Pet Mod Megas for All v7 - please switch to the new thread for v8! (There's a link in the first and last posts!)

[The Damned]

Congratulations to the previous winners. I have finally thought of everything for this weird slate, so I'm posting it now. Unsurprisingly, Avalugg-Mega took the longest even though I started with that first:

Skuntank-Mega
New Ability: Prankster
Type: Poison/Dark

New Stats:
HP: 103
Attack: 093
Defense: 067 → 077 (+10)
Special Attack: 071 → 091 (+20)
Special Defense: 061 → 105 (+44)
Speed: 084 → 110 (+26)
(BST: 479 → 579)

New Moves: [none]
Description: "It now prefers to leisurely frustrate and fatigue its prey via annoyance and ambush tactics, only using its spray for short bursts of corrosive gas that furthers injuries and stifles resistance."

Lengthy Mechanical Description

Having worked my way backwards through this weird slate from Avalugg, I arrived at the decision to go with Prankster as the ability for my Skuntank-Mega after rejecting like half a dozen others, three of which would have been offensively-oriented and three others more defensively-oriented. In the process of trying to think of things yesterday, however, I remembered in the wider scopes of things that Drapion-Mega already exists as a more offensively-oriented Poison/Dark Mega and as one that particularly picks on Steel types, which had been one of my initial ideas. So instead defensively-oriented Skuntank won out, though in the case of Prankster I had to make sure to not make it too defensive stat-wise on both sides since otherwise Rest (Talk) would likely end up surprisingly oppressive; even now it might need still slightly lesser defenses, but I'll let the council decide that.

Beyond priority Rest to save itself, Prankster does a lot for Skuntank with what it already has. It gives the meta and the larger meta(s) a fully evolved Prankster Haze user (unless I missed someone outside of CAP), meaning people no longer have to rely upon Murkrow for that, that can thus "revenge" most set-up users. Its priority Taunt stops set-up users in general, its priority Toxic is also 100% accurate, its priority Defog almost ensures hazards go away even if it's on death's door, and Prankster also greatly helps both Memento and its own set-up with Nasty Plot and even Hone Claws. Its arguably strongest status move with Prankster, however, is Corrosive Gas, which allows this to basically strip even Choice Scarf uses of their item before they smack it and support the team that way by lessening the amount of possible revenge kills since Speed is almost everything.

Besides intentionally lackluster defenses, however, all of that Prankster goodness is blocked by fellow Dark types, most of which can easily come on it as long as they aren't Grass/Dark or Dark/Fairy (or Dark/Steel if it's using Flamethrower). Prankster Corrosive Gas similarly is kept from being too oppressive due to both Dark types and Steel types being utterly immune to it, in addition to it becoming a completely dead slot that doesn't do damage like actual Knock Off does even after the opposing team is effectively itemless. While its Speed allows it to outrace everyone's favorite Street Shark in Garchomp, it doesn't really much threaten that without a Nasty Plot (or two) and Hidden Power Ice, which it has real reason to use otherwise unless you really hate Gliscor (which, valid), while Garchomp basically Earthquakes Skuntank into an early grave still as do most other strong Ground types, which are pretty common. Finally, despite all of its supporting goodness, Rest is still the only form of healing it has and it gets worn down by non-Toxic Spikes hazards, meaning that it gets somewhat destroyed by Electric Terrain and Misty Terrain of all things if its teammates can't heal it and that it can be annoyed by Psychic Terrain, though none of the mons that set up that last one up really don't want to come in on it, much less stay in.

2023/08/23 EDIT: In VGC, which I still need to think more about in general, even Skuntank's "usually useless" Status move options can become actually useful with Prankster. Rain Dance and Sunny Day speak for themselves even if Skuntank doesn't directly benefit from them, though Skuntank does already get Flamethrower and Fire Blast for the latter at least. Prankster Screech goes well with physical attackers and helps combat the deluge of Intimidate that they face in Doubles; Leer can fulfill the same role to a lesser if more accurate degree. Priority Confide can become your own special-oriented Intimidate that can also be used to trigger Defiant on non-Dark mons, and Scary Face can do the same for such mons or weird Trick Room setups. Finally, if you're (a scumbag who is) willing to gamble, even Attract, Captivate, and Double Team could work well with Prankster (if allowed). (Sadly, both Torment and Venom Drench's would-be utility is probably iffier than all of the aforementioned things, even Leer and Confide.)

what the fuck Game Freak why did you make this squirrel so creepy

To paraphrase a line from Daria, "Squirrels are nothing but rats with fluffy tails."

Emolga-Mega
New Ability: Fluffy
Type: Electric/Flying

New Stats:
HP: 055
Attack: 075
Defense: 060 → 110 (+50)
Special Attack: 075 → 090 (+15)
Special Defense: 060 → 075 (+15)
Speed: 103 → 123 (+20)
(BST: 428 → 528)
{2023/08/23 EDIT: Previously 115 Def (+55), 100 SpA (+25), and 060 SpD (+00).}

New Moves: Nasty Plot, Parabolic Charge
Description: "Emolga's energy management issues and mischievousness have only increased, the former causing its fur to become a frizzy and fluffy mess sending out constant electrical waves even as it flies."

Speaking of "rats with fluffy tails", Fluffy is an interesting ability on a Flying mon given that the typing by its nature allows the would-be Fluffy mon to bypass the most common non-contact physical move: Earthquake. Also, unlike Fur Coat, Fluffy isn't automatically something that can make even a relatively minimal Def boost lead to physical immortality, which is good because Parabolic Charge totally fits Emolga's flavor anyway about zapping everything even while flying without really trying to do so. Its still middling SpA is both for the sake of Nasty Plot and to keep Parabolic Charge from being too obnoxious out of the gate, but it also works well in Doubles where relatively weak Parabolic Charges, especially as base Emolga, can be used to intentionally trigger Weakness Policy and other items. Fluffy lets it set up Nasty Plots and/or Substitutes rather easily against certain mons, especially certain physically oriented Choice item users. Not much else to say about this or Fluffy since otherwise it merely allows for Emolga to be its usual annoying self, just with a lot more bulk on the Defense side...as long as that physical attack makes contact...and isn't Fire. So watch out for Stone Edges and Ice Shards and Icicle Crashes. And speaking of Icicle Crash....


Avalugg-Mega
New Ability: Steely Spirit
Type: Ice/Steel

New Stats:
HP: 095
Attack: 117 → 137 (+20) {previously 140 (+23)}
Defense: 184 → 235 (+51)
Special Attack: 044 → 052 (+08)
Special Defense: 046 → 075 (+29) {previously 066 (+20)}
Speed: 028 → 020 (-08) {previously 035 (+07)}
(BST: 514 → 614)

Weight: 1113.3 lbs (505.0 kg) → 2204.4 lbs (999.9 kg)

New Moves: Icicle Crash (seriously, how does it still not get this already?)
Description: "The energy of Mega Evolution bolsters its size and indomitable resolve, turning its steel-like body and nearby allies partially into actual living steel."

Much like chemicalmines, I decided to take inspiration from some of Avalugg's Pokedex entries saying it's steel-like. After trying and failing for a day to think of ways to take advantage of this defensively, including my almost-obligatory Storm Drain-esque consideration before I realized that even in this limited meta most Water types still somewhat body this poor guy with their coverage, I decided to instead shift gears. So unlike regular Avalugg, Avalugg-Mega focuses decidedly on offense, having absolutely brutal Heavy Slams and Gyro Balls and being a great cleaner for Trick Room both in Singles and in Doubles. Despite this utterly offensive aspect and newfound neutrality to Stealth Rock and having--gasp!--actual resistances now, it should still be manageable between having two quad weaknesses, still somewhat poor SpD, even slower Speed, and STAB that's resisted by two of the best types in the game in Water and Steel. Granted, Steel types--including itself--that aren't Ghost get rather wrecked by Body Press, but Water types generally don't fold to that easily unless they're already generally frail and/or weak to Fighting (hey there, Greninja). The original Slow-siblings in particular basically give it no end of grief if they're not Toxic'd between resisting its STABs & Body Press, having low enough Speed that Gyro Ball does nothing much while still being faster, randomly having access to Flamethrower, and having the broken ability that is Regenerator. I can admit that I didn't do extensive calcs--in part because Heavy Slam is really annoying to calc for--and that I might have to dump a few more of its stats into SpA or, ironically, raise its Speed (again) a bit back to where I had it for a bit. Shrug. (Even if you don't want to go all "I am become Trick Room, Destroyer of Worlds", being neutral to Stealth Rock now is nice for a mon with Rapid Spin and recovery, and Heavy Slam generally hurts enough that you can likely forego Gyro Ball in those more supportive cases.)

 

[ItzaDelta]

Name: Mega-Skuntank
Typing: Poison/Dark
Ability: Toxic Debris
Stats:

HP: 103
ATK: 123 (+30)
DEF: 87 (+20)
SPA: 91 (+20)
SPD: 81 (+20)
SPE: 94 (+10)

New Moves: Knock Off

Description

Mega Evolution strengthens Skuntank's skunk spray, making them deadly traps that slowly wear down any Pokemon unfortunate enough to be into contact with.

Skuntank's typing and movepool have some very interesting interactions with Toxic Debris. Pursuit chips down opponents switching into a Poison type trying to remove the Toxic Spikes, Knock Off removes Heavy Duty Boots while Fire Blast threatens Steel types, giving the Toxic Spikes even more targets. Skuntank can also utilize the status to its own advantage, having access to moves such as Venoshock, Venom Drench and even Hex.

Mega Skuntank by itself is a pretty versatile Pokemon, having a great typing, decent bulk and power. Its typing allows it to check and threaten Ghost, Psychic, Grass and Fairy types, while Knock Off cripples potential switches. Its unique access to Fire type moves also helps it deal with Steel types such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory and Scizor.

 

[Hematite]

Hello!
I haven't subbed to M4A for a long time, but uh,
this is an idea I shared in another server a couple of months ago, and Blue very kindly DMed me when this slate opened to encourage me to sub it, so I wanted to try C:

Mega Skuntank​

Ability:

Aftermath / Stench // Keen Eye -> Repulsive
(If the Pokémon lowers any of another Pokémon's stats, it also lowers that Pokémon's Defense.)​

Type:

Poison / Dark​

Base Stats:

HP: 103
Attack: 93 -> 113 (+20)
Defense: 67 -> 107 (+40)
Sp. Atk: 71 -> 86 (+15)
Sp. Def: 61 -> 86 (+25)
Speed: 84
(579 BST)​

(There are no movepool changes for now.)

Some comments

- For simplicity, Repulsive works exactly like Defiant: it doesn't matter how many stages a stat is lowered, but it does activate individually for each different stat that's lowered.

That means a move like Acid Spray gives -2 Special Defense and also just -1 Defense, because it lowers Defense once for the whole Sp. Def debuff,
while a move like Memento gives -2 Attack, -2 Sp. Atk and -2 Defense, because the Ability activates to lower Defense once for the Attack debuff and a second time for Sp. Atk debuff.
If a move like Crunch or Leer lowers Defense, the Ability will activate and lower it again by an additional stage.​

- I used a Skuntank on an in-game team last year and have very fond memories of playing with it, so I wanted to make a Mega that would play to a similar set of strengths and highlight the things I liked about playing with it.
That's kinda where this Mega came from - to me, Skuntank is all about support and relying on "tricky" debuffs from moves like Snarl and Acid Spray, and I really enjoyed the flexibility of debuffing opponents either to increase its own offensive pressure or to create openings for other teammates to switch in and set up more easily.
I wanted to design a Mega around taking that feeling into a competitive environment, so my main goal here was to make a similar supportive Mega that turned debuffs into another source of offensive pressure, just like the Skuntank I used in-game. C:



- Competitively, this is built around a playing style that works a lot better in VGC than in singles, so I understand if it doesn't sound that exciting to singles players. However, there are a couple of cool selling points I think help justify it:

- As a support Pokémon, Skuntank's main tools in singles are always ones like Defog, Pursuit and Sucker Punch. Its new Ability Repulsive comes in handy here: Defog normally lowers evasion, which means now it also activates Repulsive and lowers Defense. That means that every time you clear hazards, you can follow up with a really hard-hitting Pursuit or Sucker Punch depending what your opponent's switch-in calls for.
Skuntank also comes with Taunt to make it more useful as hazard control in general (and it's another tool that can feed into making Pursuit and Sucker Punch more reliable, of course), and this one also has quite a lot of bulk and Toxic immunity, which can probably give it a lot of entry points to support a more offensive team.

- In the lategame when you're done using Mega Skuntank supportively, you can potentially use Memento to help either eliminate a threat completely (by bringing in a Band Pursuit user like Weavile or Tyranitar into a target that's now only doing half the damage and taking double the damage) or get a major momentum swing in your favor to help set up a sweeper of your choice.

- Crunch is also just a very silly STAB that has a 20% chance to lower Defense by two stages now P:​

Okay but this is still mostly a doubles Mega so um. I hope that's okay asdfhg
What does Skuntank do there?

- For those who are unfamiliar, debuffs are, like, really relevant in VGC; passive Abilities like Intimidate, attacking moves like Snarl, Icy Wind and Electroweb, and even status moves like (spread) Cotton Spore and (single-target!) Eerie Impulse are widely used by some of the best support Pokémon in the game, and similar effects like Tailwind that affect the user's side of the field are also a way bigger deal.
There are a lot of reasons for this:​

- On one hand, dedicating a move to set up a stat modifier is a much smaller commitment since you have more than one Pokémon taking actions per turn;
at the same time, it's much higher-reward, in part because you're often buffing or debuffing more than one target at once compared to a single battle (the effect of the moves is already basically doubled!) and in part because your ally Pokémon can take advantage of the debuff even before your opponent has an opportunity to react to it or attempt to clear it by switching.

- Plus, even when they can switch, that's a much less "free" action than in singles!
In singles, you're probably switching, like, every two or three turns anyway and you only need to worry about coming in on one move at a time;
on the other hand, the pace of VGC is much faster and switching safely is a lot more difficult, because a) you have to have something that can switch in on two Pokémon instead of one, b) your backline is much smaller (in singles, you start with 5 options to switch to; in VGC, the most options you could have off the field is 2), and c) most of the popular ways to debuff are spread, which means you might be caught in a position where you have two Pokémon that are suffering debuffs and you sure as heck won't want to switch both of them out in the same turn!

