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Well then, I actually had my initial vote post typed and readied 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately, I have found that it has since been wiped and now I have to type it again. Sigh...
All votes are ranked from good (7th) to best (1st). Anyways, here we go:
El Cadaver, Mossy Sandwich (this one was funny btw), Ema Skye, Grand Smasher
3) fratelli bc
It may have been too complicated and has since been revamped/nerfed, I do like the general idea, and I think it could also get a slight buff, honestly.
2) DrPumpkinz
The overwhelming favourite. Primordial Hail is such a good fit onto Alolatales and it's really well balanced. I personally think this will definitely win the slate.
1) shinxthe17
But still, I like my take on it more. :)
Ema Skye, Marshmallow_Fish24, Bolivia, The Damned
3) kakaks
Not too sold on the Atk being higher than the SpA, but a cool idea nonetheless.
2) Aurum4
GOD I LOVE THIS ONE. It brings something unique to Sun architecture and can potentially be a world-destroyer paired with Drought users in Doubles.
1) Magmajudis
That being said Magmajudis absolutely wins this slate for me, no questions asked
Yago2012, ausma, abismal, lydian
3) Magmajudis
I can imagine lots of unpredictable playstyles with your version of Mega Zoroark, and it fascinates me! Definitely one of the better Zoroark subs this slate.
2) kakaks
spoopy
1) GrandSmasher
It's a very bizarre concept, but I'd love to see it come to life. Perhaps kakaks or Magmajudis may win this but if this wins, it'll be funny and I'd honestly love to give this Mega a shot!
In caster circles, human and pokemon alike, she's seen and known as an elite figure. Just don't talk about her in front of Mega Mismagius. There's a lot of jealousy there.
Mega Alolatales - DrPumpkinz, Mossy Sandwich, kakaks, Aqua Panic, Mega Flareon, woworiginal Mega Zoro - PalpitoadChamp, abismal, Magmajudis, zxgzxg, ausma, El Cadaver, lydian, FierceHawk192, BlueRay, Aqua Panic, BitBitio, kakaks, okispokis, The Damned, inkbug Mega Delph - PalpitoadChamp, Magmajudis, harmony96369, kakaks, ViZar, Bandkrook, Aqua Panic, Mega Flareon, Hodaka
In case you're wondering, there's a comment for Alolan-Ninetales subs and for Zoroark subs under spoiler. For some reason, I have a second spoiler for Delphox, and it's where you can find the comment for its subs rather than in the first spoiler. *le shrug*
01) El Cadaver 02) ViZar 03) kakaks
04) abismal 05) Ema Skye 06) DrPumpkinz
07) MegaFlareon 08) GrandSmasher 09) jazzmat
Comment:
I think El Cadaver has a very interesting sub as it allows you to make use of certain status moves you usually wouldn't use. They also come with the benefit of have a pseudo pivot effect, which can be a blessing in certain situations. Like, the opponent will have a hard time stopping Alolan Ninetales from using a status move. And if they retreat, you know which Pokémon you want to switch out. On the other hand, due to its Stealth Rock weakness, Alolan Ninetales can't spam its status moves as easily as another Pokémon with a better typing, which is what makes this sub balanced, I think.
As for the next sub, we have enough ways to punish Steel Pokémon but seeing the rise of incredible Poison Pokémon in our current metagame, we don't have many ways to deal with the Poison status and the type itself. Of course, seeing Poison Pokémon thriving in this metagame is cool as not many had competitive value in OU in past generations. But here, I feel like some are thriving too well (looking at you, Toxtricity-Low-Key). I don't think the ability will scare these Poison Pokémon away from the mod; it just means the opponent has to be more careful when using a Poison move, just like how Magnezone doesn't seem to impact Steel Pokémon too much.
The next sub is a pleasant surprise because I didn't expect you to like my suggestion for its ability so much and make it work, kakaks! I think you did a great job making it balanced and effective! Now, it actually has the bulk to set-up with Nasty Plot even after Stealth Rock. Also, this Alolan Ninetales fits in a very offensive oriented team that likes status immunity, and it can do that easily!
05) abismal 06) inkbug 07) DrPumpkinz 08) El Cadaver
09) lydian 10) zxgzxg 11) kakaks 12) MegaFlareon
Comment:
If you've already read Hematite's recent post about the design process of Mega Pokémon, you might understand why I heavily favour GrandSmasher's sub. First of all, regular Zoroark relies on its ability to confuse the opponent and surprise them with a move you usually wouldn't expect on a Pokémon that you assumed to be true. I feel like the mega form is an extension of what Zoroark already does because, while you know you are dealing with Zoroark, you do not know at all what kind of offensive moves it runs and if it's a physical attacker, a special or even a mixed one. This creates a lot of initial uncertainty since the opponent has to awkwardly get around this, and one mistake might be enough to win the game for you. But, just like Mega-Inteleon and regular Zoroark itself, the ability requires high skill to use and to get around it for the player as well as for the opponent. I like that aspect a lot, tbh!
