Pet Mod Megas for All v7 - please switch to the new thread for v8! (There's a link in the first and last posts!)

[ItzaDelta]

"It's high noon, pardner."


Name: Brambleghast (Mega)
Typing: Grass/Ghost
Ability: Quick Draw
Stats:

HP: 55
ATK: 135 (+20)
DEF: 110 (+40)
SPA: 80 (+0)
SPD: 110 (+40)
SPE: 90 (+0)

Description n' Flavour

Behold! My joke submission for this slate :3
Now, this is literally just a cowboy joke if you couldn't tell already, but it's also intended to run meme-y SubSeed sets to try and fish for Quick Draw proccs.
Have fun!

Now, for my serious submission...
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Those chemicals in the water are turning the gosh darned ducks gay!

Name: Quaquaval (Mega)
Typing: Water/Fighting
Ability: Intimidate
Stats:

HP: 85
ATK: 130 (+10)
DEF: 110 (+30)
SPA: 115 (+30)
SPD: 85 (+10)
SPE: 105 (+20)

New Moves: Scald

Description n' Flavour

Water/Fighting pivot with good speed, decent mixed offensive stats and the potential to go for a sweep with SD? Sounds familiar...
Now, now, don't let that disuade you, because Mega Quaquaval has some traits unique for itself that make it an appealing defensive Pokemon.
Its higher defensive stats, and access to Intimidate and Roost make it more appealing on defensive teams, as it can sit on Pokemon such as Kingambit very, very easily. It also gets Rapid Spin, which is invaluable support in the land of hazards AKA Gen 9.

Quaquaval gets Intimidate, referencing how peacocks use their huge plumage to scare off predators from attacking them. Also i'm scared of gay people for legal reasons I must disclaim that this is a joke

 

[lydian]

Mega Quaquaval

Ability - Torrent; Moxie ➝ Queenly Majesty

HP - 85➝ 85
Atk - 120 ➝ 160 (+40)
Def - 80 ➝ 120 (+40)
SpA - 85 ➝ 120 (+35)
SpD - 75 ➝ 80 (+5)
Spe - 85 ➝ 65 (-20)
BST - 530 ➝ 630 (+100)

Movepool Changes - Victory Dance,
Competitive Corner - Mega Quaquaval has a few tradeoffs compared to its regular counterpart. Its role as a sweeper remains, but added power, extra physical bulk, and an ability that protects it from priority of the likes of Raging Bolt and Dragonite, and gives it a higher ceiling should it garner enough speed boosts. As a tradeoff, It is a bit slower now, so it'll require three boosts to get past revenge killers like Booster Energy Iron Boulder and Iron Valiant. To help remedy that, Victory Dance is part of its movepool now, which I doubt would push base Quaquaval over the edge.
Flavor Corner - Mega Quaquaval is now more visually inspired on a "rainha de bateria", hence the ability. Game Freak went with the flamboyant carnaval duck motif, and what a better way to amplify that than with this ability and visual theme? Victory Dance is also fitting, as Quaquaval is a very dance-based Pokémon, and samba schools in Brazil often have competitions for the best parades in carnaval, so "Victory" aspect is also justified. The lower speed is also justified by it growing even more flamboyant and exaggerated decorations, which would diminish its locomotive capabilities. Lastly, I wanted as many stats as possible (which was only 4 of them, unfortunately) to be multiples of 40, as carnaval notoriously happens 40 days before lent, and that's the whole reason for the origin of the carnaval.

Mega Lokix

Ability - Swarm; Tinted Lens➝ Vigilante (User's moves with increased priority deal 30% more damage)

HP - 71➝ 71
Atk - 102 ➝ 152 (+50)
Def - 78 ➝ 92 (+14)
SpA - 52 ➝ 52
SpD - 55 ➝ 71 (+16)
Spe - 92 ➝ 112 (+20)
BST - 450 ➝ 550 (+100)

Movepool Changes - none
Competitive Corner - With Vigilante as its new ability, Mega Lokix further establishes itself as a powerful priority move user, in spite of its two STAB priorities being limited. The main problem, however, for Lokix, is that it still maintains some of the issues its base form had, mainly the frailty, while making the Stealth Rock weakness for an offensive pivot unavoiadable as Heavy-Duty Boots have to be forfeited for a Mega Stone.
Flavor Corner - The Kamen Rider series seems to draw in Vigilante motifs, and I think powering up your priority moves, i.e. pre-emptive attacks is a good representation of that concept. To expand the concept of Lokix, I also researched that Kamen Riders use motorcycles a lot, and I thought it would be interesting flavorwise to turn Lokix into a part wheel bug creature (with the wheel-shaped pronotal armor actually becoming a functional wheel) so it can motorcycle itself around! Sadly I can't give it any spin-based moves because those wouldn't work flavorfully on base Lokix, though...

 

[Seito Chinchou]

Well, I guess I'll be voting for Lydian's Quaquaval - I was thinking of exactly that when reading the announcement, complete with the speed decrease and bulk buff. Great minds think alike. Regardless, subs for the other two:

Mega Lokix


Type: Fighting/Dark
Ability: Locust Locus - Increases the power of this and ally Pokemon's Bug-type moves by 50% (Steely Spirit clone)

Stats:
HP - 71
ATK - 142 (+40)
DEF - 106 (+28)
SPA - 52
SPD - 55
SPE - 124 (+32)

Moves: Rapid Spin

Description

The immediate problem I saw with Lokix was how to design a: hit and run pivot mon, that is weak to rocks, can't hold heavy duty boots, and exists in a meta completely overrun with hazards due to terrific setters and a mon that shuts down all hazard control? Any submission would have to tackle these problems first and foremost if they wanted to keep Lokix' identity instead of just reinventing it. Now, an easy way would be something simple like Magic Guard, Regenerator, etc. to prevent the damage, but that's 1) boring, 2) suboptimal because Lokix needs more than just a mega stat boost at the downside of losing Tinted Lens if it's going to be worth running and taking up your mega slot.

Thus, I decided to take a slightly more unconventional route. While I feel a little sad changing its unique type, it's unfortunately a type that doesn't provide much for it and instead serves as a large roadblock to Lokix' viability. However, Mega Lokix very much still embodies its Bug typing in its mega form, much the same way that Dhelmise is a spiritual Steel type utilizing its ability. On all levels except physical, Lokix is a Bug.

Lokix always had a lot of Fighting coding going on with its design (based of Kamen Riders, which are Japanese superheroes), animations, and movepool choices - arguably being the flagship user of the new move Axe Kick, which it now has STAB on. Fighting lets Lokix trade out its Stealth Rocks weakness for a Stealth Rocks resistance - which is the primary (but not only) reason behind the switch, and imperative to enabling Lokix' game plan. Outside of just rocks, though, Fighting/Dark offers an incredibly good defensive and offensive profile - much better than Bug/Dark being dragged down by Bug's bad type matchups - which is essential as a squishy mon who wants to be switching in on a lot of moves. Lokix here makes up two thirds of the Fighting/Dark/Psychic triangle on his own and dismantles two thirds of opposing ones. Additionally, as mentioned before, it gives STAB on Axe Kick, which is a highly valuable move and type for an offensive Pokemon to have access to, and synergizes well with its other two STABs, Dark and Bug.

Indeed, Locus Locust's primary function is maintaining Lokix' STAB on Bug moves. Bug is an all around mediocre type which ranges from underwhelming at best to terrible at worst, but its greatest strength is the great moves the type has like U-Turn, First Impression, Leech Life, etc. Lokix gets to utilize these phenomenal moves that are essential to its design and maintain STAB on them, while shedding its skin of the poor defensive qualities the type itself has. The ability was originally just a Steelworker clone, but at Paulluxx's suggestion, I've expanded it to Steely Spirit. This fits better with the current precedent of these types of abilities, since the ability isn't exactly granting Lokix a new STAB but maintaining one of its old ones (though it is kind of a grey area). More interestingly, though, it gives it a fun and cool niche in VGC by allowing it to grant allies STAB on relevant bug moves like U-Turn. This makes it pair quite well with Intimidate pivots and mons that fill similar rolls, as well as Amoongus - who gets STAB on Pollen Puff and whose types pair quite well with Mega Lokix'. It also helps to demolish the Treasures of Ruin which are even more prominent in VGC than singles due to it having a great matchup into all four and allowing its allies to spec into Bug-type coverage in the team builder to focus them down as well. This is a cool parallel due to the nature of their abilities as well as Lokix' flavor as a hero. The name was chosen due to it being, well, a locust, and to reference a plague of locusts, which fits its dark aesthetic and matches well with the other Bug boosting move, Swarm. The Locus part was a suggestion by zxgzxg - meaning position, which in this context would imply a Locust-styled fighting stance like the Mantis, Tiger, etc.

