CAP 28 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

[snake]

The Concept will be a guiding force throughout the ensuing project, to ensure the the final result is a cohesive competitive Pokemon. Any discussions, suggestions, or submissions in later topics, that do not support the spirit of the Concept, will be moderated by the Topic Leader, Mx. Concepts must be presented as high-level descriptions of a general idea. They cannot be detailed Pokemon designs. Since we have polls to determine each aspect of the Pokemon, we cannot allow any specific features of the Pokemon to be determined by the details of the Concept. We intentionally have many rules regarding Concept Submissions. If you are not prepared to read and understand all the rules, then don't bother making a submission. These rules are made to help narrow the field of concepts down to those that have been carefully designed. This is not meant to be easy for everyone -- a good, legal Concept requires a lot of thought and careful wording. The following rules must be followed when submitting a Concept:

• Concepts must work with the mechanics laid out in Pokemon Sword/Shield. A concept that requires a custom ability, move, or other element that cannot be found on a Pokemon from Sword or Shield is not allowed. A concept must be feasible with the gameplay mechanics that are currently available. A concept MAY reference Pokemon unique to the CAP metagame, but the concept must be able to be fulfilled by a creation with access to only GameFreak created abilities, moves, etc. In short, "no customs." We are using GameFreak's toolbox.
• One submission per person. You may edit your Concept, but you may not change the fundamental premise after it has been posted. If editing your concept, please edit the original post instead of posting a new revision. Do not bump your Concept after you have posted it. If people do not comment on it, so be it.
• Do not duplicate or closely-resemble Concepts already posted by others. It is your responsibility to read through all previous submissions in this thread to ensure you are complying with this rule. Ignorance or laziness is not an excuse.
• Specific Pokemon types or type combos cannot be included or excluded in a Concept. Nor can other characteristics of the Concept specifically result in in the inclusion or exclusion of Types. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This is a Dragon pokemon with..." "The pokemon should be immune to Ghost attacks..." "The pokemon should have at least 7 resistances..." "The pokemon should get STAB on Thunderbolt.."
• Specific Abilities are not allowed. This applies to existing abilities and new abilities. Do not attempt to circumvent this rule by mentioning specific battle effects that can only be achieved by the implementation of an ability. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This pokemon should have a defensive ability like Intimidate or Marvel Scale..." "This pokemon has an ability that steals the opponent's held item..." "When this pokemon is switched in, all weather conditions are nullified..."
• Movepools or lists of moves are not allowed. A specific move can be mentioned if it is the basis for the entire concept. For example, the Concept "Rapid Spinner" would obviously mention the move Rapid Spin.
• Specific stat bias, base stats, or base stat ratings are not allowed. It is acceptable to use descriptive phrases like "fast", "bulky", "strong attacker", etc -- since there are a variety of ways a pokemon can fit those descriptions without specifically requiring certain stats. But, do not use overly-specific descriptions that would narrowly constrain the pokemon's base stat spread.
• Indications of Physical/Special bias are discouraged, but acceptable if it is essential to the Concept.
• Do not refer to any part of the pokemon's artistic design. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
  "This is a bright blue pokemon..." "The pokemon looks like a..." "The pokemon uses its long tail to..."
• A Concept Submission must be submitted in the proper format. The format is described below. If the proper format is not used, the moderators will not evaluate the submission, regardless of content.

Concept Submission Format Use this format for all concept submissions: Here is the format with tags. Just copy/paste this into your post, and fill it out:

• Name - Don't get too clever with the name. If the essence of the concept is not intuitively obvious in the name, then you are hurting your chances of people understanding it. If the essence of your concept cannot be expressed in a few words, then you need to seriously re-evaluate your concept.
• Description - This is the official description of the concept, and must follow ALL the content rules listed above. Do not make this a long description. Long descriptions are invariably too specific or too convoluted. Keep it short. Any more than a sentence or two is TOO MUCH. Do NOT include your Explanation of the concept in the Description. See "Explanation" below.
• Justification- Utilizing the CAP Concept Toolkit, craft a concept that can fit into at least one of the following categories: Actualization, Archetype, or Target. Please explicitly state the category names as applicable to your specific justification and explain.
  • Actualization: What is the feeling your Concept Pokemon INSPIRES when used properly in the metagame, do existing Pokemon come close to that, and why or why not?
  • Archetype: What does your Concept Pokemon DO - functionally - in the metagame, and why does the metagame need something with that role? Use Smogon's Pokemon Dictionary to assist with role definitions.
  • Target: What does your Concept Pokemon ADDRESS in the metagame, and why is addressing that target important?
• If you cannot justify your concept utilizing one (or more) of the three tools above, then your concept is illegal for the CAP project. (More at the end of the OP)
• Questions To Be Answered - The purpose of the CAP project is to learn new things about the metagame, and each concept submission is a proposed "experiment". Each tool has its own specific set of questions, but good concepts often can explain other facets of competitive Pokemon. Use this section to pose those additional questions. Note that this is different from Justification where you are answering tool-related questions, in this section you are proposing questions.
• Explanation - This can contain just about anything. This is where you can explain your concept without restraint. You may make suggestions, even specific suggestions, regarding the possible implementation of the Concept. This explanation should help facilitate discussion of the Concept -- but the Explanation is NOT part of the Concept and will be omitted from the polls and any future use of the Concept. Since your explanation is non-binding, regarding future polls and threads, it will not be evaluated for purposes of determining if your concept is legal or illegal. Although it is tempting, refrain from making too long of an explanation; it will deter readers from fully considering your concept.

It is the submitter's responsibility to figure out how to make a legal submission within the rules listed above. Do not complain about the difficulty of making a submission in this thread. There are many, many legal concepts that can be presented within the rules. Here are few examples of good and bad Concepts from previous projects:

Good Concepts from Past Projects
"Pure Utility Pokemon"
"Anti-Ghost Rapid Spinner"
"True Garchomp Counter"
"Ultimate Weather Abuser"
"Status Counter"
"Momentum"

Bad Concepts from Past Projects
"Ice-Resisting Dragon"
"Super Luck User"
"STAB Explosion Glass Cannon"
"Auto-Stealth Rock Remover"
"A Pokemon with Special Intimidate"
"Pyrokinetic Pokemon (Fire/Psychic)"
"Special Guts"
"Typing Means Nothing"

Note that all good concepts do not specifically dictate anything in later polls. Please try to remember that we are simply pointing the project in a general direction, we are not trying to decide anything right now. We have several weeks of polls ahead of us where EVERYTHING about this Pokemon will be dissected, discussed, voted, and decided. The concept is a very basic guide for the creation process. It is hard to provide solid concept descriptions without basically designing the entire Pokemon right off the bat. Submissions should be written and chosen very carefully to avoid these problems.

Past Projects and Concept Toolbox:
Stratagem (Break The Mold), Tomohawk (Momentum) and Kitsunoh (Ultimate Scout) were great examples of an Actualization concept. Most of the "teammate" concepts (Voodoom and Volkraken) also broadly fell under this, actualizing a core that would change the metagame. The lion's share of CAP Concepts in the past have been Actualization concepts.

