Name: Perfect Conditions
Description: This CAP excels at using moves with a conditional activation or effect.
Justification: Moves with a conditional activation such as Sucker Punch and Destiny Bond have seen a wide range of success throughout competitive history as well as moves with a conditional effect such as Grassy Glide or Rising Voltage.
More on point examples would range from sets like SubPunch Breloom in DPP OU to Beak Blast Celesteela in SS STABmons. Even nowadays, you still see some of these moves with usage in almost every competitive tier such as Sucker Punch and Hex. Although as time has gone on, some of these moves themselves have also become less popular whether that is due to exclusivity (Beak Blast, Comeuppance, etc.) or just straight up unviability (Attract, Covet, Steel Roller, etc.). Some of these moves can have extremely powerful effects when procced which can allow for an interesting process on how to navigate the ability to achieve the success of running a move with these conditions attached to it.
Questions to be Answered:
- What's the difference between a move with a conditional activation and a move with a conditional effect? What are the similarities? Is one more viable than the other with regards to usage?
- What makes a move with a conditional effect work in a competitive scene like Hex or Thunderclap while others such as Thief falter?
- Why are moves with these conditional effects, outside of moves such as Sucker Punch and Hex, rarely seen? Is this just due to the nature of having to activate the condition or is it the lack of accessibility for Pokemon to utilize these moves?
- What needs to be achieved to successfully utilize the effects of these moves? How does one leverage these effects to apply pressure or put the team it is on at an advantage?
- What advantages are there to using these moves with conditional effects?
Explanation: DPP Breloom with Substitute + Focus Punch is a gleaming example of what a concept like this could achieve as it was able to leverage a wonderfully defensive ability in Poison Heal with its decent typing to hit hard and avoid being KO'd despite lackluster defensive stats. Other, more recent, examples include Pokemon such as Kingambit and Raging Bolt that utilize Sucker Punch and Thunderclap respectively to smack the opponent before they attack provided they are actually attacking. One of the examples that really intrigued me for this particular concept is the move Beak Blast. Landorus-T and Corviknight in STABmons utilize this move, only exclusive to Toucannon, to dissuade physical attackers for fear of being burned, but also have them deal with a powerful STAB move at the same time.
