What's this
Many of us who play NU feel as though there is some untapped power within the NU environment. There is substantial evidence for this idea in the form of one commonality for most tiers, NU included: there always seems to be one or more new-fangled, hyped up sets that weren't originally main-stay or seen as "viable" by the community, but somehow has taken the metagame by storm. This can be seen in DPP OU (with Special Lucario transitioning to SD Lucario, Heatran eventually running items other than Choice Scarf, and the influx of ChestoRest Kingdra) in ADV (with the vaunted TyraniBoah now becoming almost an urban myth in comparison to Special and DD Tyranitar, and the increasing popularity of SupeRachi) and in BW OU (with the advent of SubSalac Terrakion, SubDisable Gengar, and ChestoRest Volcarona). Yes, some of these sets may have been found early on with respect to the creation of the tier or fairly recently, the point is, though, that there seems to be an endless supply of effective and potent sets out there yet to be discovered, especially factoring in metagame swings and the possible tier shifts. The purpose of this project will be to systematically subject each and every NU Pokemon to a collective body of research in an attempt to uncover these "hidden gems", so to speak, and hopefully spark some creativity throughout the NU community.
The Process
Each week, I will choose a different NU Pokemon, sometimes chosen by random, sometimes chosen by curiousity, of which participants will try to personally create a new set for that is not already on-site or in the process of being put on-site. Participants will be given 2 days to create their set, then there will be 2 days of discussion where they can "sell" their set, and give comments on how to improve others' sets. After that, voting will last for two days and the next round will start. Keep in mind that users can edit their entire idea before voting starts, however, during the voting period only their most recent set will count and all votes towards said user apply to their most recent set. Also, if you've created a set for that round, you are allowed to vote for another user (other than yourself) if you wish to. Once the votes are tallied and a winner is crowned, the set will be archived in the second post and the process will start all over again for the next Pokemon specimen.
What are we looking for?
Specifically, I want to stress the importance of the balance between creativity and viability when picking a set to post for the Pokemon in question. There's a very fine line between a "creative" set and a "gimmick", and this project is not meant to produce gimmicks, rather emphasize the ability to think outside the box when using a specific Pokemon in order to maximize it's potential. Having said that, I would also like to deviate from simple one move / item changes. For example, using Ground Gem over Leftovers on Golem does nothing to show any untapped potential Golem has because we already have a basic understanding of what Golem does. The same goes for using Thunder Wave over Signal Beam on CM Musharna, it doesn't yield productive discussion or results for the project. I am looking for sets that test what we think we know about checks or counters, so-called standards, and what it means to be viable. Maybe a particular option for a Pokemon looks inferior at first glance for that particular Pokemon, but dig deeper and try and find what it might mean in the big picture, for the entire team.
Some things to consider:
- What is thought to "counter" this pokemon?
- Is there anyway to bypass this pokemon's so-called "counters?
- What moves are seldom used on this pokemon, but have the most upside?
- What niches can this pokemon potentially fill in the current metagame?
- What opposing pokemon does this pokemon do well against?
- How can this pokemon benefit its teammates?
ROCK
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