- Not only that, but because your opponent can double-target (use both of their attacks on the same Pokémon to eliminate it more easily) and because there are so many forms of Speed control making it difficult to count on going first, you really don't want to be in a position where you telegraph that only one of your Pokémon is a threat and the other is going to play passively or switch out to get rid of its debuffs, because that puts all of the attention on the one that's in the better position (read: the one you don't want to give up!!) and is probably something of a death sentence for it.
There's also always stuff like Fake Out and Protect to nullify one move at a time, so... like, it's really easy to punish opponents if you get them into a position where they feel like they "have" to switch just because they were debuffed too much, even if it's only one of their Pokémon in that position (let alone both at once!!!).​

Tl;dr debuffs are really, REALLY important!!​

- So... I'm sure people have picked up on how many Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed modifiers there are in VGC, but how many Pokémon are there with the capacity to lower Defense reliably?
Especially in a format with so much more offensive pressure - where everything is exerting constant pressure and you need pivots with stuff like Intimidate and Snarl to keep them in check - how valuable do you think it could be to debuff a whole side's Defense at once?
With the right moves, Skuntank can basically do this passively while still making progress in other ways - after all, Repulsive-boosted moves don't just lower Defense but compound Defense drops on top of other drops, so it can get a crazy amount done at once.
Check out some of its supportive tools:​

- HAVE YOU ever wanted to cut an entire team's Defense in half for your physically offensive partners' enjoyment?
Leer + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Defense to two Pokémon at once O:

- HAVE YOU ever wanted a form of reliable Speed control that also amplified your offensive pressure significantly?
Scary Face + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Spe and -1 Def to two Pokémon at once, letting you wipe out any threat easily before it takes any more turns O:

- HAVE YOU ever been caught in a position where you needed to debuff a specially offensive threat in the short term, but letting up offensive pressure by focusing on it would give its partner too much freedom in the long term?
Snarl + Repulsive can not only protect your side from special moves but debuff the whole opposing team's Defense at the same time O:
Snarl is an incredibly spammable move and this is almost definitely Skuntank's biggest supportive tool, and it even shores up its slightly weaker SpD compared to its Defense, which is neat and gives you a lot of leeway with EVing!

- It's not seen anywhere near often enough, but Acid Spray!!! is also a really cool midground option that inflicts -2 SpD and -1 Def at the same time, so you can support a specially offensive partner in the short term but easily leave room for a physical partner to pick up where it left off as soon as you need, or even let a special attacker do big damage one turn and then have Skuntank follow up with a Sucker Punch itself.
You basically always want to have both physical and special options available to you, or you're super easy prey for stuff like Snarl, Intimidate and screens that can focus on just one defense at a time, so a move that reliably lowers both defenses at once is a pretty exciting niche in my opinion and I bet it would come in handy more often than you'd think!​

- I was talking about this Mega with Blue like I mentioned, and there are a couple more things I wanted to bring up because I value his judgment a lot!

- One other thing we discussed was that it would be really interesting to see Mega Skuntank usage evolve across different formats.
For instance, he highlighted a couple of factors specific to the Gen IX VGC metagame that made the use of poison (the status condition) more popular: with extremely bulky Pokémon like the Dondozo/Tatsugiri combination making it possible to control the pace of the game, Garganacl similarly excelling in defensive play and adding value to chip, and Pokémon like Glimmora making it easier than ever to spread, we've seen a very unusual rise of poison in VGC compared to past Gens where it was probably the weakest status.
On top of that, there are no Misty Surge users in Gen IX even though every other terrain is present in some form, which means far fewer teams have counterplay to poison than earlier. This in particular stands out because it's also true of Kalos - in a Kalos-based VGC format, poison spread is not something most teams will naturally prepare for!​

- What does poison have to do with Mega Skuntank?
Well... there's this really rarely-seen but really fun move called Venom Drench, which is a spread move that lowers three of each target's stats - Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed - but only works on targets that are poisoned. In tandem with Repulsive, this would be an absolutely insane debuff of -1 Attack, -1 Sp. Atk, -1 Speed and -3 Defense (that's 2.5x the damage from physical moves!), but it only works on archetypes that are able to build around efficient poison spread and capitalize on it.

- Skuntank's type combination actually happens to be really good for a poison-spread-oriented team, which can help bring Venom Drench into the limelight once in a while!
A lot of the popular Steel-types in VGC are Pokémon like Metagross and Aegislash, which are conveniently weak to Dark.
Moreover, Blue didn't specifically mention this so I'm sorry if it's not as applicable to VGC as I think but having a Dark-type can help with Psychic-type Pokémon that would usually make life harder for Poison-heavy teams; this is something that comes up a lot in other formats like Evolution Project, where ink runs a lot of Toxic Spikes-heavy teams with a lot of Poison-types and Merciless users but already likes to pair them with Dark-types to cover their weaknesses. Poison and Dark complement each other super well!
Skuntank also theoretically has Fire coverage that helps with other poison-immune VGC threats like Amoonguss and Kartana, but moveslots are more limited in VGC because many Pokémon need to carry Protect, and it takes a lot of investment for Skuntank to beat Amoonguss that it probably isn't worth spending. Instead, Blue drew attention to Arcanine as a popular partner for poison-spread teams in Gen IX; Arcanine often runs Safety Goggles to help it beat Amoonguss, and with access to its own Snarl, Intimidate and Will-o-Wisp, it can help slow the pace of the game in a way that makes poison's strengths and other chip users really shine.​

- Poison spread aside, Blue had some very helpful input on the value of the Ability in VGC and focused a lot on the combination of Snarl and Sucker Punch.
Snarl is a move that's been used a lot even on offensive Dark-types that you wouldn't expect to play support at all, because lowering Sp. Atk is just that valuable, especially in formats with strong special attackers. (His examples were also Gen IX-oriented - Hydreigon, Iron Jugulis and Chi-Yu have run Snarl to keep threats like Armarouge and other Chi-Yu in check, for instance!)
In addition, with all of Skuntank's best ways to lower Defense being spread, he highlighted that it could be really awkward for opponents to predict which of their Pokémon is in danger of being targeted down with a Sucker Punch.

- As limiting factors go, Blue noted that he appreciated Skuntank not being especially fast. Fast debuffs (like ones from Prankster users, Icy Wind on Iron Bundle, or Electroweb or Eerie Impulse on Regieleki) have a more immediate effect, as the support Pokémon's partner can capitalize on them in the same turn, but Skuntank's relatively average Speed gives opponents leeway to attack at least once before it manages to debuff them while delaying its partner's ability to take advantage of the debuffs.
In addition, he highlighted that it was an important balancing factor that Skuntank has to be the one to inflict a debuff. For instance, it would be super dangerous to allow a partner's Intimidate to proc Skuntank's Repulsive, which would lower both the Attack and Defense of all opponents while giving Skuntank the freedom to attack and utilize the debuff (maybe even with its priority) in the same turn.​

Blue's feedback gave me a lot of reassurance that this was a compelling enough concept to sub, and I hope it pans out well if it gets in!
I'm definitely aware that it probably wouldn't make as big a splash in singles, which might limit its appeal to some people, but I'm hoping that's okay since Kalos does already have one (very strong-looking!) Poison/Dark Mega in Seviper so it's not like it feels as urgent for Skuntank to be designed for the same format as it.
I'm not sure if this fits into M4A's current design philosophy either way, so no pressure P: but yeah I just thought this was kinda neat!

 

[BlueRay]

Submissions for the current slate "Skuntank, Emolga, and Avalugg" are now closed! Please, do not post any submissions since they're going to be dismissed.

 

[BlueRay]

Dear community,

it's time for reviews! If you wish to make any changes to your submission, please inform the person who provided feedback on it. In Skuntank's case, that would be me (BlueRay); in Emolga's case, refer to Paulluxx; in Avalugg's case, consult Sticky Fingaaa.

You have until Wednesday, 12:00, GMT +2, to revise your submissions!

Below, the feedbacks.

Skuntank

DrPumpkinz--Black Smoke is a great choice for M Skuntank since Psychic and Fairy Pokémon are types that often like to set-up with Calm Mind. Since M Skuntank is immune to Psychic and can hurt both types for effective damage, it's an ideal abuser of the ability. What's more, removing stat boosts encourages the opponent to switch out their Pokémon which is where Pursuit comes in, putting a lot of pressure on Psychic Pokémon. With regard to stats, I believe M Skuntank could be more optimized so that players have an easier time justifying it on a team. For instance, M Skuntank doesn't necessarily need to have a base 101 SpA unless you plan on using it purely as a special attacker rather than a mixed attacker. As a mixed attacker, an uninvested base 81 SpA would be enough for M Skuntank to 2HKO Skarmory and OHKO Scizor with Fire Blast after Stealth Rock. The rest could go into Atk to better take advantage of Pursuit and Poison Jab, the latter hitting Fairy Pokémon harder due to the latter being generally bulky on the special side. But it's up to you how you want M Skuntank to be used! [approved]

chemicalmines--I like how you made your sub very presentable and easy to read. It's also very much on point; the flavour part stands out in particular in that regard. That being said, abilities that function like Intimidate but for Spa are generally not encouraged in this mod as it has the potential to mess up VGC. For instance, there are lots of moves and abilities that interact with physical power, such as Intimidate, Hyper Cutter, Tough Claws, Defiant, Inner Focus, Huge Power, Swords Dance, Rocky Helmet, Flame Body, Burn, among many others while the same cannot be said about special power. Therefore, people are likely shoehorned into a very limited pool of Pokémon just to handle special Intimidate and physical Intimidate. I'd argue these reasons are likely why the developers have never created a special Intimidate version; it would require too many additions and changes just so players can handle both versions of Intimidate. What's more, there are alternatives to special Intimidate, such as Assault Vest or moves like Snarl. If you wish to go for special Intimidate, you would need to justify it well enough. For instance, how does M Skuntank benefit from it in particular? Why this Pokémon over other Pokémon? Perhaps, you could find some alternatives to special Intimidate? For instance, certain conditions that need to be met for the ability to work or what have you. [not approved until more convincing reasons are provided]

LordThemberchaud--Levitate is quite an unusual choice of ability but considering the image you used to justify it flavour wise, I can accept it. Moreover, it's quite a funny explanation which is always neat to make your sub more appealing. If you want to, you could use some editing tools to make your sub easier to read for your readers. Competitively, M Skuntank basically has no weakness which makes it more resilient, especially when helped out by Slack Off. Furthermore, it's what differentiates it from M Seviper in Kalos and M Drapion in NatDex. I think a set with "Knock Off, HP Ice / Poison Jab, Slack Off, Taunt" can work just fine; M Skuntank doesn't necessarily need Aqua Tail, and I think it's better to give some types, like Rock (see Tyrannitar) a chance to handle it better. After all, Poison/Dark is great offensively and generally obnoxious to handle on the defensive side. Something that you could mention is that, thanks to Levitate and Slack Off, it can now function as a reliable hazard remover, not taking damage from Spikes which is pretty neat. [approved]

okispokis--Murky Surge is an excellent ability choice since it plays very well to M Skuntank's strengths and fits flavour wise. For instance, Koga, a ninja gym leader, is known for using Skuntank. And what better way to deal with Psychic Pokémon and use the "mist" to your advantage and strike back with some nasty and surprising attacks? That being said, you pretty much covered everything I wanted to see on your sub. So, there's not much to add from my side, especially when I already gave you some feedback on discord. I think to make it more clear to the readers why a Psychic damage reduction is valuable in competitive, you could mention Future Sight. That's a move which, when paired with a strong attacker (usually Fighting or Dark), has limited counterplays. So, it's always appreciated to have more ways to deal with. [approved]

The Damned--Prankster on a relatively bulky Pokémon is an interesting approach since you get more opportunities to use status moves effectively. What I like about this sub is how well it takes advantage of its existing movepool. In Kalos, set-up Pokémon are usually very fast (like Garchomp or Weavile) or have a rather modest speed (such as M Florges, M Sylveon, Rotom-W, Reuniclus, etc.). So, from the looks of it, it won't get much benefit from Prankster Haze as Garchomp beats it and Weavile pressures it. Against the other group of Pokémon, M Skuntank already outspeeds them. However, if we were to consider VGC, that's where M Skuntank's ability becomes much more viable due to different speed controls, like Tailwind, Icy Wind or Trick Room, among others. Intimidate is also very present, which further encourages you to run Haze on M Skuntank. What's more, it has Poison Gas and Venom Drench to poison all opposing Pokémon and annoy them with status drops. If you want to underline Skuntank's Haze utility and make it more clear and convincing to the readers, it might help to write some lines about the Pokémon's interaction with VGC.
That being said, Corrosive Gas + Pursuit is a neat combo, especially against Choice locked Pokémon. As for stats, they look fine to me. [approved]

ItzaDelta--Toxic Debris is a very cool choice on M Skutank as you've already explained it very well. Unfortunately, I don't have much to add since I already gave some comments on discord and you already underlined M Skuntank's interaction with the ability very well! Your descriptions are very on point and clearly structured, making this sub very pleasant to read. If you wanted to, you could explain a little bit more the thought process behind the stats. You already gave some indications with Pursuit and Fire Blast, among others. But it's not necessary, I just wanted to bring it up if you wish to polish your sub even more! [approved]

Hematite--You did a great job "selling" your sub; your descriptions were very detailed and structured, making them therefore a very enjoyable reading experience. What I like in particular is your efforts to underline M Skuntank's interaction with VGC and make it very easy to understand. That way, even people unfamiliar with VGC should have a good understanding of it by now. I also appreciate the small humour when you resorted to "Have you ever wanted..." as it made me want to read the rest of the description even more. It's a very clever way to engage with the readers! That being said, if you wanted to, you could mention that Poison Gas (from another Pokémon like Smeargle, Gengar or Salazzle) or even Toxic Spikes can help to proc Venom Drench easier; after all, Poison Gas is a spread status move affecting several opposing Pokémon on the field. Moreover, since you already brought up gen 9, it might not be a bad idea to go a bit more into detail with gen 8 (specifically Kalos VGC) to make it more clear to the readers how relevant or effective M Skuntank can be in that metagame. You already mentioned Aegislash, which is a great start! I can also see Hydreigon, Rotom-W / Rotom-H, Fairy Pokémon (Sylveon and M Florges), or M Aurorus and M Drifblim who are all strong special attackers (especially with Nasty Plot or Calm Mind) that can be reasonably held at bay by M Skuntank's disruptive potential. So, M Skuntank can add a lot of value to a team in VGC. [approved]

