CAP 21 CAP 21 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

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HeaLnDeaL

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Okay everyone, let's get this show on the road. As of this policy thread we are starting up this more traditional Concept Submission thread in place of the concept workshop. The concept stage for CAP 21 will from here on out be run as it was during CAP 19 and earlier. Submissions made in the concept workshop, and especially those that were approved, can certainly still be considered for CAP 21, though they will need to be re-posted here. With that said, if there is such a concept that you like, and you did not submit it yourself, please talk with the original submitter first before posting it here, as they should have the right to make the submission if they so choose.

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As a result of this policy thread, is has declared that CAP21 will have a Mega Evolution in addition to a base Pokemon. While there is no need for a concept to specifically call out a mega evolution in order to be valid, please keep this in mind while making submissions, as a concept that is not suitable for a mega evolution project will not be selected. For example, a concept requiring the use of a Choice Scarf or other held item will not be slated.
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This is where we discuss the general goal of the next Create-A-Pokemon project -- CAP 21. The Concept will be a guiding force throughout the ensuing project, to ensure the the final result is a cohesive competitive Pokemon. Any discussions, suggestions, or submissions in later topics, that do not support the spirit of the Concept, will be moderated by the moderators.

Concepts must be presented as high-level descriptions of a general idea. They cannot be detailed Pokemon designs. Since we have polls to determine each aspect of the Pokemon, we cannot allow any specific features of the Pokemon to be determined by the details of the Concept.

We intentionally have many rules regarding Concept Submissions. If you are not prepared to read and understand all the rules, then don't bother making a submission. These rules are made to help narrow the field of concepts down to those that have been carefully designed. This is not meant to be easy for everyone -- a good, legal Concept requires a lot of thought and careful wording.

The following rules must be followed when submitting a Concept:
  • One submission per person. You may edit your Concept, but you may not change the fundamental premise after it has been posted. If editing your concept, please edit the original post instead of posting a new revision. Do not bump your Concept after you have posted it. If people do not comment on it, so be it.
  • Do not duplicate or closely-resemble Concepts already posted by others. It is your responsibility to read through all previous submissions in this thread to ensure you are complying with this rule. Ignorance or laziness is not an excuse.
  • Specific Pokemon types or type combos cannot be included or excluded in a Concept.Nor can other characteristics of the Concept specifically result in in the inclusion or exclusion of Types. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
    "This is a Fairy pokemon with..."
    "The pokemon should be immune to Ghost attacks..."
    "The pokemon should have at least 7 resistances..."
    "The pokemon should get STAB on Thunderbolt.."
  • Specific Abilities are not allowed.This applies to existing abilities and new abilities. Do not attempt to circumvent this rule by mentioning specific battle effects that can only be achieved by the implementation of an ability. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
    "This pokemon should have a defensive ability like Intimidate or Marvel Scale..."
    "This pokemon has an ability that steals the opponent's held item..."
    "When this pokemon is switched in, all weather conditions are nullified..."
  • Movepools or lists of moves are not allowed. A specific move can be mentioned if it is the basis for the entire concept. For example, the Concept "Rapid Spinner" would obviously mention the move Rapid Spin.
  • Specific stat bias, base stats, or base stat ratings are not allowed. It is acceptable to use descriptive phrases like "fast", "bulky", "strong attacker", etc -- since there are a variety of ways a pokemon can fit those descriptions without specifically requiring certain stats. But, do not use overly-specific descriptions that would narrowly constrain the pokemon's base stat spread.
  • Indications of Physical/Special bias are discouraged, but acceptable if it is essential to the Concept.
  • Do not refer to any part of the pokemon's artistic design. For example, the following phrases would be illegal:
    "This is a bright blue pokemon..."
    "The pokemon looks like a..."
    "The pokemon uses its long tail to..."
  • A Concept Submission must be submitted in the proper format. The format is described below. If the proper format is not used, the moderators will not evaluate the submission, regardless of content.
  • CAP Projects are made for the OU Metagame: Concepts specifying other metagames or formats (such as UU, Doubles or the CAP Metagame) are illegal.
Concept Submission Format
Use this format for all concept submissions:

Here is the format with tags. Just copy/paste this into your post, and fill it out:
Code:
[B]Name:[/B] (short name)
[B]General Description:[/B] (See rules below. No more than a sentence or two here.)
[B]Justification:[/B] (See rules below.)
[B]Questions To Be Answered:[/B] (See rules below.)

[B]Explanation:[/B] (Whatever you want to say here.)
Name - Don't get too clever with the name. If the essence of the concept is not intuitively obvious in the name, then you are hurting your chances of people understanding it. If the essence of your concept cannot be expressed in a few words, then you need to seriously re-evaluate your concept.

Description - This is the official description of the concept, and must follow ALL the content rules listed above. Do not make this a long description. Long descriptions are invariably too specific or too convoluted. Keep it short. Any more than a sentence or two is TOO MUCH. Do NOT include your Explanation of the concept in the Description. See "Explanation" below.

Justification- A few sentences describing how the concept satisfies one or more of the following:
Has a positive effect on the metagame (e.g Fidgit’s Pure Utility)
Allows us to learn more about the metagame (e.g Tomohawk's Momentum)
Introduces a new niche in the metagame (such as Mollux's Extreme Makeover: Typing Edition)

Do not make up your own categories for justification. If you cannot justify your concept against at least one of the three requirements above, then your concept is illegal for the CAP project.

Questions To Be Answered - The purpose of the CAP project is to learn new things about the metagame, and each concept submission is a proposed "experiment". List out a few interesting competitive questions that should be answered after properly implementing your concept. At the conclusion of the CAP project, these questions will be revisited to see how well we implemented the concept. If your questions are not significant, relevant to your Justification, and well-written -- then your concept will be rejected.

Explanation - This can contain just about anything. This is where you can explain your concept without restraint. You may make suggestions, even specific suggestions, regarding the possible implementation of the Concept. This explanation should help facilitate discussion of the Concept -- but the Explanation is NOT part of the Concept and will be omitted from the polls and any future use of the Concept. Since your explanation is non-binding, regarding future polls and threads, it will not be evaluated for purposes of determining if your concept is legal or illegal.

It is the submitter's responsibility to figure out how to make a legal submission within the rules listed above. Do not complain about the difficulty of making a submission in this thread. There are many, many legal concepts that can be presented within the rules. Here are few examples of good and bad Concepts from previous projects:

Good Concepts from Past Projects
"Pure Utility Pokemon"
"Anti-Ghost Rapid Spinner"
"True Garchomp Counter"
"Great Lead Pokemon"
"Ultimate Weather Abuser"
"Status Counter"

Bad Concepts from Past Projects
"Ice-Resisting Dragon"
"Super Luck User"
"STAB Explosion Glass Cannon"
"Auto-Stealth Rock Remover"
"A Pokemon with Special Intimidate"
"Pyrokinetic Pokemon (Fire/Psychic)"
"Special Guts"
"Typing Means Nothing"

Here's a sample of a legal Concept post:

Korski's Concept from CAP12 (Tomohawk) said:
Name: Momentum

General Description: This will be a Pokemon that can be utilized to gain or regain momentum for a player's team at any point in the match as its primary function.

Justification: Gen. 5 is a very powerful metagame. As such, most battles are won by the smarter strategist who can best maneuver around his/her opponent's onslaught to gain even a single turn's advantage, potentially clinching them the match. This process of gaining and regaining momentum is most often the defining element that makes a winner and a loser out of a single Pokemon battle. Any top player in this metagame should agree that momentum is the most crucial element in any given match; however, "momentum" itself is a rather vaguely defined term that is never really explored in concrete terms. Is it keeping opposing teams on the defensive? Forcing switches? Good prediction? Spamming U-turn? These have all been approaches to achieving momentum, but they are also player-side and largely synonymous with "strategy," as opposed to Pokemon-side and regarding a Pokemon's role on the team. Certainly there are threats like Ferrothorn/Gliscor (defensive) and Scizor/Latios/Voltlos, etc., etc. (offensive) that can achieve momentum as we know it, but there is no current niche for a "momentum Pokemon" because the concept has been purely delegated to players and not to Pokemon.

Questions to be Answered:
-How do we define momentum in terms of competitive Pokemon? What factors make current Pokemon able to achieve momentum and how can we incorporate that information into a successful CAP?
-How do different styles of play (Weather-based offense, stall, bulky offense, etc.) use momentum to achieve their goals and how can our CAP play to those strategies in an effort to take their momentum away?
-What type of traditional role (sweeper, tank, wall, support) would a Pokemon like this most resemble? Would it have to be able to fit more than one of these roles to fit in a variety of teams?
-How will the different playstyles be affected by the addition of a Pokemon that can regain offensive/defensive momentum at any given point? Will offensive teams play more conservatively? Will defensive teams play more recklessly? Will everything simply adapt to a new threat and move on normally?

