Pet Mod Megas for All v7 - Kalos concluded! | Please read the first post! | Fully playable through Kalos Slate 10!

[bekama]

My votes:

1. Violettes
2. NANI?!
3. I-Deepblue-I
4.Sticky Fingaa

1. BlueRay
2. pupugugu and Paulluxx
3. KeroseneZanchu

1.Gravity Monkey
2.jazzmat
3.BlueRay

1.Paulluxx

 

[Tarionate]

Victreebel:
1. StarFalcon555
2. EeveeGirl1380
3. KeroseneZanchu

Dodrio:
1. BlueRay
2. ausma
3. abismal

Lanturn:
1. okispokis
2. Lord Pxperto
3. BlueRay

Obstagoon:
1. Paulluxx
2. Vipotis
3. Exploziff

 

[BlueRay]

Hide

01. Sticky Fingaa
02. BlueRay (me)
03. KeroseneZanchu
04. Violettes
05. jazzmat

06. NANI?!
07. Vipotis
08. okispokis
09. EeveeGirl1380
10. abismal

11. lydian
12. CraterSmash
13. ry4242
14. DarkFairy

Hide

01. BlueRay (me)
02. jazzmat
03. pupugugu & Paulluxx
04. ausma
05. Exploziff

06. abismal
07. okispokis
08. Violettes
09. ARandomPerson
10. KeronseneZanchu

11. Mossy Sandwich
12. EeveeGirl1380
13. StarFalcon555
14. SimpyShrimp

Hide

01. abismal
02. Lord Pxperto
03. SimpyShrimp
04. ARandomPerson
05. jazzmat

06. ausma
07. lydian
08. okispokis
09. Violettes
10. Vipotis

11. War Incarnate
12. DarkFairy
13. ry4242
14. I-Deepblue-I

Hide

01. Exploziff
02. Paulluxx
03. Violettes

04. ausma
05. FierceHawk192
06. abismal

07. vipotis
08. Gekokeso
09. Gravity Monkey

 

[Seranode]

Victreebel: Vipotis, KeroseneZanchu, jazzmat

Dodrio: abismal, ausma, BlueRay

Lanturn: okispokis, BlueRay, ausma

Obstagoon: ausma, Vipotis, Gekokeso

 

[pupugugu]

dang so many good subs @_@

Hide

1 gravity monkey
2 yung dramps
3 blueray
4 violettes
5 eeveegirl1380
6 jazzmat
7 sticky fingaa

Hide

1 blueray
2 paulluxx/pupugugu
3 Z-nogyroP
4 lydian
5 kero
6 yungdramps
7 abismal
8 ry4242

Hide

1 violettes
2 gravity monkey
3 ausma
4 abismal
5 eeveegirl/magmajudis
6 lord pxperto
7 vipotis

Hide

1 paulluxx
2 exploziff
3 young dramps
4 vipotis
5 abismal
6 okispokis
7 gravity monkey
8 fiercehawk192
9 ap5fanboy

 

[Rosiario]

Was busy last time around, and still am, but here are my votes for this incredibly cool competitive council slate!

Unsurprisingly, Kero gave a really good turnout for Victreebel here and deserves the first place vote! Being able to block pivoting is an important ability now that there's so many spammable pivot moves in the game with VoltTurn and Parting Shot running around, and Victreebel has loads of tools to take that idea one step further as an extra dangerous trapper.

For Dodrio, abismal's Echo idea is what does it for me. The idea seems like such fun and while I'm unsure if it would be strong enough to be a common threat, a gimmicky idea like this is probably better being subpar anyways. However it sounds like it would be a blast to use and definitely a good method of buffing a bad move to be useful, good job!

For much the same reasons, but also very different reasons, I'm voting for okispokis' Lanturn! At first I didn't really think that two pivot blocking Megas could work at the same time, but Kero convinced me that these two do very different things and I enjoy that a lot. As such, I'll never turn down an opportunity to have more options to stop pivot spam, and I wholly support these two working alongside each other.

Definitely unsurprisingly, Paul did a fantastic job with his signature mon and I'm proud to give him the vote!!! His ability for it is a really clever way to utilize Obstagoon's tools, especially its signature move Obstruct, in a powerful way that provides plenty of counterplay by forcing out switches (which is a super flavorful purpose to have).

Sorry for only getting through one vote each instead of the usual three I try to hit, but I'll probably have the time for more next time!

