Pet Mod UmbreMons - Post Slate 3 (Playtesting)

[BlueRay]

Below, my vote. It was very difficult to settle on the six moves and adjustments I like the most because there were so many amazing ones. I'd suggest resubbing some of them.

Vote

Moves

- Nature Power
- Poison Gas
- Thunderclap | comment: Basculegion needs to be nerfed a bit, and Thunderclap can help a bit and force people to rely less on Kingambit. Also, Mega Eelektross can now put some real pressure and boost one of its offensive stats much easier.
- Laser Cut
- Astonish
- Quick Throw / Boomerang Throw | comment: funny and interesting

Abilities

- Rattled
- Infiltrator
- Aerodynamism
- Screen Cleaner
- Magic Warp

Items

- Safety Goggles
- Mirror Herb
- Loaded Dice

Adjustment

- Slurpuff
- Umbreon by Aquatic Panic
- Mega Glimmora
- Trevenant
- Gholdengo | comment: fascinating
- Gengar (SV)

 

[analysis geek]

Moves
Crafty Shield, Misty Step, Dragon Cheer (SV), Return, Stormy Descent, Knuckle Duster
Abilities
Snow cloak/Sand Veil, Reverberate, Screen Cleaner, Aerodynamism, Magic Warp, Steely Spirit
Items
Safety Goggles, Mirror Herb, Rocky Helmet, Voice amplifier, Eject Pack, Wise Glasses
Adjustments
Aromatisse(cat111ca), Absol, Ampharos, Stunfisk, Elemental monkes, Basculegion-M

 

[Rasdanation]

Apologies, I had accidentally excluded koista's Astonish from the sub comp. It's now there, and is a perfectly valid voting option!

 

[cat111ca]

Moves
Misty step (SV), Voltage swipe, Knuckle Duster, Fury Cutter, Stormy Descent, Split Crusher
Abilities
Unbothered, Sandclock, Snow Cloak / Sand Veil, Screen cleaner, Battle Armor / Shell Armor, Aerodynamism
Items
Focus Band, Loaded dice, Weather Vane, Speeding Ticket, Voice Amplifier, Eject Pack
Adjustments
Aromatisse (SV), Pidgeot (SV), Trevenant, Mega Ampharos, Basculegion-M, Gliscor.

 

[lydian]

moves:
upper hand (lydian - sv), mat block (lydian - sv), thunderclap (pqrdg), return (lysion), prevailing wind (hematite), sky drop (hematite)

abilities:
reverberate (lydian - sv), protean / libero (lydian - sv), sandclock (aquaticpanic), snow cloak / sand veil (rasdanation), magic warp (ausma)

items:
safety goggles (lydian - sv), pucuasu / muracan berry (lydian - sv), mirror herb (yoshiblaze)

adjustments:
basculegion (lydian - sv), aromatisse (lydian - sv), umbreon (aquaticpanic), trevenant (lysion), gholdengo (lysion), stunfisk (denebstargazer)

 

[Gekokeso]

Moves
Wonder Room & Co(SV), Toxic Thread (SV), Dragon Cheer, Leaf Tornado, Laser Cut, Astonish
Abilities
Snow cloak/Sand Veil, Unbothered, Grim Energy, Sandclock, Screen Cleaner (SV), Rattled
Items
Eject Pack, Safety Goggles, Loaded Dice, Shed Tail, Rocky Helmet, Voice Amplifier
Adjustments
Gliscor, Gengar, Slurpuff, Palafin, Ampharos, Aromatisse(cat111ca)

 

[Swagodile]

Moves
Voltage Swipe, Aqua Tail (SV), Astonish, Misty Step, Knuckle Duster

Abilities
Unbothered, Battle Armor/Shell Armor (SV), Steely Spirit, Aerodynamism, Sandclock

Items
Clear Amulet, Muscle Band/Wise Glasses (SV), Loaded Dice, Voice Amplifier, Speeding Ticket

Adjustments
Scrafty, Trevenant, Mega Ampharos, Elemental Monkeys (SV), Gliscor

 

[PQRDG]