For the other changes, the main goal was to give Lokix enough of an offensive boost to not only make up for the lack of Tinted Lens but to justify its mega slot without going too overboard. I gave it just enough speed to outpace Meowscarada - an important breakpoint that lets it threaten to OHKO with U-Turn, pressuring momentum on its allies that would otherwise switch into its First Impression as well as still threatening OHKO with Axe Kick if it monotypes out of the 4x weakness with Protean on Lokix' switch in. Additionally, Rapid Spin gives it some great added utility as a pivot, especially one that now beats rocks, and also beats Ghost types (besides the most relevant and glittery one, unfortunately).

(Credit to zxgzxg for the improved name suggestion)

Mega Brambleghast

Type: Grass/Ghost
Ability: Accumulate - If this Pokémon is a Brambleghast that has Mega Evolved, it bundles together with other Brambleghast and changes form at the end of each full turn it has been on the field, building up to Mega Brambleghast (Tangled Form) over five turns. (SOS clone)

	HP	ATK	DEF	SPA	SPD	SPE
Mega Brambleghast-Tumbled	55	115	90 (+20)	90 (+10)	40 (-30)	190 (+100)
Tangling Form 1	55	100 (-15)	110 (+20)	95 (+5)	60 (+20)	160 (-30)
Tangling Form 2	55	85 (-15)	130 (+20)	100 (+5)	80 (+20)	130 (-30)
Tangling Form 3	55	70 (-15)	150 (+20)	105 (+5)	100 (+20)	100 (-30)
Tangling Form 4	55	55 (-15)	170 (+20)	110 (+5)	120 (+20)	70 (-30)
Mega Brambleghast-Tangled	55	40 (-15)	190 (+20)	115 (+5)	140 (+20)	40 (-30)

Moves: Heat Wave

Description

The American Wild West is always prominently depicted with their "signature" tumbleweeds rolling on through the backdrop. Like this, they're mostly harmless, even a nice aesthetic - but in reality, tumbleweeds are an invasive species and a massive issue. Tumbleweeds are both highly mobile, and highly likely to get stuck to things, and each other. Lone tumbleweeds are largely unthreatening, but large masses of entangled tumbleweeds filling streets, smothering farms, and carrying wildfires wherever the wind pleases to blow them. Of course, the larger these entanglements amass, the less mobile they become... but at that point it's too late, and you're stuck trying to dismantle the enormous, thorny pile and round up the seeds before it happens again, all while more blow in to exacerbate.

Now imagine if that were haunted, malevolent, and magic.

Mega Brambleghast utilizes Wishiwashi's ability in order to fulfill the true threat it poses - to you and everyone else who desires not to have the life choked out of them by a thorny, seedy, accumulated mass of undead brambles. Wishiwashi was a special case, so Brambleghast doesn't use its ability exactly, at least regarding the enormous BST boost the ability gave it. However, that enables Brambleghast to take some more liberties to achieve its excellent stat boosts another way - minmaxing. Each turn Brambleghast accumulates, its speed drops as it becomes burdened under the mass of increasingly high numbers of other Brambleghasts. However, each additional bramble contributes to a growing fortress of thorns and thistles. As a result, Mega Brambleghast achieves the same level of reward as Wishiwashi in the stats it needs most. In fact, the difference in limitations is also a blessing in disguise, for sticking to such a low HP stat in exchange for even more astronomical defenses furthers Brambleghast's primary gameplan - the one that synergizes with and enables the ability right from the start: Leech Seed.

Despite its respectable attack and underwhelming bulk, Brambleghast has always been best as a SubSeed user. This makes Brambleghast an ideal choice to not only benefit from the ability but also aid in pulling it off in an equal/opposite manner that Wishiwashi does. Wishiwashi revolves around having Wish and Protect to stall out turns, and achieving the late stages gets it quite the hefty HP stat to facilitate its role as a Wish passer with Flip Turn. Brambleghast, meanwhile, stalls out its turns with a combination of Leech Seed and Substitute, whose low HP means that the opulent defense stats it gets at the late stages amplify the effective value it gets out of each point of HP it drains from its victims.

To further this, its attack also shifts into special attack to enable the use of Giga Drain as a proactive option, as well as Heat Wave to ward off any Grass types that would try to block its Leech Seed. Much like Wishiwashi's Whirlpool, Brambleghast also has Infestation to attempt to trap opponents who can't pressure it, making it that much easier to live turns. Pain Split also synergizes very well, and in many cases is one of Brambleghast's best choices for instant damage and instant healing. Spikes are also a fantastic utility option for a mon that's immune to Rapid Spin and enjoys sitting on the field stalling out turns.

However, one move this Ghost type lacks is Wisp, and one it doesn't is Strength Sap. Due to this, I decided to make its defenses skew towards the physical side - even dropping its special defense at its base and first stage. This is to shore up its defense without Wisp, as well as to incentivize special attackers to counter it. Strength Sap could potentially be a bit too much, so having its defenses skewed works to lower its impact and discourage its use over other options like Leech Seed and Pain Split. Brambleghast gets diminishing returns from Strength Sap's heals - which are already lower against special attackers - while receiving no defensive benefit from the attack drop, which is rather antisynergistic with Brambleghast's desire to sit on the field and chip and drain the opponent.

Curse is also super cool on a mon like this, but probably still not good enough considering Mega Brambleghast's pretty significant four move slot syndrome already.

 

[jazzmat]

Mega Lokix
Bug/Dark
stats
HP- 71
ATK- 132(+30)
DEF- 108(+30)
SPA- 72(+20)
SPD- 85(+30)
SPE- 82(-10)
BST- 550
Fast Fighter: Fighting type moves raise speed by one stage

new moves: Blaze Kick, Upper Hand, Bulk Up

Being a grasshopper/locust I thought that the best way to honor that was to give it a way to boost its speed using its legs (i.e. Axe Kick). But I soon discovered that there were other moves that could be very interesting when paired with this ability. The main contenders here are obviously detect, being able to boost speed while guaranteeing you won't take damage is extremely useful for when your opponent switches in, and bulk up, acting as a physical quiver dance bet fitting for a bug type. The more niche options we have are axe kick, a powerful coverage move with a high bp but a high cost if you miss, upper hand, a priority move that only works against other priority, and low sweep, a move that will lower the opponents speed while raising your speed gives you an effective +2 boost.

 

[Lysion]

Quaquaval-Mega
Type: Water / Fighting
Ability: Reckless
Stats
HP: 85
Attack: 120 + 10 = 130
Defense: 80 + 30 = 110
Sp. Attack: 85 + 10 = 95
Sp. Defense: 75 + 20 = 95
Speed: 85 + 30 = 115
New moves: High Jump Kick

Well, it wants to click Wave Crash and Brave Bird... It has Water and Fighting STAB... Reckless makes sense, and well, lore wise it also makes sense because of the nature of Quaquaval ig... Anyway, the Speed boost makes Aqua Step less necessary, and a SD set can quickly become annoying to face.

 

[IsoCon]

Quaquaval-Mega
Type: Water/Fighting
Ability: Torrent/Moxie -> Contrary

Stats:
HP: 85
Atk: 120 -> 155 (+35)
Def: 80 -> 95 (+15)
SpA: 85
SpD: 75 -> 121 (+46)
Spe: 85 -> 89 (+4)
BST: 530 -> 630 (+100)

New Moves: None!

Flavour: Quaquaval is based on carnival dancing (mainly samba, which originates from Brazil). What also has heavy ties to Brazil is capoeira, a martial art/art form that is essentially dancing while fighting. Its origins are believed to be that slaves would practice it as a form of self-defence while their masters believed them to just be dancing. Quaquaval, the dancing Pokémon according to it's dex entry, therefore gains Contrary as an ability due to its misdirection while fighting - as it appears to dance. Most other Pokémon with Contrary also appear to have it due to misdirection - Malamar looks like it's upside down while it's actually upright; Lurantis looks like a Bug while actually being a flower; Enamorus has a mustache like the other genies but is female.

Competitive: Quaquaval-Mega would most likely act as a late-game sweeper on offense teams: although its stats and movepool should make it a good option on many teams it has a major issue - once mega evolved it can no longer boost its Attack or Speed with Swords Dance or Aqua Step respectively. 155 Atk is still a lot, but without an item choice or boosting may have some issues, and 89 Spe will make it struggle with many offensive mons. And so Quaquaval-Mega will work best when you bring it in with the intention of ending the game with it as you won't need to switch. Its gameplan is essentially to get an SD off or a Moxie boost and an Aqua Step speed boost or two, and then Mega Evolve for the stat increase as well as Close Combat now boosting defenses making it extremely difficult to revenge kill or just kill in general. It can come in on a handful of attackers, most importantly Kingambit, although should be able to come in on just about anything if on a Hyper Offense team with screens support. It will probably have to run a coverage move such as Ice Spinner or Triple Axel (if available) or Knock Off over Roost to help it deal with mons such as Dragapult, Dragonite or Water Absorb Clodsire. I think it will probably need Aqua Step for the speed boosts over Liquidation/Wave Crash because it becomes much harder to get set up in the first place and much easier to revenge kill, even though Aqua Step will decrease speed once Mega Evolved. The main counterplay for Quaquaval-Mega is likely to be to keep any defensive answers alive to prevent it from doing anything (mainly Dondozo but Hatterene or Clefable if it's in the dex should work as well because they hit it hard enough) or to force it to use Aqua Step after it Mega Evolves to decrease its speed until you can revenge kill it with something like Meowscarada.

