CAP 21 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

[Yveltal]

Mummy is an option, but it's still just useless if there is no contact (not physical, contact moves specifically), and decent at best if there is contact. And what is "a CAP that fixes the problem" supposed to entail? If you are referring to a custom move/ability/the likes of, afaik that's still not allowed. If you are referring to making a Pokemon that is so good to carry the concept, then that runs the risk of losing focus and creating far better options for the CAP to run over the ability changing concept. You still haven't addressed my concern that switching out basically invalidates your entire concept, and the fact that for it to succeed, you kind of rely on the opponent not knowing what they are doing. Please explain how you can catch someone off guard with this concept to make it work when everyone knows what the concept does? It'll help me, and by extension CAP community/mods, understand where you are going with this. This can be done, but it'll be difficult to keep it balanced, focused, and still succeed.

This sounds more like a mind-games type of concept. I can imagine a CAP that hinders particular OU Pokemon (I dunno, we'll pretend it's something that gets use out of Prankster) by worrying the opponent when their Prankster is exchanged, enticing the opponent to switch out for an offensive presence to start hitting this CAP. In that case, this concept would have to have a coverage move to punish Prankster-mon's most common offensive team members upon switching in.

However, I don't think anybody thinks like that. This CAP seems too likely to become the guy that asks for switches without forcing them, and you could take something like MegaZam, who doesn't rely on his own ability anyway, and hit this CAP before it does any of its setup nonsense. I would say use Arena Trap and Entrainment on a Pokemon combined with ridiculously high speed so you can pick off that one Poke that has a defense-oriented ability, but there are vastly better and more viable mind games out there, really.

 

[escarlata]

Name:
Untouchable, or not

General Description:
This Pokemon is highly resistant or even immune to many common movesets on (semi)staples, by mixing and matching its options

Justification:
Immunities and resistance is the bread and butter of the game. What CAP 21 aims to be is a Pokemon which can do its job with impunity on many common movesets seen on common Pokemons, but not all at once, by merit of its its choice of abilities / moveset / EV. Being highly resistant to something obviously forces a switch, and CAP 21 should be able to take good advantage of the switch it forces to either get a stat boost or field advantage. However, CAP 21 does not aim to become a blanket check to many top tier threats. The fact that what it walls completely changes when its set changes, to the extent that while set A hard counters threat X, set B might not be even able to check X. This would allow us to learn better how a good set of resistances and immunities can contribute to viability.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What do we have to do such that with a fixed typing, the combination abilities / movepool / EV / item can cause such significant difference in what it can do its job against?
- What can be done so that CAP 21 would not become a blanket check to the metagame?
- How can CAP 21 adapt when the meta adapts around it?
- Should CAP 21 make use of the switches it forces to boost? Or just to gain a field advantage?

Explanation:
Bronzong is probably the closest thing we have to this; SDef Levitate Bronzong can do whatever against Fire Blast Garchomp with impunity; and while PDef Heatproof Bronzong can beat Talonflame, it loses its ability to beat Garchomp.
What Bronzong fails at this concept is the fact that Levitate on Bronzong is better than Heatproof on it 99% of the time; Now lets imagine Bronzong with Flash Fire instead of Heatproof; and Bulletproof as a third ability. Suddenly, it actually seems it has 3 immunities from its abilities rather than 1.
Another problem which Bronzong fails the concept at is the fact that movepool and EV hardly are a factor in what it can do its job against. Ideally CAP 21 should be able to use its movepool to become highly resistant/immune to even more things. Taunt, Encore and Trick obviously eats defensive Pokemons for breakfast; Torment coupled with Protect can be amazing on Pokemons with a good set of resistances/immunities. Reflect Type can be pretty powerful defensively as Starmie showed us. Even stuff like Electrify, Powder, Conversion can somehow be useful if properly utilised.

fml I had to retype this 3 times because my browser crashed 2 times.

 

[Clair]

The Wallbreaker Wall

Description
A Pokemon that handles some of the most dangerous and teambuilding-restrictive wallbreakers in the metagame.

Justification
The primary justification here is for its massive potential impact on defensive play and versatility in teambuilding. However, I also believe there are significant learning opportunies inherent in the concept (see below).

Questions to be Answered
-How would the metagame cope with defensive play without the easy pressure afforded by mons like Hoopa-U or Manaphy? Would other inferior stallbreakers simply rise to take their place, or would it lead to more cohesive whole-team approaches to breaking defense?