Explanation: This concept should teach us just as much about the metagame during its creation process than through actual playtesting, especially in the Concept Assessment, where the community should be looking to the metagame as a whole to analyze how successful teams and players gain, regain, and maintain momentum. Since momentum has largely been defined at the discretion of the battling community and takes many forms, so too could this CAP. Scizor, Blissey, Skarmory, Magnezone, Celebi, Jirachi (Celebi and Jirachi are great examples, due to their versatility), Heatran, Balloon Heatran, etc. can all achieve momentum according to their strengths, yet all are very different. Now, I'm not about to suggest that this CAP should be able to check everything in the metagame; that's not the goal here. What it should be able to do, though, is pose a reasonable threat in some manner to a good chunk of the metagame, enough to make opponents think twice about staying in or at least think very hard about what to switch into this Pokemon. A Pokemon with almost no offensive presence can do this just as well as a blunt instrument kind of Poke.

Please try to remember that we are simply pointing the project in a general direction. We are not trying to decide anything right now. We have several weeks of polls ahead of us where EVERYTHING about this Pokemon will be dissected, discussed, voted, and decided. The Concept is a very basic guide for the creation process. It is hard to provide solid concept descriptions without basically designing the entire Pokemon right off the bat. Submissions should be written and chosen very carefully, to avoid these problems.

Best of luck!
 

jas61292

used substitute
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Hey everyone. Its great to be back here starting a new project off again. As was the case the last time I lead this project, I really just want to start with a very general sense of what I want to see in concepts. I'm not really looking for any one particular type of concept, and other than the fact that we need it to work with a mega evolution, I'm pretty open to anything. The key for me is that the concept show that it brings up interesting things to discuss.

If you were around for the Malaconda project you might remember me talking about the questions part of concepts in nearly everything I said during the concept stage, and that probably won't be that different here (and if you were not around then, the process archive is a great resource). I still consider the questions to be possibly the most valuable part of a concept for proving that it has potential to spark discussion. So, again, I'd like to say that really what I am looking for are concepts that bring up questions that are about much more than simply the results of the concept, and are designed to help lead the discussions we will have throughout.

As we move on through this thread, I will try and respond as much as I can. While I won't guarantee a small paragraph response to every submission like I did last time, I will do as much as I can to give comments and advice.

That's all I have to say for now, so lets get this thing going.
 
Name: I Use My Own Weather, Thank You Very Much

General Description: A Pokemon that, in its base form, viably sets up weather, going on to utilize that weather more effectively as a Mega

Justification: With the advent of Generation VI, weather has suffered a great nerf due to its shortened effects. However, a Pokemon that sets weather in its base form and then takes advantage of it as a Mega bypasses this crucial flaw by eliminating the need to switch for the weather to be beneficial, allowing the weather to see more use by saving time. In this way, we can learn how a Pokemon and its Mega Evolution can complement each other optimally, with either one being a good Pokemon on its own, but together forming a single great force to be reckoned with.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • How can we make the base form most effectively support the Mega?
  • How can we limit the power of this Mega so that it does not become an extremely centralizing force that cannot be stopped with reasonable opposition?
  • How many possible ways can a Pokemon abuse weather, especially outside of abilities that boost stats in weather?
  • What could motivate this Pokemon to stay in base form for a reasonable amount of time as opposed to having it take advantage of weather immediately?
  • Is it possible to only viably set weather in the base form without using a weather inducing ability or making this Pokemon too similar to Swampert?
  • How would the Mega form be able to overcome the fact that its base form can only provide it with a helpful boost once?
  • Does a certain weather condition require that a select type needs to utilize it for full viability? (Example: Can a Pokemon that isn't Steel/Rock/Ground benefit from the sandstorm condition?)
  • Which combination of weather and ability or other method of weather abuse is most able to stop some of OU's most popular Pokemon while being stopped by less common ones?
  • Would creating a Pokemon that abuses weather well in this generation force people to try using odd counters (Would this create a Gastrodon Effect)?
  • Following with the above two questions, to what extent could one Pokemon that abuses weather bring down top threats while bringing up rarer ones?
Explanation: Really, this concept was inspired by the fact that I wanted to think of a way that we would fully benefit from creating both a base form and a Mega. In this way, it would bot be a waste of time to create both of them, as both would be fully usable and the Mega would benefit from the base form. Additionally, this would force the base form to be the one that provides great team support, meaning there is a legitimate reason to not immediately Mega Evolve. Therefore, this project would allow us to learn a great deal about the pros and cons of Mega Evolving, something we don't get to do very often because most Pokemon, outside of a few circumstances (like Charizard not turning into Charizard X to avoid Ground moves) benefit from immediately Mega Evolving.

One example of a theoretical Pokemon that this concept could apply to is a Fighting type Hail setter that becomes a Fighting/Ice type as a Mega. Such a Pokemon could, as a Mega, abuse Hail by using a perfectly accurate STAB Blizzard that would take out Flying types that otherwise stop it, forcing the player to think carefully about when to take advantage of this. This also shows that the Mega form would not need an ability that boosts with the weather to be successful; the Mega merely has to take advantage of weather's effects in some way.

I know I haven't been very specific with my concepts in the past, but this time I really wanted to point out a way we could make both the base and the Mega great Pokemon in their own right, and this way seemed to make sense. Naturally, we would need to prevent this Pokemon from being overpowered, but we still need to make it a powerful force.
 
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Empress

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Cool I can re-post this.

Name: Last Act of Defiance (dammit nyttyn this name was so much more awesome)

General Description: A Pokemon that is defined by its use of the move Parting Shot.

Justification: Parting Shot is another move that's pretty amazing on paper, but its true usage has yet to be fully explored because it's only available to Pangoro. Pangoro isn't the most viable Pokemon in OU, and when I've used it in OU and in other tiers, I have found myself clicking an attacking move more often than not. With the optimal Parting Shot user in the OU metagame, we may be able to tap into this move's potential and figure out how it is best utilized. Maybe CAP 21 will be a pivot that aims to keep up offensive momentum. Maybe it'll use the move like it would use Memento to help a teammate use a boosting move. Maybe it'll do something completely different.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Whether it's pivoting, offensive momentum, Memento-esque support, or something else, what is the "ideal" way to use Parting Shot? Why?
- Considering Pangoro rarely finds the time to use the move, how much should a Pokemon be willing to sacrifice another offensive option for Parting Shot?
- What makes Parting Shot different or similar from Volt Switch and U-turn?
- Pangoro is definitely not the ideal Parting Shot user, so what does the ideal user look like?
- What strategies, whether they be certain Pokemon, playstyles, or other factors, will rise to prominence to combat a Parting Shot user?

Explanation: Not a whole lot to say here. Parting Shot is relatively unseen, yet it still ostensibly has a variety of uses. We could make this mon a fast offensive momentum-builder that fits on VoltTurn teams. We can make this mon a supporter that can Parting Shot into your team's win condition. There are many, many ways to go about this concept using just this one move. It would teach us a lot about Parting Shot and introduce a brand new niche in the metagame, which are two things that the CAP Project strives for.
 

HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
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Name: Extreme Makeover: Typing Edition (Resubmitted) Originally by Theorymon.

General Description: A Pokemon who's typing, while normally considered poor defensively and/or offensively, becomes a strong selling point of the Pokemon itself via help from its ability, stats, and/or movepool.

Justification: There are a lot of typings we scoff at on a daily basis because of their serious flaws, often forgetting about their strong points—for example, the Ice typing is good offensively, but awful defensively. Instead of just accepting that some typings will just ruin a Pokemon, this CAP concept aims to take that "terrible typing", and find ways to fix it (usually via ability, movepool, or stats) to the point where the formerly terrible typing becomes the CAP's strong point. The reason this CAP could benefit OU is because a Pokemon who makes a "bad typing" into a great one could find many unique offensive and/or defensive niches that aren't currently found.

