Blistering Sands - a Balanced Hackmons RMT

Helpful reading: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3463764

I've slowly developed this team ever since I first started playing Balanced Hackmons. This particular version is quite different from previous versions, but it's more or less the one I've used the longest and to the most success. Unfortunately, it's time I retire this team. Everything on this team serves a very specific purpose that for the most part can't be filled by other Pokemon; thus, I can't stick in an Unburden Rayquaza like I could on a standard BH offense team. Goodbye Blistering Sands. It's been real.

This team revolves around Sand, easily the best weather in Balanced Hackmons. It gives Rock-types a buff, has a decent number of abusable abilities, and eats Shedinja. The residual damage is wonderful, granting the offensive Pokemon 6% extra damage and giving the Rock-types a 6% advantage over the opponent. Early-game, I scout the opponent's lead with Deoxys-S, hopefully getting in a bit of damage as well, and as soon as I can send in Regirock to get the sandstorm going. I stall with Shuckle and Regirock, sending Blissey in to combat things that Shuckle and Regirock don't particularly like. This continues into the midgame when things are being worn down, but then I send in Shaymin to start boosting. It draws out and (usually) defeats Imposter users - paving the way for Kyurem-B to step in and annhilate endgame. Of course, Shaymin can sweep on its own too.

~The Team~

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Deoxys-Amphetamines (Deoxys-Speed) @ Lum Berry
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magic Coat
- Skill Swap
- Taunt
- Magma Storm

This is a funky little set I've used to great success. Deoxys-S is normally a support lead along the lines of dual hazards, Spore and Taunt / Magic Coat. This has Taunt and Magic coat, sure - relatively common moves. The key is Skill Swap and Magma Storm. No Guard applies to the entire field in singles, so Skill Swap will only benefit Deoxys-S. At this time, it is free to trap the opponent with Magma Storm and switch to Regirock. When there's a really bad matchup, I simply switch out to Regirock first. Lum Berry is for status.


Birdy Hedgehog (Shaymin-Sky) @ Icicle Plate
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Quiver Dance

Oh Skymin you adorable little thing. With Icicle Plate Judgment, Shaymin-S can actually beat Imposter Pokemon most of the time. They're stuck with a weak Normal-type Judgment while Shaymin-S smacks them back with a 4x super effective Ice-type Judgment! Giga Drain and Earth Power do I picked it over Gengar because of STAB Giga Drain, which allows it to fight the residual damage it would accumulate from weather and hazards. Unfortunately, the little hedgehog is rather frail, and can't come in on anything particularly strong... which is where Magic Bounce comes in, sending status moves and hazards in the other direction.


Reggie Boulder (Regirock) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- U-turn

Out of all of the Pokemon on the team, Regirock is probably the least useful. It does, however, bring an endless supply of sand, which is enough to whittle down most Pokemon in the tier and inexplicably bury the Relic Castle from the inside out. It also provides Stealth Rock, which limits the number of times the enemy can switch in. U-Turn is my way to escape a bad matchup (or ImposterBliss copying my Deoxys-S). Recover... recovers. Magic Coat gives it a nice scouting option that bounces back Taunt and the like.


Roid Rage (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Close Combat
- Sacred Fire
- Magic Coat

Oh my God. Oh. My God. Kyurem-B is sitting pretty at #4 in the Balanced Hackmons usage statistics right now. While that's mostly due to Prankster Assist teams, that doesn't change the fact that Kyurem-B is a fucking monster and you should pray that your sorry ass doesn't get destroyed by it. Especially when Sand Rush doubles its Speed in sand and makes it immune to Sandstorm damage. What to do: SPAM OUTRAGE. Close Combat and Sacred Fire are for assorted Steel-types. Magic Coat bounces Spore.


Fatty (Blissey) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Aromatherapy
- Sandstorm
- Volt Switch

It's an Imposter Blissey. Imposter copies the species, type, stats, moves, and stat boosts of the opposing Pokemon... except HP. So imagine a Contrary Reshiram with over 700 HP. Lum Berry absorbs Spore. There is nothing more to say.


Derptle (Shuckle) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Unaware
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 SAtk
- Foul Play
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Recover

01:48:01: <Verbatim> unaware shuckle could very well be the king of bh
01:48:04: <Verbatim> if it was used more
Quoted for truth. Shuckle doesn't really shine anywhere... except here. Leech Seed allows it to regain its health while doing noticeable damage to the opponent - against many opponents, Shuckle gets 20% of its health back, and against Blissey that number jumps to over 33%. Unaware and the SpDef Sandstorm boost makes it a great counter to Belly Drum Slaking and most Contrary Pokemon... as well as pretty much anything else that boosts. Spikes lets Kyurem-B and Skymin wreck more. Recover recovers as usual, and Foul Play hits pretty much everything decently hard since most people use 252 EVs everywhere. Lum Berry blocks Spore, although Shuckle is incidentally my only Pokemon to never have a way to prevent Taunt.

~Threats~
- Imposter: When Blissey copies my Shuckle, it's hard to take down. When it copies Kyurem-B, I have to resort to sacking my own Kyurem-B and walling it with Regirock or Shuckle.
- Escavalier - Is it Flash Fire? Is it Prankster Copycat? Usually by the time I figure it out I've lost most of my team. The damn thing hits everything either super effectively or off of 150 BP.
- Prankster Assist teams - these teams are ass. But they're good ass. As in they work well but they're full of bullshit. I cannot beat these teams.
- some other stuff I don't remember.



So that's it. Maybe I'll pull this team back out and play with it again sometime. But goodbye for now, BH Sand. It's been real.

first off USE CHANSEY DAMMIT.
lum blissey is just not worth it, there arent enough spores to justify losing to as many things as you do. chansey also is a great switch in to escavalier, as it can easily scout it.

next i think you woudl be best off leading with your sand setter, (partially because i havent been a fan of your deo-s, and partially because i feel like it is less of a waste of a slot for your sand setter, as it can usually be a decent lead).

Since this then frees up a spot, i suggest something to try and face prankster assist kyu-b teams. My recommendation would be an escavalier with recover and gyro ball, as it is pretty much a hard counter to these teams, because they can't 2hko you and so you can pretty much alternate recover and gyro ball.

also as ive said before i prefer prankster rhydon over shuckle, but that really is purely a matter of preference.

Escavalier set:
Adamant @lum berry (or leftovers to save recover pp vs kyu-b teams)
prankster/magic bounce (your team could use a sturdier magic bouncer imo)
-gyro ball
-recover
-rapid spin/encore/megahorn/u-turn
-copycat/megahorn/encore/u-turn

yeah, you kinda have a lot of options for the last two moves... spin is a generally helpful filler, megahorn offers some more coverage, as well as making you less vulnerable to running out of pps, and u-turn is an interesting move i havent seen used on escavalier yet, but have been meaning to try as (especially paired with encore), it often forces switches, and uturn will still have a lot of power.

In general though, a very nice team, and one ive had some great battles with :)


EDIT: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4528106&postcount=937 now makes the escavalier suggestion less needed, although I still think it would be a good fit (but with flash fire, much as im not a fan of flash fire escav in general) as it helps against imposters as your cube. (Change the set to gyro ball/recover/sacred fire/bug move or rapid spin over sacred fire or recover)

Importable added on request, although I took out the names because if you're going to steal a team at least have the decency to come up with your own nicknames (or use none at all)...