CAP 31 - Part 1 - Concept Submissions

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Name: Move Control

Description: A Pokémon that prevents the usage of certain moves from being selected by its opponents

Justification: This is an Actualization concept, trying to peg down a specific type of support that doesn't often see play on a regular basis. While taunt is widely seen in all kinds of metas, we rarely, if ever see the other plethora of moves that can emulate a similar goal.

Questions:
- Are move denial moves viable and simply just overly common on non-viable mons? Are they simply too few and far between on viable mons or are there issues with the moves themselves?
- Is the ability to control the opponent's moves strong enough for this Pokémon to revolve entirely around it? Or is it too powerful of a tool when the Pokémon is dedicated to doing so?
- What other Pokémon can benefit from this style of play when supported by a Pokémon dedicated to it?


Explanation: I would define "move control" as anything that prevents an opponent's moves from being selected (i.e. disable). "Move control" can be achieved through a variety of different ways, most of which do not see much play. Taunt being the most obvious and widely used has clear value on the Pokémon that run it, but what about the lesser seen moves and abilities that can offer a similar value? Torment and disable are strong examples I can point to that can specifically shut down an opponent who is holding a choice item or is otherwise spamming the same move. There are plenty of other examples in the moves department and a nice handful of choices ability-wise that can support the concept as well.

Preventing opponents from spamming their strongest moves, clicking their set-up moves, or disrupting their support options can be quite devastating and could completely shut down a Pokémon for a short while. Something along the lines I've laid out could potentially open up switch-in opportunities or prevent an opposing sweep if allowed to go unchecked. A CAP with a more unique type of support would be a breath of fresh air to the metagame and could explore aspects we rarely see outside of a few edge cases.
 
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CallMeDrippyT

Banned deucer.
Name: A Medium of Manipulation

Description: A Pokemon that primarily utilizes the moves Power Swap and Power Split to take advantage of an opponent, preventing said opponent from easily overwhelming a team it is against. Power Swap switches this user's Attack and Special Attack stat changes with its adversary, while Power Split takes the total Attack stat of both Pokemon on the field and averages it between the two.

Justification: This is both an Archetype and Target concept, as it seeks to specifically explore another way of punishing strong wallbreakers and setup sweepers in the metagame. I believe a concept like this one is worth consideration because as other users here have mentioned, the meta is absolutely flooded with powerful mons at the moment, and something like this would make an effective attempt at mitigating this issue.

Questions:
- In what ways do current wallbreakers and sweepers in the metagame have to reconsider their playstyle knowing that they could potentially face a mon with Power Split and Power Swap?
- What should the stat spread of a potential Pokemon with access to these two moves look like?
- Should this Pokemon assume the role of a sweeper itself or more of a defensive wall? How will the aforementioned stat spread ultimately reflect the type of role it fulfills in the metagame?
- What are possible, effective ways of countering a Pokemon who primarily utilizes these two moves?
- Will this Pokemon function as a "glue" on teams, or will it be considered more niche?

Explanation: In this particular forum thread, many users have accurately pointed out that the current meta is absolutely packed with ridiculous breakers that can easily overwhelm teams that are underprepared for them. Centering a team around countering one or two especially powerful meta threats almost always results in a glaring weakness to other threats. While there currently do exist methods of dealing with prominent sweepers and breakers, such as hazing away their boosts, phazing them with moves like Whirlwind, and counter-picking them with rare but effective Unaware mons, the fact is that these methods are far from surefire and sometimes fail in doing their jobs. Thus, Power Swap and Power Split would act as new, underexplored methods that have seen little to no usage in the CAP metagame.
 
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Final Submission

Name:
Stop! In the name of Stall!

Description: This Pokémon is meant to give Stall teams a better chance against the host of offensive mons that have saturated SS CAP. Specifically, it should address offensive threats that currently overburden potential stall teams.

Justification: This is an Archetype and Target concept, as it aims to create a defensive, stall-oriented wall that alleviates pressure for stall and bulky teams against dangerous offensive threats that fill CAP. This will, in turn, hopefully make stall a more viable playstyle in the CAP metagame and give bulky teams another tool to use against the intense host of offensive mons in the metagame.

QTBA:
  1. Why is stall such an unviable format in CAP?
  2. What do potential stall teams need to thrive in the metagame?
  3. What are the most overbearing offensive threats in the metagame? How can we best check them?
  4. What constitutes a “good stall mon?”
  5. What are aspects of stall teams that are healthy to a metagame? Can this become unhealthy?
  6. How passive does a stall mon have to be?
  7. How can we make stall a more appealing and fun-to-play playstyle?
  8. How can having a "good stall mon" be useful to other playstyles?
  9. Is it possible to create a “good stall mon” that is still fun to play against?
Explanation:
This idea came to me as I decided to try and build a stall team for CAP the other day. Stall is my absolute favorite playstyle, and I love to build stall teams for any meta. However, as I began to prepare the team, I realized how difficult it is to try and effectively check all of the offensive mons that crowd the CAP metagame. With threats like Dragapult, Zapdos, the Venomicons, Astrolotl, Urshifu, Zeraora, and Landorus running around the metagame, it becomes very difficult to effectively check them with a purely defensive playstyle. Often for especially heavy hitters (eg Dragapult) or splashable offensive threats (eg Heatran) or threatening wincons (eg Cawmodore), stall teams seem to need multiple mons to check each mon effectively. This eventually leads to the overburdened mons getting overwhelmed and succumbing to the very thing they're supposed to check. With few defensive options, and many of them sharing weaknesses, constructing an effective stall team becomes quite difficult. This is especially exasperated in the CAP metagame, where, imo, there are only 6 "truly defensive" CAPs (Arghonaut, Cyclohm, Equilibra, Tomohawk, Malaconda, and Snaelstrom), with the final two being nigh-unviable. This means that 80% of the Pokemon introduced to this metagame are offensive. I'm beginning to ramble at this point, but what I'm trying to say is that the CAP metagame is an inherently offensive metagame and adding a Pokemon that can help alleviate pressure from bulkier teams can help to turn this ship around. Also, I freaking love stall, and I just want it to be a viable playstyle in my favorite metagame.
Another important aspect of this is how to create a stall Pokémon that is actually fun to play with and to play against. For example, Toxapex can be extremely annoying to go up against, as switch ins can be burned by Scald, poisoned by Toxic, or lose an item to Knock Off. While this makes Toxapex a great stall mon, it can easily leave a bad taste in many players’ mouths. This concept will let us explore what makes stall mons like Pex so infuriating, and possibly help us to mitigate that sense of frustration that comes with fighting stall teams. I don’t think it’s possible to entirely remove it, seeing as stall’s goal is to slowly whittle down opposing teams through bits of damage while remaining healthy, but this can help us to explore how to “make stall great again.”
SHSP noted that this concept seems too focused on stall specifically, and not on the wider metagame. To clear things up, I would like to mention that with this concept, I am not advocating for a purely stall-oriented mon, like Pyukumuku or Shedinja. As he mentioned, many stall-oriented mons can have use on more offensive teams, and even provide momentum, such as Blissey and Slowbro with Teleport or Cyclohm with Volt Switch. Equilibra and the Slows can also provide offensive utility through Doom Desire and Future Sight. What my concept would seek to do is to alleviate pressure from bulkier teams, with a specific attention to stall teams. I understand that many players dislike stall teams; matches can become drawn out and boring, and playing against them is often frustrating. Honestly, this is one of the major reasons I wanted to approach this concept. I want to create a mon that helps stall teams without players sighing in disgust when they see it on a team. This is why in my QTBA, I focused so much on what the mon can not only do for stall, but for other playstyles, and how the mon could possibly benefit other playstyles. The idea is not to make stall the primary or only playstyle of the mon, but is to check the major offensive threats of the metagame that overburden bulkier teams, with attention to stall teams that especially struggle.

TL;DR: too much offense, need more stall

Feedback is much appreciated! This is my first concept submission.
 
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Not going over all just some ones that stood out to me.

Man it has been a long time, happy to see this happen for one more time this gen.

Name - No bit items?
View attachment 411938
Description - This pokemon is able to function well on a team without an item, to the point that it can viably run itemless sets in certain team structures.

Justification- I believe this is an actualisation concept. Items have been an extremely key aspect of battling for the past 2 decades of competitive Pokémon, with the item highly determining the set and role that a Pokémon performs in a team. There are some mons which are already so good that they can run a large variety of items and pull up different sets (Landorus, Dragapult), some that are heavily dependant on their item (Volcarona) and some that can function even without having an item (Toxapex, Clefable). This later category is the one the concept will explore, as there are multiple cases when certain mons are forced to spend the rest of the battle with their item manipulated and are still able to function well.