If this wins and turns out to be relatively unviable in the metagame (hard to predict because it can't be played yet and there's no direct equivalent) Power Trip could be added as a move for a better coverage option that hits just about everything hard and should help it overwhelm its defensive checks after enough boosts (probably not Dondozo though).

The Atk boost gives it enough for +2 Aqua Step to kill offensive Gholdengo after rocks damage with a few extra points because more attack is always nice.
The Def boost keeps it low enough where Meowscarada Flower Trick is still a guaranteed OHKO
The SpD boost takes it past a few benchmarks but I think the most important one is that it can live an Iron Valiant Moonblast from full unboosted or one from Specs Iron Valiant after one Close Combat.
The Spe boost takes it past Great Tusk and Excadrill but is generally unimportant.

If you actually read all of that thank you very much please vote for me

 

[BlueRay]

Current slate is now closed. Please, do not post any new submissions while we're working on reviewing the previous ones.

 

[BlueRay]

Dear community,

now that we've finished our reviews, you have until this Friday (21.02.2024), GMT +1, 18:00, to revise your subs! In case you make any new changes to your subs, please, inform one of the reviewers. This would be either me or Paul. And if we forgot to review any submission, please, do not hesitate to point it out to one of us!

 

[BlueRay]

Dear community,

below, you'll find all the submissions you can vote for! You have until next Wednesday, 28.02.2024, GMT +1, 20:00, to vote! If I forgot to include any submission, please, let me know as soon as possible.

Quaquaval

DrPumpkinz

Mega Quaquaval
Type: Water / Fighting
Ability: Levitate
Stats:
HP: 85
Att: 150 (+30)
Def: 100 (+20)
SpA: 95 (+10)
SpD: 105 (+30)
Spe: 95 (+10)

Mega Quaquaval is so graceful and light on its feet that it might as well be hovering above the ground. Also it's a bird so it probably can literally hover above the ground.

Quaquaval has a lot of really good defensive tools like Rapid Spin, Roost, Flip Turn, and Knock Off, which are bolstered by a really nice defensive typing. Levitate encourages Mega Quaquaval to lean further into a hazard-removal role thanks to a new immunity to grounded hazards combined with a natural resistance to Stealth Rock, or it can use the immunity to Toxic Spikes specifically to more effectively run a bulky setup sweeper set.

Gekokeso

Mega Quaquaval
Type:

/

Ability: Dancer
HP: 85
Atk: 120
Def: 80 ---> 120 (+40)
SpA: 85
SpD: 75 ---> 100 (+25)
Spe: 85 ---> 120(+35)
Description: Going full bulk route with Quac as I give it the ability that should have been his hidden ability (even tho moxie is pretty damn good). Quac has an actually pretty decent typing to use with dancer, having a typing to deal with quiver dancers like Volcarona as well as Dragon and Sword Dancers like Baxcalibur and Roaring Moon by using their own boosts against them. Added bulk takes less than 50% from volc Giga Drain and can tank hits from the dragons, extra speed gets the jump even on Roaring Moon. Can perform well as a bulky Spinner that transitions into a Sweeper.

LordThemberchaud

Quaquaval-Mega
Type: Water/Fighting
Ability: Justified
HP: 85
Atk: 120
Def: 130 (+50)
Sp. Atk: 85
Sp. Def: 95 (+20)
Spd: 115 (+30)
New Moves: N/A
You want a counter? I've got a counter!

I'm a big fan of defensive . It has everything a defensive Mon would want: Reliable recovery, good defensive typing that walls both STABS of one of the best Pokemon in the tier, and a good utility movepool. Only issue is, it's bulk is lacking. So, what if I give it bulk? Well, we get this.

Well, you may see this and ask, "Why not just use instead if you want a counter that can spin?" can struggle to come in later to deal with due to a lack of recovery, especially with it also having to spin away hazards. With Roost, doesn't run into that issue as easily. The lack of boots is frustrating, but it isn't the end of the world. Also, Justified is pretty funny. Get hit by a Knock Off on the switch, and you can potentially just sweep after an Aqua Step/Rapid Spin or two.

chemicalmines

Mega Quaquaval
New Ability: Trace
Type:

New stats:
HP: 85
Attack: 140 (+20)
Defense: 125 (+45)
Special Attack: 90 (+5)
Special Defense: 85 (+10)
Speed: 105 (+20)
(630 BST)

New moves: N/A
Description: Both of Quaquaval's offensive and defensive sets on Smogon are very interesting to me since its stats and typing are incredibly versatile, so investing more into Mega Quaquaval's defense to contest with its large Attack Stat made sense. I also didn't want Quaquaval to have a stronger ability than the already powerful Moxie, so Trace is an interesting ability that could aid it on several types of builds; for example, Quaquaval could copy an ability like Regenerator to aid it on bulky pivot builds or Tough Claws to hit harder with its attacks.

Sample Set

Quaquaval @ Quaquavite
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Knock Off

Quaquaval @ Quaquavite
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 140 Def / 120 Spe
Impish Nature
- Aqua Step
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Rapid Spin

okispokis

Quaquaval-Mega
Water/Fighting
Ability: Torrent/Moxie-> Natural Cure
Stats
HP: 85
Atk: 140 (+20)
Def: 100 (+20)
SpA: 95 (+10)
SpD: 125 (+50)
Spe: 85

Quaxly's PokeDex entries mention that its feathers secrete a gel which repels "grime", and what aspect of competitive Pokemon is grimier than status? The ability to shrug off status conditions is a great asset for a Rapid Spinner, making it easier to keep yourself healthy with Roost and find more opportunities to Spin while also pairing nicely with optional U-turn. Defensive sets don't have to worry about poison or TSpikes, while offensive sets no longer have to fear getting shut down by burn or paralysis, pairing well with pre-Mega Moxie. Regardless of which route you go, Quaq can easily pressure the opponent between Aqua Step, Close Combat, Knock Off and occasional Ice Spinner or Brave Bird if you really want to bypass Amoonguss. I went with a more SpD heavy spread to help Mega Quaq further stand out from Dondozo, as well as pairing with Natural Cure to shrug off Fire moves, Scalds, and Sludge Bombs; it also ensures even offensive spreads can survive +1 Giga Drain from Volcarona, letting you KO back with Aqua Step. The less buffed Defense stat still makes great use of Quaq's natural resistances to Rock, Dark and Bug.

ItzaDelta

Name: Quaquaval (Mega)
Typing: Water/Fighting
Ability: Intimidate
Stats:

HP: 85
ATK: 130 (+10)
DEF: 110 (+30)
SPA: 115 (+30)
SPD: 85 (+10)
SPE: 105 (+20)

New Moves: Scald

Description n' flavour

Water/Fighting pivot with good speed, decent mixed offensive stats and the potential to go for a sweep with SD? Sounds familiar...
Now, now, don't let that disuade you, because Mega Quaquaval has some traits unique for itself that make it an appealing defensive Pokemon.
Its higher defensive stats, and access to Intimidate and Roost make it more appealing on defensive teams, as it can sit on Pokemon such as Kingambit very, very easily. It also gets Rapid Spin, which is invaluable support in the land of hazards AKA Gen 9.

Quaquaval gets Intimidate, referencing how peacocks use their huge plumage to scare off predators from attacking them. Also i'm scared of gay people for legal reasons I must disclaim that this is a joke

lydian

Mega Quaquaval

Ability - Torrent; Moxie ➝ Queenly Majesty

HP - 85➝ 85
Atk - 120 ➝ 160 (+40)
Def - 80 ➝ 120 (+40)
SpA - 85 ➝ 120 (+35)
SpD - 75 ➝ 80 (+5)
Spe - 85 ➝ 65 (-20)
BST - 530 ➝ 630 (+100)

Movepool Changes - Victory Dance,
Competitive Corner - Mega Quaquaval has a few tradeoffs compared to its regular counterpart. Its role as a sweeper remains, but added power, extra physical bulk, and an ability that protects it from priority of the likes of Raging Bolt and Dragonite, and gives it a higher ceiling should it garner enough speed boosts. As a tradeoff, It is a bit slower now, so it'll require three boosts to get past revenge killers like Booster Energy Iron Boulder and Iron Valiant. To help remedy that, Victory Dance is part of its movepool now, which I doubt would push base Quaquaval over the edge.
Flavor Corner - Mega Quaquaval is now more visually inspired on a "rainha de bateria", hence the ability. Game Freak went with the flamboyant carnaval duck motif, and what a better way to amplify that than with this ability and visual theme? Victory Dance is also fitting, as Quaquaval is a very dance-based Pokémon, and samba schools in Brazil often have competitions for the best parades in carnaval, so "Victory" aspect is also justified. The lower speed is also justified by it growing even more flamboyant and exaggerated decorations, which would diminish its locomotive capabilities. Lastly, I wanted as many stats as possible (which was only 4 of them, unfortunately) to be multiples of 40, as carnaval notoriously happens 40 days before lent, and that's the whole reason for the origin of the carnaval.

