CAP 34 - Part 1 - Concept Poll 2

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spoo

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Before you vote, it's important that you read through each concept carefully, as well as look at our TL dex's final post in the concept submissions thread with their justification for each that made the slate, since this concept will guide the discussion for the rest of the CAP Process. This is linked here.

This will be a Ranked Pairs vote (RP) (a form of voting where each candidate is ranked according to head to head matchups with each of its competitors in a directed acyclic graph), the details of which were discussed here.

This is a ranked vote: order does matter! You can upvote your favorites and downvote your least favorites. You may choose to rank as many or as few options as you like, but we encourage you to rank as many options as possible to ensure your preferences are taken into account fully.

Bold your votes and nothing else!

A typical vote might look like the following:

Most Preferred
Second Most Preferred
Third Most Preferred


Any comments that the voter has would go below the votes in non-bold text. Bold text is used to determine what the user's votes are, so none of the supplementary text should be in bold.

CAP uses automated scripts to count votes. For this reason, it is very important for all ballots to be submitted correctly. If you do not compose a legal ballot, your post will be subject to moderation.
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  • The spelling of options must be EXACTLY correct and must match the spelling listed below.
  • Capitalization and spaces are ignored by the vote counting scripts, but you probably should not depend on it.
Composing a proper ballot is easy. Enter BBCode Edit Mode (the A in the upper right corner). Copy/paste the options directly from the OP to your ballot as plain unbolded text. Delete and/or rearrange the options to suit your preference and the poll type. Bold your vote text using bold tags or re-enter rich text mode, highlight your vote and click B. Spelling or formatting errors may spoil your ballot, so be careful!

Please post only your votes in this thread. You are allowed to say whatever you like in relation to your vote at the bottom of your post, but please do not look to begin a discussion. Keep those comments to the PS! CAP chatroom or the CAP Discord channel.

Asking for votes for your submission or for the submissions of others is not allowed. Anyone found to have done so risks punishment at the moderation team's discretion. If you find that someone has broken this rule, please contact the CAP moderation team with your evidence and no one else. Mini-moderation of this rule is also considered a serious offense and can be punished.

IMPORTANT: When voting, use only the exact name of the concept submissions as listed below! The concept submissions are quoted below in order of submission:

Collector's Edition
Name - Collector's edition

Description - This Pokémon is built to be able to use an item/s not typically seen in competitive Pokémon.

Justification - Items have been an extremely key aspect of battling for the past 2 decades of competitive Pokémon, with the item highly determining the set and role that a Pokémon performs in a team. In these past gens (especially in SWSH) items like Heavy Duty Boots, Leftovers and the Choiced items are seen present in nearly every team, largely drowning out other options for items with the exception of rare cases such a Power Herb Stratagem or Loaded Dice Baxcalibur. This concept aims to explore an item more rare than the above examples and create a Pokémon that uses it to its fullest extent.

Questions To Be Answered -
  • What are the most common items in the current metagame? What led to these items becoming so common?
  • How can a Pokémon justify running an item that isn't common, which items can make it worth it? What makes it so good?
  • Are there any examples of said items being used sucessfully in the past on viable sets?
  • What traits about a pokémon led to it using these items? How does it justify running these items instead of more common options?
  • What role can this pokémon employ that leads to it being able to use a rarely seen item?
  • Should we focus on only using one particular item, or would it be better to explore a whole group of them?
  • Should we look to only explore more the items themselves or should we look to explore any unique interactions they might have (Fling, Trick, etc...)?
Mix and Match
Name - Mix and Match

Description - This CAP excels at being a mixed attacker.

Justification - Mixed attackers are an extremely rare offensive archetype that benefit usually by being able to circumvent walls that may usually check them. This can make them hard to check since most walls are dedicated to taking on physical or special attackers but not both. Mixed attackers are particularly on the rise this generation with Pokemon such as Iron Valiant and Hoopa-Unbound thanks to their ability to continue a sweep or break down walls, respectively, which can help themselves or teammates to forge a path to winning. While it all seems amazing being a mixed attacker, the reality is that because of the inherent nature of using physical and special attacks, they're often forced to potentially spread themselves too thin with regards to their EV investment and may have to use a nature that could cut into their bulk.

Questions to be Answered -
  • Why do Pokemon want to go mixed? Is it because of the metagame trends/changes that occur as time goes on? Or could it be something as simple as missing the "right" move?
  • What tools do we need to give this CAP in order for it to excel as a mixed attacker? More importantly, what tools should we omit?
  • How do we address what nature to run since we ideally don't wanna lower our Attack/Special Attack as well as our Speed potentially? How would we distribute the given EVs to maximize mixed attacking efficiency?
  • How can we build this CAP to where it doesn't favor a strictly physical or special set?
  • How has the generational shifts heightened or deterred the ability to go mixed?
  • Why have mixed attackers died out since their "heydays" in the earlier gens?
Hail to the (Sea)King
Name - Hail to the (Sea)King

Description - This Pokemon replicates the role of Seaking in BDSP OU, using a unique combination of typing, ability, and a usually useless move to counter significant metagame threats.

Justification - Since the early days of the franchise, when it was devilishly coded into a functioning game by exchanging one's soul in the eastern waters of Cinnabar Island, no single Pokemon has been is definingly forgettable as the King of Sea. Competitively, the iconic goldfish has failed to make a splash despite climbing up waterfalls. In the offshoot metagame of BDSP OU, Seaking's water résistance, access to Lightning Rod, and desperate recovery of AQUA RING allows it to cheese the shit out of Rotom-Wash. This CAP would channel the spirit of Seaking, RBY Tackle Porygon, GSC Growl Miltank, and all other "quirky" picks used to generate YouTube content, get saucy wins in prestigious team tournaments while the rest of your team loses you the week, and flood the ladder. We would create a Pokemon that puts a rubbish or suboptimal move to work.

Questions To Be Answered -
  • What situations create opportunities to use a usually useless move?
  • What traits make a usually useless move viable in the highest level of competitive play?
  • How much utility is derived from typing and/or ability compared to movepool for these niche Pokemon?
  • Viability of Seaking-style Pokemon is usually low or niche by design. Is there a way to increase viability beyond just raw stat power?
  • What odd tech moves have been used effectively in tournaments or on the high ladder on high viability Pokemon in recent formats?
  • What food should we feed Seaking to achieve optimal horn length?
  • Is overall viability more important than focusing on securely answering specific threats? Could that carry over to achieve high viability?

Once again, your options are:

Collector's Edition
Mix and Match
Hail to the (Sea)King


Please ensure your ballot uses the concept names listed above in bold and not the usernames of the submitters. This vote will end in 24 hours, so please do not feel rushed, and instead ensure you make an informed decision!

This poll will be open for 24 hours.
 
Mix and Match
Collector's Edition
Hail to the (Sea)King


I don’t like Hail to the (Sea)King as a concept in general, there is a reason usually useless moves fall under the category of usually useless; they’re normally outclassed by other moves within the Pokémon’s movepool or have very distinctive niche uses. Unless this Pokémon has a pretty dire movepool there’s not much reason to run a normally unused move in competitive play. This also brings up another point, the metagame is always changing which would make it hard to check various metagame threats unless you plan for strictly the current metagame and if that is the case the Pokémon would lose its concept identity as soon as the new generation is released; so the Pokémon essentially becomes a matchup fish.
 
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