special Snaelstrom, whose ESP is higher than any other ever discovered! It is the only Snaelstrom that can learn the powerful psychic-type move Future Sight!"

Snaelstrom @ Relic Silver
Level 50
Ability: Random
Nature: Random
OT: Cooper
ID: 003089
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hidden Power Psychic
- Zen Headbutt

- Future Sight

The whole reason we are making three Pokémon at once is because this is a celebration of CAP, so it is only proper to give our CAPs some event moves! This set is based off of the one made by Dogfish44 but is adjusted to best suit the rest of the movepool and take advantage of the event's opportunity for adding flavor. In Dogfish's set, this event gave Snaelstrom access to Metronome, but I moved Metronome to the egg moves to increase compatibility and make room for Future Sight. The event-exclusive move Future Sight builds my narrative of Snaelstrom continuing to evolve psychic powers to help them hunt and defend against Toxapex in the wild. Future Sight shouldn't ever be relevant competitively because its built-in delay makes it exploitable and because it is mutually exclusive with more important egg moves such as Sticky Web and Rapid Spin. It works as good flavor, however, as a "strong" psychic-type move that signifies evolutionary progress.

I've enjoyed putting a lot of thought into this submission. I'm eager to hear any feedback that you have for me before submissions close!
 
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Please shoot me a recommendation for a good secondary egg group.

Well since the only sensible place to get psycho shift via breeding is the fairy egg group, your best bet is to put it in there. Otherwise you have to get it from amorphous, human-like, and flying, which obviously make no sense on this mon.
 
Well since the only sensible place to get psycho shift via breeding is the fairy egg group, your best bet is to put it in there. Otherwise you have to get it from amorphous, human-like, and flying, which obviously make no sense on this mon.
Amorphous does actually have a couple snails in it, with both the slugma and shellos lines.
Amorphous is probably the egg group that makes the most sense for Snaelstrom, unfortunately there are no mons in that egg group that get Psycho Shift
 
Whoops, I was actually thinking of field. Which, of course, has more than just smeargle learning it, but I don't know if that makes sense either.
 
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LucarioOfLegends: Again, just a head's up, you need 4 Level One moves before you can go into HS moves - at the moment your movepool only has t'three. I'd be tempted to swap Water Gun and the Level 1 Leer, and then add a Level 1 copy of Withdraw if you don't want to meddle around with the rest of your setup. I'm going to be interested to hear where you're developing the idea of Crunch from in particular.

Yea, I'll be getting on that Level 1 issue here shortly, thanks for the heads up. Crunch is an interesting case for because of my choice to focus on the Triton Snail flavor more than the defensive flavor (and also why I need approval on PFang). its also not a complete impossibility for it to happen without Bite, are there are plenty of mons who get the former but not the latter. I might eventually find a spot for it in Egg moves however, as that is the more likely area of occurance for getting this move on these mons.
 
Yo. This is a late response to a number of questions, so I'll do my best to tag anyone affected by decisions I'll be making. My current plan is to wrap up movepools as quickly as possible, so expect a 48 hour warning in the next couple of days. I want to give people enough time to edit movepools across all the threads if needed, so I plan to give at least a day's time before I drop the 48 hour warning.

The bulk of this post will be about move decisions. I did my best to tag everyone affected by these decisions, but I can't guarantee I got everyone. Make sure you read through this post and check your submissions yourself just to be safe.

On coverage, I don't plan to be that strict with coverage moves because of how passive Snaelstrom is. Outside of the Swords Dance set, Snaelstrom doesn't boast much of an offensive presence and is reliant on passive damage and super effective hits to check Pokemon. With this in mind, the viability of coverage moves is directly related to

Zen Headbutt is allowed. It does impact the Toxapex, Tomohawk, and Arghonaut matchups in the sense that it does more damage and pushes the 2hko at +2 against Toxapex and Tomohawk, but even with the super effective hit the damage output is mediocre against Pokemon that can Haze/Phaze it.

Knock Off is banned, its a generically good move that also impacts some of our checks directly, such as Pajantom. icy_hot iFeedback

Ice Punch is banned in order to allow Pajantom to check the Swords Dance set. wadusher G-Luke

Poison-type coverage above 65 BP has been banned, which includes Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb, and Sludge Wave. This is to prevent Snaelstrom from pressuring Jumbao effectively outside of Toxic and other passive options. LucarioOfLegends Dogfish44 iFeedback Frostbiyt icy_hot Reiga

Electric-type coverage is banned for hitting Gyarados and Pelipper on the switch. Granny Pie

Megahorn is allowed, its not like the Swords Dance set will be breaking anything because of it.

Elaborating on Block/Mean Look/Spider Web, all of these moves are up to submittors discretion to include in their movepools.

Counter and Mirror Coat are banned. While they might not be consistent, Snaelstrom has the bulk and utility moves to beat potential checks outright with these moves and proper prediction. wadusher iFeedback

Soak is banned, Toxic trapping Steel-types is relevant and does swing a lot of matchups for that set. icy_hot Madsi6 Reiga

Aqua Ring is allowed. The move isn't good, not really much to say here.

Refresh is allowed. There is zero reason to ban this move on a Poison Heal Pokemon.

Light Screen and Reflect are banned because Snaelstrom is already bulky enough and doesn't need a way to wall anything it wants. Viability is suspect but really there isn't a reason to play it safe here. icy_hot Madsi6 iFeedback G-Luke Reiga Granny Pie

Body Slam is allowed, the move isn't viable without STAB or Serene Grace on a defensive Pokemon. To put it in perspective, 7 out of 10 times a player uses Body Slam it will do nothing impactful.

Haze is allowed. Examining it from the threatlist, it does impact the Azumarill and Naviathan matchups but it also allows Snaelstrom to more solidly check and counter the Pokemon we aim to beat. Seeing how it wasn't disallowed in movesets, I'd like to keep it legal for now.

Purify is allowed for now because its competitively unviable. This might change depending on how we decide to treat exclusive flavor moves, but if a decision to ban is made time will be given to make any necessary changes.

I planned to respond to any errors I caught when doing legality checks as a way of responding to individual submissions, but everyone did such a stellar job posting that it would be easier to thank everyone who posted for doing a great job. I also want to remind people to double, even triple check their submissions for legality- make sure every mandatory move is in, none of the banned moves are included, and that your move count is accurate and under the limit designated in the OP. I didn't have the time to do this sort of legality checking yet, so it'll have to wait until I call the 48 hour warning. Also, make sure you include Final Submission at the top of your post when you're ready to finalize your submission. I can't approve anything without it, so make sure you don't forget!
 
WIP

Bold = required moves
Italics = repeated moves

1 Magic Coat
1 Purify
1 Gravity
1 Spiky Shield
1 Pound
1 Tail Whip
1 Bubble
1 Withdraw
Evo Purify
4 Tail Whip
6 Water Gun
8 Withdraw

10 Stuggle Bug
14 Water Pulse
19 Confusion
23 Amnesia
28 Leech Life
33 Scald
37 Magic Coat
42 Zen Headbutt
49 Infestation
56 Future Sight
60 Brine
64 Gravity
68 Megahorn
70 Hydro Pump

I struggled for a bit whether to capitalize on Snaelstrom's name and go for a "stormy" level up movepool, but I found that I much preferred the imagery of a gentle and wise king residing in the ocean for Snaelstrom. His moves tell a story of a boy king, one who grew into a wise and powerful ruler. His early years are full of angst and fear, as he Withdraws into his castle and struggles to run a needy country, full of confusion and doubt. But as he grows up, his resolve grows as well, and he begins reaching out into the world and interacting with it, shown with his new high-power moves. As his wisdom and power grow, he learns how to remain calm in the face of danger, how to predict the future and act accordingly, to understand the gravity of the power he holds, and sometimes, to just lower one's head and charge into battle. One of the most important things, though, is that Snaelstrom has a deep desire to make his kingdom not just livable, but beautiful for his citizens, first shown by his Evolution move being Purify, and exemplified throughout the rest of his entire movepool later on. Purify also allows Snaelstrom to hunt and eat Toxapex without succumbing to poison and dying horribly. :>
CAP25W-1 Bug Bite
CAP25W-1 CAP25W-2 Extrasensory
CAP25W-1, CAP25W-2 Psycho Shift