-Would this also potentially aggravate the existing match-up issue (if it becomes impossible to adequately prepare for both HO and stall, for instance), or lessen it (much easier to at least check relevant offensive threats)?

-Would it be possible to create a defensive Pokemon which primarily addresses specific threats, rather than just being a supreme all-round wall?

Explanation
I'm completely sick of building defensive teams in this meta, because there are just too many threats. You can cover most of them, but there's always something which can singlehandedly beat you. The primary issue, as I see it, are Pokemon like Manaphy which place insane limitations on teambuilding. I don't believe it should be possible to beat non-offensive teams in general just by throwing on a single Pokemon, whether its RD Manaphy, Hoopa-U, M-Heracross, Gothitelle, etc. Hence, my concept; something which can cover many of the most significant of these threats, in order to ease teambuilding.

I envisage selecting a short list of significant single-mon wallbreakers to be dealt with and creating a Pokemon that gives substantial counterplay against them. The difficulty would lie in making it capable of handling the chosen wallbreakers, without simply making an overpowered general defensive Pokemon. Obviously, it may be difficult to handle certain threats such as Manaphy without pigeon-holing the concept as an Unaware mon; so in that case, I'd prefer that Manaphy wasn't included on the list, and the CAP focused on other threats.

Edit: copy and pasta because ginga raised some important issues:

Here's an example. Drapion almost completely walls standard Hoopa-U sets with its otherwise-poor Poison/Dark typing (only being held back by its poor special bulk which lets it be 2HKO'd by LO Focus Blast). If we hypothesize a Poison/Dark mon with strong special bulk, then you could compress the ability to counter Hoopa, CM MG Fable, Gengar, and potentially M-Gardevoir, into one Pokemon. At the same time, Poison/Dark is a pretty poor typing outside of these specific roles, and this hypothetical CAP wouldn't require extreme stats or general walling capacity to pull this role off. If I'm teambuilding and I have access to this, then maybe I can also afford to invest in a check to that HP Fire Manaphy that otherwise 6-0's me. Similarly you could do something like a Water/Ghost with great physical but terrible special defense, which could potentially counter/check things like M-Heracross, Zard-X, Victini, and M-Medicham, while not beating things outside its scope such as Keldeo. Basically, there are a huge number of really interesting options.

I don't want to remove wallbreakers from the game. Bulky offense would still be able to run any of the pantheon of wallbreakers not beaten by this CAP to pressure defensive teams. The point is that, by compressing the ability to beat some major wallbreakers into a single Pokemon, we'd be (hopefully) mitigating the extremely common issue of the defensive team just having nothing for a particular threat. I just think this is a fascinating route to go down for a CAP.

 

[ginganinja]

Name:Untouchable

O.k, this concept isn't a bad idea, but I'd prefer fleshing it out a little more. Basically, I foresee something similar to what happened when we created Caw, where the CAP inadvertently ended up walling one of the most threatening sweepers in the metagame at the time, which was Thundurus-T (which at that stage in the metagame, commonly ran HP Ice + Thunder as its only attacking moves). What I DON'T want to see however, is a CAP that is created purely to wall all 4 moves of a few select pokemon, because I really think thats pointless. You don't need to be "immune" to everything a pokemon wants to use, its exceptionally difficult to pull this off concept wise, and its something that would never see use in a playtest (because people would just adjust the moveset to prevent this from happening), but you CAN create a CAP that walls a large portion of a pokemon's moveset, and gain an advantage.

There is no reason to set out to "100%" wall something. No-one is going to keep their dragon in so Gardevoir can Encore it, or so Houndoom can Taunt the mono attacking Heatran, or wait for Zebstrika to use Electrify. Once you switch in your 'wall' they are switching back out, ergo, I'd really prefer to emphasis the "utility counter" (yes I know we did this) part of the concept and not the "lets make something that walls EVERY MOVE of X", because thats utterly pointless and there is no advantage to be gained from doing so.