Questions To Be Answered -
  • To what extent can a Pokémon function without an item to characterise itself with? Can a Pokémon function well in a battle even if it lacks an item for the most of the battle?
  • How can a Pokémon make up for a lack of item? What would be required of it to perform during a battle?
  • Are there any situational advantages to not holding an item? If such, which are those situations?
  • What about taking away opposing items? Is taking away an beneficial item mid-game similarly effective to holding that item from the start, or does it turn out to be more dis/advantageous?
Explanation -
Items. Items are one of the most key aspects of competitive Pokémon. They can revolutionise speed tiers and damage outputs, as well as providing longevity to mons that otherwise lack recovery options. But what if we made a mon specifically designed to spend the majority of the battle without one? This would allow us to explore the possibilities of making item removal a non issue for a specific mon, which could fit well in a meta where item removal is found everywhere thanks to knock off.

Another aspect to explore in this concept would be the possibility to run itemless set. Itemless sets, while rather extreme, are still possible to be run with a good amount of success, and I can come up with a couple of examples of instances where this has worked on OU:
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Back in gen 2 the use of leftovers was nearly universal. Due to the lack of good damage boosting moves, as well as considerably bulkier mons, most mons ran leftovers since it was the best item by miles. However, the second most used item also casually happened to be itemless. This weird decision to not run an item had a good explanation: thief. By utilizing thief, the Pokémon in question would gain leftovers for itself while stripping an opposing mon from his. This doesn't seem like much but in a metagame where battles are expected to last hours, losing leftovers can be a huge detriment that strips away the longevity that GSC Pokémon are required to have in order to survive in the metagame.

:slowbro: :slowking: :slowbro-galar:
The Slowbro and relatives are a special case. Back in the earlier days of SWSH, a couple of slow family sets ran no items, especially the members that were found at the lower tiers like Galar-Bro and Slowking. By not running an item, members of the slow family would avoid taking knock offs with the item boost and be able to keep pivoting into teammates. Hell, here in CAP itemless Slowbro was a especially effective tech utilised to counter Revenankh at its peak, allowing it to be inmune to its best stab in poltergeist in order to continue to keep switching around in a match without problems. Nowadays the strategy has died but it was a really interesting example on when a mon's other attributes are good enough to make up for the lack of item, as wel as generally demonstrating advantages of not running an item.

I feel like with how rampant knock off is in the meta, an itemless mon could fit in nicely while offering some interesting strategies to the metagame, as well as the exploration of underexplored moves (trick, thief) and/or abilities (magician, pickpocket). Regardless of which direction is chosen, this concept can result in a very interesting mon in the meta.
I really think this is a cool idea, though one issue I have is there isn't a huge amount of design space here. You mentioned how running itemless worked in Gen 2 and you talked about Knock Off but you didn't give any other reasons why a Pokemon would go itemless. Even if you wanted to protect yourself against Knock Off, I think you'd be better off running Colbur Berry, but that's just me. I think there are only two ways you can make a Pokemon viable itemless: To utilize Acrobatics and to grant immunity to Poltergeist, the latter of which was already mentioned by others. I would at least incorporate these two strategies into your concept. But I do think this boils down to either making a viable Acrobatics mon or a Revenankh counter, which really limits exploration.

This is my first concept submission for the CAP project.

Name: Priority Emperor

Description: This Pokémon controls the move priority of the field, whether that be using it to its full advantage, or hampening the opponent’s priority moves.

Justification: While arguments can be made for Archetype (Sweeper, potentially Dual Screener due to several Guarding moves that have Priority such as Quick Guard and Wide Guard) or Target (Pokémon with strong Priority game, Protect - fills out a spot which only really has a handful of options such as Tsareena) I will argue for Actualization - Speed might be considered important, but if a move has a higher priority then no matter the Speed that move will go first. While this does mean one ability of this concept would most likely end up as a Priority based ability, we don’t necessarily need to use such an ability - if anything, avoiding such an ability could lead to an interesting way to make this concept work. This concept can also end up leaning offensive, defensive or supportive due to the variety of Priority moves.

Questions to be Answered:

What abilities can lend themselves to a Priority playstyle while not affecting priority itself?

Should Speed be necessary for a Priority based ‘mon?

What risks would a Priority based Pokémon encounter?

Explanation:

There are 5 abilities directly affecting Priority and only 23 Pokémon have them - of which, three of these abilities only have a single Pokémon: Queenly Majesty has Tsareena, Triage has Comfey, and Dazzling has Bruxish (of which is currently illegal in the CAP format). And of the remaining 20 Pokémon, 17 of them use Prankster while a single line has Gale Winds (which admittedly now is only good without having taken damage). This concept could be able to play a Priority game without the ability or need to use Prankster. While abilities I feel are not essential to the concept itself, there's quite a few that could do with more usage to see an increase in its appearances in the meta.
I think this is a pretty strong concept. Controlling priority in the current metagame I believe is something that can be explored further. Though I do think the way you address "priority" is pretty linear. You don't need to utilize moves/abilities with priority actively attached to them to be a speed demon. I think you should talk about other ways to control priority, but ways that aren't in the literal sense, like Speed Boost, weather sweepers, even stuff like paralysis falls under the "hampering opposing speed" category. There's a lot of room here, there's even more stuff like Sticky Web and Trick Room, which I didn't mention earlier because Sticky Web is ass in a boots meta and I think the current Trick Room setters/abusers are solid enough as is.

Name: Stop! In the name of Stall!

Description: This Pokémon is meant to give Stall teams a better chance against the host of offensive mons that have saturated SS CAP. Specifically, it should address offensive threats that currently overburden potential stall teams.

Justification: This is an Archetype and Target concept, as it aims to create a defensive, stall-oriented wall that alleviates pressure for stall teams against dangerous offensive threats that fill CAP. This will, in turn, hopefully make stall a more viable playstyle in the CAP metagame and give bulky teams another tool to use against the intense host of offensive mons in the metagame.

QTBA:
  1. Why is stall such an unviable format in CAP?
  2. What do potential stall teams need to thrive in the metagame?
  3. What are the most overbearing offensive threats in the metagame? How can we best check them?
  4. What constitutes a “good stall mon?”
  5. What are aspects of stall teams that are healthy to a metagame? Can this become unhealthy?
  6. How passive does a stall mon have to be?
  7. How can we make stall a more appealing and fun-to-play playstyle?
  8. How can having a "good stall mon" be useful to other playstyles?
Explanation:
This idea came to me as I decided to try and build a stall team for CAP the other day. Stall is my absolute favorite playstyle, and I love to build stall teams for any meta. However, as I began to prepare the team, I realized how difficult it is to try and effectively check all of the offensive mons that crowd the CAP metagame. With threats like Dragapult, Zapdos, the Venomicons, Astrolotl, Urshifu, Zeraora, and Landorus running around the metagame, it becomes very difficult to effectively check them with a purely defensive playstyle. Often for especially heavy hitters (eg Dragapult) or splashable offensive threats (eg Heatran) or threatening wincons (eg Cawmodore), stall teams seem to need multiple mons to check each mon effectively. This eventually leads to the overburdened mons getting overwhelmed and succumbing to the very thing they're supposed to check. With few defensive options, and many of them sharing weaknesses, constructing an effective stall team becomes quite difficult. This is especially exasperated in the CAP metagame, where, imo, there are only 6 "truly defensive" CAPs (Arghonaut, Cyclohm, Equilibra, Tomohawk, Malaconda, and Snaelstrom), with the final two being nigh-unviable. This means that 80% of the Pokemon introduced to this metagame are offensive. I'm beginning to ramble at this point, but what I'm trying to say is that the CAP metagame is an inherently offensive metagame and adding a Pokemon that can help alleviate pressure from bulkier teams can help to turn this ship around. Also, I freaking love stall, and I just want it to be a viable playstyle in my favorite metagame.

TL;DR: too much offense, need more stall

Feedback is much appreciated! This is my first concept submission.
This is definitely my personal bias showing, but I just think stall is a really disgusting playstyle in general. That being said, the metagame could stand to use more defensive Pokemon, and I like how you address the benefits of the metagame receiving a new stall Pokemon. I think you should address how to avoid making an unhealthy Pokemon or something overly infuriating like Toxapex, and this might just be me but I thought that Ferrothorn during base game SwSh was super annoying to deal with as well, as none of the good Fire types in the current meta existed back then (Cinderace doesn't count) and all the Fighting types made contact. Basically, talk more about how we can avoid making another Toxapex.
 
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WIP

Name:
Sub-Optimal Movepool/Secondary Effects

Description: A pokemon that has a movepool not containing "optimal moves" (eq, psychic, etc.) but moves with interesting secondary effects.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept. Building movesets is a huge part of teambuilding, but an incredible, untapped amount of depth is made irrelevant by "100% acc 100 bp" moves like eq, which is near objectively the "correct" choice. By removing those moves from the pool, and compensating in some other regard, a very unique but not necessarily "gimmicky" mon could be created. This concept is heavily inspired by ZU Garbador, who gets Stomping Tantrum as its only "good" ground coverage. Because of this, it's fairly safe to sling poison attacks, as even if steel switches in, you then have a 150 bp super effective move.

