CAP 35 So Far
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After a discussion led by yours truly, we will be deciding on CAP 35's typing through two series of polls. If you haven't taken the chance to read through the thread, please refer to the Typing Discussion thread here to make an informed decision when submitting your ballot! Lastly, here are the descriptions for each typing combination slated, pulled from my final post here.
Psychic/Fighting
Holder of Few
Psychic/Fighting at first seems to be a very bizarre type combination to include here, and to the average beholder it would make sense why. It doesn't come with many meaningful resists, and it also has some pretty gnarly weaknesses. However, what it lacks in good resists it makes up for with a brutally useful STAB combination, an all-around incredible neutral profile, and a key resistance to Fighting. It packs weaknesses to Ghost, Flying, and Fairy, but because it is neutral to so much, it is a hard type to fully exploit without the help of a Pokemon like Hemogoblin or Dragapult. Its Fighting-type resistance with this neutral profile is also quite a neat quality into Pokemon like Zamazenta and Close Combat Great Tusk, while being a great way to find entry-points into Fighting-type coverage in general. With access to potential options like Body Press and Psychic Noise as tantalizing STABs, this typing is about as quintessential as it gets when it comes to embodying the Holder of Few archetype and has a ton of really interesting qualities that I think would make for an engaging process.
Fire/Fighting
Holder of Many
Fire/Fighting is mostly represented by Pokemon like Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar, designed almost entirely to be offensive powerhouses. However Fire/Fighting brings a really awesome defensive profile to the table that is mostly unexplored, packing meaningful resistances to Steel, Dark, Ice, Fire, and Grass, as well as a neutrality to Rock to improve its matchup into Stealth Rock. All around, this typing is just a great option for teams to fully utilize in the metagame since it provides a Weavile, Kingambit, and Darkrai check while also being a bit more resilient into other threats like Malaconda, bulkier Gholdengo, and WispHex Dragapult in a way that its main competitor Arghonaut cannot be. On paper this type is just all around strong defensively, but what brings it into the territory of contradictory is that its defensive profile can be exploited by many common Pokemon due to its really common weaknesses, namely Water Psychic and Ground, making it a bit more selective in what it's aiming to check. However, the STAB combination, which could include options like Lava Plume and Body Press, and the flexibility into Will-O-Wisp users are a huge selling point for it. I have no doubts we can make a great CAP with this typing.
Fire/Normal
Holder of Many
Going off of our previous point, Fire/Normal sacrifices the all around defensive flexibility of Fire/Fighting to shit on Gholdengo and Dragapult specifically. Because of this feature as well as Fire in general being an incredibly emblematic typing for this concept, Fire/Normal is easily one of the most popular type combinations in the thread, and it's not hard to see why. It's an incredibly valuable quality for defensive backbones to have more tools into Gholdengo and Dragapult, with the added bonus of a buffed Kitsunoh, and with it, the typing possesses a potentially better matchup into Hemogoblin thanks to the bonus Fairy-type resistance lost by Fire/Fighting. A huge draw is also beating Necturna. This typing is a bit more specialized, but possesses a mightier niche.
Grass/Normal
Holder of Many
Grass/Normal on paper looks to be a pretty arbitrary combination, however it is a pretty great option for both Normal and Grass that takes both of their upsides while not cancelling out their intrinsic value in any way. There is a ton of inherent value of being a Grass-type in this metagame when Ogerpon-Wellspring, Cresceidon, Primarina, Arghonaut, and Walking Wake are such potent options, and packing a Ghost-type immunity with it helps cement a stronger niche against its Grass-type competition. The combination of Ghost with Ground, Water, and Electric is really dope, and while we have a lot of weaknesses, many points have been made regarding models like Chesnaught and Sinistcha that demonstrate how far good bulk can offset non-STAB-boosted coverage moves. The added Fighting-type weakness sucks, but our Grass-type STAB can easily leverage us into Great Tusk depending on our build, which makes the Ghost-type immunity very worth it for the most part.
Electric/Normal
Holder of Few
Electric/Normal is a paralysis-immune variant on Fire/Normal that heavily dials back the weaknesses demonstrated by the other two Normal-type slate options and imo best embodies the Holder of Few archetype for a Normal-type in the context of this concept. Electric/Normal only has two weaknesses to Ground and Fighting, making it relatively hard to exploit, and shits on Gholdengo arguably the hardest of any option on this slate thanks to its Paralysis immunity, which as stated is highly valuable. It is the most committed to being a Holder of Few, akin to Psychic/Fighting, and does so practically while boasting a couple of meaningful resistances.