Lysion

Quaquaval-Mega
Type: Water / Fighting
Ability: Reckless
Stats
HP: 85
Attack: 120 + 10 = 130
Defense: 80 + 30 = 110
Sp. Attack: 85 + 10 = 95
Sp. Defense: 75 + 20 = 95
Speed: 85 + 30 = 115
New moves: High Jump Kick

Well, it wants to click Wave Crash and Brave Bird... It has Water and Fighting STAB... Reckless makes sense, and well, lore wise it also makes sense because of the nature of Quaquaval ig... Anyway, the Speed boost makes Aqua Step less necessary, and a SD set can quickly become annoying to face.

IsoCon

Quaquaval-Mega
Type: Water/Fighting
Ability: Torrent/Moxie -> Contrary

Stats:
HP: 85
Atk: 120 -> 155 (+35)
Def: 80 -> 95 (+15)
SpA: 85
SpD: 75 -> 121 (+46)
Spe: 85 -> 89 (+4)
BST: 530 -> 630 (+100)

New Moves: None!

Flavour: Quaquaval is based on carnival dancing (mainly samba, which originates from Brazil). What also has heavy ties to Brazil is capoeira, a martial art/art form that is essentially dancing while fighting. Its origins are believed to be that slaves would practice it as a form of self-defence while their masters believed them to just be dancing. Quaquaval, the dancing Pokémon according to it's dex entry, therefore gains Contrary as an ability due to its misdirection while fighting - as it appears to dance. Most other Pokémon with Contrary also appear to have it due to misdirection - Malamar looks like it's upside down while it's actually upright; Lurantis looks like a Bug while actually being a flower; Enamorus has a mustache like the other genies but is female.

Competitive: Quaquaval-Mega would most likely act as a late-game sweeper on offense teams: although its stats and movepool should make it a good option on many teams it has a major issue - once mega evolved it can no longer boost its Attack or Speed with Swords Dance or Aqua Step respectively. 155 Atk is still a lot, but without an item choice or boosting may have some issues, and 89 Spe will make it struggle with many offensive mons. And so Quaquaval-Mega will work best when you bring it in with the intention of ending the game with it as you won't need to switch. Its gameplan is essentially to get an SD off or a Moxie boost and an Aqua Step speed boost or two, and then Mega Evolve for the stat increase as well as Close Combat now boosting defenses making it extremely difficult to revenge kill or just kill in general. It can come in on a handful of attackers, most importantly Kingambit, although should be able to come in on just about anything if on a Hyper Offense team with screens support. It will probably have to run a coverage move such as Ice Spinner or Triple Axel (if available) or Knock Off over Roost to help it deal with mons such as Dragapult, Dragonite or Water Absorb Clodsire. I think it will probably need Aqua Step for the speed boosts over Liquidation/Wave Crash because it becomes much harder to get set up in the first place and much easier to revenge kill, even though Aqua Step will decrease speed once Mega Evolved. The main counterplay for Quaquaval-Mega is likely to be to keep any defensive answers alive to prevent it from doing anything (mainly Dondozo but Hatterene or Clefable if it's in the dex should work as well because they hit it hard enough) or to force it to use Aqua Step after it Mega Evolves to decrease its speed until you can revenge kill it with something like Meowscarada.

If this wins and turns out to be relatively unviable in the metagame (hard to predict because it can't be played yet and there's no direct equivalent) Power Trip could be added as a move for a better coverage option that hits just about everything hard and should help it overwhelm its defensive checks after enough boosts (probably not Dondozo though).

The Atk boost gives it enough for +2 Aqua Step to kill offensive Gholdengo after rocks damage with a few extra points because more attack is always nice.
The Def boost keeps it low enough where Meowscarada Flower Trick is still a guaranteed OHKO
The SpD boost takes it past a few benchmarks but I think the most important one is that it can live an Iron Valiant Moonblast from full unboosted or one from Specs Iron Valiant after one Close Combat.
The Spe boost takes it past Great Tusk and Excadrill but is generally unimportant.

If you actually read all of that thank you very much please vote for me ❤

Brambleghast

DrPumpkinz

Mega Brambleghast
Type: Grass / Ghost
Ability: Prankster
Stats:
HP: 55
Att: 135 (+20)
Def: 100 (+30)
SpA: 95 (+15)
SpD: 80 (+10)
Spe: 115 (+25)

Brambleghast kinda strikes me as a fucked-up Whimsicott.

Mega Brambleghast gets a handful of useful Prankster tools, like SubSeed and SubDisable, but the crown jewel here is Strength Sap, which allows it to endlessly harass physical attackers no matter how fast they are. It also has Scary Face, which could maybe be useful in doubles. Finally, Mega Brambleghast can maintain a strong offensive presence even with a moveset full of mostly status moves thanks to its high Attack and Speed as well as STAB Poltergeist.

LordThemberchaud

Brambleghast-Mega
Abiltity: Sand Rush
Type: Grass/Ghost
HP: 55
Atk: 90 (Swapped w/ Sp. Atk, +10)
Def: 90 (+20)
Sp. Atk: 135 (Swapped w/ Atk, +20)
Sp. Def: 90 (+20)
Spd. 120 (+30)
New Moves: Scorching Sands, Growth
With Sand Rush, becomes a frightening breaker and revenge killer for Sand teams, with the potential to sweep after a Growth or 2. It can form a pretty strong core with , as can break through physical walls like , , and the potential Mega that could struggle with, while sets sand, takes special attacks, and makes progress with Knock Off (if it gets it in this meta) and TWave.
Scorching Sands give some much-needed coverage, while Growth is literally it's only setup option.

zxgzxg

Mega Brambleghast
Type:

Ability: Aerialate
HP: 55
Atk: 115 ---> 149 (+34)
Def: 70 ---> 70
SpA: 80 ---> 100 (+20)
SpD: 70 ---> 70
Spe: 90 ---> 111 (+21)
Added Moves: Body Slam, Double-Edge
Description: finally: hazard control. yeah atespin is unblockable until someone invents flying immunity but its bootless removal anyways so its still a little sus. notably outspeeds the ogrous pons which you will soon learn to be a pain in the ass.

chemicalmines

Mega Brambleghast
New Ability: Sand Stream
Type:

New stats:
HP: 55
Attack: 125 (+10)
Defense: 105 (+35)
Special Attack: 80 (+0)
Special Defense: 90 (+20)
Speed: 125 (+35)
(580 BST)

New moves: U-turn, Will-O-Wisp
Description: I think it would be interesting if there was a Sand setter that didn't stack as many weaknesses as Tyranitar and Hippowdon and could pivot sand abusers in safely, which Mega Brambleghast accomplishes well. The only issue with Mega Brambleghast setting sand is that it takes sand damage every turn, but Strength Sap should be more than enough to keep it healthy. Will-O-Wisp is an interesting utility option to shut down physical attackers and chip them enough for Mega Brambleghast's teammates to clean up later.

Sample Set

Brambleghast @ Brambleghite
Ability: Wind Rider
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Spikes
- Strength Sap
- Power Whip / Poltergeist

okispokis

Brambleghast-Mega
Grass/Ghost
Ability: Wind Rider/Infiltrator-> Unencumbered (User deals 1.5x damage to targets lacking a held item).
Stats
HP: 55
Atk: 136 (+21)
Def: 99 (+29)
SpA: 80
SpD: 99 (+29)
Spe: 111 (+21)

Brambleghast is a physical-leaning ghost, which naturally presents an issue given the prominence of Knock Off and is even more obvious in SV given the dominance of Paradox mons and their Booster Energy shenanigans. But what if Bramble could flip that weakness by directly punishing itemless Pokemon? Thus Unencumbered, which also has good flavor with Bramble's natural weight. Poltergeist things that have an item, throw off a really strong Power Whip for those without one. Not only does Knock no longer provide strictly negative synergy, but Bramble gains a unique niche in its capabilities to punish Paradox mons, as well as Air Balloon Ghold. Ability-boosted Whip has a solid chance to 2HKO Roaring Moon with just a little investment; also-
0 Atk Brambleghast Power Whip vs. 4 HP / 0 Def [Booster Energy] Iron Valiant: 276-325 (95.1 - 112%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

It's not a hard counter to these mons, but they do need to be much more careful switching in, giving Mega Bramble more room to throw off its strong STABs, while the damage boost means it has more freedom to sink EVs into bulk to better keep up its Spin and Strength Sap shenanigans, meaning that 55/99/99 bulk can be harder to break that you might expect, especially with Atk drops from Strength Sap. The speed stat lets you cheekily creep Ogerpon, which doesn't fear your ability but still takes a ton from Poltergeist. Whip/Polter/Spin/Sap is definitely your go-to set, but you do also have Spikes for your own hazard pressure or Shadow Sneak to pick off foes that survive your Whip.

