A Different Sand Storm Team.

While most SS teams operate with hard hitters such as CB Tyranitar or Spec'd Heatran, the idea behind this one is, in simple terms, "kill the Fightings and Grounds and Steels and set up with Tyranitar." So, basically, this team is desgined with the intention for Tyranitar to NOT come in until the late game, therefore most of the game should be SS free...which makes this different. Well, that's just duckspeak. Let's get into the team, shall we?


Celebi, @Leftovers
Bold; 252 HP, 240 Def, 16 Spd
Grass Knot, Thunder Wave, Reflect, Recover

An obvious choice to rid the field of Grounds and Fightings. I lead with Celebi with the intent of putting up Reflect and paralyzing a few things while I'm at it. Celebi leads are often criticized due to Pursuit, but in this case I can handle nearly any Pursuit user excluding Scizor, who is an uncommon lead. This is also a big factor in stopping Gyarados, Swampert, and Suicune who would otherwise give this team some trouble.



Gliscor, @Yache Berry
Impish; 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spd
Earthquake, Ice Fang, Stealth Rock, Roost

Another physical wall, but his goal is to handle the physical sweepers whom Celebi can't, especially Breloom, Lucario, Scizor and Heracross. Also there to set up Stealth Rock and hit Dragons with Ice Fang after Celebi's done her thing with Thunder Wave and Reflect, and can still take a boosted Outrage and do massive damage with Ice Fang without Celebi's support.


Tyranitar, @Leftovers
Careful; 252 HP, 216 SpDef, 40 Def
Payback, Curse, Rest, Sleep Talk

The man behind the curtain. Once Grounds, Fightings, and Steels are gone, out comes this guy, and he becomes nearly unstoppable after a Curse or two, and I also pack Rest to increase his durability and get many more Curses in. This is the answer to any Latias or Cresselia (excluding those with Trick), and destroys nearly any Calm Minder with ease. The EVs make it a great special wall; nearly any special attack excluding Aura Sphere or Focus Blast will barely leave a scratch (a max SpAtk Togekiss barely 2HKOs with Aura Sphere). Absorbs status for the rest of the team. I've always liked Tyranitar and wanted a set that would use him to his fullest. This is it.


Latias, @Leftovers
Calm; 252 HP, 252 SpDef, 4 Spd
Dragon Pulse, Toxic, Wish, Protect

Primary special wall, and, most importantly, MixApe counter. Also spreads Wish around to heal my two sweepers and Tyranitar so he doesn't have to commit to Rest. Also an answer to any wall without status recovery or Toxic of its own. The main reason I chose Latias over Vaporeon was Togekiss. Latias has much better chances at successfuly poisoning and stalling out Togekiss.


Scizor, @Choice Band
Adamant; 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP
Superpower, U-turn, Pursuit, Bullet Punch

Ahhh, finally something to handle Weavile and Gengar right? Also a great revenge killer, primary Cress counter, something to take Tricks, trapper, and a convenient answer to Umbreon and Snorlax (without Fire Punch). He also helps stop an Outraging Salamence.


Magnezone, @Leftovers
Timid; 252 SpAtk, 216 Spd, 40 HP
Thunderbolt, Hidden Power Fire, Magnet Rise, Substitute

I'm still not sure about this guy. But every time I picture a Steel getting trapped and Thunderbolted to hell, he reassures a bit more. This could prove hugely helpful as a Skarmory or Forretress tries to set up all the precious entry hazards, and is then swiftly OHKOed. The main reason I decided on Hidden Power Fire was Scizor, although Hidden Power Ice has certainly sounded appealing when I see Salamence doing his stuff. I think I'll stick with Fire for now, though.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I'd really appreciate any input/suggestions.

Your team looks pretty good. There's a couple thing's I noticed:

1) Your team is MixMence or even Special Salamence Weak. 1/2 your team fears flamethrower, Gliscor fears Hydor Pump or Draco Meteor, Tyranitar dies to Hydro Pump and Earthquake. Latias falls to Draco Meteor and Outrage. For that reason, you may want to use Hidden Power Ice on Magneszone. Scizor is 2HKO'd or 3HKO'd (at worst) with STAB Thunderbolt. However, if Magnezone will be your Salamence counter, he will be severly wounded in the process. But then again, Latias knows wish.

2) On a similar note, Dragonite causes trouble because it can do everything Slamence can do. However, (Unlike it's younger Brother), Dragonite isn't OHKO'd by Hidden Power Ice and can 2HKO Magnezone with Earthquake or Super Power. To fix this, you'd need Celebii to use Reflect if you predict a Dragonite. This may be hard, but I'm just warning you.

3) Scarf Tyranitar pummels your team. With Crunch, Super Power (or Earthquake), Pursuit and Sotne Edge (or Rock Slide), it can literally kill everyone exceptgliscor, who is hurt severly anyway. How to counter him I don't know (XD).

4) Rotom-A can also cause problems, Burning Gliscor, Tyranitar, Scizor, and Shadowballing Cellebii and Latias. Plus it can Leaf Storm / Hydro Pump Tyrantiar and Gliscor or Overheat Scizor.

5) You noted that Scizor could absorb tricks, but you're seeing a massive power loss if it get a hold of the Choice Scarf, or worse: the Choice Specs, or even worse: the Flame Orb. i'd be a bit more careful about using Scizor as a trick absorber if I was you.

6) Lucario can massacre your team. With a +2 Close Combat, Crunch, and Extreme Speed, he literally murders everything on your team not named Gliscor, who is devistated in the process of stopping it. For this reason, giving Gliscor taunt could prevent its set-up, or giving Latias psychic, but I'm not sure that's a good idea.