 

[Violettes]

Hide

1. Violettes
2. okispokis
3. I-Deepblue-I
4. StarFalcon555
5. Sticky Fingaaa
6. jazzmat
7. abismal
8. BlueRay

Hide

1. Violettes
2. ausma
3. SimpyShrimp
4. okispokis
5. ry4242
6. inkbug
7. LordThemberchaud
8. StarFalcon555
9. pupugugu & Paulluxx

Hide

1. ausma
2. Violettes
3. Ry4242
4. Vipotis
5. jazzmat
6. BlueRay
7. AP5Fanboy
8. okispokis
9. Lydian

Hide

1. abismal
2. Violettes
3. ausma
4. Gekokeso
5. Paulluxx
6. FierceHawk192
7. Exploziff
8. SimpyShrimp

 

[okispokis]

1. KeroseneZanchu
2. okispokis
3. BlueRay
4. AP5Fanboy
5. I-Deepblue-I
6. Cratersmash
7. EeveeGirl1380

1. Z-nogyroP
2. pupugugu (ft Paulluxx)
3. okispokis
4. SimpyShrimp
5. EeveeGirl1380
6. abismal
7. LordThemberchaud

1. okispokis
2. DarkFairy
3. ARandomPerson
4. Violettes
5. War Incarnate
6. I-Deepblue-I

1. Violettes
2. Paulluxx
3. Exploziff
4. okispokis
5. ausma
6. Yung Dramps
7. Z-nogyroP
8. ry4242

 

[Karnachar]

Hide

1. Vipotis
2. I-Deepblue-I
3. DarkFairy
4. Gravity Monkey
5. KeroseneZanchu
6. Violettes
7. StarFalcon555
8. jazzmat
9. BlueRay
10. Sticky Fingaaa

Hide

1. BlueRay
2. ausma
3. MossySandwich
4. Violettes
5. abismal
6. Paulluxx & Pupugugu
7. KeroseneZanchu
8. inkbug
9. Simpy Shrimp
10. okispokis

Hide

1. okispokis
2. BlueRay
3. Lord Pxperto
4. Violettes
5. ausma
6. Vipotis
7. jazzmat
8. Simpy Shrimp
9. ry4242
10. EeveeGirl1380 & Magmajudis

Hide

1. Vipotis
2. Exploziff
3. ausma
4. Paulluxx
5. okispokis
6. jazzmat
7. Gravity Monkey
8. depressed lion
9. Z-nogyroP
10. abismal

 

[PokemonKingAlan]

Victreebel: okispokis, KeroseneZanchu

Dodrio: abismal, BlueRay

Lanturn: okispokis, Violettes

Obstagoon: Paulluxx, Vipotis

 

[SimpyShrimp]

Binding Light

I-Deep-Blue, Jazzmat, ARandomPerson, AP5 Fanboy, Blueray,

Black DIamond

Exploziff, YungDramp, Paulluxx, SimpyShrimp, Abismal, Vipotis

I Got Ants in My Pants

Vipotis, Blueray, A P5 Fanboy, Okispokis, NANI

Don't stop me now

SimpyShrimp, Blueray, Lord Themberchaud, Ausma, Inkbug

 

[KakkarrotCake]

Your objectively correct votes comin in hot and fresh -

The hottest grass around is Vipotis’ berry muncher,
but the second place Victreebel is Violettes’s regurgitating plant.
Third goes to KeroseneZanchu becuz pivot bad

For the funny three-headed birb we got the inkbug in first
and BlueRay coming up behind them with the tech.
The magic number three is Mossy Sandwich’s rotation robin

Lanturn’ slight shines on Lord Pxperto as having th best sub,
but okispokis’s isn’t too far behind again becuz pivot bad
I really like BlueRay’s sub as a third option becuz mold bad

Last but not least we got THE Gene Simmons with Vipotis as his lead singer.
Paulluxx is a good stand-in and second place
But you shouldn’t overlook the heat of depressed lion’s third place sub either

 

[depressed lion]

I'm tired after another weekend on duty, but this time I'll vote.

Lanturn

1. ausma
2. okispokis
3. gravitymonkey

Victreebel

1. GravityMonkey
2. BlueRay
3. Vipotis

The Goon

1. Paulluxx
2. StarFalcon555
3. Vipotis

Weird bird-cerberus thing

1. ausma
2. inkbug
3. KeroseneZanchu

 

[FiniteInfinity]

My votes (and thoughts)

Sorry ink, I'll make sure to be more clear about the categories and vote order in the future!

