OU RMT, peaked #9 on PO

Wolfey

VGC 2016 Masters Champion
OU RMT, peaked #7 on PO

Welcome!

Introduction:


Ever Since I began competitive battling, I enjoyed using Sandstorm. I liked the Pokemon one could use on a Sandstorm team and I enjoyed the very concept of sandstorm. Lately, Ive been playing around with one sandstorm team in Particular, and its been very successful for me.
The team is completely different then when I started, but then again it's also alot better, so without further ado I present my Sandstorm team.



At A Glance


EVOLUTION:

It all began with a battle id had on wifi. I was still fairly new to competitive battling, so most of my pokes werent IV bred or EV trained with good spreads. My opponent led off with a Mamoswine.He KOed 4 pokes in a row using a combination of Ice shard and Earthquake. Finally, one of my pokes managed to survive and hit his mamo, but, unfortunately it was focus sashed. He proceeded to KO my last 2 pokes with EQ and Endeavor, leaving my last poke with 1 HP and left open for a priority move KO. I knew as soon as the battle was over that I wanted a mamo lead for my new team.




Great, now I had a lead, but I needed something that worked well with mamo. Mamoswine resists sandstorm and hail, so I decided to follow up with a tyranitar.


Great, now I had some sandstorm support, but I needed a wall. I decided on skarmory as it also resists Sandstorm and helps with tyranitar's ground weakness.

great, now I had a physical wall, I wanted a special wall. More then that, I wanted a water type. After a while of considering, I decided on an unusual variant of a specially defensive vaporeon.

perfect, now I had walls and weather, I needed a sweeper. I decided on a special sweeper, and one that was uncommon to see. Thats right, I chose specs salamence.


Now all I needed was a physical sweeper. After some thought I went for a SD Lucario


Now the team had some problems. Immediately, entry hazards. opponents would set up SR and roar out my mamo breaking his sash. Spikes hurt most of the team, especially those without leftovers, and SR combined with Sandstorm really hurt salamence. So I decided to put something with rapid spin on



Now, this was good, but I didnt like Salamence. I decided to switch him out for a jirachi.

Now, I wanted a spin blocker as it was rather disheartening to set up SR and 3 layers of spikes to have it all spun away. I went for rotom-h after some thought because I really liked his rest talk set and he could burn opponents. Lucario wasnt pulling his weight, to frail for my liking so I took him out.

well, this was good, but unfortunately I still had a big problem. The fact was if the opponent set up toxic spikes, then when blastoise switched in he was poisened before he could clear the way for tyranitar. Also, my team was desperately week to special attackers, so I killed 2 birds with one stone.


After tentacruel, I decided that I didnt like mamo as a lead anymore. I also wanted a lead that could set up SR and roar. now that I had toxic spike support roar and whirlwind were becoming more usefull. So I went for a Swampert. Its bulk made him very useful to me, and he absorbed electric attacks and allowed tentacruel a free switch in against grass knots.


I liked this team, it was doing well, most of my weaknesses were covered, and then I came across a poke I knew I had to have. It was a gliscor, the stall breaker set on smogon. It effectively destroyed my team, taunting my skarmory, earthquake'ing my tentacruel and t-tar, taunting my rotom. I knew I needed to use it. In the end I decided everything I needed on my team, except for rotom.




A closer Look

Swampert @ leftovers relaxed
252 Hp 252 Def 4 Atk
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Beam
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roar
Swampert Is essential to this team. He sets up Stealth Rocks in the beginning of the game, and because of his bulk he can come in later to set them up again if theyve been spun away or he can wall or phaze later. Often, youll find yourself up against something with taunt. In this case if you predict their taunt you can break the opponents sash if they have one. Ice beam forces opposing gliscors and salamences to switch out. Earthquake is useful against electric types and rock types, and combined with ice beam he hits 9 out of 17 types for super effective damage. He works well with tentacruel, covering each others weaknesses and helping out with physical/special attackers.




Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf Jolly
252 Atk/252 Speed/ 4 HP
~ Crunch
~ Pursuit
~ Superpower
~ Stone Edge
Ah, scarftar, you never dissapoint. Its too bad youre now expected everywhere and far overused, you used to be so surprising. I enjoyed watching people flip out when there +2 speed Empoleon was KO'ed by a superpower. Tyranitar does several important things. The first is set up a sandstorm. The second is outspeed common threats to this team, like salamence before a dragon dance. Tyranitar helps against Rotom-H who used to be a Huge problem for this team. His speed is amazing, and his defences are actually pretty good as well. He can switch into a thunderbolt easily and can live through a LO kingdra's surf.

Jirachi @ Leftovers Timid
252 HP/176 Spe/80 Sp A
~ Calm Mind
~ Substitute
~ Psychic
~ Thunderbolt
Ah, Calm Mind Rachi, how awesome could you get? I like this rachi particularly because of a few things. One is that he has the element of surprise, as when most people see rachi's these days they automatically assume there there either scarfed or the flinch hax rachi or wish rachi. If possible, alot of people will try to thunder wave rachi. This rachi works well with gliscor against blissy. If a blissy comes in and try's to thunder wave one of my pokes I switch to gliscor to take that. If they try to Ice beam gliscor in comes rachi. Substitute on the new thunder wave, and begin calm minding. Jirachi is capable of producing 101 HP subs, and so blissy cant OHKO it with seismic toss. Calm Mind until your plus 6 and procceed to sweep. with sandstorm in to help with neutralizing blissy's leftovers, your opponent wont have a chance. Rachi makes a great late game sweeper as well, and hes fast enough to OHKO gyrados before a DD with thunderbolt.


Skarmory @ Shed Shell Impish
252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe
~ Whirlwind
~ Spikes
~ Roost
~ Brave Bird
Good Old Skarmory, one of the best physical walls in the game. Skarmory's job here is pretty self explanitory, set up spikes and phase. He really helps KO SD Life orb'ed Lucario, and other physical attackers. Hes good bait for magnezone, which gives gliscor a free switch in. Roost helps alot here, especially when you whirlwind in a physical attacker after taking some damage from someone else. Brave Bird can be used to surprise a pokemon who just taunted my birdy. Skarmory is immune to any earthquakes thrown at my tyranitar and he does good against fighting as well. Electric types dont prove a problem with gliscor and swampert.

Gliscor @ leftovers Jolly
252 HP 216 Spe 40 Def
~ Roost
~ Toxic
~ Earthquake
~ Taunt

I love Gliscor. He solves many of the teams problems at once. Taunt stops most walls in their tracks, and due to his high base speed, a plus speed nature, and some speed EV's he will most likely be using it before any wall. This stops those pesky rotoms from will-o-wisping me and if they stay in to shadow ball they get toxic'd. Earthquake is good against tyranitar and to do damage to anything poisoned when I dont need to roost or re-taunt. Roost provides good recovery, and lowers my Ice weakness to x2 instead of x4. As ive already said, however, the main attraction of this set is taunt. If a skarmory decides to stay in and brave bird, fine by me, I can rapid spin away any entry hazards or set up some spikes of my own. Toxic helps against pokemon with substitute that arent steel, and if they are steel or poison then they can eat an earthquake. Gliscor also has immunity to electric moves which is useful to have.


Tentacruel @ Black Sludge Calm
252 HP 136 SP D 120 Def
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Rapid Spin
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Surf

Tentacruel serves many purposes on this team. One is to remove toxic spikes upon entry without even needing to rapid spin. Another is Rapid spinning away entry hazards. He can also set up toxic spikes, or even attack if he needs to. Tentacruel's typing works well. He can lure in a Choiced Earthquake allowing skarm or gliscor to set up. He can lure in an electric attack and switch to gliscor. He can survive a Draco Meteor from a Specs latias. He can absorb a grass move aimed at swampert or a special move aimed at skarmory. But the thing that is the most important about him is the fact that he is my infernape counter. there is a massive mixape weakness to this team, and tentacruel helps tremendously on that. He can surf to try and KO the demon, or if I expect the switch I can set up toxic spikes so that the infernape wont be allowed to just sit there and sweep.
 
Mence still outspeeds Scarftar after a DD and +2 Empy outspeeds it out well. If you somehow did kill the two after setup, they had problems. Seriously, very serious problems.