As for the next vote, if it weren't for the first sub, Magmajudis's could have easily been my top choice. While the ability is very fitting, I feel like it's mostly effective offensive wise and there doesn't seem to be much room for more defensive sets, like Rocky Helmet, due to typing and stats. However, the idea is still great and allows Zoroark and the player who creates the team to adapt to any kind of situation, which is what I like a lot in a mega as you have more options and room to be creative.
There isn't much to say about my sub since I assume you've likely read it. All I want to say is that it was a pretty interesting experience to apply the literary theory you've learned and written about for a whole semester to this slate. For some reason, it worked well enough on Zoroark flavour wise, and I don't regret one bit of it as I learned a lot along this way. Maybe, you too might be inspired to apply things you've learned or experienced to a future sub! I'm looking forward to it!
Comment: I rarely gush over a sub even if I do find it super interesting and would love to see it winning but during this slate, you could say there was some kind of revelation when I saw Magmajudis explaining the idea and implication of Delphox's ability. It was and is something I never knew I wanted to have. It adds so much diversity to a metagame and allows you to profit from effects you usually don't see very often or that are usually hard to pull off effectively on a regular basis. Delphox has the typing and the stats to force out a switch, and that goes hand in hand with its ulitiy moves. In my eyes, this is one of the best subs I've ever seen, and it's quite cool to see how Magmajudis became better and better with each sub! Chapeau!
The second sub is one I also like as it has some very strong flavour and allows Delphox to get around its Stealth Rock weakness. Also, imagine Heat Wave in VGC! With Calm Mind and/or Screen, I could see it becoming a very effective threat!
Next. You already know my opinion on your sub but I'm going to repeat it again, Aidan. I was quite surprised how creative you were with Flame Charge. I did not consider your different sets at all, and I feel like they could work very well, causing a snowball effect. Moreover, your sub strongly fits flavour wise, and after hearing your story, I can't unsee Fynx's witch career, lol.
Since the only thing stopping one from voting oneself first is looking like a dick, I will continue to vote for myself first (as I may or may not be, in fact, a dick), hope y'all don't mind :P
I'll do 13 votes for each Mega this time. You know, for luck. Despite being rather difficult to decide upon, these are unlikely to change, but I'll of course let inkbug know if any of them do.
01. El Cadaver
02. shinxthe17!
03. Grandsmasher
04. kakas
05. The Damned
06. ViZar
07. Mossy Sandwich
08. okispokis
09. PokePoindexter
10. greyllama8
11. EeveeGirl1380
12. MegaFlareon
13. Ema Skye
Before I get started, a quick run-down of how this works:
Each vote contributes one point to its first-place choice
The candidates are ordered based on both the number of first-place votes and the number of total votes, and eliminated from the bottom
Any vote whose first choice has been eliminated instead gives its point to its second choice, or whatever its next ranking is. (On the sheet, points that have moved in this manner are highlighted in yellow.)
The elimination and re-ranking process continues until there are two remaining, upon which the one with more points is the winner.
One thing I want to clarify: you can place as many as you'd like, in the order you prefer them, and the more you place the more likely it is that your opinion will be noted in the tally! I know that ranking your top three or so is generally the default in pet mods, but you absolutely do not need to restrict yourself to that here!
Please let me know if you have any questions about this!!
In addition, for the sake of transparency since it isn't in the thread, here is an additional vote I received via DM on discord;
Mega Alolan Ninetales
Type: Ice / Fairy Ability: Everlasting Winter (Primordial Hail) Clarifying edit: does not actually have any different effects to regular hail; it just can't be replaced and clears when Alolatales leaves Stats:
HP: 73Att: 67Def: 115 (+40)SpA: 81SpD: 130 (+30)Spe: 139 (+30)
Alolan Ninetales' primary role, the thing it's most well known for, is setting Aurora Veil. Problem is, we now have Mega Regice, an insanely bulky behemoth who is much more consistent at setting Veil and almost singlehandedly made Hail teams viable. So what to do?
Well, what are the shortcomings of regular Alolatales as a Veil setter? Its speed is good but not outstanding, and the same can be said for its bulk, so it's not particularly hard to prevent it from doing its job via offensive pressure. Okay, we can just increase its speed and bulk. That's pretty easy.
It also relies on Snow Warning to do its job. Now obviously yes, Snow Warning is precisely what allows it to perform so well as a Veil setting in the first place, but it's not without downsides. If the opponent has a weather setter of their own, they can block Alolatales from setting Veil every time if it's not running Hail (the move). Additionally, while Aurora Veil is insanely powerful and useful, Hail (the weather) is not, and Veil abusers often just have to accept the chip damage as a tradeoff for instant dual screens.
Both of the problems with Snow Warning are solved with Everlasting Winter. With its combination of great speed, fine bulk, and unreplacable Hail, it's very hard for Alolatales' opponent to stop it from setting up its Veil, and its team mates can reap all the benefits of Veil without suffering the annoying Hail damage.
