approved by Quote
banner stolen from old thread
What is this?
The Next Best Thing is a project where the community digs through a featured Pokemon's movepool and crafts novel sets under the objective of beating some of its common checks and counters. Through this project in the past, relatively hidden Pokemon sets between ADV and BW like SD Lucario in DPP OU or Sub-Disable Gengar in BW OU have ended up taking the respective metagames by storm. Not every set that the community comes up in the project with will become metagame defining, however. In fact, a mass majority of new Pokemon sets made here won't end up becoming very popular in the end, which is fine.
The Process
Each 10 days, I will choose a different LC Pokemon, sometimes chosen by random, sometimes chosen by curiosity, of which participants will try to personally create a new set for that is not already on-site or in the process of being put on-site. Participants will be given 7 days to create their set, with discussion about the particular sets being promoted throughout, and on the 8th through 10th day of the cycle, a vote will be held to choose which user's set represented the most creative and simultaneously competitively viable set to utilize in the current LC metagame. Once the votes are tallied and a winner is crowned, the set will be archived in the OP and the process will start all over again for the next Pokemon specimen.
What are we looking for?
Specifically, I want to stress the importance of the balance between creativity and viability when picking a set to post for the Pokemon in question. There's a very fine line between a "creative" set and a "gimmick", and this project is not meant to produce gimmicks, rather emphasize the ability to think outside the box when using a specific Pokemon in order to maximize its potential. Having said that, I would also like to deviate from simple one move / item changes. For instance, changing Eviolite for Berry Juice on Grimer-A is not showing any potential creativity; it's just sacrificing consistent bulk for a large recovery boost. The same would go for using Gunk Shot over Poison Jab. Neither of the aforementioned cases yield productive discussion or results for the project. I am looking for sets that test what we think we know about checks or counters, so-called standards, and what it means to be viable. Maybe a particular option for a Pokemon looks inferior at first glance for that particular Pokemon, but dig deeper and try and find what it might mean in the big picture, for the entire team.
With that all said and done, here are some rules...
banner stolen from old thread
What is this?
The Next Best Thing is a project where the community digs through a featured Pokemon's movepool and crafts novel sets under the objective of beating some of its common checks and counters. Through this project in the past, relatively hidden Pokemon sets between ADV and BW like SD Lucario in DPP OU or Sub-Disable Gengar in BW OU have ended up taking the respective metagames by storm. Not every set that the community comes up in the project with will become metagame defining, however. In fact, a mass majority of new Pokemon sets made here won't end up becoming very popular in the end, which is fine.
The Process
Each 10 days, I will choose a different LC Pokemon, sometimes chosen by random, sometimes chosen by curiosity, of which participants will try to personally create a new set for that is not already on-site or in the process of being put on-site. Participants will be given 7 days to create their set, with discussion about the particular sets being promoted throughout, and on the 8th through 10th day of the cycle, a vote will be held to choose which user's set represented the most creative and simultaneously competitively viable set to utilize in the current LC metagame. Once the votes are tallied and a winner is crowned, the set will be archived in the OP and the process will start all over again for the next Pokemon specimen.
What are we looking for?
Specifically, I want to stress the importance of the balance between creativity and viability when picking a set to post for the Pokemon in question. There's a very fine line between a "creative" set and a "gimmick", and this project is not meant to produce gimmicks, rather emphasize the ability to think outside the box when using a specific Pokemon in order to maximize its potential. Having said that, I would also like to deviate from simple one move / item changes. For instance, changing Eviolite for Berry Juice on Grimer-A is not showing any potential creativity; it's just sacrificing consistent bulk for a large recovery boost. The same would go for using Gunk Shot over Poison Jab. Neither of the aforementioned cases yield productive discussion or results for the project. I am looking for sets that test what we think we know about checks or counters, so-called standards, and what it means to be viable. Maybe a particular option for a Pokemon looks inferior at first glance for that particular Pokemon, but dig deeper and try and find what it might mean in the big picture, for the entire team.
With that all said and done, here are some rules...
- Let's refrain from standard sets, gimmicky sets, and simple one move / item / ability changes that don't add anything, as described in the OP.
- Please also refrain from editing your sets after you have already posted them.
- Obviously, don't vote for yourself during voting.
- Don't reserve sets!