Questions To Be Answered:

-Which moves will be the primary attacking moves? How "sub-optimal" must a move be to be allowed? There are lots of moves that have a stat change or apply a status, but I feel these are less interesting than moves that have "triggers", such as Brine, Stomping Tantrum, or Wake-Up Slap, which are built around fulfilling a condition, after which they will be much more powerful.

-How will we compensate for the issues with this movepool? Should we compensate such that the lower bp moves are just as damaging as normal or lean more into the lower power but secondary effects (or other complexity)?

-What abilities will the pokemon have? There are some abilities that explicitly mention secondary effects, but it might be better for it to have something that synergizes with its niche better.

-What niche do the selected moves fulfill? How does it fill that niche differently than it would be without? It is a fairly popular opinion that 31 should be a defensive cap, mostly due to the near-total lack of viable defensive presence. I think a concept based around damaging moves can still fulfill defensive roles, such as by preventing switch-ins or the secondary effects of said moves.

Explanation:

When team building, there is an incredible amount of choice, but unfortunately the moves of a pokemon are not quite as in-depth as they may seem. For non-damaging moves or utility, there is a lot of options, but you essentially pick from the list of the optimal coverage for the team you want. There is no reason to pick anything other than eq for ground coverage, which I think is a shame. I feel a unique prescense, whether defensive or offensive, could be created simply by wiping the top ~5 moves from the pool. There are a considerable amount of "bad" pokemon moves, obviously from the games themselves, but there are also a decent amount of moves that feel like they were actually made to be good, just weren't good enough to outcompete the standard, relativley unintresting moves.
 
FINAL SUBMISSION

Name
: Dead Air

Description: A pokemon that reduces the omnipresence & utility of Flying types in the metagame.

Justification: This is a Target concept, looking to do something about the dreaded boots meta. Flying sweepers, flying pivots, flying defoggers, more zapdos than you can shake a stick at. Flying's always been a strong type, but in past generations it was at least somewhat gated by SR weakness. We can run boots volcarona now, sure, but a finger on the mankey's paw must have curled inward because now we have to deal with boots torn-t! The sheer number of good flying pivots and mean flying sweepers available has caused heavy centralization around the few pokemon that can check the lot - and, oh, would you look at that, the best among them is also flying type. I'm sick of it and you should be too.

Questions To Be Answered:

-How can you punish a type without just making a counter?

-Does flying type have any weaknesses we're forgetting?

-What is the exact opportunity cost of running heavy-duty boots? Can we punish that choice, somehow?

-How much is 1/4th damage on switch in worth? Is there another kind of chip damage could replace it with, if we had enough momentum?

Explanation:

So, obviously, we could just make a bombass flying counter. Some bulky electric type with thousand waves, or something. It practically writes itself, but is a little boring?

More fun might be an anti boots pokemon - I can imagine something bulky with knock-off and phasing, or something dumber like thief/fling.

My final thought is that maybe we could shore up Hail teams with one more good member, making it riskier to rely on pokemon that hard scoop to bolt beak or a boosted ice shard.

(Apologies for brevity vis-a-vis explanation, but I've just missed a night of sleep to finish some work and there's not much time left before slate!)
 
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Added an explanation to my submission. Now to highlight some of my favorites!

Last Word:
I think the introduction of Teleport being useful this generation is a great example of how moving second can build momentum and give an advantage. Exploring the situations where going last is more useful would be a super fun and doable concept, and there are plenty of move and ability options to discuss here.

Bulletproof Glass:
Adding more defensive threats seems to be a theme this concept round and I fully support it. This is a great way to make a defensive Pokemon that isn't just "make it bulky" and will require deeper conversation.

Forbidden Fruit:
I had this concept jotted down to submit as well! There are so many excellent choices here that otherwise would not see play, and lots that aren't just "move that hits really hard". I think Equilibra is a good example of a concept where we took from the prohibited list and it worked great.

peace:
I think this is a similar concept to Arghonaut's but in a perfect way. Considering Argh was designed for Gen 4 OU - the threat situation here is much more complex and difficult to manage. I think in particular since this is our last shot at the SS meta, this is our best bet to leave the meta in a comfortable state for future tours as well.

Needle:
So many good choices here that we don't get to see. I think this concept is simple enough to follow but surprisingly complex in how it could be executed, and I appreciate the call out that slapping Technician on something doesn't fulfill this concept well.
 

Voltage

OTTN5
is a Pre-Contributor
Final Submission

Name: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Description:
This Pokemon minimizes the opportunities for the user to lose momentum of a match because of RNG. This may include, but not be limited to, an unfortunately timed paralysis, missing a crucial move at the worst moment, getting hit by a critical hit, or flinching by a move at an inopportune moment, or some other probability-based effect.

Justification: Since SHSP is our TL this project, I drew inspiration from some of my fights I've had against him. Being lucky 'n' bad when I've played our TL, I've noticed that many matches will come down to me getting some opportunistic swing in my favor, whether it be a scald burn, or SHSP missing a Hurricane. But what if SHSP didn't have to worry about his mon missing? Enter this Actualization and somewhat Target concept.

RNG is fundamental to Pokemon. We have to accept that for the base game. However, we at CAP are given the exciting opportunity to change the metagame in a way that is interesting and novel. In this case, we have the opportunity to explore the concept of a Pokemon that does not fear these negative RNG aspects. The result of this concept instead never has to worry about say hitting itself in confusion, thus granting it a passive boon throughout a match. We don't really have a Pokemon quite like this in the metagame as it stands; plenty of Pokemon exist and can manipulate RNG to ones favor, like Serene Grace Togekiss back in the day, but there are few Pokemon that simply shut RNG down. There's plenty of paths that this Pokemon could take from a playstyle perspective, whether they be an offensive setup sweeper that doesn't have to fear an untimely confusion, or a more defensive Pokemon that doesn't fear getting the passive damage from a Scald burn.

Questions:
  • What are some of the common forms of RNG in the metagame right now?
  • What are significant and relevant forms of RNG that can impact the outcome of a match?
  • From these sources of RNG, what are the most common forms of RNG that cause players to win or lose a match?
  • Which forms of RNG are realistically suppressible through the player's actions in the team builder?
  • Which forms of RNG are realistically suppressible through the player's actions in a match?
  • How can we suppress these controllable forms of RNG?
  • What are forms of RNG that are more uncontrollable from a player standpoint?
  • How would one use a Pokemon that does not have to worry about RNG from a playstyle perspective?
  • Should this anti-RNG apply only to this Pokemon or to its entire team? If the latter, how can this be accomplished?
Explanation: Like I said before, we're all lucky n bad and we can all point to that one tour match where if just one move had hit, or the move had a high roll, the entire result would've been radically different. I realize that this concept is immediately a tightrope as this can become exceptionally centralizing if we don't take special care to ensure that this Pokemon doesn't create too many checkmates. I struggle to find an equivalent Pokemon at this point in the metagame that explicitly doesn't fear some potential form of RNG.

I think back to the Gen 6 UU Scald-less ladder that was created due to the fear of Scald burns. In Gen 6 OU, Scald was such a centralizing force explicitly because of its 30% burn chance. This dissuaded all kinds of Pokemon from switching into a Scald out fear of the halved attack and / or 12% damage each turn. Pokemon like Mega Sceptile that, under any other circumstance, could switch fine into most bulky waters, didn't want to switch into a Scald as they risked losing at at least an eighth of their HP every turn. I remember thinking to myself "what if there were a mon that could basically suppress this risk?". This is where CAP shines best.

Obviously, we're not Gen 6 UU, We're Gen 8 CAP, but there's still some analogs in today's meta. Torn-T missing Hurricane often comes to mind as a common answer, Focus Blasts missing being another, both from move perspective. But even another thought is the idea of a speed tie, which is completely dependent on a coin flip. What if we could make sure this mon never lost the speed tie? And what about the most obnoxious status of the gen, paralysis? The halved speed from paralysis is frustrating, but doesn't immediately lose the match for the player the way a random lost turn does. In this paralysis example, an example of a solution could be having one of our types be electric such that it would naturally be immune to paralysis. All of these are examples of how RNG can impact a match in a negative way for at least one side, and things that we can aim to eliminate in this concept, if we so desire. I've left the scope fairly large for us to choose which aspects of RNG we'd like to target and remove as needed.

Additionally, I think a boring solution would simply to given this mon moves that basically don't miss. Yes, it is a solution, but there are far more creative ways to mitigate unfortunate rolls of dice. (For all you DnD nerds, I almost named this one "Halfling Luck" as they get to re-roll Natural 1s, i.e. remove unlucky events). There's a lot of options that passively remove chance, and I think it's worth exploring.

