Approved by Eevee General and The Immortal
Meta Man is an OM that takes inspiration from the Mega Man series. In the original NES games, you gain access to the armor and weapons of defeated robot masters. These "power-ups" then stick with you for the rest of the game. Now, if you swap out "armor" for "ability" and "weapon" for "move," and you've got this meta! Your opponent's strengths could become your own -- and vice versa!
Bans: OU banlist (for now)
Clauses: OU clauses
Mechanic: When a Pokemon faints, the opposing Pokemon replaces its current ability with the fainted Pokemon's and gains its last-used move in a new slot (for up to 9 total moves). These changes last the entire match. If a Pokemon faints before using a move during the match, no move is gained by the opponent.
Example:
Here's how this mechanic might play out, in a match-up of Life Orb Tornadus (assuming a Mega Venusaur teammate) versus a Choice Specs Keldeo:
Bans: OU banlist (for now)
Clauses: OU clauses
Mechanic: When a Pokemon faints, the opposing Pokemon replaces its current ability with the fainted Pokemon's and gains its last-used move in a new slot (for up to 9 total moves). These changes last the entire match. If a Pokemon faints before using a move during the match, no move is gained by the opponent.
Example:
Here's how this mechanic might play out, in a match-up of Life Orb Tornadus (assuming a Mega Venusaur teammate) versus a Choice Specs Keldeo:
Implications:
For one, Pokemon that get kills gain more options over the course of the match. Pokemon that lack setup, coverage or recovery might gain these moves from their fallen foes. On the other hand, you might gain something useless, like Swords Dance on a special sweeper.
Additionally, the ability stealing mechanic both encourages Pokemon with terrible abilities (like Archeops) and discourages Pokemon that only succeed based on their broken abilities (like Azumarill), while leaving the Pokemon with just-okay abilities the opportunity to possibly do better. Something like Regigigas doesn't become instantly great like it does in metas that let you change the ability straight up -- you still need a kill (which is easier said than done). However, you have both a chance at redemption as well as the opportunity to sandbag your opponents by dying and passing off your ability. Meanwhile, Pokemon like Mega Medicham not only risk losing their ability if they gets a kill, but they also risk giving its ability up to an opponent.
In the end, the agency rests with the player -- if you don't want your opponent to take a certain move, you can stall by using a less-useful one before you fall. If you want to nab a certain ability on your late-game sweeper, predict the sac of that 'mon to Stealth Rock and double switch in to nab it.
Indeed, a sac becomes a much more meaningful action than in standard. Imagine this scenario:
- You have a banded Scizor (on the field) and mega-evolved Diancie in the back, both at full health
- Your opponent has a Mega Tyranitar, also at full health, as his last
- You know for a fact that it has Fire Punch and EQ, along with likely DD + STAB
Unlike a lot of OMs, this meta is rooted strictly in the gameplay and isn't especially theorymon-heavy. However, I think its easy to see the potential craziness that can ensure from this OM, like a revenge-killer that has a total of nine moves by the end of the game, or an ability/move getting swapped back and forth between teams across the match.
Q&A:
Q: Why don't you gain the affects of all the abilities you've taken, not just the most recent one?
A: There was too much potential for bugs, abuse and insane snowballing, with one Pokemon possibly having the abilities of most of its enemies and even most if its teammates if their abilities had already been stolen. Multiple ability metagames have also been historically difficult to code.
Q: If you gain Hidden Power, what type is it?
A: The type your IVs are set to, not the opponents. This is how it works for Ditto, etc.
Q: What happens if the opponent faints through passive means (Toxic, weather, hazards, etc.)?
A: You still gain the effects as long as you're on the field. This means even passive teams can benefit from the mechanic.
Q: If you defeat a Pokemon with Trace, how does that work?Q&A:
Q: Why don't you gain the affects of all the abilities you've taken, not just the most recent one?
A: There was too much potential for bugs, abuse and insane snowballing, with one Pokemon possibly having the abilities of most of its enemies and even most if its teammates if their abilities had already been stolen. Multiple ability metagames have also been historically difficult to code.
Q: If you gain Hidden Power, what type is it?
A: The type your IVs are set to, not the opponents. This is how it works for Ditto, etc.
Q: What happens if the opponent faints through passive means (Toxic, weather, hazards, etc.)?
A: You still gain the effects as long as you're on the field. This means even passive teams can benefit from the mechanic.
A: Trace will remain your permanent ability (unless you defeat another Pokemon), but it will activate once your opponent sends out a new Pokemon to trace their ability. If you switch out, though, you retain Trace.
Q: If a Pokemon used a move earlier in the game, but not immediately before it fainted, do I still inherit that move?
A: Yes. It doesn't matter when or how a Pokemon used a move -- as long as it has one PP missing, you take the most recently used move.
Go onward, Super Fighting Robots! Save the world!
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