Most of Snaelstrom's pre-evo moves are just weaker and less "wise" versions of his "wise psychic" moves. Aside from Bug Bite just being a weaker Leech Life, Extrasensory is a weaker Future Sight with less ability to predict the future, and Psycho Shift being a pseudo "reactive" version of the "proactive" Magic Coat.
Liquidation (Araquanid)
Purify (Pyukumuku)
Refresh (Corsola)
Aqua Ring (Corsola)
Swords Dance (Golisopod)
Iron Defense (Golisopod)
Aqua Jet (Surskit)
Haze (Surskit)
Rapid Spin (Blastoise)
Sticky Web (Surskit)
Stealth Rock (Crustle)


Snaelstrom's Egg Moves are more biological than illustrative, rounding out much of Snaelstrom's Bug and Water-type moveset, inheriting much from Golisopod and Surskit.
CAP 25 Celebration

Snaelstrom @ Bottle Cap
Level 50
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: Doug
ID: 478414
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hurricane
- Whirlpool
- Rain Dance

Clean Up Australia Day

Snaelstrom @ Lum Berry
Level 50
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Hardy
OT: Ian Kiernan
ID: 030319
Met: Great Barrier Reef (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Special Ribbon
- Hold Hands
- Recycle
- Purify
- Protect

I wanted Snaelstrom's two events to be the standard CAP25 Celebration distribution, holding a Silver Bottle Cap to exemplify CAP's silver anniversary, but I also found an inspiration in Clean Up Australia Day, the first Sunday of every March in Australia, a day dedicated to cleaning up Australia's environment, especially the Great Barrier Reef, a place that Snaelstrom would definitely live, due to it and Corsola's strong bonds of friendship, but also an event that Snaelstrom would participate in, as throughout his movepool, I have included many references to him cleaning and caring for his environment.
Snore
Round

Heal Bell
Uproar
Helping Hand
Block
Last Resort
Bug Bite
Recycle

Signal Beam
Gravity
Stealth Rock
Iron Defense
Water Pulse

Aqua Tail
Endeavor
Icy Wind
Zen Headbutt
Laser Focus
Magic Coat
Hydro Cannon
Water Pledge
TM01 Work Up
TM03 Psyshock
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power

TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance

TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return

TM28 Leech Life
TM29 Psychic
TM32 Double Team
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract

TM48 Round
TM49 Echoed Voice
TM52 Focus Blast
TM55 Scald
TM63 Embargo
TM68 Giga Impact
TM69 Rock Polish
TM75 Swords Dance
TM77 Psych Up
TM81 X-Scissor
TM83 Infestation
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-Turn
TM90 Substitute
TM92 Trick Room

TM94 Surf
TM96 Nature Power
TM98 Waterfall
TM100 Confide

Snaelstrom's TM set is much like his Egg moves, mostly just a way of rounding out his biological moveset with Bug, Water, and Ice-type moves, with a few references to his shell, but still with a few references to his healthy environment with Recycle and Embargo, a move working double duty as his only Dark-type move, as he is a very honest and caring lord, and will only perform negative actions such as employing embargoes on goods when it is absolutely neccessary. Snaelstrom also shys away from as many Poison-type moves as he can, seeing them as nasty moves detrimental to both his kingdom and his health.

85 moves

Edited down to 85 moves, adding some flavor and getting rid of Thunderbolt and Thunder.
 
Final Submission

I intended to add a healer/cleric vibe to an overall supportive movepool by including a sizable chunk of fairy and psychic flavor, along with anti-status moves like safeguard and heal bell. Another theme I went with is Snael not being a true bug, and hiding the fairy type beneath its shell. It makes good use of the bug typing defensively but isn't a bug per se, and therefore doesn't embrace the typing. Which means I've held off on more than the bare essentials in terms of bug moves, ending up with more fairy moves and way more water moves than bug moves.

While Snael is obviously built for singles first and foremost, I still took the initiative to prepare its movepool for the event that we host another CAP Doubles tour. I suspect Snael would thrive as a support there even with just Trick Room. As such, I made sure add a wide array of support moves that are flavor in singles but invaluable in doubles, like Heal Pulse, Ally Switch and Wide Guard, and even non-trick room focused speed control in Icy Wind. However I did not forget to include the tools to be a successful Trick Room setter in singles, like Healing Wish and Magic Coat.

Bold: required
Italic: duplicates

hs Dive
hs Hydro pump
hs Bug Buzz
hs Heal pulse
hs Bestow
hs Mean Look
- Water Gun
- Silver Wind

evo Spiky shield
1 Pound
1 Withdraw
4 Water gun
8 Silver wind
11 Mist
14 Bubble Beam
17 Headbutt
20 Refresh
23 Razor Shell
25 Bug Buzz
28 Aqua Ring
32 Extrasensory
38 Captivate
40 Muddy Water
44 Rapid Spin
49 Safeguard
55 Hydro pump
60 Healing wish
Overview
I followed Primarina's level up pattern, albeit fairly loosely, including a status move, Hydro Pump, and the capstone move at the same lv 49 55 and 60, respectively. I also kept trends like the 3 4 and 5 level intervals between moves and learning a water move every 2 non-water moves, for the most part. The gap between lv32 and 38 is implied to be filled by Spiky Shield.

Snael is a kind-hearted pokemon that wishes to heal and support its friends with moves like Heal Pulse, Healing Wish and Bestow. Before it does any of that, however, it will learn to defend itself with various attacks as well as Refresh and Mist, the latter of which comes right when wild pokemon start throwing out random sand attacks and other stat dropping shenanigans, while the former is roughly when status starts to be used against you.

STAB and coverage moves
Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Hydro Pump and Bug buzz are obligatory, while Silver Wind starts off as Fairy Wind as it likely would have helped players out a bit too much vs the grass starter, so it could end up as the second stage evo move. Dive seems like the kind of thing Snael would do a lot when living in the same general area as Corsola. Muddy Water is a prime spread move to run in doubles, which is used by basically every water type that gets it, and with a movepool as support-oriented as this it seems disingenuous not to include it. Razor shell seems like a no-brainer with all the really sharp, easily weaponized corals on Snael's shell.

I figured the presence of a subtly placed helmet on Snael's head is enough justification to add Headbutt early on.

Support moves
I made estimates as to when some of these would be useful, like Mist appearing at exactly the level players may be the most annoyed by early game stat drop spam. Refresh is learned when I suspect status starts to become an obstacle. Aqua ring comes at a time when the need for potions may be higher than your funds can support, though obviously that'll depend a lot on the game Snael appears in. Bestow and Captivate are pretty much exclusively flavor, since you likely have all the useful status moves at your disposal already by the time you get those.

Rapid spin is at the point where I suspect entry hazards would be used by trainers enough to justify it. Which may seem silly, but keep in mind that gen7's Elite 4 have several spiker leads, and if we make a CAP ROMhack there's bound to be more.

Healing Wish is my ideal capstone move for Snael. Its placement on the movepool alludes to its status as the ultimate support move, fitting right in with Snael's altruistic nature. From a competitive standpoint, having Trick Room defeats the purpose of running U-turn, which is to move last with it and therefore soak up a hit for your teammates before bringing them in so they remain at full. Healing Wish actively avoids bringing in your teammate until the opponent has moved, so it doesn't matter if you move first with it, making it a suitable replacement.
Fairy wind (replaced by Silver Wind)
Baby Doll Eyes (replaced by Captivate)
Misty terrain (replaced by Safeguard)
I have 3 Fairy moves that are replaced by different, non-fairy typed versions upon evolution with the assumption that the prevo is a Water/Fairy type. It would be a pretty bad idea to keep the Water/Bug typing for the prevos given how it messes with the starter triangle, and Water/Fairy makes the most sense when I have Psycho Shift in egg moves.
Sticky web (Araquanid, Ribombee, Swirlix)
Psycho shift (Togetic)
Wide guard (Araquanid, Carracosta, Toxapex, etc)
Haze (Quagsire, Surskit, Greninja)
Moonblast (Primarina, Ribombee, etc)
Aqua jet (Primarina, Azumarill, etc)
Whirlpool (Clamperl, Floatzel, Empoleon, etc)
Acid Armour (Gastrodon, Dragalge)
Since I decided to put Psycho Shift here instead of in level up, I had to go with Fairy as one of the egg groups, so I might as well embrace the flavor it brings by adding Moonblast. That said, I avoided including anything that doesn't have a reason to be bred for, and I'm not exactly a fan of useless egg pools.