Fidgit (Pure Utility Pokemon) and Naviathan (Use the Boost to Get Through!) are examples of successful Archetype projects. We didn't have concepts at the time of Revenankh, but "Ultimate Bulk Up Sweeper" fits the definition of an Archetype concept.

Arghonaut (Decentralizer) and Colossoil (Stop the Secondary) are the best examples of previous successful Target projects, Arghonaut's was literally based around re-centering the metagame, while Colossoil's purpose was to target the most common users of status and secondary effects. Malaconda's concept (Type Equalizer) was also at its base a Target project.

CAP 28 So Far

 

[Mx]

Hello everyone, I'm Mx and I'll be your Topic Leader for CAP 28. Without further ado, let's get this show started!

For our Concept Submissions, I'm certainly hoping to see a ton of great submissions. With the Isle of Armor just released and the metagame still needing to settle down, I believe there is a lot of room for all sort of creative concepts. As many past TL have said before me, always try to understand the current metagame before submitting a concept, pay particular attention to the "Questions to be answered" section, as this is where you can really see the depth of a concept and the different ways it can play out in practice, and if you have any sort of doubt, feel free to contact me or any other member of the TLT and we'll do our best to answer your questions.

Finally, something more specific to this project. Because the next DLC will be arriving on November, the TLT believes it's very important to finish this project before that happen, so we'll be implementing shorter deadlines for this whole CAP. In this particular case expect this discussion to run for approximately seven days. Of course I'll extend this deadline if the discussion continues to be very active, or if someone needs a bit more time to finish their and will give at least a 48 hours.

 

[dex]

Final Submission

Name: The Stat Bully

Description: A Pokemon that specializes in lowering opposing Pokemon's stats, either through its ability or moveset, and taking advantage of the situation.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept. The goal is to make a Pokemon that can gain a unique advantage through the use of stat decreasing moves (ex: Growl, Tail Whip) or abilities (ex: Intimidate). This allows the Pokemon to be either a wall-breaker, set-up artist, or wall itself, somewhat akin to defense-invested Landorus-T in ORAS. Stat changing effects are used in the CAP metagame, and most formats outsides of VGC, with extreme infrequency, so it would be interesting to see how a useful user of that play-style. At the moment, the Pokemon in the CAP metagame that take advantage of dropping stats only drop one and their roles are very defined (Fire Lash and Intimidate). To separate CAP28 from this, utilizing lesser used methods of stat manipulation would be an interesting avenue to take without limiting the potential roles it can fill on a team.

Justification Edit: After reading some of the feedback, there's worry about it being to similar to Fire Lash Astrolotl and Intimidate Tomohawk as stat changers. Given this, I want to suggest two possible changes to the idea to give it some uniqueness: a Pokemon that takes advantage of changing multiple stats or a Pokemon that takes advantage of pure stat changing moves (ex: Screech and Metal Sound not Snarl or Fire Lash). Most Mons that are helped through changing the opponent's stats only change one, usually defense or attack. It would be interesting to see if changing multiple, with the potential setup turns required for it, would be viable. This also allows for the ability to be a bigger part of the discussion to make the concept work. Additionally I can't think of a single Pokemon that uses a pure stat-changing move to good effect outside of the odd Parting Shot user. It would be interesting to test the viability of these moves with a dedicated user.

Questions to be Answered:

• Are stat-changing effects viable as a reason to include CAP28 on a team?
• How would including a Pokemon like this effect Pokemon that rely on their superior stats rather than a good move-pool, ability, or typing to be relevant in the metagame?
• How effectively can CAP28 deal with switches, especially volt-turn offenses?
• What are some unique ways CAP28 can be given a specific role given the openness of its concept?
• How can CAP28 bring some little-used stat decreasing moves into the meta?
• Is it worth it to expend a move slot on a stat-decreasing move?
• How can CAP28's inflicted stat drops be balanced to avoid creating another spamMon like Astrolotl?

Explanation: The original concept for this came from a friend of mine who used to, as a joke, run a physically defensive Luxray with Initimidate in PU games we used to play years ago. It actually came in clutch during a couple late nights, and it got me thinking about the possible effects of stat changing moves and abilities. We all as Pokemon players have laughed as our rivals spam tail whip while we use tackle in our first fight, but what if that strategy could be useful? I thought more about it, and came up with two ideas that I thought were pretty good: a wall-breaker with a unique move, and a set-up artist with a unique ability. The wall-breaker would utilize some combination of Screech and Metal Sound. A terrifying stall team could be reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds as their high defenses crumble, being forced to switch repeatedly into all manner of traps. The set-up artist would have to pose a threat to more frail Mons, use stat-decreasing moves to force a switch, and then set-up and attempt a sweep. All in all, it's an attempt to give a side of Pokemon that isn't often seen the spotlight, and to validate all of our rivals as they continue to spam Growl and Leer.

Edit 2: Cleared up some references to unique moves/abilities in the explanation as that isn't really helpful to the discussion. Additionally, I added pretty colors because I'm bored at work.

 

[20Yelram02]

Name: Silicon

Description: A wall with a crippling weakness

Justification: This would be an Archetype concept. The end result should be something halt play for a turn or two. Something that stops an assault but needs to be out of there quick smart.

There are shades of this in Ferrothorn and Blissey/Chansey; Ferro can hard wall a lot of mons (sets up rocks and/leech seed while it's at it), but switches out the moment a fire type comes near, and Blissey (and Chansey to a lesser extent [because eviolite]), while a very strong special wall, is very frail on the physical side. As for why it's important, Libra and Slowking are doing crazy things in CAP at the moment, the delayed attacks and constant pressure are an amazing combo. These aren't the only two powerhouses in the meta, far from it, but I feel as though they are the most prominent so they bear mentioning.

Questions to be answered:

• What qualities contribute to a Pokemon being classed as a wall? And what does having a wall do for the team, positive and negative?
• Most existing walls place a large emphasis on typing, what typing it great but has a crucial weakness? To what level of emphasis do we place on the typing? And how do we balance typing with stats?
• What sort of abilities can assist in walling? Do we aim for defensive abilities to assist in walling or do we take the opportunity to have to ability become part of it's weakness? If we choose to cripple CAP28 with its ability, how can we do it without severely damaging the viability of the end result?
• What would make CAP28 appealing over Ferro and the Eggs? What does this Pokemon have that previous walls don't? And what can it have that doesn't make it an oppressive force in the metagame?
• How can items assist in walling? And how can they be used as a crutch or a weakness?
• In creating a wall, do we target specific Pokemon to wall well or do we create a blanket wall?
• If we achieve the goal of creating a viable wall with a crippling weakness, will that Pokemon be able to run additional moves (e.g. offensive and/or team support)? To what degree do we make these additions? And with the additions, when does a wall ultimately become a tank?

Explanation: I was stuck for concepts so I searched up "28" and found out it was the atomic mass of silicon, which is a very versatile metalloid. Silicon happens to be very hard (Silicon Carbide being more than 4x as hard as stainless steel) and hardness means brittleness (as a general rule). So I came up with the idea of a versatile wall with only one crippling weakness, but that's probably a bit too much for one mon, so I toned it down a little. Anyway, leaving inspiration behind, this would give us the chance to explore some great typings. Ice/Steel would be amazing, pure Normal or (heavens forbid) Normal/Ghost could finally happen.