The Wallbreaker Wall

I'm...reluctant to look into this, for a number of reasons, but I'll just single out a few. Basically, if you remove wallbreakers from the metagame (or otherwise give stall the tools to wall them), you limit the ability of any offensive team to handle them. Stall already has access to Magic Bounce to reflect hazards, Unaware to stop set up users, Prankster Taunt if it wants to shut down enemy stall teams (I guess it helps?), and now its possibly going to get "Ultimate Fuck You Wallbreakers" in addition to this. I think if you handle the strongest wallbreakers, inferior ones will fall short as well, and if you create a pokemon weak to some inferior wallbreaker on purpose (like idk, Hydreigon) you essentially restricted teambuilding (on the side of offence) to such a large degree the pokemon itself become overcentralising. I kinda think we would end up with something like Giratina-A or Wallceus or idk, Multiscale Lugia, something that just blanket checks the entire metagame because stall ends up stomping your attempts to handle it.

 

[shorteninq]

Name: The Weather Man
General Description: Weather-based pokemon (pokemon who 100% rely on weather to be used effectively/powerfully) are actually pretty uncommon. The Weather Man would utilize weather to give itself advantages in many different areas.
Justification: The only really known pokemon to use weather to drastically change how it is used is Castform, who is a rather weak pokemon due to its very limited means of recovery ( type changing, item slot usually filled by a rock ). However, if the pokemon were to effectively be able to change its weather conditions to suit its foe on a quick and easy basis, the pokemon could become a force to be reckoned with by negating the foes power with Rain Dance and Sunny Day, and gradually inflicting damage on them with Hail and Sandstorm. Another, more powerful pokemon based on weather would be a fun addition to the cast of CAP pokemon, as well as adding a new challenge for players of the metagame to work their way around.
Questions To Be Answered:

• How can the pokemon have a build that suits it for all weather conditions?
• How can the pokemon be guaranteed a chance to change the weather conditions whenever a new opponent is switched in?
• How can the pokemon avoid damage from damaging conditions while at the same time not lose anything from boost/drop conditions?
• How would quick weather change function?
• How could the weather possibly be set to last long periods of time, no matter if the conditions are switched on multiple occasions?
• How can the pokemon deal with enemies that aren't effected by weather conditions, be it by damage or loss of power?
• How can the weather-mon avoid things like Rain Dish, Solar Power, Sand Veil, and Snow Cloak switch-ins during their corresponding weather conditions?

Explanation: I'm honestly a little upset at the exceedingly limited cast of pokemon that utilize weather at all. For the most part, when a pokemon does set up weather, their sets don't let them make use of said weather conditions, and they are either just there to restrict/boost the power of water/fire moves or deal damage over time that can easily be brought back by stack healers, or maybe even just plain old leftovers/black sludge, and maybe even a shell bell or aqua ring. Starmie's Reflect Type can also pose as a threat to those who are just there to put up weather hazards that will just wear off anyways, which is why weather-mons should have access to moves that have the capability to get past pokemon that aren't affected by weather, like the mentioned Starmie or Mamoswine. Pokemon like Ludicolo with weather-powered abilities on switch in can be pretty annoying, and in every case the pokemon with the weather has to change to a different condition somehow, and are in bad luck if they have a rock.

 

[Clair]

re. "wallbreaker wall"

Basically, if you remove wallbreakers from the metagame (or otherwise give stall the tools to wall them), you limit the ability of any offensive team to handle them. Stall already has access to Magic Bounce to reflect hazards, Unaware to stop set up users, Prankster Taunt if it wants to shut down enemy stall teams (I guess it helps?), and now its possibly going to get "Ultimate Fuck You Wallbreakers" in addition to this. I think if you handle the strongest wallbreakers, inferior ones will fall short as well, and if you create a pokemon weak to some inferior wallbreaker on purpose (like idk, Hydreigon) you essentially restricted teambuilding (on the side of offence) to such a large degree the pokemon itself become overcentralising. I kinda think we would end up with something like Giratina-A or Wallceus or idk, Multiscale Lugia, something that just blanket checks the entire metagame because stall ends up stomping your attempts to handle it.

I did allude to this potential problem a couple of times in my submission, and it's not insurmountable. The thing to emphasize is that we wouldn't create a Pokemon that just stops wallbreakers in general. We should make one which addresses maybe two or three threats which are otherwise difficult or awkward to teambuild against.

