What If? - Alternate Timelines (AT #6 - Electric/Dark Miasmaw: Stats + Art for AT Raja 2 Voting)

What if the joker was Yellow and Black???

Electric dark does a few fun things to address the concept of shutting down Pivoting moves, namely absorbing Future sight so future port is less effective, and resisting volt switch. However it is still weak to u-turn so that is potentially a problem. If we are to "shut these down" then a few specific routes could work.

Direct contact punishment such as Effect Spore, static, rough skin, or even something like Toxic Debris (though it didn't exist in gen 8) would be effective.

Electric immunity like Volt Absorb, Lightningrod, or Motor Drive could definitely work, though it doesn't do anything for u-turn.

Power boosts to punish switching could also work like our current hot topic Electromorphis (though it didnt exist back then), Analytic, Rattled, or Stakeout. SImilarly defensive boosts like Stamina could work though we've already used it before.

My favorite option here is Stakeout as it explicitly punishes the pokemon coming in, leading to a more offensive anti-pivot strategy instead of shutting down the actual pivoting pokemon through something like NGas
 
Gonna put Stakeout forward.

Electric/Dark was a type put forward when the main pivot to worry about were the Teleporting Slowtwins. The current meta is run rampant with fast U-turn users, a move which we are now weak to. Neutralizing Gas was chosen to counter the slow Regenerator pivots at the time, but Stakeout instead targets the faster pivots by scaring them out of easily U-Turning thanks to the threat of doubled damage on a switch-in. This especially makes our matchup with Dragapult(the best pivot/mon in the tier) incredible, as it struggles to hit AT Miasmaw but is also nervous to U-Turn into a Stakeout-boosted hit.
 
I interupt the flow to deliver the rest of flavour.
YamiTheYin said:
Flavor time
View attachment 684254
Terrarimit (Terrarium + Hermit)
The Gardener Pokemon
Steel/Grass

Based on terrariums, hermit crabs, and Guardener from Undertale Yellow.
Click to expand...
Abilities: Hyper Cutter / Emergency Exit | Sturdy (HA)
1 Vise Grip
1 Leafage
6 Metal Claw
9 Hone Claws
15 Smack Down
21 Razor Leaf
27 Spikes
33 Strength Sap
39 Flash Cannon
46 X-Scissor
53 Leaf Blade
60 Crabhammer
66 Chloroblast
72 Guillotine
Egg Group: Mineral, Bug
Ancient Power
Block
Entrainment
Metal Burst
Synthesis
Wide Guard
TM001: Take Down
TM005: Mud-Slap
TM006: Scary Face
TM007: Protect
TM018: Thief
TM020: Trailblaze
TM021: Pounce
TM025: Facade
TM028: Bulldoze
TM031: Metal Claw
TM033: Magical Leaf
TM035: Mud Shot
TM036: Rock Tomb
TM043: Fling
TM047: Endure
TM051: Sandstorm
TM055: Dig
TM056: Bullet Seed
TM057: False Swipe
TM058: Brick Break
TM061: Shadow Claw
TM062: Foul Play
TM066: Body Slam
TM070: Sleep Talk
TM071: Seed Bomb
TM080: Metronome
TM081: Grass Knot
TM082: Thunder Wave
TM083: Poison Jab
TM084: Stomping Tantrum
TM085: Rest
TM086: Rock Slide
TM087: Taunt
TM088: Swords Dance
TM089: Body Press
TM090: Spikes
TM092: Imprison
TM093: Flash Cannon
TM099: Iron Head
TM101: Power Gem
TM103: Substitute
TM104: Iron Defense
TM105: X-Scissor
TM111: Giga Drain
TM119: Energy Ball
TM121: Heavy Slam
TM128: Amnesia
TM130: Helping Hand
TM131: Pollen Puff
TM134: Reversal
TM137: Grassy Terrain
TM150: Stone Edge
TM152: Giga Impact
TM156: Outrage
TM159: Leaf Storm
TM163: Hyper Beam
TM167: Close Combat
TM168: Solar Beam
TM170: Steel Beam
TM171: Tera Blast
TM179: Smack Down
TM180: Gyro Ball
TM185: Lunge
TM186: High Horsepower
TM190: Solar Blade
TM191: Uproar
TM194: Grassy Glide
TM199: Lash Out
TM205: Endeavor
TM209: Muddy Water
TM219: Skitter Smack
TM220: Meteor Beam
TM223: Metal Sound
TM224: Curse
TM225: Hard Press
TM229: Upper Hand
 
It totally hasn't been almost a week since the last post...no no no...

Seems like we got ourselves a small (but mighty) slate! So as to not warp the voting, I did leave Neutralizing Gas off so here is the slate!

 Download
Stakeout

Voting will end in ~20 hours! Then we shall move onto defining moves!
 
With exactly double the votes of its competitor, Stakeout shall be AT Miasmaw's ability!

Now onto the defining moves! As a reminder, here is Miasmaw's original concept
Pipotchi said:
  • Name - Roadblock

  • Description - A Pokemon that excels at slowing down, punishing or otherwise disrupting the opposing team's pivoting strategies.

  • Justification - This is a Target concept, we are looking to shut down Teleport, U-turn, Volt Switch strategies in the meta, as well as targeting the abilities and items that enable them. Right now, Teleport has come to dominate the metagame, and the advent of Heavy Duty Boots and new Regen pivots has taken U-turn/TP on certain mons to a new high. Kril is also just as frustrating as before, spamming Volt Switch among others. Furthermore, pivoting goes beyond just moves- Toxapex, Tomohawk and Equilibra are well-known pivots that act as a mid-ground between 2 pokemon, usually scouting and sponging a hit before switching to something more appropriate.