Dark
Holder of Few
This is the slate's only monotype, which makes it rather unique, but for it, comes with a pretty honest set of resistances and weaknesses. Ghost and Dark are obviously very valuable, and it's pretty hard to fully capitalize on its weaknesses if we're built to be tanky, unlike most other Dark-types in the tier. Most other Dark-type combinations render down the inherent usefulness of having a Dark-type wall by introducing more annoying weaknesses to the table, which complicates Dark's defensive gameplan by nature, so having mono-Dark cuts out the middleman by keeping the weaknesses to a minimum and holding onto the key resistances we know Dark for.
Bug/Dark
Holder of Many
Bug/Dark is the other Dark-type I took interest in. While Lokix is almost exclusively an offensive Pokemon, its access to Leech Life and propensity to have some HP investment puts its typing's defensive potential on display, making it a rather interesting angle to explore. Mono Dark leans the most into the defensive utility of being Dark by toning down the weaknesses, but Bug/Dark is probably the best "Holder of Many" Dark-type take since it neutralizes Fighting and introduces a Ground-type resistance, making it a take on Dark that leverages a potentially decent matchup into Great Tusk and allows for us to threaten opposing Dark-types. The additional weaknesses, namely to Stealth Rock and Fire, suck pretty bad, but for a Dark-type wall that aims to leverage itself into common Dark-type resistances, it's a pretty compelling angle to take with many build routes.
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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.
Bold your votes and nothing else!
A typical vote might look like the following:
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.
CAP uses blind voting. Other people's votes won't appear in the thread, but they are counted and will be made visible at the end of the voting timeframe. For more information about this change, check out this PRC thread.
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.
The voting options are:
Psychic/Fighting
Fire/Fighting
Fire/Normal
Electric/Normal
Grass/Normal
Bug/Dark
Dark
This poll will be open for 24 hours.
-----
After a discussion led by yours truly, we will be deciding on CAP 35's typing through two series of polls. If you haven't taken the chance to read through the thread, please refer to the Typing Discussion thread here to make an informed decision when submitting your ballot! Lastly, here are the descriptions for each typing combination slated, pulled from my final post here.
Psychic/Fighting
Holder of Few
Psychic/Fighting at first seems to be a very bizarre type combination to include here, and to the average beholder it would make sense why. It doesn't come with many meaningful resists, and it also has some pretty gnarly weaknesses. However, what it lacks in good resists it makes up for with a brutally useful STAB combination, an all-around incredible neutral profile, and a key resistance to Fighting. It packs weaknesses to Ghost, Flying, and Fairy, but because it is neutral to so much, it is a hard type to fully exploit without the help of a Pokemon like Hemogoblin or Dragapult. Its Fighting-type resistance with this neutral profile is also quite a neat quality into Pokemon like Zamazenta and Close Combat Great Tusk, while being a great way to find entry-points into Fighting-type coverage in general. With access to potential options like Body Press and Psychic Noise as tantalizing STABs, this typing is about as quintessential as it gets when it comes to embodying the Holder of Few archetype and has a ton of really interesting qualities that I think would make for an engaging process.
Fire/Fighting
Holder of Many
Fire/Fighting is mostly represented by Pokemon like Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar, designed almost entirely to be offensive powerhouses. However Fire/Fighting brings a really awesome defensive profile to the table that is mostly unexplored, packing meaningful resistances to Steel, Dark, Ice, Fire, and Grass, as well as a neutrality to Rock to improve its matchup into Stealth Rock. All around, this typing is just a great option for teams to fully utilize in the metagame since it provides a Weavile, Kingambit, and Darkrai check while also being a bit more resilient into other threats like Malaconda, bulkier Gholdengo, and WispHex Dragapult in a way that its main competitor Arghonaut cannot be. On paper this type is just all around strong defensively, but what brings it into the territory of contradictory is that its defensive profile can be exploited by many common Pokemon due to its really common weaknesses, namely Water Psychic and Ground, making it a bit more selective in what it's aiming to check. However, the STAB combination, which could include options like Lava Plume and Body Press, and the flexibility into Will-O-Wisp users are a huge selling point for it. I have no doubts we can make a great CAP with this typing.