That being said, this is ironic timing, but I'm switching up my usual format slightly for this slate because I want to talk about two subs together -

The Water and The Pitcher

My first place votes for Lanturn and Victreebel are okispokis and KeroseneZanchu, respectively. The reason I wanted to discuss my thoughts on these together is probably pretty apparent to anyone who's read both of them. It's uncommon for two very similar ideas to be able to be voted in during the same slate without heavy overlap. However, these two really well-crafted submissions stand out starkly from one another despite having the same exact ability as a pivot denying Mega. Mega Victreebel is a great trapper who can use its ability to make it a more 'true' trapper with the tools to be used for stall or stallbreaking alike. Mega Lanturn, while serving the same function of denying pivoting, plays a very different role - while it does have access to Whirlpool, its statline and movepool makes it lean much more towards providing more team support or power offense to make the most of the free turn it forces as the enemy has to hard switch. Two completely separate submissions with different creators on different Pokemon with the same ability but different roles melding and synergizing so well as equal opposite counterparts to each other is beautiful, especially when I don't believe either one was intentionally made with the other in mind. Being able to have both of these two Mega Evolutions win together like this is a rare opportunity, and it's an opportunity I wholeheartedly wish to help take!

My second place vote for Lanturn is ausma! It's a relatively modest design, but quite effective - one of the great strengths of a Water/Electric type like Lanturn is Water's ability to cover and punish the Ground switch-ins that would otherwise wish to wall its Electric attacks. However, with Water not resisting Ground, Lanturn doesn't usually have the ability to switch in on them itself and instead has to wait for them. Levitate giving it the necessary Ground immunity provides Mega Lanturn with a lot more agency and the ability to utilize its dual typing to the fullest. Sometimes simple ideas are some of the best.

My second place vote for Victreebel is BlueRay. Poison is an interesting type to interact with and goes tremendously well on a Grass/Poison. It has obvious utility in being able to Toxic enemy (former) Poison-types as a sort of counterpart to Corrosion, but it also allows it to utilize its Grass typing much more effectively and take out enemy threats such as Nidoqueen and Toxapex with super effective Grass moves that the Poison secondary typing would normally have turned neutral.

The Drinking Bird(s)

My first place vote for Dodrio is also BlueRay! I truly love the idea of trying to make a multi-hit Technician user work by having it primarily utilize moves with reliable 2/3 hits so that it can really shine in a way that it can't on the 5-hit multi-hit moves with Skill Link around outclassing it. Even outside of big-damage multi-hits Dodrio also has a lot of neat tech options it can utilize such as Quick Attack which makes it much more fleshed out than merely a "multi-hit user but in a different way" gimmick Mega Evolution.

My second place vote for Dodrio is inkbug! Using Down-to-Earth on a Pokemon that already can't benefit from terrains is a wonderful idea to negate the 'downside' of the ability, especially when that Pokemon doesn't have any terrains it really benefits from even if it could use them anyway. Dodrio is also a great flavor opportunity for it, so great job on that! Rillaboom checks are always nice.

The Rebel
get it? Because it's the only one that doesn't fit the theme?

My first place vote for Obstagoon is Vipotis! Stakeout is always such a fun but scary ability to see used, and I think this is a great sub that uses Stakeout in a fun way that synergizes with Obstagoon's unique tools that also stays well-balanced! Being able to trigger Obstruct and force the opponent into choosing to take the double damage attack on their current mon from the defense drop or take the double damage attack on a different mon from the Stakeout trigger on switch is a super cool interaction, and super in-line with Obstagoon's flavor.

My second place vote for Obstagoon is Paulluxx! It's probably no surprise that the Pokemon he chose to represent him would be one he already had a good idea for, and it's clearly one he's thought a lot about. While Vipotis's Stakeout submission has a lot more synergy with Obstruct, Paulluxx's Rebel ability synergizes decently with it as well, and goes a step further in utilizing a wider variety of Obstagoon's toolkit in making it work, and I really support that.

 

[Hematemesis]

ViZarctreebel :
1) Gravity Monkey
2) KeroseneZanchu
3) lydian
4) BlueRay

Pupodrio :
1) okispokis
2) Pupulluxx
3) Mossy Sandwich
4) Ausma

Exploturn :
1) I-Deepblue-I
2) Ausma
3) BlueRay
4) DarkFairy

Paulbstagoon :
1) Paulluxx
2) Exploziff
3) Gravity Monkey
4) Young Dramps

 

[BitBitio]

no Paulluxx

 

[Vipotis]

Victreebel
1- Vipotis
2- AP5Fanboy
3- BueRay
4- Okispokis
5- Violettes
6- Jazzmat
7- Kero

Dodrio
1- Mossy Sammich
2- Pupugugu & Papaullullux
3- Exploziff
4- Jazzmat
5- Ausma

Obstagoon
1- Paullux
2- Vipotis
3- Exploziff
4- Violettes
5- GekoKeso
6- DarkFairy

Lanturn
1- Jazzmat
2- Vipotis
3- Lord Pxperto
4- Violettes

 

[ausma]