Mega-Zoroark Typing: Dark Ability: Illusion --> Forgery (On switch-in, copies the item of the last unfainted party member. Effect wears off when hit by a direct attack) Stats:
HP: 60
Atk: 125(+20)
Def: 85 (+25)
SpA: 125 (+5)
SpD: 110 (+50)
Spe: 105 New Moves: None
Description: This might be either too good or not that good if it wins but a Mega with an item is hard to balance. This is actually a pretty cool concept for me: It removes the biggest flaw of a lot of Megas (not being able to run an item really removes a lot if you don't have an ability to compensate for that) while actively trying to encourages variety in item to avoid teambuilding with this being too restrictive (since you have to basically give two Pokemon the same item). This ability was made to feel like a trickery (also thanks DrPumpkinz for the name). Outside of the obvious "Mega with an item"
route, it can bluff in a set based on who your last party member is and later reveal you used a less common item choice to surprise the opponent and get an advantage. I'm now gonna list all items i think would work on this, a description of how it would work, potential teammates for it, and the set it would prefer for each.
Life Orb:
This gets a lot of power, and most importantly it has access to both Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, which makes it a really dangerous attacker if you let it set-up. Unfortunately for this set, running essentialy two Pokemon with Life Orb isn't that great on most teams because you get chipped down easily.
All-Out Attacker:
Zoroark @ Life Orb (Of course it's not really Life Orb it's just to understand it more easily)
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Atk
Timid Nature
-Sucker Punch
-Dark Pulse
-Flamethrower
-Sludge Bomb
Swords Dance:
Zoroark @ Life Orb
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
-Sucker Punch
-Knock Off
-Low Kick
-Swords Dance
This hits pretty hard, even if it doesn't have much good physical moves. It still gets Pursuit, Knock Off and Sucker Punch as great STABs, and U-Turn is always good to have.
Zoroark @ Choice Band
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
-Sucker Punch/Pursuit
-Knock Off
-Low Kick/Swords Dance
-U-Turn
To note: It is actually be possible to run SD on this because you don't keep your item during all the battle.
Choice Specs:
This hits just as hard as Band, while having a much bigger and better movepool on that side. However it can't really use Knock Off, Pursuit or Sucker Punch as efficiently as Choice Band. Would probably still be better than Band.
To note: This can actually run Nasty Plot because you won't have the same item the whole battle
Heavy-Duty Boots:
I don't think i have to explain that, Boots are great on pretty much any Pokemon that doesn't rely on a single item, and this is no exception. Play this with pretty much any set you want but you should probably play it with a boosing option.
Assault Vest:
So uh i might be te only one to see potential for this item specifically, but it actually gets pretty useful when you consider the fact you can bluff being Choice Band with this, since there are some mons that can viably run both (like Melmetal). It also gets a great bulk on the special side with it.
Zoroark @ Assault Vest
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
-Sucker Punch/Pursuit
-Knock Off
-Low Kick/Swords Dance
-U-Turn
To note: It is actually be possible to run SD on this because you don't keep your item during all the battle. And yes this is the Choice Band set.
Choice Scarf:
This allows it to go from a speed tier that larves it vulnerable to any form of revenge-kiling to a pretty great one. This item can be played with either the Choice Band st or Choice Specs set.
There are some other items i could mention, such as Focus Sash, Black Glasses or Fightinium-Z, but those are either too situational or fit on too few team styles to be on this list.
Conclusion: Also a highly versatile Pokemon, that can adaptate to a lot of situations and fit onto a lot of teams.
Mega-Delphox Typing: Fire-Psychic Ability: Blaze/Magician --> Clairvoyance (This Pokemon's Psychic type moves (including non offensive moves) hits two turns after they are used. Future Sight is affected. The effect does not stack.) Stats:
HP: 75
Atk: 69
Def: 115(+43)
SpA: 135(+21)
SpD: 130(+30)
Spe: 110(+6) New Moves: Speed Swap, Recover, Teleport
Description:This one is an idea i actually really like. At first, it may seem a little detrimental to delay your STAB by two turns, because you can't really do that much with offensive moves, especially on a Pokemon thta already gets Future Sight. But what really makes this interesting are the status moves. I'm going to list here every Psychic type statua moves and possible ways to use them by taking advantage of the ability:
Wonder Room
Trick
Telekinesis
Trick Room
Skill Swap
Role Play
Rest
Psychic Terrain
Magic Room
Magic Coat
Light Screen
Hypnosis
Calm Mind
Dream Eater
Ally Switch
Speed Swap
Teleport
Wonder Room isn't that useful, but it could potentially be used in pair with Blissey or Chansey, even if that's probably unviable.