ItzaDelta

"It's high noon, pardner."


Name: Brambleghast (Mega)
Typing: Grass/Ghost
Ability: Quick Draw
Stats:

HP: 55
ATK: 135 (+20)
DEF: 110 (+40)
SPA: 80 (+0)
SPD: 110 (+40)
SPE: 90 (+0)

Description n' Flavour

Behold! My joke submission for this slate :3
Now, this is literally just a cowboy joke if you couldn't tell already, but it's also intended to run meme-y SubSeed sets to try and fish for Quick Draw proccs.
Have fun!

Seito Chinchou

Mega Brambleghast

Type: Grass/Ghost
Ability: Accumulate - If this Pokémon is a Brambleghast that has Mega Evolved, it bundles together with other Brambleghast and changes form at the end of each full turn it has been on the field, building up to Mega Brambleghast (Tangled Form) over five turns. (SOS clone)

	HP	ATK	DEF	SPA	SPD	SPE
Mega Brambleghast-Tumbled	55	115	90 (+20)	90 (+10)	40 (-30)	190 (+100)
Tangling Form 1	55	100 (-15)	110 (+20)	95 (+5)	60 (+20)	160 (-30)
Tangling Form 2	55	85 (-15)	130 (+20)	100 (+5)	80 (+20)	130 (-30)
Tangling Form 3	55	70 (-15)	150 (+20)	105 (+5)	100 (+20)	100 (-30)
Tangling Form 4	55	55 (-15)	170 (+20)	110 (+5)	120 (+20)	70 (-30)
Mega Brambleghast-Tangled	55	40 (-15)	190 (+20)	115 (+5)	140 (+20)	40 (-30)

Moves: Heat Wave

Description

The American Wild West is always prominently depicted with their "signature" tumbleweeds rolling on through the backdrop. Like this, they're mostly harmless, even a nice aesthetic - but in reality, tumbleweeds are an invasive species and a massive issue. Tumbleweeds are both highly mobile, and highly likely to get stuck to things, and each other. Lone tumbleweeds are largely unthreatening, but large masses of entangled tumbleweeds filling streets, smothering farms, and carrying wildfires wherever the wind pleases to blow them. Of course, the larger these entanglements amass, the less mobile they become... but at that point it's too late, and you're stuck trying to dismantle the enormous, thorny pile and round up the seeds before it happens again, all while more blow in to exacerbate.

Now imagine if that were haunted, malevolent, and magic.

Mega Brambleghast utilizes Wishiwashi's ability in order to fulfill the true threat it poses - to you and everyone else who desires not to have the life choked out of them by a thorny, seedy, accumulated mass of undead brambles. Wishiwashi was a special case, so Brambleghast doesn't use its ability exactly, at least regarding the enormous BST boost the ability gave it. However, that enables Brambleghast to take some more liberties to achieve its excellent stat boosts another way - minmaxing. Each turn Brambleghast accumulates, its speed drops as it becomes burdened under the mass of increasingly high numbers of other Brambleghasts. However, each additional bramble contributes to a growing fortress of thorns and thistles. As a result, Mega Brambleghast achieves the same level of reward as Wishiwashi in the stats it needs most. In fact, the difference in limitations is also a blessing in disguise, for sticking to such a low HP stat in exchange for even more astronomical defenses furthers Brambleghast's primary gameplan - the one that synergizes with and enables the ability right from the start: Leech Seed.

Despite its respectable attack and underwhelming bulk, Brambleghast has always been best as a SubSeed user. This makes Brambleghast an ideal choice to not only benefit from the ability but also aid in pulling it off in an equal/opposite manner that Wishiwashi does. Wishiwashi revolves around having Wish and Protect to stall out turns, and achieving the late stages gets it quite the hefty HP stat to facilitate its role as a Wish passer with Flip Turn. Brambleghast, meanwhile, stalls out its turns with a combination of Leech Seed and Substitute, whose low HP means that the opulent defense stats it gets at the late stages amplify the effective value it gets out of each point of HP it drains from its victims.

To further this, its attack also shifts into special attack to enable the use of Giga Drain as a proactive option, as well as Heat Wave to ward off any Grass types that would try to block its Leech Seed. Much like Wishiwashi's Whirlpool, Brambleghast also has Infestation to attempt to trap opponents who can't pressure it, making it that much easier to live turns. Pain Split also synergizes very well, and in many cases is one of Brambleghast's best choices for instant damage and instant healing. Spikes are also a fantastic utility option for a mon that's immune to Rapid Spin and enjoys sitting on the field stalling out turns.

However, one move this Ghost type lacks is Wisp, and one it doesn't is Strength Sap. Due to this, I decided to make its defenses skew towards the physical side - even dropping its special defense at its base and first stage. This is to shore up its defense without Wisp, as well as to incentivize special attackers to counter it. Strength Sap could potentially be a bit too much, so having its defenses skewed works to lower its impact and discourage its use over other options like Leech Seed and Pain Split. Brambleghast gets diminishing returns from Strength Sap's heals - which are already lower against special attackers - while receiving no defensive benefit from the attack drop, which is rather antisynergistic with Brambleghast's desire to sit on the field and chip and drain the opponent.

Curse is also super cool on a mon like this, but probably still not good enough considering Mega Brambleghast's pretty significant four move slot syndrome already.

Lokix

DrPumpkinz

Mega Lokix
Type: Bug / Dark
Ability: Speed Boost
Stats:
HP: 71
Att: 122 (+20)
Def: 108 (+30)
SpA: 72 (+20)
SpD: 75 (+20)
Spe: 102 (+10)

Lokix is an odd Pokemon. For the most part, it is precision designed to be a hit-and-run Pokemon. It has two amazing tools in STAB U-turn and First Impression, and an incredible ability in Tinted Lens that makes sure those U-turns and First Impressions hit hard no matter what. But then, it's got a couple of other really nice tools that just don't really see use. What good is Swords Dance on a Pokemon so hyper-fixated on hit and run? What good is a signature Fighting coverage move when Tinted Lens makes coverage irrelevant?

Speed Boost addresses both of those points. Mega Lokix is encouraged to stay in to accrue Speed boosts, so it might as well also boost its Attack with Swords Dance and sweep. Losing Tinted Lens also means it suddenly has to care about coverage now, allowing Axe Kick to shine (can't really do shit to Fairies though).

zxgzxg

Mega Lokix
Type:

Ability: Showdown | While this Pokémon is present, all Pokémon are prevented from restoring any HP. During the effect, healing and draining moves are unusable, and Abilities and items that grant healing will not heal the user. Regenerator is also suppressed.
HP: 71
Atk: 102 ---> 132 (+30)
Def: 78 ---> 103 (+25)
SpA: 55 ---> 55
SpD: 55 ---> 79 (+15)
Spe: 92 ---> 122 (+30)
Description: lokix dex says when it fights it enters "showdown" mode????? pokemon showdown reference?????? either way i remember mega staraptor had smth called showdown so here it is. showdown. showdown/death aura is a known strong ability as any chip u get from knock or turn (safest buttons ever) are pretty much permanent, especially against big regen switchins like mogus or mola. outspeeds the pons again. probably misses out some of the power from tinted lens and life orb though.

chemicalmines

Mega Lokix
New Ability: Tinted Lens
Type:

New stats:
HP: 71
Attack: 152 (+50)
Defense: 78 (+0)
Special Attack: 52 (+0)
Special Defense: 75 (+25)
Speed: 117 (+25)
(550 BST)

New moves: N/A
Description: Lokix is one of the few Pokemon I can't imagine functioning without its main ability, so its Mega serves as more of a wallbreaker who can stay on the field longer as opposed to its base form having a hit-and-run strategy. 152 Attack with Tinted Lens ensures Mega Lokix will hit hard regardless of the opposing Pokemon, but it is still very frail despite a hefty Special Defense boost.

Sample Set

Lokix @ Lokixite
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch

WarIncarnate

Mega Lokix
New Ability: Stakeout
Type: Bug/Dark

New stats:
HP: 71
Attack: 122 (+20)
Defense: 113 (+35)
Special Attack: 62 (+10)
Special Defense: 75 (+20)
Speed: 107 (+15)
(550 BST)

New moves: no
Description:
While this mega loses Tinted Lens' ability to (almost) completely bypass resists, it more than makes up for that with Stakeout, an ability that synergizes perfectly with Lokix's toolset. Chief among these is a STAB-boosted Sucker Punch, a move capable of forcing some extremely nasty 50-50 scenarios (if Kingambit is any indicator). With this, it also has U-turn and First Impression to capitalize on those 50-50s, both of which are powerful moves to take advantage of switch-ins, with the former being extremely spammable (on top of providing useful utility in pivoting) and the latter being a classic, powerful means of sniping potential targets (albeit only on the first turn), and Stakeout boosts their potential to even more absurd levels. Rounding this out, is Axe Kick, a coverage move that provides good SE coverage for what Lokix needs.

okispokis

Lokix-Mega
Bug/Dark
Ability: Swarm/Tinted Lens-> Regenerator
Stats
HP: 71
Atk: 122 (+20)
Def: 118 (+40)
SpA: 57 (+5)
SpD: 75 (+20)
Spe: 107 (+15)

Lokix is naturally geared for a hit and run playstyle, wanting to revenge kill with priority, spam Knock and pivot out with U-turn. With as hazard dominant as SV inherently is, Regenerator is a perfect fit for this playstyle, pairing excellently with STAB U-turn and giving you more chances to First Impression. Regen is mainly to offset hazard chip and Helmet damage, but with your Defense boost and profile of resistances you are able to eat hits from select Pokemon like Ting-Lu, Meowscarada or even the mighty Sucker and Kowtow of Kingambit. Lokix's pre-Mega Tinted Lens gives it an interesting dynamic with Mega Evolution, as you can fire off several hard-to-resist attacks before you Mega, switching over once you're low or once you've chunked natural resistances like Great Tusk. Past the obvious choices of Knock, U-turn and FI, you have Sucker Punch for alternate priority, Leech Life for additional healing or Axe Kick to take advantage of your buffed Kingambit match-up, with Regen being nice to heal off potential crash damage.