Emolga

Blue--This is well done and will be a decently good offensive piece in the metagame. I’m worried about it power level wise as it doesn’t hit especially hard but it’ll hit hard enough to fit in on some teams with that speed. Approved

Abismal--This is majorly gross. Approved

Chemicalmines--Very very interesting, strong breaker. I’m worried about it flavor-wise as what’s the true difference between that and Electric Surge. It’s a legendary signature ability and you can’t go around redistributing those Willy-nilly. The power boost is nice but like, Rising Voltage hits crazy hard without it and it wants to be spamming its electric moves anyways. I don’t think Hadron Engine is necessary. Approved if Electric Terrain instead of Hadron Engine

DrPumpkinz--I think Emolga is literally meant to be a Bat/Flying Squirrel Hybrid… Really like this one, below it doesn’t really use the Dark Electric combo for much but this uses it well because it’s not primarily a defensive Pokémon even if you’d probably run high HP and speed. Using levitate and swapping out its flying type is genius for removing its main disadvantage as a mega. Approved

awaterbucketonlava--Yeah I’m sorry this is super weird… It needs a better flavor explanation for the dark type but mainly it’s just bad, it can take special hits and do a bit of damage but why would a Pokémon with that typing want to do that. Its got very very few resists, and weaknesses to a lot of common physical attacks so it can’t really take anything but Zapdos which it only slow pivots on. Vetoed unless flavor explanation and expounded upon competitively

Okispokis--This looks pretty interesting but it’s definitely a bit weak. I’m not sure if you can really go and add that much defense as it cripples it a bit offensively since it lacks setup. Electric Flying is a great stab combo but it’s going to have to roost quite a bit and it’s going to miss a lot of dual wing-beats. I think upping its attack in exchange for some defense is very needed to make it more of an offensive powerhouse instead of going for that bulky pivot concept which doesn’t work with the stats. Approved if you give it like -10-15 defense +10-15 attack at least

The Damned--I am very fascinated by this mon and in all honesty Ill probably vote for it but I’m worried about it’s defensive applications with no boosted Special Defense stat. It needs to be able to run a high amount of bulk to be viable and 55/60 special bulk is definitely not enough. I might recommend putting all or atleast most of your added special attack. Approved if you add atleast 10-15 Special Defense

Avalugg

BlueRay - Your concept works around Avalugg's main flaw very interestingly, which isn't its type or its SpD, but the gigantic amounts of momentum it drains, and by inviting certain mons in to later bring its teammates to the field much more safely and also possibly healing status conditions, I love it. [Approved]

DrPumpkinz - Pretty simple idea, but I do find it funny that Avalugg stone walls Sludge Bomb Gengar variants. I like how it remains similar to the base form while also giving it some defensive value against Special Attackers. [Approved]

ChemicalMines - I'd recommend lowering the SpD just a bit since Heat Wave from Offensive Zapdos isn't even guaranteed to 2HKO max SpD Avalugg, while Avalanche is guaranteed to KO back with no Atk investment, and its sheer Defense allows it to bully physical attackers such as Mega Mienshao which does about 55% to uninvested Avalugg at +2 Def with Close Combat (if it's max Atk) while Body Press knocks it out after CC's Defense drop. [Approved but stats rework is recommended]

LordThemberChaud & Exploziff - That's a big change in roles for Avalugg, which also may incentive staying as base Avalugg for a while in certain games, I do need to point out however that Avalugg does not learn Freeze-Dry, and I suggest lowering its speed a bit if the addition of the move is intended since perfect coverage with Hydro Pump + Freeze Dry can be pretty dangerous on something able to outspeed most of the Dex, even if it has 104 base SpA only. [Approved]

Okispokis - I love double Rapid Spin, Parental Bond Rock Slide in doubles is also evil af. It seems pretty interesting in Natdex as well since being able to possibly fish for flinches against Corviknight sounds really funny. [Approved]

The Damned - Steely Spirit is a pretty neat choice for an ability, I wonder how it'd fare in VGG where it can support other Steel types and even hit those nuclear Gyro Balls under TR. Anyway, I don't see any issues with it. [Approved]

 

[The Damned]

Good afternoon (and other timezone-appropriate greetings). It is I again. This should have been up hours ago, but I've spent the past four days trying not to get sick from family among other things, so a little distracted. Apologies (to BlueRay...again), though at least last time's experience meant this took far less time--about 30 minutes.

Anyway, everyone's submission is valid and you have until Saturday 23:59, GMT +2 to finish voting.

Again, if there are any errors or omissions, please PM me instead of bothering BlueRay or another member of the actual council. In the meanwhile, have a good week. Stay safe and stay healthy or, if you're currently sick, get well:

Skunktank-Megas (there should be 7)

DrPumpkinz

Mega Skuntank
Type: Poison / Dark
Ability: Black Smoke (clears all stat changes on the field when switching in, like Haze Intimidate)
Moves: Parting Shot
Stats:

HP: 103​

Att: 103 (+10)​

Def: 97 (+30)​

SpA: 101 (+30)​

SpD: 81 (+20)​

Spe: 94 (+10)​

Some justification is in order for why Black Smoke should exist even though Curious Medicine is already a thing.

1. It's not technically a strict upgrade because it negates your own Intimidate, Electroweb, etc. in doubles (and in singles too but they're not as common).
2. White Smoke is the ability form of Mist, which in Japan is called White Mist. Haze is called Black Mist in Japan, and has been Mist's counterpart since Gen 1. Black Smoke is the ability that Curious Medicine should have been, seventeen years before Curious Medicine was made.
3. Curious Medicine is stupid and a waste of design space. That's basically what the second point already said but it's worth restating.

As for why it should exist even though Unaware is already a thing, the fact that it's a one-time removal rather than passive ignoral has some interesting consequences. Unlike with Unaware, the opponent can still regain their power by boosting back up, which Mega Skuntank can punish with Burning Jealousy (maybe actually be the first thing to successfully use that move in singles) which doubles as punishing the opponent for trying to dodge Sucker Punch. Lowering the opponent's stats also has an effect unlike with Unaware, which Skuntank can do with Acid Spray or Snarl.

However, the main advantage Black Smoke has over Unaware is that its effects persist even after the user switches out. Unaware is excellent on dedicated walls with reliable recovery that can sit their butt down in front of a setup sweeper and stonewall it for days. Black Smoke, in contrast, works better as a pivot, neutralizing a boosted threat and then switching out to something that can handle it now that it's no longer boosted. And that's where Parting Shot comes in, one final fart as Stuntank leaves the field that weakens the opponent even further and ensures that whatever you switch to will have to deal with at most a +1 boosted threat (the opponent uses Swords Dance or Nasty Plot as you Parting Shot; Tail Glow and Belly Drum will leave them at higher than +1 but they're quite rare). Though Black Smoke also means that you won't have much luck trying to cripple something by, say, cycling back and forth between Mega Skuntank and an Intimidate user, since the Attack drops from before will be erased when Mega Skuntank comes back in.

chemicalmines

Mega Skuntank
New Ability: Intimidate
Type:

New stats:
HP: 103
Attack: 113 (+20)
Defense: 92 (+25)
Special Attack: 86 (+15)
Special Defense: 101 (+40)
Speed: 84
Total: 579
New moves: Knock Off, Gunk Shot, Clear Smog, Toxic Spikes

Description

Role: Mega Skuntank is a threat that can perform multiple roles depending on a team's needs, such as a hazard setter, a hazard remover, a wallbreaker, or a tank. Mega Skuntank maintains its original Poison/Dark typing, but gains Intimidate to deter physical attackers, which complements its already great bulk. Mega Skuntank's stat spread is geared toward it being a jack-of-all-trades, much like its base form. Notably, Skuntank gains Knock Off as both a reliable STAB option and for useful utility and Gunk Shot for a more powerful Poison STAB option; Clear Smog is mostly flavor, but can also be useful on more defensive sets.

Flavor: According to the Pokedex, Skuntank sprays a foul-smelling liquid at foes whenever it is provoked. This liquid has a stench with a range of over 160 feet that only gets stronger the longer it stays. Most would figure that the notion of a liquid that strong would be quite intimidating, and would be a good reason to stay a far distance away from it, hence why Mega Skuntank has Intimidate as its ability.

LordThemberchaud

Skuntank-Mega
Type: Poison/Dark
Ability: Levitate
HP: 103
Attack: 113 (+20)
Defense: 87 (+20)
Sp. Attack: 111 (+40)
Sp. Defense: 81 (+20)
Speed: 84
New Moves: Slack Off, Knock Off (yeah Skuntank doesn't learn this)
OK, so hear me out: Skuntank is a Poison type that can beat Steel types (thanks to Flamethrower) and Psychic types (thanks to being a Dark type), so what if the mega could beat another type that Poison struggles with?
Levitate makes it immune to Ground type moves, while it can run Hidden Power to hit any Ground type your team struggles with. You could also run Flamethrower/Fire Blast to deal with all relevant Steel types in the Kalos dex. It can also fill a variety of roles: It can be used as an attacker, it has some useful utility moves such as Toxic, Knock Off, and Haze, as well as reliable recovery. It can even be used as a reliable hazard remover, thanks to avoiding all hazards save Stealth Rocks, which it only takes neutral damage from, while also not being too passive.
Flavor:

Flavor

View attachment 538939

okispokis

Skuntank-Mega
Poison/Dark
Ability: Keen Eye/Aftermath/Stench-> Murky Surge (Sets Murky Terrain for 5 turns).

Murky Terrain

While active, Psychic moves against grounded Pokemon do 0.5x damage and grounded Pokemon have a +1 crit rate. Camouflage turns the user into a Dark type, Nature Power becomes Dark Pulse, and Secret Power has a 30% chance to lower SpD by one stage.

Murky Seed: If Murky Terrain is active, gives the user +1 Def. Single use.

Stats
HP: 103
Atk: 128 (+35)
Def: 87 (+20)
SpA: 71
SpD: 106 (+45)
Spe: 84
New Moves: +Cross Poison, Moonlight

With the energy of Mega evolution, Skuntank's putrid odor overwhelms the battlefield, coating it in the Dark type Murky Terrain. Rather than granting a standard power boost, this new Terrain takes the Misty Terrain route of weakening another type, in this case softening Psychic moves for the sake of Fighting types teammates; most notably it nerfs Future Sight, which on top of threatening its Fighting type teammates also provides an otherwise scary combination with opposing Fighting type moves. Additionally, Murky Terrain boosts the critical hit rate of all grounded Pokemon, complementing the low damage output of many Dark type moves (while not invalidating the Psychic nerf since a crit Psychic move in Murky is still only .75x power of a normal non-crit Psychic move). With a boosted crit rate, Skuntank's STAB combination can pack quite a punch, with Dark options like Pursuit to trap frail Ghost and Psychics, Sucker Punch to revenge kill and Crunch for general damage, meanwhile Poison Jab handles the Fairies that resist these Dark moves. New access to Moonlight allows Skuntank to come in multiple times, Play Rough gives you an option to hit opposing Dark types, perfect Toxic can always be good if you want certain mons on a timer, and Memento can even be an option on HO teams to quicky get in your sweeper, namely an Unburden Hawlucha using new Murky Seed.

Skuntank's Poison STAB grants it a great match-up versus the Tapus in VGC (with its speed tier naturally underspeeding all but Bulu to win terrain wars), packing either Poison Jab or Cross Poison for a higher crit chance that can bypass Intimidate; the buff to SpD also means it can take hits from Lele, Koko and Fini with some reliability. In terms of Dark STAB, you still got your Sucker Punch to pick off faster threats and Crunch for reliable damage, but you can also use Night Slash to get around Intimidate or Assurance to double up on one opponent. You also have some support options with Snarl to shore up special bulk and Burning Jealousy to punish set-up sweepers.

The Damned

Skuntank-Mega
New Ability: Prankster
Type: Poison/Dark

New Stats:
HP: 103
Attack: 093
Defense: 067 → 077 (+10)
Special Attack: 071 → 091 (+20)
Special Defense: 061 → 105 (+44)
Speed: 084 → 110 (+26)
(BST: 479 → 579)

New Moves: [none]
Description: "It now prefers to leisurely frustrate and fatigue its prey via annoyance and ambush tactics, only using its spray for short bursts of corrosive gas that furthers injuries and stifles resistance."

Lengthy Mechanical Description

Having worked my way backwards through this weird slate from Avalugg, I arrived at the decision to go with Prankster as the ability for my Skuntank-Mega after rejecting like half a dozen others, three of which would have been offensively-oriented and three others more defensively-oriented. In the process of trying to think of things yesterday, however, I remembered in the wider scopes of things that Drapion-Mega already exists as a more offensively-oriented Poison/Dark Mega and as one that particularly picks on Steel types, which had been one of my initial ideas. So instead defensively-oriented Skuntank won out, though in the case of Prankster I had to make sure to not make it too defensive stat-wise on both sides since otherwise Rest (Talk) would likely end up surprisingly oppressive; even now it might need still slightly lesser defenses, but I'll let the council decide that.

Beyond priority Rest to save itself, Prankster does a lot for Skuntank with what it already has. It gives the meta and the larger meta(s) a fully evolved Prankster Haze user (unless I missed someone outside of CAP), meaning people no longer have to rely upon Murkrow for that, that can thus "revenge" most set-up users. Its priority Taunt stops set-up users in general, its priority Toxic is also 100% accurate, its priority Defog almost ensures hazards go away even if it's on death's door, and Prankster also greatly helps both Memento and its own set-up with Nasty Plot and even Hone Claws. Its arguably strongest status move with Prankster, however, is Corrosive Gas, which allows this to basically strip even Choice Scarf uses of their item before they smack it and support the team that way by lessening the amount of possible revenge kills since Speed is almost everything.

