The council has met and made a decision. This post will outline what our decision was, how we can do that decision, and why. I know that people are most interested in the decision itself, so, now, I present nerfed Mega Crucibelle:

[IMG]http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/xyani/crucibelle-mega.gif[/IMG]
Mega Crucibelle
Ability: Magic Guard
Stats: 106 HP / 135 Atk / 75 Def / 91 SpA / 125 SpD / 108 Spe | BST: 640 (shifted 6 Speed to Special Attack)
Movepool Removals: Head Smash, Low Kick

Summary of nerfs:
- Removal of Head Smash and Low Kick
- Crucibellite will now confer these stats: +30 Atk / +10 Def / +16 SpA / +40 SpD / +4 Spe

Now, I'd like to go through how we came to those nerfs. Before I begin, the council was primarily concerned about two criteria:
1) Addressing the root problem of Mega Crucibelle's brokenness
2) The necessity of the nerfs

For this discussion, we discussed nerfs in order of importance and voted on each topic before moving on to the next. A simple majority was required for any given topic. Unfortunately, Jordy was unable to show up for our discussion, but he made his opinions clear beforehand, and we worked from those. Had the council voted 2-2 on ANY topic, we would have rescheduled. Luckily, this time we didn't so we can get our final decision to you without too much of a delay.

Below is a transcript of our discussion with needless banter removed.

[7:59 PM]snake_rattler:
Based on the thread, I came up with a very basic question. Do we all agree that recoilless Head Smash is the problem?

[Hide=Discussion on Recoiless Head Smash][/Hide][Hide=Discussion on Recoiless Head Smash][/SIZE]8:00 PM]Mx:[/SIZE]
yes, but not the only one, I think that the fact that Cruci is the best pivot and the best mega are problems too
I think that both its pivoting and wallbreaking abilities are problematic, but out of the two, Head Smash is the biggest issue

[8:05 PM]Jho:
my idea is that its the combination of being the best wallbreaker and best pivot that make it oppressive
and making it worse in one of either of these gives opportunity cost to running it
and makes other megas more viable

[8:07 PM]SHSP:
i’m in agreement
smash is the #1 problem
i feel like the reason its so good as a pivot is because it can hit so hard
when you have like 1 switchin per team you can uturn really easily and not need to worry

[8:09 PM]snake_rattler:
personally i think it's the almost root problem to all of this, but the way we address it is how we can proceed in an orderly fashion
Here's the thing, I think if someone were to do the thing five-year-olds do and ask "why is crucibelle broken" -> "why" x 100 you eventually get down to recoilless head smash
but then if you go one more time, we reach a dilemma...[/hide]
With these thoughts in mind, I wanted to begin this discussion around the idea of recoilless Head Smash, which led to my second question:

[8:10 PM]snake_rattler:
What is the root cause of the problem: Head Smash itself or Magic Guard? Do we want to remove Head Smash, Magic Guard, both?

[Hide=Discussion on Head Smash / Magic Guard]

[8:10 PM]Jho:
of the 2 head smash

[8:10 PM]snake_rattler:
i'm in the opinion of head smash
i think it's the most direct way to solve the problem
well, the bulk of it anyway

[8:11 PM]Jho:
i dont think thats the only thing to remove tho

[8:11 PM]SHSP:
i think smash is the bigger offender but im not 100% sure we shouldn’t look at MG, in tandem or seperate

[8:11 PM]Mx:
Head Smash, Magic Guard is only broken if you can abuse it as much as Crucibelle does

[8:11 PM]Jho:
if you remove head smash it becomes a dedicated pivot
which MG helps with a lot
if its a pivot that cant hit hard and is weak to hazards
it gets really bad

[8:12 PM]snake_rattler:
right, i agree with that
this is the biggest question we have to face honestly
like offler mentioned
are we going to attack its power or pivoting
i think it's better to attack its power because having the niche of a pivot definitely separates it from other megas

[8:13 PM]Jho:
yes

[8:13 PM]Mx:
yes too

[8:13 PM]Jho:
attacking pivoting makes it compete with maw and medi
which is just interesting
pivoting is a niche no other mega really fills
so i like it

[8:13 PM]snake_rattler:
i also think it fits its identity / concept
making use of its unique resistance set
only heatran shares that combination of fire / flying / fairy resist

[8:14 PM]Jho:
yeah its a good resist set

[8:14 PM]snake_rattler:
Ok so we definitely think Head Smash should be dealt with first[/hide]
After this discussion, we had our first vote.

