CAP 31 Prevo - Part 2 - Ability Discussion

[Quanyails]

Now that we know of Saharaja's abilities, we can decide on abilities for its pre-evo! You have 72 hours to discuss!

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Design (by Bloopyghost)

Typing: Ground
Stats: 50 HP / 80 Atk / 65 Def / 45 SpA / 90 SpD / 70 Spe

Name: Saharascal

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Saharaja's abilities are Water Absorb/Serene Grace/Sand Spit. When nominating abilities for CAP 31 prevo, please submit them in Ability 1/Ability 2/Hidden Ability order. For instance, if you wanted to replace Sand Spit with Sand Veil, you should submit the set Water Absorb/Serene Grace/Sand Veil.

Fully Banned Abilities group

Arena Trap
As One
Aura Break
Bad Dreams
Battle Bond
Chilling Neigh
Dark Aura
Dauntless Shield
Delta Stream
Desolate Land
Disguise
Dragon's Maw
Fairy Aura
Flower Gift
Forecast
Full Metal Body
Grim Neigh
Gulp Missile
Hunger Switch
Ice Face
Illusion
Imposter
Intrepid Sword
Moody
Multitype
Neuroforce
Power Construct
Primordial Sea
Prism Armor
RKS System
Schooling
Shadow Shield
Shadow Tag
Shields Down
Soul Heart
Stance Change
Teravolt
Transistor
Turboblaze
Unseen Fist
Victory Star
Wonder Guard
Zen Mode

Water Absorb/Serene Grace/Sand Spit will be slated automatically.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

Water Absorb and Sand Spit both make perfect sense on Saharascal, so I don't see any reason to change them here. The only ability I think really needs to be replaced here is Serene Grace, since Saharascal doesn't have the royalty aspect that Saharaja does that makes the flavor work. The ability I think would make for the most suitable replacement would be Pickpocket, as it plays very nicely into the Aladdin/"Rags to riches" thematic that the evolutionary line is playing into.

So yeah, I guess my submission is Water Absorb/Pickpocket/Sand Spit

 

[Darquezze]

I entirely agree with Pizza. Saharascal has nothing graceful about it and it would be nice to continue the Aladdin theme. Water Absorb/Pickpocket/Sand Spit is the way to go.

 

[MrDollSteak]

I echo Da Pizza Man's sentiment that Water Absorb and Sand Spit are perfect and that Serene Grace should go.

That said, while I think Pickpocket is cool but its mostly found on Pokemon with hands, I believe Seedot is the only exception there and its evolutions have hands anyway. I'd like to submit Adaptability for consideration instead. I can see Saharascal being hardy to endure the harsh environment, and as seen with precedent set by Feebas and Eevee, Adaptability is a first stage ability that is sometimes replaced after growing up into a more "elegant" form.

Therefore suggesting Water Absorb/Adaptability/Sand Spit

 

[Jewvia]

Water Absorb is questionable, because we do not have those big watery humps.

Serene Grace does not make sense here. Saharaja is regal, Saharascal is not

Sand Spit is fine.

 

[dex]

A common ability that is replaced upon evo is Hustle, which I think fits the design nicely. I'd like to see Serene Grace replaced with it:

Water Absorb / Hustle / Sand Spit

 

[HydrogenHydreigon]

Other abilities that I feel could fit are Klutz, Rattled and Pickup.

Water Absorb / Rattled / Sand Spit
Water Absorb / Pickup / Sand Spit

 

[Zetalz]

Definitely agree with removing Serene Grace for something else. All of Pickpocket, Hustle and Pickup work very nicely.

If we're out here suggesting good abilities I'd like to add Heatproof to the mix of abilities to replace Serene Grace with. Yeah ik ik double immunity/resist abilities and all that but it actually has decent flavor for a raggedy camel and having it actually stand up at all to LC juggernaut Solotl is always a nice plus.

EDIT: Forgor this has to be in submission form. Water Absorb/Heatproof/Sand Spit

 

[shnowshner]

Water Compaction > Water Absorb

I will be taking no further questions or comments.

 

[Brown4Sides]

Water Compaction > Water Absorb

I will be taking no further questions or comments.

I completely agree with this.

I've seen a lot of support for Water Absorb in this thread so far but I don't think it works as well due to the lack of water crystals. Meanwhile Water Compaction makes much more sense as every Pokemon that gets it (being one line) is composed of sand.

Serene Grace should also be cut. It is not serene nor is it graceful, it dropped like 50 classes down from Saharaja. Pickpocket is my favorite, fits perfectly with the Aladdin vibes, though Pickup is fine too. I also like Run Away because like I said in my stat submission it needs to be able to run from anyone it stole food/treasures from.

Sand Spit should not be replaced though.

Therefore I am going with Water Compaction/Pickpocket/Sand Spit

 

[Ayecrusher King]

Time to throw my two cents into the debate, for our Jafar Camel.

Water Absorb is questionable, because we do not have those big watery humps.

Serene Grace does not make sense here. Saharaja is regal, Saharascal is not

Sand Spit is fine.

Seconding this, Saharaja's competitive abilities don't realy fit Saharascal, flavour wise. There are no water crystals to store the water, and it's the opposite of elegance. So now I present my suggestions.

If we really want to keep the aspect of Water Immunity, might I suggest Dry Skin? Saharascal looks much more dehydrated than Saharaja, and we sort of add in Rain Dish for a Fire weakness, which I don't think CAP LC, apart from Solotl and maybe Ponyta, will really mind that much. There's also thematic, desert ragamuffin managed to overcome its sunny weakness through Evolution.