Yes, I did think of this in an afternoon when prompted for a concept. Yes, it probably has a lot of flaws. I'm open to your thoughts on this one and am happy to make adjustments as needed
 
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  • Name - Haunted Vacuum Cleaner
  • Description - This is a Pokemon that is built around a specific strategy - using Curse (the Damaging kind) and being tanky enough to survive so that they can regain that lost HP through draining moves of all sorts.
  • Justification- Utilizing the CAP Concept Toolkit, craft a concept that can fit into at least one of the following categories: Actualization, Archetype, or Target. Please explicitly state the category names as applicable to your specific justification and explain.
    • Archetype: This Pokemon fulfills the need for a actual competitive Pokemon that focuses on Curse, rather than using it for buffing purposes. No Pokemon in the main game does this well, and with the insane damage that can come from Curse, it feels like a missed opprotunity for a Ghost Type to not take advantage of it. It also fills the role of long lasting wall through this path as well, as it focuses on wearing down the opponent, while staying alive via high defenses and the ability to drain HP from opponents.
    • Target: Other Tanky Mons are meant to be countered, as Curse wears them out fast, while they outlast and outsurvive via recovery. Mileage may vary on blitzers with high damage.
  • Questions To Be Answered -
    • How can one make Curse Competitive while keeping the Mon alive? Do we need something to force the opponent to stay?
    • How can it stay reliably alive after Cursing the Opponent if not using moves like Giga Drain? Should it have a healing ability, or perhaps something that discourages attacking it?
    • What advantages or disadvantages could it get for not using Curse immediately, and instead saving it for later?
  • Explanation - I'm aware that through specifying Curse's effect on Ghost Types does limit it to at least having a primary or secondary Ghost Typing, but Curse is a highly underutilized move for Ghost Types. The 1/4th Max HP lost feels like a massive move balanced by the half health lost, but rarely any Pokemon are competitively able to maximize it, due to either being unable to take a hit following it, the Mon having very poor stats, or from the opponent simply switching out. From this idea, this would allow us to see what such a Mon could actually be like, if we had something that could use Curse to it's fullest potential.
 
Name: Monotype Moveset

Description: How much can be done with a movepool composed of moves from only one or two types.

Justification: This is a Target idea. The goal is to see how much can be done with moves of one or two types, and to see which types can give the most variety of sets and coverage. This means every move the pokemon can learn is of one type, not just the attacking moves. All forms of status and set up would need to come from one (or maybe two) types.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • What type(s) have the best collection of status and attacking moves to give a viable moveset.
  • What two types have the best coverage? Should this pokemon have perfect coverage?
  • Should the type(s) decided for the movepool match the type of the pokemon?
  • If it’s a dual type pokemon should it make moves from two types or just one?
  • Is it possible to make a viable pokemon with minimal amounts of coverage?
  • What kind of playstyle does a single type lend itself to?
  • What status moves are needed in a movepool?
  • What type has the most versatility?

Explanation: I’ll use Steel type to demonstrate the types of sets that could be used. Steel has set up moves like Iron Defense, Automize, and Shift Gear to fit whatever set is needed. King’s Shield is a good replacement for Protect. Steel has strong physical moves with Iron Head, and gains priority with Bullet Punch. And even Flash Cannon offers a move for special attackers. Anchor Shot even offers a great way to revenge kill. The Steel type however lacks any form of recovery. Steel can also not set up or remove entry hazards. Abilities like Tinted Lense, Pixilate, Swarm, Gale Wings, or Adaptability could all be interesting abilities to see in combination with a monotype move pool.
 
Final Submission

Name:
Global Presence

Description: A Pokemon that has the ability to directly have active involvement in battle while benched.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept with the goal to explore the dimensions of involvement in battle. Pokemon are limited by their options from the bench, the full extent of their kit being locked away until they switch in. But what if instead a Pokemon had the power to play a more active part in battle, being able to create unique pressures from just the bench?

Questions To Be Answered:
  • How can a Pokemon apply pressure while benched?
  • Considering switch-ins directly place Pokemon in battle, how can a Pokemon affect battle and the direction the battle takes from switching in?
  • Similarly, what abilities have utility on switch-in? How does the ability affect battle?
  • Is having good defensive utility necessary in being able to swap in?
  • How does pressure play a part in team preview?
  • What measures can be taken to prevent making a Pokemon with too much control over a match?
Explanation:
In most cases benched in battle means the Pokemon isn't able to directly affect the battle with the extent of its kit being unavailable. Universally, Pokemon have the basic element of the opponent having to figure out how to handle them. Offensively oriented Pokemon require their basic checks and counters to be considered in a battle and create pressure through having to be addressed by the opponent, Pokemon with bulk require appropriate firepower or other means of damage to break. These though are only surface level and create indirect pressures.

However, abilities with switch-in utility create a unique dimension that allow Pokemon to play a more active role from the bench. Weather and terrain summoning Pokemon are prime examples of this having field effects that directly interact with various other elements and persist after the user leaves the field--terrains having unique properties attributed to them including blocking various effects, Sun and Rain able to weaken the power of moves. Eject Button can be paired with this allowing Pokemon to proc their ability and pivot all from a single switch-in. Magic Bounce is an excellent example of extending the range of a Pokemons involvement from the bench and being able to create a risk factor in clicking hazards among other status moves. Essentially what this creates is a dynamic where a Pokemon is able to shape and influence a match by just having to be accounted for, this can be utilized as a strategical tool to interact with the flow of battle.

Comments have mentioned the potential overbearing nature and limits of the direction this concept leads to with Magic Bounce in particular. Instead of creating a dynamic where critical thinking is promoted, the result is the user having an overwhelming iron fist controlling the pace of the match. This isn't to say that Magic Bounce is not an option, Magic Bounce users able to facilitate teammates come with some form of utility outside of their given ability whereas the rest don't, they end up locking out moves from being used. I'd like to highlight Xatu in being able to provide for its teammates between screens, Defog, Thunder Wave, Future Sight, and pivots but the extent of which is limited through a weakness to Stealth Rocks. The idea was to be able to create scenarios where being able to weigh options becomes more valuable than not, the reasoning behind plays is built upon more to consider. Magic Bounce can work towards achieving this.

Of course this concept is not on railroads towards Magic Bounce, we have different avenues available to take. Typing and immunities fulfilling the concept has been a topic of discussion for which I'm an advocate for. This might be the safer approach considering we aren't playing with fire. Utility in being able to block Rapid Spin and Volt Switch creates its own dynamic where the other side should consider the consequences for their next action. This scenario of "this or that" should capture the feeling of being under pressure while not being impossible to handle. Ideally this would be along the lines of a scenario where both sides are on relatively equal grounds in terms of available options, however the user has the power to construct these situations along the course of a match to push an advantage and this form of control is what the concept strives for. What the end result should be is a game of careful planning and decision making for both sides.
 
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WIP

Name:
Global Presence

Description: A Pokemon that has the ability to directly have active involvement in battle while benched.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept with the goal to explore the dimensions of involvement in battle. Pokemon are limited by their options from the bench, the full extent of their kit being locked away until they switch in. But what if instead a Pokemon had the power to play a more active part in battle, being able to create unique pressures from just the bench?
What worries me about this submission is that (perhaps) the most obvious examples of Pokemon that have affected opposing play just by being seen in team preview have all involved very powerful abilities. Your mention of Magic Bounce is one such ability and is possibly the most familiar example to CAP and OU players, but Innards Out and Gulp Missile have warped game play patterns so hard just by being seen or suspected in team preview that they have gotten banned or gotten a wielder banned in Balanced Hackmons, and Wonder Guard, trapping abilities, and Imposter even manage to warp teambuilding in Hackmons metas (and beyond).

I fear that producing a balanced mon that actually fulfills this concept will be very to extremely difficult (and arguably the easiest to produce balanced mons with is the repeatedly already done Magic Bounce).
 
What worries me about this submission is that (perhaps) the most obvious examples of Pokemon that have affected opposing play just by being seen in team preview have all involved very powerful abilities. Your mention of Magic Bounce is one such ability and is possibly the most familiar example to CAP and OU players, but Innards Out and Gulp Missile have warped game play patterns so hard just by being seen or suspected in team preview that they have gotten banned or gotten a wielder banned in Balanced Hackmons, and Wonder Guard, trapping abilities, and Imposter even manage to warp teambuilding in Hackmons metas (and beyond).