Haze solidifies our Naviathan matchup, preventing Snael from being setup fodder, however I couldn't find room for both haze and mist in level up, so it ended up here. I also gave the first of a handful of doubles exclusive support moves in Wide Guard, as it pairs beautifully with any teammates packing 2x or 4x weaknesses to Earthquake, such as Smokomodo, Mega Camerupt, and Mega Crucibelle. As for Aqua Jet, I think it makes more sense here than in level up given that the stuff that gets it by leveling up tends to be way more offensively oriented than Snael, like Primarina.

Acid Armour's a bit of a last minute addition as I only recently found out it wasn't banned. Its on a sizable chunk of snail like pokemon, so it makes sense to be in the move pool, but it's here because Snael seems much too solid for it to come naturally by level up.
TM01 Work up
TM07 Hail
TM13 Ice beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM18 Rain dance
TM20 Safeguard
TM28 Leech Life
TM55 Scald

TM56 Fling
TM75 Swords dance
TM77 Psych up
TM83 Infestation
TM86 Grass knot
TM89 U-turn
TM92 Trick room

TM94 Surf
TM98 Waterfall
TM99 Dazzling gleam

TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM15 Hyper beam
TM17 Protect
TM21 Return
TM27 Frustration
TM32 Double team
TM41 Torment
TM42 Façade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round
TM68 Giga impact
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep talk
TM90 Substitute
TM100 Confide
Universal TMs are listed separately from the rest of the TMs to shift focus to the ones I added. Safeguard fits right in on a cleric like Snael while Grass Knot is on a surprising array of non-grass starters and water types, while not really impacting our threatlist much given that our water type checks are either too light or neutral to grass, so it fits in well enough. Flavor-wise, a Grass Knot can be created with seaweed, which Snael would have ample access to. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.
Snore
Heal bell
Icy wind
Stealth rock
liquidation

Magic coat
Signal Beam
Bug Bite
Water pulse
Ally switch
Helping hand
Magic room
Zen Headbutt
Wonder Room

Water pledge
Hydro cannon
Singles
Magic Coat is a must have for both Sticky Web and Trick Room sets, as Taunt is Snael's worst nightmare in those cases. Even though no Snael set appreciates Taunt, having the speed control lead sets taunted steals momentum from the entire team, while on other sets it only steals momentum from Snael. Stealth Rock is another way Snael weaponizes its corals, but in a very different manner to Razor Shell.

Zen Headbutt is a solid upgrade from the initial Headbutt, and fits right in with the rest of Snael's psychic flavor. Water Pulse, Liquidation and Signal Beam are self-explanatory. Other Room moves pair nicely with Trick Room, adding a little more mystique and flavor than Trick Room alone has to offer. Heal Bell seems counter-intuitive with poison heal, but it does allow Snael to replace burns/paralysis with poison and cure its teammates at the same time.

Doubles
In Doubles, the use of Helping Hand to boost, say, Mega Camerupt's Eruption or some Z move offers way more damage than any of Snael's unboosted attacks. Ally Switch takes advantage of any defensive synergies its team may have by forcing opponents to mistarget. For faster teams featuring Smokomodo over Camerupt, for instance, Icy Wind is an alternative speed control option over Trick Room. Bug Bite has at least a small niche in doubles given the plethora of Super Sitrus berries used there, but is otherwise flavor.
Celebration CAP
Snaelstrom @ Shell Bell
Level 50
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Random
OT: Yours
ID: Yours
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Classic Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Moonblast
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet

Pokebank Distribution
Snaelstrom @ Bottle Cap
Level 50
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: Yours
ID: Yours
Met: Fateful encounter
Ribbon: Classic Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Moonblast
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet
This is the only reasonable place to put Megahorn, since it makes zero sense to be in levelup, and nothing in my current egg pool learns it - the only water type packing it is the water2 Goldeen line. Moonblast is, of course, flavor, while Aqua Jet is the egg move I think is most likely to be useful with Z-Celebrate. I decided against including the whole "Celebratory ROMhack move tutor" business, due to the obvious absence of a CAP ROMhack.

As for the events themselves, I tried to stick to how Hidden Ability gen7 starters were distributed for Poison Heal Snael, and had the Torrent event mirror the distribution for Rockruff that could evolve into Dusk Lycanrock, which was intended to be given at the very beginning of the game. This is also why its a baby Snael. Another parallel is that rockruff giveaway co-incided with the release of Ultra Sun and Moon, and this baby Snael could be released at the same time as a CAP ROMhack.

Never mind, seems we don't want the prevos to get celebrate...

Total moves: 85
 
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Final Submission

Bold - required moves
Italics - repeated moves

1 Hydro Pump
1 Imprison
1 Pound
1 Growl
1 Withdraw
1 Bubble
Evo Psycho Shift
4 Growl
9 Baby-Doll Eyes
11 Aqua Jet
15 Struggle Bug
19 Heal Pulse
24 Bubble Beam
29 Barrier
31 Bug Bite
34 Spiky Shield
36 Skill Swap
39 Psychic
41 Razor Shell
49 Healing Wish
53 Hydro Pump
57 Stored Power
For 25w, I decided to go with a level up pattern close to Primarina's while adding some Psychic-type flavor to it. As our evolution move, we get Psycho Shift, which is an interesting level up option and is also on our required moves list. In the beginning of the movepool, we will have access to low base power moves such as Aqua Jet and Pound, typical of starter pokemon, as well as nice flavor support options like Imprison and Baby-Doll Eyes. Midway through the movepool, we get access to Struggle Bug as well as Bubble Beam, Barrier and Bug Bite. Later, we get access to Psychic for more flavor as well as Skill Swap and Healing Wish, while also gaining Spiky Shield and Razor Shell, potent options, as well as Hydro Pump.

CAP25w-1 - Confusion
CAP25w-1, CAP25w-2 - Whirlpool
I went with some more Psychic-type flavor to this section of the movepool, with common moves amongst Psychic-flavoured pokemon like Psyduck.

CAP 25 Celebration

Snaelstrom @ Relic Silver
Level 50
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Random
OT: Cooper
ID: 003089
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Psycho Shift

Earth Day Celebration

Snaelstrom @ Gold Bottle Cap
Level 50
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: MotherE
ID: 002018
Met: Rio de Janeiro (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Event Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hydro Pump
- Barrier
- Protect

Thank you, Dogfish44 for kindly allowing me to use your event teamplate!

TM01 Work Up
TM06 Toxic
TM07 Hail
TM10 Hidden Power
TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance
TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return
TM28 Leech Life
TM29 Psychic
TM32 Double Team
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round
TM49 Echoed Voice
TM55 Scald
TM68 Giga Impact
TM75 Swords Dance
TM83 Infestation
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-turn
TM90 Substitute
TM92 Trick Room
TM94 Surf
TM98 Waterfall
TM99 Dazzling Gleam
TM100 Confide

Snore
Helping Hand
Block
Bug Bite
Iron Defense
Ally Switch
Signal Beam
Stealth Rock
Telekinesis
Water Pulse
Icy Wind
Zen Headbutt
Trick
Magic Coat
Magic Room
Wonder Room
Liquidation
Skill Swap

Water Pledge
Hydro Cannon

Rapid Spin (Blastoise)
Sticky Web (Araquanid)
Moonblast (Primarina)
Nasty Plot* (Mismagius)
Pin Missile (Toxapex)
Bug Buzz (Masquerain)
Clear Smog (Magcargo)

I chose Water 1 to get access to some of our required moves (Rapid Spin and Sticky Web) as well as for flavor, since 25w's design fits this egg group really well, being a starter and a gastropod. Amorphous was added for flavor since other slimey and gastropod pokemon are in it such as Magcargo, Gastrodon and Muk, as well as Psychic-flavoured pokemon like Gardevoir and Misdreavus.

Total of moves: 83.