Trick is actually extremely interesting on this. A delayed Trick means that you can swap a not useful item to your opponent, such as giving it a Black Sludge if it's not Poison type, giving a Choice Scarf to a wall, giving a Flame Orb to an opponent after activating Guts... If your opponent ses it and send a Pokemon where you don't want it's item, you can switch back to Delphox, who can't be Tricked. It also means you can send a strong Pokemon, and it will force your opponent to sned a Pokemon that can't check it to avoid getting it's check Tricked, which would probably make it useless against your Pokemon. Here is a list of possible abusers:
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat/Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Facade
This set benefits a lot from giving it's item to an opponent, since it stays burned, but also burns the opponent and can potentially recieve a more useful item in place of the Flame Orb.
Other abusers of this, such as Assault Vest Pokemon sent in on a set-up sweeper, or Black Sludge on an offensive Poison type that also works defensevely (like Dragalge) can exist, but it would be too long to list them all, and i think you can imagine it by yourself. Other creative combos could be used, like removing an opponent's item and then using the Trick to remove the item of an Unburden Pokemon.
Trick Room. That is one of the best use you could make of this ability. Basically, the thing that makes Trick Room go from absolutely great in evey single point to pretty meh is the fact you can't extend it's duration, which means that you have 5 turns un theory, but in practice you only have 3 turns to exploit it (since you lose a turn by setting it, and then you lose another turn by switching into your abuser). This negates that factor, essentaliy allowing you to have the full 5 turns, especially if you run Protect to negate the turn where you don't have Trick Room if you directly switch out. This Can be paired with any Trick Room abuser.
Telekinesis isn't that interesting, but it could have some niche uses. Like giving fully accurate Focus Blasts or Hydro Pumps.
Skill Swap is very interesting, because you Can pass some bad abilities to your opponent, but most importantly: You can use this with Slaking, Archeops or Regigigas, in a completely viable way. Not only are you negating their biggest flaw, but you also give some of the worst abilities in the game to your opponent. That means those three, which are knowed to be really bad Pokemon because of their abilities specifically, can finally get a time to shine.
Role Play is basically a worse Skill Swap. Not viable running at all.
Rest is actually great on this,becoming a Lunar Dance sort of move that put the healed target to sleep but doesn't kill the user. This could be played on teams that have offensive mons with bulk to get them back to healthy easily.
Psychic Terrain could probably have a niche if the Terrain is extended if the Pokemon that is on the field when it activates holds a Terrain Extender but other than that it's not very useful.
Magic Room could be an interesting tool in Some cases, like using a Choice Band/Choice Specs to get a lot of damage on your first turn on the field, and then the effect activates and you can heal or set-up.
Magic Coat is bad on this. Being predictible isn't good at all on this move.
Light Screen could potentially have uses, like using both Lught Screen and Reflect at the same turn because you switched to a Pokemon with Reflect.
Hypnosis is definitly a good support move and an interesting choice on this, but it could see trouble fitting on some sets due to it's low accuracy.
Calm Mind is a very interesting move here. Set-up is always nice, but being able to set-up twice on a turn is really cool. Any Pokemon that sets-up on the Special side will appreciate this, as will Choice-locked Pokemon or Pokemon that lack set-up.
Dream Eater isn't good. Like not at all. Especially if it's delayed.
Ally Switch would be an excellent choice in Doubles, that would allow for mind-blowing strategies (probably) but is useless in Singles.
Speed Swap is a pretty niche but interesting case. At the same time, it works great to allow Pokemon like Escavalier or Glastrier to shine, but it's countered by... Switching to the defensive check you will realistically always bring to counter those Pokemon. I have mixed feeling on that one.
Teleport is a really weird move on this, but i feel like it would be fun: it allows you to pivot at a defined time. Which means that it can either make you give up on an advantage, or take you out of a disadvantage. So it's basically really specific but has a big potential. You could also potentially try running it along Fairy Lock Klefki.
I won't give Sample Sets for this one because what it wants to run will depend on the team. It most likely will want to run a strong Fire mive to be less passive and Recover (to negate Stealth Rock damage of course, this is a "defensive" pivot).
Conclusion: Overall, this could be a Pokemon that completely changes depending on the team, but will most likely find a niche to full in a lot of teams. It should be noted that almost all this utility is negated by Dark types though. I would also recommend trying Protect, which would work great in some cases like Trick Room or Psychic Terrain.
Before we move on to the rest of today's update, there was a brief balance changes pollthe secret fourth fox of the fox slate that was run during the voting period that we now have the results of to share!
Mega Thievul will have anew signature ability, Sleight of Hand (details here) Mega Thievul will be having amended stats Thievul will be gaining access to Spirit Break Thievul will be gaining access to Moonlight
And on the subject of balance changes, we have a bit more news to get through! I was handed this next section by Hematite so we didn't have to make two separate posts, so here's him now!:
Balance Changes Update
Hey, everyone! There are actually two more updates to share on the ongoing balance changes as well!
The first update is a small, high-priority balance change poll aimed solely at Hawlucha.
This is another very small one - it's only a minor tweak to one single Pokémon, but it's a change that has understandably been widely requested and should help a great deal to tone down its power level.