I fear that producing a balanced mon that actually fulfills this concept will be very to extremely difficult (and arguably the easiest to produce balanced mons with is the repeatedly already done Magic Bounce).
I think that it is a really interesting concept with a lot of breathing room. This concept seems to be very geared in not just capitalizing on switch ins, but also providing a pressure just from having the Pokemon on your team. For an example, having something like Gengar pressures the opponent's willingness to press Ground, Fighting, or Poison type attacks as it gives the opponent a potentially free switch in. Having Arghnonaut pressures the opponent's willingness to set up with Cawmodore, and vice versa, the threat of Cawmodore pressures the player's willingness to use Arghonaut to answer other threats. There are more ways to develop pressure from the bench beyond Wonder Guard or Imposter, and this concept seems like a very good way and exploring the fundamentals of what it means to apply pressure from the bench in a world with team preview, as well as how we can do so from a variety of angles, whether it is generating free switch ins, creating a threat that needs an answer, or creating an answer that prevents typically large threats from coming in.
 

adem

yap
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Name: STAB Spammer (until i think of something wittier)

Description: This Pokemon is solely built around clicking its main STAB move 90% of the time, and rarely (if ever) relying on coverage / pivoting out, forcing progress without needing to predict much in terms of moves.

Justification: This (I think) is an Actualisation concept. I came up with this concept after losing to Mega Glailie, and realised how it rarely (if ever) clicked any other moves outside of Refridgerate boosted STAB Double Edges and in the end, Explosion, due to the Ice-type being so good offensively. You can see this in many different Pokemon throughout such as the DDD Mega Altaria set, which is one of my favourites from ORAS and utilises its massive bulk and defensive capabilities to setup and win, and due to how spammable Return is and how Steel's can easily be punished, worn down, or outright beaten, it doesnt need any other coverage. This is in the same vein with something like SubDD MMence.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Can a Pokemon who spams its STAB moves inhabit a defensive role? Or is it limited to offensive roles?
  • How can a Pokemon overcome the necessity for wallbreakers to offer some form of defensive utility?
  • What kind of coverage do STAB spammers typically enjoy, utility based or coverage based?
  • How can dual STAB coverage open up moveslots? Potentially space for more team-based utility options (ie: rapid spin), or maybe more self-sufficient options (ie: refresh)?
Explanation: Most good offensive prescences, even with spammable / good STAB options, see: Lele and Dragapult in OU, still prefer to run / run coverage options such as Focus Blast, Hydro Pump, and Flamethrower, and pivot moves such as U-Turn, as opposed to just sticking it out and wearing down their checks. I would attribute this to their general frailness and lack of longevity, and also maybe the lack of outright power? Also, another point was brought up that defensive Pokemon like DLC1 Slowking also ran mono STABs due to how good Scald + Future Sight was and how it enabled its teammates, so the Pokemon doesnt have to be necessarily an offensive one. Some ability ideas are like Regenerator, -ate abilities, the Surge abilities minus Misty could also be cool if its one of those types. Possibly make it a very spammable offensive type / dual type: Fairy, Ice,( Fire / Fairy sounds cool), Dark , Ghost, Flying. For a defensive Pokemon giving it access to stuff like Flip Turn, Future Sight, Scald, Rapid Spin could be cool, an -ate ability with these support moves could be interesting as well with stuff like -ate Rapid Spin could be interesting, or a supportive RegenVester like STABmons Slowking.

ty dex for helping me shell this out
 
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Name - Jack Of All Moves (Master Of None?)

Description - This Pokemon utilizes its wide movepool to match up well against various opponents.

Justification- This is an Actualization concept, which aims to explore how versatile a Pokemon can be simply from its access to attacks (and not utility or secondary effects), and how unpredictable it can be without necessarily being unhealthy.

Questions To Be Answered -
  • Where should this Pokemon fall between the wallbreaking and revenge killing spectrum?
  • How strong should this Pokemon be to maintain said balance between wallbreaking and revenge killing?
  • Will adding another offensive Pokemon to the current metagame be unhealthy to balanced teams?
  • Can this Pokemon take on a defensive role instead?
  • Should this Pokemon have access to any utility at all, if its concept is solely experimenting on coverage moves?
  • Is there any coverage moves we should avoid giving the Pokemon, or in other words any specific targets we should avoid? (for example letting blanket walls like Pex check it)

Explanation - This concept is mostly inspired by Genesect, which has all the coverage moves it needs to target any foes that its team might need cover for. I will admit I did not consider the current offensive state of CAP when thinking of this idea, but I believe the mon itself has a lot of room to adjust for the metagame, mainly in the stats area. If it is given a Regieleki spread and a few moves of any type, it can be a premier speed control option but not necessarily a broken wallbreaker; furthermore, a shitty typing or ability or little utility moves will also prevent it from being too good, opposite examples being Genesect and Greninja.
 
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I think that it is a really interesting concept with a lot of breathing room. This concept seems to be very geared in not just capitalizing on switch ins, but also providing a pressure just from having the Pokemon on your team. For an example, having something like Gengar pressures the opponent's willingness to press Ground, Fighting, or Poison type attacks as it gives the opponent a potentially free switch in. Having Arghnonaut pressures the opponent's willingness to set up with Cawmodore, and vice versa, the threat of Cawmodore pressures the player's willingness to use Arghonaut to answer other threats. There are more ways to develop pressure from the bench beyond Wonder Guard or Imposter, and this concept seems like a very good way and exploring the fundamentals of what it means to apply pressure from the bench in a world with team preview, as well as how we can do so from a variety of angles, whether it is generating free switch ins, creating a threat that needs an answer, or creating an answer that prevents typically large threats from coming in.
Your post reminded me just now of the repeated mentions in RMTs of Ground-types discouraging Volt Switch (and therefore discouraging pivoting and encouraging hard switches). That along with Ghost-types famously being spinblockers (and blockers of most self-KO moves, etc.) mean that perhaps this concept is more versatile than I thought. In that case, though, perhaps giving type-related examples instead of ability-related examples would provide the impression that the end result is easy to balance, which I did not get with the Magic Bounce example.

(The implication in RMTs with Tapu Lele and/or Indeedee that I read was that neither Psychic Surge mon actually discourages opponents from using priority in practice - slightly bizarre in context. In fact, I've repeatedly read in RMTs that Tapu Fini and its Misty Surge "blocks status", implying that people similarly also do not play around this Tapu. Perhaps Surges would be avoided for this concept because they don't seem to apply pressure in team preview. Similarly, the RMTs I've read seem to be ambivalent about whether Defiant actually lowers the usage rate of Defog in practice - some RMTs couch Defiant as taking advantage of opposing Defog instead of outright stifling it.)
 

SHSP

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Moderator
Super pleased with the way this thread has gone, there's been a bunch of really great concepts and a lot of great discussion surrounding them. I'm posting now to announce that I want this to start to wrap up as I and the TLT work towards formulating a slate: as such, I'm calling for a 48 Hour Warning on finalizing concepts.

To those who I haven't gotten a chance to respond and critique to in-thread yet (basically everyone who posted after my last round of commentary and those with substantial updates), expect a post from me later tonight my time with feedback. In the meantime and after that, if anyone has questions, concerns, or wants to talk about their concept (or any other) feel free to DM me on Discord; I'll be happy to talk things through. Thanks again for the great stage so far, let's make sure it closes out strong too.
 
  • Name - Who needs abilities?
  • Description - This Pokémon has no competitive ability.
  • Justification - This is an Actualization concept, exploring how a Pokémon can be viable without relying on a useful ability.
  • Questions To Be Answered -
    • Should we allow abilities that have uses in doubles but not singles, or should we limit our ability choices to those with no competitive use whatsoever?
    • What characteristics would a Pokémon need to be viable without a useful ability?
    • Are there some roles that are more ability-reliant than others? If so, should we focus on a role that is less ability-reliant, or should we try to make this CAP successful in a role that normally relies heavily on abilities?
  • Explanation - Most existing CAPs, and most mons on the CAP viability rankings, have an ability that substantially contributes to their viability; all of them have abilities that are at least situationally useful. This CAP would explore the creation of a mon whose viability is completely unrelated to its ability. It's worth mentioning that we recently built Chromera around the concept of taking advantage of a "bad" ability; however, there is a significant difference between an ability that is typically negative but situationally useful and an ability that does nothing. I think this concept is different enough from Chromera's to still be worth exploring.
 

Lasen

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FINAL SUB

Name:
Shai-Hulud

Description: A Pokemon that can take advantage of Thousand Waves to trap its foes and either beat them or provide a free switch to a teammate.

