For those of you that have faced it, this is the crux of my sandstall team:
Hippopotas (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Atk / 212 Def / 100 SDef / 20 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
Timburr (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 76 HP / 196 Atk / 236 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Payback
Vullaby (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Overcoat
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Def / 156 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Air Slash
- Roost
The basic concept is that Hippopotas can stand its ground against a myriad of threats, and this number is increased with Roar. It does lose some utility against Misdreavus, however, and it also needs help against Snover. Furthermore, I wanted a secondary Scraggy check in case a lot of hazards get put up against me. I added specially defensive Timburr, who does wonders against all three. It works as a general status absorber for the team, as well. Timburr does more stalling often for me early game rather than sweeping, as if it can't KO Snover early game it needs to remain healthy. This often turns into Drain Punch spamming until the opponent switches to a counter.
For the final Pokemon of the core, I wanted something that not many people were using and that could just generally sponge hits. Meet Vullaby, arguably the biggest problem for balanced teams in the meta. Generally, balanced teams with Pokemon such as defensive Mienfoo simply can't hit hard enough to break through Vullaby's tough attitude. They oft resort to using their defensive Pokemon in hopes of using Toxic, only to be Taunted. Basically, Vullaby is the master staller, and it does its job well; going so far as to net me typically a KO on an offensive Pokemon and a defensive Pokemon every game, especially with a little luck with Air Slash.