Besides intentionally lackluster defenses, however, all of that Prankster goodness is blocked by fellow Dark types, most of which can easily come on it as long as they aren't Grass/Dark or Dark/Fairy (or Dark/Steel if it's using Flamethrower). Prankster Corrosive Gas similarly is kept from being too oppressive due to both Dark types and Steel types being utterly immune to it, in addition to it becoming a completely dead slot that doesn't do damage like actual Knock Off does even after the opposing team is effectively itemless. While its Speed allows it to outrace everyone's favorite Street Shark in Garchomp, it doesn't really much threaten that without a Nasty Plot (or two) and Hidden Power Ice, which it has real reason to use otherwise unless you really hate Gliscor (which, valid), while Garchomp basically Earthquakes Skuntank into an early grave still as do most other strong Ground types, which are pretty common. Finally, despite all of its supporting goodness, Rest is still the only form of healing it has and it gets worn down by non-Toxic Spikes hazards, meaning that it gets somewhat destroyed by Electric Terrain and Misty Terrain of all things if its teammates can't heal it and that it can be annoyed by Psychic Terrain, though none of the mons that set up that last one up really don't want to come in on it, much less stay in.

2023/08/23 EDIT: In VGC, which I still need to think more about in general, even Skuntank's "usually useless" Status move options can become actually useful with Prankster. Rain Dance and Sunny Day speak for themselves even if Skuntank doesn't directly benefit from them, though Skuntank does already get Flamethrower and Fire Blast for the latter at least. Prankster Screech goes well with physical attackers and helps combat the deluge of Intimidate that they face in Doubles; Leer can fulfill the same role to a lesser if more accurate degree. Priority Confide can become your own special-oriented Intimidate that can also be used to trigger Defiant on non-Dark mons, and Scary Face can do the same for such mons or weird Trick Room setups. Finally, if you're (a scumbag who is) willing to gamble, even Attract, Captivate, and Double Team could work well with Prankster (if allowed). (Sadly, both Torment and Venom Drench's would-be utility is probably iffier than all of the aforementioned things, even Leer and Confide.)

ItzaDelta

Name: Mega-Skuntank
Typing: Poison/Dark
Ability: Toxic Debris
Stats:

HP: 103
ATK: 123 (+30)
DEF: 87 (+20)
SPA: 91 (+20)
SPD: 81 (+20)
SPE: 94 (+10)

New Moves: Knock Off

Description

Mega Evolution strengthens Skuntank's skunk spray, making them deadly traps that slowly wear down any Pokemon unfortunate enough to be into contact with.

Skuntank's typing and movepool have some very interesting interactions with Toxic Debris. Pursuit chips down opponents switching into a Poison type trying to remove the Toxic Spikes, Knock Off removes Heavy Duty Boots while Fire Blast threatens Steel types, giving the Toxic Spikes even more targets. Skuntank can also utilize the status to its own advantage, having access to moves such as Venoshock, Venom Drench and even Hex.

Mega Skuntank by itself is a pretty versatile Pokemon, having a great typing, decent bulk and power. Its typing allows it to check and threaten Ghost, Psychic, Grass and Fairy types, while Knock Off cripples potential switches. Its unique access to Fire type moves also helps it deal with Steel types such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory and Scizor.

Hematite

Mega Skuntank​

Ability:

Aftermath / Stench // Keen Eye -> Repulsive​

(If the Pokémon lowers any of another Pokémon's stats, it also lowers that Pokémon's Defense.)​

Type:

Poison / Dark​

Base Stats:

HP: 103​

Attack: 93 -> 113 (+20)​

Defense: 67 -> 107 (+40)​

Sp. Atk: 71 -> 86 (+15)​

Sp. Def: 61 -> 86 (+25)​

Speed: 84​

(579 BST)​

(There are no movepool changes for now.)

Some comments

- For simplicity, Repulsive works exactly like Defiant: it doesn't matter how many stages a stat is lowered, but it does activate individually for each different stat that's lowered.

That means a move like Acid Spray gives -2 Special Defense and also just -1 Defense, because it lowers Defense once for the whole Sp. Def debuff,​

while a move like Memento gives -2 Attack, -2 Sp. Atk and -2 Defense, because the Ability activates to lower Defense once for the Attack debuff and a second time for Sp. Atk debuff.​

If a move like Crunch or Leer lowers Defense, the Ability will activate and lower it again by an additional stage.​

- I used a Skuntank on an in-game team last year and have very fond memories of playing with it, so I wanted to make a Mega that would play to a similar set of strengths and highlight the things I liked about playing with it.
That's kinda where this Mega came from - to me, Skuntank is all about support and relying on "tricky" debuffs from moves like Snarl and Acid Spray, and I really enjoyed the flexibility of debuffing opponents either to increase its own offensive pressure or to create openings for other teammates to switch in and set up more easily.
I wanted to design a Mega around taking that feeling into a competitive environment, so my main goal here was to make a similar supportive Mega that turned debuffs into another source of offensive pressure, just like the Skuntank I used in-game. C:



- Competitively, this is built around a playing style that works a lot better in VGC than in singles, so I understand if it doesn't sound that exciting to singles players. However, there are a couple of cool selling points I think help justify it:

- As a support Pokémon, Skuntank's main tools in singles are always ones like Defog, Pursuit and Sucker Punch. Its new Ability Repulsive comes in handy here: Defog normally lowers evasion, which means now it also activates Repulsive and lowers Defense. That means that every time you clear hazards, you can follow up with a really hard-hitting Pursuit or Sucker Punch depending what your opponent's switch-in calls for.​

Skuntank also comes with Taunt to make it more useful as hazard control in general (and it's another tool that can feed into making Pursuit and Sucker Punch more reliable, of course), and this one also has quite a lot of bulk and Toxic immunity, which can probably give it a lot of entry points to support a more offensive team.​

​

- In the lategame when you're done using Mega Skuntank supportively, you can potentially use Memento to help either eliminate a threat completely (by bringing in a Band Pursuit user like Weavile or Tyranitar into a target that's now only doing half the damage and taking double the damage) or get a major momentum swing in your favor to help set up a sweeper of your choice.​

​

- Crunch is also just a very silly STAB that has a 20% chance to lower Defense by two stages now P:​

Okay but this is still mostly a doubles Mega so um. I hope that's okay asdfhg
What does Skuntank do there?

- For those who are unfamiliar, debuffs are, like, really relevant in VGC; passive Abilities like Intimidate, attacking moves like Snarl, Icy Wind and Electroweb, and even status moves like (spread) Cotton Spore and (single-target!) Eerie Impulse are widely used by some of the best support Pokémon in the game, and similar effects like Tailwind that affect the user's side of the field are also a way bigger deal.​

There are a lot of reasons for this:​

- On one hand, dedicating a move to set up a stat modifier is a much smaller commitment since you have more than one Pokémon taking actions per turn;​

at the same time, it's much higher-reward, in part because you're often buffing or debuffing more than one target at once compared to a single battle (the effect of the moves is already basically doubled!) and in part because your ally Pokémon can take advantage of the debuff even before your opponent has an opportunity to react to it or attempt to clear it by switching.​

​

- Plus, even when they can switch, that's a much less "free" action than in singles!​

In singles, you're probably switching, like, every two or three turns anyway and you only need to worry about coming in on one move at a time;​

on the other hand, the pace of VGC is much faster and switching safely is a lot more difficult, because a) you have to have something that can switch in on two Pokémon instead of one, b) your backline is much smaller (in singles, you start with 5 options to switch to; in VGC, the most options you could have off the field is 2), and c) most of the popular ways to debuff are spread, which means you might be caught in a position where you have two Pokémon that are suffering debuffs and you sure as heck won't want to switch both of them out in the same turn!​

​

- Not only that, but because your opponent can double-target (use both of their attacks on the same Pokémon to eliminate it more easily) and because there are so many forms of Speed control making it difficult to count on going first, you really don't want to be in a position where you telegraph that only one of your Pokémon is a threat and the other is going to play passively or switch out to get rid of its debuffs, because that puts all of the attention on the one that's in the better position (read: the one you don't want to give up!!) and is probably something of a death sentence for it.​

There's also always stuff like Fake Out and Protect to nullify one move at a time, so... like, it's really easy to punish opponents if you get them into a position where they feel like they "have" to switch just because they were debuffed too much, even if it's only one of their Pokémon in that position (let alone both at once!!!).​

Tl;dr debuffs are really, REALLY important!!​

- So... I'm sure people have picked up on how many Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed modifiers there are in VGC, but how many Pokémon are there with the capacity to lower Defense reliably?​

Especially in a format with so much more offensive pressure - where everything is exerting constant pressure and you need pivots with stuff like Intimidate and Snarl to keep them in check - how valuable do you think it could be to debuff a whole side's Defense at once?​

With the right moves, Skuntank can basically do this passively while still making progress in other ways - after all, Repulsive-boosted moves don't just lower Defense but compound Defense drops on top of other drops, so it can get a crazy amount done at once.​

Check out some of its supportive tools:​

- HAVE YOU ever wanted to cut an entire team's Defense in half for your physically offensive partners' enjoyment?​

Leer + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Defense to two Pokémon at once O:​

​

- HAVE YOU ever wanted a form of reliable Speed control that also amplified your offensive pressure significantly?​

Scary Face + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Spe and -1 Def to two Pokémon at once, letting you wipe out any threat easily before it takes any more turns O:​

​

- HAVE YOU ever been caught in a position where you needed to debuff a specially offensive threat in the short term, but letting up offensive pressure by focusing on it would give its partner too much freedom in the long term?​

Snarl + Repulsive can not only protect your side from special moves but debuff the whole opposing team's Defense at the same time O:​

Snarl is an incredibly spammable move and this is almost definitely Skuntank's biggest supportive tool, and it even shores up its slightly weaker SpD compared to its Defense, which is neat and gives you a lot of leeway with EVing!​

​

- It's not seen anywhere near often enough, but Acid Spray!!! is also a really cool midground option that inflicts -2 SpD and -1 Def at the same time, so you can support a specially offensive partner in the short term but easily leave room for a physical partner to pick up where it left off as soon as you need, or even let a special attacker do big damage one turn and then have Skuntank follow up with a Sucker Punch itself.​

You basically always want to have both physical and special options available to you, or you're super easy prey for stuff like Snarl, Intimidate and screens that can focus on just one defense at a time, so a move that reliably lowers both defenses at once is a pretty exciting niche in my opinion and I bet it would come in handy more often than you'd think!​

- I was talking about this Mega with Blue like I mentioned, and there are a couple more things I wanted to bring up because I value his judgment a lot!

- One other thing we discussed was that it would be really interesting to see Mega Skuntank usage evolve across different formats.​

For instance, he highlighted a couple of factors specific to the Gen IX VGC metagame that made the use of poison (the status condition) more popular: with extremely bulky Pokémon like the Dondozo/Tatsugiri combination making it possible to control the pace of the game, Garganacl similarly excelling in defensive play and adding value to chip, and Pokémon like Glimmora making it easier than ever to spread, we've seen a very unusual rise of poison in VGC compared to past Gens where it was probably the weakest status.​

On top of that, there are no Misty Surge users in Gen IX even though every other terrain is present in some form, which means far fewer teams have counterplay to poison than earlier. This in particular stands out because it's also true of Kalos - in a Kalos-based VGC format, poison spread is not something most teams will naturally prepare for!​

- What does poison have to do with Mega Skuntank?​

Well... there's this really rarely-seen but really fun move called Venom Drench, which is a spread move that lowers three of each target's stats - Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed - but only works on targets that are poisoned. In tandem with Repulsive, this would be an absolutely insane debuff of -1 Attack, -1 Sp. Atk, -1 Speed and -3 Defense (that's 2.5x the damage from physical moves!), but it only works on archetypes that are able to build around efficient poison spread and capitalize on it.​

​

- Skuntank's type combination actually happens to be really good for a poison-spread-oriented team, which can help bring Venom Drench into the limelight once in a while!​

A lot of the popular Steel-types in VGC are Pokémon like Metagross and Aegislash, which are conveniently weak to Dark.​

Moreover, Blue didn't specifically mention this so I'm sorry if it's not as applicable to VGC as I think but having a Dark-type can help with Psychic-type Pokémon that would usually make life harder for Poison-heavy teams; this is something that comes up a lot in other formats like Evolution Project, where ink runs a lot of Toxic Spikes-heavy teams with a lot of Poison-types and Merciless users but already likes to pair them with Dark-types to cover their weaknesses. Poison and Dark complement each other super well!​

Skuntank also theoretically has Fire coverage that helps with other poison-immune VGC threats like Amoonguss and Kartana, but moveslots are more limited in VGC because many Pokémon need to carry Protect, and it takes a lot of investment for Skuntank to beat Amoonguss that it probably isn't worth spending. Instead, Blue drew attention to Arcanine as a popular partner for poison-spread teams in Gen IX; Arcanine often runs Safety Goggles to help it beat Amoonguss, and with access to its own Snarl, Intimidate and Will-o-Wisp, it can help slow the pace of the game in a way that makes poison's strengths and other chip users really shine.​

- Poison spread aside, Blue had some very helpful input on the value of the Ability in VGC and focused a lot on the combination of Snarl and Sucker Punch.​

Snarl is a move that's been used a lot even on offensive Dark-types that you wouldn't expect to play support at all, because lowering Sp. Atk is just that valuable, especially in formats with strong special attackers. (His examples were also Gen IX-oriented - Hydreigon, Iron Jugulis and Chi-Yu have run Snarl to keep threats like Armarouge and other Chi-Yu in check, for instance!)​

In addition, with all of Skuntank's best ways to lower Defense being spread, he highlighted that it could be really awkward for opponents to predict which of their Pokémon is in danger of being targeted down with a Sucker Punch.​

​

- As limiting factors go, Blue noted that he appreciated Skuntank not being especially fast. Fast debuffs (like ones from Prankster users, Icy Wind on Iron Bundle, or Electroweb or Eerie Impulse on Regieleki) have a more immediate effect, as the support Pokémon's partner can capitalize on them in the same turn, but Skuntank's relatively average Speed gives opponents leeway to attack at least once before it manages to debuff them while delaying its partner's ability to take advantage of the debuffs.​

In addition, he highlighted that it was an important balancing factor that Skuntank has to be the one to inflict a debuff. For instance, it would be super dangerous to allow a partner's Intimidate to proc Skuntank's Repulsive, which would lower both the Attack and Defense of all opponents while giving Skuntank the freedom to attack and utilize the debuff (maybe even with its priority) in the same turn.​

Blue's feedback gave me a lot of reassurance that this was a compelling enough concept to sub, and I hope it pans out well if it gets in!
I'm definitely aware that it probably wouldn't make as big a splash in singles, which might limit its appeal to some people, but I'm hoping that's okay since Kalos does already have one (very strong-looking!) Poison/Dark Mega in Seviper so it's not like it feels as urgent for Skuntank to be designed for the same format as it.
I'm not sure if this fits into M4A's current design philosophy either way, so no pressure P: but yeah I just thought this was kinda neat!