Moves: Crafty Shield, Poison Gas [sv], Thunderclap [sv], Misty Step, Return, Astonish
Abilities: Unbothered, Rattled [sv], Infiltrator [sv], Steely Spirit, Aerodynamism, Screen Cleaner
Items: Safety Goggles, Mirror Herb, Rocky Helmet [sv], Eject Pack [sv], Loaded Dice, Clear Amulet
Adjustments: Basculegion-M, Slurpuff, Palafin, Glimmora-Mega [sv], Steelix-Mega, Gholdengo

 

[Hematite]

moves:
Split Crusher, Thunderclap, Knuckle Duster, Quick Throw / Boomerang Throw, Prevailing Wind (SV), Laser Cut (SV)

Abilities:
Grim Energy, Rivalry, Sandclock, Aerodynamism, Screen Cleaner, Magic Warp

items:
Safety Goggles, Mirror Herb, Counter Gain, Voice Amplifier, Rocky Helmet, Shed Shell

adjustments:
Palafin, Heliolisk, Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Mega Absol, Aromatisse (cat111ca), Trevenant

 

[BumbleOfAces]

Hello BumbleOfAces kind of you to show up!

Glad to!

Moves
Split Crusher, Static Slash / Shattering Shot, Fury Cutter, Fisticuffs, Astonish, Nature Power

Items
Muscle Band | Wise Glasses, Eject Pack, Rocky Helmet, Mirror Herb, Voice Amplifier, King's rock

Abilities
Sandclock, Snow Cloak / Sand Veil, Long Reach, Screen Cleaner, Magic Warp, Rattled

Adjustments
Stunfisk, Gengar, Simisage | Simisear | Simipour, Palafin, Heliolisk, Dedenne | Emolga | Morpeko

 

[Lysion]

Moves
Thunderclap, Prevailing Winds, Return (SV), Quick Throw / Boomerang Throw, Laser Cut, Sky Drop

Items
Loaded Dice (SV), Safety Goggles, Rocky Helmet, Voice Amplifier, Mirror Herb, King's Rock

Abilities
Magic Warp, Unbothered, Sandclock, Aerodynamism (SV), Screen Cleaner, Grim Energy

Adjustments
Gengar, Trevenant (SV), Gholdengo (SV), Heliolisk, Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Palafin

Too many good subs and too little voting slots, what a tragedy

 

[Rasdanation]

Moves
Static Slash / Shattering Shot (SV), Knuckle Duster (SV), Misty Step, Wonder Room & Co., Stormy Descent, Laser Cut

Items
Mirror Herb, Pucuasu Berry / Mucutan Berry, Rocky Helmet, Focus Band, Voice Amplifier, Loaded Dice

Abilities
Snow Cloak / Sand Veil (SV), Sandclock, Screen Cleaner, Magic Warp, Infiltrator, Reverberate

Adjustments
Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Slurpuff, Trevenant, Aromatisse (cat111ca), Drampa-Mega, Basculegion-M

 

[Rasdanation]

Yoshiblaze AquaticPanic DenebStargazer ausma koista12 Mintly

About 10 hours remain for voting!

 

[koista12]

Moves
Split Crusher, Twineedle / Dragon Darts, Misty Step, Astonish (SV), Laser Cut, Prevailing Winds

Items
Counter Gain, Voice Amplifier, Speeding Ticket, Utility Umbrella, Focus Band, Weather Vane

Abilities
Unbothered, Rivalry, Sand Clock, Screen Cleaner, Magic Warp, Aerodynamism

Adjustments
Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Aromatisse (cat111ca), Scrafty, Trevenant, Stunfisk, Ampharos-Mega

 

[Yoshiblaze]

Moves
Split Crusher (SV), Return, Nature Power (SV), Stormy Descent, Storm Throw, Laser Cut

Items
Focus Band (SV), Mirror Herb (SV), Voice Amplifier, Rocky Helmet, Loaded Dice, Shed Shell

Abilities
Unbothered (SV), Grim Energy (SV), Protean / Libero, Aerodynamism, Magic Warp, Sandclock

Adjustments
Palafin (SV), Slurpuff (SV), Absol / Mega Absol, Glimmora / Mega Glimmora, Scrafty / Mega Scrafty, Ampharos / Mega Ampharos

 

