nyttyn
From Now On, We'll...
Hi I approved this concept because huge wallbreakers like hoopa-U and Phione are kind of a big deal right now - ORAS OU's gotten so offensive such behemoths are a huge pain in defensive team's side.
Discuss if this concept sounds enjoyable, what flaws it might have, how we might address those flaws, any changes the concept might need, or if it's not a concept CAP would be suited for doing here.
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Description
A Pokemon that handles some of the most dangerous and teambuilding-restrictive wallbreakers in the metagame.
Justification
The primary justification here is for its massive potential impact on defensive play and versatility in teambuilding. However, I also believe there are significant learning opportunies inherent in the concept (see below).
Questions to be Answered
-How would the metagame cope with defensive play without the easy pressure afforded by mons like Hoopa-U or Manaphy? Would other inferior stallbreakers simply rise to take their place, or would it lead to more cohesive whole-team approaches to breaking defense?
-Would this also potentially aggravate the existing match-up issue (if it becomes impossible to adequately prepare for both HO and stall, for instance), or lessen it (much easier to at least check relevant offensive threats)?
-Would it be possible to create a defensive Pokemon which primarily addresses specific threats, rather than just being a supreme all-round wall?
Explanation
I'm completely sick of building defensive teams in this meta, because there are just too many threats. You can cover most of them, but there's always something which can singlehandedly beat you. The primary issue, as I see it, are Pokemon like Manaphy which place insane limitations on teambuilding. I don't believe it should be possible to beat non-offensive teams in general just by throwing on a single Pokemon, whether its RD Manaphy, Hoopa-U, M-Heracross, Gothitelle, etc. Hence, my concept; something which can cover many of the most significant of these threats, in order to ease teambuilding.
I envisage selecting a short list of significant single-mon wallbreakers to be dealt with and creating a Pokemon that gives substantial counterplay against them. The difficulty would lie in making it capable of handling the chosen wallbreakers, without simply making an overpowered general defensive Pokemon. Obviously, it may be difficult to handle certain threats such as Manaphy without pigeon-holing the concept as an Unaware mon; so in that case, I'd prefer that Manaphy wasn't included on the list, and the CAP focused on other threats.
Edit: copy and pasta because ginga raised some important issues:
Here's an example. Drapion almost completely walls standard Hoopa-U sets with its otherwise-poor Poison/Dark typing (only being held back by its poor special bulk which lets it be 2HKO'd by LO Focus Blast). If we hypothesize a Poison/Dark mon with strong special bulk, then you could compress the ability to counter Hoopa, CM MG Fable, Gengar, and potentially M-Gardevoir, into one Pokemon. At the same time, Poison/Dark is a pretty poor typing outside of these specific roles, and this hypothetical CAP wouldn't require extreme stats or general walling capacity to pull this role off. If I'm teambuilding and I have access to this, then maybe I can also afford to invest in a check to that HP Fire Manaphy that otherwise 6-0's me. Similarly you could do something like a Water/Ghost with great physical but terrible special defense, which could potentially counter/check things like M-Heracross, Zard-X, Victini, and M-Medicham, while not beating things outside its scope such as Keldeo. Basically, there are a huge number of really interesting options.
I don't want to remove wallbreakers from the game. Bulky offense would still be able to run any of the pantheon of wallbreakers not beaten by this CAP to pressure defensive teams. The point is that, by compressing the ability to beat some major wallbreakers into a single Pokemon, we'd be (hopefully) mitigating the extremely common issue of the defensive team just having nothing for a particular threat. I just think this is a fascinating route to go down for a CAP.
Discuss if this concept sounds enjoyable, what flaws it might have, how we might address those flaws, any changes the concept might need, or if it's not a concept CAP would be suited for doing here.
--
Description
A Pokemon that handles some of the most dangerous and teambuilding-restrictive wallbreakers in the metagame.
Justification
The primary justification here is for its massive potential impact on defensive play and versatility in teambuilding. However, I also believe there are significant learning opportunies inherent in the concept (see below).
Questions to be Answered
-How would the metagame cope with defensive play without the easy pressure afforded by mons like Hoopa-U or Manaphy? Would other inferior stallbreakers simply rise to take their place, or would it lead to more cohesive whole-team approaches to breaking defense?
-Would this also potentially aggravate the existing match-up issue (if it becomes impossible to adequately prepare for both HO and stall, for instance), or lessen it (much easier to at least check relevant offensive threats)?
-Would it be possible to create a defensive Pokemon which primarily addresses specific threats, rather than just being a supreme all-round wall?
Explanation
I'm completely sick of building defensive teams in this meta, because there are just too many threats. You can cover most of them, but there's always something which can singlehandedly beat you. The primary issue, as I see it, are Pokemon like Manaphy which place insane limitations on teambuilding. I don't believe it should be possible to beat non-offensive teams in general just by throwing on a single Pokemon, whether its RD Manaphy, Hoopa-U, M-Heracross, Gothitelle, etc. Hence, my concept; something which can cover many of the most significant of these threats, in order to ease teambuilding.
I envisage selecting a short list of significant single-mon wallbreakers to be dealt with and creating a Pokemon that gives substantial counterplay against them. The difficulty would lie in making it capable of handling the chosen wallbreakers, without simply making an overpowered general defensive Pokemon. Obviously, it may be difficult to handle certain threats such as Manaphy without pigeon-holing the concept as an Unaware mon; so in that case, I'd prefer that Manaphy wasn't included on the list, and the CAP focused on other threats.
Edit: copy and pasta because ginga raised some important issues:
Here's an example. Drapion almost completely walls standard Hoopa-U sets with its otherwise-poor Poison/Dark typing (only being held back by its poor special bulk which lets it be 2HKO'd by LO Focus Blast). If we hypothesize a Poison/Dark mon with strong special bulk, then you could compress the ability to counter Hoopa, CM MG Fable, Gengar, and potentially M-Gardevoir, into one Pokemon. At the same time, Poison/Dark is a pretty poor typing outside of these specific roles, and this hypothetical CAP wouldn't require extreme stats or general walling capacity to pull this role off. If I'm teambuilding and I have access to this, then maybe I can also afford to invest in a check to that HP Fire Manaphy that otherwise 6-0's me. Similarly you could do something like a Water/Ghost with great physical but terrible special defense, which could potentially counter/check things like M-Heracross, Zard-X, Victini, and M-Medicham, while not beating things outside its scope such as Keldeo. Basically, there are a huge number of really interesting options.
I don't want to remove wallbreakers from the game. Bulky offense would still be able to run any of the pantheon of wallbreakers not beaten by this CAP to pressure defensive teams. The point is that, by compressing the ability to beat some major wallbreakers into a single Pokemon, we'd be (hopefully) mitigating the extremely common issue of the defensive team just having nothing for a particular threat. I just think this is a fascinating route to go down for a CAP.