[8:15 PM]snake_rattler:
Alright, vote "Yes" if removing Head Smash, "No" if not

[Hide=Voting on Head Smash][8:15 PM]SHSP:
yes

[8:15 PM]Mx:
yes

[8:15 PM]Jho:
yes

[8:15 PM]snake_rattler:
Yes

[8:15 PM]snake_rattler:
ik Jordy supported -Head Smash[/hide]
With that, we unanimously removed Head Smash from Mega Crucibelle, in favor of opening up defensive counterplay and focusing on Mega Crucibelle's pivoting capabilities.Next, I wanted to look at Mega Crucibelle's next best atributes.

[8:16 PM]snake_rattler:
Let's look at Magic Guard
now in the context that Mega Crucibelle DOES NOT have access to Head Smash anymore
I suppose I can also ask
Now, is Mega Crucibelle’s access to U-turn an issue?

I wanted to see what the council thought of Mega Crucibelle's biggest assets to its role as a pivot.

[Hide=Discussion on Magic Guard + U-turn][8:17 PM]Jho:
not now that it doesnt have headsmash

[8:17 PM]Mx:
not really once Head Smash is gone

[8:18 PM]snake_rattler:
For both U-turn and MG?

[8:18 PM]Jho:
yes
i am extremely for keeping MG without smash

[8:18 PM]Mx:
I think removing them both would be overkill too

[8:19 PM]SHSP:
i mean what does mg do now

[8:19 PM]snake_rattler:
null hazards and leech seed
and contact recoil

[8:19 PM]Jho:
hazards is the main thing with us promoting it being a pivot

[8:19 PM]SHSP:
hazards are the only notable thing
and if we wanna go pivoting
that’s a very good tool to have

[8:19 PM]Mx:
yeah, if we want to be a  pivot, keeping U-turn should be a priority[/hide]
With the sentiment that the council wanted to keep both, we had a vote to make it official:

[8:20 PM]snake_rattler:
"yes" to keep Magic Guard, "no" otherwise

[Hide=Voting on Magic Guard][8:20 PM]Jho:
yes

[8:20 PM]Mx:
Yes

[8:20 PM]snake_rattler:
yes

[8:20 PM]SHSP:
yes[/hide]
[8:20 PM]snake_rattler:
"yes" to keep U-turn "no" otherwise

[Hide=Voting on U-turn][8:20 PM]Jho:
yes

[8:20 PM]SHSP:
YES

[8:20 PM]snake_rattler:
yes

[8:21 PM]Mx:
yes[/hide]
And thus, we voted 4-0 to keep Magic Guard and U-turn. We briefly discussed Volt Switch as well, but the council agreed that it wasn't worth considering. For my next question:

[8:21 PM]snake_rattler:
Alright, let's focus on stats now. The thread highlighted nerfing Special Defense and Speed. Which of the two is more important to consider first? We will address both, but I want to know which comes first.

[Hide=Discussion on Special Defense vs. Speed][8:22 PM]Jho:
I think speed is more important to hit, speed adds a lot more offensive checks, Special Defense only effects a couple mons

[8:22 PM]Mx:
I think speed takes priority, because its the main thing making Cruci the undoubtedly best Mega in the meta

[8:22 PM]snake_rattler:
I think Speed

[8:22 PM]SHSP:
speed is more important to cruci
especially as a pivot[/hide]
[8:23 PM]snake_rattler:
Ok, let's look at Speed. What should Mega Crucibelle's new speed tier be?