Questions To Be Answered

  • What does it take for a Pokemon to overcome its "bad typing" so much that its typing becomes an asset to it?
  • How does a typing makeover for 6th generation compare to 5th gen? We all know the obvious type chart changes, but can the typing makeover still reveal new subtleties into the playstyle of different typings? Having this concept twice potentially offers us a unique chance to compare the typings of two different generations, so what comparisons will be made?
  • How will this affect the teams CAP21 is on? Will this Pokemon's niche and the combination of the traditionally "bad typing" require CAP21 to be heavily supported before it can become a threat, or will it offer CAP21 a unique position that lets it be a key team member that executes a collective strategy, or will this be the kind of Pokemon that is the glue that holds the team together?
  • How does the typing makeover affect the Pokemon's playstyle? Does the Pokemon become a unique wall that uses its makeover to overcome its typing's normally fatal flaws, does the makeover make a terrible offensive typing into a fearsome sweeper, does the makeover make it into a formidable combination of defense and offense to a typing that brings it neither, or does the makeover bring forth something none of us see coming from the typing? A lot of these questions are completely dependent of the specific direction that is taken, but whatever the direction, the typing's influence on the role can be analyzed.
  • Which resistances and immunities are the most relevant to the current metagame (and which weaknesses are the most harmful)? While this question as first seems rudimentary, how can the typing makeover shake up the current view on the usefulness of certain typings and change our perspective?

Explanation: First and foremost, this concept was originally done back in 5th gen as CAP14 Mollux, but now that we've moved on to the 6th generation of Pokemon, the typing chart has some notable changes and therefore I find this concept relevant once again. I have tried to update the original concept to better match 6th gen and to trim down some things and make it fit into the style of contemporary CAP concepts a bit better.

From Theorymon's grand explanation that I am making more concise here, there is absolutely one thing that needs to be stressed; this concept is NOT making something like Volcarona or Ho-Oh that are good despite their typing, but rather the concept aims to make the typing itself not nearly as bad as before, and if at all possible make it good in its own right. Each type has benefits and flaws, and even a “bad” typing can try to capitalize on its strengths and become much closer to a “good” typing.

In gen 5, Steel and Poison were among the worst offensive types (but were great defensively). In gen 6, one of the potential problems is that these types are not as poor in the offensive department anymore. However, I think it's important to note one part of Theorymon's original description; the chosen typing can be poor offensively, defensively, or both. While gen 6 has a greater equilibrium among the types offensively, I'd say that many types are still poor defensively. Perhaps taking a defensive route could work if this concept were chosen again. However, I don't want to say that offensive options are completely off the table. If we're forced to nail out poor offensive types, I think Psychic has fallen a fair bit since Fairy encroached on its part of its turf. Dark may have gotten a super boosted Knock Off in gen 6, but if you exclude Knock Off then it is also notably less impressive. And of course Normal is there as always. Of course I don't want to waste time here and list every possible poor offensive or defensive type, but hopefully this illustrates that there are options at least.

Theorymon also listed Tyranitar as a Pokemon that, in conjunction with its igh stats and ability that helps its Rock typing, is able to make up for many of its typing weaknesses. In the current OU, Tyranitar still might be the Pokemon that best matches this concept even in 6th gen. To me, Tyranitar is a passable example, but I still don't think of it as a perfect 1-to-1 with this concept (due to its crazy stats and that its typing never seemed to be a huge defensive problem except against fighting types) and that there's still room for CAP to fulfill it in more complete sense. I think we still have some room to explore :)
 
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Name: Counterrevolution

General Concept:
A lead that can effectively counter Rapid Spinners, Brick Breakers, and Taunters, allowing for riskier strategies to become more viable.

Justification: Many interesting and alternative strategies have been made impossible due to foiled setup. As someone who suffered with a BellyPass team for several months, I can safely say that some of the riskier teams are simply too easily torn down to have a place in the standard metagame. If our CAP offered a means to counter the counterleads, then we could find a lot more variety and intrigue in matches.

Questions to be Answered:

-How can you effectively counter established counterleads?

-What strategies are best supported by this Pokemon, and if this remains undecided, how can we make it versatile enough so that more strategies can be formed around it?

-Will our CAP be employing its own hazards or setup? If so, is it viable to equip it with lesser used ones such as Heal Block or Sticky Web?

-How can we find a common weakness of counterleads to exploit?

-How can we make it so that it can strongly counter dominant strategies without making it become part of a new dominant strategy?

Explanation: I think its very easy for the metagame to fall into using the same set of strategies. I feel especially that Rapid Spinners and Brick Breakers can make it more difficult to have the Defensive capability necessary for high risk strategies to be employed. There's a sense of a push toward more disconnected teams, where the support is less in play. I think this could add a lot of versatility and, more importantly, variety into the metagame. I always think its nice to stir the pot once in a while, especially if we can discover strategies that could work in other, more hefty metagames.
 

WhiteDMist

Path>Goal
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Guess I have to repost this, but a bit more updated to address what was discussed in the discussion thread.

Name: Toxic Spike Supreme

General Description: This Pokemon would be a viable Toxic Spikes setter that can at least threaten some common Toxic Spikes removers and, by extension, make Toxic Spikes as a move more effective.

Justification: As OU is oriented towards offense and balance, the effects of just a single layer of Toxic Spikes will have a significant effect on the battle. The difference between Toxic Spikes versus Sticky Web, Spikes, and Stealth Rock is that Toxic Spikes will inflict the status on the opponent, which will stay with the opponent even if they remove hazards from the field. There are few viable grounded Poison-types in usage, so it is already unlikely that Toxic Spikes will be removed that way. It simply means that focusing on common Defoggers, namely the ones that hover over them, are the main priority; Pokemon that block Toxic Spikes, namely Magic Bounce Pokemon, are also high priority to deal with. While there are still Toxic Spikes setters in OU (Dragalge and Scolipede), they are more often used for their offensive prowess as they have few methods of deterring the removal of Toxic Spikes. A setter that does deter Toxic Spikes removal may prove to bring Toxic Spikes to the forefront.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Can a single Pokemon defy the current metagame and bring Toxic Spikes to prominence?
  • How can a single Pokemon effectively deter the common methods of the removal of Toxic Spikes.
  • Very few Toxic Spikers lack a Poison-typing, which hinders many of them. With the freedom to choose, how will typing affect the ability of this CAP to set up Toxic Spikes reliably?
  • Can Toxic Spikes become a prominent aspect of the metagame if this CAP is successful?
  • What other nuances separate Toxic Spikes from the other entry hazards?
  • With Steel-types being prominent, can Toxic Spikes even be effective?
  • What is the fine line between creating a Pokemon that can deter common Toxic Spikes removal methods, and creating something that simply invalidates the aforementioned removal methods completely?
  • Unlike other hazards, Toxic Spikes has more difficulties due to grounded Poison-types, Steel-types, Flying-types, Levitators, and the other general forms of hazard removal/deterrents. How can this CAP deal with some of this effectively?

Explanation: Toxic Spikes are so undervalued despite their level of effect. Stealth Rock is arguably more crippling short term, but Toxic Spikes inflicts a status condition rather than just damage, which cannot be removed as easily. So if a hazard remover switches in and gets hit by Toxic Spikes, they'll be Poisoned. Defoggers are pretty common, and there are still several Poison-types that see a good amount of play. Magic Bounce can be a problem as well. But just being able to deter these threats for a turn or two can be enough, especially if you manage to get a couple members of the opposing team Poisoned in the process. This is a clear-cut goal, and there are several possible paths to take with it, since the only requirement is Toxic Spikes. The best direction likely is that the CAP would be able to at least deter a portion of Pokemon that remove/prevent Toxic Spikes. There is no reason for a (grounded) Poison-typing at all, seeing as it would actually HINDER the concept (by adding weaknesses, and absorbing Toxic Spikes itself). Such freedom means that we can look at type combinations that can actually assist in the fulfillment of this concept. There are a variety of type combinations (such as Fairy/Ground, Fairy/Dark, Dark/Fighting, Fire/Bug, Ghost/any other type, etc) that can threaten at least half of the Pokemon that block/remove Toxic Spikes.

With the decision to make this a Mega CAP I wasn't sure how this concept would hold up. After some thought, I find that the ability to make a Mega actually bolsters the concept's capabilities even further. With the limitations to the base form's stats, I'm sure it would have made an interesting challenge for the community to decide how threatening this CAP would be offensively/defensively. With the ~100 base stat point boost, it can push this CAP from just barely being viable to actually being highly effective, as those stats suddenly give it either the offensive or defensive capability to deal with common methods of Toxic Spikes removal/blocking. I actually like the idea of higher offenses, as with just the right STABs, it can easily deter removal through offensive pressure alone. It's irrelevant how effective its attacks are against other Pokemon, as long as it can deal with removal methods after all.
 
