spoo
CAP Co-Leader
Feedback on a few I felt like talking about
Soft Power
The central question of this concept really hooked me - that being, how do you pose an “offensive” threat without actually being offensive? Kind of feels like the inverse of Bulletproof Glass, which is cool to me. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about this concept - the outlined examples provide a ton of design space to work within (though I’m not sure if Foul Play would really count?) and I feel like this would lead to a rich process overall.
Stick Together!
This one scares me, but also has one of the highest ceilings I think. It’s already quite hard to balance a Pokemon as-is - CAP should know this well - and that’s when we aren’t explicitly making a mon with the day 1 goal of compressing multiple crucial roles and presumably shouldering a large burden in the builder and in-game. Even looking at the examples, we have Lando-T (S Rank), Astro (was S rank for a long time), Ferro (S- in OU), Torn-T (S-), ORAS Torn-T (arguably the best mon in the tier), etc… one way I’m looking at this concept is an exploration in “healthy centralization,” and I have mixed feelings about undertaking a goal like that. It’s also just quite broad, and while this can sometimes be a strength, I’m not sure if that’s the case here. However, like I said: this has a huge ceiling! SS CAP is a bit dire right now, and despite some personal fears, adding Landorus-2 into the tier could be a serious boon. I think this would be an exciting process, and while I have reservations, it’s ultimately a concept that still has me interested.
Forbidden Fruit
I already talked to Wulf a bit about this one but it’s super cool! I’ll be upfront about the one worry I have, which is that I’m not sure how many moves on the prohibited list are capable of carrying a process on their back in the same way that, say, Doom Desire did. Assuming we choose a move with proper depth, though - and I’d wager we will - this concept is very exciting. I mostly just love the questions and writeup here. This concept would genuinely allow us to break outside the CAP mold - not just by choosing a truly novel move, but through the new roles and routes it would enable - and that sounds like a very nice way to close out the generation. Also, making SHSP do a second move-based concept is funny.
Mint Condition
I think the sort of calculus described in the explanation is what’s most interesting here - weighing the power of being at full health versus what you might gain by losing it. There are just enough routes here to remain focused, while still allowing for an engaging process and the possibility of interesting and unintuitive solutions. Definitely one of my favorites at the moment.
Global Presence
I sympathize with comments about this concept being limited but it’s still very cool to me - it feels like one of the more “conceptual” submissions, which I’m a big fan of. The writeup mentions field-affecting abilities like terrain/weather summoning as a way to “extend” the Pokemon’s presence after switching out, but the cooler route to me personally is forcing your opponent into / out of certain choices. Kinda like when you have a pawn in chess that’s locking down your opponent’s whole board even though it’s just sitting there all game. The most basic example I can think of is just “I can never click Volt Switch safely because my opponent has a healthy Ground-type,” but I think other immunity abilities/typings, contact abilities, and even certain items could lead to your opponent feeling like they’re playing a lose-lose game at all times - ie, make an aggressive read and risk getting punished, or keep making the unideal safer play.
Mini-Uber
I agree with what SHSP has to say about this - it’s like the reverse of those “take a cool NU mon and make it CAP-viable” concepts, or a really cool take on the “this mon is ridiculously strong but has one fatal flaw” idea, and I think it’s great. I feel like it could be worth a question about how much “differentiation” is allowed with the Uber, though. Like, if we pick Zygarde, does it need to be a Ground-type that uses Thousand Arrows? Or just any bulky setup sweeper that largely relies on a single move? That aside, I think it’s super interesting what this concept basically asks us to do: take these mons and distill them down to their most essential features before building them back up in a different environment. The one downside is that Lasen would know more than everybody during the process and his ego is already far too big
Really great collection this time, have fun narrowing them down to a slate SHSP I don't envy you
Soft Power
The central question of this concept really hooked me - that being, how do you pose an “offensive” threat without actually being offensive? Kind of feels like the inverse of Bulletproof Glass, which is cool to me. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about this concept - the outlined examples provide a ton of design space to work within (though I’m not sure if Foul Play would really count?) and I feel like this would lead to a rich process overall.
Stick Together!
This one scares me, but also has one of the highest ceilings I think. It’s already quite hard to balance a Pokemon as-is - CAP should know this well - and that’s when we aren’t explicitly making a mon with the day 1 goal of compressing multiple crucial roles and presumably shouldering a large burden in the builder and in-game. Even looking at the examples, we have Lando-T (S Rank), Astro (was S rank for a long time), Ferro (S- in OU), Torn-T (S-), ORAS Torn-T (arguably the best mon in the tier), etc… one way I’m looking at this concept is an exploration in “healthy centralization,” and I have mixed feelings about undertaking a goal like that. It’s also just quite broad, and while this can sometimes be a strength, I’m not sure if that’s the case here. However, like I said: this has a huge ceiling! SS CAP is a bit dire right now, and despite some personal fears, adding Landorus-2 into the tier could be a serious boon. I think this would be an exciting process, and while I have reservations, it’s ultimately a concept that still has me interested.
Forbidden Fruit
I already talked to Wulf a bit about this one but it’s super cool! I’ll be upfront about the one worry I have, which is that I’m not sure how many moves on the prohibited list are capable of carrying a process on their back in the same way that, say, Doom Desire did. Assuming we choose a move with proper depth, though - and I’d wager we will - this concept is very exciting. I mostly just love the questions and writeup here. This concept would genuinely allow us to break outside the CAP mold - not just by choosing a truly novel move, but through the new roles and routes it would enable - and that sounds like a very nice way to close out the generation. Also, making SHSP do a second move-based concept is funny.
Mint Condition
I think the sort of calculus described in the explanation is what’s most interesting here - weighing the power of being at full health versus what you might gain by losing it. There are just enough routes here to remain focused, while still allowing for an engaging process and the possibility of interesting and unintuitive solutions. Definitely one of my favorites at the moment.
Global Presence
I sympathize with comments about this concept being limited but it’s still very cool to me - it feels like one of the more “conceptual” submissions, which I’m a big fan of. The writeup mentions field-affecting abilities like terrain/weather summoning as a way to “extend” the Pokemon’s presence after switching out, but the cooler route to me personally is forcing your opponent into / out of certain choices. Kinda like when you have a pawn in chess that’s locking down your opponent’s whole board even though it’s just sitting there all game. The most basic example I can think of is just “I can never click Volt Switch safely because my opponent has a healthy Ground-type,” but I think other immunity abilities/typings, contact abilities, and even certain items could lead to your opponent feeling like they’re playing a lose-lose game at all times - ie, make an aggressive read and risk getting punished, or keep making the unideal safer play.
Mini-Uber
I agree with what SHSP has to say about this - it’s like the reverse of those “take a cool NU mon and make it CAP-viable” concepts, or a really cool take on the “this mon is ridiculously strong but has one fatal flaw” idea, and I think it’s great. I feel like it could be worth a question about how much “differentiation” is allowed with the Uber, though. Like, if we pick Zygarde, does it need to be a Ground-type that uses Thousand Arrows? Or just any bulky setup sweeper that largely relies on a single move? That aside, I think it’s super interesting what this concept basically asks us to do: take these mons and distill them down to their most essential features before building them back up in a different environment. The one downside is that Lasen would know more than everybody during the process and his ego is already far too big
Really great collection this time, have fun narrowing them down to a slate SHSP I don't envy you