Santeria

I decided gave Snaelstrom lots of Psychic-type flavor. It seems royal, elegant and mystic in a very intriguing way. It is also known to defend Corsola from Toxapex. What's the best way to deal with a Water/Poison type? Spam Psychic!
Psycho Shift was one of the most difficult required moves to fit in the movepool out of all three starters, in my opinion. I put it as the Level Up to Snaelstrom to reference the development of it's psychic powers when it evolves. Skill Swap was added for the same Psychic-flavor - it is a common move in mysterious pokémon such as Gothitelle and Stakataka as well as fairly, motherly pokémon like Ribombee and Blissey.
Psychic was added midway through the movepool to give it a potent non-STAB option, similarly to how Incineroar, one of our most recent official starters, gains Double Kick and Cross Chop for the Fighting-type flavor.
Stored Power is the last move Snaelstrom gets via level up, to reference it's psychic power finally growing to be at it's maximum.

Like father like son

One of the most significant things about Snaelstrom's design, as shown on Pipotchi's art for CAP25w, is it's motherly relationship with Corsola, shielding them from predators and truly bonding with them. So I wanted to make Snaelstrom kind of a mother figure that will do whatever it takes to protect their children.
I gave it Spiky Shield as a level up move to emphasize the protective nature of Snaelstrom, that will hide the little Corsola behind it's shell full of sharp pieces of coral and protect them from their predators, mainly Toxapex. Barrier was added to emphasize, once again, it's defensive nature - it is also a common move on big, bulky pokemon such as Swampert, Cloyster and Musharna and in shelled pokemon like Clampearl and the aforementioned Cloyster (as well as our friendly Corsola). Barrier can also reference the Great Barrier Reef (heavily referenced by the corals in Snaelstrom's shell and it's close relationship with Corsola). Healing Wish was added to the movepool to reference all the mothers that are giving their everything, everyday, to protect, heal and give the best to their children.

Her name is Shelly

I wanted to play with Snaelstrom's shell by giving it access to Withdraw via a level 1 move as well as giving it Iron Defense in the tutor section. I also gave it Razor Shell, a potent physical, Water-type STAB move that was requested by some Discord users. Spiky Shield and Barrier also reference it's shell being used for protection.

Tide Turner

My Snaelstrom movepool is full of psychic, mystical flavor, but it still keeps a strong Water-type vibe. Bubble and Bubble Beam are seen on other pokémon with hard shell or exoskeleton such as the Squirtle line and the Corphish and Clauncher lines. These moves are also very common in pokémon with a soft, squashy body like Tentacruel, Goomy and Jellicent. I also gave it powerful Water-type options in Aqua Jet, Razor Shell and Hydro Pump via level up.

Not a real bug!

Although it has the Bug-type, Snaelstrom isn't really based off of a bug! Slugs are molluscs and most mollusc pokémon such as the Goomy and Shellos lines don't have any Bug-type flavor in their movepools! That's why I gave few Bug-type moves as level up options for Snaelstrom, giving it more Psychic-type flavor instead. But it still gets potent Bug-type moves such as Leech Life and Bug Buzz via TMs, breeding and tutor!

The egg groups

One of the most controversial topics of Snaelstrom's movepool were the egg groups. We needed to fit an extensive amount of required moves that either didn't fit the design enough to be on movepool or weren't available via TMs and tutors, so most submissions relied on egg moves to fit Snaelstrom's movepool requirements. I had most of the required moves via level up, TMs and tutors, so the egg moves were mostly flavor.
Water 1 is a common egg group amongst starters such as Blastoise and Primarina. It is also the egg group of our other Water-type gastropods, Shellos and Gastrodon, so it felt like a natural choice.
Amorphous is the home of almost every sluggy or squashy pokemon in the franchise (like Magcargo, Gastrodon and Muk) and it is full of mystic, Psychic-type flavor (Gardevoir, Misdreavus and such). It was the perfect choice for my Snaelstrom movepool!

Fairly godmother

There's a few Fairy-type moves on Snaelstrom movepools to reference it's cute, royal design and it's sweet relationship with Corsola. It's like a "fairly godmother". So I gave it moves such as Baby-Doll Eyes via level up and Moonblast via breeding, to add this fairly flavor!
 
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Final Submission

One aspect that this submission gives great attention to is that all Pokémon - and the starters especially - are designed by GameFreak to be engaging to play with in game. Extremely close attention has been payed to how much the movepool does to create engagement with players, whether that be from leveling up with your Pokémon, battling with your Pokémon, breeding your Pokémon or optimizing your Pokémon. These ideas have driven the reasoning behind a great deal of this submission. Were GameFreak to use this Pokémon as one of their next starters, each of these aspects would be closely analyzed to create a starter that would feel great to travel the region with - and a starter that would introduce a new generation of players to Pokémon. Even if our Pokémon is never used in this context, (although that is certainly possible thanks to ROM hacks and the like) it is still good flavor to design this Pokémon as though it were real in every sense - including that GameFreak would have paid close attention to how their starter would functionally play. The implications of these principles can be read extensively in the "Reasoning" tabs, as it drives many of the design choices made. If you are going to read any of the reasoning, I strongly recommend that you at least read the first section under "Level-up."

Of course, none of this is to say that this submission is concerned only with how function contributes to flavor. This submission also emphasizes the descriptive flavor that each individual move brings to build a narrative. The narrative explored here is that of ongoing evolution, the natural result of the surrounding circumstances. Already existing around Snaelstrom is the relationship between Corsola, who Snaelstrom defends, and Toxapex. Snaelstrom, by virtue of typing, has been made to adapt to Toxapex through Poison Heal, but still needs moves able to effectively keep them at bay. This submission furthers this narrative by showing how Snaelstrom's movepool has evolved to accommodate psychic-type moves. Far from simply throwing in Psychic and calling it a day, it is clear that Snaelstrom doesn't have a long history with the Psychic type. While the elegant and precise Psychic still eludes Snaelstrom, they have gradually achieved the use of techniques such as Confusion and - among the more powerful Snaelstrom - Extrasensory. This narrative, displayed throughout the movepool, lends credit and direction to the "psychic flavor" that many of us have chosen to include.

Required moves are in Bold.
Repeated moves are in Italics.
There are 81 total moves.

HS - Muddy Water
HS - Liquidation
HS - Whirlpool
HS - Psycho Shift
LV0 - Pound
LV0 - Bubble
LV0 - Withdraw
LV0 - Infestation
Evo. - Muddy Water
LV4 - Withdraw

LV9 - Infestation
LV11 - Rain Dance
LV14 - Aqua Jet
LV16 - Acid Spray
LV19 - Struggle Bug
LV24 - Brine
LV28 - Bug Bite
LV33 - Rapid Spin
LV38 - Extrasensory
LV44 - Bug Buzz
LV49 - Stealth Rock
LV55 - Hydro Pump
LV60 - Spiky Shield
If you aren't looking for a long read, these first two paragraphs are all that you need; the rest is supplementary content in case you are curious about specific points. Here are the general, most important design points:
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The level-up movepool takes Primarina's as a template with the other Gen-7 starters also reviewed for comparison, but makes key design choices based off of a number of factors. Obviously moves were chosen with flavor in mind, but on a deeper level this move pool was designed with the intention of being playable in-game. Thus, a few design principles came to be based off of the purpose behind the movepool game-mechanic, especially the level-up movepool, these being: 1.) That the movepool is designed to reward players with progress and 2.) That the movepool is designed to engage players through meaningful decision-making. These principles are fulfilled by a number of points, including but not limited to: Firstly, that the selected moves are rewarding to receive in-game. I'm not happy when I take a long time to level up my Pokémon only to receive a bad status move that would have been acceptable-at-best 10 levels earlier. I did my best to ensure that every move would be a useful one at the point received in the game. Secondly, that TM and tutor moves aren't over-used in the level-up move pool. If you are on your way to the Pokémon league and your starter learns a move so strong that you will never change it, then you are really happy! But when you find the TM for it later, you are apathetic. This is why you don't see moves like Leech Life or Ice Beam in this level-up movepool; a strong STAB move like Bug Buzz will give you the satisfaction of learning the moves that you need at the time while saving the joy of running into the Pokemart and buying 6 TMs to optimize your team's moves. Instead of being handed your best option, you get to choose the option that you value the most. A similar process is behind giving Muddy Water as the Evolution move while leaving Liquidation as the fully-optimized Heart Scale move. Thirdly, that the sets that players use as they progress are considered. I didn't put moves in the level-up section like Psycho Shift that rely on Poison Heal and wouldn't likely be useful in a normal playthrough. Instead, I considered what sets players would want to use at that point in the game. You start with suitably weak flavor appropriate moves as with every starter, but before long players receive moves that are not only useful individually in a normal playthrough - such as Aqua Jet - but also work well together for a cool set. For example, by level 14 the player will have Aqua Jet and Rain Dance. Both moves are good alone, but together they can be used to set up rain, take a hit, and then retaliate immediately with a torrent-boosted, rain-boosted Aqua Jet. Newer players will get a kick at strategizing that. Later on, Snaelstrom is granted coverage, STAB options, and Stealth Rock in preparation for the Pokémon League.