Here's an example. Drapion almost completely walls standard Hoopa-U sets with its otherwise-poor Poison/Dark typing (only being held back by its poor special bulk which lets it be 2HKO'd by LO Focus Blast). If we hypothesize a Poison/Dark mon with strong special bulk, then you could compress the ability to counter Hoopa, CM MG Fable, Gengar, and potentially M-Gardevoir, into one Pokemon. At the same time, Poison/Dark is a pretty poor typing outside of these specific roles, and this hypothetical CAP wouldn't require extreme stats or general walling capacity to pull this role off. If I'm teambuilding and I have access to this, then maybe I can also afford to invest in a check to that HP Fire Manaphy that otherwise 6-0's me. Similarly you could do something like a Water/Ghost with great physical but terrible special defense, which could potentially counter/check things like M-Heracross, Zard-X, Victini, and M-Medicham, while not beating things like Keldeo or Azumarill (assuming Knock Off). Basically, there are a huge number of really interesting options.

I don't want to remove wallbreakers from the game. Bulky offense would still be able to run any of the pantheon of wallbreakers not beaten by this CAP to pressure defensive teams. If the combination of this CAP + M-Sableye was anticipated to be a problem, it would always be possible to give them poor synergy together. The point is that, by compressing the ability to beat some major wallbreakers into a single Pokemon, we'd be (hopefully) mitigating the extremely common issue of the defensive team just having nothing for a particular threat. I just think this is a fascinating route to go down for a CAP.

 

[escarlata]

O.k, this concept isn't a bad idea, but I'd prefer fleshing it out a little more. Basically, I foresee something similar to what happened when we created Caw, where the CAP inadvertently ended up walling one of the most threatening sweepers in the metagame at the time, which was Thundurus-T (which at that stage in the metagame, commonly ran HP Ice + Thunder as its only attacking moves). What I DON'T want to see however, is a CAP that is created purely to wall all 4 moves of a few select pokemon, because I really think thats pointless. You don't need to be "immune" to everything a pokemon wants to use, its exceptionally difficult to pull this off concept wise, and its something that would never see use in a playtest (because people would just adjust the moveset to prevent this from happening), but you CAN create a CAP that walls a large portion of a pokemon's moveset, and gain an advantage.

There is no reason to set out to "100%" wall something. No-one is going to keep their dragon in so Gardevoir can Encore it, or so Houndoom can Taunt the mono attacking Heatran, or wait for Zebstrika to use Electrify. Once you switch in your 'wall' they are switching back out, ergo, I'd really prefer to emphasis the "utility counter" (yes I know we did this) part of the concept and not the "lets make something that walls EVERY MOVE of X", because thats utterly pointless and there is no advantage to be gained from doing so.

Incidentally, I didn't actually intend for full immunity, but I do believe that typing something at 3 am can cause mistakes in what I type. A better illustration would probably be NP Houndoom against Mega Sableye; Taunt Gyarados against Skarmory; Encore Gardevoir against Suicune etc. Sure that they can switch out, but what I intended is to make sure that what used to be the 'highly reliable' sets in the current metagame are turned into set-up baits, and even if they switch, CAP 21 would be able to gain an advantage, to either set up a sweep, or set up the field in such a way that it can cause something else to sweep.

 

[The_Fish_Fresh]

Hey! I'm new to competitive pokemon and all, but I've been lurking for a while and I pretty much understand all the basics, though putting them into practice is a lot harder. Anyway, I thought of this idea a while back, and think it might be interesting, though it'll probably get analyzed to shreds.

Name: The Threatener

General Description: This Pokemon, is able to threaten (through moveset or otherwise) a large number of Pokemon, without necessarily needing to be able to follow through on said threats.

Justification: Often, it is useful to switch in a Pokemon that can threaten the opponent through a particular typing, move, ability, etc. The goal of threatening the opponent can vary -- often you want them to switch out, or to somehow slip up. Unfortunately, it's impossible to be able to threaten every Pokemon in existence with even the most well built team.
However, you can bluff many threats. The goal of this CAP would be to make a Pokemon that would have a moveset, abilities, typing, and/or possible EV spreads that make it able to threaten large amounts of Pokemon. Giving it the tools to threaten certain Pokemon would make it unable to threaten others. Then, he would bluff threats to some Pokemon, and actually threaten others.
When you send in said CAP, the opponent should be forced into a delimma:
"Should I stay in and keep doing what I'm doing, hoping he can't hurt me, or should I switch out into something that is less likely to be threatened?"

Questions to be Answered:

• How tanky and strong can a Pokemon be before it would be more efficient as a wall/staller/sweeper?
• What moves, abilities, and types can be given to a Pokemon to maximize who it can threaten?
• How many Pokemon is it possible to pose a significant threat to without being overpowered?
• How many ways is it possible to threaten an opponent?