Exploziff

Mega Lokix
Type: Bug/Dark
Ability: Illusion
HP: 71
Atk: 102 ---> 137 (+35)
Def: 78 ---> 108 (+30)
SpA: 55 ---> 55
SpD: 55 ---> 65 (+10)
Spe: 92 ---> 117 (+25)
New Move : Triple Axel

Based on the Aesir god Loki (Due to similitude in name and appearance, Lokix antenna reminding of the horn on the helmet weared by Loki. The dark type of Lokix also reminded me of the cunning nature of the god, and so i wanted to take inspiration from it), Lokix can now manipulate his appearance to deceive it's opponent and deal huge unexpected blow in return. With it's access to First Impression and Sucker Punch, Lokix can lure out faster threat by disguising itself into pokemon that could be easily revenge killed by faster Pokemon (Like Roaring Moon for exemple). In addition , while the Bug typing does provide a bit of an issue when paired with illusion against hazard, making Lokix a bit more reliant on anti hazard support, it help getting interesting resistance like Ground and Grass. The Ground resistance is further taken advantage of by the newly added Triple Axel, helping Lokix deal with pokemon like Great Tusk , Gliscor or Landorus that would otherwise be able to wall it. Lokix can also take advantage of Illusion to act as a sweeper thank to the combination of Sucker Punch and Sword Dance, coupled with good physical bulk and speed (Enough to outspeed non booster Vaillant) , giving it many setup opportunity. Without access to Tinted lens, Lokix now rely more on it's coverage moves, making option like Axe kick to lure and kill Kingambit, or the newly added Blaze Kick for pokemon like Scizor also much more viable.

lydian

Mega Lokix

Ability - Swarm; Tinted Lens➝ Vigilante (User's moves with increased priority deal 30% more damage)

HP - 71➝ 71
Atk - 102 ➝ 152 (+50)
Def - 78 ➝ 92 (+14)
SpA - 52 ➝ 52
SpD - 55 ➝ 71 (+16)
Spe - 92 ➝ 112 (+20)
BST - 450 ➝ 550 (+100)

Movepool Changes - none
Competitive Corner - With Vigilante as its new ability, Mega Lokix further establishes itself as a powerful priority move user, in spite of its two STAB priorities being limited. The main problem, however, for Lokix, is that it still maintains some of the issues its base form had, mainly the frailty, while making the Stealth Rock weakness for an offensive pivot unavoiadable as Heavy-Duty Boots have to be forfeited for a Mega Stone.
Flavor Corner - The Kamen Rider series seems to draw in Vigilante motifs, and I think powering up your priority moves, i.e. pre-emptive attacks is a good representation of that concept. To expand the concept of Lokix, I also researched that Kamen Riders use motorcycles a lot, and I thought it would be interesting flavorwise to turn Lokix into a part wheel bug creature (with the wheel-shaped pronotal armor actually becoming a functional wheel) so it can motorcycle itself around! Sadly I can't give it any spin-based moves because those wouldn't work flavorfully on base Lokix, though...

Seito Chinchou

Mega Lokix


Type: Fighting/Dark
Ability: Locust Locus - Increases the power of this and ally Pokemon's Bug-type moves by 50% (Steely Spirit clone)

Stats:
HP - 71
ATK - 142 (+40)
DEF - 106 (+28)
SPA - 52
SPD - 55
SPE - 124 (+32)

Moves: Rapid Spin

Description

The immediate problem I saw with Lokix was how to design a: hit and run pivot mon, that is weak to rocks, can't hold heavy duty boots, and exists in a meta completely overrun with hazards due to terrific setters and a mon that shuts down all hazard control? Any submission would have to tackle these problems first and foremost if they wanted to keep Lokix' identity instead of just reinventing it. Now, an easy way would be something simple like Magic Guard, Regenerator, etc. to prevent the damage, but that's 1) boring, 2) suboptimal because Lokix needs more than just a mega stat boost at the downside of losing Tinted Lens if it's going to be worth running and taking up your mega slot.

Thus, I decided to take a slightly more unconventional route. While I feel a little sad changing its unique type, it's unfortunately a type that doesn't provide much for it and instead serves as a large roadblock to Lokix' viability. However, Mega Lokix very much still embodies its Bug typing in its mega form, much the same way that Dhelmise is a spiritual Steel type utilizing its ability. On all levels except physical, Lokix is a Bug.

Lokix always had a lot of Fighting coding going on with its design (based of Kamen Riders, which are Japanese superheroes), animations, and movepool choices - arguably being the flagship user of the new move Axe Kick, which it now has STAB on. Fighting lets Lokix trade out its Stealth Rocks weakness for a Stealth Rocks resistance - which is the primary (but not only) reason behind the switch, and imperative to enabling Lokix' game plan. Outside of just rocks, though, Fighting/Dark offers an incredibly good defensive and offensive profile - much better than Bug/Dark being dragged down by Bug's bad type matchups - which is essential as a squishy mon who wants to be switching in on a lot of moves. Lokix here makes up two thirds of the Fighting/Dark/Psychic triangle on his own and dismantles two thirds of opposing ones. Additionally, as mentioned before, it gives STAB on Axe Kick, which is a highly valuable move and type for an offensive Pokemon to have access to, and synergizes well with its other two STABs, Dark and Bug.

Indeed, Locus Locust's primary function is maintaining Lokix' STAB on Bug moves. Bug is an all around mediocre type which ranges from underwhelming at best to terrible at worst, but its greatest strength is the great moves the type has like U-Turn, First Impression, Leech Life, etc. Lokix gets to utilize these phenomenal moves that are essential to its design and maintain STAB on them, while shedding its skin of the poor defensive qualities the type itself has. The ability was originally just a Steelworker clone, but at Paulluxx's suggestion, I've expanded it to Steely Spirit. This fits better with the current precedent of these types of abilities, since the ability isn't exactly granting Lokix a new STAB but maintaining one of its old ones (though it is kind of a grey area). More interestingly, though, it gives it a fun and cool niche in VGC by allowing it to grant allies STAB on relevant bug moves like U-Turn. This makes it pair quite well with Intimidate pivots and mons that fill similar rolls, as well as Amoongus - who gets STAB on Pollen Puff and whose types pair quite well with Mega Lokix'. It also helps to demolish the Treasures of Ruin which are even more prominent in VGC than singles due to it having a great matchup into all four and allowing its allies to spec into Bug-type coverage in the team builder to focus them down as well. This is a cool parallel due to the nature of their abilities as well as Lokix' flavor as a hero. The name was chosen due to it being, well, a locust, and to reference a plague of locusts, which fits its dark aesthetic and matches well with the other Bug boosting move, Swarm. The Locus part was a suggestion by zxgzxg - meaning position, which in this context would imply a Locust-styled fighting stance like the Mantis, Tiger, etc.

For the other changes, the main goal was to give Lokix enough of an offensive boost to not only make up for the lack of Tinted Lens but to justify its mega slot without going too overboard. I gave it just enough speed to outpace Meowscarada - an important breakpoint that lets it threaten to OHKO with U-Turn, pressuring momentum on its allies that would otherwise switch into its First Impression as well as still threatening OHKO with Axe Kick if it monotypes out of the 4x weakness with Protean on Lokix' switch in. Additionally, Rapid Spin gives it some great added utility as a pivot, especially one that now beats rocks, and also beats Ghost types (besides the most relevant and glittery one, unfortunately).

jazzmat

Mega Lokix
Bug/Dark
stats
HP- 71
ATK- 132(+30)
DEF- 108(+30)
SPA- 72(+20)
SPD- 85(+30)
SPE- 82(-10)
BST- 550
Fast Fighter: Fighting type moves raise speed by one stage

new moves: Blaze Kick, Upper Hand, Bulk Up

Being a grasshopper/locust I thought that the best way to honor that was to give it a way to boost its speed using its legs (i.e. Axe Kick). But I soon discovered that there were other moves that could be very interesting when paired with this ability. The main contenders here are obviously detect, being able to boost speed while guaranteeing you won't take damage is extremely useful for when your opponent switches in, and bulk up, acting as a physical quiver dance bet fitting for a bug type. The more niche options we have are axe kick, a powerful coverage move with a high bp but a high cost if you miss, upper hand, a priority move that only works against other priority, and low sweep, a move that will lower the opponents speed while raising your speed gives you an effective +2 boost.