Overall, these choices matter because 1.) GameFreak designs these Pokémon to be fun to play in games, and so it is actually good flavor to design these Pokémon as though players will level up with them in a playthrough because that is exactly what GameFreak would do. 2.) People actually may end up using these Pokémon in ROM hacks and fan games, especially because they are starters. Therefore, a realistic movepool that brings life to the Pokémon should be able to meet these standards.
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From this point onward, I'm going to dive into the finer details. The choices here are guided by the principles presented above, but if you want to see the reasoning behind a specific choice then you may find that here. Unless you want to take a really deep dive into this, though, I suggest you move on to the next tab! I don't want to bog you down with these less significant notes.

Let's start from top to bottom of the level-up movepool. Muddy Water, Liquidation, Whirlpool, and Psycho Shift are the HS moves, specifically in that order based off of precedent and of that number to not exceed Decidueye's total HS moves. Muddy Water is first due to being the Evolution Move. Muddy Water was chosen as the Evolution move to be the default late-game water type attack over other water-type moves because it is the most inherently interesting of the 90BP water moves while also giving the player the option to switch to an arguably better water move on either the physical or special side through TM, HS, or Tutor, which is very much agreeable with the principles earlier discussed. For example, when you get Muddy Water it is probably the best water-type move Snael will have access to with 90BP. It is also a more interesting move than, say, Surf because it comes with a notable and flavorful secondary effect while also coming with the disadvantage of inaccuracy. It is probably still worth it to switch to Surf, Liquidation or Hydro Pump, but the move commits no disservice and engagement results from the player consciously choosing to find a move that they desire more. Muddy Water is also a good flavor choice because muddy mucky things like snails (and past mollusks such as Gastrodon) are associated with the move, and it is only made more interesting by how much less common it is compared to Surf. At first I thought that Muddy Water would be a strange pick for a sea snail that lives in salt water, but Muddy Water is actually learned by several "salt water Pokémon" so my opinion changed. Liquidation is a required move and thus Snaelstrom can learn it by Move Tutor, but because Move Tutors aren't available until post-game I decided to allow it a spot in the HS moves. Being a HS move opens up a meaningful new option to the player who can then elect to teach it to Snaelstrom in preparation for the climactic Pokémon League. Whirlpool fits more on the flavor end, being a natural fit for "Snaelstrom" and being emphasized in movepools to the point where some of us have included it as the Evolution move! While I obviously don't agree with that choice (given the design principles that I have been working off of this entire time!), it would seem strange to not include Whirlpool in some notable position. In fact, I even considered giving Whirlpool as the LV1 starting water type move because it is quite appropriate in power level and would be extremely flavorful in that position, but have decided against it because the precedent against that is overwhelmingly great. So in compromise, Whirlpool takes its place as a HS move. Our final HS move is Psycho Shift. Psycho Shift is tricky - we can only access it through egg and level-up moves, and very few egg groups actually allow it to us. (I touch on this point again later in Egg Moves.) These factors, combined with the principles that this movepool has been built around, effectively delegated Psycho Shift to being a HS move. These aren't the only reasons; Psycho Shift does contribute flavor while being a unique option, but limited access is the foremost cause.

Moving on to the starting moves, standard precedent is followed. Pound, Bubble and Withdraw struck me as being the most sensible and flavorful starter moves for a small sea snail/slug starter and the combination of the three to start is also a unique combination. Infestation follows the starting moves as the first coverage move seen among Gen-7 starters. Due to its low base power it will work well either as acceptable flavor coverage or a not-overpowering secondary STAB depending on the typing we choose for the prevolution. I expand on my points about Infestation in the TM Moves: Reasoning tab. Rain Dance and Aqua Jet come in as the next two moves. I cover Rain Dance in the TM Moves: Reasoning tab as well. As for Aqua Jet, Primarina gets Aqua Jet early game as well. Although not providing a BP increase, STAB priority this early in the game combined with Rain Dance is certainly a worthy upgrade over the basic Bubble - especially if the prevolutions keep Snaelstrom's physical bias. The last move before a likely evolution (I would recommend level 17) is Acid Spray. For some perspective, this is about when Primarina receives weak ice coverage in the form of Icy Wind. Here, Snaelstrom learns Acid Spray for a mix of utility and coverage - much like Icy Wind. I consider Acid Spray to be the perfect move choice for this slot - coverage, utility, and flavor all in one balanced move.

From here, Snaelstrom is likely at its middle evolutionary stage and almost certainly has Bug typing. The next move it receives, therefore, is Struggle Bug. Struggle Bug is somewhat underwhelming from a BP perspective, but the secondary effect - dropping the opponent's SpA stat - does more than enough to compensate and fits well for this bulky starter. It also provides another doubles option for those of us trainers who would like to bring their CAP starter into that space, as Struggle Bug hits and applies its effect to both targets. Level 24 follows up the bug-STAB upgrade with a water-STAB upgrade in Brine. I chose Brine over similar 60-BP water type moves because of its interesting mechanic of increasing power against a weakened target. Brine also doesn't completely eliminate the utility of Aqua Jet, so players might actually opt to keep the move well past this point in the game. The next level-up move is another bug STAB upgrade (It has been 9 levels already!), but this one isn't as clear-cut. Bug Bite is only 10 BP stronger than Struggle Bug, which to some players won't be enough to justify replacing the SpA decrease. Players will also want to factor in prevolution stat biases, however, in addition to the ability of Bug Bite to eat the opponent's berry item. For us competitive singles players, berry-eating may not seem like much, but it actually makes a meaningful difference because I would imagine that the game designers would place berries on NPC-trainer Pokémon (Especially ones that are weak to bug!) specifically to give the players a nice surprise. Over all, the player isn't getting the short end of the stick either way. Finally, the Pokémon gets Rapid Spin shortly evolving into Snaelstrom (Likely at LV34). Rapid Spin, although technically an attack, fills the spot of a utility move. Not every player will be excited to get this via level-up, but such is the norm for status moves. Those of us who like being able to give their starter Pokémon a set that looks more competitive, however, can appreciate learning this here.

Finally we receive our final evolution, Snaelstrom, and its evolution move Muddy Water, which has already been discussed. Now that we are a fully developed Snaelstrom, our next move to learn is Extrasensory. In the level-up movepool Extrasensory (Along side Psycho Shift in HS) is the main glimpse given into the evolutionary process ongoing within Snaelstrom; this is significantly expanded upon between the Egg, Tutor, Event, and TM moves. I didn't feel the need to distract the player with a surplus of Psychic moves during level-up in the name of flavor because the other movepool sections handle that narrative aspect effectively. From here, we enter the final stretch of the late-game movepool. Bug Buzz is next as a suitable high-BP Bug STAB that the player has the option to exchange with Leech Life if they so choose. Stealth Rock is learned next in replacement of the "late game stat change" move that the Gen-7 starters have; this pattern, while existing among the Gen-7 starters, fails to be engaging or rewarding enough to warrant repeating for our trio. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, makes sense from a flavor perspective while being plenty rewarding for a player preparing to face the Pokémon League. I would recommend that more submissions consider placing Stealth Rock in this slot. (I talk more about Stealth Rock in the Move Tutors: Reasoning tab.) Finally, we reach out capstone moves. Hydro Pump is an engaging precedent worth keeping and presents the player with their best option for raw damage, while Spiky Shield is perfect for the "capstone bonus move" at the end of the movepool. Some starter capstone moves aren't at all inspiring, and although I would assume that some players wouldn't care much for Spiky Shield, Spiky Shield is expected to be a relevant competitive move that will matter to them later if ever they want to relearn it to make a competitive set. Certainly better than Primarina's Misty Terrain.