1: Violettes
2: lydian
3: ausma
4: Vipotis


1: Violettes
2: Sticky Fingaa
3: A P5 Fanboy
4: lydian


1: SimpyShrimp
2: okispokis
3: Violettes
4: KeroseneZanchu
5: ausma
6: Lordthemberchaud
7: abismal


1: abismal
2: Violettes
3: Vipotis
4: Exploziff
5: ausma

 

[Sticky Fingaaa]

Victreebel

1. Blueray
2. Violettes
3. Sticky Fingaaa
4. Cratersmash
5. Okispokis
6. StarFalcon555
7. Abismal

Dodrio

1. Inkbug
2. Z-nogyroP
3. Blueray
4. Pupugugu & Paulluxx
5. Ausma
6. Lydian
7. Yung Dramps

Lanturn

1. Okispokis
2. Vipotis
3. AP5Fanboy
4. GravityMonkey
5. ARandomPerson
6. Z-nogyroP
7. Lord Pxperto

Obstagoon

1. Paulluxx
2. Vipotis
3. Z-nogyroP
4. GekoKeso
5. EeveeGirl1380
6. FierceHawk192
7. StarFalcon555

 

[The Damned]

Ugh. I honestly don't know how people narrow it down even to just Top 5. Tried to do that to save time and energy and that rather backfired with Victreebel and Lanturn. Oh well. Not like a bunch of good designs don't always get left by the wayside anyway. [/double negative]

Victreebel-Megas
1. BlueRay
2. Violettes
3. okispokis
4. AP5Fanboy
5. NANI?!

Dodrio-Mega
1. inkbug
2. Violettes
3. Z-nogyroP
4. Vipotis
5. Mossy Sandwich

Lanturn-Megas
1. ry4242
2. DarkFairy
3. ausma
4. BlueRay
5. lydian

Obstagoon-Megas
1. Z-nogyroP
2. Paulluxx
3. okispokis
4. EeveeGirl1380
5. Yung Dramps

 

[Exploziff]

Dodrio :
Blue
Shrimp
Lord Thember
Ry4242
Ink
Violette
Exploziff

Lanturn:
Blue
Violette
A random Person
Z-nogyrop
Lord pxperto

Obstagoon:
Exploziff
Z-nogyrop
Violette
Vipotis
Paul
Starfalcon

Victreebel:
Vipotis
Dark Fairy
Violette
Sticky
Ry4242

 

[Heliospite]

Ooo, this one looks fun too.

Victreebel- KeroseneZanchu, DarkFairy, Vipotis, Gravity Monkey, Violettes
Dodrio- okispokis, SimpyShrimp, BlueRay, Violettes, ausma
Lanturn- Lord Pxperto, DarkFairy, ausma, okispokis, jazzmat
Obstagoon- Vipotis, FierceHawk192, Paulluxx, Gravity Monkey, Exploziff

 

[Hematite]

UHHHHHH holy heck you guys??
I don't know why I'm ever even surprised any more but a lot of people outdid themselves this time around
and there are a ton of potential winners I would be beyond excited to see
There's an incredible balance of people who chose to explore creative mechanical concepts, people who optimized in really cool ways for roles many of us have wanted to see explored for some time now, and people whose subs are just plain fun, and this is a rare case where I not only can't imagine being unhappy with the outcome but honestly really wish we could have more than one winner :'D
also there are some unbelievably clever flavor choices in a couple of these
I'm super hype for this haha
Let's go!!

Votes

Mega Victreebel
1) KeroseneZanchu
2) okispokis
3) BlueRay
4) Sticky Fingaaa
5) Vipotis
6) ry4242
7) StarFalcon555
8) Violettes
9) NANI?!
10) abismal
11) EeveeGirl1380
12) AP5Fanboy
13) jazzmat
14) DarkFairy
15) Yung Dramps
16) lydian

Mega Dodrio
1) BlueRay
2) jazzmat
3) okispokis
4) ARandomPerson
5) ausma
6) abismal
7) MossySandwich
8) StarFalcon555
9) Violettes
10) Z-nogyroP
11) pupugugu and Paulluxx
12) ry4242
13) KeroseneZanchu
14) inkbug
15) SimpyShrimp

Mega Lanturn
1) Violettes
2) I-Deepblue-I
3) jazzmat
4) abismal
5) okispokis
6) Lord Pkxperto
7) Vipotis
8) ausma
9) lydian
10) ARandomPerson
11) BlueRay
12) Z-nogyroP

Mega Obstagoon
1) Vipotis
2) Violettes
3) Yung Dramps
4) okispokis
5) DarkFairy
6) ausma
7) Paulluxx
8) Gekokeso
9) FierceHawk192
10) abismal
11) Z-nogyroP
12) EeveeGirl1380
13) SimpyShrimp
14) Exploziff
15) Gravity Monkey

 

[inkbug]

Hi folks! Sorry for the wait -- we forgot to set an end date for voting, so I forgot that time exists -- but the votes are finally 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.