The change in this poll is to make it so Mega Hawlucha's Ability, Masquerade, is no longer able to copy Huge Power and Pure Power.
For those who are unfamiliar, Masquerade's effect is as follows:
This Pokémon inherits the Ability of the last unfainted Pokémon in its party until it takes direct damage from another Pokémon's attack.
Some Abilities already can't be copied - currently, the list is exactly the same as Receiver and Power of Alchemy.
While making one-off exceptions like this is something we would normally avoid, there is canon precedent for it in some ways: other effects that copy Abilities do have different lists from each other (for example, Trace can copy Wonder Guard, while Receiver and Power of Alchemy can't), so making an exception for specific Abilities when it's proven necessary is a step we're willing to take.
In Hawlucha's case, many teams have been built that combine it with both Diggersby and Azumarill, making it easy for it to acquire Huge Power reliably and keep it throughout the game; with its high Speed and incredibly strong STAB combination, a Mega Hawlucha that has Huge Power is overwhelming in a way that goes beyond its other users like Mega Medicham, even with the drawback of Masquerade holding it back.
In addition, the ability to copy Huge Power and Pure Power overshadows the other applications of Masquerade, many of which are more interesting; pushing Hawlucha to rely on the other Attack-boosting Abilities, all of which have more specific applications in addition to being tamer overall, will also add more of the intended nuance to building a team around Hawlucha.
As usual, we will require at least a 60% supermajority in the poll to go through with the change! That said, it has the complete and enthusiastic support of the competitive council, including the original submitter, BlueRay - this is just to check the public opinion before we go through with it!
This poll will last 48 hours, and the results will be announced right away when it closes! We'd love to have everyone's input on this, so please vote to let us know how you feel about it! C:
The second update is the start of a brief testing phase for two other Pokémon that have been discussed for nerfs recently, because it's been hard to come to a consensus on just how to do that and we'd like to see how certain ideas pan out.
This is primarily an opportunity for us to try out specific ideas as part of an ongoing discussion by the competitive council - it's not a suspect test or anything - but the community is also able and welcome to build around these nerfs and see how they feel!
Please feel free to participate in the discussion process on the Discord if you try them out and have any opinions to share. C:
First up, Mega Dragonite has been waiting to be nerfed for quite a long time, but as it's still important to get this right, it's proven hard to come to a consensus on the right course of action. For the time being, Mega Dragonite will be temporarily banned from our main format only until its nerfing process is complete, while we'll be experimenting with the most popular nerf so far in the Submission Sandbox side format on DH. The nerf in question is to reduce its Speed to base 60(-31 from Mega Dragonite's current base 91) and to change its Ability from the broken Tough Claws to Natural Cure, giving it a clear niche over base Dragonite (which is most readily shut down by status) but coming at important tradeoffs, with its reduced Speed making it more boost-reliant and Natural Cure only activating when it switches out (therefore costing it its boosts). I swear I had nothing to do with this and the competitive council picked these on their own
Second, Mega Toxtricity(Low-Key Form) is a relatively recent addition to our meta, but it's proven to be one of the hardest threats to play around in its own right, mostly thanks to the combination of its incredible bulk and recovery with how easily it spreads constant chip damage to the opposing team. This one is being tested first because there were a few different options under consideration, so we'd like the chance to see which is most effective and most enjoyable before we hold a vote on any one of them.
One option we're going to test is making poison set by Acid Rock do less damage than other poison - in the same way that Toxic sets a special kind of poison that does more damage over time, Acid Rock would inflict a special kind of poison that does only 1/16 of the target's HP per turn, rather than 1/8 as it currently does. One of the main balancing factors of Acid Rock was supposed to be that regular poison was arguably the worst status to set and comes at the cost of setting any better status; this goes along with the fact that poison is already the easiest status to spread across a whole team, by means like Toxic Spikes, and is considered the safest status to give an Ability like this. Unfortunately, the chip it inflicts adds up much too quickly for that to be effective in practice; as such, we'll be experimenting with an alternative that only does half as much damage per turn, hopefully making it much more bearable without compromising the way Toxtricity is meant to operate.
Other options we've considered are to replace Slack Off with Purify or to remove recovery outright, addressing Toxtricity's dangerous longevity rather than Acid Rock itself (which has more or less proven to be fine on Amped Form). The first pick here is
During the testing phase in the Submission Sandbox, Toxtricity will gain access to Purify (so testers can experiment with all three options - Slack Off, Purify or no recovery at all - just by building different sets).
Additionally, an alternative item called Nerfed Toxtricitite can be used to try Toxtricity with the weaker version of Acid Rock, while the current version of Toxtricity will still be usable through regular Toxtricitite.
1) In this battle, IsoCon had Blissey and Tapu Fini to theoretically stop the ability from working or taking the poison. However, Toxtricity Low-Key was still able to easily poison Landorus-T, Volcarona, and Mega Raichu because of its teammates which could bring it in via Teleport or U-Turn or scare away Tapu Fini.