The relationship between moves shared in both the Level-Up and Tutors/TMs sections of the movepool is an area to which I have devoted much thought and is further documented in the Move Tutors: Reasoning and TMs: Reasoning tabs. There certainly is more that could be said about the Level-Up portion of the movepool (particularly in regard to why I didn't choose certain options) but I doubt that I need to recount all of that process unless anyone would like to ask for it. To finish, I'm satisfied with how far I've developed this movepool and very much enjoyed the extensive thought exercise!

Confusion (Replaced by Extrasensory)
This is a simple flavor choice for pseudo-psychics such as Psyduck that also helped to optimize the final movepool over my earlier drafts. If you want to extrapolate lore from this, you could say that more advanced psychic techniques are not yet attainable to earlier evolutions of Snaelstrom, and so until evolution they have to settle for Confusion. I'll leave that to the Pokedex folks, though.

Heal Pulse (From Slowpoke, Alomomola, Clawitzer)
Metronome (From Poliwrath, Ludicolo)
Purify (From Pyukumuku)
Razor Shell (From Corphish, Golisopod)
Sticky Web (From every sticky-webber except Swirlix)
Wide Guard (From Araquanid, Mantine, Alomomola, ect.)
I ended up going with the Water1/Bug egg group because every breeding bug-type (Besides the understandable exception Shedinja, and the fossilized Armaldo line which is in Water3 instead because all evolving fossil Pokémon are either part of the Monster or Water3 egg groups) falls into the Bug egg group while all but one of the water starters fall into Water1; precedent strongly advocates for these egg groups. I considered other egg groups such as Water3, Amorphous, and Monster, but none of them have quite as much going for them in my personal opinion. A lot of people seem to be opting for the Fairy egg group, but that is probably more so for getting Psycho Shift by egg move as opposed to Snaelstrom naturally fitting there. Amorphous has also been proposed because snails and slugs have less form than other "bugs," but Snaelstrom's 6-leggedness implies greater structure than previous snail Pokémon, closing the gap between snails and traditional bugs while justifying Snaelstrom being the first Snail bug-type. Really, though, egg group choice would be a toss up for me were it not for the strong precedent.

In past drafts, my focus was on flavor for egg moves. Considering that by the very nature of egg moves these moves require extra effort to obtain, however, I've decided to make the list a good balance between flavor and moves that practically reward breeding. Purify, Razor Shell, and the rewardingly fun Metronome lean toward the flavor side while other moves handle flavor and utility. Wide Guard, Heal Pulse and Sticky Web in particular are high-demand moves depending on the metagame that you play. All of these moves contribute some flavorful description to Snaelstrom's movepool.

TM07 - Hail
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM28 - Leech Life
TM55 - Scald

TM69 - Rock Polish
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM77 - Psych Up
TM79 - Frost Breath
TM83 - Infestation
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM89 - U-Turn
TM92 - Trick Room

TM94 - Surf
TM96 - Nature Power
TM98 - Waterfall
TM99 - Dazzling Gleam

TM01 - Work Up
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM32 - Double Team
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM100 - Confide
I've separated the obligatory TMs from the others to clearly show the aspects specific to this Pokémon. Due to my design philosophy detailed earlier, there is comparatively little overlap between the TMs and Level-Up movepool. Places where overlap exists are specifically intended to allow players to make engaging decisions regarding how they train their Pokémon. To be more specific, Rain Dance and Infestation, the moves in question, exist early on in the movepool because they are more powerful, relatively speaking, in the early game than in the late game. Lets face it, you are never teaching Infestation by TM unless you are building a niche trapping set - something that a player in an actual playthrough is unlikely to do. Therefore, Infestation is practically irrelevant as a TM because by the time that you receive it - well into the game - the low base power and minor chip damage aren't worth a moveslot. At level 9, however, a secondary STAB is nice to have even at low base power, and the battles require more hits - increasing the value of the continuous chip damage. (As a side note about Infestation, concern has been raised about secondary Bug typing in the early game due to disrupting the fire/water/grass type triangle. Infestation can remedy this, however, by having low enough BP to mitigate this potential concern.) In these circumstances, you can see, Infestation becomes a much more legitimate option as both a TM and Level-Up as opposed to when it was only a TM. The same general premise is behind Rain Dance. Most teams aren't going to become a full-blown rain team in a casual playthrough. Rain Dance becomes really niche late game, especially because if you are using rain it is probably in the form of Drizzle. Early game, though, you benefit more proportionately from Rain Dance on a single Pokémon because you only have a couple of Pokémon. Couple that with Aqua Jet, as I did in the early movepool, and Rain Dance becomes extremely credible. I use the same approach to move overlap later in the move tutors.
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I got a chance to touch on just about all of the individual egg moves, but to get all of the TM's I'm going to have to resort to another set of notes. Once again, these are finer details, so don't bother getting bogged down in all of these points unless you want to be thorough. I've tried to contain my notes to a sentence or two about a set of moves.

Hail and Rain Dance are extremely common options allotted to water types and starters. In fact, Greninja is the only water-type starter not to get Hail, so these two weather setting moves are almost obligatory.

Safeguard and Nature Power both depict Snaelstrom's relationship with the sea reef habitat. Nature Power is shared by our other habitat-shelled starter, Torterra.

Rock Polish makes specific reference to the coral structures on Snaelstrom's back.

Psych Up and Dream Eater both hint at Snaelstrom's manifesting Psychic aspect. Psychic itself is not yet learnable, but perhaps could be in a future generation.

Frost Breath is a good way to provide a meaningful alternative to Ice Beam.

I noticed that other submissions included Grass Knot by TM. Although reasoning was provided having to do with seaweed and such, I didn't feel compelled to include it. For one thing, the link between Snaelstrom and Grass Knot really isn't intuitive. For another, even though Grass Knot is widely distributed it is only known by 4 of the 7 grass starters. While this is a majority, the water starters that did get it all appear more dexterous than Snaelstrom does, making the move more credible for them than for us. I'm in favor of giving Snaelstrom meaningful non-competitive options, but we really don't need Grass Knot and we have to draw the line somewhere. We don't want it to seem like we gave our starters a billion options just because we wanted to because we made them. At that point, exclusion gains flavor importance by lending the movepool credibility.

Surf and Waterfall are practically universal for good water types.

Dazzling Gleam is included. It definitely isn't the most important TM to give, but I'm on board with giving Snaelstrom an element of Fairy-ness despite not placing it in the Fairy egg group, especially given Snaelstrom's benevolent spirit and protection of nature. Many people have also included Moonblast as an Egg Move. I drew the line there as Moonblast's distribution is extremely limited outside of Fairy types (In fact, it is pretty strict even among Fairy types!), but otherwise I'm not particularly against that.

Hydro Cannon
Snore
Water Pledge


Ally Switch
Bug Bite
Gastro Acid
Giga Drain
Helping Hand
Iron Head
Liquidation
Magic Coat
Magic Room
Pain Split
Role Play
Signal Beam
Skill Swap
Stealth Rock
Telekinesis
Trick
Water Pulse
Wonder Room
Zen Headbutt
Once again, repeated moves are so for specific reasons. Nobody wants Bug Bite late game, but during level-up it is a pretty decent secondary STAB. (Also, having Bug Bite during level-up gives GameFreak the opportunity to do fun things like give berries to opposing trainer's Pokémon - especially ones that are weak to bug! As someone interested in game design, the idea of that just makes me happy.) Stealth Rock not being available until post-game tutors is somewhat disappointing, and so from a flavor perspective and from a gameplay perspective it makes sense to use leveling up to make it available before the player's grand entrance into the Pokémon League. Similarly, Liquidation is present as a Heart Scale move to allow the player to obtain it before the League if they so choose. (As Liquidation is not available by TM)

We also see some doubles support moves mixed in with a number of moves that further hint at Snaelstrom's psychic potential. There are also support moves, a poison flavor move, an obligatory water move - picks close to the common consensus. These make up the bulk of the remaining tutors, but with two standouts that I haven't seen many other submissions adopt - Iron Head and Giga Drain.