Explanation:
I've pretty much explained everything in the Justification. I do want to say, however, a few things about the nature of the CAP in my mind, though I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to achieve the same endgoal. To effectively threaten the opponent, it would have to have sufficient bulk to be able to switch in a few times without fainting. He would have to be strong enough to deal a significant amount of damage on a Super Effective hit, without being strong enough to be a sweeper (other Pokemon would make better sweepers, anyway). This Pokemon's abilities would all have to be decent enough to be a threat of sorts, but none of them should be much better than the others. This may sound too specific to make a good CAP, but like I said, this is just my thoughts on how it would play out.

 

[ginganinja]

re. "wallbreaker wall"

You convinced me, I see what you mean and concepts fine.

Name: The Weather Man

Dunno what you mean man, there were lots of pokemon that were dependant on weather to function in BW. Obviously this doesn't happen so much in XY because the weather abilities were nerfed. We couldn't really pull off your concept because its tiny and exceptionally difficult to do. Besides, what you want in this CAP is largely done by Manaphy, which can run a RainHydraRest set to act as a stallbreaker while shrugging off status.

 

[Yveltal]

Hey! I'm new to competitive pokemon and all, but I've been lurking for a while and I pretty much understand all the basics, though putting them into practice is a lot harder. Anyway, I thought of this idea a while back, and think it might be interesting, though it'll probably get analyzed to shreds.

Name: The Threatener

General Description: This Pokemon, is able to threaten (through moveset or otherwise) a large number of Pokemon, without necessarily needing to be able to follow through on said threats.

Justification: Often, it is useful to switch in a Pokemon that can threaten the opponent through a particular typing, move, ability, etc. The goal of threatening the opponent can vary -- often you want them to switch out, or to somehow slip up. Unfortunately, it's impossible to be able to threaten every Pokemon in existence with even the most well built team.
However, you can bluff many threats. The goal of this CAP would be to make a Pokemon that would have a moveset, abilities, typing, and/or possible EV spreads that make it able to threaten large amounts of Pokemon. Giving it the tools to threaten certain Pokemon would make it unable to threaten others. Then, he would bluff threats to some Pokemon, and actually threaten others.
When you send in said CAP, the opponent should be forced into a delimma:
"Should I stay in and keep doing what I'm doing, hoping he can't hurt me, or should I switch out into something that is less likely to be threatened?"

Questions to be Answered:

• How tanky and strong can a Pokemon be before it would be more efficient as a wall/staller/sweeper?
• What moves, abilities, and types can be given to a Pokemon to maximize who it can threaten?
• How many Pokemon is it possible to pose a significant threat to without being overpowered?
• How many ways is it possible to threaten an opponent?

Explanation:
I've pretty much explained everything in the Justification. I do want to say, however, a few things about the nature of the CAP in my mind, though I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to achieve the same endgoal. To effectively threaten the opponent, it would have to have sufficient bulk to be able to switch in a few times without fainting. He would have to be strong enough to deal a significant amount of damage on a Super Effective hit, without being strong enough to be a sweeper (other Pokemon would make better sweepers, anyway). This Pokemon's abilities would all have to be decent enough to be a threat of sorts, but none of them should be much better than the others. This may sound too specific to make a good CAP, but like I said, this is just my thoughts on how it would play out.

I don't get it, it's got to make people aware that it's threatening without actually doing anything? So it can't hit hard enough to do a 2HKO, but it still has to threaten a wide range of pokemon...this sounds like it would wind up with a ton of middle-of-the-road stats, and it it's going to sacrifice usefulness for an insane amount of versatility. It sounds like Mew.

 

[EternalSnowman]

Lol in what world is Damp Rock banned in OU? I don't think its banned in any tier...

Anyway for concepts, I think that the wallbreaker wall is very interesting and could revitalize stall and bulkier balance teams that have been falling in favor to offense oriented teams due to the large amount of threats that are virtually impossible to prepare for. I would greatly support this concept and it sounds very interesting overall.

Weather man seems kind of lacking as it doesn't really provide anything new or teach us stuff that we don't know. Being able to utilize multiple weathers is very difficult as it would involve large amounts of typing + ability dedicated to it and it still probably would not work out since many of these types i.e. Electric/Rock (Thunder in rain + SpDef boost in Sand) turn out to be pretty crappy since they don't actually work out. Overall doesn't seem like a great concept for many other reasons that have been stated.