2) In this battle, you can see pupugugu being afraid of switching Garchomp into Toxtricity Low-Key because of Hidden Power Ice. Also, since not every team runs Tapu Fini to temporarily protect your grounded Pokémon from status problems, the replay shows how effective Toxtricity Low-Key can be at wearing down its targets. They're all put on a timer and are easy targets for its team members. Moreover, even Mega Chandelure which has a huge SpAtk stat (185!) was unable to break Toxtricity Low-Key.
- Mega Dragonite will be banned from our main format temporarily, until further notice on its nerf.
- Mega Toxtricity (Low Key Form) will continue to be playable in its current state until a nerf is decided.
- Both proposed nerfs are playable on the format M4A: Submission Sandbox on Dragon Heaven, which is separate from our main format.
- The Submission Sandbox will go live at the same time as slate 28! I'm working on implementing both this evening, but it sometimes still takes a bit for them to be accepted and go live after I finish, so just keep an eye out - I'll announce on the Discord as soon as I notice they're up! C:
We'll try to get back soon with confirmation on the chosen route and a proper poll, but in the meantime, feel free to experiment with the alternatives yourself and contribute to the conversation on Discord with your own takes!
Thanks for your patience (with Dragonite especially), and we hope this can get us the best results possible! C:
And finally, last but not least... Submissions for Slate 29 are now(finally)open!!
Submissions for Mega Dugtrio, Mega Wishiwashi and Mega Falinks will be open until0:00 GMT on Saturday, the 27th of February, 2021, or 120 hours from this post.
Here are some notes from Hematite to keep in mind about the subjects of this slate while making your submissions:
- Remember that the Ability Arena Trap is banned! Regular Dugtrio will not have access to it, so you shouldn't design your Mega Evolution thinking that its opponents will be trapped (it's common to take the base form's Ability into account when making a Mega, so I just felt this should be pointed out!). That also goes for Mega Dugtrio itself - you can't make a Mega Dugtrio with Arena Trap, because the Ability itself is banned in the tier, and your Mega Stone would just be banned with it by default!
- Like some other Pokémon we've done in the past, non-Mega Wishiwashi has more than one form, and it's up to you to decide how to handle that for your own submission! However, unlike most Pokémon we've done before, Wishiwashi changes between its two forms during battle - and unlike even Mimikyu, each of Wishiwashi's forms comes with different base stats and different base stat totals.
I'm tentatively inclined to give a good amount of freedom for this one - it's entirely up to you to decide how to handle this, including whether you'd like to have a totally separate Mega Evolution for each form, a Mega Evolution that continues to change between the two forms in its own way, or just a single Mega Wishiwashi based on either one of the forms.
Notably, Wishiwashi's School Form also has unusually high stats, and its form change is partially designed as a hindrance and a balancing factor. If you're making a Mega Evolution based on School Form that doesn't change into Solo Form during battle, be conscious of the hindering element you're removing, and be careful not to make something too strong! No matter how you choose to handle Schooling, the important thing is still to make a balanced contribution to the metagame!
- As a followup, it's also been pointed out that Falinks's signature move, No Retreat, has the potential to be dangerous if not handled carefully. Please remember to take this strong boosting option into consideration when deciding the stats to give to your Mega Falinks!
The move hasn't been explored all that much in canon because Falinks itself is not the strongest with or without it, but there is definitely potential to abuse it given the right tools; make sure to have the move in mind as you consider your submission, and be careful of the stats you give to your Mega Falinks with a potential omniboost in mind!
Ability - Sand Veil, Arena Trap; Sand Force ➝ Mole-A-Whac (At the end of every turn, if the user wasn't hit by a contact move AND if the user didn't use a status move, the user's Attack raises one stage. If the user was hit by a contact move, its Attack stage is reset to 0.)
Movepoll Changes - n/a Competitive Corner - This seemed like a fun way to make use of Dig and make for a Pokémon that is able to punish switches but not too much, in a way, standing loyal to its Arena Trap legacy. Throw Dig, Substitute, some coverage, and you're set :) Flavor Corner - The idea here is that Dugtrio is based on Whac-A-Mole, and the only way to beat Whac-A-Mole is to "Whac" the "Mole", obviously, therefore, Dugtrio is rewarded for not being hit, in a way, reversing the roles, and Dugtrio might be the one "Whacing" you!