As for what makes the weakness crippling, the options we have are the fun bit. I've already touched on some typings that aren't great, which is definitely one way to go about it. Another way to achieve this would be to have something like special bulk and Intimidate, so it wall specials and can switch in on physical threats, but needs to leave before a new one comes in. Or it could be reliance on an item, HDB or Leftovers (or Eviolite. Haha, just kidding. . . Unless?), in which case it's crippled by Knock Off, Corrosive Gas, etc. Could even be ability based, Weak Armor is situationally good, Color Change and Contrary can be situationally bad. There are any number of ways to cripple a pokemon and any number of ways to combine them if we so desire.

However, it is important to consider what makes it important to make this concept in the current meta. Currently, as far as I'm aware, Libra and the Slowtwins are busting out massive special attacks and being a solid defensive duo; Cinderace is doing whatever it wants because of its speed, Libero and coverage; Cawm is picking on new players with Belly Drum and an absurd speed tier; Plas is simultaneously being one of the worst mons in the tier and one of the best thanks to it's massive weakness to the Libra/Slow combo, but strength against Tomo, Astro and Amoonguss; Urshifu is being a bully, etc. Point is, many offensive threats right now and relatively little walls. It'd be a good time to introduce one, just to slow the game down a little and make it easier to step into and understand what's going on.

Some examples of what the end result could look like are: Rhyperior walls Fire and Normal types for days, but has two 4x weaknesses that are everywhere at the moment and no special bulk unless Sandstorm is up; Avalugg has amazing physical bulk, but has the dreaded Ice typing and no special bulk; Gyarados has Intimidate and high special bulk, but 4x weakness, also its wall set is generally passed over in favour of other sets.

Thanks Birkal for the help. If anyone wants to give feedback or criticize, pm me. Everything is appreciated

 

[Pipotchi]

• Name - Roadblock
  
  
• Description - A Pokemon that excels at slowing down, punishing or otherwise disrupting the opposing team's pivoting strategies.
  
  
• Justification - This is a Target concept, we are looking to shut down Teleport, U-turn, Volt Switch strategies in the meta, as well as targeting the abilities and items that enable them. Right now, Teleport has come to dominate the metagame, and the advent of Heavy Duty Boots and new Regen pivots has taken U-turn/TP on certain mons to a new high. Kril is also just as frustrating as before, spamming Volt Switch among others. Furthermore, pivoting goes beyond just moves- Toxapex, Tomohawk and Equilibra are well-known pivots that act as a mid-ground between 2 pokemon, usually scouting and sponging a hit before switching to something more appropriate.
  
  
• Questions To Be Answered -
  -In what way(s) does pivoting most commonly manifest in the CAP meta?
  -What typings, abilities and items allow specific mons to become the strongest pivots, and how can we target these?
  -What do our target Pokemon gain from pivoting? Are they focused more on scouting information, sponging attacks, or dealing damage?
  -Is it possible to dissuade or even block pivoting attacks like U-turn using reactionary methods?
  -What are the difference between the direct methods and indirect methods of preventing pivoting, and which is appropriate for each target?
  -Do offensive or defensive playstyles work best for preventing different styles of pivoting?
  -Is it better in the current to create a blanket check to pivots, or a more tailored response to a few key pivoting mons/strategies?
  
  
• Explanation -
  I think it always helps to do a meta-centric concept, and right now I think this concept targets what currently shapes the metagame. Pivoting feels very different than it did in previous generations, moving away from the scarf U-turners and the fear of Pursuit and into a new, strange, HDB Teleport era, and it would be good to explore that. I think Syclant, Toxapex, Tomohawk, Slowtwins/Regenspammers and pink blobs make up an incredibly diverse range of targets to pick and choose from, which should leave our concept feeling very multi-dimensional and create a lot of different avenues throughout the discussion.
  Whats also interesting about this concept is it has a wide range of possible scope. Its damn hard to stop a U-turn user from pressing a button and pivoting around, especially if its already on the field- however, creating a mon that shuts down the utility of Slowking and Toxapex would be a lot more achievable. Both are valid routes, and it would be great to see discussion for both and lay out a reasonable scope at the beginning.
  
  To give some unique examples of how this concept could go, Defiant Bisharp is a good example of an anti-pivot Pokemon as Tomohawk cant come in and Intimidate it. Metronome is an item that builds up damage if the opponent relies on midground Pokemon like Toxapex to scout the attacks. NGas Weezing-G stops the important Natural Cure aspect of Blissey when it tries to switch out, and Arghonaut can Circle Throw to stop mons like Cinder and Syclant from getting a switch into whatever they want. There are a ton of other options on top of these!

 

[sun_dew]

Name: Regicide

Description: A Pokémon who is specifically designed to take down top-tier Pokémon.

Justification: This concept falls under the Target category, since it will, if executed properly, “dethrone” powerful, prevalent Pokémon, such as Equilibra or Zeraora, for example. Acting as a check to a good amount of S and high A tier Pokémon is something that would be difficult to pull off, however, and would require a lot of compromises.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What weaknesses do the most top-tier Pokémon in the CAP meta game share?
• How can we make a Pokémon effectively check or counter a group of Pokémon?
• Is there a way for this Pokémon to remain prevalent if its prime targets were to change or fall into obscurity?
• What category of Pokémon (Sweeper, Wall, Pivot, etc.) best counters common threats?
• How can we ensure that this CAP doesn’t become an overcentralizing threat?

Explanation: A Pokémon dedicated to decentralizing the metagame from a common threat is not something totally unheard of; several CAPs have been based on specifically countering a certain Pokémon or playstyle. However, this concept is unique in the fact that it targets a whole group of Pokémon specifically, with few other goals in mind. Having a reliable check or counter to some of the most common threats in the metagame is certainly valuable and could serve as a valuable asset on most teams.

 

[Scizivire]

Name: I've Got You Covered!

Description: A Pokémon which can deal with different checks/counters using different sets, depending on what the team needs it to beat.

Justification: This concept would fall under both the Target and Archetype categories. We're looking to target this Pokémon's would-be checks/counters by acting as a lure, though with different sets in mind for different (groups of) checks/counters. The phenomenon of lures definitely isn't new to Pokémon, and especially in recent generations have proven to be often succesful strategies, and not just through having coverage moves. Examples of succesful recent lure sets are Toxic Excadrill, Toxic Astrolotl, most Trick sets on any Pokémon and (in gen 7) Heal Block Pajantom.

Questions to be answered:

• In which ways can we lure out the intended checks/counters for our set? How can we make sure we beat them?
• Would a more active role be preferred as a lure Pokémon, or would we work better with more passive sets?
• How easily can we keep a balanced threatlist if this Pokémon is meant to beat some of its checks/counters?
• How can we ensure this Pokémon won't beat all of its checks/counters at once?
• What options can be used as counterplay to this Pokémon, or lures in general?

Explanation:
Having the ability to customize a Pokémon to take on certain threats for your team is always nice. There are many ways in which a Pokémon could deal with its checks, though I don't think a lot of official Pokémon have ways do deal with multiple threats with different sets. Often times it comes down to having a weird coverage move or Toxic (which may be too effective given what happened with Equilibra and Astrolotl), but there are a lot of other interesting options to look at as well. Heck, I've even been using PerishTrap Azumarill with great success lately and I've been having a lot of fun with catching my opponent off guard. I definitely think there is room in the CAP meta for a dedicated multi-purpose lure, though I also acknowledge that we should be careful with how we plan this out.