[Samtendo09]

Moves
Static Slash / Shattering Shot, Thunderclap, Return, Wonder Room & Co., Stormy Descent, Laser Cut

Items
Mirror Herb, Pucuasu Berry / Mucutan Berry, Speeding Ticket, Utility Umbrella, Voice Amplifier, Loaded Dice

Abilities
Snow Cloak / Sand Veil, Unbothered, Screen Cleaner, Magic Warp, Reveberate, Rattled

Adjustments
Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Slurpuff, Trevenant, Aromatisse (cat111ca), Drampa-Mega, Basculegion-M

 

[liviifailure]

Moves
Astonish, Thunderclap, Knuckle Duster, Leaf Tornado, Prevailing Wind, Storm Throw

Abilities
Sandclock, Rattled, Infiltrator, Snow Cloak | Sand Veil, Aerodynamism

Items
Pucuasu Berry | Mucutan Berry, Rocky Helmet, Speeding Ticket, Shed Shell, Loaded Dice

Adjustments
Gliscor, Slurpuff, Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Trevenant, Mega Steelix, Mega Ampharos

 

[ausma]

Moves
Astonish, Upper Hand, Split Crusher, Prevailing Wind, Return, Sky Drop

Abilities
Magic Warp (SV), Sandclock, Rattled, Sand Cloak / Sand Veil, Steely Spirit, Rivalry

Items
Safety Goggles, Mirror Herb, Rocky Helmet, Loaded Dice, Speeding Ticket, Focus Band

Adjustments
Basculegion-M, Glimmora / Mega Glimmora, Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Scrafty / Mega Scrafty, Steelix / Mega Steelix, Absol / Mega Absol

 

[Mintly]

Moves
Voltage Swipe (SV), X-Scissor, Astonish, Return, Dragon Cheer

Items
Rocky Helmet, Loaded Dice, Clear Amulet

Abilities
Rattled, Magic Warp, Screen Cleaner

Adjustments
Ampharos-Mega (SV), Stunfisk, Slurpuff, Glimmora-Mega, Trevenant

 

[AquaticPanic]

Moves
Prevailing Wind, Stormy Descent (SV), Astonish, Storm Throw, Laser Cut

Abilities
Reverbrate, Aerodynamism, Magic Warp, Infiltrator, Sandclock (SV)

Items
Rocky Helmet, Mirror Herb, Picnic Basket, Pucuassu / Mucutan Berry, Loaded Dice, Voice Amplifier (SV)

Adjustments
Gengar, Basculegion-M, Absol-Mega (SV), Umbreon (SV), Ampharos-Mega, Stunfisk

 

[DenebStargazer]

Moves
Upper Hand, Dragon Cheer, Prevailing Wind, Crafty Shield, Storm Throw, Sky Drop

Items
Rocky Helmet, Safety Goggles, Loaded Dice, Mirror Herb, Eject Pack, Voice Amplifier

Abilities
Protean/Libero, Sandclock, Aerodynamism, Magic Warp, Reverberate, Snow Cloak/Sand Veil

Adjustments
Stunfisk (sv), Basculegion-M, Ampharos-Mega, Glimmora-Mega, Umbreon (AquaticPanic), Scrafty

 

[Rasdanation]

shoot uh I lost track of time

voting's closed

results soon

 

[Rasdanation]

WINNERS​

Moves

Move: Astonish
Type:

Category: Special
BP: 20
Acc: 100
PP: 10 (12)
Effect: Lifts the target's Protect status before hitting
Flags: Contact, Priority
Priority: +2
Potential Pokémon With This Move: (probably NOT ,, , or )
Description:
Feint is an interesting move, but has somewhat poor distribution and a mediocre typing. Astonish's Ghost typing flips the script compared to Feint, making Ghost types vulnerable to it while Normal types have nothing to fear. As I was advised on Discord, Astonish is 10 BP lower than Feint to compensate for its better offensive typing, and I've tried to be flavorful with the distribution while not giving the move to the top-tier Ghost types of Champions. Still, the distribution is just a large working list and I trust the council will have a better grasp on what should and shouldn't get this move.​

Laser Cut (Steel / Special)
75 BP / 100% acc / 12 PP

Becomes a physical move if that will deal more damage. (works like Shell Side Arm, not Photon Geyser)​

If the opposing team is protected by Reflect, Light Screen or Aurora Veil, this move is always a critical hit.​

(slicing move)​

Potential distribution:
(main standouts)
(I would somewhat prefer NOT to put this on Archaludon, but otherwise, I'm in favor of adding this to pretty much any Steel-type or Sharpness user!)