Emolga-Megas (there should be 6)

BlueRay

Mega Emolga

Mega Emolga

New Ability: Technician

Type: Electric | Flying

New Stats
HP: 55
Attack: 75 → 120 (+45)
Defense: 60
Special Attack: 75 → 95 (+20)
Special Defense: 60
Speed: 103 → 138 (+35)
BST: 428 → 528

New Moves:
- Low Kick

Description:
1) Design concept
- White: They live on treetops and glide using the inside of a cape-like membrane while discharging electricity.
- Sword: As Emolga flutters through the air, it crackles with electricity. This Pokémon is cute, but it can cause a lot of trouble.

The German translation of the Sword Pokédex entry includes an adjective which would translate to "graceful / elegant". If you take these information into account, as well as Emolga's access to Acrobatics, you get the impression as if this Pokémon is very agile and flexible. Hence Technician.

2) Competitive
- Emolga has a shockingly high amount of moves that take great advantage of Technician: Dual Wingbeat, Aerial Ace, Hidden Power, Electroball, Charge Beam, Shock Wave, Nuzzle, among others. Dual Wingbeat stands out in particular as a good Flying STAB move is a rarity among Electric/Flying Pokémon.
- This means that Technician Mega Emolga is able to stand out from them. Electroball is also worthy to point out because it deals devastating damage against slow Water Pokémon, like Slowbro and Toxapex, while fast Water Pokémon, such as Greninja, still receive lots of damage as Technician boosts Electroball's basepower if it's at 60 or below. In this case, Technician + Electroball would have a 90 base power against Greninja. So, Mega Emolga is free to run a mixed set and invest a lot of EVs into its physical Attack as Electroball is already strong enough to make up for a lack of SpA investment.
- High Speed ensures Mega Emolga is the fastest among the Electric/Flying Pokémon, letting it function well as a lategame cleaner. This makes it even more different from other Electric/Flying Pokémon who are usually used as wallbreakers. Low Kick synergizes well with Technician and lets Mega Emolga better handle would be checks, like Tyranitar or Rhyperior--Pokémon that Zapdos struggles to deal with in particular.

abismal

View attachment 538905
Mega Emolga
New Ability: Serene Grace
Type:

New stats:
HP: 55
Atk: 75
Def: 80 (+20)
SpA: 120 (+45)
SpD: 80 (+20)
Spe: 118 (+15)

New moves: none
Description: later

chemicalmines

Mega Emolga
New Ability: Electric Surge
Type:

New stats:
HP: 55
Attack: 95 (+20)
Defense: 70 (+10)
Special Attack: 105 (+30)
Special Defense: 80 (+20)
Speed: 123 (+20)
Total: 528
New moves: Hurricane

Description

Role: While giving a non-grounded Pokemon a terrain ability may sound like an odd decision, it actually works out well for Mega Emolga. Although Mega Emolga can not reap all of Electric Terrain's benefits because of it being non-grounded, Mega Emolga being able to set it means that Pokemon such as Electric Seed Hawlucha and Magnezone are able to benefit from it. Mega Emolga can also hold its own as a wallbreaker with strong STAB options in Rising Voltage and Hurricane, Energy Ball as coverage, and an excellent Speed stat of 123. However, Mega Emolga is extremely frail, being OHKO'd or 2HKO'd by most neutral hits; as a result, this also makes it extremely easy to revenge kill. In addition, Mega Emolga can't switch very often due to its weakness to Stealth Rock, which would require good hazard control to circumvent.

Flavor: Many of Emolga's dex entries state that it is constantly scattering and discharging electricity. Examples include Pokemon Sun's entry, which states that Emolga's electrical energy scatters and shocks both its friends and foes, and Pokemon Ultra Moon's entry, which states that Emolga's scattering of electricity prompts bird Pokemon to stay away from it.

DrPumpkinz

Mega Emolga
Type: Electric / Dark
Ability: Levitate
Stats:

HP: 55​

Att: 115 (+40)​

Def: 75 (+15)​

SpA: 75​

SpD: 85 (+25)​

Spe: 123 (+20)​

Emolga may look cute, but its lore is surprisingly sinister beyond just having black fur. The Pokedex repeatedly refers to its flight membrane as "cape-like", its Sword entry describes it as a trouble-maker, its Sun entry reveals it shocks friend and foe indiscriminately, and its Ultra Sun entry says this:

"When thunder cracks at night, sometimes there are almost enough of them to blot out the sky."​

​

what the fuck Game Freak why did you make this squirrel so creepy

Emolga uses its new Dark typing to get STAB on Knock Off and Pursuit, while still retaining an immunity to Ground thanks to Levitate. It's also no longer weak to Stealth Rock, allowing it to more effectively weave in and out of battle with Nuzzle and U-turn.

okispokis

Emolga-Mega
Electric/Flying
Ability: Static/Motor Drive-> Adaptability
Stats
HP: 55
Atk: 125 (+50)
Def: 80 (+20)
SpA: 95 (+20)
SpD: 60
Spe: 113 (+10)
New Moves: +Fire Punch

On top of many of the problems base Emolga suffers from, its STAB moves are nothing to write home about in terms of power (except Acrobatics, which the Mega can't use well). With the boost of Adaptability, Emolga's STABs can now do actual damage, with Dual Wingbeat now slightly stronger than a non-Adaptability Brave Bird and Wild Charge being not garbage, now scoring a 2HKO on even max Def Slowbro. And while neither of these moves is great when you're staring down a Ferrothorn, the new addition of Fire Punch means that Mega Emolga can acquire fried durian in just two hits. Alternatively, the physical side of the spectrum also packs Knock Off for removing those pesky items, such as Rocky Helmet to make its STAB moves safer or Leftovers to prevent them from passively recovering off Emolga damage, or U-turn for fast-paced pivoting, all pairing for a fast-paced wallbreaker.

If you want to play things a bit safer, 95 SpA is far from unusable with an Adaptability mon, firing off Thunderbolts while potentially flinching Electric resists down with Air Slash. Special Mega Emolga may not have the initial raw power of physical sets, but it does have anti-Ground options between Energy Ball and Hidden Power Ice (or HP Water if you want to get around Mega Rhyperior), and packs a boosting option with Charge Beam; Adaptability can even potentially be used to boost Volt Switch. Basically, you go physical on Emolga if you want immediate power and special if you want a more tactical breaker. Whatever moves you put in those first three slots, you can always fall back on Roost to heal on switches.

The Damned

Emolga-Mega
New Ability: Fluffy
Type: Electric/Flying

New Stats:
HP: 055
Attack: 075
Defense: 060 → 110 (+50)
Special Attack: 075 → 090 (+15)
Special Defense: 060 → 075 (+15)
Speed: 103 → 123 (+20)
(BST: 428 → 528)
{2023/08/23 EDIT: Previously 115 Def (+55), 100 SpA (+25), and 060 SpD (+00).}

New Moves: Nasty Plot, Parabolic Charge
Description: "Emolga's energy management issues and mischievousness have only increased, the former causing its fur to become a frizzy and fluffy mess sending out constant electrical waves even as it flies."

Speaking of "rats with fluffy tails", Fluffy is an interesting ability on a Flying mon given that the typing by its nature allows the would-be Fluffy mon to bypass the most common non-contact physical move: Earthquake. Also, unlike Fur Coat, Fluffy isn't automatically something that can make even a relatively minimal Def boost lead to physical immortality, which is good because Parabolic Charge totally fits Emolga's flavor anyway about zapping everything even while flying without really trying to do so. Its still middling SpA is both for the sake of Nasty Plot and to keep Parabolic Charge from being too obnoxious out of the gate, but it also works well in Doubles where relatively weak Parabolic Charges, especially as base Emolga, can be used to intentionally trigger Weakness Policy and other items. Fluffy lets it set up Nasty Plots and/or Substitutes rather easily against certain mons, especially certain physically oriented Choice item users. Not much else to say about this or Fluffy since otherwise it merely allows for Emolga to be its usual annoying self, just with a lot more bulk on the Defense side...as long as that physical attack makes contact...and isn't Fire. So watch out for Stone Edges and Ice Shards and Icicle Crashes. And speaking of Icicle Crash....

Avalugg-Megas (there should be 6)

BlueRay

Mega Avalugg

Mega Avalugg

New Ability: Carry On
When the user switches out, the Pokémon switching in recovers 1/8 of its HP and has its status cured.

Type: Ice

New Stats
HP: 95
Attack: 117 → 127 (+10)
Defense: 184 → 244 (+60)
Special Attack: 44
Special Defense: 46 → 76 (+30)
Speed: 28
BST: 514 → 614

New Moves:
- Icicle Crash (learns in gen 9), Refresh

Description:
1) Design concept
- Avalugg is partially based on an aircraft carrier, which is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase. It's very useful for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. This supportive quality is what makes me decide to go for the name and effect of the ability.
- Of course, Avalugg's easy-going nature further contributes to this choice. After all, it often carries Pokémon like Bergmite on its back and allows Cetoddle or Cetitan to walk over its back to access a new route!
- What's more, as "[a]s icebergs slowly drift through polar currents, they carry nutrients from land into the oceans. These nutrients can promote the growth of marine life and drive blooms of phytoplankton, which are the base of the ocean food chain". So, in our case, let's say Avalugg makes sure the Pokémon it carries on the back are well provided with these nutrients to stay healthy.

2) Competitive
- Mega Avalugg will often invite Fire and Water Pokémon that love nothing more than spreading status. Carry On makes sure the Pokémon that check these types can persist much longer on the field, making it easier for them to get rid off its threats in the longterm. To give some examples, Rotom-W, Rotom-H, Chandelure, Slowbro, Mantine, Alomomola, and Volcanion will often try spreading status, notably Burn or Toxic.
- Some Water and Dragon Pokémon can switch well into these threats, like Rotom-W, Hydreigon, Dragonite, and Garchomp to name a few. Sure, they will likely get inflicted with a status problem but next time they switch in, that might not be the case as Scald only has a 30% Burn chance and Toxic as well as Will-O-Wisp can miss. In NatDex, you can even handle threats like Heatran and Toxapex much better.
- Base 244 Def turns Mega Avalugg into an ultimate physical tank, letting it switch into Stone Edge or Close Combat comfortably, even after Stealth Rock. Moreover, this stat is high enough to not make Mega Avalugg passive at all. For instance, Body Press 2HKOs Garchomp. If you run Iron Defense, you can turn Mega Avalugg into a win condition. However, its weakness to Stealth Rock and its low Special Defense should keep it well in check, making it therefore balanced!

DrPumpkinz

Mega Avalugg
Type: Ice
Ability: Bulletproof
Stats:

HP: 95​

Att: 157 (+40)​

Def: 244 (+60)​

SpA: 44​

SpD: 46​

Spe: 28​

Mega Avalugg is so physically bulky that only a few extra points would be enough to trigger the stat overflow glitch. Its SpDef remains as low as it's always been (because it's funny), but its new Bulletproof ability lends it some useful special immunities like Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Focus Blast, and Aura Sphere. It also got a hefty boost to its already-decent Attack, so its Avalanches and Earthquakes are going to sting even when they're uninvested.

chemicalmines

Mega Avalugg
New Ability: Heatproof
Type:

New stats:
HP: 95
Attack: 157 (+40)
Defense: 244 (+60)
Special Attack: 44
Special Defense: 56 (+10)
Speed: 18 (-10)
Total: 614
New moves: n/a

Description

Role: Mega Avalugg stays true to its base form as a sturdy physical tank. Upon Mega evolving, Avalugg becomes Ice/Steel, a typing that grants it multiple key resistances to types such as Fairy, Dragon, and an immunity to Poison, as well as Heatproof to turn Mega Avalugg's newly acquired 4x Fire weakness into a 2x weakness. Mega Avalugg also gains a significant boost in its Attack stat to prevent it from becoming too passive, as well as a small boost in its Special Defense, at the cost of a decline in Speed.

Flavor: Several Pokedex entries, such as X and Omega Ruby, state that Avalugg's icy body is as hard as steel, hence why Mega Avalugg gains the Steel typing. The Speed loss is from Mega Avalugg becoming (assumedly) bigger and heavier post-Mega Evolution.

LordThemberchaud & Exploziff

Mega Avalugg (Collab with Exploziff )
Type: Ice
Ability: Water Bubble
HP: 95
Attack: 127 (+10)
Defense: 104 (-80)
Sp. Attack: 104 (+60)
Sp. Defense: 66 (+20)
Speed: 118 (+90)
New Move: Liquidation

Description: This Mega Avalugg is the fastest iceberg in the world, being able to outspeed many threats in the Kalos dex such as Zapdos, Garchomp, and Heatmor-Mega and deal with them thanks to strong Water and Ice type moves. Water Bubble allows it to beat Fire types that could normally beat it, thanks to letting Avalugg take neutral damage from Fire type moves, while also effectively giving STAB Water type moves. Even though Avalugg loses 80 points from it's Defense, it is still bulky enough to live physical moves (although you shouldn't switch it into Close Combats or Stone Edges).
Flavor: Avalugg partially melts to form a water bubble around itself. Melting causes Avalugg to shed much of it's weight and become much faster, at the cost of considerably lowering it's defense.

okispokis

Avalugg-Mega
Ice
Ability: Own Tempo/Ice Body/Sturdy-> Parental Bond
Stats
HP: 95
Atk: 137 (+20)
Def: 234 (+50)
SpA: 54 (+10)
SpD: 61 (+15)
Spe: 33 (+5)
New Moves: +Icicle Crash

The PokeDex makes multiple mentions of Avalugg carrying Bergmites on its back, which to me was just too perfect a set-up for Parental Bond. Parental Bond is rather interesting on a traditionally defensive Pokemon, allowing Avalugg to pack more of a punch even without much investment, allowing it to hit hard with Ice STAB (either the traditional Avalanche or newfound Icicle Crash) and Earthquake or Body Press to hit Steels. The ability to get +2 Speed off of one Rapid Spin means Avalugg can also gradually speed up, letting it get more chances to attack or heal with Recover. Alternatively, this double-boost Rapid Spin means Avalugg-Mega can serve as a unique wallbreaker, with Adamant max speed barely outspeeding base 100s at +2, making the flinch chance of Icicle Crash very notable (though not as bad as Serene Grace). And even if you go the offensive route, Avalugg's further improved physical bulk means that breaking it on the physical side is no cakewalk, being especially resilient against priority. Alternatively, you can go all in on Avalugg's naturally slow playstyle with Curse to provide a boosting option for that Ice STAB (or go Curse and Spin on the same set if you want to be really crazy).