Iron Head isn't a hard move to come by - many Pokémon that look like they could headbutt well get it by tutor. Thanks to its helmet, Snaelstrom clearly crosses the threshold required - up close you wouldn't want to take a headbutt from that. Giga Drain is also a common move on leeching Pokémon such as Zubat and Arbok and slimy Pokémon such as Swalot and Shelmet, which we are related to with our general preying upon Toxapex and arguably amorphous design. Giga Drain is nicely descriptive of the way Snaelstrom would feed, being more fitting than biting moves such as Crunch and lending credence to our main bug STAB, Leech Life. From a practical point of view, these minor coverage moves that don't change our competitive appeal are nice to have because they make the Pokémon feel like it has more options than what the metagame demands of it. They could also potentially be used in a draft league if anybody wants to do that with CAPs.

CAP 25 Celebration

Event Description: "To celebrate CAP's 25th Pokémon anniversary, come and get these special Snaelstrom, whose ESP is higher than any other ever discovered! These are the only Snaelstrom yet discovered that can learn the powerful psychic-type move Future Sight!"

Snaelstrom @ Relic Silver
Level 50
Ability: Random
Nature: Random
OT: Cooper
ID: 003089
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hidden Power Psychic
- Zen Headbutt

- Future Sight
The whole reason we are making three Pokémon at once is because this is a celebration of CAP, so it is only proper to give our CAPs some event moves! This set is based off of the one made by Dogfish44 but is adjusted to best suit the rest of the movepool and takes advantage of the event's opportunity for adding flavor. In Dogfish's set, this event gave Snaelstrom access to Metronome, but I moved Metronome to the egg moves to increase compatibility and make room for Future Sight. The event-exclusive move Future Sight builds the narrative of Snaelstrom continuing to evolve psychic powers to help them hunt and defend against Toxapex in the wild. Future Sight shouldn't ever be relevant competitively because its built-in delay makes it exploitable and because it is mutually exclusive with more competitively important egg moves such as Sticky Web. It works as good flavor, however, as a "strong" psychic-type move that signifies evolutionary progress.

I am incredibly happy with how this submission has turned out and have enjoyed putting a lot of thought into it. Snaelstrom has been my personal favorite of our three CAPs, and I can't wait to use the finished product!
 
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Final Submission

Bold - Required moves
Italicize - repeated moves

Didn't have as much of an opportunity to work on this move set but I'm taking a stab anyway.

1 - Spiky Shield
1 - Psycho Shift
1 - Whirlpool
EVO - Whirlpool

1 - Pound
1 - Bubble
1 - Withdraw
1 - Struggle Bug
4 - Withdraw
9 - Struggle Bug

11 - Water Sport
11 - Mud Sport
14 - Aqua Jet
16 - Bug Bite
19 - Refresh
24 - Bubblebeam
28 - Aqua Ring
33 - Body Slam
38 - Razor Shell
44 - Leech Life
49 - String Shot
55 - Hydro Pump
60 - Spiky Shield


Unique Moves: 18

The level-up distribution is equivalent to Primarina's and aims for a similar balance of utility and offensive moves to highlight its Stab combination. I used Primarina, Gastrodon, Corsola and Golisopod as influences for the moves to include in the level up set, the focus is mostly on Bubbles and its large Shell. Withdraw is its early stat drop move because of its shell, but its pre-evolution may use Growl depending on its design, with Struggle Bug as its earliest secondary stab move because of its lower power and existence as the primary low level Bug move in move pools in Gen 7. Aqua Jet is at the same level that Primarina learns it. Refresh is learnt at Level 19 because Corsola learns it at a similar level (13) and it is a fairly harmless utility flavor move that has an interesting interaction with Poison Heal. I chose Whirlpool as its evolution move to fit with the theme of it being named after a maelstrom. Aqua Ring is a common move on defensive Water type Pokemon particular in the late 20s early 30s range. I included Body Slam as Gastrodon, Lapras, and lots of other bulky water type pokemon learn it at around that level, and it is a fairly harmless coverage option. I chose Razor Shell as its primary physical Water stab over Liquidation for flavor reasons, since it has a shell covered in Sharp coral, and Liquidation can be learnt as a tutor move anyway. Leech Life is its primary Bug stab move because it restores health, which fits into its bulky flavor. I chose String Shot as its level 49 stat drop because it is a Bug move primarily and to hint at it being able to learn Sticky Web. As per HGSS when String shot was a tutor move, Gastrodon was able to learn it, which sets a precedent for snails making goo for strings. Hydro Pump is its strongest stab and typical at that level, Primarina learning it then too. Finally it rounds off its moveset with Spiky Shield, being its strongest utility move. I chose to give it Psycho Shift as its Level 1 move, because there are no Pokemon in any logical egg groups for it to pass it on, and its not a tutor or TM move, and limiting it to an Event seems complicated to say the least.

TM01 - Work Up
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM14 - Blizzard
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM28 - Leech Life
TM31 - Brick Break
TM32 - Double Team
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM55 - Scald
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM69 - Rock Polish
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM83 - Infestation
TM86 - Grass Knot
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM89 - U-Turn
TM90 - Substitute
TM92 - Trick Room
TM94 - Surf
TM96 - Nature Power
TM98 - Waterfall
TM100 - Confide

Unique Moves: 31

For the moves that aren't required they are mostly able to be considered as logical stab options and physical coverage moves for a Swords Dance set or interesting utility moves. Brick Break is an interesting coverage option that doesn't ruin any of the Swords Dance sets checks, while also being common to fully evolved Water starters like Blastoise and Feraligatr. Rock Polish allows for a Double Dance set while also being flavorful due to its large rocky coral shell, and the need to also gimp its own coverage options so it won't likely be a problem. Nature Power rounds it out with the rest of the trio, as well as being learnt by Corsola. Grass Knot is an interesting coverage option that won't be too dangerous due to a lack of special boosting moves, which means it won't mess with any water-type checks too significantly, it's also found on Empoleon, and Samurott sets, who are also sea creatures, which suggests a possible affinity with seaweed.

Sticky Web - Can be bred from Surskit
Rapid Spin - Can be bred from Squirtle or Pineco
Mud-Slap - Can be bred from Gastrodon
Muddy Water - Can be bred from Gastrodon
Megahorn - Can be bred from Heracross

Unique Moves: 5

I chose Water 1 to match some of the other Water starters, Gastrodon, and Corsola to name a few, and then Bug for flavour reasons. Sticky Web and Rapid Spin are both quite common as Egg moves which is why I saved it for here. I chose a few Mud moves to pick up from Gastrodon that are uncompetitive, but that ties their relationship as big molluscs together. Megahorn is a strong Bug move that has been allowed but that doesn't make the most sense for its movepool, despite having a coral helmet and horn-like appendages.

Block
Icy Wind
Aqua Tail
Trick
Water Pulse
Stealth Rock
Liquidation

Giga Drain
Signal Beam
Hydro Cannon
Water Pledge
Snore


Unique Moves: 12

The non-compulsory moves can mostly be read as interesting utility options, stab options or special coverage. Block allows for a more reliable and permanent trapping set and makes sense considering its large body. Trick has some potentially interesting applications with the Toxic Orb its bound to carry but is primarily going to be weaker than Toxic. Giga Drain is an interesting coverage options that come off of its middling special attack stat that is mostly outclassed by Leech Life but does more damage to some Water type pokemon.

25th Anniversary CAP
Snaelstrom
Level 50
Item: None
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: Pipotchi
ID: 002523
Met: A Pokemon Centre (Fateful Encounter)
Ribbon: Birthday Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Mega Horn
- Hydro Pump
- Spiky Shield

Unique Moves: 1

I included Megahorn in the Omniboosting event set so as to rule out a conflict with it as an egg move, although I doubt it is going to be too much of a competitive set regardless. Otherwise the moves are pretty self explanatory. The OT goes to Pipotchi who designed the artwork of course, and the ID is made up of 25, and the number 23 that corresponds with W the 23rd letter of the alphabet. I have followed this pattern for my other submissions too.

Total Unique moves: 67
 
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Yo. Its been several days since my last post and I think we're at the point where we can put the 48 hour warning up for thread closure. Once that time is up I'll compile a slate consisting of every legal entry, and once our TL stamps it we'll move onto polling the submissions.