With that out of the way...

Mega Victreebel: KeroseneZanchu !!

Mega Victreebel
Type: Grass/Poison
Mega Stone: Victreebite

Ability: Allure - Disables pivoting while this Pokemon is on the field.

Stats:
HP - 80 (+0)
ATK - 105 (+0)
DEF - 125 (+60)
SPA - 100 (+0)
SPD - 110 (+40)
SPE - 70 (+0)

New Moves: Snap Trap, Soak

Description:

Flavor

Dex Entry: The energies of Mega Evolution raise the potency of Victreebel's internal fluids to a potency so intense that it even becomes dangerous to itself. The scent is so strong that even enemies with the toughest of willpower will struggle to resist its pull, and can dissolve them in seconds. This eats at Victreebel's stomach lining, but the aroma is so wonderful that Victreebel enjoys its Mega Evolution despite the pain.

Competitive

Snap Trap makes a lot of mechanical sense and while it makes *okay* flavor sense a pitcher plant doesn’t trap quite the same as a venus fly trap? If you think it shouldn’t be added it already has both Infestation and Wrap.

I know there have been some very similar Lanturn ideas subbed but I believe that both Pokemon have different enough strengths and weaknesses that both could coexist if they were to win - and if the veto post disagrees with me, well, my idea came before either of those subs, so :^)

Okay so Victreebel has many of the same tools to use this as Decidueye did, but even more which makes it cooler and I’m glad my Decidueye didn’t win.

Like Decidueye, Victreebel resists two of the three offensive pivot moves and is neutral to one (U-turn, which is ironic as the Bug move). Obviously it has the host of Grass bullshit such as Leech Seed, Sleep Powder (which can get around Sleep Clause due to trapping, but thankfully no Spore), Toxic, and Ingrain if you’re feeling confident. That combined with the chip of the binding move and recovery options like Synthesis, Strength Sap, Giga Drain, and Leech Life, makes this Pokémon an excellent stall mon that forces you to choose carefully about what you send in to face it. The interaction with Strength Sap is interesting because you can stack the attack drops since the enemy can’t switch to clear them, but that’s a double edged sword in that you’re nerfing your own recovery unless you retreat yourself.

However, there’s loads of other cool toys (some of these were also present on Decidueye but it couldn’t use them as well, however most of these aren’t). Acid Spray becomes an excellent wall breaking tool, with the opponent’s inability to clear the drops, and Flash is an annoyingly viable stall tech for it to use (but hopefully outclassed by more reliable moves). Clear Smog prevents the enemy from trying to setup on it, and Encore can lock the opponent into that setup or using their suboptimal pivot move. Toxic + Venoshock is a great combo for this. While a special set is the most reliable for this, physical sets also have the potential to be scary with Swords Dance and Power Whip if it ends up trapping a mon that can’t threaten it out - however it stays balanced with its low speed tier making it easier to revenge after the trapped mon is killed. It can also reliably run mixed sets with Growth due to its near perfectly even offensive stats and its ability to run bulky investments even in an offensive playstyle. Soak is a more niche addition and can grant it a larger variety of Pokemon that it can take on if it so chooses, but as a Pokemon that already has big choices to make for it's 4 move slot syndrome, Soak has a high enough opportunity cost that Soak + absolute trapping + Grass type isn't quite as broken as it sounds.

Victreebel Tally

Mega Dodrio: BlueRay !!

Mega Dodrio

Ability: Technician

Type: Ground | Flying

New Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 110 → 125 (+15)
Defense: 70 → 125 (+55)
Special Attack: 60 → 70 (+10)
Special Defense: 60 → 70 (+10)
Speed: 110 → 120 (+10)
BST: 470 → 570 (+100)

New moves:
Bone Rush, Triple Axel, Bulldoze, Beat Up

Description:
1) Concept
If three heads act independently from each other and have their own will, imagine what they can do when they all work together and operate in a coordinated manner.

Thus came the idea of Technician Mega Dodrio, which has to rely mainly on uncommon multi-strike moves to become an effective threat. While Pokémon like Ambipom or Cinccino almost never combine their multi-strike moves with Technician due to the inconsistent damage output or a preferred ability like Skill Link in Cinccino's case, this Mega Dodrio has the typing, resilience, and power to pull off these moves pretty effectively.