 

[SunMYSER]

Name - Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

Description - A Pokemon that modernizes a popular set/niche of previous generations that has fallen out of viability.

Justification - This concept would fall into the Archetype and Target categories. This Pokemon should feel like playing a relic of the past, but in it's prime. Personally, one of my favourite things about playing older generation is seeing the sheer variety of viable sets that were used, most of which have fallen out of practice. Currently, the RestTalk sets are one of the few still used, albeit in lower tiers due to their general drain on momentum, with users like Throh or Type: Null being the main abusers of it.

Questions To Be Answered:

• Why did these certain sets fall by the wayside in the future generations?
  • In addition, what are they?
• What made these sets good in their original contexts?
• Is their any way to adapt, modernize or change these sets to make them viable in the current metagame?
• Are there any pokemon that still use some of these sets? What makes their usage of it viable over others?
• Some of these sets were used before Items, abilities and some typings were in the game. How will these added variables effect the builds of these modernized sets?

Explanation - Previous generation's metagames all have very specific feelings when playing them. Gen 3 was a much slower, more methodical game compared to the offense heavy Gen 7. I feel like this concept would let players feel like they are stepping into a different generation when using it. This Pokemon should exemplify these relic sets ( Explosion as a staple move in gens 1-3, the RestTalkers of Gen 2, Pinch berry sweepers, ect.) and modernize them for the current metagame.

 

[Ducky Mioda]

Name: I'm No Lazy Weakling!

Description: A strong attacker Pokémon that's always tailored to switch in and counter various threats.

Justification: This concept would fall under the Archetype category. The end result would be a Pokémon that acts as both a wallbreaker and a utility counter, as it'd be specifically designed to tear down every single wall in the CAP metagame - using both Physical and Special moves - while also having a wide array of options to take on various opponents.

Questions to be answered:

• What exactly would make this Pokémon act as a utility counter while also acting as a wallbreaker?
• Would this Pokémon be better as simply a wallbreaker?
• ...or simply a utility counter?
• Is there any way players of the CAP metagame can effectively deal with a Pokémon that acts as both a wallbreaker and a utility counter?

Explanation: I thought of making this Pokémon act as a wallbreaker so it'd be able to tear down every single wall in the CAP metagame. Also, I believe that it's a good thing to prepare for unexpected events, so I decided to add the utility counter thing to my concept.

BTW, I must admit that it can be rather hard to think of what exactly would make this Pokémon a utility counter while still sticking with the rules that were written in the OP...

 

[snake]

Final Submission

Name: Practicing One Kick 10,000 Times

Description: This Pokemon has only one reliable and strong offensive move as its main asset. Its other moves shouldn't approach the strength of its strong move.

Justification: Practicing One Kick 10,000 Times is an Actualization concept. The CAP's moveset should be lopsided - it's one real strength is its strong move, otherwise it has to use weaker moves. This isn't a concept about Focus Blast vs. Aura Sphere, where there's an accuracy tradeoff for more power; it's about having a CAP that has very strong move and other three moves being not very strong. In essence, this mon should embody Bruce Lee's quote: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Hence, the updated name for this concept.

One might first think of Dracovish, as it had a stupidly powerful move in Fishious Rend and warped the metagame so badly that it had to be banned from OU. However, I'd like to look past this one example, as we've had some really balanced Pokemon that have basically one strong move.

Tapu Koko used Thunderbolt in Generation 7 as its only strong move (aside from nicher Wild Charge sets). Otherwise, it had to rely on Hidden Power Ice or Dazzling Gleam for additional type coverage, and neither were all too impressive, unless Hidden Power Ice was hitting Garchomp or Landorus-T or if Dazzling Gleam was powered up by Choice Specs. Astrolotl uses one attacking move, Fire Lash, to force switches, while supplementing its other moveslots with utility moves like Spikes. Other Pokemon like Araquanid (Liquidation), Silvally (Multi-Attack), Dracozolt (Bolt Beak), Arctozolt (Bolt Beak), Arctovish (Fishious Rend), and Indeedee (Expanding Force) have made big splashes in their lower tiers - but they didn't cut it in OU just by having one strong move.

Thus, a Pokemon that simply has an extremely strong move isn't necessarily good, and this is where we get to explore why some are more balanced than others. The bigger challenge is to limit the CAP's coverage movepool such that it relies heavily on its chosen move - this CAP ideally shouldn't have coverage options that approach the power of its super powerful move. Note that this concept does not necessarily mandate that this Pokemon be an offensive juggernaut. The only requirement is that it has ONE main offensive move that is much more powerful than the rest of its arsenal of damaging moves.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What types of Pokemon are best at using a singular, powerful move while bringing other benefits to its team?
• Does this Pokemon need coverage to complement its powerful move? What is the weakest (but meaningful) coverage we can provide it that makes it worth using? Can it rely more on utility and team support to be effective?
• How offensive does the Pokemon need to be to make it worth using its one move without centralizing the metagame?
• Will this Pokemon be added to teams because its one move does a lot of damage? Or will it be added to teams for other reasons (positioning, utility, checking certain threats, etc.), with its primary damaging move giving it the offensive pressure needed to achieve other goals?

Explanation:

For the record, I don't want to make another Dracovish, where it's a CAP that centralizes the metagame around itself. Instead, I just want to see the creation process of a Pokemon that has to rely heavily on one attacking move in particular. I think this leaves a lot of room for an offensive CAP (something closer to Dracozolt in terms of balance rather than Dracovish), a more utility based CAP (something like Tapu Koko Generation 7 or Astrolotl), or even a defensive Pokemon (Body Press Arghonaut).

Again, if we choose to go with the weaker coverage options, I think it'd be more interesting to actually go much weaker than the most powerful move. I'll reiterate the difference between (Generation 7) Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Ice. If you weren't hitting Garchomp or Landorus-T, Hidden Power Ice wasn't doing much damage. Contrast this with Dracovish's Strong Jaw-boosted Psychic Fangs and Crunch - those are still pretty strong moves.

As for some moves I think would fit this concept well, Bolt Beak or Fishious Rend would be an obvious way to take the concept. Multi-Attack would be really interesting too. To be clear about the mechanics: RKS System changes Silvally's type based on its memory, while the memory itself changes Multi-Attack's type. So, this CAP could take Multi-Attack and sacrifice its item slot (very important!) to essentially have its one strong move be a 120 BP physical Hidden Power. Another I can see would be utilizing the the Terrain Surge to boost the power of Grass / Electric / Psychic moves similar to Generation 7's Tapu Koko. Stat-lowering moves like Fire Lash, Grav Apple, and Apple Acid can get dangerous quickly too with stat drops. Finally, we can always go with reliable, high BP moves like Brave Bird, Close Combat, or Flare Blitz, perhaps with the aid of abilities like Adaptability.

 

[quziel]

Name: Gun Fort

Description: This pokemon fulfills a primarily defensive role on a team, such as a Tank or Wall, while utilizing purely offensive Setup Moves to also function as a setup sweeper or wallbreaker.