[Hide=Discussion on new Speed tier][8:23 PM]Jho:
Personally im OK with anything under 110, its just how far under u wanna go adding keldeo or kart
to offensive checks

[8:24 PM]snake_rattler:
I don't like the idea of tying with Kartana either Kartana should force out Mega Crucibelle because it outspeeds or not

[8:24 PM]Mx:
I think 108 is the best one, because it makes Cruci lose to Kart, Latios and Diancie, but it doesn't go as far as making you lose to Kril

[8:24 PM]snake_rattler:
I like 108 personally

[8:25 PM]Jho:
yeah i like 108 then

[8:25 PM]snake_rattler:
Do we have any other candidates other than 108?

[8:26 PM]Jho:
could always go 1 under keld

[8:26 PM]SHSP:
someone mentioned 104, but that was overkill and a half

[8:26 PM]Mx:
the other number that was mentioned a lot was 104
but yeah, that is overkill to me

[8:27 PM]SHSP:
i’m not using a mega as a pivot with 104, i don’t think

[8:27 PM]Jho:
108/107 i think are

[8:27 PM]snake_rattler:
probably not, i'm thinking 108 will be sufficient

[8:27 PM]Jho:
both fine

[8:27 PM]Mx:
I guess we could make it 107/106 for Keldeo, but that is not very relevant imo

[8:27 PM]snake_rattler:
it's really not all that relevant

[8:27 PM]SHSP:
nah, keld is as good as dead[/hide]
And then a vote:

[8:29 PM]snake_rattler:
Vote "104" or "107" or " 108"

[Hide=Voting on new Speed tier][8:29 PM]Mx:
108

[8:29 PM]Jho:
108

[8:29 PM]snake_rattler:
I know Jordy supports 108

[8:29 PM]snake_rattler:
I vote for 108

[8:29 PM]SHSP:
108[/hide]
With another unanimous vote, Mega Crucibelle received its second nerf, lowering its speed to 108. This opens up offensive counterplay, preventing it from U-turn as easily against Pokemon like Kartana, Mega Diancie, and Mega Latios, which otherwise check it. Despite having gotten two of the biggest nerfs, we had longer discussions about additional ones. The first was when we started to move onto Special Defense.

[8:30 PM]snake_rattler:
Now, do we want to touch Special Defense?

[Hide=Discussion on Special Defense][8:30 PM]Jho:
i do
i would like Volk and Zam to
have guaranteed OHKOs

[8:30 PM]snake_rattler:
after rocks?
that's what 3 or 4 SpD
252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Crucibelle-Mega: 312-368 (88.1 - 103.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Volkraken Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Crucibelle-Mega: 312-368 (88.1 - 103.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
both with 122 SpD

[8:31 PM]Jho:
that looks
good to me
what were the SpD things in the thread
i saw someone say like
-10

[8:32 PM]snake_rattler:
-20 makes them always OHKO
but like
i think this is sufficient

[8:32 PM]SHSP:
-20 is nuking the mon imo

[8:32 PM]Mx:
yeah, that would be too much

[8:32 PM]SHSP:
is -spdef overkill now
we just nuked its wallbreaking a lot
between speed and smash
this adds 2 checks that we ran?

[8:33 PM]snake_rattler:
Honestly this stat drop is kinda superficial

[8:33 PM]Mx:
I personally don't think is necessary

[8:33 PM]Jho:
it is

[8:34 PM]snake_rattler:
now mega crucibelle doesn't live this
252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Crucibelle-Mega: 306-360 (86.4 - 101.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
it doesn't have a 1/8 chance to survive
it's not so much as "adding" two checks
but guaranteeing them

[8:34 PM]SHSP:
makes sense put that way

[8:35 PM]Jho:
i do not like the fact that its 12 and 18% chance respectively
for 2 of its most common RKers

[8:35 PM]SHSP:
i am just worried a bit about overdoing it
especially down a pivoting route

[8:35 PM]snake_rattler:
we're dropping from 106 / 125 to 106 / 122ish
there is the argument of whether this truly is necessary or not though

[8:36 PM]Jho:
there is it was extremley prominent in discussion tho
so its worth bringing up