You check every threat very well, but Heatran can easily mop the floor with much of your team once Gliscor has taken the dirt nap. And if that Heatran is packing HP Grass, you've just gotten your loss handed to you. The insane offensive combination of Fire and Ground together is actually quite good, resisted only by the already trouble Dragon/Flying combination or the *cough* currently banned Latias, and your team is rather weak to said combination. Passhotran, while not common, will doom your Tentacruel to just being a... Roadblock that was easily demolished. I know that Earth Power with your spread is a 3HKO, but base 65 defense means that despite Tentacruel's excellent typing the urge to switch in may doom it against Heatran.

...You know what, check that, DD Mence easily rips through the team and still 2HKOs Jirachi and dents Skarmory severely. I'm not a fan of Mamoswine, but STAB Ice Shard coming off base 130 attack is absolutely insane and very useful as well. I can't figure out who to replace, however...
 

Wolfey

VGC 2016 Masters Champion
I think you might have misread, or I had a typo, I meant to say before a DD not after. And what about swampert? what can DD mence do to swampert with ice beam? if he uses outrage in comes scarm. heatran is a problem, but fortunately gliscor runs EQ and tyranitar runs superpower. Tentacruel can hold its own against it IMO...
 
I played this team earlier today, I'm not sure if it was you or not, and I can't even remember if I won or not(I had a Nidoqueen lead: PM if it was you), but it was remarkably balanced, able to stall and attack rather well.

Because of it's stallish nature, only unorthodox sweepers such as a Sub Magnezone with Flash Cannon/HP Grass and SpecsMence really break through, with 2 exceptions: Choiced Heatran and DDSalamence. Choice Specs Heatran is the scarier of Heatran forms, since it can come in on even Jirachi's Calm Mind and blast it with fire(Pardon the pun). Specs Earth Power 2HKOs Tentacruel as well. Scarf Heatran is a bit tamer, although it needs HP Grass to do so.

Salamence is always a bit of a pain in the ass, and you can stop it with Skarm+Pert switches if it Dragon Dances. The problem is if the user doesn't get too ambitious and decides to switch to a counter-Swampert is worn down rather quickly.

That brings up the biggest problem with the team: lack of recovery. Swampert, Tentacruel, Jirachi and Tyranitar will all weaken to switchin damage, allowing the bad sweepers to come in and clear.

I suggest giving Jirachi Wish and replacing Tentacruel with either Calm Mind Slowbro or Calm Mind Suicune. The Wish suppport will allow TTar to keep on Revenge Killing things like Rotom while lowering, if not outright eliminating your problems with Salamence and Heatran. You could also use a Choice Scarf Trick Starmie with Rapid Spin over Tentacruel, but that isn't as suggested as you are left with only 2 attacks and an easy opening to Pursuit users. If you want to be extremely unorthodox, a Calm Mind Cresselia could also work but it suffers from the same problem CSTrick Starmie has.
 
Hmm... a mixed Electivire would hurt your team, especially if it manages the speed boost from Rachi, but you have Gliscor, so its not an immediate threat, but late game when Gliscor is down it could be a problem so heads up.

Very nice team btw ^_^

Good Luck!
 

Wolfey

VGC 2016 Masters Champion
I played this team earlier today, I'm not sure if it was you or not, and I can't even remember if I won or not(I had a Nidoqueen lead: PM if it was you), but it was remarkably balanced, able to stall and attack rather well.

Because of it's stallish nature, only unorthodox sweepers such as a Sub Magnezone with Flash Cannon/HP Grass and SpecsMence really break through, with 2 exceptions: Choiced Heatran and DDSalamence. Choice Specs Heatran is the scarier of Heatran forms, since it can come in on even Jirachi's Calm Mind and blast it with fire(Pardon the pun). Specs Earth Power 2HKOs Tentacruel as well. Scarf Heatran is a bit tamer, although it needs HP Grass to do so.

Salamence is always a bit of a pain in the ass, and you can stop it with Skarm+Pert switches if it Dragon Dances. The problem is if the user doesn't get too ambitious and decides to switch to a counter-Swampert is worn down rather quickly.

That brings up the biggest problem with the team: lack of recovery. Swampert, Tentacruel, Jirachi and Tyranitar will all weaken to switchin damage, allowing the bad sweepers to come in and clear.