That's all I can think of. I'm not really too helpful at solving problems; I'm helpful at spotting problems. Sorry !
-Marble101

1. Salamence will take prediction, but once it suffers the SpAtk drop from Draco Meteor, Celebi will be able to do her stuff. Latias and Tyranitar can take a SpecsMence with proper prediction.
2. " "
3. I disagree. Jolly Tyranitar Stone Edges Gliscor for 110 damage on average, then factor in Sand Veil. Celebi can easily take a Crunch, paralyze, Reflect, Recover and Grass Knot Tyranitar to death. None of the attacks you list will OHKO Scizor, who can Superpower for a guarenteed OHKO, or not take a hit at all and Bullet Punch for around 320 damage.
4. Tyranitar takes Rotom. Absorbs burns, and with 478 SpDef and 404 HP, Tyranitar isn't hugely afraid of Hydro Pump, especially considering its accuracy and PP. Latias can outspeed and Toxic stall (that's pretty halfass but Latias wins in the end lol).
5. The thing about Scizor was mainly for Metagross. If it's Latias or something, I'll be hindered by Specs, no doubt, but then Latias has to switch and take massive damage from Pursuit.
6. +2 Life Orb Adamant Extremespeed does about 150 to Gliscor, who then OHKOes with Earthquake. Celebi can barely live a boosted Crunch, paralyze, then the rest writes itself.

One thing I realized, lol, is that a SubPetaya Empoleon with Ice Beam and Surf will slaughter this team...hard. Lol...

Oh yeah, and the main reason for HP Fire on Magnezone is stop Forretress from getting one more entry hazard out, and for a OHKO on Scizor before it Superpowers.

Gliscor can't do much to heracross without aerial ace, and gliscor won't be doing much damagde to anything with ice fang. Salamence can just dracco meteor it/ DD outrage it, so I would use aerial ace tbh.

Scizor could do well with a bulky SD roost set on this team

With Aerial Ace, I'm hardly left with anything to hit Salamence. Getting Salamence killed as fast I can is pretty important for this team. Still, I see your point and have certainly given a lot of consideration towards Aerial Ace.

The reason I choose CB Scizor for this team is the OHKO on Gengar, as well as trapping.

I can also understand why you want ice fang, but gliscor can't really stand up to salamence, any mix set will destroy gliscor and a DD outrage also OHKO's gliscor after stealth rocks. So I would suggest using scarf latias if salamence is huge problem, as scarf latias can revenge kill any form of salamence, and easilly take it out.

I think a DD tyranitar would just be much better than your set, I know you probably really like the curse set, but it's not really that effective and the DD set can tear through teams, especially as you can use life orb, as you have magnezone to handle scizor, something like:

Tyranitar @ lifeorb / lum berry / babri berry
Adamant
4hp/252atk/252speed
- Dragon dance
- Stone edge
- Crunch
- Earthquake / fire punch

Crunch and earthquake have good type coverage and stone edge just rounds off the set, no need to worry about steels as magnezone can handle them. Babri and fire punch can be used, if scizor worries you

My calcs say that Gliscor does live the DD Outrage, even Adamant and Life Orbed. I do really like the Scarf Latias idea, however. This team isn't very dependant on the Toxic/Wish support.

You made a great point about switching to a DD Tyranitar. But the Curse Tyranitar destroys Rotom, whereas this one is crippled by a burn. Even with the Lum Berry, I'd have to avoid switching in on WoW because Rotom will probably switch out, and next time it comes in it could easily predict Tyranitar and WoW.

I think I will switch to a Scarf Latias, though.

Anyway, thanks for the team and input.
-Starbuck

*time

Celebi, @Leftovers
Bold; 252 HP, 240 Def, 16 Spd
Grass Knot, Thunder Wave, Reflect, Recover

An obvious choice to rid the field of Grounds and Fightings. I lead with Celebi with the intent of putting up Reflect and paralyzing a few things while I'm at it. Celebi leads are often criticized due to Pursuit, but in this case I can handle nearly any Pursuit user excluding Scizor, who is an uncommon lead. This is also a big factor in stopping Gyarados, Swampert, and Suicune who would otherwise give this team some trouble.

Click to expand...

if your using celebi as a lead i think you should try this set, its really effective (:

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/celebi its the lead one xD

Funky Celebi. :o
It doesn't look like it can do a whole lot as the game goes on, though. It needs to counter some things more effectively, and since it has no Recover and I'll probably be using a Scarf Latias, it won't be able to heal and come in on Gyarados, Machamp, etc.

Hey
I'm a fan of CurseTar too
Just looking to note that you need to take out skarmory before using your tyranitar
If it comes down to one on one, skarmory vs tyranitar
skarmory will always win, even with 6 curses for tyranitar, due to lack of pp for payback
An alternative is to use crunch
More PP, and with a defence drop, tyranitar will eventually be able to eliminate skarmory once it runs out of roost pp

That's mainly why Magnezone is there. I have plenty of things that will lure in Skarm. Crunch is someting I've considered, but I'm going to tinker with Payback for now.
Oh and one more thing.
HOLY CRAP SHOGUN KO'D MACHIDA.

@George182
On second thought, you're right. I decided Gliscor needs Aerial Ace. Scizor can revenge kill Salamence with Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock and a bit of residual damage, and I decided on a Spec'd Latias (although I'm still largely considering the Scarf). Anway, thanks.

And if anyone is wondering about my last two comments, there were responses to now-removed comments.