 

[Absolete]

• Name - Anti-Meta Conditions Setter
• Description - A Pokemon whose typing and moveset allow it to run unconventional moves that turn the meta on its head, such as Trick Room, Wonder Room, Tail Wind and Magic Room.
• Justification- There are several strategies that are often seen as "gimmicky" but occasionally work. This pokemon would allow many other pokemon to thrive where they normally wouldn't be able to by providing a great pivot, threat, and/or utility to several underutilized and often under explored strategies.
• Questions To Be Answered -
• How will the traditional "one-trick-pony" sweepers respond to being disrupted?
• What effect will priority users have on a metagame that sees Trick Room as a viable option?
• How will Hyper Offense develop with disruptions added and momentum taken away from it.
• What typing can provide the needed bulk and power, when considering it doesn't necessarily need a large amount of speed to thrive?
• Will a team that utilizes one of the above strategies always suffer from moveslot loss?
• Explanation - Expanding the available strategies in Pokemon is always a goal of mine. More strategies leads to a more diverse, dynamic, and fun metagame. By providing a godsend Pokemon for many different strategies, I theorize that some of them may be able to make it to a certain level of viability that finds them used commonly in the metagame, providing new team building options and concerns for players.

 

[Mulan15262]

I don't get it, it's got to make people aware that it's threatening without actually doing anything? So it can't hit hard enough to do a 2HKO, but it still has to threaten a wide range of pokemon...this sounds like it would wind up with a ton of middle-of-the-road stats, and it it's going to sacrifice usefulness for an insane amount of versatility. It sounds like Mew.

I think he means that this pokemon should be able to threaten most/all pokemon, but only a few at a time, depending on what moves/items/abilities it has.

 

[Bramblestein]

So basically the idea would be to intentionally give a mon 4MSS?

 

[toenails_sauce]

Name: Ultimate Wallbreaker
General Description: This CAP is made to mangle most any defensive core, providing crucial aid for sweepers in the process.
Justification:
Wallbreakers impact the metagame very significantly. Without them, what can a sweeper do? There are numerous obnoxious walls that can stop sweepers cold. Mega Venusaur, Slowbro, Clefable, Skarmory, Heatran, Jirachi...the list goes on and on! Geez, thank Arceus for wallbreakers. Despite being a niche, they are one of the most important Pokemon in my opinion. They give sweepers a second chance.
I believe creating a magnificent wallbreaker will positively shape the metagame. It does so by putting troublesome walls in danger; it provides sweepers another chance to shine. Furthermore, this CAP can potentially use either sheer power, excellent coverage, very useful abilities, boosting moves, status, or other aspects in order to wallbreak.
All in all, the purpose of this CAP is to positively impact the metagame by aiding teams from its fantastic wallbreaking capabilities. It can be another option when a team wants a stellar wallbreaker.
Questions To Be Answered:
- How really impactful is wallbreaking in general? For example, are sweepers deadweight without wallbreakers when it comes to beating stall?
- Can the creation of one wallbreaker badly mar the viability of a wall/walls?
- Is it possible for a wallbreaking CAP to potentially beat every wall in the metagame?
- This may be a vague question, but what is the most important aspect in wallbreaking (sheer power, coverage, ability, having a boosting move, status/Taunt abusing, etc.)?
- Can wallbreaking benefit walls themselves, assuming that they are on your team as well?
Explanation:
There is an already fantastic example of the "ultimate" wallbreaker. Here's a question: who can destroy a core consisting of Mega Venusaur, Slowbro, and Heatran? Not Azumarill, not Crawdaunt, and not Diggersby, all of whom are wallbreakers. It's Mega Heracross. It has nearly unrivaled wallbreaking capabilities, as we look at its absurd base 185 Attack stat. However, why do I want to create another "ultimate" wallbreaker? There are not enough Pokemon like Mega Heracross. I think creating another excellent wallbreaker will aid teams even more by being another great option for that niche.
Why do I want to create a CAP that benefits sweepers? Let's just say this: I hate stall with passion. In fact, nobody likes to be have their sweepers walled, right?
Overall, I think this discussion is going to be interesting, since not many people think about making wallbreakers as CAPs nowadays.

Thank you for reading my post! I definitely have errors I have not seen on this post, so please notify me of them!