In VGC, Mega Avalugg serves as a potent attacker on Trick Room, leveraging the reversed speed tiers to fire off flinch fishing Icicle Crashes, with the double chance for flinching also potentially making Rock Slide rather threatening. Curse allows Avalugg to boost its power, while High Horsepower replaces Earthquake to single-target and bypass Grassy Terrain.

The Damned

Avalugg-Mega
New Ability: Steely Spirit
Type: Ice/Steel

New Stats:
HP: 095
Attack: 117 → 137 (+20) {previously 140 (+23)}
Defense: 184 → 235 (+51)
Special Attack: 044 → 052 (+08)
Special Defense: 046 → 075 (+29) {previously 066 (+20)}
Speed: 028 → 020 (-08) {previously 035 (+07)}
(BST: 514 → 614)

Weight: 1113.3 lbs (505.0 kg) → 2204.4 lbs (999.9 kg)

New Moves: Icicle Crash (seriously, how does it still not get this already?)
Description: "The energy of Mega Evolution bolsters its size and indomitable resolve, turning its steel-like body and nearby allies partially into actual living steel."

Much like chemicalmines, I decided to take inspiration from some of Avalugg's Pokedex entries saying it's steel-like. After trying and failing for a day to think of ways to take advantage of this defensively, including my almost-obligatory Storm Drain-esque consideration before I realized that even in this limited meta most Water types still somewhat body this poor guy with their coverage, I decided to instead shift gears. So unlike regular Avalugg, Avalugg-Mega focuses decidedly on offense, having absolutely brutal Heavy Slams and Gyro Balls and being a great cleaner for Trick Room both in Singles and in Doubles. Despite this utterly offensive aspect and newfound neutrality to Stealth Rock and having--gasp!--actual resistances now, it should still be manageable between having two quad weaknesses, still somewhat poor SpD, even slower Speed, and STAB that's resisted by two of the best types in the game in Water and Steel. Granted, Steel types--including itself--that aren't Ghost get rather wrecked by Body Press, but Water types generally don't fold to that easily unless they're already generally frail and/or weak to Fighting (hey there, Greninja). The original Slow-siblings in particular basically give it no end of grief if they're not Toxic'd between resisting its STABs & Body Press, having low enough Speed that Gyro Ball does nothing much while still being faster, randomly having access to Flamethrower, and having the broken ability that is Regenerator. I can admit that I didn't do extensive calcs--in part because Heavy Slam is really annoying to calc for--and that I might have to dump a few more of its stats into SpA or, ironically, raise its Speed (again) a bit back to where I had it for a bit. Shrug. (Even if you don't want to go all "I am become Trick Room, Destroyer of Worlds", being neutral to Stealth Rock now is nice for a mon with Rapid Spin and recovery, and Heavy Slam generally hurts enough that you can likely forego Gyro Ball in those more supportive cases.)

 

[LordThemberchaud]

Thanks for setting voting up again, The Damned!

Skunktank Votes

LordThemberchaud (self-vote)
Hematite
DrPumpkinz
The Damned

Avalugg Votes

okispokis
LordThemberchaud and Exploziff (self-vote)
BlueRay
chemicalmines

 

[Gravity Monkey]

okispokis
LordThemberchaud & Exploziff
BlueRay


The Damned
abismal
BlueRay


ItzaDelta
LordThemberchaud
Hematite
DrPumpkinz

 

[Turtlek]

Avalugg :
okispokis
The Damned
DrPumpkinz
BlueRay
chemicalmines
Lord Temberchaud + Exploziff

Emolga
okispokis
DrPumpkinz
The Damned
abismal
BlueRay
chemicalmines

Skuntank
Hematite
DrPumpkinz
chemicalmines
LordTemberchaud
The Damned

 

[Just A Shroom God]

BlueRay's mega lugg
okispoki's mega emolga
chemicalmine's mega stuntank

 

[okispokis]

1. DrPumpkinz
2. TheDamned
3. ItzaDelta
4. okispokis


1. okispokis
2. The Damned
3. BlueRay


1. okispokis
2. chemicalmines
3. LordThemberchaud + Exploziff

 

[chemicalmines]

-ItzaDelta
-Hematite
-DrPumpkinz


-BlueRay
-The Damned


-The Damned
-chemicalmines
-okispokis
-BlueRay

 

[abismal]

ilaomsotforgt

translate that and ill give you 5


1. BlueRay
2. abismal
3. DrPumpkinz


1. DrPumpkinz
2. BlueRay
3. okispokis


1. Hematite
2. DrPumpkinz
3. ItzDelta

 

[Gekokeso]

1. TheDamned
2. abismal
3. DrPumpkinz


1. Blueray
2. Okispokis
3. Chemicalmines
3. Lord & Exploziff


1. ItzDelta
2. The Damned
3. Chemicalmines
4. Drpumpkinz
5. Hematite

 

[The Damned]

Ugh. I should have nudged the thread at the 24-hour mark, but given I had to more actively avoid sickness today after a "breach" that may have compromised me anyway, I ask for forgiveness. Similarly my apologies for not properly copying over all of the attached images. Some of them must have gotten squished when I switched pages without me noticing since DrPumpkinz's, last on the last page, didn't get affected weirdly enough; I'll have to keep that in mind for next time even if the linked images still link properly. Still, my bad.

Anyway, only about 16 hours remaining until the moon falls voting closes; gods I hate Daylight Savings Time so much. I guess I'll also vote my Top 5 for each of these now:

Skuntank-Megas

1. DrPumpkinz
2. Hematite
3. The Damned (self-vote)
4. okipokis
5. ItzDelta

Emolga-Megas

1. DrPumpkinz
2. BlueRay
3. okipokis
4. chemicalmines
5. The Damned (self-vote)

Avalugg-Megas

1. okipokis
2. The Damned (self-vote)
3. BlueRay
4. chemicalmines
5. DrPumpkinz

 

[Lysion]

DrPumpkinz
Hematite
ItzaDelta
The Damned
okispokis



BlueRay
okispokis
DrPumpkinz
The Damned



LordThemberchaud & Exploziff
okispokis
DrPumpkinz
BlueRay

 

[BlueRay]

Below, my vote.

Skuntank

1. Hematite
2. okispokis
3. ItzaDelta

4. The Damned
5. DrPumpkinz
6. LordThemberchaud
7. chemicalmines

Emolga

1. BlueRay
2. The Damned
3. DrPumpkinz

4. okispokis
5. abismal
6. chemicalmines

Avalugg

1. The Damned
2. BlueRay
3. okispokis

4. LordThemberchaud
5. DrPumpkinz
6. chemicalmines

 

[ItzaDelta]

1. ItzaDelta (SV)
2. Hematite
3. DrPumpkinz
4. The Damned
5. okispokis



1. The Damned
2. DrPumpkinz
3. BlueRay
4. abismal
5. chemicalmines



1. okispokis
2. BlueRay
3. LordThemberchaud & Exploziff
4. DrPumpkinz
5. TheDamned

Took me a while to finally vote because Smogon on mobile is genuine torture.

 

[BlueRay]

Voting is now over. It will take some time to figure out the winners of this slate due to special circumstances. So, please, be patient.

 

[inkbug]

Hi everyone! Sorry about the wait (family emergency) but the votes are fiiiinally in!
Before I get started, a quick run-down of how this works:

• Each vote contributes one point to its first-place choice
• The candidates are ordered based on both the number of first-place votes and the number of total votes, and eliminated from the bottom
• Any vote whose first choice has been eliminated instead gives its point to its second choice, or whatever its next ranking is. (On the sheet, points that have moved in this manner are highlighted in yellow.)
• The elimination and re-ranking process continues until there are two remaining, upon which the one with more points is the winner.
• You can view the whole thing on this spreadsheet.

Without further ado...
Mega Skuntank: Hematite !!

Mega Skuntank
Ability:
Aftermath / Stench // Keen Eye -> Repulsive
(If the Pokémon lowers any of another Pokémon's stats, it also lowers that Pokémon's Defense.)Type:
Poison / DarkBase Stats:
HP: 103
Attack: 93 -> 113 (+20)
Defense: 67 -> 107 (+40)
Sp. Atk: 71 -> 86 (+15)
Sp. Def: 61 -> 86 (+25)
Speed: 84
(579 BST)(There are no movepool changes for now.)

Some comments

- For simplicity, Repulsive works exactly like Defiant: it doesn't matter how many stages a stat is lowered, but it does activate individually for each different stat that's lowered.
That means a move like Acid Spray gives -2 Special Defense and also just -1 Defense, because it lowers Defense once for the whole Sp. Def debuff,
while a move like Memento gives -2 Attack, -2 Sp. Atk and -2 Defense, because the Ability activates to lower Defense once for the Attack debuff and a second time for Sp. Atk debuff.
If a move like Crunch or Leer lowers Defense, the Ability will activate and lower it again by an additional stage.
- I used a Skuntank on an in-game team last year and have very fond memories of playing with it, so I wanted to make a Mega that would play to a similar set of strengths and highlight the things I liked about playing with it.
That's kinda where this Mega came from - to me, Skuntank is all about support and relying on "tricky" debuffs from moves like Snarl and Acid Spray, and I really enjoyed the flexibility of debuffing opponents either to increase its own offensive pressure or to create openings for other teammates to switch in and set up more easily.
I wanted to design a Mega around taking that feeling into a competitive environment, so my main goal here was to make a similar supportive Mega that turned debuffs into another source of offensive pressure, just like the Skuntank I used in-game. C:



- Competitively, this is built around a playing style that works a lot better in VGC than in singles, so I understand if it doesn't sound that exciting to singles players. However, there are a couple of cool selling points I think help justify it:
- As a support Pokémon, Skuntank's main tools in singles are always ones like Defog, Pursuit and Sucker Punch. Its new Ability Repulsive comes in handy here: Defog normally lowers evasion, which means now it also activates Repulsive and lowers Defense. That means that every time you clear hazards, you can follow up with a really hard-hitting Pursuit or Sucker Punch depending what your opponent's switch-in calls for.
Skuntank also comes with Taunt to make it more useful as hazard control in general (and it's another tool that can feed into making Pursuit and Sucker Punch more reliable, of course), and this one also has quite a lot of bulk and Toxic immunity, which can probably give it a lot of entry points to support a more offensive team.

- In the lategame when you're done using Mega Skuntank supportively, you can potentially use Memento to help either eliminate a threat completely (by bringing in a Band Pursuit user like Weavile or Tyranitar into a target that's now only doing half the damage and taking double the damage) or get a major momentum swing in your favor to help set up a sweeper of your choice.

- Crunch is also just a very silly STAB that has a 20% chance to lower Defense by two stages now P:


Okay but this is still mostly a doubles Mega so um. I hope that's okay asdfhg
What does Skuntank do there?
- For those who are unfamiliar, debuffs are, like, really relevant in VGC; passive Abilities like Intimidate, attacking moves like Snarl, Icy Wind and Electroweb, and even status moves like (spread) Cotton Spore and (single-target!) Eerie Impulse are widely used by some of the best support Pokémon in the game, and similar effects like Tailwind that affect the user's side of the field are also a way bigger deal.
There are a lot of reasons for this:- On one hand, dedicating a move to set up a stat modifier is a much smaller commitment since you have more than one Pokémon taking actions per turn;
at the same time, it's much higher-reward, in part because you're often buffing or debuffing more than one target at once compared to a single battle (the effect of the moves is already basically doubled!) and in part because your ally Pokémon can take advantage of the debuff even before your opponent has an opportunity to react to it or attempt to clear it by switching.

- Plus, even when they can switch, that's a much less "free" action than in singles!
In singles, you're probably switching, like, every two or three turns anyway and you only need to worry about coming in on one move at a time;
on the other hand, the pace of VGC is much faster and switching safely is a lot more difficult, because a) you have to have something that can switch in on two Pokémon instead of one, b) your backline is much smaller (in singles, you start with 5 options to switch to; in VGC, the most options you could have off the field is 2), and c) most of the popular ways to debuff are spread, which means you might be caught in a position where you have two Pokémon that are suffering debuffs and you sure as heck won't want to switch both of them out in the same turn!

- Not only that, but because your opponent can double-target (use both of their attacks on the same Pokémon to eliminate it more easily) and because there are so many forms of Speed control making it difficult to count on going first, you really don't want to be in a position where you telegraph that only one of your Pokémon is a threat and the other is going to play passively or switch out to get rid of its debuffs, because that puts all of the attention on the one that's in the better position (read: the one you don't want to give up!!) and is probably something of a death sentence for it.
There's also always stuff like Fake Out and Protect to nullify one move at a time, so... like, it's really easy to punish opponents if you get them into a position where they feel like they "have" to switch just because they were debuffed too much, even if it's only one of their Pokémon in that position (let alone both at once!!!).
Tl;dr debuffs are really, REALLY important!!
- So... I'm sure people have picked up on how many Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed modifiers there are in VGC, but how many Pokémon are there with the capacity to lower Defense reliably?
Especially in a format with so much more offensive pressure - where everything is exerting constant pressure and you need pivots with stuff like Intimidate and Snarl to keep them in check - how valuable do you think it could be to debuff a whole side's Defense at once?
With the right moves, Skuntank can basically do this passively while still making progress in other ways - after all, Repulsive-boosted moves don't just lower Defense but compound Defense drops on top of other drops, so it can get a crazy amount done at once.
Check out some of its supportive tools:- HAVE YOU ever wanted to cut an entire team's Defense in half for your physically offensive partners' enjoyment?
Leer + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Defense to two Pokémon at once O:

- HAVE YOU ever wanted a form of reliable Speed control that also amplified your offensive pressure significantly?
Scary Face + Repulsive is a 100%-accurate -2 Spe and -1 Def to two Pokémon at once, letting you wipe out any threat easily before it takes any more turns O:

- HAVE YOU ever been caught in a position where you needed to debuff a specially offensive threat in the short term, but letting up offensive pressure by focusing on it would give its partner too much freedom in the long term?
Snarl + Repulsive can not only protect your side from special moves but debuff the whole opposing team's Defense at the same time O:
Snarl is an incredibly spammable move and this is almost definitely Skuntank's biggest supportive tool, and it even shores up its slightly weaker SpD compared to its Defense, which is neat and gives you a lot of leeway with EVing!