If you were wondering about the dual Ground / Flying type, it was chosen mostly for competitive reasons. However, it can also be justified flavour wise; in fact, Dodrio are able to survive in harsh living conditions, like Cerulian Cave, Mount Silver or arid areas. Against this background, Mega Dodrio's Ground type can be seen as a natural adaptability to these difficult environments. Moreover, a part of this Pokémon's design is inspired by the kiwi, which is a bird that can detect movements in the ground. This allows it to put its beak into the earth to get their preys, like worms. Furthermore, they dig their burrows to lay their eggs. So, there's a heavy emphasis on its activity on the ground.


2) Competitive
Mega Dodrio is meant to land devastating hits with its multi-strike moves and pull off combos.

Thanks to its Ground / Flying dualtype, bulk, and solid movepool, Mega Dodrio can switch into some of the most common Ground and Flying Pokémon in M4A OU and check them, like Landorus-T, Garchomp, Gliscor, Zapdos or Corviknight. As it's able to force these Pokémon out, it can naturally take advantage of multi-strike moves like Bone Rush several times without having to worry too much about not landing enough hits; after all, if a new Pokémon comes in to take the brunt for the previous partner, Mega Dodrio has another shot to weaken it. This is an advantage both Ampibom and Cinccino do not have as they are too frail to switch into moves and lack a reliable recovery move.

While, in theory, Mega Dodrio could run Brave Bird or Aerial Ace over Triple Axel because of STAB, it likely wouldn't run these Flying moves in Singles. Brave Bird comes with recoil and worsens its bulk, which it actually needs to check certain threats better, like Landorus-T or Garchomp. As for Aerial Ace, it's not very powerful and can miss out on crucial KOs. This is where Triple Axel comes in; it's the best of two worlds. First of all, Technician turns it into a powerful Pseudo STAB that can hit Pokémon like Zapdos or Corviknight, which would otherwise wall Mega Dodrio. Secondly, Triple Axel doesn't come with recoil and hits a wider range of Pokémon than Brave Bird does.

In VGC, Mega Dodrio is able to pull off dangerous combos with Technician; in fact, Bulldoze hits almost as hard as Earthquake and can lower the Speed of grounded Pokémon. Furthermore, its Ground / Flying dualtype makes it an effective partner for Justified users like Terrakion or Cobalion who rely on its Beat Up to accumulate Attack boosts. After all, Ground threatens Fire Pokémon Cobalion is weak to; Flying is immune to Ground and resists Fighting and threatens them, including Grass Pokémon Terrakion is scared of.

But wait, didn't you say Mega Dodrio would prefer Triple Axel over a Flying move? Yes, that applies to Singles. But in VGC where Pokémon prefer STAB moves over coverage moves since a partner can always take care of Pokémon the other can't, a Flying move would become more appealing. The move I had in mind was Pluck, which profits from Technician and can steal your opponent's berry. This is important to note as berries are commonly run in VGC.

Dodrio Tally

Mega Lanturn: okispokis !!

Lanturn-Mega
Water/Electric
Ability: Water Absorb/Volt Absorb/Illuminate-> Alluring Light (While user is active, other Pokemon will be unable to switch out using moves. [Wild Pokemon are unable to flee the battle]*.)
*This second part is just for flavor text.
Stats
HP: 125
Atk: 68 (+10)
Def: 73 (+15)
SpA: 111 (+35)
SpD: 116 (+40)
Spe: 67
New Moves: Recover

Description: This girl's (only female angler fish actually look like this) cuteness may make you forget that angler fish use their light to attract prey, just as Mega Lanturn uses its light to keep Pokemon from leaving the field (unless they hard switch). Shutting down VoltTurn and the like is obviously huge, allowing Lanturn to disrupt momentum while using its own Volt Switch to force positioning, alongside Recover to keep itself healthy throughout a match and Scald to spread burns and shore up physical bulk that otherwise struggles with any serious EQ user. It can further perform a cleric role with Heal Bell, spread dual status with Toxic or Discharge, use all-purpose Ice Beam or even Whirlpool to further screw with enemy positioning.

Lanturn Tally

Mega Obstagoon: Paulluxx !!

Mega Obstagoon
Typing: Normal/Dark
Ability: Rebel-When there is a negative stat change on the field, attacks on the users side of the field deal an extra 30% of damage or a 1.3 modifier to damage
HP: 93
Attack: 90->131(+41)
Defense:101->111(+10)
Special Attack: 60->63(+3)
Special Defense: 81->111(+30)
Speed: 95->111(+16)

New Moves: Foul Play, Stealth Rocks, Wish
Moves Reclaimed at the Border: Frustration, Hidden Power, Toxic

The ability Rebel, brought to you by Blueray:
Since Obstagoon has Defiant pre-mega to punish Intimidate and the use of stat lowering moves like Defog or Electroweb, whether it's in Singles or in VGC, its new ability will expand on this concept.