Justification:

Spoiler

Okay, so the idea here started from wanting a move that was dedicated to punishing screens - specifically a Steel-type move because it's super effective on both Grimmsnarl and Mega Froslass. (It's also a nice excuse to run an attacker with a positive matchup into Mega Floette!)
In particular, I like the dynamic that Grimmsnarl can use a targeted Parting Shot to weaken Laser Cut if it hasn't set screens yet, but the move crits (and bypasses Parting Shot drops) if Grimmsnarl set screens first. That means Grimmsnarl can choose to weaken just the Laser Cut user with Parting Shot or set screens to weaken its ally, but it's impossible to do both.

In a neutral situation, the 75 BP of Laser Cut is (intentionally) slightly less than the 80 BP of Iron Head and Flash Cannon, and not every Steel-type is built to take advantage of the Shell Side Arm effect;
there are plenty of Pokémon that will pretty much always end up doing damage in one category or the other because their offenses are too specialized.
Since those are the go-to Steel STABs for most Pokémon, I didn't feel right making it 100% power-creep them!
This way, slotting in Laser Cut as a main STAB is just a choice you can make to punish screens and avoid contact-punishing effects, but it's not the only viable Steel STAB or anything.

That said, it is a particularly cool buff to the handful of Steel-types with relatively even offenses, like Lucario and Mega Lucario, Aegislash and Hisuian Goodra (plus maybe Hisuian Samurott, since Sharpness gives it pseudo-STAB on Laser Cut?).
For these users, it can easily end up outperforming a set that had committed to either Iron Head or Flash Cannon by adapting to target the lower defense,
and more importantly, it adds flexibility to get around Intimidate debuffs, opposing Calm Mind buffs, and even the -2 Sp. Atk from Hisuian Goodra's Draco Meteor - even more so with the conditional crit mechanic!
(Incidentally, the crit effect can also work with Gholdengo's Make It Rain if we want it to have this.)
I think this is a really fitting extension of the move's base premise of teching around defensive support, and I always like to make mechanics that add value to mixed offenses! Laser Cut should be viable on offensive Steel-types in general, but I really like that the handful of mixed offensive Steel-types can make better use of it than the rest of the type.

In tandem with its inherent "support-piercing" effects, it's also worth bringing up that some of Laser Cut's potential users can combine it with even more specific layers of tech for different kinds of defensive support:
Mega Skarmory has Stalwart to get around redirection; Aegislash is naturally immune to Fake Out; thanks to Stalwart and Inner Focus, base Lucario can pick between either of those (with the added bonus that Intimidate doesn't stop Inner Focus Lucario from going after a weaker Defense stat); and Competitive Empoleon can severely punish both Intimidate and Parting Shot.
All around, while it's a pretty straightforward move to use, I'm really interested in the variety of implications it has on different users, and just the idea that even a move with fairly unimpressive power in a vacuum could become so threatening to teams that rely on defensive support.

(Flavorfully:
I came up with the effect of the move first, but it seemed like it should have light-based flavor in order to interact with screens, and "Laser Cut" seemed super easy to justify as both a physical move and a special move.
Plus, Steel-type special moves tend to be related to light, like Mirror Shot and Flash Cannon, and a laser sounds appropriately high-tech for a Steel move!)

Name: Return
Power: 102
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 20
Category: Physical
Type: Normal
Effect: No additional effect.
Priority: 0
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Same as canon
Potential Pokémon With This Move: Every single one (bar )
Justification: Normal-type Pokémon got hit very hard with Return and Frustration disappearing. Well Return makes a... return! Physical Normal-type Pokémon appreciate having a good and reliable STAB (Lopunny-Mega, Kangaskhan and its mega, Snorlax...), and -ate megas appreciate it the most. Feraligatr-Mega, Pinsir-Mega, and Glalie-Mega finally have a good STAB option other than mere Body Slam (at least Feraligatr has Double-Edge, which isn't the case for the other 2...)

