Dear community,
it is now time for reviews. I apologize for the delay; special circumstances forced me to take a rest. But it's all good now! If you make any changes to your sub, please, inform the person who provided feedback on your sub! Neglecting to do so risks the chance of having your sub not being included in the voting process. Sticky Fingaaa reviewed Druddigon, Exploziff took care of Chesnaught, and I (BlueRay) took a look at Skarmory. You have until Wednesday, 15:30, GMT +2, to revise your sub!
Below, the reviews:
it is now time for reviews. I apologize for the delay; special circumstances forced me to take a rest. But it's all good now! If you make any changes to your sub, please, inform the person who provided feedback on your sub! Neglecting to do so risks the chance of having your sub not being included in the voting process. Sticky Fingaaa reviewed Druddigon, Exploziff took care of Chesnaught, and I (BlueRay) took a look at Skarmory. You have until Wednesday, 15:30, GMT +2, to revise your sub!
Below, the reviews:
ItzaDelta--Your Mega Skarmory is quite interesting and unique because it is probably one of the few Pokémon if not the only one at the moment that can bluff reasonably well a Mega evolution in the preview. Unlike Magnezone, you don't necessarily need to build a specific team that takes a Magnet Pull user like Skarmory into account. It already fits on a variety of teams due to its useful, defensive capabilities, letting it check Ground Pokémon, among others. Therefore, I imagine almost any Skarmory team will exert some pressure on the opponent and create some mindgames. Moreover, Mega Skarmory can trap a Steel Pokémon while also setting Spikes making it fairly unique in this regard. [approved]
chemicalmines--Sharpness is a very fitting ability choice flavour wise. A more offensive approach is also appropriate to Mega Skarmory different from its base form. But I do wonder why it has its Flying type replaced by the Fighting type. Are there any specific reasons? Especially flavour wise? Perhaps, you could talk about its nature to explain the Fighting type. Stat wise, I would lower its Speed, below Moltres since this Pokémon can launch some pretty powerful Body Press with base 165 Def and has access to Roost, making it fairly difficult to deal with. [approved but Speeds need to be lowered and some flavour explanation on the dualtype would be appreciated]
DrPumpkinz--Iron Barbs is a very fitting choice of ability given how sharp Skarmory's body is. Moreover, since Rocky Helmet can often be removed so easily, your Skarmory differs in that it will always punish opponents for clicking contact moves. This is very helpful against Weavile which loves nothing more than removing items and clicking Triple Axel. And as you've already mentioned the ability synergizes with its hazard setting tendencies. If you wanted to, you could either have 180 Def and 90 SpD or 170 Def and 85 SpD since it would kind of mirror its 140 Def and 70 SpD from its base form. [approved]
Turtlek--Working with an ability Skarmory already has in its base form is pretty cool. After all, we don't do that very often, and sometimes, you can get some very interesting results, like Scizor, for instance. That being said, I appreciate the offensive stat distribution to make your sub clearly different from its base form. So, there's actually benefit of using its Mega form. [approved]
War Incarnate--I like this approach to VGC since Skarmory naturally has lots of tools to begin with. Tailwind and Icy Wind / Rock Tomb for speed control or Rock Slide for spread damage while also lowering Def by 1. Moreover, it knows Feint, which is a priority move that breaks Protect and allows an ally to benefit from this strategy. [approved]
okispokis--The callback to Mystery Dungeon is pretty nice, and I like how you named the ability; it works well with Skarmory's aggressive nature. The competitive design behind this is sound. Making room for more weakness through a type change is valid. [approved]
Totally_Odette--Mirror Armor is a neat choice if you want to rely on Iron Defense more reliably or avoid defensive drops while setting hazards. That being said, I think this sub could be improved by raising its speed because while base Skarmory's defensive stats are lower than the Mega's, it can hold an item like Leftovers, at least, making up for that. Moreover, more speed lets it customize its bulk as more EVs are freed up. What's more, you could raise SpD a bit since common moves which lower defense are special, like Shadow Ball. [approved]
jazzmat & Clas--I just took a look at the list of moves this ability would affect, which is pretty interesting: Air Slash and Night Slash are appealing options. Air Slash is STAB and special while Night Slash covers Ghost which wall Body Press set. If you could emphasize that, it would make it easier for the readers to understand and appreciate the value Mega Skarmory can get out of this ability. This looks like a very strong sub, so, I would lower its Speed by 10 to allow for more counterplays. That said, Blade Armor is a very fitting choice flavour wise given its sword motif in ancient times. Nice! [approved but speed needs to be lowered]
EeveeGirl1380--Poison Point is a very unusual but interesting and fitting choice of ability on Skarmory. I like the flavour reason behind; it makes sense and is on point! Competitively, Mega Skarmory very much differs from its base form since Poison from Poison Point can affect a Pokémon longterm until it faints while Rocky Helmet is more selectively damage wise, for lack of a better word. So, I appreciate this idea to make the two of them different from each other. [approved]