Justification: I believe this falls under the Archetype category. Trapping move user already exists in Magma Storm Heatran and Spirit Shackle Pajantom which both use their moves as a strong STAB option alongside their trapping capabilities. Focus is going to be put on the selected mode of trapping, in this case being Thousand Waves.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • Is there a "best" way to utilize trapping moves? If so, what playstyle does it most align with?
  • What is the value in trapping the opposing Pokémon? Why?
  • What synergies work well with Thousand Waves' trapping properties? Why do they have such a great synergy, and how can that be expanded or dealt with in the process of teambuilding?
  • How does disabling a core mechanic in switching out interact with the current metagame?
  • How do we deal with all the foes we are unable to trap due to their typing? Do we deal with it through coverage options or in a different way in the builder?
  • What can we do in this project that other trapping move users cannot?
  • Considering how relatively easy it is to switch into Thousand Waves, how reliable is the move? Can you get away with not clicking it?

Explanation: Full trapping is a concept that is mostly hated by every tier's playerbase that it is present, with only Magnet Pull Magnezone remaining legal and viable while Shadow Tag and Arena Trap are banished into AG and Ubers, respectively. HOWEVER! Trapping moves have been around since Gen II with Wrap and Clamp and have at worst been considered a cheesy strategy. In CAP in particular, we find Magma Storm Heatran and Spirit Shackle Pajantom, neither of which is considered broken with or without their ability to trap their foes. Moreover, I have chosen Thousand Waves in particular because it's a Ground-type move, meaning a ton of viable Pokemon are immune to it between our Flying-types which feel like the face of the metagame atm, the myriad of Ghost-types immune to being trapped and the occasional Levitate user like Equilibra and Cresselia. It's a pretty straight-forward concept that also gives us a bit of leeway in how we use it; Decidueye and Pajantom use it to set-up and take out their foes, while Pyukumuku and ORAS Mega Slowbro would run Block to PP stall their opponents. I think exploring the niche of trapping in a metagame dominated by foes it can't actually hit with the move it is built around would be a very interesting process.

Btw we should look at getting rid of the categories in Justification, it gatekept me for 2 processes now and the explanation provided is poor at best.
 
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Name - Mini-Uber
Description - A Pokemon that replicates a strategy used by an Uber Pokemon
Justification- This is an Actualization concept - we want to preserve the excitement of using an Uber while simultaneously having it be fair and competitive for the current CAP metagame.
Questions To Be Answered:
  • What makes an Uber pokemon interesting beyond just the power level? What makes a pokemon "fun" to use?
  • On average Ubers have better stats, abilities, and movepools than OU Pokémon - out of those 3, which are safe to take away without removing a pokemon's identity?
  • Will a pokemon still be useful even when taken out of its native context (ie without the specific metagame threats it checks)?
  • Is there room to explore certain Uber's unique defensive and utility potential in addition to their offenses?
  • Can this pokemon still stand out even with the high volume of threats that we currently have?
Explanation - I was playing some ubers and I was like "Deoxys-Attack is really sick. Too bad I can't use it in SS OU - unless?" I realized that no other pokemon really does what Deo-A does (at least that's CAP-legal, you could argue Pheromosa also falls under "really fast glass cannon" for example). A lot of Ubers are pretty similar in that they have some unique quality that isn't replicated by other pokemon.

Non-Deoxys Examples:
Darkrai pre-Darkvoid nerf: Basically guaranteed sleep means it's good for one in almost every game
Lugia: Wall that's actually fast enough to outrun a lot of attackers
Yveltal: Somehow both a really good wallbreaker (on both sides!) and a really good wall
Zygarde: Sweeper without much initial firepower but succeeds anyway because it's unkillable and because its one attack is impossible to resist

Moreover, these qualities are not solely tied to power level - even within Ubers, where Deo-A is at least somewhat balanced, it's still fun to click Superpower/icebeam/Espeed and watch things die. In other words, I am arguing that we as a community should, no, Must reprint Deoxys Attack in OU.
 
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snake

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Name - Revival of the Mixed Attacker

Description: This Pokemon's best set is a mixed attacking set, such that it uses at least one powerful physical move and at least one powerful special move.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept. Mixed attackers have been rare, and it'd be interesting to explore exactly why this is the case, and how to encourage a mixed attacking set.

Questions To Be Answered:
  • What mixed attackers have been used in previous generations? What made them effective?
  • What mixed attackers have been used in this generation? What made them effective?
  • What challenges do mixed attackers face, and how can we mitigate those challenges?
  • How can we ensure this Pokemon won't run fully physical sets or fully special sets?
Explanation:

Looking at the current CAP VR, there are only a handful of true mixed attackers and none are above B+ tier:
  • Arctozolt (B+), which has a super powerful Bolt Beak and fully accurate Blizzard under hail
  • Victini (B+) which has powerful moves in V-Create and Bolt Strike and runs Glaciate to snipe Landorus-T
  • Aegislash (B), which runs Close Combat and Shadow Sneak on Choice Specs sets
It is worth noting that I'm not counting special attackers that run U-turn or Flip Turn (like Tapu Koko or Krilowatt) as mixed attackers because they're using those more for the pivoting effect than the damage output. Additionally, Miasmaw has tried to run mixed attacking sets, but to my knowledge those have largely been outclassed by its Choice Band set. Regardless, it's unranked, so that shows how effective it is as a mixed attacker.

Although I'm fully knowledgeable of previous gens, and I'm happy to be corrected about this, mixed attackers have had a greater presence in previous gens. DPP Infernape is famous for its many mixed attacking sets. Garchomp and Mega Garchomp have commonly slotted in Draco Meteor and Fire Blast into their movesets despite their much lower Special Attack, but not as much this generation. Kyurem-B has been a mixed attacking force in ORAS and USUM, but it has been banned in Gen 8. Mega Diancie similarly ran mixed attacking sets but isn't present in Gen 8. Aside from Internape, these Pokemon don't even top the charts on the VR list, instead being more niche attackers.

On the other hand, we've had so many more insanly powerful physical and special attackers in more recent gens - to name a few, Kartana, Ash-Greninja, Tapu Lele, Keldeo, Weavile, Urshifu(-R), and Galarian Zapdos. These Pokemon have defined at least one of the Gen 6, 7, or 8 metagames with their sheer strength. Additionally, aside from Miasmaw, CAP has barely touched mixed attacking, opting for stronger fully physical or special attackers like Mega Crucibelle, Venomicon-E, Pajantom, Volkraken, or Stratagem. You'd never catch these Pokemon running a mixed set.

I think CAP needs to finally explore what makes mixed attacking work. It's not a new or complex idea, but I think it's interesting once you start to think about it more deeply.
 

SHSP

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As promised, more commentary and feedback:

What's Yours is Mine- I think this is very interesting, but also somewhat confusing. Mandating that we use the opponents tools against them, not just deny their usage, is a tricky situation to find ourselves in. As pointed out in the explanation, Heart Swap would be an amazing tool... but it's snapped, and that leaves a lot up in the air. I think it's absolutely worth expanding on potential options.

Bang Average- Okay, so I've railed on this concept for like... 3? CAP cycles or so now, and yet, D2's written something here that should prove that the explanation behind a concept does matter a great deal. This is just about the ultimate "box" concept- where we're limited heavily and have to figure out how to be successful within those restrictions- and those are usually not my taste... but the way this is aimed, and especially the questions detailing efficiency and power budget, make this actually interesting.

Funhouse Mirror Image- Cool idea absolutely, and it's clearly something that has some basis in already existing with those examples. It's a very interesting look at roles and how typing affects them, though I am a bit worried about what happens after we pick a typing and ergo a mon to emulate.

Mint Condition- I find one of the most interesting points about this is that it's sparked not by an obvious sort of example- say, Talonflame- but by Balloon Tran, which applies this in a different way and incidentally shows that this isn't quite as narrow as one might think at first glance. The important part of this concept almost doesn't read as "keeping at 100% HP," then, but more so a question of decisions- lean into that idea of trading HP for power or vice versa that you highlight in the last sentence.

Berry Nice Pokemon- I think this runs into a lot of the same issues that the earlier Trinkets concept had, namely the competition for an item slot and also the prevalence of Knock Off. I think to pull this off, we'd have to lean heavily into things like Natural Gift to turn a very reactive item in a berry into something proactive.

Too Close for Comfort- Reads a lot like a very specified version of Game of Inches. Curious to see if this can be expanded past that, especially with a self imposed restriction away from... the best ways to do this concept.

Priority Emperor- I think this reads very disjointed. It's a mon that either uses priority well or denies priority usage- which is either very similar to other concepts in this thread, or very limited. The justification, explanation and questions all feel like they're trying to tell different stories, not really working together well: I think this needs to be a lot clearer other than "a lot of things use Prankster, we shouldn't."

Limited Stats- I look at this compared to Bang Average and struggle to see too much of a difference. This is more along the lines of bad stat total overall, but can have stronger biases? It's very similar- may be worth clarifying and differentiating much more from Bang Average.

Denial of Service Attack- This feels incredibly specific in what it's aiming to do, mostly because of what you address early on in your explanation: a lot of these moves are mediocre at best and haven't been proven to have any sort of real niche. Specifying temporary effects in addition is another limiter. I think this needs to be a bit broader and work with more direction other than "somehow, temporary limits the opponent using these sorts of things."