While stat drops are less common in Singles, Mega Obstagoon can still take advantage of its ability by relying on a partner like Landorus-T who can lowers the opponent's Attack stat with Intimidate and bring in Mega Obstagoon via U-turn. In doing so, Mega Obstagoon can have the advantage over the target, likely forcing it out as a result.
This is where it can shine with utility moves like Stealth Rock or Wish to support the team as you continue to switch in and out until opposing Pokémon get worn down from hazards or you find the right opportunity to strike. What's more, the ability and Wish synergize extremely well with its signature move Obstruct, which protects the user from any move and lowers the target's Defense by 2 stages if it would be hit by a contact move.
This is where Mega Obstagoon can start applying pressure or force the opponent out.

In VGC, Intimidate and stat lowering moves are very common to slow down teams. Mega Obstagoon can make sure your opponent cannot entirely rely on this strategy to stop you as Mega Obstagoon and its ally can hit hard with a damage boost from the former's ability. This could be made even more worse if the ally happens to have an ability like Defiant or Competitive to punish the opponent even more as they would have to pay a hefty price by resorting to the tacticc described above. If the opponent foregoes their approach, you, as a player, still have the option to run Intimidate on an ally or rely on moves like Icy Wind or Snarl, both of which Mega Obstagoon already learns.(Or you can use the priority in baby doll-eyes) This turns Mega Obstagoon into an amazing offensive utility Pokémon.

Now we turn it back to Paul:
Obstagoons ability also meshes with its flavor very well outside of just its name, as rock-stars are typically rebellious and Glam Rock even more than just the typical Rock band having ties with many modern left leaning political movements and cultural expression.
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Obstagoon isn't entirely focused on its ability however, it just supports all the roles it chooses to fit, and Obstagoon can fit on a multitude of teams, expanding on its synergy with Landorus Therian for example, it has the potential to be one of the best Volturn enablers in the metagame, as its speedtier provides much malleability for both offensive and defensive variants and parting shot allows it to keep the chain and bring in other abusers in turn.

If you want to go full defensive you also have access to the very cool Stab Foul play instead of just knock to make progress. Fast bulk up can set up with ease and act as a solid win condition if you would like, and its probably not viable but Obstagoon has a very good special movepool that can likely be used in some way(check how much uninvested rebel ice beam does to opposing Landorus if you don't believe me)


Movepool additions:

Foul Play:
I actually don't understand why Obstagoon doesn't have this, it fits its defensive playstyle extremely well and directly synergizes with most of its competitive aspect, while also making a lot of sense with Obstagoons whole getup of Glam Rocker!


Stealth Rocks:
Badgers are known for being burrowing animals, and I think as well the pun with "rocks" and rock music was too much to pass up. It also synergizes with bases Defiant, and then the Mega's Rebel ability

Wish:
Blue suggested this one to me, and at first I didn't really understand it but as I looked into it more I realized how genius this is, First of all what the base linoone line is focused on and what the Galarian Linoone specifically removed was the move Belly Drum, which cuts your HP in half in return for +6 attack, Wish is a recovery move that looks at HP in a similar way, and heals whatever pokemon in your spot in the field next turn for half of the original users HP. Sometimes forced symmetry is cool :], but it goes further than that, Wish directly synergizes with Obstagoons signature move in Obstruct creating the WishObstruct combo but also parting shot gives the entrant not only an easier switchin but guaranteed healing after.

Obstagoon Tally

We have interesting circumstances here in that KeroseneZanchu's Victreebel and okispokis' Lanturn have functionally the same ability! As I understand it, these two abilities will be combined into the same new Ability, simply called Alluring.

Remember that we have our second Mega Spooky Cup but this time it's VGC coming up! Refer to this post by BlueRay for more details!

We'll be waiting a day or so until we open Slate 39, so please refrain from posting your submissions just yet! That should be open sometime this Friday. In case you missed it, Slate 39 will be a Spooky-themed slate, for Mega Slowking-Galar, Mega Dusknoir and Mega Galvantula! See you then!​

 

[Hematite]

Hellllo, everyone!! I am here with a brief but important announcement for today!

Submissions for Slate 39 are now open!

Submissions for Mega Slowking (Galarian form), Mega Dusknoir and Mega Galvantula are now open!
I plan to follow up with a feedback and veto post at some time on Wednesday, October 27th, which will also serve as the 24-hour warning to make any final changes before submissions properly close at the same time on Thursday, October 28th.