Blueray Skarm, reviewed by Exploziff : Pass, interesting sub trying to make up for the lack of attacking potential of skarmory with swords of ruin, in combination with brave bird which is a really strong stab skarm can hit pretty hard while maintaining bulk. I'd maybe considering dumping 10 point from def to spa , as to mitigate a bit the physical bulk and help make it more manageable for SE physical attacker (ex : make it so zeraora can 2HKO on a roll vs not 2HKO )
chemicalmines--Sharpness is a very fitting ability choice flavour wise. A more offensive approach is also appropriate to Mega Skarmory different from its base form. But I do wonder why it has its Flying type replaced by the Fighting type. Are there any specific reasons? Especially flavour wise? Perhaps, you could talk about its nature to explain the Fighting type. Stat wise, I would lower its Speed, below Moltres since this Pokémon can launch some pretty powerful Body Press with base 165 Def and has access to Roost, making it fairly difficult to deal with. [approved but Speeds need to be lowered and some flavour explanation on the dualtype would be appreciated]
DrPumpkinz--Iron Barbs is a very fitting choice of ability given how sharp Skarmory's body is. Moreover, since Rocky Helmet can often be removed so easily, your Skarmory differs in that it will always punish opponents for clicking contact moves. This is very helpful against Weavile which loves nothing more than removing items and clicking Triple Axel. And as you've already mentioned the ability synergizes with its hazard setting tendencies. If you wanted to, you could either have 180 Def and 90 SpD or 170 Def and 85 SpD since it would kind of mirror its 140 Def and 70 SpD from its base form. [approved]
Turtlek--Working with an ability Skarmory already has in its base form is pretty cool. After all, we don't do that very often, and sometimes, you can get some very interesting results, like Scizor, for instance. That being said, I appreciate the offensive stat distribution to make your sub clearly different from its base form. So, there's actually benefit of using its Mega form. [approved]
War Incarnate--I like this approach to VGC since Skarmory naturally has lots of tools to begin with. Tailwind and Icy Wind / Rock Tomb for speed control or Rock Slide for spread damage while also lowering Def by 1. Moreover, it knows Feint, which is a priority move that breaks Protect and allows an ally to benefit from this strategy. [approved]
okispokis--The callback to Mystery Dungeon is pretty nice, and I like how you named the ability; it works well with Skarmory's aggressive nature. The competitive design behind this is sound. Making room for more weakness through a type change is valid. [approved]
Totally_Odette--Mirror Armor is a neat choice if you want to rely on Iron Defense more reliably or avoid defensive drops while setting hazards. That being said, I think this sub could be improved by raising its speed because while base Skarmory's defensive stats are lower than the Mega's, it can hold an item like Leftovers, at least, making up for that. Moreover, more speed lets it customize its bulk as more EVs are freed up. What's more, you could raise SpD a bit since common moves which lower defense are special, like Shadow Ball. [approved]
jazzmat & Clas--I just took a look at the list of moves this ability would affect, which is pretty interesting: Air Slash and Night Slash are appealing options. Air Slash is STAB and special while Night Slash covers Ghost which wall Body Press set. If you could emphasize that, it would make it easier for the readers to understand and appreciate the value Mega Skarmory can get out of this ability. This looks like a very strong sub, so, I would lower its Speed by 10 to allow for more counterplays. That said, Blade Armor is a very fitting choice flavour wise given its sword motif in ancient times. Nice! [approved but speed needs to be lowered]
EeveeGirl1380--Poison Point is a very unusual but interesting and fitting choice of ability on Skarmory. I like the flavour reason behind; it makes sense and is on point! Competitively, Mega Skarmory very much differs from its base form since Poison from Poison Point can affect a Pokémon longterm until it faints while Rocky Helmet is more selectively damage wise, for lack of a better word. So, I appreciate this idea to make the two of them different from each other. [approved]
Blueray Skarm, reviewed by Exploziff : Pass, interesting sub trying to make up for the lack of attacking potential of skarmory with swords of ruin, in combination with brave bird which is a really strong stab skarm can hit pretty hard while maintaining bulk. I'd maybe considering dumping 10 point from def to spa , as to mitigate a bit the physical bulk and help make it more manageable for SE physical attacker (ex : make it so zeraora can 2HKO on a roll vs not 2HKO )
ItzaDelta - Contrary Druddigon sounds really fun to play with on paper, and it's a really interesting high risk high reward mon, and I guess Contrary fits it pretty well considering Gargoyles are beings originally believed to "scare evil spirits away", but in the media are portrayed as evil beings. [Approved]
ChemicalMines - Pretty simple approach, I always enjoy mixed Sheer Force breakers, I'd recommend tuning it up a bit, as the Stealth Rocks weakness along with the low speed can make it hard for Mega Druddigon to find a place for itself in the meta. [Approved]