I suggest giving Jirachi Wish and replacing Tentacruel with either Calm Mind Slowbro or Calm Mind Suicune. The Wish suppport will allow TTar to keep on Revenge Killing things like Rotom while lowering, if not outright eliminating your problems with Salamence and Heatran. You could also use a Choice Scarf Trick Starmie with Rapid Spin over Tentacruel, but that isn't as suggested as you are left with only 2 attacks and an easy opening to Pursuit users. If you want to be extremely unorthodox, a Calm Mind Cresselia could also work but it suffers from the same problem CSTrick Starmie has.
ive tried using a wish rachi, but the fact that it cant block status hurts alot. The reason why I use tentacruel when there are better special walls out there is so he can absorb toxic spikes upon entry, which is why I cant use suicune (lack of rapid spin) or slowbro (lack of rapid spin) since both of them get poisoned by toxic spikes. Starmie is an interesting idea, but then I wouldnt have a special wall....
 
Your gonna need your spin blocker back, cus any team with the move rapid spin basically beats you. As they ruin your whole teams strategy. So I would strongly advice using a spin blocker, such as spiritomb or Rotom.
 
spin blockers are really overrated, although you might want to try starmie over tentacruel. Tyranitar, even with no investment, is a special sponge and if you make skarmory the special defensive kind it could help as well. You don't need to worry about starmie being poisoned since ihas natural cure when it spins. Regarding the spin blocker, i dont think you need one. I've run a similar team before and have had few cases in which i needed a blocker. I don't know where one would fit in either
 
Not sure what you mean by KOing +2 Empoleon with Superpower, they outspeed you, by A LOT....

A Salamence is hell for this team, dont be naive in assuming that he will never get a DD up, Skarmory is practically calling for him to come out and Dragon Dance up. If your Gliscor is weakened/dead then you really cannot do anything but let him slowly sweep your team. This is of course assuming that Swampert is also out, which is generally the case for leadperts. Also a Life Orb Gengar can hurt this team pretty hard, you have no real method of taking down HP Ice / Thunderbolt / Focus Blast / Shadow Ball gengar, it OHKO's most of your team. Even though Jirachi's Psychic will deal with it, you dont really want to take such a large hit, because Jirachi is your main sweeper.

I would also change Jirachi's Psychic to Flash Cannon, you still get the STAB, and can now actually hurt opposing Tyranitar's which Thunderbolt will do almost nothing to.
 

Wolfey

VGC 2016 Masters Champion
@ cherub agent: I like alot of what your saying, thank you for not only providing problems but solutions. Should I run scarf starmie w/ trick to outspeed those pesky salamences? will those even outspeed mences?
@ shizzle: alot of what your saying is true, however tyranitar outspeeds gengar on most occasions (speaking from experience). Alot of what your saying is correct about weaknesses, but could you provide some solutions instead of just problems?
 
You can always use the wish calm mind Jirachi. It has advantages over the normal Raichi in 1 vs 1ns as it can heal itself. It can also provide wish support for the team which is very useful. A set like:

Jirachi @ leftovers
Bold
252 hp/220 defence/36 speed
- Calm mind
- Wish
- Thunderbolt
- Physchic

Early game you can wish up and scout the CM counters, switch out and get a safe switch in due to wish. I'm not too keen on the set, but I know many other battlers who really like. So I suggest you try it out, as your team is stall orientated and pokemon like swampert/tyranitar/trntacruel could really appreciate a free 50% hp during the battle, and it also helps Jirachi set up by alternating between wish and CM.

You could use flash cannon as well, if t-tar is a problem, but swampert can just destroy you then and physchic also gives you 12.5% more power than flash cannon. This means with sandstorm cancelling leftovers on +6 you can 2hko a bold blissey, so she can't softboil stall you. But the 2hko is not garunteed.

The ev's, are to help you set up on physical attackers, as you can use wish to heal there damage now, 36 speed is a speed all base 100's use to outspeed non dd tyranitar and non dd gyrados. But you could always use 40 speed ev's to outspeed the base 100's. The ev's also mean a DD gyrados cannot OHKO you with earthquake apparently.

I prefer substitute as it blocks status, it block trick. It helps when sweeping if you have a sub up and most importantly it blocks critical hits, and crits are the bane of any sweeper aiming for +6.
 

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