Prevailing Wind (Flying / Special)
65 BP / 100% acc / 16 PP / +3 priority

Makes the target flinch. This move fails if the target isn't about to use a wind move.​

(also counts as wind-based itself)​

Potential distribution:



(this is mostly just a hodgepodge of Flying-types, Tailwind users and birds that I wasn't actively afraid to buff; there's plenty of leeway at council discretion)

Justification:
Functionally, this is a clone of Upper Hand, but instead of targeting physical or special priority moves, it targets any wind moves.
Although that sounds like a small pool of options, it's surprisingly significant against almost every archetype right now!

The biggest highlights are that you can use this to punish Heat Wave, Blizzard, Hurricane, Icy Wind or Tailwind -
in particular, that means it functions like a Wide Guard sidegrade against Mega Charizard Y and Froslass,
and it also blocks Pelipper's Flying STAB and keeps your team safe from two prominent forms of Speed control.

Incidentally, this is hardly as important as blocking Tailwind, but it's also super effective on Whimsicott!
Prankster Tailwind is a bit notoriously low on counterplay, so I think adding a move like this will have positive long-term effects as well (Tornadus will hate it P:).

I also think this would be cool in tandem with Lysion's Aerodynamism!
If Prevailing Wind happens to catch on, some of the less powerful Tailwind setters like Mega Pidgeot and Noivern would be able to stand out by being immune to it, making them more reliable at getting "unblockable" Tailwind off

Abilities

Name: Sandclock
Effect: Under Sandstorm, user skips Charge and Recharge turns. Immunity to Sandstorm damage. (note: this also causes solar Beam to not have its damage reduced in Sand)
Permanent: No
Mold Breaker: No?
Potential Pokémon With This Ability: ()
Justification: Sand is currently a somewhat inflexible weather with not that many good abusers. This lets a few Pokémon ramp up their damage quite fast with Meteor Beam while also having a few non-Rock/Ground abusers to help Sand's matchup into other weathers. Starmie is fast and has lots of coverage, Armarouge gets to fire off Solar Beams for coverage against Waters and has cool utility in Wide Guard, Aurorus is not good but has STAB Meteor Beam and Rhyperior can spam Rock Wrecker

(RESUB)
Name: Magic Warp
Effect: For as long as the user is active, Magic Room will be active.
Permanent: N/A
Mold Breaker: N/A
Potential Pokémon With This Ability:
Justification:
Magic Room is a very unique effect with a lot of potentially unique and powerful synergies, but is critically held back by extremely inconsistent activation conditions. You usually want it to expire at a very specific time, but you have to wait 5 turns and perfectly position within it or spend a turn both activating and deactivating it, folding tempo.

A primal-style activation condition addresses pretty much every issue around Magic Room that limits its viability. You can choose very deliberately when to end it without ceding momentum, while also keeping your opponents on their toes about when their item could or couldn't be active. It's a way to punish teams that are extremely reliant on them and also another mode to build your team around. This could also possibly encourage the usage of double Mega Pokemon that are both active on the field, or with Delphox/Starmie, create some interesting chemistries with their Mega forms due to Magic Room turning off Focus Sash and Choice Scarf.

Meowstic I suggested Opportunist for, but I think an ability like this would make a lot of sense for them due to their "warping" thematics shown in PLZA, while also pairing extremely well with their statline and utility profile. Access to Fake Out and each Meowstic's Pre-Mega ability could have really fun interactions with a Mega Evolution that activates Magic Room. Prankster utility coming out vs. Fake Out vs. a raw deactivation of items is a particularly unique situation to exert pressure with.

Mr. Rime I wanted to throw a bone for truthfully, but I think removing items could be a fun reference to how Mr. Rime's inspiration in Charlie Chaplin was one of the original movie stars, and... well, items didn't exist before. Mr. Rime also brings Fake Out and Trick Room to the table simultaneously which is a pretty cool move combo to encourage.