Justification: Gun Fort is both an Actualization and Archetype concept, and it is important that it blends a decidedly defensive role with a decidedly offensive one.

The key element of this concept is that it blends a very defensive role, that of a Tank or Wall, with the usage of a purely offensive setup move; that is more on the lines of Swords Dance than Calm Mind. By blending these together this Pokemon will increase in offensive power as it stays in, either to threaten a sweep or ensure that it can set hazards (a common theme in some examples of this playstyle) without ever coming into the "unkillable" status that pokemon such as Calm Mind Clefable reach. The need to balance good offensive prowess, the ability to function while dedicating one slot to boosting, and the fact that this pokemon will never be increasing its bulk means that there is a lot of depth to really Actualize this particular Archetype within CAP.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How can we ensure that this pokemon has enough moveslots to fulfill its defensive duties while also functioning as a setup sweeper or wallbreaker.
• What elements make a defensive pokemon inclined to run offensive setup moves; we have seen this in the past, what is a common theme between them.
• This pokemon will never increase its bulk, and will likely be quite slow, does that bias it mainly towards wallbreaking or sweeping?
• Are there any moves or abilities that can help reduce the strain that will be inherent within this mon due to the generally opposite roles?
• What kind of teams does this concept fit onto; in the past examples have found their place onto primarily balance teams and bulky offense teams, but is there room on other styles?
• How much initial power should this pokemon possess, and does it need to offer good offensive coverage, or merely good enough?

Explanation:

SpDef Growth Vileplume from Gen7 NU is perhaps the perfect example of this concept in action. Its playstyle was undoubtedly that of a wall, with 90% of the reason to include it on a team being its ability to prevent stuff like Comfey or Passimian from getting much work done, and it used great defensive typing, Effect Spore to punish contact, and Strength Sap to function in that role. That said, 110 SpA, and an immunity to Toxic allowed it to also run Growth and just run through enemy Balance teams, while also heavily punishing any uncertain play by the opponent. At the same time, no matter how much it boosted, you could still just go out to say, Abomasnow and OHKO it. The combination of a good defensive typing, and the ability to just sweep an opposing team if given long enough made this a very unique pokemon to run, with the lack of bulk increases forcing the Vileplume user to play smartly.

Another example of this (more cap / ou relevant as of late) is SD Rhyperior, which functions as a catch-all fire-type wall, beating Astrolotl, Rotom-Heat, Zeraora, and Cinderace very efficiently, while also using Swords Dance to help it wallbreak, and ensure that it can beat any Hazard Removal that switches into it. Spdef SD Tapu Bulu was another great example of this with a more offensive bent, but still functioned as an excellent ground and water wall until it wanted to set up. Finally, Curse Steelix arguably fits here, which used the speed drop and attack boost from Curse to threaten an OHKO on NU's main hazard blocker Xatu.

This pokemon seeks to allow for very interesting teambuilding by combining these two nearly opposite archetypes, and the pokemon listed above play differently from most of their contemporaries. This pokemon is not intended to carry hybrid setup moves, such as Calm Mind, Coil, or Bulk Up, as those are already explored in depth through pokemon such as Clefable, Suicune, and Magearna, instead focusing on moves such as Hone Claws, Swords Dance, or Nasty Plot which increase offensive power without increasing walling prowess.

Sets

Vileplume @ Black Sludge
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Growth
- Strength Sap

Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Synthesis

Slowking @ Psychium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 244 HP / 16 Atk / 188 SpD / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance

Steelix @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 148 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Curse
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

 

[Voltage]

WIP

Name: Paste Eater

Description: A Mon that excels at dismantling common Pokemon or cores that might be considered "glue" for a team, but may struggle against other, more specialized, threats.

Justification: This concept is an Actualization and Target concept. The concept aims to effectively create a Pokemon that works towards preventing mindless team-building options, while also narrowing the scope so much that it's able to beat every single strong mon in the metagame. We're looking to effectively determine why some mons or cores are so effective and how they can be dismantled.

A really interesting example would be the match that we say in Astrolotl's inauguration match: Plasmanta and its ability to run through the Clef / Pex / Tomo / Libra (? on that last guy tho) core that Jho loves to use. The issue though is that Plasmanta is ultimately still quite bad against most other metagame threats, making it, often, not really a good mon to use. This got me interested in specific roles in building, and whether or not we can find a way to make a mon that shreds splashable cores, without becoming one itself, while also not being such an obscure pick that half the time its existence is laughed at. Another more common example is Snorlax's ability to effectively stop a sun core like Jumbao + Specs Chandelure, while being pretty weak to almost any common physical attacker before it sets up with Curse.

Questions to be answered:

• What constitutes "glue" when teambuilding?
• How are Pokemon considered "glue" for team building useful when playing in a match?
• What happens to a team during a match in the absences of "glue"?
• Do cores that are considered "glue" have specific patterns to them that allow them to act as well as they do?
• How do "glue" mons change throughout the evolution of the metagame?
• What kinds of team archetypes typically use "glue" and should this CAP be able to beat that entire archetype, or just the core?
• What kinds of archetypes do "anti-glue" mons fall under indiviually, and on which archetypes of teams do they usually appear?
• To what extent do lures and the element of surprise have to be used in order to beat "glue" mons?
• How do we prevent the "paste eater" from fulfilling the funny title (loser Melvin who eats paste in the corner) and having it be effectively useless once the metagame shifts?

Explanation

As a manager for CAPPL, I'm pretty focused on teambuilding these days. And I'm sure if you follow the metagame at all at the moment, you'll notice one obnoxiously good fat core that can be used in so many different situations, effectively becoming a role-compressing glue for a team. Tomohawk + Equilibra is so good right now, it's not even funny. Obviously one of the means of making this core less effective is a nerfing process, but I wanted to look at a different avenue.

I want to be clear here: I am not suggesting we make a mon that only breaks through TomoLibra. I think that's short-sighted, and as we've seen with past CAPs that focus on being a check to a specific common threat, they either become over specialized and fall behind in metagame shifts (Malaconda), or require some immense help to keep being good (Custom ability on Syclant). Instead, I'm suggesting we focus on a mon that punishes an opponent for putting on 3-5 mons, slapping on a generally good core onto the team and calling it good.

This might look like a "Offensive Taem Support" under a different name, but I also want to make it clear that I don't necessarily see this concept leaning one way or another wrt Offense / Defense. I'm more focused on making a mon that's good at breaking down the really obviously common GLUE mons, but may have trouble against sweepers. I'll avoid suggesting specific archetpyes for this CAP too in order for us to effectively explore the concept, but I think it could be a really interesting way to deal with the current over-saturation of certain cores.

 

[G-Luke]

Name - Ahead of the Curve

Description - This Pokémon fully utilizes multiple increased priority moves.

Justification - This project falls under Actualization, as Pokémon that use moves with differing priority brackets currently are rare in the metagame.

Questions To Be Answered

• What possible roles would a Pokémon specialized around priority attacks play in a Gen 8 CAP metagame?
• How well can this Pokémon be tailored to fully exploit the priority attacks it will receive?
• Are moves with naturally increased priority or priority granted via abilities the best way to achieve this concept?
• How can we ensure that this Pokémon will want to use its differing priority options over other more useful utility?
• With all of Game Freak's attempts at neutering Priority options in the past generations, how can we play with these now inherent strengths and weaknesses to create a balanced Pokémon?