Contradictability: One of your examples has sold me on this a great deal- the idea of a mixed attacker Pyroar starting a Moxie sweep with a special attack is quite interesting to me. I do wonder how far we can stretch this though: the examples given are more or less either the ability to run two or more sets (pult) or break a check with a different attack (remoraid, kyurem-b). How much can these actually work in tandem?

Move Control- I'd lean into denial a lot, personally. PP Stalling as an idea is already kind of well explored with the variety of Pressure wincons that we've seen across gens like Suicune; meanwhile actively preventing the opponent from clicking specific moves has seen very limited use outside of Taunt itself.

Medium of Manipulation- This is a tough sell just based off of the moves themselves. They're particularly cool, yes, but I'm not sure if they're effective enough to work around, not to mention the kind of lacking effects it has on shaping the process overall.

Stop! In the Name of Stall- I think this is a bit too focused at the moment, actually. Outside of things like Avalugg and Shedinja that only find use on stall, most stall mons like Blissey, Pex, and Clef find a lot more of a foothold in the metagame than just being a mon used on stall. I think that a concept that is "make an effective defensive mon" or "make an anti-wincon-stacking mon" is a bit more flexible while still achieving the end goal here. Instead of trying to make a good stall mon that works for other archetypes, making a good fat mon that works on stall might be a better route to take.

Sub Optimal Movepool- I think leaning into unique secondary effects (rather than just weaker than normal moves) here is actually quite cool. The second question especially is interesting, with what route to take- make them hit as hard, or more of a tradeoff to get these secondary effects on this mon- being something I think should go to the forefront of the concept.

Dead Air- we've talked about this on Discord already, but I'll repeat it here- widen this to a bit more of an anti-Flying (or any specific powerful typing, even) concept and I think it flows much better and offers a really unique process.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose- My big question about this is in its feasibility. How much RNG is realistically available to the player's control as opposed to the opponent's? I think changing the wording a bit helps a lot- focus more on minimizing and controlling what RNG impacts and RNG in the player's control rather than trying to "shut down" RNG in general.

Haunted Vacuum Cleaner- who told you about me and vacuuming, wtf. On a serious note, I think that this is really limited- losing 50% HP for a 25% HP trade and a likely switch isn't great- and I'm not sure mandating a typing like this is legal.

Monotype Moveset- I'm curious if this is closer to a framework than a concept, but it certainly catches my eye. I think the better way to aim this is rather than take a typing that on paper has everything like your Steel example, but lean heavily into what a typing does- take a type with a variety of really good offensive/defensive/utility moves and make something REALLY good at those.

Global Presence- This is fascinating to me, and it's already caused a great deal of internal discussion with the TLT. Our worries are mainly about limitations of how much you can really create this effect outside of very strong situations (magic bounce, for example)- we also pointed out the idea of being a very old Libra type mon, that makes players very hesitant to click specific moves and give up a lot of tempo.

STAB Spammer- You mention M-Glalie and I'm hooked. It's an interesting sort of "box" concept- where the limitation here is more so something we want to lean super hard into instead of an active detriment. I feel like using a less than amazing offensive typing would be the way to go, and I really don't see the defensive argument at all here to be honest.

Jack of All Moves- I like this concept a lot among the offensively minded ones. Another restriction one that doesn't feel like a restriction at all when done right. I would love to hear more of an explanation to this that isn't concerned about being too offensive- it's just as valid to be an offensive oriented submission.

Who Needs Abilities- Very similar to Chromera, actually. I feel like this would play out in a slightly different way, but strikes me as a bit of a retread.

Shai-Hulud- A Dune reference and a really sick move, count me in. Partial trapping or move based trapping like Waves is can have a lot more applications than are currently seen, and Waves itself has a really unique status as a ground move. Leaning into the question asked at the end- how does this play when so much is an answer to it on paper- is something I'd find incredibly interesting as you finish this up.

Mini-Uber- This is beyond cool. I was joking a day or two ago about not seeing the now-infamous These Shackles Make Me Mortal this process, and it seems to have willed into existence a really clever take on the idea, the inverse of making a lower tier mon powerful enough for OU and a too strong mon crippled by some fatal flaw. I don't personally know a lot about Ubers, so I'll have to do some research and see what is so unique about so many of the mons there- I'd recommend more direct examples in your concept to make this easier for people like me who aren't as familiar.

Return of the Mixed Attacker- Mixed attackers are quite cool, and you hit the nail on the head with how deep it is as an archetype despite seeming simple. I'd be most worried about the concept and process turning into an autopsy: realizing why they don't work well currently partway through and having to fix that in order to achieve a viable mixed attacker.
 
Super pleased with the way this thread has gone, there's been a bunch of really great concepts and a lot of great discussion surrounding them. I'm posting now to announce that I want this to start to wrap up as I and the TLT work towards formulating a slate: as such, I'm calling for a 48 Hour Warning on finalizing concepts.

To those who I haven't gotten a chance to respond and critique to in-thread yet (basically everyone who posted after my last round of commentary and those with substantial updates), expect a post from me later tonight my time with feedback. In the meantime and after that, if anyone has questions, concerns, or wants to talk about their concept (or any other) feel free to DM me on Discord; I'll be happy to talk things through. Thanks again for the great stage so far, let's make sure it closes out strong too.
Just a quick question, how would WIP concepts be “finalized”? Would it just be editing our original posts a little and removing the “WIP”, or do we make a new post entirely? Kinda new to this whole thing so I’m not sure how finalizing ideas for nomination on the slate would work.
 

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Just a quick question, how would WIP concepts be “finalized”? Would it just be editing our original posts a little and removing the “WIP”, or do we make a new post entirely? Kinda new to this whole thing so I’m not sure how finalizing ideas for nomination on the slate would work.
Make any additional edits you want to pre-finalizing and removing the WIP label from your post (and/or adding the "Final Submission" label some have already started to do, which can help with clarity), yep.
 
Made some updates to my post. Also, just wanted to highlight and comment on my favorites!

Final Submission

Name:
Spore User

Description: A Pokemon that uses Spore to inflict the sleep status condition.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept, built around a move that inflicts status condition that shuts down the opponent as opposed to passive damage or stat reductions like more popular moves that inflict status conditions, such as Toxic or Scald, and is capable of crippling all of Steel types, Poison types, Fire types, Electric types, and even Pokemon with Magic Guard. This adds strategy in terms of reacting to and taking advantage of a deterrent that you have placed, forcing the opponent into some difficult positions, either having to resort to switching to a different Pokemon or sticking it and waiting for the morning rooster, and since neither is a perfect solution you can take advantage of this. The only other relevant Pokemon in the metagame that uses a sleeping move is Alolan Ninetales, which uses the inconsistent Hypnosis and is more known for its role in Hail and Aurora Veil.

Questions To Be Answered:
- What should this Pokemon be doing once it has put an opposing Pokemon to sleep?
- Given that one of the advantages of sleep is allowing teammates more opportunities, how much effectiveness should this Pokemon have outside of spreading Sleep? At what point does it become too much?
- How well should our matchups be against Spore absorbers? At what point does sleep stop becoming useful?

Explanation: When making a concept, you have to take the current metagame into account. I almost submitted a Flash CAP concept about using the ability Unaware in an offensive nature to outspeed Pokemon with speed boosts as opposed to its traditional defensive nature. This might have worked if it was being created for something like ORAS Ubers, a tier dominated by Dragon Dance Megamence and Geomancy Xerneas. However, this Flash CAP was being created for BDSP CAP, where many of the Pokemon go first by using priority moves, so that concept wouldn’t have worked well.

However, I believe the current CAP metagame is in a prime position to accept a Pokemon that can use Spore. The tier is dominated by Pokemon that are immune to the common Toxic such as Heatran, Venomicon, Clefable, Galarian Slowking, Magnezone, and Corviknight, and most of these are unfazed by burn as well. However, all of these Pokemon are vulnerable to being put to sleep. I also believe that there are enough sleep immune Pokemon in the metagame (Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko, Pajantom, and every single Grass type) that this could be balanced.

We’ve seen Pokemon with sleeping moves take several roles. In many iterations of UU, Amoonguss acts as a defensive pivot. When Tangrowth isn’t running Assault Vest, it is a physical wall that can put opponents to sleep. Breloom and Darkrai are offensive setup sweepers in the tiers that they are relevant in. ORAS NU Jynx wallbreaks in addition to being the sandman, with or without Nasty Plot. Roserade in RU is a hazard setter and a sleep inducer. As you can see, there is a lot of flexibility here in terms of roles.