- It's not seen anywhere near often enough, but Acid Spray!!! is also a really cool midground option that inflicts -2 SpD and -1 Def at the same time, so you can support a specially offensive partner in the short term but easily leave room for a physical partner to pick up where it left off as soon as you need, or even let a special attacker do big damage one turn and then have Skuntank follow up with a Sucker Punch itself.
You basically always want to have both physical and special options available to you, or you're super easy prey for stuff like Snarl, Intimidate and screens that can focus on just one defense at a time, so a move that reliably lowers both defenses at once is a pretty exciting niche in my opinion and I bet it would come in handy more often than you'd think!


- I was talking about this Mega with Blue like I mentioned, and there are a couple more things I wanted to bring up because I value his judgment a lot!
- One other thing we discussed was that it would be really interesting to see Mega Skuntank usage evolve across different formats.
For instance, he highlighted a couple of factors specific to the Gen IX VGC metagame that made the use of poison (the status condition) more popular: with extremely bulky Pokémon like the Dondozo/Tatsugiri combination making it possible to control the pace of the game, Garganacl similarly excelling in defensive play and adding value to chip, and Pokémon like Glimmora making it easier than ever to spread, we've seen a very unusual rise of poison in VGC compared to past Gens where it was probably the weakest status.
On top of that, there are no Misty Surge users in Gen IX even though every other terrain is present in some form, which means far fewer teams have counterplay to poison than earlier. This in particular stands out because it's also true of Kalos - in a Kalos-based VGC format, poison spread is not something most teams will naturally prepare for!- What does poison have to do with Mega Skuntank?
Well... there's this really rarely-seen but really fun move called Venom Drench, which is a spread move that lowers three of each target's stats - Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed - but only works on targets that are poisoned. In tandem with Repulsive, this would be an absolutely insane debuff of -1 Attack, -1 Sp. Atk, -1 Speed and -3 Defense (that's 2.5x the damage from physical moves!), but it only works on archetypes that are able to build around efficient poison spread and capitalize on it.

- Skuntank's type combination actually happens to be really good for a poison-spread-oriented team, which can help bring Venom Drench into the limelight once in a while!
A lot of the popular Steel-types in VGC are Pokémon like Metagross and Aegislash, which are conveniently weak to Dark.
Moreover, Blue didn't specifically mention this so I'm sorry if it's not as applicable to VGC as I think but having a Dark-type can help with Psychic-type Pokémon that would usually make life harder for Poison-heavy teams; this is something that comes up a lot in other formats like Evolution Project, where ink runs a lot of Toxic Spikes-heavy teams with a lot of Poison-types and Merciless users but already likes to pair them with Dark-types to cover their weaknesses. Poison and Dark complement each other super well!
Skuntank also theoretically has Fire coverage that helps with other poison-immune VGC threats like Amoonguss and Kartana, but moveslots are more limited in VGC because many Pokémon need to carry Protect, and it takes a lot of investment for Skuntank to beat Amoonguss that it probably isn't worth spending. Instead, Blue drew attention to Arcanine as a popular partner for poison-spread teams in Gen IX; Arcanine often runs Safety Goggles to help it beat Amoonguss, and with access to its own Snarl, Intimidate and Will-o-Wisp, it can help slow the pace of the game in a way that makes poison's strengths and other chip users really shine.
- Poison spread aside, Blue had some very helpful input on the value of the Ability in VGC and focused a lot on the combination of Snarl and Sucker Punch.
Snarl is a move that's been used a lot even on offensive Dark-types that you wouldn't expect to play support at all, because lowering Sp. Atk is just that valuable, especially in formats with strong special attackers. (His examples were also Gen IX-oriented - Hydreigon, Iron Jugulis and Chi-Yu have run Snarl to keep threats like Armarouge and other Chi-Yu in check, for instance!)
In addition, with all of Skuntank's best ways to lower Defense being spread, he highlighted that it could be really awkward for opponents to predict which of their Pokémon is in danger of being targeted down with a Sucker Punch.

- As limiting factors go, Blue noted that he appreciated Skuntank not being especially fast. Fast debuffs (like ones from Prankster users, Icy Wind on Iron Bundle, or Electroweb or Eerie Impulse on Regieleki) have a more immediate effect, as the support Pokémon's partner can capitalize on them in the same turn, but Skuntank's relatively average Speed gives opponents leeway to attack at least once before it manages to debuff them while delaying its partner's ability to take advantage of the debuffs.
In addition, he highlighted that it was an important balancing factor that Skuntank has to be the one to inflict a debuff. For instance, it would be super dangerous to allow a partner's Intimidate to proc Skuntank's Repulsive, which would lower both the Attack and Defense of all opponents while giving Skuntank the freedom to attack and utilize the debuff (maybe even with its priority) in the same turn.


Blue's feedback gave me a lot of reassurance that this was a compelling enough concept to sub, and I hope it pans out well if it gets in!
I'm definitely aware that it probably wouldn't make as big a splash in singles, which might limit its appeal to some people, but I'm hoping that's okay since Kalos does already have one (very strong-looking!) Poison/Dark Mega in Seviper so it's not like it feels as urgent for Skuntank to be designed for the same format as it.
I'm not sure if this fits into M4A's current design philosophy either way, so no pressure P: but yeah I just thought this was kinda neat!

Skuntank tally

Mega Emolga: BlueRay !!

Mega Emolga

New Ability: Technician

Type: Electric | Flying

New Stats
HP: 55
Attack: 75 → 120 (+45)
Defense: 60
Special Attack: 75 → 95 (+20)
Special Defense: 60
Speed: 103 → 138 (+35)
BST: 428 → 528

New Moves:
- Low Kick

Description:
1) Design concept
- White: They live on treetops and glide using the inside of a cape-like membrane while discharging electricity.
- Sword: As Emolga flutters through the air, it crackles with electricity. This Pokémon is cute, but it can cause a lot of trouble.

The German translation of the Sword Pokédex entry includes an adjective which would translate to "graceful / elegant". If you take these information into account, as well as Emolga's access to Acrobatics, you get the impression as if this Pokémon is very agile and flexible. Hence Technician.

2) Competitive
- Emolga has a shockingly high amount of moves that take great advantage of Technician: Dual Wingbeat, Aerial Ace, Hidden Power, Electroball, Charge Beam, Shock Wave, Nuzzle, among others. Dual Wingbeat stands out in particular as a good Flying STAB move is a rarity among Electric/Flying Pokémon.
- This means that Technician Mega Emolga is able to stand out from them. Electroball is also worthy to point out because it deals devastating damage against slow Water Pokémon, like Slowbro and Toxapex, while fast Water Pokémon, such as Greninja, still receive lots of damage as Technician boosts Electroball's basepower if it's at 60 or below. In this case, Technician + Electroball would have a 90 base power against Greninja. So, Mega Emolga is free to run a mixed set and invest a lot of EVs into its physical Attack as Electroball is already strong enough to make up for a lack of SpA investment.
- High Speed ensures Mega Emolga is the fastest among the Electric/Flying Pokémon, letting it function well as a lategame cleaner. This makes it even more different from other Electric/Flying Pokémon who are usually used as wallbreakers. Low Kick synergizes well with Technician and lets Mega Emolga better handle would be checks, like Tyranitar or Rhyperior--Pokémon that Zapdos struggles to deal with in particular.

Emolga tally

These two submissions ended up with the same number of points and total votes, so the outcome fell to the secondary tiebreaker of "number of initial first-place votes".

Mega Avalugg: okispokis !!

Avalugg-Mega
Ice
Ability: Own Tempo/Ice Body/Sturdy-> Parental Bond
Stats
HP: 95
Atk: 137 (+20)
Def: 234 (+50)
SpA: 54 (+10)
SpD: 61 (+15)
Spe: 33 (+5)
New Moves: +Icicle Crash

The PokeDex makes multiple mentions of Avalugg carrying Bergmites on its back, which to me was just too perfect a set-up for Parental Bond. Parental Bond is rather interesting on a traditionally defensive Pokemon, allowing Avalugg to pack more of a punch even without much investment, allowing it to hit hard with Ice STAB (either the traditional Avalanche or newfound Icicle Crash) and Earthquake or Body Press to hit Steels. The ability to get +2 Speed off of one Rapid Spin means Avalugg can also gradually speed up, letting it get more chances to attack or heal with Recover. Alternatively, this double-boost Rapid Spin means Avalugg-Mega can serve as a unique wallbreaker, with Adamant max speed barely outspeeding base 100s at +2, making the flinch chance of Icicle Crash very notable (though not as bad as Serene Grace). And even if you go the offensive route, Avalugg's further improved physical bulk means that breaking it on the physical side is no cakewalk, being especially resilient against priority. Alternatively, you can go all in on Avalugg's naturally slow playstyle with Curse to provide a boosting option for that Ice STAB (or go Curse and Spin on the same set if you want to be really crazy).

In VGC, Mega Avalugg serves as a potent attacker on Trick Room, leveraging the reversed speed tiers to fire off flinch fishing Icicle Crashes, with the double chance for flinching also potentially making Rock Slide rather threatening. Curse allows Avalugg to boost its power, while High Horsepower replaces Earthquake to single-target and bypass Grassy Terrain.

Avalugg tally

Now, I believe I'm supposed to announce...
Kalos Slate 10 -- the final one -- is now open for submissions!

Submissions for Mega Lapras, Mega Carbink, and Mega Hoopa (confined) will be open during this period,
as well as for Mega Pyroar, which was previously featured in an earlier slate, but was discarded due to the discovery of fraudulent vote manipulation. It was decided that the approach we should take was to simply open a new slate for it.

Submissions for Slate 10 will be open until Wednesday, 23:59, GMT +2, at which point we'll pause for review as usual.

Hope you all are having a good one, and I'll see you later! ​

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Mega Pyroar
Type: Fire / Normal
Ability: Adaptability
Stats:

HP: 86​

Att: 83 (+15)​

Def: 118 (+30)​

SpA: 149 (+40)​

SpD: 76 (+10)​

Spe: 111 (+5)​

Pyroar's movepool is unspeakably plain. However, it has a glimmer of potential in its typing. Fire / Normal is a STAB combination unique to Pyroar, and it's actually a pretty decent combo. Normal is good at being spammed for neutral damage, and any Steels that try to resist it better be prepared to take a Fire attack. Both STABs are resisted by Rock-types, but Rock is a pretty bad defensive type so it's fine (at one point I considered Drought so that Rocks could be hit with Solar Beam, but I felt that the 50% boost to Fire moves took too much focus away from the Normal typing). Adaptability is usually as boring as Pyroar's movepool, but when literally the only interesting thing about a Pokemon is its STAB combo I feel like the ability that boosts STAB moves is the best choice.


Mega Hoopa
Type: Psychic / Ghost
Ability: Hyperspace Mayhem (Hyperspace Hole now summons a random restricted legendary Pokemon to attack in Mega Hoopa's place)

Hide

All Pokemon summoned have no EVs, random IVs (three of them are guaranteed to be 31), a random nature, and a regular chance to be shiny. Pokemon with multiple non-hidden abilities will randomly select one, though that doesn't apply to any of the summonable Pokemon as of now. In any case, most of the abilities don't actually do much, since the Pokemon only sticks around long enough to fire off their one attack.

Psystrike
Sacred Fire
Aeroblast
Precipice Blades (Drought sets up sun)
Origin Pulse (Drizzle sets up rain)
Dragon Ascent (if Mega Hoopa should be brought back in a format using gen 9 mechanics, Ice-types under snow won't have boosted Defense due to Air Lock; I don't think disabling weather for just one attack accomplishes anything else but I could be wrong)
Roar of Time
Spacial Rend
Shadow Force (charge-up period is skipped)
Blue Flare (Turboblaze ignores abilities)
Bolt Strike (Teravolt ignores abilities)
Glaciate
Geomancy (charge-up period is skipped, Hoopa recieves the stat boosts)
Oblivion Wing (Hoopa recieves the healing)
Core Enforcer
Teleport (Cosmog flees the battle before it has the chance to be put back in the bag Hoopa Ring; Hoopa does not teleport away with it, the attack just does nothing)
Sunsteel Strike
Moongeist Beam
Light That Burns the Sky (Neuroforce powers up a super effective hit)
Behemoth Blade (Intrepid Sword boosts Zacian's Attack)
Behemoth Bash
Eternabeam
Glacial Lance (Unnerve prevents Yache Berry)
Astral Barrage (Unnerve prevents Kasib Berry)

That's all for this format, but if Mega Hoopa worms its way back in future formats, legendaries past gen 8 can also be summoned.
Collision Course (also sets sun)
Electro Drift (also sets electric terrain)
and maybe Ogrepon or Terapagos too, we'll see how they turn out.

Stats:

HP: 80​

Att: 150 (+40)​

Def: 70 (+10)​

SpA: 160 (+10)​

SpD: 160 (+30)​

Spe: 80 (+10)​

Mythical who's responsible for a generation's legendary catching mechanic? Hoopa may be confined, but I am unbound. It's time to get weird.

 

[BlueRay]

Spoiler

Mega Lapras

New Ability: Resonance
After using a sound move, the user applies a Torment effect to all Pokémon affected by its sound move.

Type: Water | Ice

New Stats
HP: 130
Attack: 85
Defense: 80 → 100 (+20)
Special Attack: 85 → 135 (+50)
Special Defense: 95 → 115 (+20)
Speed: 60 → 70 (+10)
BST: 535 → 635

New Moves:
- Calm Mind

Description:
1) Design concept
A smart and kindhearted Pokémon, it glides across the surface of the sea while its beautiful song echoes around it.