Explanation - Generation 6 is often hailed as the priority generation, with Talonflame, Mega Metagross, Bisharp and to a lesser extent Breloom and Mega Scizor being staple threats, providing teams with means to revenge kill a wide vatiety of sweepers. Tomohawk was in the peak of its viability and exclusively ran Prankster. Thundurus-I was a dominating wallbreaker that had the option of compressing utility with priority Thunder Wave. Fast forward two generations later though, and priority just isn't that big of a deal anymore. Most of the aforementioned abusers are either outright gone, or are not as viable in this metagame, with a combination of both organic metagame trends (Tomohawk largely using Intimidate to better check wallbreakers, Bisharp losing notoriety outside of dedicated HO builds) and deliberate nerfs by Game Freak that took place across generations (Darks being immune to Prankster, Gale Wings nerf, the advent of Psychic Terrain, Sucker Punch being 70 BP instead of 80). Coupled with GF not really handing out priority attacks willy nilly anymore, and priority isnt the well needed to prep for tech anymore, its simply just a niche option on certain Pokémon. The only notable Priority user in the CAP metagame is Choice Band Rillaboom, which struggles with several top metagame behemoths like Tomohawk, Tangrowth and Mandibuzz. I want this CAP to change that - make priority attacks be an absolute threat. Speed control is generally left to blazing fast Pokémon like Zeraora and Dragapult or rarer Scarfed Pokémon like Hydreigon or Astrolotl, and a new priority abuser would ring fresh variety in this muddle. This Pokémon would not necessarily even need to be a revenge killer to fulfill its concept either, as several abilities and moves exist that could push this Pokémon into a support route like Tomohawk, a stallbreaker such as Will O Wisp Sableye or a wallbreaker with a neat tech like Thundurus-I with Thunder Wave. We should also think about Psychic Terrain, as this move effectively nullifies priority used against non grounded allies, and while its biggest abuser in Tapu Lele is not due until Crowned Tundra, Psychic Surge is very much alive in the form of Indeedee.

 

[Darek]

WIP

Name: Wombo Combo!

Description: This pokemon specializes in using a "combo" of two or more moves in succession.

Justification: This would be an Actualization concept. While setting up with moves like Swords Dance and Nasty Plot can technically be considered a "combo," this concept would aim to explore lesser-explored combo potential. Combos like Will-o-Wisp + Hex Dragapult, Fire Lash + Explosion Astrolotl, or Wish + Teleport Clefable are all combos that are pretty much only seen on those specific Pokemon. Because of this, combo potential beyond boosting moves is still very much unexplored, and many moves have the potential to become viable if used in the proper combo.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What moves work best when used in succession?
• What makes the viable combos work?
• What other moves would this Pokemon run in addition to its combo moves?
• How will this Pokemon be able to execute its full combo reliably without being forced out mid-combo?
• How can we ensure that this Pokemon opts to utilize its combo moves over more standard sets?
• What role on a team best lends itself to using combos?

Explanation: By its very nature, the game of Pokemon heavily discourages a combo playstyle. Most of the time Pokemon only get one turn to act before they are forced out by their checks and counters. Yet, despite this, Dragapult's Will-o-Wisp + Hex and Astrolotl's Fire Lash + Explosion are still both very strong sets, and Clefable's Wish + Teleport was so powerful that it fully centralized the metagame. Through this concept, we would explore what makes these combos so effective. Furthermore, this concept would explore previously underexplored moves and their combo potential, for instance moves that change typing or ability, followed by a move that capitalizes on said change.

 

[Mx]

WIP

Name: Form and Function

Description: This pokemon utilizes a form change to perform two different roles over the course of a battle.

Justification: This would be an Actualization concept. Currently, there are very few form-changing pokemon in the game and the ones that are in the game are either unviable or don't utilize their form change to its full potential.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What has prevented previous form-changing pokemon to be viable in the metagame?
• How can we ensure that this Pokemon doesn't end up using just one of its forms?
• What two roles can be formed effectively with just one moveset and EV spread?
• How will checks and counters be affected considering this Pokemon's potential to change its typing and base stats?

Explanation: Although there have been OU-viable form-changing pokemon in the past, they haven't really taken advantage of the form change at all. In Gens 6 and 7, pokemon mega-evolved right away, making megas functionally more of their own pokemon rather than a form change. The same goes for Ash-Greninja, with Ash-Greninja just being a stronger version of the base form, preventing a form change's versatility from properly being explored. This gen, Aegislash has been brought down from Ubers, but in practice, it still doesn't use its form change to the best of its ability, most sets not even running King's Shield. Ideally, this CAP could explore the possibilities that a form change opens up and use each form to its full potential.

While I think creating a mon with form changes could be interesting. I'm afraid this submission is illegal, as we cannot create a Pokemon like this without recurring to custom abilities and/or moves, and as the OP say, concepts must work with the existing mechanics of Gen 8. Please everyone, remember this when submitting any concept.

As for the others submitted concepts, I think we already have quite a few promising ideas posted. I'm planning on giving feedback sometime between tonight and tomorrow. Until then, let's continue with this discussion!

 

[Slapperfish]

Name: Not My Type

Description: A Pokemon capable of learning a sheer variety of move types - except for those of its own.

Justification: This concept would fall under Actualization, as there are currently no Pokemon in the current generation that fufill or fully realize this concept. While there have been a handful of Pokemon that rely on non-STAB moves to achieve their role in the past - Chansey/Blissey, Pyukumuku, Gengar prior to Gen IV, Mega Latios and some variants of Genesect are good examples - all of these Pokemon are still capable of learning moves of their own type in one form or another.

Questions to be Answered:

• As its typing serves a purely defensive purpose while defining which moves it cannot learn, which types would be best suited for this concept?
• By not having access to certain support moves due to its typing, how would its role be affected?
• Would its movepool variety best be used in an offensive, defensive, or support role?
• Can certain abilities or moves be used to circumvent its lack of STAB or even give it pseudo-STAB on other move types?
• How many different coverage options are necessary to compensate for its lack of STAB?
• Can enough type coverage and utility be achieved in a single moveset without the concept suffering from Four Slot Move Syndrome?

Explanation: A Pokemon's type determining what moves they are able to learn has been a staple of the series since the very beginning, and nearly every Pokemon utilizes moves of their own type in some form or another to achieve success. But what if we turned this idea on its head and prevented the use of these same-type moves to create a CAP that's still able to thrive in the current metagame? What if their typing determined what moves they can't learn?

Of course, it's been brought to my attention that a metagame that runs with this concept actually does exist in the form of Bluntmons, which prevents Pokemon from learning or using their own STAB moves. However, since CAP is its own meta, and Bluntmons both allows the use of same-type support moves and has been effectively collecting dust since Gen 6, this concept has yet to be realized or employed here.

 

[Gekokeso]

Final Submission

Name: Patience is the key

Description: This Pokemon utilises offensive moves with negative priority to a large degree of success.