Movepoll Changes - Return, Frustration Competitive Corner - No Retreat boosts with Fighting / Flying typing seems pretty strong, hence, I decided to keep the stats as close to manageable as I could, hopefully, I did a good job balancing my take on Mega Falinks, but I'm not sure :P Flavor Corner - Sooo, Falinks is inspired by a Phalanx and an admiral caterpillar. So while a lot of other ideas were tempting, I ended up choosing to make Falinks Mega evolve into the equivalent of an admiral butterfly, except it's a formation of a bunch of valkyrie-like flying creatures. Something like 9 or so of them, with little wings, and flying in a formation that looks like a butterfly! I wish I had more options in the ability slot, but Aerilate was the only option to have Falinks have Flying STAB, without giving it "Wing Attack" or whatever and that would be incredibly stupid. So I tried to compensate by having Phalink's stats (excluding HP and Speed) be all multiples of 27, which is a nod to the fact that 3, 9, 27, and powers of 3 in general, are very important to Norse mythology (ever wondered why exactly nine realms?).
Mega Wishiwashi (Solo) Type: Water Ability: Schooling Stats:
HP: 45
Att: 20
Def: 20
SpA: 25
SpD: 25
Spe: 140 (+100)
Mega Wishiwashi (School) Type: Water Ability: Schooling Stats:
HP: 45
Att: 155 (+15)
Def: 160 (+30)
SpA: 165 (+25)
SpD: 165 (+30)
Spe: 30
The most interesting part of Wishiwashi is HP management, so I didn't want to take that away by replacing Schooling. School just continues to do School stuff, but Solo plays significantly differently. Instead of just being useless, Solo can use its newfound speed to make a hasty retreat with U-turn or Flip Turn (perhaps to a Wish user to heal it back up), or it can bring the opponent down to Death's door with Endeavor.
Type: Ground
Ability: Dig on This (When this Pokemon uses the move Dig, it hits instantly and the user switches out afterward, regardless of whether the move hit. Dig has 1.3 increased power.)
Stats:
Health: 35
Attack: 125 (+25)
Defense: 70 (+20)
Special Attack: 50
Special Defense: 85 (+15)
Speed: 150 (+30)
Flavor reasoning: How could you make a Dugtrio-Mega and not give it some way of utilizing its (technically) specialty move, Dig? This variation of Dugtrio has slightly toughened defenses and can Dig faster than ever, allowing it to escape the clutches of many potential threats coming it's way.
(also god dammit pokedex entries, every single one of them is 'hAhA DiG 60 mIlEs uNdERgRoUnD')
Competitive reasoning:
Hit and Run offensive pivot, anyone?
Dugtrio @ Dugtrio Mega Stone
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dig
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
This is the set most people would want to use. Max investment in speed allows it to reach a speed tier that is matched by few Pokemon in general. Stealth Rock can be replaced with Sucker Punch to allow Dugtrio to finish off weakened threats/get the quick draw on priority users (except Rillaboom but Rilla is busted), Earthquake and Stone Edge being hard-hitting moves that make any Pokemon quiver in fear (unless you're Rillaboom, but again, Rilla is busted), while Dig is the main attraction of this moveset, giving Dugtrio a solid 96 BP Ground move that allows it to run away from potential defensive checks like Corviknight and Amoonguss with ease, while potentially denting grounded Pokemon (like Pex and Blissey) in the process.
Essentially, it's Offensive SR Garchomp, but tons more fun.
Mega Falinks Typing: Fighting/Bug Ability: Skill Link Stats:
HP: 65 (+0)
Attack: 110 (+10)
Defense: 110 (+10)
Special Attack: 90 (+20)
Special Defense: 80 (+20)
Speed: 105 (+30)
New Moves: Pin Missile, Rock Blast
Ok so am I the only one who thinks Falinks should have been a Bug type in the first place? I mean it's partially based off of a caterpillar and learns two Bug-type moves through level up like seriously GameFreak what the fuck. Anyways, meet Mega Heracross 2.0. It isn't as absurdly powerful as M-Heracross (though No Retreat remedies that somewhat) but it makes up for it by being a lot faster. And I mean... No Retreat-boosted STAB Pin Missile that is guaranteed to get five hits in. Need I say more?
Dugtrio Mega New Ability: Gravitas — Summons gravity on switch-in (Orbeetle-Mega's ability) Type:
Stats: 35 / 145(+45) / 80(+30) / 60(+10) / 110(+40) / 95(-25) (BST: 525) New Moves: Pain Split Description: I was looking at what Orbeetle could do with Gravitas and I was like "man, focus blast is cool but idk, there could be such a better use for that ability". That better use being spamming those sweet sweet earthquakes. Kind of like the spiritual successor of Zygarde where you only really need one move and the rest can be spent on utility/weird set up options. Contrarily to Zygarde, this one hits substantially harder, but has way less bulk and options in general (which is what pushed zyg over the edge). Still, being able to hit defoggers with eq with a rocker is a pretty cool feat. This mon's biggest problem is being really mid against offense, you're honestly not gonna go that far with 95 speed. You can probably do cool stuff by not mega-evolving turn one but honestly I have trouble picturing anything useful.
Falinks Mega New Ability: Tough Claws Type:
Stats: 65 / 110(+10) / 120(+20) / 90(+20) / 110(+40) / 85(+10) (BST: 525) New Moves: Drill Run Description: Run No Retreat, Close Combat, and then two between Throat Chop, Drill Run, Rock Slide and Iron Head/Poison Jab. It basically has a big 4MSS for what it wants to be able to go through. It's still a mon with Tough Claws and omniboosting though, you have to be careful around it.