 

[Clas]

ItzaDelta, okispokis, chemicalmines, DrPumpkinz, LordThemberchaud
DrPumpkinz, okispokis, Seito Chinchou, chemicalmines
chemicalmines, okispokis, Seito Chinchou, lyidan

 

[Seito Chinchou]

1. lydian
2. IsoCon
3. Gekokeso
4. okispokis
5. ItzaDelta


1. Seito Chinchou
2. zxgzxg
3. okispokis
4. LordThemberchaud


1. Seito Chinchou
2. okispokis
3. WarIncarnate
4. lydian
5. chemicalmines
6. Exploziff

 

[Gekokeso]

1. Gekokeso (sv)
2. Isocon
3. Lordthermberchaud
4. Okispokis

1. Seito Chinchou
2. Zxgzxg
3. Lordthermberchaud
4. Okispokis
5. chemicalmines

1. chemicalmines
2. Lydian
3. Zxgzxg
4. Seito Chinchou
5. Exploziff
6. War Incarnate

 

[War Incarnate]

1. War Incarnate (SV)
2. jazzmat
3. lydian
4. chemicalmines


1. Gekokeso
2. LordThemberchaud
3. okispokis
4. chemicalmines
5. ItzaDelta


1. DrPumpkinz
2. okispokis
3. LordThemberchaud
4. chemicalmines

 

[okispokis]

1. ItzaDelta
2. okispokis
3. DrPumpkinz
4. LordThemberchaud


1. lydian
2. zxgzxg
3. okispokis
4. jazzmat


1. okispokis
2. LordThemberchaud
3. DrPumpkinz
4. zxgzxg

 

[chemicalmines]

1. ItzaDelta
2. okispokis
3. chemicalmines
4. LordThemberchaud

1. zxgzxg
2. DrPumpkinz
3. Seito Chinchou
4. chemicalmines

1. War Incarnate
2. chemicalmines
3. lydian
4. Seito Chinchou

 

[lydian]

1. gekokeso
2. lydian
3. itzadelta
4. okispokis
5. lysion

1. itzadelta
2. drpumpkinz

1. warincarnate
2. lydian
3. chemicalmines
4. zxgzxg
5. drpumpkinz

 

[ItzaDelta]

1. Gekokeso
2. ItzaDelta (SV)
3. DrPumpkinz
4. IsoCon
5. okispokis


1. SeitoChinchou
2. Gekokeso
3. okispokis
4. DrPumpkinz
5. ItzaDelta (SV)


1. jazzmat
2. chemicalmines
3. zxgzxg
4. War Incarnate
5. Exploziff

 

[LordThemberchaud]

LordThemberchaud (sv)
ItzaDelta
lydian
IsoCon
Gekokeso


LordThemberchaud (sv)
chemicalmines
zxgzxg
okispokis
Seito Chinchou

 

[Beebos]

​	​	​
ItzaDelta Gekokeso chemicalmines DrPumpkinz Lysion LordThemberChaud	zxgzxg okispokis ItzaDelta Seito Chinchou	Seito Chinchou lydian zxgzxg chemicalmines

 

[BlueRay]

Dear community,

I'm just here to remind you voting is no longer possible. Whenever they feel ready, ink will count the votes and let you know about the winners of slate 1.

 

[inkbug]

Howdy gamers, been awhile! Something something explanation copy paste same as always

• Each vote contributes one point to its first-place choice
• The candidates are ordered based on both the number of first-place votes and the number of total votes, and eliminated from the bottom
• Any vote whose first choice has been eliminated instead gives its point to its second choice, or whatever its next ranking is. (On the sheet, points that have moved in this manner are highlighted in yellow.)
• The elimination and re-ranking process continues until there are two remaining, upon which the one with more points is the winner.
• You can view the whole thing on this spreadsheet.

Speaking of that spreadsheet, my computer's acting up on me today and making it very difficult to get screenshots of things. Or accomplish, like, any kind of basic tasks in general really. So I'm leaving that out of the post this time, in the interest of not going crazy; if you want to see the numbers for yourself, you can do so via that link.

Mega Quaquaval: ItzaDelta !!

Those chemicals in the water are turning the gosh darned ducks gay!

Name: Quaquaval (Mega)
Typing: Water/Fighting
Ability: Intimidate
Stats:

HP: 85
ATK: 130 (+10)
DEF: 110 (+30)
SPA: 115 (+30)
SPD: 85 (+10)
SPE: 105 (+20)

New Moves: Scald
Description n' Flavour
Water/Fighting pivot with good speed, decent mixed offensive stats and the potential to go for a sweep with SD? Sounds familiar...
Now, now, don't let that disuade you, because Mega Quaquaval has some traits unique for itself that make it an appealing defensive Pokemon.
Its higher defensive stats, and access to Intimidate and Roost make it more appealing on defensive teams, as it can sit on Pokemon such as Kingambit very, very easily. It also gets Rapid Spin, which is invaluable support in the land of hazards AKA Gen 9.

Quaquaval gets Intimidate, referencing how peacocks use their huge plumage to scare off predators from attacking them. Also i'm scared of gay people for legal reasons I must disclaim that this is a joke

Mega Brambleghast: Seito Chinchou !!

Mega Brambleghast

Type: Grass/Ghost
Ability: Accumulate - If this Pokémon is a Brambleghast that has Mega Evolved, it bundles together with other Brambleghast and changes form at the end of each full turn it has been on the field, building up to Mega Brambleghast (Tangled Form) over five turns. (SOS clone)

	HP	ATK	DEF	SPA	SPD	SPE
Mega Brambleghast-Tumbled	55	115	90 (+20)	90 (+10)	40 (-30)	190 (+100)
Tangling Form 1	55	100 (-15)	110 (+20)	95 (+5)	60 (+20)	160 (-30)
Tangling Form 2	55	85 (-15)	130 (+20)	100 (+5)	80 (+20)	130 (-30)
Tangling Form 3	55	70 (-15)	150 (+20)	105 (+5)	100 (+20)	100 (-30)
Tangling Form 4	55	55 (-15)	170 (+20)	110 (+5)	120 (+20)	70 (-30)
Mega Brambleghast-Tangled	55	40 (-15)	190 (+20)	115 (+5)	140 (+20)	40 (-30)

[editor's note: i had to redo the table for the quote box you all are welcome for not leaving it unformatted! also this thing is kind of fascinating, what the hell?]
Moves: Heat Wave

Description
The American Wild West is always prominently depicted with their "signature" tumbleweeds rolling on through the backdrop. Like this, they're mostly harmless, even a nice aesthetic - but in reality, tumbleweeds are an invasive species and a massive issue. Tumbleweeds are both highly mobile, and highly likely to get stuck to things, and each other. Lone tumbleweeds are largely unthreatening, but large masses of entangled tumbleweeds filling streets, smothering farms, and carrying wildfires wherever the wind pleases to blow them. Of course, the larger these entanglements amass, the less mobile they become... but at that point it's too late, and you're stuck trying to dismantle the enormous, thorny pile and round up the seeds before it happens again, all while more blow in to exacerbate.

Now imagine if that were haunted, malevolent, and magic.

Mega Brambleghast utilizes Wishiwashi's ability in order to fulfill the true threat it poses - to you and everyone else who desires not to have the life choked out of them by a thorny, seedy, accumulated mass of undead brambles. Wishiwashi was a special case, so Brambleghast doesn't use its ability exactly, at least regarding the enormous BST boost the ability gave it. However, that enables Brambleghast to take some more liberties to achieve its excellent stat boosts another way - minmaxing. Each turn Brambleghast accumulates, its speed drops as it becomes burdened under the mass of increasingly high numbers of other Brambleghasts. However, each additional bramble contributes to a growing fortress of thorns and thistles. As a result, Mega Brambleghast achieves the same level of reward as Wishiwashi in the stats it needs most. In fact, the difference in limitations is also a blessing in disguise, for sticking to such a low HP stat in exchange for even more astronomical defenses furthers Brambleghast's primary gameplan - the one that synergizes with and enables the ability right from the start: Leech Seed.

Despite its respectable attack and underwhelming bulk, Brambleghast has always been best as a SubSeed user. This makes Brambleghast an ideal choice to not only benefit from the ability but also aid in pulling it off in an equal/opposite manner that Wishiwashi does. Wishiwashi revolves around having Wish and Protect to stall out turns, and achieving the late stages gets it quite the hefty HP stat to facilitate its role as a Wish passer with Flip Turn. Brambleghast, meanwhile, stalls out its turns with a combination of Leech Seed and Substitute, whose low HP means that the opulent defense stats it gets at the late stages amplify the effective value it gets out of each point of HP it drains from its victims.