Name: Aerodynamism
Effect: This Pokemon's Wind moves do not miss. Wind move immunity.
Permanent (Yes or No): No
Mold Breaker (Yes or No): Yes
Potential Pokémon With This Ability:
Justification: This ability comes from Glacemons, but I was curious to test it in a metagame that is Doubles based. It should be strong, as it grants a Wind move immunity (so Blizzard, Hurricane, Heat Wave etc), while also allowing for wind move spam. It gives a much needed buff to Pidgeot-Mega, and I'm unsure about who else could get it.

Name: Screen Cleaner
Effect: On Switch-in, remove all screen effects from both sides of the field. If a screen gets removed, gain +1 Special Attack.
Permanent (Yes or No): No
Mold Breaker (Yes or No): Yes
Potential Pokémon With This Ability: Current Distribution +
Justification: Grimsnarl is my favourite mon in this regulation, but even I have to admit it can be pretty annoying. Screen Cleaner being on more stuff than mime helps counter act the screens, and now also gives the users a boost to deal extra damage. You can even break your own screens to get a free special attack boost (To clarify, you only get 1 special attack boost from multiple screens being removed).

Name: Snow Cloak / Sand Veil
Effect: While [Snow / Sand] is active, grants the defensive benefits of the weather to self and allies, if they aren’t already receiving them. [Sand Veil also grants immunity to sand chip to self and allies]
Permanent (Yes or No): No
Mold Breaker (Yes or No): Yes
Potential Pokémon With This Ability: Prior users + /
Justification: These abilities always get reworked, and for good reason. I wanted to use the abilities to help expand the overall usefulness of their respective weathers, being ways to provide their defensive benefits to off-type allies, or additionally in the case of Sand Veil, granting immunity to allies who normally would be damaged by the weather.

Name: Unbothered
Effect: This Pokemon ignores its own stat stages when taking or doing damage.
Permanent (Yes or No): No
Mold Breaker (Yes or No): No
Potential Pokémon With This Ability:()
Justification: Spiritual successor to JolteMons Optimistic, which prevented a mon from lowering its own stats, we have this that kinda has the same idea but also ignores stats dropped by the opponent in return for not allowing the user to set up. Obvious synergy with Draco Meteor or Superpower and the like is obvious, but it's also generally good for physical attackers to bypass Intimidate, or anything to bypass Parting Shot.

Name: Rattled
Effect: This Pokemon's Speed is raised 1 stage if hit by a Bug-, Dark-, or Ghost-type attack, or when a stat is lowered by a foe.
Permanent : No
Mold Breaker: No
Potential Pokémon With This Ability:
Justification: Conveniently I selected a handful of Pokemon that mostly can Mega Evolve. While "Defiant but for Speed" might be a bit too strong, taking the effect of Rattled (including raising Speed from Intimidate) and applying it to any other form of stat drop gives these slower Pokemon some interesting tools pre-Mega so they can benefit from that increase Speed upon Mega Evolving. The rest mostly get it for flavour, though a handful could still use it effectively if given the right opportunities.
Edit: This becomes interesting for moves like Parting Shot, where the move typing and resulting stat drops result in giving a +3 Speed to a Pokemon hit by the move.

Items

Name: Loaded Dice
Effect: Holder's moves that hit 2-5 times hit 4-5 times; Population Bomb hits 4-10 times. (Same as canon)
Can Be Knocked Off (Yes or No): Same as canon
Ignored by Klutz (Yes or No): Same as canon
Fling Power & Effect: Same as canon
Justification: Loaded Dice is an item I really appreciate. Dragon-type Pokémon like Dragonite or Garchomp appreciate having Loaded Dice for Scale Shot sets, and it's also a huge buff to Rapid Fire that came out slate 1.

Name: Mirror Herb (RESUB)
Effect: When an opposing Pokemon raises a stat stage, the holder copies it. Single use.
Can Be Knocked Off (Yes or No): Yes
Ignored by Klutz (Yes or No): Yes
Fling Power & Effect: 10 BP
Justification: I can finally use Intimidate Incineroar and Arcanine in peace with all these Kingambits and Annilhilape and Mega Staraptors and ESPECIALLY Mega Falinks around.