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nyttyn

From Now On, We'll...
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This post is just a friendly reminder there are limits to what a single pokemon can do. A single pokemon can, realisitcally speaking, fulfil a few rolls really well, or a lot of roles okay. A single pokemon, however, only has so much they can do and counter.

Also brick break is not viable, you can't "counter" taunters as it's a utilty move and they've won if they've forced the pokemon in question out, and rapid spin is not nearly as prevalant as defog.

Defensive bulky mons are in a super poor state right now and no one super vauge concept can be their savior. You can patch up individual issues, but you can't patch up ALL of them with a single pokemon, not in ORAS.

Try to post more along the lines of parting shot, toxic spike, and typing renovation: concepts that try to focus on a single, concrete idea, instead of being vague or trying to do a million things in a single team slot.
 
Reposting this from the other thread, it didn't get much attention.

Name: Defense Booster
General Description: A pokemon that succeeds through defense boosting moves.
Justification: This pokemon will use moves such as Cotton Guard or Cosmic Power to boost its defenses. Right now, there are very few pokemon that can successfully pull this sort of thing off. While Altaria can to some extent, it is definitely not a defining aspect and there is a lot more potential. This Pokemon will create a new niche in the metagame while also allowing us to see how the metagame responds to a growing defensive threat.
Questions To Be Answered:
How strong are defensive boosting moves when used to their full potential?
How does the metagame respond to defensive boosting?
How do the opportunities people use to set up sweepers compare to the opportunities used to set up defensively?
How much work can a defensively boosted Pokemon do to the enemy team?
What is the best way to utilize defensive boosts to their full potential?
Explanation: I think that there is still a lot of room for defensive boosting moves to go. The Pokemon can have an ability like suction cups to prevent whirlwind from effecting it, however this is not necessary. Moves like Stored Power can be used for offensive potential, but toxic and seismic toss can also work similarly. Giving it Baton Pass is also a possibility, although that could be risky. Overall, defensive-boosting sets are fun to play, have a lot of potential and can be implemented in a variety of ways, so this seems like a good way to explore that.
 

EternalSnowman

DPL Champion
Name: Suicide Mega

General Description: This pokemon would effectively utilize supportive/offensive tactics but often ends up dying in the process of contributing to the end result of a game.

Justification: Within OU right now, many of the toptier threats with the realm of the Megas mainly have the bulk or reliable recovery to be able to survive throughout the game and contribute throughout the game such as MMeta's high Bulk, ZardX and MAlt's Roost. Even the less bulky Megas such as MGarde and MDiancie are often aimed to be preserved throughout the match. Many nonmega mons like Scolipede, Staraptor and Azu are able to contribute the overall game and die after finishing their job.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Can a Mega be successful by only being able to contribute for a part of a match?
  • Will it face competition for a mega slot since it only will be utilized in part of a match and will be forgone for other Megas?
  • How do we ensure that it's low priority to the player (i.e the player doesn't just save it like a MGarde-esque mon)?
  • Can suicide mons still be effective in this sort of metagame?

Explanation: Recently I have been experimenting with Hazard Stacking offense and two of the mons that I have used on that team (Scolipede and Honchkrow) stood out to me in particular. They both play big roles on the team despite them being out on the field for max 5 turns a game. I rarely switch them out of a fight and they often die in the process yet they do exactly what I want them to. They are a good example of playing supportive/offensive roles while killing themselves. I want to be able to utilize this idea of low survivability to create a mega that would be effective since many of the current top tier megas have the bulk and recovery to stay throughout an entire match.
 

Cretacerus

Survivor
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Name: Typing Underdog

General Description: A Pokémon which utilizes an undervalued typing to its full potential, by playing towards both its strengths and weaknesses.

Justification: Each typing possesses a unique set of characteristics, causing all of them to perform very differently in various aspects of battle. However, not every typing has been granted the opportunity to display this potential, being forced into suboptimal roles by virtue of stats, ability and movepool, and therefore often being labelled as “bad”.
This concept aims to do a detailed analysis on the primary function of such a typing along with its potentially unexplored capabilities, by creating a Pokémon that that emphasizes the typing’s most prominent traits and utilizes them effectively.
This approach will not only allow us to widen our understanding on the unique niche and preferred playstyle of the typing, but will also give us additional insight on the mechanics that lead to success and failure of the typing when comparing CAP to the wielders in the lower tiers.

Questions to be answered:
  • What are the most important traits the Pokémon gains from the chosen typing, both positive and negative?
  • Is quality or quantity of weaknesses/resistances/immunities more relevant to the chosen typing? What does this mean for the way it is played?
  • How significant is the niche provided by the typing in OU? Are there any striking flaws in the typing that can’t be played around and prevent the Pokémon from performing reliably?
  • How reliant is the typing on stats, ability and movepool in order to succeed in OU?
  • Are the unique characteristics granted by the typing enough to set the Pokemon apart, or does it face strong competition for its role from Pokémon of other types?
  • Is there any distinct playstyle that suits the chosen typing the best? Or can the same typing be utilized in an entirely different approach to similar success?
  • How important is a type’s versatility for its overall success?
  • Is a single Pokémon capable of portraying most relevant aspects of the entire type?
Explanation:

There have been significant changes in the metagame and even the type chart itself since the time CAP13 set out to explore typing mechanisms with Mollux.
However, while Mollux's concept was about mitigating the downsides of a typing and granting it a brand new "artificial" niche, this concept will instead acknowledge those downsides and work around them without trying to fix them directly. The aim is to emphasize the inherent strength of the chosen typing, and therefore find its "natural" niche in the metagame. Since Mollux’s concept has already been resubmitted for this project, it is important to take note of this main difference.
As such, the roles and playstyles we want the Pokémon to take on should be based on the typing first and foremost. Stats, Ability and Movepool would be important in the later process to complement the chosen role as per usual, but shouldn’t be a deciding factor in the Concept Assessment.

The inclusion of a Mega form in this project gives us the opportunity to explore multiple approaches to this concept, be it two entirely different roles of the chosen typing, or even two different typings altogether. The former would of course be preferable as it gives us deep insight into the functioning of that particular typing, and even allows a direct comparison between those two roles. However, the latter is still a valid alternative to increase the scope of the concept should the chosen typing be mostly one-sided.

There are plenty of typings that could fit this concept, but preferably they should already be associated with the lower tiers, as to keep our gained knowledge relevant and in context. The ability to directly compare CAP to counterparts of the same type, both during and after the creating process, allows us to examine exactly how fine the line is between success and failure of the typing.
Examples would include many single typings (e.g. pure Psychic, Fire, Poison,…), but also certain type combinations (e.g. Bug/Flying, Steel/Rock, Water/Ice). Although they undoubtedly have their benefits, those are largely set off by exploitable weaknesses, making those typings more of a burden than an aid in most cases. While several of the wielders do have respectable Stats, Abilities and Movepools, one could argue that they do not complement their typing's intended role, and that is what holds them back. Finding out which playstyle truly suits the chosen typing, would be the most essential and interesting part of the concept.
 
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Name: The Reliable Tank

General Description: The mon is capable of being a tank while in its base form decently while becoming an exceptionally powerful tank in its Mega form be it through a combination of typing, stats and abilities.

Justification: A lot of the megas can be put into sweepers, wallbreakers, and or walls/so-so tanks. It would be interesting to have a Mega dedicated to being in a tank role [as defined by the Smogon Definitions: A Pokemon intended to take either physical or special attacks and hit back, but does not have to do so consistently over the entire course of a match]. It would be far different than that of keeping the mega safe at all times to ensure victory. You would still be able to do that with this mon though, just it wouldn't be afraid to be hopping around the battle a bit more in order to support its team rather than making the team support it.

Questions to be Answered:
- How effective would a mega be if it is was just able to fufill the traditional tank role on a team instead of that like a wall like other megas?
- How could it be able to differentiate itself from its base form to become a so-so tank to that of an exceptional one?
- Would the Mon have ample oppurtunities to come in to Mega to truly abuse its Tank role?
- Why would we choose to use a Mega that be capable of supporting the team when we could just have a team support another Mega that sweeps?


Explanation: Mainly its because when ever you look at Megas, a lot of the strongest ones go from sweepers (Char X, Mega Alt), walls (Mega Scizor), wallbreakers (Char Y, Mega Lopunny), but not a lot of Megas that are pure on tanks. Even other Megas that have the bulk to tank a hit only use it truly to facilitate their own sweeps (such is the case usually for Mega Swampert). We have mons like Ferro and Lando-T that can tank hits but don't have truly reliable recovery in Slack Off or Recover. They still perform masterfully in the meta by being able to become a nuisance for the enemy team in how active they are in the match. For a Mega to perform this role as expertly as some other tanks in the meta do, it would allow for more varied team building and give a role for something that isn't quite all there in todays meta.
 