Justification: This concept is mostly Archetype, yet it can become an Actualization concept depending on the way that the CAP is built around the chosen moves. The main point of this concept is experimenting upon the almost untouched field of negative priority moves and how they can be used effectively to change the metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

• What roles can a slow priority user fill in the metagame?
  What challenges and advantages come with making an Pokemon who is almost always destined to move last?
• Which moves that fit into this category are better to build around?
• Which abilities can we build with when taking into account negative priority moves? Abilities that directly boost the damage of the attacks or abilities that use the unique properties of moving last?
• How can we make it so that this Pokemon chooses to use negative priority attacks instead of faster and stronger options?
• What stats help this Pokemon succeed when using negative priority moves? Does a Pokemon that utilises negative priority has the need to be very slow? Or does a decent speed stat help the CAP have an advantage over other negative priority users?

Explanation: As you may know now, the newly buffed teleport introduced in the let’s go games had a devastating effect in many different metagames, such as OU and CAP with the rise of teleport Clefable who archived usage stats that we’re parallel to those of metagame king Lando-t. Teleport has shown that slow priority does a great job defensively, but how can slow priority work offensively?

In the current metagame there are only few users of these moves such as Arghonaut and kommo-o who only use the phazing moves of circle throw and dragon tail for their switching capacities rather than their power, while users that use it more offensively are stuck in the lower tiers with mons like throh. However there other moves that are even less used such as focus punch (whose best user in breloom is gone) and beak blast ( only found on toucannon which is gone). Focus punch used to be used way more in previous generations due to its immense power under sub and Beak blast is an interesting move which aside of delivering a strong hit also burns attackers.

Aside from that, I feel that this concept would be perfect to test the stage order reassessment on a real cap (aside from the Astrolotl prevo) Thanks for the feedback Mx and MrDollstreak!

 

[Rabia]

Name: Boxing Gloves (alternatively known as "god help me my typing sucks")

Description: A Pokemon designed to be an effective wallbreaker that lacks a great offensive typing

Justification: This would be an Actualization concept. The idea would be to have a CAP that despite a poor offensive typing (think Normal, Bug, Poison, Grass) still manages to be a potent wallbreaker. This could be as a result of great coverage, solid bulk, or utility options to help provide a buffer.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How can we avoid simply turning this concept into "I spam pivoting moves until my checks are weakened enough?"
• Is it within the realm of reasonable to have a secondary typing count as compensation? Or should the typing as a whole be mediocre/poor to stay true to theme?
• How much set divergence should be encouraged? In specific, how heavily skewed should the movepool be towards that of a wallbreaker?
• What makes an offensive typing lackluster/mediocre? Is it entirely a matter of looking at a type resistances chart and seeing that said typing is strong against few and weak against many? Or are there other factors at play?
  • Can a typing be considered bad for reasons beyond type effectiveness, i.e. can a typing be bad on a specific Pokemon but good on another?

Explanation: In essentially every generation of Pokemon there have been Pokemon that, despite a poor offensive typing, manage to be incredibly potent wallbreakers. The oldest version of this would be Snorlax, whose dominance over the first three generations of Pokemon cannot be understated, while more modern examples include Pokemon such as Genesect, Rillaboom, Kartana, and Scizor. Rather than be severely hampered by somewhat lacking offensive typings, these Pokemon thrive(d) in their metagame due to them being compensated properly. For example, Snorlax was given an immense amount of bulk (for its time) and could also function as a potent setup sweeper with Curse; Genesect had coverage for days and had great Speed; Scizor had good defensive utility, trapping, and priority in Bullet Punch; Kartana was strong and fast as hell and had INSANE snowballing potential with Beast Boot, plus it had a fairly wide amount of set variety that never really removed it from the role of wallbreaker; Rillaboom was given Grassy Surge and a priority move while functioning secondarily as a great support Pokemon as a result of its terrain. I think the idea of starting on the back foot is an interesting one that encourages creativity during design to adequately address immediate shortcomings.

As an aside, I think the Normal typing would be a really cool one to explore because outside of Obstagoon's short stint at the beginning of this generation, OU hasn't seen a great Normal-type wallbreaker since Snorlax in ADV. It could be a cool "return to our roots" type of deal bop.

 

[Knight who says "Ni"]

Name: You're going down with me.

Description: This Pokémon would aim to either kill itself and an opponent at the same time and/or heavily punish an opponent for killing it

Justification: I believe this would be an actualisation concept, because there really are no other Pokémon capable of doing such a thing in the current CAP metagame, although it could also be seen as an archetype concept..

Questions To Be Answered:

• How could we prevent this Pokémon from being little more than a "lure a Pokemon to kill me so I can punish it with innards out" or "haha explosion go brrr" type of gimmick?
• How good can this Pokémon be outside of dying while remaining true to the concept?
• Should this Pokémon have a good utility arsenal? More specifically I mean should it have access to hazards and if it did would it only be used as a suicide lead?
• How will this Pokémon ever see use if it's main objective is to die?
• Would this be done with a move or ability? Which one? How would we ensure that it would see use?
• How would we balance out the risk of a Pokémon dying with reward?

Explanation:
Competitive Pokemon can hardly be a game accused of glorifying suicide. No form of self obliterating is viable outside of suicide leads, RBY and gimmicky Pyukumuku shenanigans. But what if that weren't the case? What if a Pokémon could somehow be better off dead? Game Freak have arguably attempted this with abilities like Aftermath and Innards Out, however no users of these are viable in the CAP or OU metagame, and those that do see use in killing themselves (Suicide lead Mew) are only ever used for one purpose. What if we had a Pokémon that wanted to die, but die with damage, and take something down with it? I believe this could be an incredibly fun - but very challenging - concept because there are very few examples to learn from - the only one I can think of being Gen One Taurus, who was arguably too good at is job and by no means designed for the purpose of self destruction or punishing the opponent for killing it.

 

[Darek]

While I think creating a mon with form changes could be interesting. I'm afraid this submission is illegal, as we cannot create a Pokemon like this without recurring to custom abilities and/or moves, and as the OP say, concepts must work with the existing mechanics of Gen 8. Please everyone, remember this when submitting any concept.

As for the others submitted concepts, I think we already have quite a few promising ideas posted. I'm planning on giving feedback sometime between tonight and tomorrow. Until then, let's continue with this discussion!

Why we can't make a CAP with an ability like Zen Mode, Stance Change, or any other form changing ability?

 

[quziel]

Yo, gonna do a review post to try to ensure that everything's where it can be

Name: Pure Power

This concept isn't super focused, and imo suffers a bit for it. I can't really give a super detailed list of feedback points, but like, what makes this really differ from previous wallbreaking concepts like Smokomodo, Colossoil, and the such?

Name: The Stat Bully

This is a very interesting one, and we did a flash cap about it (too lazy to find it), which turned out interesting, the issue is just, well, Astrolotl sorta does it by relying heavily on Fire Lash; how would this concept differ from that? I'd like a bit more emphasis on that given that well, our lord is Fire Lash.

Name: Silicon

Description: A wall with a crippling weakness

Again, a fairly interesting one, but I'd like more exploration of what makes a weakness crippling; is it purely to attacks? or eg does Mandibuzz's Knock Off weakness count as well? I'd also like some talk about how a crippling weakness influences play more than a regular weakness does, eg how does Equilibra's fire weakness differ from Ferrothorn's. You could also extend this to somewhat awkward defensive typings, but maybe or maybe not. Basically what makes this a mon with a crippling weakness, instead of just a normal wall

• Name -Roadblock
  
  
• Description - A Pokemon that excels at slowing down, punishing or stopping the rampant pivoting strategies in the current metagame.