Since the "healthiness" of this concept was questioned, I'd like to speak in defense on why I believe that we could avoid making this unhealthy. For one, as I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of Pokemon that are actually immune to Spore that are viable in the metagame, including an entire type. Also Breloom and Amoonguss were once viable in OU and they were nowhere close to broken, they both had weaknesses that prevented their sleeping shenanigans from being too much for the tier to handle. It also adds a layer of strategy to the game, having the opponent choose between switching out or staying and waiting to wake up, and there is no guarantee the sleep will even last that long and will have a big enough impact, it can wake up after a turn, which adds some potential risk into using the move. I will admit though, this concept would definitely need to be watched carefully and ensuring it won't become too overbearing will be absolutely crucial, I think making it so this Pokemon gets walled by at least 2 Pokemon on your standard team will ensure that it won't be broken while still getting mileage out of sleep. We don't want it to become so much that people start running Vital Spirit Astrolotl.

This is the first concept I have ever submitted, so I'm not expecting to get a lot of attention, but I hope that this is not at the very least completely ignored and that my justifications are understood.
This concept helps to reintroduce something that has fallen out of popularity in OU and CAP, but more importantly, it reintroduces a new way of advancing against other teams, and helps to raise the viability of Pokémon with immunities to Spore. Grass-types like Jumbao, Rillaboom, and Kartana and status absorbers like Pajantom, Flame Orb Colossoil and Snaelstrom can easily capitalize on free switches from Spore. This could cause some healthy (or unhealthy) metagame shifts, but I’m always for increasing niche mon viability, so I see this as an absolute win!

WIP

Name:
Game of Inches

Description: A Pokémon that explores the use of incremental damage and recovery effects in the CAP metagame.

Justification: This is an Actualization concept. Given the vast amounts of directly damaging attacks and reliable recovery, this concept intends to explore some of the lesser seen methods of damage and healing.

Questions to be answered:

  • How important are incremental, residual, and any other forms of indirect damage in the current meta?
  • Which effects, whether they are moves, abilities, or anything else, should be considered incremental?
  • Which damaging moves would be useful for their secondary effects?
  • In what ways can incremental effects be worthwhile over traditional forms of damage and recovery?
  • How should incremental damage be used alongside direct damage? Should one be prioritized over the other?
  • What methods of blocking indirect damage/recovery are there currently? Should these methods be used as a balancing tool or should this Pokémon have a way around them?
Explanation: This Pokémon would serve a different playstyle than Pokemon that only deal direct damage or Pokemon with perfectly reliable recovery. As an example, Leech Seed perfectly encompasses these effects, though there are others like Sand/Hail, Ingrain/Aqua Ring, Leftovers/Black Sludge, Rough Skin/Iron Barbs, Poison Point/Flame Body, and Sand Tomb/Infestation that are also worth looking at.

As for blocking incremental damage and recovery effects, the first ability that comes to mind is Magic Guard, which would be very strong both offensively and defensively. Others to look at are Immunity/Pastel Veil/Poison Heal with their ability to block Toxic damage, Overcoat to block Weather, Water Veil to block Burn, and Taunt to prevent incremental effects from status moves.

This CAP would not need to be completely passive; one route to explore is how they relate, synergize, and benefit from direct damage. Abilities like Rough Skin and Poison Touch can provide chip damage, while moves like Poison Jab or Scald can deal damage with an additional chance to inflict incremental damage.

The closest Pokémon that fills this role is Ferrothorn, with its main recovery being Leech Seed, and its ability to rack up damage with the aforementioned move and its ability Iron Barbs. Ferrothorn’s above-average attack stat also allows its attacking moves like Power Whip and Gyro Ball to reach KOs after sufficiently weakening the opponent with its incremental effects.

As for CAP Pokémon, the closest to fill this role is Snaelstrom, with its main source of Recovery being through Poison Heal, and its ability to status through Toxic or Scald. It’s similar to Ferrothorn however, due to its above average attacking stats giving it offensive prowess (with it even being able to make use of Swords Dance sets).
I find this concept really interesting; having a mon that can provide continual incremental damage would be very nice for bulkier teams and help to decrease the offensive saturation in CAP. The only possible worry I have with this is that we don’t want to create another Ferrothorn; this mon should operate uniquely from other “incremental mons,” so as to actually add to the metagame.

WIP

Name
: peace


Description: This Pokemon attempts to reduce the threat saturation in the current metagame whilst maintaining viability that's disconnected from the Pokemon that it counters.

Justification: The SS CAP metagame, at the moment, is a nightmare to teambuild in. Dragapult, Pyroak, Weavile, Kartana, Zeraora, both books, and Urshifu-R (among many, many others) are all prominent, prevalent forces in the metagame that require distinct answers to beat. This has led to teams forcing themselves into specific defensive cores or focusing entirely on offensive prowess and aggressive play. This is a Target concept; this concept targets a specific problem in the metagame that's been prevalent since the CAP Championship Invitational, and leaves room for discussion with regards to how it would do so.

Questions:

- What level of "variance" and threat saturation is conducive to a healthy metagame? In a similar vein, how important is centralization for the health of a metagame; is a certain amount of centralization good? If so, how much?
-Why are Lando-Astro-Fini-Steel cores so dominant and effective in the current metagame?
-How would we make sure the viability of our creation wouldn’t end up being “attached” to the viability of the threats it’s meant to counter? Is there insight to be taken from Pokemon like Toxapex and Landorus-T, that function as prominent defensive threats that have been viable and high-tiered in every generation they’re accessible in?
-When did the SS CAP metagame become too “decentralized” and bloated with threats? Is it worth trying to push the metagame backwards, to the state it was in before then?


Explanation: For a while, there’s been a negative community sentiment towards the state of the metagame, due to the high saturation of viable threats making it so building teams that can effectively answer every viable Pokemon is near impossible. This concept attempts to reduce that saturation, through a creation process that’d raise interesting questions about how oversaturation happens in a metagame, how to target it, and the role that centralization plays in that system. It’s been a bit since we’ve had a metagame-focused concept, and I think those ones are really educative in the sense that they’re grounded in the game and they lead to fascinating discussions about metagame trends, past tiers, and how Pokemon interact with each other at the level of teambuilding and viability. “peace” aims to raise those discussions whilst possibly pushing the metagame to a more balanced position before the turn of the generation.

also banger song ftw
This concept I really enjoy, probably because it’s fairly similar to my concept (with a slightly different focus). I’m still pretty new to CAP, so I can’t say much in terms of metagame analysis, but I’d very much like to explore this concept, as it could be a great teaching moment for “the new kids.”

Name: Dead Air

Description: A pokemon that significantly reduces the viability of two or more of the tier's many flying-type setup sweepers.

Justification: This is a Target concept, looking to do something about the sheer diversity of flying type set-up sweepers that presently exist within the metagame, courtesy of CAP 30. Between Cawmodore, Hawlucha, Dragonite, and our shiny new books there are five good examples that really don't do anything else, and if we count alternative sets for generally versatile pokemon you can add Nasty Plot Tornadus-T, Swords-Dance Landorus-T and (I imagine) others. The only options that reliably answer most if not all of these threats are Zapdos, worse zapdos Cyclohm, and the premier fast offense picks - Weavile most notably. In my opinion, "play zapdos or play offense" is an annoying choice to be making!

Questions To Be Answered:

-Why are all of these pokemon viable, all at once? Shouldn't they compete for usage?

-How many of the flying sweepers circumvent usual counterplay for flying type? Why?

-Are there any existing pokemon who could answer the whole lot if just a couple fell out of favor?

-How many of the flying set-up sweepers do we want to impact, anyway?

-How can we avoid impacting other flying types?

Explanation:

So, I think there are a few different directions we could take this. The most obvious is picking a couple pokemon we want to hit, and fashioning some kind of direct counter - something with thousand arrows maybe, or an unaware user that doesn't crumble to dust in the face of bullet punch/acrobatics/gunk shot, or some silly scheme like innards-out or heal block. However, I think the specialized counter route is the worst, least reliable way to go about this.

Another option might be a sort of anti-hazard removal mon, something that checks the prominent defoggers and rapid-spinners in the meta - if it's easier to keep rocks up, p-book and dragonite both risk significant damage on switch-in, the latter losing multiscale. In a similar vein, we could create a pivot designed to increase rocking opportunities by forcing out pokemon that threaten existing SR users, giving them more chances to set hazards. This option provides an interesting way to target specific pokemon - namely, we'd impact those who cannot afford to run boots (such as Hawlucha) while leaving the others in relative comfort.

My final thought is that maybe we could shore up Hail teams with one more member, making it riskier to rely on pokemon that hard scoop to bolt beak or a boosted ice shard.
Once again, I like this concept because it wants to address the overly offensive metagame, but specifically by means of targeting Flying-types. I think this would be a great concept to address our current metagame while still remaining viable in other metagames, as Flying-types will always be viable.
 
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