To further this, its attack also shifts into special attack to enable the use of Giga Drain as a proactive option, as well as Heat Wave to ward off any Grass types that would try to block its Leech Seed. Much like Wishiwashi's Whirlpool, Brambleghast also has Infestation to attempt to trap opponents who can't pressure it, making it that much easier to live turns. Pain Split also synergizes very well, and in many cases is one of Brambleghast's best choices for instant damage and instant healing. Spikes are also a fantastic utility option for a mon that's immune to Rapid Spin and enjoys sitting on the field stalling out turns.

However, one move this Ghost type lacks is Wisp, and one it doesn't is Strength Sap. Due to this, I decided to make its defenses skew towards the physical side - even dropping its special defense at its base and first stage. This is to shore up its defense without Wisp, as well as to incentivize special attackers to counter it. Strength Sap could potentially be a bit too much, so having its defenses skewed works to lower its impact and discourage its use over other options like Leech Seed and Pain Split. Brambleghast gets diminishing returns from Strength Sap's heals - which are already lower against special attackers - while receiving no defensive benefit from the attack drop, which is rather antisynergistic with Brambleghast's desire to sit on the field and chip and drain the opponent.

Curse is also super cool on a mon like this, but probably still not good enough considering Mega Brambleghast's pretty significant four move slot syndrome already.

Mega Lokix: chemicalmines !!

Mega Lokix
New Ability: Tinted Lens
Type:

New stats:
HP: 71
Attack: 152 (+50)
Defense: 78 (+0)
Special Attack: 52 (+0)
Special Defense: 75 (+25)
Speed: 117 (+25)
(550 BST)

New moves: N/A
Description: Lokix is one of the few Pokemon I can't imagine functioning without its main ability, so its Mega serves as more of a wallbreaker who can stay on the field longer as opposed to its base form having a hit-and-run strategy. 152 Attack with Tinted Lens ensures Mega Lokix will hit hard regardless of the opposing Pokemon, but it is still very frail despite a hefty Special Defense boost.

Sample Set:
Lokix @ Lokixite
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch

With that out of the way, I have an announcement to pass on from dearest BlueRay (whom i am so lucky to know, hi, thank you so much for being such a cool dude, just feeling sentimental right this moment):

Next slate will deal with tapas, featuring Dachsbun, Arboliva, and Grumpig.
You have until next Thursday, 06.03.2024, GMT+1, 20:00, to submit your ideas.

So there you have it!
That's all for now. Catch you later!
​

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Mega Grumpig
Type: Psychic / Bug
Ability: Scapegoat (Storm Drain but Dark)
Moves: Bug Buzz
Stats:

HP: 80​

Att: 45​

Def: 95 (+30)​

SpA: 130 (+40)​

SpD: 140 (+30)​

Spe: 80​

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Maurice and Robert skewered the carcass, lifted the dead weight, and stood ready. In the silence, and standing over the dry blood, they looked suddenly furtive.
Jack spoke loudly.
"This head is for the beast. It’s a gift."
The silence accepted the gift and awed them. The head remained there, dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between the teeth. All at once they were running away, as fast as they could, through the forest toward the open beach.

Simon stayed where he was, a small brown image, concealed by the leaves. Even if he shut his eyes the sow’s head still remained like an after-image. The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business.
"I know that."
Simon discovered that he had spoken aloud. He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick.
He looked away, licking his dry lips.
A gift for the beast. Might not the beast come for it? The head, he thought, appeared to agree with him. Run away, said the head silently, go back to the others. It was a joke really—why should you bother? You were just wrong, that’s all. A little headache, something you ate, perhaps. Go back, child, said the head silently.

Simon looked up, feeling the weight of his wet hair, and gazed at the sky. Up there, for once, were clouds, great bulging towers that sprouted away over the island, grey and cream and copper-colored. The clouds were sitting on the land; they squeezed, produced moment by moment this close, tormenting heat. Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped. Simon lowered his head, carefully keeping his eyes shut, then sheltered them with his hand. There were no shadows under the trees but everywhere a pearly stillness, so that what was real seemed illusive and without definition. The pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw. After a while these flies found Simon. Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank. They tickled under his nostrils and played leapfrog on his thighs. They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition. In Simon’s right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain.

"You are a silly little boy," said the Lord of the Flies, "just an ignorant, silly little boy."
Simon moved his swollen tongue but said nothing.
"Don’t you agree?" said the Lord of the Flies. "Aren’t you just a silly little boy?"
Simon answered him in the same silent voice.
"Well then," said the Lord of the Flies, "you’d better run off and play with the others. They think you’re batty. You don’t want Ralph to think you’re batty, do you? You like Ralph a lot, don’t you? And Piggy, and Jack?"
Simon’s head was tilted slightly up. His eyes could not break away and the Lord of the Flies hung in space before him.
"What are you doing out here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me?"
Simon shook.
"There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast."
Simon’s mouth labored, brought forth audible words.
"Pig’s head on a stick."
"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. "You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?"
The laughter shivered again.
"Come now," said the Lord of the Flies. "Get back to the others and we’ll forget the whole thing."
Simon’s head wobbled. His eyes were half closed as though he were imitating the obscene thing on the stick. He knew that one of his times was coming on. The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon.
"This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to escape!"
Simon’s body was arched and stiff. The Lord of the Flies spoke in the voice of a schoolmaster.
"This has gone quite far enough. My poor, misguided child, do you think you know better than I do?"
There was a pause.
"I’m warning you. I’m going to get angry. D’you see? You’re not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island! So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else—"
Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread.
"—Or else," said the Lord of the Flies, "we shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?"
Simon was inside the mouth. He fell down and lost consciousness.

Mega Grumpig acts as a scapegoat, a figure that absorbs the sins of others to absolve them. However, the power of those sins are amplified by Mega Grumpig's black pearls, and its strange dancing becomes... disturbed.

"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood. Bash her in."

Normally, Grumpig would use its strange dance to take control of its opponents, but Mega Grumpig needn't bother. There was never a beast. It was only us. All this evil, we did it to ourselves.

... *cough*

Anyway, mechanics. Mega Grumpig is a very effective stop to Fighting-types, as its new Bug typing gives it a double Fighting resistance, while its Scapegoat ability grants it an immunity to their main coverage of Knock Off. It also now has a resistance to Earthquake, another common coverage move for Fighting-types (or just in general, really). It also now new STAB in Bug Buzz (rest in peace Signal Beam), which gives it a much more reliable way to hit Dark-types. Finally, it's an effective Trick Room setter and abuser, as it can't be Taunted, and opponents can't use Sucker Punch to hit first while Trick Room is active.

Doubles is where its ability to redirect Dark moves gets a chance to shine. Its ability to shut down Taunt and set up Trick Room become even more powerful, and it can also shut down Beat Up + Justified cheese (though I'm pretty sure it only gets one Special Attack boost). It also dissuades Snarl, though since Snarl is a spread move it can't redirect it away from its ally. That said, its new weakness to Rock Slide isn't doing it any favors.

 

[chemicalmines]

Mega Dachsbun
New Ability: Flame Body
Type:

New stats:
HP: 57
Attack: 125 (+45)
Defense: 140 (+25)
Special Attack: 60 (+10)
Special Defense: 100 (+20)
Speed: 95
(577 BST)

New moves: Knock Off
Description: Upon Mega-Evolving, the energy flowing through Dachsbun's body causes it to become burnt flaming bread, hence the part-Dark typing and Flame Body. It also becomes a physical tank with a great unique defensive typing that can cripple physical attackers with its ability; its typing gives a new Ghost resist, Psychic immunity, and Prankster immunity from Pokemon like Grimmsnarl. However, its HP is still low, so even its high defense stat without prior Well-Baked Body boosts isn't too much; its special bulk is also lacking.

 

[Clas]

Mega Grumpig
Type: Psychic
Ability: name wip | Clears all active status effects and stat changes; this Ability acts last in the entry chain
New Moves: Fake Out, Parting Shot

Stats:
HP: 80
Atk: 45
Def: 65 -> 90 (+25)
SpA: 90 -> 120 (+30)
SpD: 110 -> 145 (+35)
Spe: 80 -> 90 (+10)
BST: 470 -> 570

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Mega Dachsbun
Type: Fairy / Poison
Ability: Fur Coat
Stats:

HP: 57​

Att: 120 (+30)​

Def: 135 (+20)​

SpA: 80 (+30)​

SpD: 90 (+10)​

Spe: 105 (+10)​

I didn't go into this slate expecting to do a bunch of body horror but here we are. I guess it tracks with canon mega lore.

Mega Dachsbun becomes covered in a thick layer of mold, rendering it almost completely impervious to physical attacks. It also grants it a Poison typing, which does nothing offensively because Dachsbun doesn't learn any Poison moves, but it does grant it an immunity to Toxic and Toxic Spikes, as well as a nice resistance to opposing Fairies.