DrPumpkinz - Shed Skin Druddigon is a very fitting idea, but with Weavile being one of the main meta staples in Kalos, I fear Druddigon would find very little niche for itself, I'd suggest raising its bulk even further in order to make it better at abusing Shed Skin. [Approved]
Sigilyph Bro - Dragon/Fairy Druddigon seems like an interesting defensive profile, specially with its access to Stealth Rocks, Glare, and the addition of Flip Turn. I really like the flavor for the Water moves, but I'd suggest removing Waterfall, as it seems like an unecessary extra tool for Druddigon. [Approved]
Turtlek - Thermal Exchange makes up for a good flavor and helps it a lot to punish Fire type mons. I just wanna point out that you probably meant Rotom-Heat while writing your sub description, since Druddigon is now neutral to Water type moves. [Approved]
Lysion - Protosynthesis is a really nice choice, I'd say you can still make it stronger if desired since it has no recovery and it needs to be under sun to hit hard. [Approved]
Okispokis - Not much to add here. Solid Rock is a pretty neat ability which fits Drudd well and is a great addition to allow it to spam Glare. [Approved]
PalpitoadChamp - Pretty much the same as above, although I think you could try to buff it a little bit as Druddigon's only way of recovering HP is through Regenerator, so some extra bulk would be welcome. I'd recommend adding some flavor to better justify Regenerator. [Approved but extra flavor is advised]
Totally_Odette - Keeping Mold Breaker while giving it the Ground type is pretty neat for the Rotoms, it probably makes for a pretty sturdy Heatran check in Natdex (we don't talk about Steelium Z). [Approved]
Jazzmat - It's a bit hard for me to imagine how Perch would work on practice, outside of an hypothetical Scale Shot + Protect set, meant to stop threats such as physical scarfers and priority users from revenge killing it, but I do like the concept and I don't see it being unbalanced. [Approved]
Sticky and Paul (reviewed by BlueRay)--Competitively, the Ice immunity is an interesting choice because as a Dragon, Druddigon naturally resists Water--a type that tends to run Ice moves. So, with its new ability, Mega Druddigon can now switch into them more efficiently. Furthermore, more Weavile answers are always appreciated. Gaining the Rock type helps to pressure Ice Pokémon while also making Flying Pokémon think twice. After all, Druddigon loves setting hazards which Flying Pokémon would love to Defog away but with Rock moves, it could be difficult for them. [approved]
ChemicalMines - Pretty simple approach, I always enjoy mixed Sheer Force breakers, I'd recommend tuning it up a bit, as the Stealth Rocks weakness along with the low speed can make it hard for Mega Druddigon to find a place for itself in the meta. [Approved]
DrPumpkinz - Shed Skin Druddigon is a very fitting idea, but with Weavile being one of the main meta staples in Kalos, I fear Druddigon would find very little niche for itself, I'd suggest raising its bulk even further in order to make it better at abusing Shed Skin. [Approved]
Sigilyph Bro - Dragon/Fairy Druddigon seems like an interesting defensive profile, specially with its access to Stealth Rocks, Glare, and the addition of Flip Turn. I really like the flavor for the Water moves, but I'd suggest removing Waterfall, as it seems like an unecessary extra tool for Druddigon. [Approved]
Turtlek - Thermal Exchange makes up for a good flavor and helps it a lot to punish Fire type mons. I just wanna point out that you probably meant Rotom-Heat while writing your sub description, since Druddigon is now neutral to Water type moves. [Approved]
Lysion - Protosynthesis is a really nice choice, I'd say you can still make it stronger if desired since it has no recovery and it needs to be under sun to hit hard. [Approved]
Okispokis - Not much to add here. Solid Rock is a pretty neat ability which fits Drudd well and is a great addition to allow it to spam Glare. [Approved]
PalpitoadChamp - Pretty much the same as above, although I think you could try to buff it a little bit as Druddigon's only way of recovering HP is through Regenerator, so some extra bulk would be welcome. I'd recommend adding some flavor to better justify Regenerator. [Approved but extra flavor is advised]
Totally_Odette - Keeping Mold Breaker while giving it the Ground type is pretty neat for the Rotoms, it probably makes for a pretty sturdy Heatran check in Natdex (we don't talk about Steelium Z). [Approved]
Jazzmat - It's a bit hard for me to imagine how Perch would work on practice, outside of an hypothetical Scale Shot + Protect set, meant to stop threats such as physical scarfers and priority users from revenge killing it, but I do like the concept and I don't see it being unbalanced. [Approved]
Sticky and Paul (reviewed by BlueRay)--Competitively, the Ice immunity is an interesting choice because as a Dragon, Druddigon naturally resists Water--a type that tends to run Ice moves. So, with its new ability, Mega Druddigon can now switch into them more efficiently. Furthermore, more Weavile answers are always appreciated. Gaining the Rock type helps to pressure Ice Pokémon while also making Flying Pokémon think twice. After all, Druddigon loves setting hazards which Flying Pokémon would love to Defog away but with Rock moves, it could be difficult for them. [approved]
Blueray --> pass , pretty unique take on the hedgehog by giving it immunity to one of it's main weakness, chesnaught now become one of the few mon that can proudly take on the fire/ground/rock combination (hello P-Groudon). It is also funny how it can interact vs chandelure/blacephalon with pre-mega bulletproof blocking shadow ball forcing it into a potential 50/50 situation.