To have a legal entry a submittor must follow all the rules stated in the OP. This means that total move count cannot exceed 85, all mandatory moves must be included, and all banned moves must be omitted from the submission. In addition, each submittor must have Final Submission at the top of a single submission. The next part isn't exactly a rule, but I will be looking for some reasoning behind movepool choices and I know voters will be too.

I'll be spending my free time during the next 48 hours doing legality checks for final submissions so that this thread closes in a timely manner. This means I might not be able to post legality checks in all three threads until after the deadline is up, so do yourself a favor and check your submissions.

Someone reminded me on discord that Encore in combination with trapping would allow Snaelstrom to effeciently PP stall Pokemon, such as Clefable, out of recovery and attacking options. In line with prior decisions to limit trapping sets to Toxic trapping, Encore is banned. Tagging iFeedback

I've also decided to ban Earthquake- we don't want Snaelstrom to be catching grounded Electric-types on the switch. Tagging pokehimon

Tagging every submittor who hasn't posted a final sub yet: LucarioOfLegends icy_hot Frostbiyt Reiga Granny Pie
 
Final Submission

Bold = required moves
Italics = repeated moves

1 Spiky Shield
1 Magic Coat
1 Gravity
1 Purify
1 Pound
1 Tail Whip
1 Bubble
1 Withdraw
Evo Purify
4 Tail Whip
6 Water Gun
8 Withdraw

10 Struggle Bug
14 Confusion
19 Razor Shell
23 Amnesia
28 Leech Life
33 Scald
37 Magic Coat
42 Zen Headbutt
49 Infestation
56 Future Sight
60 Brine
64 Gravity
68 Megahorn
70 Hydro Pump

I struggled for a bit whether to capitalize on Snaelstrom's name and go for a "stormy" level up movepool, but I found that I much preferred the imagery of a gentle and wise king residing in the ocean for Snaelstrom. His moves tell a story of a boy king, one who grew into a wise and powerful ruler. His early years are full of angst and fear, as he Withdraws into his castle and struggles to run a needy country, full of confusion and doubt. But as he grows up, his resolve grows as well, and he begins reaching out into the world and interacting with it, shown with his new high-power moves. As his wisdom and power grow, he learns how to remain calm in the face of danger, how to predict the future and act accordingly, to understand the gravity of the power he holds, and sometimes, to just lower one's head and charge into battle. One of the most important things, though, is that Snaelstrom has a deep desire to make his kingdom not just livable, but beautiful for his citizens, first shown by his Evolution move being Purify, and exemplified throughout the rest of his entire movepool later on. Purify also allows Snaelstrom to hunt and eat Toxapex without succumbing to poison and dying horribly. :>
CAP25W-1 Bug Bite
CAP25W-1 CAP25W-2 Extrasensory
CAP25W-1, CAP25W-2 Psycho Shift

Most of Snaelstrom's pre-evo moves are just weaker and less "wise" versions of his "wise psychic" moves. Aside from Bug Bite just being a weaker Leech Life, Extrasensory is a weaker Future Sight with less ability to predict the future, and Psycho Shift being a pseudo "reactive" version of the "proactive" Magic Coat.
Liquidation (Araquanid)
Purify (Pyukumuku)
Refresh (Corsola)
Aqua Ring (Corsola)
Swords Dance (Golisopod)
Iron Defense (Golisopod)
Aqua Jet (Surskit)
Haze (Surskit)
Rapid Spin (Blastoise)
Sticky Web (Surskit)
Stealth Rock (Crustle)


Snaelstrom's Egg Moves are more biological than illustrative, rounding out much of Snaelstrom's Bug and Water-type moveset, inheriting much from Golisopod and Surskit. I also wanted to include a few "healthy" moves from Corsola, reflecting the two's intimate ecological relationship protecting each other and their environment.
CAP 25 Celebration

Snaelstrom @ Bottle Cap
Level 50
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Random
OT: Doug
ID: 478414
Met: 2018 Celebration CAP (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Souvenir Ribbon
- Celebrate
- Hurricane
- Whirlpool
- Rain Dance

Clean Up Australia Day

Snaelstrom @ Lum Berry
Level 50
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Hardy
OT: Ian Kiernan
ID: 030319
Met: Great Barrier Reef (fateful encounter)
Ribbon: Special Ribbon
- Hold Hands
- Recycle
- Purify
- Protect

I wanted Snaelstrom's two events to be the standard CAP25 Celebration distribution, holding a Silver Bottle Cap to exemplify CAP's silver anniversary, but I also found an inspiration in Clean Up Australia Day, the first Sunday of every March in Australia, a day dedicated to cleaning up Australia's environment, especially the Great Barrier Reef, a place that Snaelstrom would definitely live, due to it and Corsola's strong bonds of friendship, but also an event that Snaelstrom would participate in, as throughout his movepool, I have included many references to him cleaning and caring for his environment.
Snore
Round

Heal Bell
Helping Hand
Block
Last Resort
Bug Bite
Recycle

Signal Beam
Gravity
Stealth Rock
Iron Defense

Water Pulse
Aqua Tail
Zen Headbutt
Laser Focus
Magic Coat
Hydro Cannon
Water Pledge
TM01 Work Up
TM03 Psyshock
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power

TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance

TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return

TM28 Leech Life
TM29 Psychic
TM32 Double Team
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round

TM49 Echoed Voice
TM52 Focus Blast
TM55 Scald
TM63 Embargo
TM68 Giga Impact
TM69 Rock Polish
TM75 Swords Dance
TM81 X-Scissor
TM83 Infestation
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-Turn
TM90 Substitute
TM92 Trick Room

TM94 Surf
TM96 Nature Power
TM98 Waterfall
TM100 Confide

Snaelstrom's TM set is much like his Egg moves, mostly just a way of rounding out his biological moveset with Bug, Water, and Ice-type moves, with a few references to his shell, but still with a few references to his healthy environment with Recycle and Embargo, a move working double duty as his only Dark-type move, as he is a very honest and caring lord, and will only perform negative actions such as employing embargoes on goods when it is absolutely neccessary. Snaelstrom also shys away from as many Poison-type moves as he can, seeing them as nasty moves detrimental to both his kingdom and his health.

83 moves

Snaelstrom is a regal monarch, one who is respectable, powerful, fair, and wise. Aside from required moves, much of Snaelstrom's flavor is related to how clean he is, and how clean the environment is around him, with clean, natural, and "healthy" moves in his movepool such as Recycle, Purify, Psycho Shift, Nature Power, Refresh, Aqua Ring, Rock Polish, Safeguard, Heal Bell, and Helping Hand. He has many "wise" moves in his movepool, emphasizing his mental capabilities with some light Psychic-type flavor, with Zen Headbutt and Future Sight being especially relevant to a king's abilities to stay calm and work to predict and play around future situations, but with weaker psy-abilities like Confusion, Extrasensory, and Psychic and Psyshock. However, Snaelstrom's late level-up pool reflects that of a powerful monarch, one who is capable of and isn't afraid to defend himself and his kingdom from attack when the time comes, being able to trap and lock prisoners away with Infestation, Whirlpool, and Block, and defend himself with high-power STABs like Megahorn and Hydro Pump.
 
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Last-minute-checks-whilst-ill season! I missed this time of year ^^;

Right, so a few people on Discord have mentioned a defensive-boosting ban, and it's been gnawing away at me - mixed offensive/defensive boosters like CM and Coil are out, but I've not seen anything on stuff like Acid Armor in 'ere.

So I checked on Discord. Oops.

So, unless I'm going blind and just can't see it in thread, there's a clash between the Discord ruling and the in-thread ruling. Short Q is: What's the legality status of Acid Armor, Withdraw, Amnesia, et al.? (Do I need to very-very-quickly
 
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who's been involved with this thread. I'm extremely pleased with the number and quality of the submissions we've had, its clear that everyone put in a lot of work to make Snaelstrom as realistic as possible.

Getting onto business, our final slate consists of:
Alias Tex
Dogfish44
Frostbiyt
Granny Pie
icy_hot
iFeedback
pokehimon
wadusher


Every submission that lacked Final Submission at the top of their post was disqualified. LucarioOfLegends's submission was disqualified because it lacked Sticky Web. G-Luke's submission was disqualified because of a lack of reasoning behind their submission.

Once our TL reachzero gives his approval for this slate we'll move onto polling.
 
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