Alright, time to wrap this up. These are in no particular order. Sorry if this comes out bad, I am rather tired.
Speed Boost - This is an ability not many have discussed, but I immensely feel it deserves to be slated. It pairs very well with Diamond Storm, allowing CAP31 to fish for boosts before the foe can get a hit in. Additionally, it sets CAP31 from other Ground-types in the tier out of the gate by virtue of being a Ground-type which has real speed behind it. Additionally, despite its historical usage in competitive Pokémon as sweeper fuel, Speed Boost can help a Pokémon serve a variety of roles such as an anti-offense or even defensive roles. While the ability is certainly powerful, I do feel that it is most definitely able to be balanced and also not majorly shift the focus of the process from Diamond Storm to working the ability. Speed Boost is one of the best abilities we could choose, and I believe it is more than worthy of slating.
Moxie - I would argue Moxie is stronger and a bit riskier than Speed Boost in terms of power and warping the process, but it definitely is still worth slating (if I had to choose one to slate I would prefer Speed Boost, but I do feel both should get onto slate). Moxie allows CAP31 to use Diamond Storm to snowball into a sweeper that uses Defense boosts to remain in play for as long as possible, or alternatively have a bulkier role that uses Attack boosts to punch holes in teams while Diamond Storm fortifies its defenses. From Buzzwole to Kartana, we have a fair bit of flexibility in playstyles to choose from when designing with Moxie. Others have discussed it at length so I’m gonna leave it here, but I feel both Speed Boost and Moxie deserve to be slated.
Unaware - Unaware allows CAP31 to better handle many set up sweepers in the metagame, from Dragonite to Pyroak. Additionally, ignoring Bulk Up from Zeraora significantly reduces the complexity of our matchup, letting us check it more easily. Even for Pokémon like Venomicon-E and Zapdos-Galar which we get chunked by to where even Unaware cannot come in on them, Unaware reduces the potency of these sorts of Pokémon as offensive checks if we get a Diamond Storm boost. As a final note, Unaware has the distinct honor of being one of two abilities capable of allowing CAP31 to be able to feasibly break Venomicon offensively, given how we ignore its Stamina boosting (and it comes without the issues of that other ability). Unaware is an ability with numerous impacted matchups one way or another, and its applications definitely warrant it to be slated. It is among the somewhat tamer abilities I like, but it is a very interesting ability nonetheless.
Misty Surge (or Comatose) - Of the status blocking abilities, Misty Surge is my favorite. It is an ability which removes status, with it being imo one of the biggest struggles CAP31 currently is set to face as a Ground type with Diamond Storm. Toxic is a problem for the longevity of any Ground-type not named Equilibra, while being burned will effectively render CAP31 useless. Why I prefer this over Poison Heal and Comatose are that I feel Poison Heal would warp the process too much and Comatose is just that ever bit stronger than Misty Surge for me, given that Comatose is permanent while Misty Surge does run out. That said, you could probably switch between Misty Surge and Comatose in terms of slate and do fine either way. Misty Surge CAP31 having the ability to switch into Dragapult’s Draco is a neat bonus though. Poison Heal has probably been brought up too much to not be slated, but honestly I really think Poison Heal just is too centralizing an ability for this process when we have other options to negate status without doing so. As I’ve mentioned before, Poison Heal does not add as much longevity on its own as one may assume, although it is obviously helpful. Basically, Misty Surge = Comatose >> Poison Heal.
Water Absorb - This has been talked to death, but basically Scald + Surging Strikes immunities on their own is a great combination. Throw in being able to deal with Water-types like Tapu Fini and Slowbro on top mixed with a way to get some health back and you’ve got a real good ability. I personally prefer Water Absorb over Flash Fire, as Water Absorb hits a wider line of targets compared to Flash Fire. The healing given by Water Absorb helps too. Scald being more common than just plain Will-o-Wisp is another reason why Water Absorb is my preferred choice of immunity abilities. Flash Fire is still cool though.
Poison Heal - Like I mentioned in the status ability section, this is just too warping of the process for me to like it anymore, especially given our other options.
Corrosion / Neutralizing Gas - Both of these abilities have a similar problem for me: they both are incredibly centralizing. Corrosion would mean Toxic, which is definitely able to oust Diamond Storm, especially evident in how many Ground-types like Landorus use Toxic to pressure Flying-types over using Stone Edge. Given how Corrosion makes Toxic go through Steels too, it just seems like a recipe to make a Corrosion Ground-type as opposed to a DStorm Ground-type. Neutralizing Gas does have strong uses, such as disabling Regen pivots and Venomicon’s Stamina, but its effects are so wide that it very much risks at least making NGas the focus if not necessarily breaking the mon. NGas is also an ability that could almost exclusively be used offensively, and while stuff like Unaware also leans in a specific direction for play style, there really is no caveats to it on NGas. Don’t slate these, please.
Defiant / Mirror Armor - While I absolutely get the idea behind both of these, they both feel very like mediocre options. Defiant does have the ability to come in when others click Defog, but that idea is such a headache of mind games of both sides being painfully aware of Defiant and playing around it. This leads to CAP31 caring more about coming in on Defog than actually using Diamond Storm. Corviknight itself Defogs too, and there’s a decent chance for it to not even care about Diamond Storm a whole lot even at +2. It just feels very weird. Mirror Armor doesn’t have that issue of making the process about itself, but given that Astrolotl can click Wisp and we don’t care about lowering SpD as a likely physical attacker, all Mirror Armor does is serve as an “I hate Intimidate” button which… go off I guess, but I feel it just is not strong enough for what we want. Both abilities feel like they’re not good fits for CAP31, and I hope they are not slated.
Rattled / Weak Armor - Despite my love of Speed Boost, I really dislike these two. Rattled finds 31 as being pivoted on, without an item, or at -1 Attack when this triggers. None of these positions are great even with a speed boost, and with what we know of CAP31 right now it just feels counterproductive. Weak Armor is perhaps even more counterintuitive, with our speed boosts coming at the price of our Defense. I get the idea of using Diamond Storm to get Defense back to neutral as opposed to boosting it, but this is not only mediocre overall but puts large pressure on stats to give us switch in opportunities given our wide number of neutralities. Please no.
Serene Grace - Diamond Storm is the only move we can bet on being affected. I do like the idea behind guaranteeing boosts, but given that this is the one move we have to exploit Serene Grace, it feels extremely weak for our first ability. I would be willing to hear this out during Secondary, though.
Once again, sorry if my sleepiness makes this post suck. Can’t wait to see what slate turns out to be!