-toenails_sauce

 

[Alfalfa]

Name: Ultimate Wallbreaker
General Description: This CAP is made to mangle most any defensive core, providing crucial aid for sweepers in the process.
Justification:
Wallbreakers impact the metagame very significantly. Without them, what can a sweeper do? There are numerous obnoxious walls that can stop sweepers cold. Mega Venusaur, Slowbro, Clefable, Skarmory, Heatran, Jirachi...the list goes on and on! Geez, thank Arceus for wallbreakers. Despite being a niche, they are one of the most important Pokemon in my opinion. They give sweepers a second chance.
I believe creating a magnificent wallbreaker will positively shape the metagame. It does so by putting troublesome walls in danger; it provides sweepers another chance to shine. Furthermore, this CAP can potentially use either sheer power, excellent coverage, very useful abilities, boosting moves, status, or other aspects in order to wallbreak.
All in all, the purpose of this CAP is to positively impact the metagame by aiding teams from its fantastic wallbreaking capabilities. It can be another option when a team wants a stellar wallbreaker.
Questions To Be Answered:
- How really impactful is wallbreaking in general? For example, are sweepers deadweight without wallbreakers when it comes to beating stall?
- Can the creation of one wallbreaker badly mar the viability of a wall/walls?
- Is it possible for a wallbreaking CAP to potentially beat every wall in the metagame?
- This may be a vague question, but what is the most important aspect in wallbreaking (sheer power, coverage, ability, having a boosting move, status/Taunt abusing, etc.)?
- Can wallbreaking benefit walls themselves, assuming that they are on your team as well?
Explanation:
There is an already fantastic example of the "ultimate" wallbreaker. Here's a question: who can destroy a core consisting of Mega Venusaur, Slowbro, and Heatran? Not Azumarill, not Crawdaunt, and not Diggersby, all of whom are wallbreakers. It's Mega Heracross. It has nearly unrivaled wallbreaking capabilities, as we look at its absurd base 185 Attack stat. However, why do I want to create another "ultimate" wallbreaker? There are not enough Pokemon like Mega Heracross. I think creating another excellent wallbreaker will aid teams even more by being another great option for that niche.
Why do I want to create a CAP that benefits sweepers? Let's just say this: I hate stall with passion. In fact, nobody likes to be have their sweepers walled, right?
Overall, I think this discussion is going to be interesting, since not many people think about making wallbreakers as CAPs nowadays.

Thank you for reading my post! I definitely have errors I have not seen on this post, so please notify me of them!

-toenails_sauce

 

[Mova]

Name: Ultimate Wallbreaker

Not only does this sound like Hoopa Unbound, but the concept also appears generically good, which goes against what the CAP project is aiming for. We as a community are trying to learn something about OU in the process.

 

[Exclaimer]

That concept brings nothing new to the table, all I see is that you want to stomp stall out because you don't know how to use Kyurem-Black and Hoopa properly. Not to mention that Hoopa, a very recently released Pokemon, fits your concept, and even destroys that core you mentioned. If you hate stall so much, use Hoopa...

 

[azureleaf17]

May I repost something that I feel like didn't get enough discussion? Needed to ask in case I'm just reaching here, but I didn't feel like it was too bad of a suggestion.

 

[NumberCruncher]

May I repost something that I feel like didn't get enough discussion? Needed to ask in case I'm just reaching here, but I didn't feel like it was too bad of a suggestion.

Do you mean "Resourceful"? No, don't bother. The reason why most items in the game aren't used is because the staggering majority are awful. The few that aren't strictly awful while still being underused, like Weakness Policy and Eviolite, already have perfect users. There's nothing to learn there. Some items are good, so they see play. Most items are awful, so they don't see play. No amount of finagling is going to fix the fact that there are far better items to use than the Big Root or Cell Battery.

 

[Trox]

I'm not that good with long, flashy explanations, so I hope this isn't too short.
Either way, I'm still quite new, so please tell me how to do better :)

Name: Not so fast!

General Description:
A Pokemon that uses the Speed-creep of the Metagame to its own/teams advantage.

Justification:
The Concept aims to shift the Metagame away from its Speed-creep. We could explore how a Pokemon can be good in OU without being fast.
This could result in a dropping use of Hyperoffense, making Stall more viable.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What different kinds of being faster/slower are there?
- How do different Pokemon make use of their Speed?
- How can we use an higher speed of our opponent to our advantage?
- How exactly do we want to prevent fast Pokemon being useful to our opponent?
- What ways are there to handle Priority?