Fairly in depth concept, really like how there's multiple routes forward between simply blocking pivot moves, or well, disrupting them through Taunt or Phazing. I would like a question in there that addresses Heavy-Duty Boots, just as a small nitpick, would like further questions about long term ways to stop pivoting in both a short and long term manner; there are different ways to do both.

WIP

Name: I'm No Lazy Weakling!

Description: A strong attacker Pokémon that's always tailored to switch in and counter various threats.

This is another one where I think it needs a bit more focus; Utility counter is a very broad term, and our first attempt at it (Krillowatt) doesn't really fulfill the term as a whole. I would love more focus in the Justification section about what exactly would let this mon be a utility counter, as well, as well, why this mon needs to be a mixed attacker (a role that isn't super common atm). Are you viewing something like ORAS Thundurus-I which ran Twave / Tbolt / Focus Blast / HP Ice?

WIP

Name: Paste Eater

Description: A Mon that excels at dismantling common Pokemon or cores that might be considered "glue" for a team, but may struggle against other, more specialized, threats.

Basically my question here is; if we have the tools to beat common glue mons, how do we ensure that different glue-mons don't just appear; eg a say, Fire/Psychic would be great at demolishing libra/pex/hawk cores, but people could just sub out to say, mandi or something, and suddenly we don't relaly eat glue. I also have the fear that if we are strong enough to kill off the main glue-mons in the meta, we could be left with a meta where teambuilding is increasingly terrifying. I guess I just have the fear that this mon only really works as intended if its at a like B rank strength; that is, glue mons are defined by their interaction with top threats. Is there a way to refocus the concept to sidestep this issue?

Why we can't make a CAP with an ability like Zen Mode, Stance Change, or any other form changing ability?

We generally try to keep anything that requires absurd amounts of work from our artists to celebration caps nowadays, also creating custom abilities makes it way more annoying to get into the tier. I think an ability changing CAP would be great, but only for a celebration cap (eg CAP 30), in fact I'll probably push for it.

 

[Gekokeso]

Why we can't make a CAP with an ability like Zen Mode, Stance Change, or any other form changing ability?

I’d say its probably two reasons:
1.Most of the form changing abilities are hardcoded to those Pokemon(such as battle bond greninja not being able to have their ability changed) and restricted to that Pokemon
2.Form changing is basically making more than one CAP at once and that can get chaotic(as well as very complicated)

Which is shame cause Id really would like the idea of a form changing CAP

 

[Airwind]

Final Submission

Name - Spinner and Powering up

Description - Is a pokemon that can eliminate hazards and setting up one of his stats plus the speed of rapid spin making it an offensive treat

Justification- this pokemon falls into Archetype because we have rapid spinner and hazard removal pokemon such as excadrill or colossoil and colossoil can abuse the speed boost plus the guts boost

Questions To Be Answered

• Which other stat should be boosted? and why?
• When is better to set up or remove hazard?
• Why x stat shouldn't be boosted?
• In what way the other stat is going to be? by boosting moves like dd, cm, nasty plot, or ability like guts, and how is going to affect the pressure to your opponent once you remove the hazards? and why?
• When can you switch safely and set up safely?
• How is going to abuse the boost of the speed from rapid spin and the other stat?

In gen 8 rapid spin got a buff which is boosting speed by 1 level which is a really fun mechanic for offensives rapid spinner that needs a little of speed to win a battle. Hazzard have been always a stable since the introduction of spikes and more recently stealth rocks and now every team runs hazard and now the metagame have to use something to eliminate it because it gives so much pressure and punish the safe switch that is one of the reasons we used hazard control pokemon or rapid spinners but is most used defensive rapid spiner that can take the damages of the spikes and removing it however the majority are more bulkier and defensive pokemon. And now we with new mechanic we can make a more offensive rapid spinner that can also set up because people can predict the rapid spin and it can gives a free turn for boosting your speed now and you can do pressure or you can predict the switch and boost your other stat and now you can do pressure or eliminate hazard which will boost your speed making it more stronger and now your team doesn't have hazzards

In this battle, for example, we can see the boost of speed https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8cap-1144235578 allowed me to win this battle because with the boost of rapid spin I used in the turn 29 I outspeed urshifu and if I could have gotten the burn I could have delt more damage and of the main aspect of using this is the surprise factor and a lot of play potential because of the usage of hazard removal or setting you up with any other move or ability

 

[Mintly]

FINAL SUBMISSION

Name - "43% Non-Toxic"

Description - A Pokemon that can utilize the regular Poison status effect, be it by the moves it chooses or the abilities that it utilizes.

Justification - This is an Actualization concept, as we are looking into the untapped usage of the normal Poison status effect over using the Toxic effect.

Questions To Be Answered

• What are the benefits of running the regular Poisoned status effect over Toxic?
• How dependent on Poison should this Pokemon be?
• Will this Pokemon want to be able to be poisoned itself?

Explanation - A status condition often overlooked, Poisoning as a concept is most often thought of as using Toxic, but in all fairness, the only moves that can really Toxic the target are "Toxic" (self explanatory), Toxic Spikes (also self explanatory), and . . . Poison Fang. (50% Chance to Badly Poison). While the first two are very common picks when building a team around poison spreading, nobody really looks at the other useful moves and abilities that make use of poisoning.

Poison Touch was almost used last CAP with Astrolotl, granting a 30% chance to poison on contact, while Poison Point is the exact opposite, and there's also . . . a specific Ability and move that is often underlooked as the Pokemon who gets it quite often forgoes it. I am talking about the Merciless and Baneful Bunker combination. Merciless has the unique ability to have every one of the user's moves be a critical hit, as long as the target is poisoned. Baneful Bunker offers protection with the added benefit of poisoning any foe that tries to use a contact move.
Toxapex, however, forgoes the Merciless ability with Regenerator, which makes complete sense as a wall.

There are also some other interesting Poison-related moves and abilities, notable ones include Corrosion, which allows any mon to be poisoned regardless of immunity, Toxic Thread (note: Past Gens only, sorry guys.), which both Poisons the foe as well as lowers their speed. Venom Drench and Venoshock lower the opponents SpA, Atk, and Spe or do double damage respectively while poisoned, Shell Side Arm can be either Physical or Special, both having the same amount of chances to poison. Hex, despite not poisoning itself, also does double damage if the target is poisoned. It also doesn't have to be using Poison to hurt the other Pokemon directly. It could be a Poison + Guts combination, or a Poison Heal user. It can be anything. Whatever it may be . . .

Make it hurt.

 

[Gleeboop]

WIP

Name - Anti Stereo-type
Description - A pokemon that is able to use its typing differently to all the other pokemon of that type in the meta.
Justification - This fits into the actualization concept because no other pokemon in the meta pulls this off.
Questions to be answered -
What can a typing offer besides its usual role?
Does the pokemon play the same as its same typed counterparts?
Can it be on the same playstyle as the other mons of the type, or does it fit somewhere else?
Explanation - Umm... I think its pretty self-explanitory.