[8:36 PM]SHSP:
yeah thats where I’m getting dissent from
the necessity of it
but knowing all it seems to do is guarantee two kills

[8:36 PM]snake_rattler:
but we're operating under the clear conditions of no head smash 108 speed

[8:36 PM]SHSP:
and encouraging pivoting
cause you don’t want to stay in and get stuck in that situation

[8:37 PM]Jho:
yeah thats 2 big RKs it gaurantees

[8:37 PM]snake_rattler:
Special Defense gets the biggest buff upon Mega Evolution, in part to compensate for the loss of healing from Regenerator. 106 / 125 is a meaty ST even with just the 4 HP EVs, taking 99% maximum damage from Choice Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump and granting a 50% chance of surviving Choice Specs Keldeo's Scald from full health. Rotom-W can manage a low-end 2HKO with Hydro Pump (58 - 68%) and so can unboosted Manaphy with Scald (56 - 67%), but both are easily 2HKO'd, so CAP wins those matchups with a good amount of HP to spare. Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice only manages 26 - 31% and it is outsped and OHKO'd by either of CAP's STAB attacks (watch out for Psyshock). Charizard-Y loses its ability to 2HKO the CAP upon Mega Evolution (36 - 43% from Sun-boosted Fire Blast) unless it runs Earthquake.
from Korski's post

[8:38 PM]Jho:
why do all of those mons
die and underspeed

[8:38 PM]SHSP:
seems as though we might add keldeo, in the end lol

[8:39 PM]Jho:
i can get behind the spdf drop
maybe

[8:39 PM]SHSP:
i’m not opposed to the spdef drop
on paper

[8:39 PM]snake_rattler:
So, do we think that this SpDef drop is necessary

[8:39 PM]Mx:
I don't think this is needed, the other nerf should be enough imo, and its not like its that hard to make Cruci take enough damage to achieve those KOs anyways

[8:39 PM]SHSP:
the necessity is hanging me up though

[8:40 PM]snake_rattler:
perhaps we can revisit this after we discuss one more topic

[8:40 PM]SHSP:
New cruci’s also gonna be chipped a bit more by like
opposing uturns and weaker hits
it otherwise wouldn’t be dealing with

[8:40 PM]snake_rattler:
i will mention that we aren't bottoming out Cruci's power
Stone Edge will still hit hard
basically as hard as scarftar's stone edge
to put it in context

[8:41 PM]SHSP:
i know it’s still strong, good that its still strong

[8:42 PM]Mx:
yeah, and its not like Gunk Shot is weak either, even if its typing is not that good

[8:42 PM]snake_rattler:
gunk shot with poison chance is still super great
ok, so let's table Special Defense for now[/Hide]
It was clear that lowering Special Defense, while nice to guarantee 2 offensive checks would always kill, wasn't completely necessary at this point due to the lowered speed. After losing Head Smash and lowering speed, guaranteeing that those two extra checks would always kill after Stealth Rock damage (base form takes SR damage) isn't inherently necessary.

We then moved onto the next topic: coverage in the form of Wood Hammer and Low Kick.

[8:42 PM]snake_rattler:
We also saw a little discussion on Low Kick and Wood Hammer. Do we want to address either of those?

[Hide=Discussion on Low Kick and Wood Hammer][8:43 PM]SHSP:
i think hammer is fine
it’s already fallen very out of favor

[8:43 PM]snake_rattler:
I think Low Kick is the one we need to look at. Wood Hammer honestly doesn't do that much

[8:43 PM]Jho:
i really like -Low Kick

[8:43 PM]Mx:
yeah, hammer is not that useful

[8:43 PM]Jho:
ferro is already getting abused by uturn ignoring barbs

[8:43 PM]SHSP:
Most of what you’re gonna hammer you’re just gonna turn on

[8:44 PM]Mx:
But Low Kick is worth at least looking at

[8:44 PM]Jho:
it should at least be able to beat cruci if it needs to

[8:44 PM]SHSP:
reminder that jordy i believe is -lk

[8:44 PM]snake_rattler:
Let's vote on Wood Hammer just to get that out of the way? Any further comments on Wood Hammer?