Explanation:
With the the introduction of Generation 6, an offensive Playstyle has gotten more and more use in the OU Metagame. The release of new, very fast Mega-Evolutions in ORAS further sped up the Meta.
Especially Lategame, when your Team is already weakened, being outsped by your opponent is often the way you loose. But how would the Metagame be if there was a Pokemon that discourages you from using faster Pokemon?

 

[Alfalfa]

I'm not that good with long, flashy explanations, so I hope this isn't too short.
Either way, I'm still quite new, so please tell me how to do better :)

Name: Not so fast!

General Description:
A Pokemon that uses the Speed-creep of the Metagame to its own/teams advantage.

Justification:
The Concept aims to shift the Metagame away from its Speed-creep. We could explore how a Pokemon can be good in OU without being fast.
This could result in a dropping use of Hyperoffense, making Stall more viable.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What different kinds of being faster/slower are there?
- How do different Pokemon make use of their Speed?
- How can we use an higher speed of our opponent to our advantage?
- How exactly do we want to prevent fast Pokemon being useful to our opponent?
- What ways are there to handle Priority?

Explanation:
With the the introduction of Generation 6, an offensive Playstyle has gotten more and more use in the OU Metagame. The release of new, very fast Mega-Evolutions in ORAS further sped up the Meta.
Especially Lategame, when your Team is already weakened, being outsped by your opponent is often the way you loose. But how would the Metagame be if there was a Pokemon that discourages you from using faster Pokemon?

This literally sounds like a Trick Room abuser. We already have several potential abusers, just none of them particularly want to run Trick Room. Even the most common Trick Room abusers since DPP (DPP Bronzong, BW Reuniclus) did not kill hyper-offense, as HO was still capable of running Pokemon that could pressure these abusers.

 

[Trox]

This literally sounds like a Trick Room abuser. We already have several potential abusers, just none of them particularly want to run Trick Room. Even the most common Trick Room abusers since DPP (DPP Bronzong, BW Reuniclus) did not kill hyper-offense, as HO was still capable of running Pokemon that could pressure these abusers.

Trick Room could really be a way to realize the concept, but I also know that Trick Room isn't really viable in OU and it wasn't on my mind.
That's why I tried to phrase it generally, to leave room for other ideas which might be more viable than TR.

 

[Fire Blast]

Name: The Amazing Wonder Guard

General Description: A Pokemon with the ability Wonder Guard. Naturally, this ability alone is enough to define a Pokemon.

Justification: This Pokemon will certainly fill a niche in the metagame, through its unique ability that forces the metagame to adapt around it. Additionally, through the typing we choose, we’ll be able to determine how the new Pokemon will affect the metagame. Pokemon will rise and fall around it at our hands. We’ll be able to learn how important certain types are and how much one polarizing pokemon can change the metagame.

Questions To Be Answered:

Is one polarizing Pokemon enough to make Pokemon/movesets fall out of favor?

What does the metagame look like when certain types suddenly gain value and others lose value?

How can a Pokemon have such a polarizing ability while still being balanced? Is having 1 HP the only way to balance such an ability?

How much work can a Pokemon do with weakened stats and movepool, but a great ability?

Explanation: This Pokemon has a lot of potential on what it can do to the metagame and what it can do to itself. The only other Pokemon with Wonder Guard, Shedinja, was balanced through its measly 1 HP, it’s weakness to many forms of passive damage, and its weakness to a variety of super effective types. While I’m sure everyone’s first reaction to this would be to think that this could easily be overpowered, I think that there is actually a lot of potential. Despite Shedinja’s powerful ability it has failed to ever be a prominent force in any metagame. There’s a lot of space between a theoretical overpowered Pokemon with Wonder Guard and Shedinja and it’s very possible that this CAP could find the sweet spot in between. Carefully choosing a typing to target certain types will allow us to manipulate the metagame to our liking and observe the results. Another possibility that I considered is throwing Conversion into the mix. This would certainly make things more interesting. Although it may seem like this Pokemon could easily go awry, just remember that Shedinja has struggled all this time, and its currently not even close to being OU-level. There are a lot of tools we can use to balance this Pokemon and exploring these tools during the process will make a great learning experience.

 

[ginganinja]

Ha.

No.