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WhiteDMist

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Name: The Fast then the Furious

General Description: A mon that is very speedy, squishy and works as a great disruptor when base form then loses speed and becomes a powerful and tanky mon when Mega'd.
Isn't this kind of an instant limitation to the stats? You basically spell out that the CAP would need a high Speed stat, and at least one high offensive stat. Then you limit the Mega to have to have a lot of bulk, meaning that its "squishy" defenses have to gain a massive boost, maybe even at the cost of Speed or power. A third problem is that it's kind of hard to see a reason to Mega Evolved the base form when it is a great cleaner (based on its stats), and can easily just be a sweeper/cleaner when equipped with a Life Orb; leaving you to use a different Mega Pokemon altogether. This concept might make more sense if it were about a change in direction/role between the base to the Mega forms.

Name: The Reliable Tank

General Description: The mon is capable of being a tank while in its base form decently while becoming an exceptionally powerful tank in its Mega form via general mega'd stats.
IMO, this does have a similar problem in limiting the stats phase, but I'm more interested in something else. Can you include your definition of "Tank"? Since many people have different definitions of tanks (my own looks different to what you seem to be describing) it would be helpful to see it in your Explanation. In fact, it may be an important question to be asked as well, and you can use this concept to create a concrete definition of "tank".
 
So Im kinda new, but I wanted to try my hand at this so here is mine.

Name: Switching it Up

General Description: A Pokemon with a specific niche of acting as a pseudo-hazer that specifically utilizes forced switching moves, such as Roar, to stop set up sweepers

Justification: The technique of pseudo-hazing employs a variety of moves, of which forced switching moves are one. However, there is no dedicated pseudo-hazer in OU who can take full advantage of forced switching moves. Sure, there’s Skarmory who occasionally cares Whirlwind, and Pokemon that use these moves can be found in lower tiers like Poliwrath and Throh, both of who can abuse STAB Circle Throw. The idea behind this concept would be to create a Pokemon whose main niche would be abusing these forced switching moves to their fullest extent and to great effect.

Questions to be Answered:

  • Which of the forced switching moves, or a combination of said moves, would be ideal for use?
  • What kind of team archetype would find this CAP the most useful? Likewise, on what type of team would this Pokemon serve more as a burden than asset?
  • How common are set-up sweepers in the metagame, and what are the weaknesses in their play styles this CAP can take advantage of?
  • What traits would a counter have to possess in order to stop the CAP from succeeding in its role ?
  • Would the CAP operate better independently, or with a partner, who could set up entry hazards for abuse?
  • What other unique/niche uses do forced switching moves, and pseudo-hazing in general, besides stopping set-up sweepers and entry hazard abuse?
  • Would this CAP be used as a win condition, or to as a defensive answer?
  • How would one go about accounting for the negative effects of forced switching moves?

Explanation: Dedicated pseudo-hazers, the bane of set-up sweepers, seem few and far between in OU. Of all the different pseudo-hazing moves, forced switching moves have several advantages over the others. They not only get rid of the boosts the opposing Pokemon had acquired, they allow for the abuse of entry hazards to the fullest extent as the new Pokemon are forced to take damage upon switching in. Additionally, the opponent has next to no control over which Pokemon gets switched in, which can result in a pour match up for the opponent sometimes. Some of the moves have useful bonus effects exclusive to themselves, such as Roar hitting through Substitute. However, there are a few disadvantages to these moves, namely severely decreased priority. Regardless, a dedicated pseudo-hazer who relies on forced switching moves would certainly shake up the OU environment, and may even lead to a decrease in set-up sweepers in favor of the instant power of Choice items without the risk of wasting a turn of trying to set up, only to be forced out.
 
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Name: The Generalizer

General Description: A viable, highly-specialized CAPmon whose mega sacrifices its ability to preform its specialty in exchange for more utility.

Justification: When you look at megas, there's a general trend wherein a Mega Evolution either improves the pokemon's ability to preform what it's good at (Mega Heracross), gives the pokemon a new niche (Mega Charizard Y), changes the pokemon's niche (Mega Diancie), or gives new utility to an already utility-oriented mon (Mega Tyranitar). This pokemon intentionally ruins its ability to shine in order to be more generally good.

Mega Evolution gives us a significant advantage with a play style like this because Mega Evolution can happen in the middle of a match. This means that the CAPmon can preform his duty up to the point where his expertise is no longer needed and turn himself into a more generically good monster. This gives the specialty even more powerful, since you only keep it until it grows stale.

Questions to be Answered:
  • What roles lose power as the game extends and would want to lose their forte in the middle of the match?
  • What team archetypes would a pokemon that changes into a utility mon partway through the match fit into that wouldn't rather have something that's always a utility mon?
  • How do we give the Mega form of a pokemon more utility than its base form when both inherently share a moveset?
  • How does the same move function differently when used in two different roles?
  • What typings and abilities are good, but only good in the earlier stages of the match?
Explanation: There are a few different ways I could see this working. The obvious way is to give the pokemon one incredible stat which gets knocked down when it Mega Evolves, but there are other ways to do it. For example, suppose CAP had really good typing for wallbreaking, and its Mega had better stats, but changed his typing to something less appealing for wallbreaking. A similar thing can be done with abilities.
 
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jas61292

used substitute
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Ok, lets get out some responses:

The Incredible Bulk by Pandamaster4000 - While I get where your idea is coming from, there are a few main issues I see here, the first of which is a more logistical one, as I would be hesitant to use a concept so focused on wallbreaking threats like Manaphy and Hoopa-U when the OU council has made pretty clear through PR threads that they are likely to be the next thing to see suspect tests. I would want to avoid making a concept about something that may not be relevant by projects end. Even so though, offense has been fairly dominant compared to stall this gen, even beyond those two, and there is more we could look at here. So my second thing to say would be to take another look at your questions section. Pretty much every one right now is something to the effect of "what will we do with this concept" or "is it even possible." I'd try to see what you can come up with as far as discussion points for different stages. Your question about whether or not the CAP needs to be bulky itself is probably the closest you have at the moment, and I would work to make more like that. I'm sure at some point in this thread I may make a post with more detail on questions, so you might want to look out for that as well.

I Use My Own Weather, Thank You Very Much by EpicUmbreon29 - I think this is an interesting concept, but I worry very much about its viability. While you don't really say it outright, this pretty much requires a whether setting ability, or else what you are referring to already pretty much exists in Swampert. With that being the case, it means that the weather can only really be set by the base form. This is especially worrisome as if we really want the mega to use it, it would mean that any other weather setter pretty much becomes a counter for the CAP once it mega evolve. This might not necessarily be a bad thing, but it is a severe limitation. Furthermore, I would like to say that some of your questions feel off. Your concept is about a Pokemon that can set and use weather itself, but some of your questions make it seem like it is more about making whether as a team strategy more relevant. While that is fine if that is what your want, if it is you should edit your concept to be more clear about it. Otherwise, focus more on discussion points about the specific Pokemon in your questions. With all that said, I think this concept definitely has potential. The last thing I want to say is that I'd like to see a bit more in your explanation section. While the explanation section is, as per the OP, not really part of the concept itself, it can help clarify things, and what I think this concept really needs is a bit of clarification about the kinds of things you can see this Pokemon doing.

Last Act of Defiance by Snobalt - While I've never been a particular fan of single move based concepts, I do think this is one of the better moves for it. Parting Shot seems like it could be a fantastic move, but it is not something that can really alone make a Pokemon great, like Sketch could with Smeargle (and later Necturna), as evidenced by Pangoro. I think the questions you ask are very good, including important things that we would need to tackle to do this concept. My biggest concern here is due to the power of the move itself. Arguably its biggest draw is that it can help other Pokemon do their job, especially with set up, and with so many of the hardest hitters being megas, I'd worry that we'd either need to make our Mega too good for it to be worth it over the base, or that we'd have to severely gimp the base form. I'm not sure if there is much you can change about the concept that would make me worry less about that, but, its something to think about, and possibly talk about in the explanation, if you have any thoughts on it.

