Sand Force
An OU Sandstorm Team
An OU Sandstorm Team
After finally getting back into pokemon after a year or so off, and playing around with some of the new archived RMTs, I got a feel for what I wanted to do and decided it was time to make my own. I've always been a fan of sandstorm teams, mainly because of my love for tyranitar, so I decided I'd start from there.
Overview
With this being my first team, I decided to go with something I knew worked, the defensive Jellicent/Ferrothorn core. Also, as I knew it would be a sandstorm team, I had to take either Tyranitar or Hippowdon, and after some playtesting I found that Hippowdon fit the team much better. After that, I decided it was time to throw in some offense. Landorus really packs a punch, especially in the sandstorm, and with U-turn allows me to get a feel for the enemy team, so I decided to take him as my semi dedicated revenge killer/scout. Magnezone was brought into the team to deal with all the other annoying Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory that could otherwise pose a problem for my team. Then I wanted a set up sweeper, and I thought Reuniclus both fit what I was looking for and patched up my fighting weakness a bit more.
Hippowdon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Roar
Even though I originally planned on using my good old T-Tar as my sand bringer, after playing around with the hippo I found he brought a lot more of what my team needed. Obviously he brings the sandstorm that the team is built around, and the ever prominent Stealth Rocks. Slack Off allows him to stay around for awhile, and earthquake lets him hit suprisingly hard between his base attack, STAB, and sandstorm bonus. Roar allows me to deal with anyone that gets a swords dance or dragon dance under their belt most of the time, and because I went specially defensive, he can even take a special hit or two and phaze out calm minders. He is usually my lead unless they have a politoed, or seem likely to start with a grass or water pokemon who would scare him out too fast.
Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn is up next, the first part of the ever common FerroJelli defensive core. He sets up my spikes, walls the majority of the physical attackers in the metagame, and between leech seed, leftovers, and protect can actually take on a surprising number of pokemon by himself. Although he has saved me from time to time by putting an end to an Outraging dragon, or by leech seed stalling their sweeper to death, he is probably the pokemon on the team that more often than not I just don't find a use for. I'm definitely open to any suggestions for a replacement for his slot.
Jellicent (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 Spe
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Scald
- Recover
- Taunt
Jellicent, the other half of my defensive core, is a suprising MVP for my team. I can't count the number of times it has solo stalled the last few pokemon on the opposing team entirely through burn, taunt, and recover. Even though she takes sandstorm damage, she really covers up the weaknesses to my team, and is probably one of the most frequent pokes on the entire team for me to send out. Will-O-Wisp and Scald both allow her to stop physical attackers cold, while her resistances and high base special defense allow her to sponge a great many special attacks as well. The EV spread may look a bit weird, but after playtesting I've found that being able to outspeed and taunt opposing politoed and skarmory was about the most useful thing I could get outta her EVs, and its served me very well. She is my lead against most rain teams because she can taunt the opposing toed who almost always tried to toxic or perish song, and burn the switch in afterwards. The only real concern I have about this set is Will-O-Wisp, as it misses more often than I would like it too and makes scalds burn somewhat redundant, but I've had more success with Wisp than Toxic, so I'm still using it for now
Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power (Ice)
The only pokemon on my team NOT running leftovers, Landorus packs a huge punch in everything, especially in the sandstorm. With a choice scarf he also outspeeds most of the metagame even at +1, and thus serves as my revenge killer as well as a late game cleanup. Earthquake is the obligatory STAB that pretty much OHKO's anything that doesn't resist it in the sand after entry hazard damage. U-Turn allows me to scout the enemy team and get a feel for how my opponent likes to play, as well as still punching wholes in enemy grass and psychics. Rock Slide hits those flyers that avoid the earthquake, and I've found it to be more successful for me than stone edge just because a miss can end Landorus immediately, and I've one once or twice due to some lucky flinch hax off rock slide. Hidden Power (Ice) allows me to deal with Landorus's biggest enemy, Gliscor, and also allows me to deal with dragon dancers as he usually still outspeeds them with his scarf and gets the OHKO with the super effective Ice.
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power (Fire)
Magnezone has been possibly the biggest surprise for me on this team, he is probably the reason for my win in about 1/4 games. I originally brought him in just to eliminate annoying steel type walls like Skarmory, Forretress, and Ferrothorn, but after a friend showed me the sub-charge set, he became so much more. The premise is simple, switch him in to an enemy steel, set up a sub that they can't break usually, charge beam up as high as you can, then take out the steel and usually one or two more pokemon afterwards, if not the entire team. Hidden Power Fire is to take out a Scizor before it has the chance to break my with its Superpower if its not locked onto something else, and Thunderbolt can take out Skarmory without giving it a chance to Whirlwind me out. The only flaws I have with this set are that it doesn't have as much coverage I'd like with only Fire and Electric attacks, and that it doesn't really serve much of a purpose against a team without any steels, although it can still set up against many rain dance teams as well due to its resistances and the weakened fire moves.
Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
Ah, Reuniclus, my other MVP. If he can get out there and get just one or two calm minds under his belt, its exceptionally easy for him to sweep entire teams. The important thing to say about this set is that I run Psyshock over Psychic to win Calm Mind wars and to do a surprising amount of damage to special walls like Blissey and Chansey. All in all he seals up my weakness to fighting alongside Jellicent, and will sweep hard if the opponent gives him the slightest chance to.
Thanks for reading, any advice, comments, or reccomendations would be much appreciated! I promise to playtest (almost) any suggestions, so thanks in advance!