Some important notices on the subject of these Mega Evolutions:​

- The move Teleport may not be added to Galarian Slowking!​

Galarian Slowking is a very prominent Pokémon in the metagame as it is, but it is currently pretty unique and distinct from its fellow Future Sight pivots Slowbro and Slowking (of which Slowbro is actually really prominent in the meta already). Giving it the move Teleport would allow it to run sets that are more similar to theirs and would significantly alter its place in the metagame, which is something we're not super comfortable with for a Pokémon that's already incredibly prominent - regardless of whether it would actually break Slowking, it's kind of against the spirit of the mod to make an addition that would so radically alter a non-Mega Pokémon's functionality (and its Ability alone means that base would likely make better use of the move than any Mega we make, so it's hard to argue that it's being added to help the Mega specifically!), and pivoting in general is a really strong and defining option for a Pokémon with its toolkit.​

If nothing else, we don't want people to have to have non-Mega Galarian Slowking as their priority in voting - giving a tool like this to change its base form's identity would totally mess with the idea that the best Mega is the one that should be voted in!​

With these factors in mind, we have elected to disallow the move completely. Thanks for understanding!!​

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- Some people have brought up the move Bulk Up on Dusknoir, and while we don't necessarily encourage this because it's pretty unusual among Ghost-types anyway, it is a common enough move suggestion that we wanted to draw special attention to it: if you are interested in adding the move Bulk Up to Dusknoir, please be careful with its bulk and know that we will be keeping a closer eye on it!​

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- Similarly, we will be keeping an eye on and leaning away from instant reliable recovery on Dusknoir, although we aren't quite at a consensus on whether some moves may be exceptions (and are aware that similar Ghost-types exist with reliable recovery and other advantages over Dusknoir) so there may be exceptions. If this is something you wanted to add to Dusknoir, mostly just be respectful of the possibility that you may be asked to remove it later and be prepared to justify it well if you must - there may be blanket bans or individual bans later in the slate and we don't want this to catch anyone off guard!​

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- While we've previously allowed, in rare cases, for a move to be added to a Pokémon's pre-evolution (it was popular with Murkrow especially - hey, that was last Halloween!), we want to draw special attention to the fact that this will not be allowed in Dusknoir's case - we will not be adding any moves to Dusclops! This is, quite simply, because Dusclops already outclasses Dusknoir in a lot of cases (and is actually already one of the most recognized Pokémon in VGC, while Dusknoir is... uh... not); plus, unlike Murkrow and Honchkrow, the two are competing a lot more directly for a very similar role.​

It would just be... uh, really, really silly to go out of our way to give Dusclops any more potential advantages over Dusknoir, instead of taking this opportunity to flesh out Dusknoir and set it apart from Dusclops through its Mega.​

This sounds really minor and it almost never comes up either way, but we just wanted to make a point to say "absolutely not" this time. P:​

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- Galvantula is a good spider ::w::​

Lastly, a quick reminder that this year's M4A Spooky Cup is coming up soon, and these Mega Evolutions will ideally be legal in it if all goes well! It's been a bit since we've gotten any patches through, so it's hard to be sure if we can count on it and please keep your expectations in check, but we're hoping the updates will be accepted in time!)
For a reminder, here are the rules of the M4A Spooky Cup for 2021:

Happy almost Halloween, everyone!!! The second M4A Spooky Cup creeps ever closer...!
Setting it apart from last year's version, the M4A Spooky Cup this year is a VGC-based tournament planned to be run by our beloved VGC Leader, BlueRay!

The basic rules are as follows:

- All Pokémon will be level 50 exactly!​

- Players will bring a team of six Pokémon, and they can choose four of them to use in battle at team preview!​

- We will be using an open team sheet like the 15 Ban tournament, meaning you must register your team with BlueRay in advance, and other players will be able to see the Pokémon you've chosen and some information about them! If you plan to participate, please DM BlueRay with a pokepast.es or similar importable when you have a team ready! C:​

- Matches will be in best of three sets, and the format will be double-elimination - VGC matches are quite a lot shorter and faster-paced than 6v6 Smogon singles ones, so this makes sure everyone gets more time to play!​

More importantly, though... it's not a Halloween tour without some Halloween spirit!! Only Pokémon that are certifiably spooky can be used in the M4A Spooky Cup!!
Here's a complete list of Pokémon that will be allowed in the tour, for your convenience:

Allowed Pokémon

The following available Pokémon either already have Mega Evolutions or are planned to gain them from slates before the date of the tour:








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The M4A Spooky Cup also has its own validator on DH near the VGC formats, so you can easily make sure your team is accepted right in the usual teambuilder!

Have fun, everyone!!

The M4A Spooky Cup will be taking place at 20:00 GMT on Saturday, the 6th of November, 2021!
You can also refer to this post by BlueRay for full details!

That's all for this evening - have fun, everyone! We can't wait to see your submissions for slate 39!​