Extreme Makeover: Typing Edition (Resubmitted) by HeaLnDeaL - While some people might chafe at the idea of redoing a concept we have already done, I have no problem with it, so long as the game is different enough now than it was then to necessitate a new look at the same concepts. I certainly think that the differences between the BW era and the ORAS era are sufficient for that, so the fact that it has been done alone is not an issue for me. You also have great questions here, so I am not worried about the concepts ability to spark discussion. My biggest concern is actually related to what I was talking about with you the other day: what constitutes a bad type. Back on the Mollux project, that was already a huge point of contention, and, while the project mostly turned out well, one opinion I heard, more than a few times, was that Mollux turned out as well as it did in large part because its typing was never really poor to begin with. Poison was decent defensively and bad offensively, but Fire was a great offensive type and passable defensive type (bad weaknesses, but a ton of resistances). While it was certainly not an ideal type, we were certainly, as a project, very, very hesitant to even approach the bottom of the barrel. I feel like the biggest challenge here is that in the generation switch, the "worst" typings mostly got buffed, so it would be even harder to find a "bad" typing without choosing the absolute worst the game has to offer, which not only is a challenge for the community to accept, but also makes it even harder for the Pokemon to succeed because of their typing, and not in spite of it. Again, there is not much about this concept that I can outright say needs adjustment, but referencing possible issues that might arise could be nice.

Counterrevolution by TordenOfItami - This concept is really trying to do too much, without really showing much relevance to the current metagame. As nyttyn mentioned, Brick Break is not really something that people use in the current metagame, and Taunt can't really be countered, short of Magic Bounce. Really, what I am seeing here is a concept that wants to be about helping set up mons, but is trying to be super specific about it and therefore kind of misses its own point. I would suggest that if what you really want is a Pokemon that helps with riskier set up partners, or something to that effect, that you make the concept more specifically about that, without getting too specific, as it will open up more opportunities.

Toxic Spike Supreme
by WhiteDMist - Similar to Snobalt's concept above this is a single move focused concept, however, unlike Parting Shot, Toxic Spikes is a case of a move that exists on many Pokemon. Similarly though, there are not really any Pokemon that can use it to its potential, and most have other things they would rather be doing. I think you have done a great job using the questions to raise the topics that will need to be discussed throughout a project, and you have certainly shown how there are many simple ways we can easily differentiate this CAP from the existing users of the move. Perhaps the only thing I can really ask about this is how it would work well with a mega, though that may be something more suited for us to find out when doing the project. Regardless, this is well made.

And now I need to go do some things, so I'll comment on more later. Keep 'em coming people!
 
Isn't this kind of an instant limitation to the stats? You basically spell out that the CAP would need a high Speed stat, and at least one high offensive stat. Then you limit the Mega to have to have a lot of bulk, meaning that its "squishy" defenses have to gain a massive boost, maybe even at the cost of Speed or power. A third problem is that it's kind of hard to see a reason to Mega Evolved the base form when it is a great cleaner (based on its stats), and can easily just be a sweeper/cleaner when equipped with a Life Orb; leaving you to use a different Mega Pokemon altogether. This concept might make more sense if it were about a change in direction/role between the base to the Mega forms.


IMO, this does have a similar problem in limiting the stats phase, but I'm more interested in something else. Can you include your definition of "Tank"? Since many people have different definitions of tanks (my own looks different to what you seem to be describing) it would be helpful to see it in your Explanation. In fact, it may be an important question to be asked as well, and you can use this concept to create a concrete definition of "tank".
Yea sorry it was pretty hard to be more general with my concept than that in order to steer towards what I was imagining. I think NumberCruncher actually has sort of my same concept except made even more general (pun intended) so his concept is more useful than mine to analyze.
 
Name: It's Simple.
General Description:
A Pokémon that breaks important attacks with a good coverage (I mean EarthBeam, BoltBeam, GhostFight). Its typing permits to set up quickly.
Justification: It's as able to become a powerful sweeper as to become an excellent wall with good Abilities and a good support movepool. It also permits it to quickly stop important sweepers in the metagame. Also, it has an offensive variant and become a powerful sweeper, which makes it less predictable.
Questions To Be Answered:
  • How can a such Pokémon easily wall a powerful RK?
  • How can it be integrated to teams?
  • How can this Pokémon change the metagame?
  • What kind of Pokémon can form a core with it?
Explanation: RK and boosted sweepers are pretty often used in OU, specially in VGC, where the metagame is very centralized by powerful sweepers. This 'mon can be integrated to offensive teams, to offer a good benefic support. Also, it can help Entry Hazards user, as an Anti-Ghost sweeper or staller.

It's quite short, but I'll add some more explanation soon. Thanks for giving ideas for my concept!
 
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Name: One Turn of Bliss

General Description: A pokemon that is able to take advantage of the turn it Mega-evolves by making use of it's ability before and after evolving. As a result the turn of Mega-evolution becomes crucial to most if not all of it's strategies and sets.

Justification: Mega-Sableye is an interesting case: for the turn it mega-evolves it acts as though it has two abilities; Prankster and Magic Bounce are both activated. For Sableye this is nice, maybe even crucial in some battles, but it doesn't really focuses on this advantage. And for most pokemon mega-evolving is something that is to be done as fast as possible and for some as safely as possible. But what about a pokemon where the turn of mega-evolving is it's most important turn, by giving it access for that turn two abilities. Now of course the mega-form should be viable and good on it's own but I feel there's potential here to see other abilities and strategies that can take advantage of that one turn. This could be an interesting learning experience for the different types of abilities that can perform this niche and the strategies that can take advantage of it.

Questions To Be Answered:
-
How important is a single turn of combat?
- What playstyle benefits the most by a single turn? What playstyle can be hindered by a single turn?
- What combinations of abilities are particularly effective together?
- How different or similar should the base form be to the Mega Form? If very different, should this CAP benefit multiple playstyles based on which form and moveset?
- If the CAP user mistimes their Mega-evolution how detrimental to the overall game should it be?

Explanation: Although Mega-Sableye is the model for this idea this actually is the spawn of a different idea I had. Initially I wanted to ask for a concept of a pokemon that can take advantage of the least used ability in the game "Stall." But every time I thought of that I wanted to combine it with Analytic and then remembered that's not possible...or is it? I remembered then that there is a pokemon that for one turn has two abilities: Mega-Sableye. Thanks to Pokemon's game mechanics Mega-Sableye for it's mega-evolving turn has basically both Prankster and Magic Bounce. So then I started thinking of other abilities that can take advantage of this: Stall, Gale Wings and even Arena Trap and Shadow Tag, maybe others; there's a lot of untapped possibilities I think. Like what if a pokemon had for one turn Gale Wings and Sheer Force, it could make a very threatening Hurricane, or how about Stall and Filter which can make a very effective turn to set up something like Belly Drum. Other possibilities include: Prankster + Simple, Arena Trap + Moxie, Shadow Tag + Magic Bounce, Gale Wings + Tinted Lens, Gale Wings + Reckless, Shadow Tag + Drizzle; and if want to stretch the concept a littlte: Illusion + Magnet Pull, Imposter + Protean. And to reiterate there's some untapped potential to make a very interesting pokemon with a unique but hopefully useful gimmick.
 