This is just one of many Pokédex entries illustrating Lapras's love for singing; the Gigantamax form further elaborates on it. To stay true to Lapras's theme, I decided to develop an ability that would mirror its singing aspect while also underlining the defensive capabilities from G-Max Resonance.

2) Competitive
When you are in danger, sing to your heart's content!

Lapras is usually run as a bulky attacker or Perish Song trapper. The new ability expands on its roles. While it may not look like it, Lapras actually learns a decent amount of sound moves: Perish Song, Sparkling Aria, Growl, Sing, and Roar, to name a few. With Perish Song, M Lapras makes sure the opposing Pokémon can't repeatedly click a move super effective against it. So, it will be more difficult to take down M Lapras. If you prefer a more offensive approach, there's Sparkling Aria which can help M Lapras set up much easier with Calm Mind.

M Lapras's true potential lies in VGC where the strategic value of its new ability can affect more Pokémon. For instance, you could use Growl to lower the Atk of two opposing Pokémon. With the Torment effect, you can signifcantly slow down your opponent. This could give M Lapras the chance to either set up with Calm Mind or support the team with stuff like Life Dew.

While the ability is pretty powerful, it is balanced by Lapras's mediocre speed and defensive typing. It can be argued Resonance is an interesting way to situationally get around this defensive flaw while also rewarding skillful plays.

Spoiler

Mega Hoopa

New Ability: Vessel of Ruin
It decreases the Special Attack stat of all Pokémon on the field other than the Pokémon with this Ability by 25%. Effect does not stack.

Type: Psychic | Ghost

New Stats
HP: 80
Attack: 110 → 140 (+30)
Defense: 60
Special Attack: 150 → 180 (+30)
Special Defense: 130 → 160 (+30)
Speed: 70 → 80 (+10)
BST: 535 → 635

New Moves:
- Psychic Terrain, Expanding Force

Description:
1) Design concept
Some djinns dwell in objects and like to cause disruption.

Djinns are often bound to objects, and Hoopa is no exception; in fact, there's a Prison Bottle which limits its power and form. Now, with Mega Evolution, M Hoopa may still not be able to fully access its power but some of it is still leaking and affects the environment. While Vessel of Ruin gives off some destructive vibes, the German translation of this ability is a bit different, focusing more on the aspects of mischief and doom; it's more about the feeling and impression you get from these two words.

2) Competitive
Rely on Vessel of Ruin for a pseudo special resistance despite Hoopa's aweful defensive typing!

Psychic / Ghost is an aweful defensive typing as it comes with two 4x weaknesses to Ghost and Dark. Moreover, this dualtype takes neutral damage from most types. Therefore, it mostly doesn't offer anything useful defensively to a team. Enter Vessel of Ruin which, coupled with M Hoopa's high SpD, lets this Mega Pokémon tank special hits very well as if it resisted it or as if held Assault Vest. This allows M Hoopa to comfortably set up Substitute and Calm Mind in front of special attackers. Although Hoopa does know Nasty Plot, it can still be very good to go for Calm Mind because, when combined with Vessel of Ruin, M Hoopa can even tank special Ghost or Dark moves from the likes of Hydreigon, Chandelure or Greninja (in NatDex). Since M Hoopa's Atk is decently high, there's the potential to run a mixed offensive set consisting of Calm Mind, Shadow Ball, Substitute, and Drain Punch. The latter lets it recover HP, therefore easing set-up, and pressures Dark Pokémon, which resist Ghost.

In VGC, M Hoopa can run Trick Room or any other supportive move like Psychic Terrain, Skill Swap, Ally Switch, Taunt, Scary Face or Reflect even in the face of powerful special spread attackers, like M Meowstic-F, G-Moltres or Kommo-o. Being able to resort to these kind of support moves is what makes M Hoopa different from Ting-Lu. Moreover, as a mostly special attacker, M Hoopa encourages the ally to be a physical attacker whereas with Ting-Lu, which is a physical attacker, it can be a little bit tricky to rely on a special attacking ally since Vessel of Ruin lowers the SpA stat of all Pokémon on the field, except for the user itself. Having attackers from different spectrum makes it easier for a player to overcome any defensive hurdles from the opponent.

An attentive reader might have noticed that, technically, Hoopa can't be used in VGC since it's one of those Mythical Pokémon. However, M4A VGC likes to run special tournaments which come with different sets of rules and Pokémon. There's even talk about M4A VGC Kalos in a team tournament format where Hoopa could be thus allowed. It wouldn't be that surprising considering Mythical Pokémon have been allowed in one of the last seasons during the Dynamax era just so players could have some fun and experiment with them at the cost of having no official tournament.

Psychic Terrain and Expanding Force are more for VGC. Hoopa already learns the former in gen 9; the latter, on the other hand, is generally distributed to Psychic Pokémon in gen 8. But since Hoopa wasn't featured in gen 8, it never had the chance to potentially learn it.

M Hoopa's offensive capabilities and excellent special bulk might look quite scary. However, its rather mediocre Speed and very low Defense make it susceptible to physical moves, Pursuit in particular. This should keep M Hoopa well in check.

 

[chemicalmines]

Mega Carbink
New Ability: Levitate (This Pokemon is immune to Ground; Gravity/Ingrain/Smack Down/Iron Ball nullify it.)
Type:

New stats:
HP: 50
Attack: 50
Defense: 175 (+25)
Special Attack: 100 (+50)
Special Defense: 175 (+25)
Speed: 50
Base Stat Total: 600

New moves: Mystical Fire

Description

I knew going into making a Mega Evolution for Carbink that it would have strong competititon with Mega Diancie because of their similarities. As such, Mega Carbink functions as a bulky pivot with a good defensive profile that can switch onto resisted typings such as Fire and Dark, contrasting Mega Diancie's more offensive profile. Carbink gains Mystical Fire due to Diancie already having it, and gains Levitate as its new ability, giving Mega Carbink a crucial Ground immunity instead of being weak to it.

Flavor

Carbink is perpetually levitating in both its in-game sprite and in the anime.

Mega Pyroar
New Ability: Supreme Overlord (The user's moves gain 1.1x power for each fainted ally, maxing out at 5.)
Type:

New stats:
HP: 86
Attack: 83 (+15)
Defense: 97 (+25)
Special Attack: 139 (+30)
Special Defense: 86 (+20)
Speed: 116 (+10)
Base Stat Total: 607

New moves: Focus Blast

Description

Upon Mega-Evolving, Pyroar receives Supreme Overlord as its ability to become a very effective cleaner. However, unlike Kingambit, who has the same ability, Pyroar is much faster and has utility moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Taunt to cripple foes in the early-game. Pyroar also gains Focus Blast to hit Rock-types super effectively, since Rock is the only type that perfectly resists both of Pyroar's STABs. Unfortunately, because Mega Pyroar is forced to run its Mega Stone, it is extremely susceptible to hazard damage, especially Stealth Rock. Mega Pyroar also lacks any form of setup outside of Supreme Overlord, so it ends up being a bit weak if none of its allies have fainted.

Flavor

Pokemon X and Omega Ruby: "The male with the largest mane of fire is the leader of the pride." Also, lions are known for being the "king of the junjle jungle," and giving Mega Pyroar Supreme Overlord would be a good way to represent that.

Mega Lapras
New Ability: Polar Chorus (Damage of moves used on consecutive turns is increased. Max 2x after 5 turns. ( effect))
Type:

New stats:
HP: 130
Attack: 100 (+15)
Defense: 95 (+15)
Special Attack: 120 (+35)
Special Defense: 115 (+20)
Speed: 75 (+15)
Base Stat Total: 635

New moves: None

Description

Mega Lapras is a bulky wallbreaker that uses Polar Chorus to snowball through its foes. One of its best moves, Freeze-Dry, is particularly notable for being able to hit Water-types super effectively; this, along with its Water STAB, gives Mega Lapras an unresisted STAB combination. Mega Lapras also has decent bulk, particularly on the special side, yet its lackluster typing circumvents this slightly. Its typing also leaves it weak to Stealth Rock and common attacking types such as Grass, Fighting, and Electric, and leaves Mega Lapras with only two resistances to Water and Ice.

Flavor

Pokemon Emerald: "People have driven Lapras almost to the point of extinction. In the evenings, it is said to sing plaintively as it seeks what few others of its kind still remain." Other Pokedex entries, such as Sun and Soul Silver, remark on Lapras singing if it's in a good mood.

 

[LordThemberchaud]

Spoiler

Carbink-Mega
Type: Rock/Fairy
Ability: Serene Grace
HP: 50
Attack: 85 (+35)
Defense: 200 (+50)
Special Attack: 85 (+35)
Special Defense: 160 (+10)
Speed: 30 (-20)
New Moves: Diamond Storm, Shadow Ball
Description: With Serene Grace, Diamond Storm gets a guaranteed +2 Defense when used, letting Carbink become a really intimidating physical tank and Body Press user. RestTalk can be used to get HP back, or you could run Moonblast as a secondary STAB and consistent Special Attack drops. Shadow Ball allows for perfect coverage with Body Press, with likely Special Defense drops for synergy with Moonblast. Hitting Pokemon like Espeon-Mega and Slowbro super effectively is a nice bonus too.
If you aren't a fan of IronPress, you can also run Rock Polish + Iron Head and Rock Slide to flinch you're way to victory. With max Speed EVs, Carbink can still outspeed base 108 Speed Pokemon (even though this distinction doesn't matter to much in Kalos, it does let it outspeed Pokemon like Blacephalon if Kalos Megas are allowed into the NatDex format). While I do hope that this isn't just an unfortunate side effect, and that it'll add more depth to Carbink than just being an IronPress mon, I don't want it to be too overbearing.
Flavor: Carbink is made of diamonds and is related to Diancie, meaning Diamond Storm should be OK to add, despite it being a signature move. The Carbinks that protect their queen Diancie could become more defensive in order to protect them when they Mega Evolve.

Spoiler

Hoopa-Mega
Type: Psychic/Ghost
Ability: Prankster
HP: 80
Attack: 130 (+20)
Defense: 60
Special Attack: 190 (+40)
Special Defense: 170 (+40)
Speed: 70
New Moves: N/A
Description: Prankster is a fun ability that Hoopa can take advantage of. They get a variety of useful support moves like Thunder Wave, Taunt, Toxic and Dual Screens. It also gets access to Destiny Bond, which allows for many shenanigans, such as taking an opponent's wincon down immediately. The duration can also be increased by using an attacking move afterwards, which will have lower priority, creating mind games with faster Pokemon like Weavile and Skuntank-Mega.
Hoopa can also be used as a wincon and special tank thanks to priority Calm Mind letting it live neutral Special moves thanks to a high Special Defense. It hits very hard even without the boost, letting it tear apart slower walls such as Ferrothorn. It's main weaknesses are priority moves such as Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet, as well as Dark and Ghost type moves in general.
Flavor: Hoopa in the movie was very mischievous in it's confined form, being seen taking doughnuts and other items.

Spoiler

Lapras-Mega
Type: Water/Ice
Ability: Water Compaction
HP: 130
Attack: 85
Defense: 120 (+40)
Special Attack: 110 (+25)
Special Defense: 110 (+15)
Speed: 80 (+20)
New Moves: Calm Mind, Wish
Description: Water Compaction is a cool ability given to a Pokemon that can't take advantage of it well. Lapras can utilize the ability well, being able to switch in onto physical Water Types like Azumarill, Gyarados, and even Mienshao-Mega (252 Atk Mienshao-Mega High Jump Kick vs. +2 252 HP / 252+ Def Lapras-Mega: 144-170 (31 - 36.6%) -- 66.6% chance to 3HKO) and scare them out with Freeze-Dry or set up on them with Calm Mind. Wish gives Lapras much-needed recovery and lets it heal other Pokemon thanks to it's high HP stat, although this is fairly risky due to a weakness to Stealth Rocks. In Doubles, you could bring a Pokemon with Water Shuriken or Triple Dive to get Lapras to +6 defense immediately (this is probably very niche, but it's funny).
Flavor: Just because Lapras isn't made out of sand doesn't mean that it can't be protected by water! It's base form also gets two abilities that give it benefits when in water, being Water Absorb and Hydration, so why not have another?

Spoiler

Pyroar-Mega
Type: Fire/Normal
Ability: Moxie
HP: 86
Attack: 138 (+70)
Defense: 72
Special Attack: 119 (+10)
Special Defense: 66
Speed: 126 (+20)
New Moves: N/A
Description: Pyroar getting Moxie has confused many for years, as it is primarily a special attacker with a horrible physical attack. This Mega seeks to keep Moxie, turning Pyroar-Mega into a frightening sweeper and wallbreaker with Flare Blitz + Return. It even outspeeds base 125s like Weavile! Unfortunately, Pyroar lacks Trailblaze in this meta, so for now, it is walled by the likes of Quagsire-Mega and Rhyperior-Mega.
Or is it?
Since Pyroar keeps it's great Special Attack after Mega Evolving, it is free to run a Hidden Power that can let it beat it's supposed counters, such as HP Grass for bulky Waters and HP Water for Rhyperior-Mega. Fortunately, there is still counterplay, as Pyroar can only run one Hidden Power. This means that it'll be hard-walled by many Pokemon, such as Rock-types like the aforementioned Rhyperior and Solrock-Mega if it runs HP Grass, while being sat on by Water types like Slowbro and Quagsire-Mega if it has HP Water.
Flavor: This Mega is largely based off of how Pyroar gets the useless ability (for it at least) Moxie.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Mega Lapras
Type: Water / Ice
Ability: Marvel Scale
Stats:

HP: 130​

Att: 85​

Def: 80​

SpA: 165 (+80)​

SpD: 115 (+20)​

Spe: 60​

Lapras has always been designed to counter other Water-types. It began life in Gen 1 with a Water resistance and Electric coverage, and later generations have given it a Water immunity in Water Absorb and STAB coverage for Water in Freeze Dry. Marvel Scale builds on that, allowing it to boost its Defense by switching into Scald before chasing out the defensive Water that burned it. It also has near-perfect coverage with just its STABs, so it can pretty comfortably run RestTalk to give it a self-sufficient way to activate Marvel Scale.