View attachment 843851
Name: Voice Amplifier
Effect: User's sound-based moves hit both opponents and causes hit targets to wake up. This also causes them to have Spread Move reduction, and be blocked by Wide Guard/Massive.
Can Be Knocked Off: Yes
Ignored by Klutz: Yes
Fling Power & Effect: 60 BP. Target wakes up
Justification: Niche item that could allow for more utility and more offensive potential with moves like Psychic Noise, Parting Shot and Alluring Voice. Also makes for an interesting option on Skeledirge specifically. Added failsafe so that we don't end up with Dark Void Wigglytuff.

Name: Rocky Helmet
Effect: When hit by a contact move, attacker loses 1/6 of their max HP.
Justification: Another choice of item to allow physically defensive Pokemon to have tools to handle physical attackers.

Item: Safety Goggles
Effect: The holder is immune to powder moves and taking damage from weather
Description: While less situational without as many amazing sleep users on the meta, having Lum Berry as your sole counterplay option against the likes of Venusaur and Vivillon just feels horrible, not every team can afford Mega Raichu X either, and it feels like good future-proofing. This item also opens the door to ignoring powerful redirectors in Sinistcha and Mega Scovillain. I think it's very important to have as well

Adjustments

Name: Umbreon
Type:

Abilities: Synchronize / Inner Focus
New Moves: Howl, Trick Room, Lunar Blessing
Justification: Umbreon is a decent mon on its own, thanks to its high bulk and disruptive movepool, but lacks in ways of directly supporting allies. These few moves allow it to be better at that role, while also improving at endgame scenarios where it is trying to take down opponents through Toxic. Lunar Blessing also plays nicely with Synchronize, letting it reflect a status condition and then cure itself. Lastly, it becomes one of the bulkier Trick Room setters while being immune to flinching from Fake Out or disruption by Prankster

Name: Trevenant
Type: Ghost/Grass
Abilities: Natural Cure/Grassy Surge/Harvest
New Moves:
Removed Moves:
Justification: After a bit of brainstorming on Discord, we reached the conclusion that Trevenant was certainly the best Pokémon for Grassy Surge. Terrain war is upon us with Musharna (and Malamar-Mega to a certain degree) making PsySpam undisputed, with the only other Terrain setter being Raichu-Mega-X. Now, Trevenant allows to make it fairer.

So, why Trevenant, exactly? For multiple reasons. It has a great movepool (with Grassy Glide, Poltergeist, Trick Room, Will-O-Wisp, Ally Switch, Wood Hammer), and a Ghost type that is very useful, allowing it to be immune to Fake Out, but also hitting Psychic types (Musharna) for super effective damage with Poltergeist. Do note that, while it wins against Musharna, it loses against Malamar-Mega, making this an interesting dynamic. Rillaboom is not a concern yet, but Trevenant does have tools to set it apart from Rillaboom, which is a nice bonus.

Pokémon: Basculegion-M
Abilities: Swift Swim / Reckless / Mold Breaker
Description: I considered nerfing Last Respects but this felt slightly more interesting. I don't think it should come as a surprise that the power of Basculegion-M is so absurdly insane on a format with this power level, it has a ridiculous stronghold on the format, and I think, is the main driving force behind that ridiculous 70% Kingambit usage we've seen in NAIC, so I think it's very clear that its Last Respect needs to be nerfed in some way, so this was my solution. replacing Adaptability with Reckless encourages users of Basculegion-M to use it in rain for the speed control or face the drawback of losing 10% power on its Wave Crashes and 25% power on its Last Respects. But you don't have to settle for that because Basculegion-F keeps Adaptability Last Respects, losing 12.2% power on all moves assuming 32+ Atk investment, which should be enough to done down its obscene meta dominance. Here are some calcs for comparison:

• 32+ Atk Adaptability Basculegion-M Last Respects (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Typeless Mew: 114-136 (65.1 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 32+ Atk Adaptability Basculegion-F Last Respects (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Typeless Mew: 100-118 (57.1 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 32+ Atk Basculegion-M Last Respects (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Typeless Mew: 85-102 (48.5 - 58.2%) -- 96.88% chance to 2HKO
• 32+ Atk Adaptability Basculegion-M Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Typeless Mew: 136-162 (77.7 - 92.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 32+ Atk Adaptability Basculegion-F Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Typeless Mew: 120-142 (68.5 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 32+ Atk Reckless Basculegion-M Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Abomasnow: 123-145 (70.2 - 82.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Name: Ampharos-Mega
Type:

Abilities: Dragonize
New Moves: Hyper Voice, Weather Ball, Electro Shot
Justification: Mega Amphy is a decent mon with a unique type that unfortunately has an ass ability and an even more ass movepool. she gets zilch in terms dragon moves and her strongest one is Dragon Pulse. lets fix that by making her a good spammer in trick room or rain.