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Max Carvalho

Que os jogos comecem
Name: Abilities Lord
General Description: A CAP that would be valid without Mega Evolving at all due to its ability (i.e. Slowbro), while the Mega Evolved CAP would have a different ability that allows this CAP to do a totally different role than it's normal forme would perform.
Justification: The closest thing we have to that is Slowbro, which works faar differently wethe it's running its Mega Stone or not, but this happens much more because it's mega evolved form has amazing defensive stats, rather than Shell Armor. Shell Armor does nothing to grant Slowbro a different role when Mega Evoving. Answering the three points:
  • Gives a Pokemon to the metagame that may force the opponent to think what set our CAP might be, which is usually a nice thing to have, adding another layer of competitivity.
  • We will get how abilities can be determinating on a Pokemon's role better.
  • I've said that in my 2 starting sentences on this topic pretty much; basically, no Pokemon in OU may have entirely different roles due to abilities alone (unless a gimmick).
Questions To Be Answered:
  • What abilities are determinating on a Pokemon's role?
  • Could we possibly create a CAP that it's fittable in all playstyles and makes them at least as viable as they currently are in the OU metagame?
  • Which form of playstyle and role the most seen abilities in OU favor?
  • What Pokemon have most, if not all of their viability based on their's ability?
  • Which Pokemon are able to perform varied roles in the OU metagame?
  • If we picked any specific X Pokemon among these, would any of them have at least one OU threat that effectively counters all of its sets?
  • If the answer is no to any X, does X's ability contribute to any form to this? If yes, how?
  • What do we want this CAP to be able to perform for a team?
  • How different would be tactics to counter this Pokemon assuming it has very different roles?
  • Can this CAP's base form be equally viable as its Mega Evolved form in the OU metagame?
  • May all of these CAP's possible roles be equally wanted on a large variety of team?
  • How can a player abuse the opponent's lack of knowledge on what his or her Pokemon actually do?
  • How can this same opponent possibly counter this lack of knowledge?
  • Is it possible to guess out a Pokemon with multiple roles role on a specific team? If yes, how?
Explanation: Discussing a bit on the matter of Pokemon with multiple roles, one that have multiple roles taking into account an offensive mindset, we have Hoopa-U, who can act as a revenge-killer and cleaner if running Choice Scarf, or as an insanely powerful wallbreaker with Life Orb. Taking into account these two sets only, we conclude that not only switching-in is quite difficult, but even the away you check these two sets are quite different. Hoopa-U's ability is not really something you would even think about, unfortunately, as Hoopa not having an item is 100% of the times bad overall. Another example we could look at is Slowbro again; it is definetely different the way you would handle its defensive set with leftovers, or its CM set, while Regenerator has a great influence on Leftovers's set viability. Clefable is another great Pokemon to study at it, as it's abilities are quite determinating on how you deal with it, and Clef has a multitude of roles; besides by brute force on both cases if it is Magic Guard, you can handle Clefable by setting up yourself too if it's Calm Mind, while Unaware can instead be taken out with passive damage. Note how these approaches wouldn't work for the other ability (setting up on Unaware, passive damange on Magic Guard)! If I'm allowed to give my two cents about the future CAP here, we can have, for example, a Pokemon that has a defensive role with it's base form with a ability like Regenerator turn to a powerfull bulky wallbreaker with Adaptability, for example. Basically, this CAP can hopefully give us a quite complex and deep possibility to work around. That's it really. The possibility of creating a Pokemon that could be seen in very different playstyles, doing very different roles, seems very neat.
 
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WhiteDMist

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Toxic Spike Supreme by WhiteDMist - Similar to Snobalt's concept above this is a single move focused concept, however, unlike Parting Shot, Toxic Spikes is a case of a move that exists on many Pokemon. Similarly though, there are not really any Pokemon that can use it to its potential, and most have other things they would rather be doing. I think you have done a great job using the questions to raise the topics that will need to be discussed throughout a project, and you have certainly shown how there are many simple ways we can easily differentiate this CAP from the existing users of the move. Perhaps the only thing I can really ask about this is how it would work well with a mega, though that may be something more suited for us to find out when doing the project. Regardless, this is well made.
Thank you for your thoughts! As you know, this concept was made before it was decided that this would be a Mega CAP. However, I think that this concept is perfectly viable with a Mega Evolution, maybe even improved. I've noticed that a lot of ideas that revolve around a Mega CAP focuses on creating different roles for the base and Mega forms. However, there is absolutely no problem with a Mega Evolution having the same role as the base form, and likely doing it better. What is wrong with just creating a Pokemon that will want to Mega Evolve immediately? After all, the goal of the concept is to make Toxic Spikes more viable, and having the CAP gain an even greater offensive presence helps with the deterring portion, as well as the reliable setting portion. It also helps that you are not FORCED to Mega Evolve, as the base form would just as effectively perform the initial role of setting up, and you don't necessarily have to be an offensive/defensive threat to deter removal; it simply adds to the versatility of your team if one can bluff the Mega Stone while still actually being able to perform a viable function. This is my view of the Mega issue, I hope it eases your concerns.
 
Name: Multi-Role Mega

General Description: A CAP that would play two completely different roles in its base form and mega form.

Justification: Mega-evolutions give teams the potential to have two Pokemon in one team slot, capable of performing different roles. However, there is no current Mega-evolution that takes advantage of that potential and unpredictability. There are some Pokemon who can play different roles (Sableye and MegaSableye, Charizard and MegaCharizard-X, etc.) but their base forms are not OU-worthy. I think it would be interesting to create a Pokemon whose base form could be equally as successful in OU as its Mega-evolution, while playing two entirely different roles.

Questions To Be Answered:

  • Can a Pokemon successfully contend in OU in both its base form and Mega form?
  • To what extent can the base and mega form differ while still being one manageable Pokemon?
  • What would define the different roles for the base and mega form (ex. bulky vs. offensive, lead vs. cleaner, cleric vs. sweeper, etc.)
  • Can a Pokemon be created in such balance that neither its base nor mega form outshines the other, but can still perform equally adequately in the OU environment?
  • Is it possible for a Pokemon whose base and mega forms differ in roles to be countered by one Pokemon?
  • What qualities (typing, abilities, stats) would be used to differentiate the base form from its mega form?
Explanation: Since we know that this project is predetermined to have a mega-evolution, it would be the perfect opportunity to create a Pokemon whose base form performs a completely different role from its mega-evolution. This would be a very challenging, albeit exciting and rewarding, CAP project.
 
Been lurking around CAPs for quite some time, might as well submit an idea. Excuse my poor english since it's not my native language.

Name: Perfect unbalance

General Description: A pokemon with many huge disparities, be it in stats, typing, abilities or movepool, that yet stays perfectly balanced for the OU metagame.

Justification: Most pokemons are designed to be well rounded, with moderate strenghts and weaknesses, giving them various roles. There are a few pokemon that possess both huge strenghts and huge weaknesses, and most of those are either unplayable or broken for OU ; very few stay nicely balanced, filling niche roles in the metagame that no other could. Plus, balance has always been a problematic yet defining factor for CAPs, so trying to achieve it while giving the pokemon as many unbalanced factors as possible can help us understand more about that balance we long for.

Questions To Be Answered:
- Are there niche roles in OU that no existing pokemon can yet fill, that this CAP would be able to ?
- How strong can we make a pokemon while giving it enough weaknesses to keep it balanced ; or how weak can we make a pokemon yet have it be viable because of its strengths ?
- Is it possible to have a balanced pokemon with a 'hindering' ability, or should we keep to stats, typing and/or movepool ?
- Can such a pokemon stay always somewhat useful despite its weaknesses, yet not crush its opponents when its strengths become apparent ?
- Can attacks or strategies considered as gimmicky (like shuckle throwing stats around to alleviate his) become viable options that make use of the unbalanced side of the pokemon, without said pokemon being centered around those originally ?
- Considering how previous CAPs ended either too strong or too weak, can we manage to balance it right when it is our primary objective instead of an additional constraint ?

Explanation:
Over the years, we have been given many strong pokemon with hindering abilities, most of which were unusable. But there have also been 'unbalanced' pokemon without those abilities, mainly on the stat side, like shuckle or deoxys. The former was not strong enough, the latter a bit too strong for OU. Right now I can only think of one that has glaring disparities, yet is considered as balanced, namely Chansey(&Blissey ofc). It has a very precise niche, fulfills it very well with a small number of builds, and yet it has one of the most radical stat distributions in the game.

Of course, for this concept the easy way to go would be to mess with stats ; but it could also be accomplished by using a really strong/weak//offensive/defensive typing, or giving it an astounding movepool with poor stats, typing or ability to use it. The point is, there are many ways we can do that, and the more the better, but can we manage to keep it balanced along the way ?
 

EternalSnowman

DPL Champion
Before I begin, I want to tell those people who posted about a Mega being viable in BOTH base and Mega form was ALREADY an aim of the CAP project, seeing as that was one of the things the CAP leaders wanted to address when making a Mega pokemon.

Name: One Turn of Bliss

General Description: A pokemon that is able to take advantage of the turn it Mega-evolves by making use of it's ability before and after evolving. As a result the turn of Mega-evolution becomes crucial to most if not all of it's strategies and sets.

Justification: Mega-Sableye is an interesting case: for the turn it mega-evolves it acts as though it has two abilities; Prankster and Magic Bounce are both activated. For Sableye this is nice, maybe even crucial in some battles, but it doesn't really focuses on this advantage. And for most pokemon mega-evolving is something that is to be done as fast as possible and for some as safely as possible. But what about a pokemon where the turn of mega-evolving is it's most important turn, by giving it access for that turn two abilities. Now of course the mega-form should be viable and good on it's own but I feel there's potential here to see other abilities and strategies that can take advantage of that one turn. This could be an interesting learning experience for the different types of abilities that can perform this niche and the strategies that can take advantage of it.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What abilities have access to this niche?
- What combinations of abilities are particularly effective and available together?
- What kinds of strategies and move-sets can make best use of two abilities?
- When would the best time in a battle to mega-evolve for this CAP?
- Can one turn be effective without making the mega-form's remaining turns disappointing?
- Can this make use of some underrated abilities?