Fire/Normal
Holder of Many
Going off of our previous point, Fire/Normal sacrifices the all around defensive flexibility of Fire/Fighting to shit on Gholdengo and Dragapult specifically. Because of this feature as well as Fire in general being an incredibly emblematic typing for this concept, Fire/Normal is easily one of the most popular type combinations in the thread, and it's not hard to see why. It's an incredibly valuable quality for defensive backbones to have more tools into Gholdengo and Dragapult, with the added bonus of a buffed Kitsunoh, and with it, the typing possesses a potentially better matchup into Hemogoblin thanks to the bonus Fairy-type resistance lost by Fire/Fighting. A huge draw is also beating Necturna. This typing is a bit more specialized, but possesses a mightier niche.
Grass/Normal
Holder of Many
Grass/Normal on paper looks to be a pretty arbitrary combination, however it is a pretty great option for both Normal and Grass that takes both of their upsides while not cancelling out their intrinsic value in any way. There is a ton of inherent value of being a Grass-type in this metagame when Ogerpon-Wellspring, Cresceidon, Primarina, Arghonaut, and Walking Wake are such potent options, and packing a Ghost-type immunity with it helps cement a stronger niche against its Grass-type competition. The combination of Ghost with Ground, Water, and Electric is really dope, and while we have a lot of weaknesses, many points have been made regarding models like Chesnaught and Sinistcha that demonstrate how far good bulk can offset non-STAB-boosted coverage moves. The added Fighting-type weakness sucks, but our Grass-type STAB can easily leverage us into Great Tusk depending on our build, which makes the Ghost-type immunity very worth it for the most part.
Electric/Normal
Holder of Few
Electric/Normal is a paralysis-immune variant on Fire/Normal that heavily dials back the weaknesses demonstrated by the other two Normal-type slate options and imo best embodies the Holder of Few archetype for a Normal-type in the context of this concept. Electric/Normal only has two weaknesses to Ground and Fighting, making it relatively hard to exploit, and shits on Gholdengo arguably the hardest of any option on this slate thanks to its Paralysis immunity, which as stated is highly valuable. It is the most committed to being a Holder of Few, akin to Psychic/Fighting, and does so practically while boasting a couple of meaningful resistances.
Dark
Holder of Few
This is the slate's only monotype, which makes it rather unique, but for it, comes with a pretty honest set of resistances and weaknesses. Ghost and Dark are obviously very valuable, and it's pretty hard to fully capitalize on its weaknesses if we're built to be tanky, unlike most other Dark-types in the tier. Most other Dark-type combinations render down the inherent usefulness of having a Dark-type wall by introducing more annoying weaknesses to the table, which complicates Dark's defensive gameplan by nature, so having mono-Dark cuts out the middleman by keeping the weaknesses to a minimum and holding onto the key resistances we know Dark for.
Bug/Dark
Holder of Many
Bug/Dark is the other Dark-type I took interest in. While Lokix is almost exclusively an offensive Pokemon, its access to Leech Life and propensity to have some HP investment puts its typing's defensive potential on display, making it a rather interesting angle to explore. Mono Dark leans the most into the defensive utility of being Dark by toning down the weaknesses, but Bug/Dark is probably the best "Holder of Many" Dark-type take since it neutralizes Fighting and introduces a Ground-type resistance, making it a take on Dark that leverages a potentially decent matchup into Great Tusk and allows for us to threaten opposing Dark-types. The additional weaknesses, namely to Stealth Rock and Fire, suck pretty bad, but for a Dark-type wall that aims to leverage itself into common Dark-type resistances, it's a pretty compelling angle to take with many build routes.
-----
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.
Bold your votes and nothing else!
A typical vote might look like the following:
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.
- The scripts count bold words in ballots, so do NOT bold anything in your ballot other than the options you are voting for.
- Do NOT put any formatting other than bold in your post.
- Only one option per line.
- The spelling of options must be EXACTLY correct and must match the spelling listed above.
- Capitalization and spaces are ignored by the vote counting scripts, but you probably should not depend on it.
CAP uses blind voting. Other people's votes won't appear in the thread, but they are counted and will be made visible at the end of the voting timeframe. For more information about this change, check out this PRC thread.
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.
The voting options are:
Psychic/Fighting
Fire/Fighting
Fire/Normal
Electric/Normal
Grass/Normal
Bug/Dark
Dark
This poll will be open for 24 hours.