Chemicalmines --> pass, interesting idea to gear chesnaught to become a strong offensive presence over a more defensive one, priority mach punch in combination with sword dance or belly drum can prove quite scary , but is held back by the 4mss the fighting type may have.
Turtlek --> pass , recommand to lower spdef under 100 considering stamina make up for any defense investment
DrPumpkinz --> pass , recommand to lower spdef under 100 considering intimidate make up for any defense investment
War incarnate --> pass, interesting parralel with defiant, also very effective at dealing with intimidate user by trading its potential on offense with its usual move to a more bulky oriented version using body press and leech seed to win 1v1. The ability is also not so easy to trigger due to chesnaught weakness to most defogger, so the abilty won't pose too much issue.
Okis pokis --> pass, i really like the idea of a grass type being able to punish scald and discharge, making it a really effective way to beat many common water type and some electric type with defensive purpose (ex: rotom-wash), without the fear of getting cheesed by statut.
Sticky Finga --> don't pass unless you explain how it respond toa different niche than mega gogoat as both seem really similar
Jazzmat --> pass , i think it's an interesting take on terrain setter, especially when considering that usually ground type move and grassy terrain don't go to well together. I prefer that approach over a grassy surge as it make grassy glide + belly drum set less likely as they'd need more setup to fonction.
Gravity Monkey --> don't pass , while i understand wanting to give it shit tone of defense , here it's definitively too much if you can tank SE stab hit from one of the hardest hitting mon avalaible. Otherwise the general sub idea is good as it operate as a great way to punish volt-turn by tanking and cheaping aways at flip turn and u-turner while being resistant to volt switch.
Chemicalmines --> pass, interesting idea to gear chesnaught to become a strong offensive presence over a more defensive one, priority mach punch in combination with sword dance or belly drum can prove quite scary , but is held back by the 4mss the fighting type may have.
Turtlek --> pass , recommand to lower spdef under 100 considering stamina make up for any defense investment
DrPumpkinz --> pass , recommand to lower spdef under 100 considering intimidate make up for any defense investment
War incarnate --> pass, interesting parralel with defiant, also very effective at dealing with intimidate user by trading its potential on offense with its usual move to a more bulky oriented version using body press and leech seed to win 1v1. The ability is also not so easy to trigger due to chesnaught weakness to most defogger, so the abilty won't pose too much issue.
Okis pokis --> pass, i really like the idea of a grass type being able to punish scald and discharge, making it a really effective way to beat many common water type and some electric type with defensive purpose (ex: rotom-wash), without the fear of getting cheesed by statut.
Sticky Finga --> don't pass unless you explain how it respond toa different niche than mega gogoat as both seem really similar
Jazzmat --> pass , i think it's an interesting take on terrain setter, especially when considering that usually ground type move and grassy terrain don't go to well together. I prefer that approach over a grassy surge as it make grassy glide + belly drum set less likely as they'd need more setup to fonction.
Gravity Monkey --> don't pass , while i understand wanting to give it shit tone of defense , here it's definitively too much if you can tank SE stab hit from one of the hardest hitting mon avalaible. Otherwise the general sub idea is good as it operate as a great way to punish volt-turn by tanking and cheaping aways at flip turn and u-turner while being resistant to volt switch.
Mega Skuntank, 
Mega Emolga, and 
Mega Avalugg is open for submissions!