Explanation: Although Mega-Sableye is the model for this idea this actually is the spawn of a different idea I had. Initially I wanted to ask for a concept of a pokemon that can take advantage of the least used ability in the game "Stall." But every time I thought of that I wanted to combine it with Analytic and then remembered that's not possible...or is it? I remembered then that there is a pokemon that for one turn has two abilities: Mega-Sableye. Thanks to Pokemon's game mechanics Mega-Sableye for it's mega-evolving turn has basically both Prankster and Magic Bounce. So then I started thinking of other abilities that can take advantage of this: Stall, Gale Wings and even Arena Trap and Shadow Tag, maybe others; there's a lot of untapped possibilities I think. Like what if a pokemon had for one turn Gale Wings and Sheer Force, it could make a very threatening Hurricane or Air Slash, or how about Stall and Filter which can make a very effective turn to set up something like Belly Drum. Now obviously I'm not suggesting that Stall should still be the focus but it's an idea. And to reiterate there's some untapped potential to make a very interesting pokemon with a unique but hopefully useful gimmick.

*I hope that made some amount of sense*
The main content of this post will be on this particular submission because I feel like this is a very interesting concept. I want to think that very few pokemon were able to actually utilize both Mega and Non-Mega ability/Stats, the other honorable mention I would think of would be Diancie (Sometimes you want to use the bulk of the Non-Mega form to absorb a hit and KO back against mons like Hippo). I would love to see this made into a mon, utilizing it like a trump card, but only once a game.
 

jas61292

used substitute
is a Community Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Time to get back into response mode

Defense Booster by Fire Blast - Defensive boosting has always been uncommon, and so I can see why people might find it interesting, but a large part of that is because all the work put in can fail to do anything for you 6.25% of the time. If we are going to do something like this, then what we would really want to focus on something more than just making a defensive booster that works. While they are few, they do exist, so I think this concept needs more of a focus on what makes it work, and not just simply doing it. The strongest part you have here is probably your third question: how do defensive set up opportunities differ from offensive ones. Adding to or changing up your other questions to make them more about the differences between these types of playstyles would probably be the best way to adjust the focus to something easier to have good discussions about, while still keeping it about defensive boosting.

Suicide Mega by EternalSnowman - My biggest hesitation with this concept would definitely be that I hear your concept and I immediately think of a Pokemon that already exists: Mega Glalie. Is it a top OU Pokemon? Certainly not. But, I think it would be rare for a Pokemon that inherently puts you down in numbers to ever be one of the top Pokemon in any tier. Even so, Glalie gets out there, wacks some things hard with Double Edge (or sets up some spikes or something), and then blows a hole in the other team by blowing itself up. If this is not really what you want or have in mind, then what I would like to see here is an explanation of why Mega Glalie does not already fulfill the concept, other than potentially just not being top OU. While if there is something important here I am missing that makes it fail to qualify, then this might be viable. But if not, I don't think we really want to spend time just making a better Mega Glalie.

Typing Underdog by Cretacerus - So, I will admit here that I am a little bit confused by this concept. I know it is different from Mollux's but I'm not completely sure if I am thinking about it correctly. the sense I am getting is that while Mollux's concept was more about mitigating the downsides of a typing, this is more about maximizing the upsides of a typing. In other words, if, for example, the typing chosen was Steel/Rock, rather than trying to figure out how to mitigate its ground and/or fighting weakness, this would be more about acknowledging those weaknesses and working around them without trying to fix them. It would be about playing up the offensive usefulness of Rock type, or the many resistances the combo has. If I am getting this right, then I think this would be very interesting. However, the fact that I am so unsure if I am getting it right is perhaps the biggest weakness here. I think giving a little more info on exactly the approach this would take would be the most helpful thing you could do here.

The Reliable Tank by Salemance - I'm not completely sure how to respond here because your concept as is seems quite vague. It seems to amount to "make a tank that is an even better tank if it MEvos." While simplicity like that in and of itself is not bad, the issue is that what counts as a tank is not really something well defined. As WhiteDMist already commented on, many people have different definitions of tanks, so you really either need to define it for the purpose of the concept itself, or make defining it a key question of the concept.

Switching it Up by RishRaff - While I definitely think your concept needs some work, I actually do think this is a very interesting idea. While there are plenty of Pokemon that may throw a phazing move on their sets, it is not very commonly the focus of a set. Rather they are just means of eliminating boosts (hence the haze part of pseudo-haze). Looking at ways to best take advantage of everything these moves do could definitely make for an interesting project. Where I think your concept needs work is in the questions. Most of what you have here are things that the various stages of the project will inherently be asking, and are not really all that concept specific. As mentioned in my first post, what you really want here are questions that can spark interesting discussions beyond just "what should we choose for type/stats/ability/etc?" Possible avenues for discussion questions might be things like what kinds of team archetypes are most likely to find a dedicated phazer most useful and which it is most useful against, or what kinds of other options conflict with phazing, and what things would we need to avoid to make sure it is a route the Pokemon wants to take. There are plenty of other things to ask here, and your last two questions, while possibly needing a bit of rewording, are headed in the right direction.

The Generalizer by NumberCruncher - This is oddly simple, but it makes a lot of sense, especially looking at existing megas. In every case Pokemon have improved on their best qualities (even if they improve more elsewhere), or really changed roles to be more, or at least differently specialized. This concept seeks to take a new approach by making the mega less specialized. We certainly know that Pokemon with more balance in their build can be good, but we tend to look for extremes. Taking it the other way could be very cool. As usual, my main advice would be with your questions. The first and last questions are great, as they really get to the heart of what we would need to decide for this concept. The other two though are more power level things that are less about our approach and more just general questions about how careful we need to be, which are things we always need to think about. I'd try and think about what else there is that would need discussion regarding aspects that one form or the other could find more useful.

It's Simple by Slurpuffite - I'm not really sure exactly what you are trying to get at here, but I'll give it my best shot. It sounds like what you want is a Pokemon that can wall sweepers, and then be able to set up and become a sweeper itself. That is very general, and, without narrowing it down further, potentially very very powerful. I'm worried though that you are not really getting across the idea you have, since you seem to indicate two different roles done separately, but then also mention them being done together. I'd also recommend working on the questions. Make them more specific to what would need to be discussed that is unique to this concept, and not just generic questions that can be asked about any Pokemon.

One Turn of Bliss by SotheBlacKnight - This is a pretty interesting concept, and very straight forward and easy to understand. The biggest issue with it, in my opinion, is how limited the options for it are. Very few abilities have advantages for a base form the turn they mega evolve. Similarly, while most Mega abilities come online right away, few would be particularly advantageous simply due to the Pokemon mega evolving that turn. As always, I suggest working on your questions to make them a bit more about what we should discuss here an not just what is necessary to do the project. With that said, I would also see if you can think of more abilities that can be utilized on the mega side of things. Obviously turn order altering abilities are an interesting case, but other than going faster or slower than normal, they alone don't change too much on the mega side of things. You don't need to have all the answers in the concept, certainly, but I think you really need to show that there will be a good number of paths that we could take if this is to make for a good project.

Abilities Lord by Max Carvalho - The concept itself here is fine, but I think you really need to work on your questions section. Which abilities determine a role is a very important question to ask, but the other things you have here amount to little more than "what happened?" that can't really be looked at until the project is done. What you really need to think about here is what exactly we would have to discuss to make sure we choose such abilities, and the kinds of roles they would help the CAP take, or other things like that.

Multi-Role Mega by Ahhhhhh......Clefable. - I feel like this concept might be overly general, wither enough guiding factors. Its really just saying "let the base be viable, but have both forms be different." There is not much in that to lead discussion with. Furthermore I would argue such Pokemon actually do exist. While not as radically different as something like sweeper vs wall, Slowbro and Mega Slowbro are both very good, with one being more pivoty and the other being more wall or even CM sweeper. And there are plenty others that are similar to this who might not have both forms in OU, but are certainly viable. Garchomp vs Mega Chomp is a very interesting example of this. What I think you need here is to be more specific on the kind of role change you want, since changes to role do exist already.

Perfect Unbalance by Rearith - I think this concept as is would be far too open ended for a CAP project. All it is really saying is that we need extremes, which I think leaves things far too open and creates too much opportunity for conflicting visions to disrupt the project. The biggest think I think you could do to improve this would be to just pick out one way of being extreme and go with it. This concept is already risky since it encourages toeing the line of brokenness, so without a super clear direction, it is just asking for trouble.
 
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