As for Serene Grace, I'm going to take a gamble here, and suggest Sheer Force, which is basically Serene Grace's polar opposite, and many of Saharaja's moves don’t have secondary effects that are affected - currently just D-Storm, Rock Slide and Poison Jab. All three are at best coverage moves, so even with a Life Orb, it won't be make that much of an impact.

Now, I've seen others, and here's my thoughts:

• Pickpocket, while flavourful, is mostly found on Dark-types as well as those with hands. Saharascal is neither.
• Water Compaction: The Palossand line is made up of sand, are you implying that the camels, just because they spit sand, are made up of it? Look at the Sandaconda line, the other Pokemon related to sand. Is it made of sand as well? They can't even learn Shore Up, for crying out loud. Not to mention, Saharaja's best selling point is Water Immunity, this is way, way worse.
• Hustle: Camel may be hustling, but the accuracy drop, I feel will definitely hurt its viability.
• Klutz, held by Pokémon who are clumsy. Saharascal looks like it's having rough days, not clumsiness.
• Adaptability/Rattled, personally, I'm fine with them, although I'm slightly concerned about the boosted Earthquakes, as well as speed boosts from Intimidate, even if Saharascal is a physical attacker and isn't as fast as Diglett.

So, my state would be Dry Skin/Sheer Force/Sand Spit.

 

[ValorTrix]

Pickpocket is my only Questionable One but everything thing work's well

 

[Glubbfubb]

I thought Smogon had an evasion clause

But anyway personally I think it should have the following:

Sturdy/Stamina/Sand Spit

Sturdy (Due to being not fully evolved I think this part of the line should be more resilient to damage to therefore prove they are strong enough to evolve, therefore sturdy makes sense)

Stamina (I think having the most resilient young of this line evolve would make thematic sense plus it gives something the pre evo has that the evoltuon doesn't)

Sand Spit (It's perfect for a mon like this and shouldn't be changed)

 

[Da Pizza Man]

I thought Smogon had an evasion clause

This is a flavor stage. Clauses like that aren't going to affect things.

 

[BobKingOfSeagulls]

Personally I think Water Absorb fits perfectly fine. It's still a camel and ultimately they're known for storing huge amounts of water just as a default (I didn't really know the crystals were supposed to be water crystals until recently and had always found WA reasonable for Saharajah). That said I can see Water Compaction as a replacement since the prevo has humps that appear to be made of sand, or Dry Skin cause it has... dry skin.

Sand Spit works perfectly well and I see no reason to replace it.

I agree SG should be replaced, so far I like Adaptability, Hustle, and Pickpocket the most.

EDIT:
Water Absorb/Pickpocket/Sand Spit

 

[Quanyails]

As a reminder, please explicitly state your submissions in the format Ability 1/Ability 2/Hidden Ability for it to be considered!

 

[StarFalcon555]

Here's my hot take submission:

Pickpocket/Run Away/Sand Spit

Sand Spit makes perfect thematic sense, so it stays. Serene Grace obviously doesn't fit, and I agree with those saying that Water Absorb doesn't work due to the lack of water crystals (plus look at that pitiful pile of sand on Saharascal's back, that ain't absorbing anything).

I really want to draw from Saharascal's Aladdin/street thief design inspirations for these abilities. Like others have said, Pickpocket works great for that flavor. But what do street thieves do when they get caught?

They run away to escape danger.

mic drop

 

[Pipotchi]

while pickpocket is mostly found on mons with hands, I could imagine this pinching stuff with its mouth, and the other flavor ties are very clear. thats why im mostly down for the water absorb/pickpocket/sand spit idea.

I like that pickpocket has actual competitive value in LC- you can use a berry juice and then later steal another berry juice or eviolite. Or if you get knocked off, you immediately take their item instead (timing works according to bulbapedia). That sounds really fun to me and I love our CAP LCs that do something that cant be found in other metagames (swirlpool, solotl, and then perhaps this too)

 

[Jewvia]

To make a proper submission, I'll throw in Sand Veil/Pickpocket/Sand Spit

For Sand Veil, my thoughts are from 3 main aspects.
1 - I feel that without the gems and instead the dry sandy hump, we don't really have much reason for Water Absorb.
2 - The sandy hump is the type of thing that would blend in to the barren desert, much like other sand veilers (Sandshrew, Stunfisk)
3 - Poor people blend into the crowd a lot more, and in a sandy bazaar a Saharascal might blend in with other merchants, Pokemon, or even children.

When it evolves, its no longer able to conceal itself as well on account of the big shiny gems.

In response to others, I am a big fan of Pickpocket submissions, the flavour on those feels very good. Run Away is probably my favourite pairing with Pickpocket/Sand Spit from the other submissions. I can see the reasoning behind Water Compaction as well, but its a bit dry. Better than keeping Water Absorb in my eyes, now that I've had time to dwell on it.

 

[Ayecrusher King]

I like that pickpocket has actual competitive value in LC- you can use a berry juice and then later steal another berry juice or eviolite.

That's Magician you're referring to. Or Covet/Thief.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

That's Magician you're referring to. Or Covet/Thief.

Pickpocket still steals items, just not in the same way that Magician does.

 

[Quanyails]

Given the amount of support for submissions posted, we will be taking Water Absorb/Pickpocket/Sand Spit to polls along with Water Absorb/Serene Grace/Sand Spit.