  • Questions To Be Answered -
    -In what way(s) does pivoting most commonly manifest in the CAP meta?
    -What typings, abilities and items allow specific mons to become the strongest pivots, and how can we target these?
    -What do our target Pokemon gain from pivoting? Are they focused more on scouting information, sponging attacks, or dealing damage?
    -Is it possible to dissuade or even block pivoting attacks like U-turn using reactionary methods?
    -What are the difference between the direct methods and indirect methods of preventing pivoting, and which is appropriate for each target?
    -Do offensive or defensive playstyles work best for preventing different styles of pivoting?
    -Is it better in the current to create a blanket check to pivots, or a more tailored response to a few key pivoting mons/strategies?

  • Explanation -
    I think it always helps to do a meta-centric concept, and right now I think this concept targets what currently shapes the metagame. Pivoting feels very different than it did in previous generations, moving away from the scarf U-turners and the fear of Pursuit and into a new, strange, HDB Teleport era, and it would be good to explore that. I think Syclant, Toxapex, Tomohawk, Slowtwins/Regenspammers and pink blobs make up an incredibly diverse range of targets to pick and choose from, which should leave our concept feeling very multi-dimensional and create a lot of different avenues throughout the discussion.
    Whats also interesting about this concept is it has a wide range of possible scope. Its damn hard to stop a U-turn user from pressing a button and pivoting around, especially if its already on the field- however, creating a mon that shuts down the utility of Slowking and Toxapex would be a lot more achievable. Both are valid routes, and it would be great to see discussion for both and lay out a reasonable scope at the beginning.

    To give some unique examples of how this concept could go, Defiant Bisharp is a good example of an anti-pivot Pokemon as Tomohawk cant come in and Intimidate it. Metronome is an item that builds up damage if the opponent relies on midground Pokemon like Toxapex to scout the attacks. NGas Weezing-G stops the important Natural Cure aspect of Blissey when it tries to switch out, and Arghonaut can Circle Throw to stop mons like Cinder and Syclant from getting a switch into whatever they want. There are a ton of other options on top of these!
Click to expand...
And there is something interesting that I found out looking through the archives which is that there wasn't a Defining Moves thread for ST Miasmaw so therefore we will just reference the concept when discussing defining moves. Specifically mention how they relate to executing its concept and have fun. I will probably give this step a solid 48-72 hours before we move onto stat submissions. Have fun!
 
once again interrupting my thread with my flavor submission for AT Raja 2!
IMG_5747.png

Calcelium
The Fungal Jaw Pokemon
Ghost/Fairy

Inspired by Bleeding Tooth fungus and the tooth fairy!
 
SV pivoting looks quite different from SS. In SS a lot of the time games could be decided by who was able to keep up a pivoting vortex the longest.

While this certainly still exists in SV, games play differently (idk how to describe it but actions on both sides often feel more abrupt and reactionary, whereas SS had a kind of slower flow to it)

-In what way(s) does pivoting most commonly manifest in the CAP meta?

As with most metas pivoting can mean quite a few different things.
Obviously you can distinguish between offensive and defensive pivots and between the methods of pivoting (using pivoting moves offensively like Meow/Pult/Cinderace/ to chip opponent and keep momentum or using pivoting moves defensively to serve as a buffer for offensive teammates like Gking, Alomomola or Lando T or using typing, raw bulk and recovery to weave in and out of battle like AV Gking/Libra/Gliscor/Argh/Venom or Ting Lu.)
One incredibly important component to this in SV even more than it was in SS is keeping the hazard resilience of teams in tact.

Given the typing, serving to dissuade offensive pivots like Pult, Meow or Rilla, seems hard to achieve especially since we're weak to Uturn.
The Pult Matchup might also depend on stats and what offensive bias it has, since AT Maw does threaten it with SE STAB.

That leaves this with threatening more defensively inclined pivots, something that this typing paired with stakeout is already perfectly positioned to do.

The typing does leave a weird question of what stat bias wed prefer, but for the moment it seems more like a bonus than a hindrance.
Also wrt Stakeout im glad that being part electric and possibly mixed, means that running choice items is pretty awkward unless we give out a pivoting move other than Volt Switch.

So without further ado let's see what moves are good for this:
Stabs already Target Alomomola, Gking, Arghonaut, Venom, Corviknight, Skarmory, Cresceidon and Pult, which sets this up for am excellent breaker against defensive cores, especially since Stakeout Knock Off heavily cripples natural switch ins like Ting Lu, Libra and Tusk.
Removing boots and lefties from ground types while paired with strong hazard setters is also a great way to progress the game in SV.
The main hindrance to this are Gliscor and Lando T, which I think make sense to preserve as solid switch ins given the potency of Stakeout on a Mon that forces switches vs half the tier on typing alone.
For reference (literally just morpeko):

-1 252 Atk Stakeout Morpeko Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 186-219 (48.6 - 57.3%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Stakeout Morpeko Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 244 HP / 36 Def Gliscor: 204-241 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal

So honestly wrt to coverage I'd be happy to limit this to just Physical and Special STABs.
So Knock, Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse, Wild Charge, Tbolt, Volt Switch.
 
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