[8:44 PM]Mx:
yeah jordy was pro -lk

[8:44 PM]Jho:
-Wood Hammer adds Hippo to counters
ftr
Im for remove hammer

[8:45 PM]SHSP:
you love hippo

[8:45 PM]Jho:
i dont think its neccesary and adds complications idk
this is true
bias setting in

[8:45 PM]SHSP:
i really don’t see hammer getting used
we didn’t nuke like uturn and its not gonna wanna drop rocks

[8:46 PM]Jho:
same but im gonna bring hippo in one time and its gonna die

[8:46 PM]snake_rattler:
remember, this is more about necessity than anything

[8:46 PM]Jho:
-Hammer and -Low kick also adds navi to counters
which i do like

[8:46 PM]Mx:
Removing hammer is not necessary, even if its used in the future, its not like most mons can't use some weird move to surprise an usual counter

[8:47 PM]snake_rattler:
i agree with that

[8:47 PM]Jho:
yeah
thats fair[/hide]
We then held a vote on Wood Hammer:

[8:47 PM]snake_rattler:
"yes" to keep Wood Hammer, "no" to remove

[Hide=Voting on Wood Hammer][8:47 PM]SHSP:
yes keep hammer

[8:47 PM]Mx:
yes

[8:47 PM]Jho:
no

[8:47 PM]snake_rattler:
yes[/hide]
With a 3-1 vote, we voted to keep Wood Hammer on Mega Crucibelle. Then, we discussed Low Kick. Now, I'd like to summarize this discussion because it was over a whole hour of discussion. After awhile, we determined that the big question we had to answer was:

[9:47 PM]Jho:
Do we think Cruci has sufficient defensive checks without removing low kick?

Ultimately, we determined that securing Ferrothorn as a hard defensive check and Heatran as a soft check was a good decision, since the defensive counterplay to Mega Crucibelle was still rather limited. Though it has hard defensive checks like Cyclohm, Toxapex, Mega Sableye, and Celesteela, adding on Ferrothorn seemed to round out the nerfing process, especially given its continued access to Magic Guard + U-turn.

[9:58 PM]snake_rattler:
vote "yes" to remove low kick, "no" otherwise

[Hide=Voting on Low Kick]
[9:58 PM]snake_rattler:
Jordy's already voted yes

[9:58 PM]Jho:
yes

[9:58 PM]SHSP:
ughhhhhhhhhhhh

[9:58 PM]Mx:
no

10:01 PM]SHSP:
yeah, lets can it, enforce uturn

[10:02 PM]snake_rattler:
i want abstain on this one because i know laughably little about building defensive teams
but yeah remove[/hide]
With that, we revisited Special Defense.

[Hide=Discussion on Special Defense 2][10:03 PM]snake_rattler:
i don't think it's necessary at all
at this point
it guarantees 2 extra checks

[10:03 PM]Mx:
with Low Kick removed, I'm now pretty confident this is enough

[10:03 PM]Jho:
i can get behind leaving spdf

[10:03 PM]Jho:
yes[/hide]
And voted:

[10:04 PM]snake_rattler:
"yes" to remove a small amount of SpD, "no" otherwise

[Hide=Voting on Special Defense][10:04 PM]Jho:
no

[10:04 PM]snake_rattler:
no

[10:04 PM]Mx:
no

[10:04 PM]SHSP:
no[/hide]
With an 0-4 vote, we voted to retain 125 Special Defense.

After that, we briefly discussed where the 6 points of Speed would go to retain the BST of 640. We decided that, after a few Hidden Power calcs, that putting them into Mega Crucibelle's Special Attack stat wouldn't affect much. And with that, we had exhausted all of the prepared topics, and no one else had further comments. Jordy came online later with his approval for the changes and discussion.

With that, I hope that there's no confusion on how the council came to its decisions on how Mega Crucibelle was banned. However, if you have questions, feel free to PM one of the council members with any concerns. The council thanks everyone who participated in the CAP Metagame's first nerfing process!