Ability: Grand Ground Guard – Dugtrio-Mega Starts with 3* “pawns”, most likely 3 slightly taller digletts. Every time Dugtrio-Mega were to lose hp (except by status or entry hazard), it loses one. It cuts damage it would have taken to a third (thirds? the damage) and lowers Dugtrio-mega’s attack by 1. If dugtrio mega has no pawns left, it’s attack will be permanently decreased by 1. These cannot be regained in any way. Imposter will copy the number of pawns remaining.
No Type Changes *{I can lessen/increase the amount)
Stats:
Hp: 35
Atk: 140 (+40)
Def: 60 (+10)
Spa: 50
Spd: 80 (+10)
Spe: 160 (+40)
New Moves: (Bold=Notable) Quash, Head Smash, Iron Head
Physical Description: The tallest of the dugtrio has a crown of earth and stone and grows a lot bigger and has an angry expression. There are 3 middle sized ones guarding the tallest one, with a circle of about 12 digletts surround them. The crown has sand in the center which flows onto the heads of the middle-sized ones and surrounds the digletts.
Competitive Description: This dugtrio plays extremely hyper-offensively, with head smash and earthquake forming a great and powerful core of moves. Stone Edge/Rock Slide may still be used, as to not use up grand ground guard (because it activates on head smash recoil as well). It’s speed is excellent, and memento is a great fit for this because of its playstyle. Grand Ground Guard is a double edged sword, as it blocks priority from instakiling it and reduces head smash's recoil so that it doesn't 2hko itself because of it's horrendous hp, but in return, it nerfs its attack, making it so that it only has 3 chances to use head smash. Even with -1 attack, i believe it can still do some damage. Seriously held back by mega corv. Also, no partial rock typing since stab head smash might be too much.
Sample Set:
Dugtrio @ Dugtritite
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Head Smash / Stone Edge
- Memento / Night Slash / Shadow Claw
- Memento / Stealth Rock / Iron Head / Hone Claws
Falinks-Mega @ Falinxite
Ability: Mirror Armor
No Type Changes
Stats:
Hp: 65
Atk: 130 (+30)
Def: 120 (+20)
Spa: 70
Spd: 100 (+40)
Spe: 85 (+10)
New Moves: (Bold=Notable) Spiky Shield, Sacred Sword
Physical Description: A few more falinks are added to the sprite. All the falink’s get bigger, forming as close to an actual phalanx formation as possible. The brass is at the center, with yellow eyes and a large horn as sharp as a sword pointing at their opponent’s pokemon.
Competitive Description: Able to set up no retreat reliably and go for the sweep, as well as switch in to many attacks. It can set up straight away, or against a weakened team. This pokemon can fit on hyper offense, bulky offense and even stall (if used correctly) alike. It's ability prevents intimidate switch-ins like lando-t and mega corviknight, as well as attempts to lower it's stats. Spiky Shield can be used to scout on bulky sets, and sacred sword can be used instead of cc as to not drop it's defenses on sweeper sets.
Sample Set:
Setup Sweeper
Falinks @ Falinxite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- No Retreat
- Sacred Sword / Close Combat
- Megahorn / Iron Head / Rock Slide / Zen Headbutt
- Iron Head / Zen Headbutt / Rock Slide
edit: changed falink’s ability and moveset to fit with hema’s feedback.
Noriyuki Morita
Mega Thievul 
Mega Dragonite has been waiting to be nerfed for quite a long time, but as it's still important to get this right, it's proven hard to come to a consensus on the right course of action. For the time being, Mega Dragonite will be temporarily banned from our main format only until its nerfing process is complete, while we'll be experimenting with the most popular nerf so far in the Submission Sandbox side format on DH. The nerf in question is to reduce its Speed to base 60 
Mega Toxtricity 
- Remember that the Ability Arena Trap is banned! Regular Dugtrio will not have access to it, so you shouldn't design your Mega Evolution thinking that its opponents will be trapped 
- Like some other Pokémon we've done in the past, non-Mega Wishiwashi has more than one form, and it's up to you to decide how to handle that for your own submission! However, unlike most Pokémon we've done before, Wishiwashi changes between its two forms during battle - and unlike even Mimikyu, each of Wishiwashi's forms comes with different base stats and different base stat totals.
School Form also has unusually high stats, and its form change is partially designed as a hindrance and a balancing factor. If you're making a Mega Evolution based on School Form that doesn't change into Solo Form during battle, be conscious of the hindering element you're removing, and be careful not to make something too strong!
- As a followup, it's also been pointed out that Falinks's signature move, No Retreat, has the potential to be dangerous if not handled carefully. Please remember to take this strong boosting option into consideration when deciding the stats to give to your Mega Falinks!