Name: Slurpuff
Type:

Abilities: Sweet Veil / Thick Fat / Unburden
New Moves: Belly Drum, Stomping Tantrum, Overheat, Encore, Disable, Howl, Final Gambit, Heal Pulse, Stuff Cheeks, Electro Ball
Removed Moves: N/A
Justification: Health Pack got added and Sneasler is already somewhat a demon with it, so we're letting the other Unburden mon in on the fun. Slurpuff already gets a lot of strong utility to abuse with its infinite speed like String Shot, Yawn, After You, and Fake Tears, and now you add in stuff Encore, Disable, Howl, Heal Pulse, and Final Gambit and this thing can really be nasty, like a different shade of. Stuff Cheeks, Overheat (with White Herb), and the return of Belly Drum make for alternate Unburden activation options. Oh, and Electro Ball is an anime reference that also can be a stronger Thunderbolt with Unburden activated, depending on the target.

Tally

Do note we've updated the cutoff system slightly. If council determines winners are too sparce or too plentiful in a category, we can increase or lower the cutoff by 1

With that, we can begin a short discussion phase as council discusses the distribution of the winning moves and abilities. You can talk about the metagame impacts you think all the winners will have, give distribution suggestions and prepare submissions for the upcoming Slate 2. Expect distribution to be announced in about a day's time!

 

[cat111ca]

Y'all practically veto my submission knowing it can't be resubmitted. Smh

 

[analysis geek]

My Thoughts

Rain gains an new option in ampharos-mega. Its gonna be interesting to see how strong it stab electro shot will be coming off of a big spatk stat and cant be redirected even by lightning rod which is big.
Trevenant seems pretty cool with its movepool and fake out immunity also helps with the psyspam running around (looking at myself here).
Umbreon seems like another viable option for trick room; bulky enough to stay alive to set it up; has an option for a flinch immunity and a lesser relevant intimidate immunity (its not very strong regardless); prankster immunity is good as most taunt users outside of like aerodactyl are usually prankster users; and finally, it can boosts its allies attacks with howl and clear their status with lunar blessing. overall a good utility mon addition to the meta.
Basc-m nerf hurts it most people are gonna probably go with basc-F now for adaptability and if they do keep basc-m its gonna be swift swim.
Slurpuff seems cool idk if it be good or not but could be an option if you dont want sneasler and it fits a different defensive profile.
Now for items i'm most excited for these 4 returning to the tier: Safety goggles, Rocky Helm, Mirror Herb, and Voice amplifier(new). The first three dont need much introduction most people who play vgc know what they are for. as for Voice Amplifier, we discussed in discord the various applications: enables metal sound and screech strats, round strats, and some less known moves could maybe be used like echoed voice and noble roar. Loaded dice seems cool idk which mon would run it but could enable some multihit users. Multihit moves are also relevant cause they can bypass the various sash users in the tier.
I like the move additions particularly Return and Laser cut; Return give normal types a good physical stab again and laser cut being a good option against screens.
Lastly for abilities: I liked Sandclock, Snow cloak/Sand Veil. All seem like good abilities that will help some lesser used mons. I'd suggest keep the Sandclock distrubution moderate even though it requires sand. Reasoning being we don't want a bunch of mons throwing off high bp stabs and non-stab moves off fairly decent to high attacking stats with no drawbacks besides like accuracy. In any case, Snow cloak/Sand veil seem like really good suppport abilities for sand and snow so we might see some more of those teams become relevant in the meta.

Note: Keep in mind i haven't been playing VGC/Champions that long so take everything i say here with a grain of salt.