There was no way I could not participate in this lol.
Semi-TR Offensive Ground
Camerupt-Mega @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Rock Slide
- Substitute
Seismitoad @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SpA / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Wave
- Knock Off
Claydol @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Reflect
- Trick Room
- Light Screen
- Explosion
Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Hippowdon @ Leftovers / Eject Button
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Slack Off
Excadrill @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Rock Slide
- Substitute
Seismitoad @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SpA / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Wave
- Knock Off
Claydol @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Reflect
- Trick Room
- Light Screen
- Explosion
Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Hippowdon @ Leftovers / Eject Button
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Slack Off
Excadrill @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
So I decided to actually take a different route from the other teams posted. I wanted to make sure Camerupt was the star of this team, and was abused to its fullest potential. The biggest thing holding it back was its speed, so with the aid of Trick Room (and Screens for that matter) it's able to become a lot more threatening. I also decided to actually run sand as opposed to running sandless, which admitidly was difficult to pull off since you lose out on other quirky options, but Excadrill, to put it simply, threatens such a large quantity of the metagame due to its coveted speed tier under sand and raw wallbreaking power. Doing that also allows me to run both Light Screen and Reflect on Calydol as opposed to being forced to put SR on it, so even if I can't Trick Room at that moment, I'm able to create other sweeping opportunities rather easily. Without further delay, I'll get into the more in-depth details and rationality behind each of the Pokemon I've chosen:
Mega Camerupt was one of the best Megas to run on Ground teams in gen 6, thanks to its amazing offensive typing, special wallbreaking power, and its immunity to burns. In gen 7, while it has definitely declined from its former glory, Trick Room turns it into a massive threat that can now not only hit absurdly hard and limit switches, but it can now actually outspeed things. While giving it speed investment almost seems counter-intuitive, it's there to outspeed Toxapex outside of Trick Room, as well as Slowbro and Ferrothorn, who would otherwise be pretty annoying to not be able to stay into. The reasoning behind that is you want to save you're immediate Trick Room abuse until the very last second, once things that would be problematic for it are out. Even with investment, you're still slower than a good 90% of the metagame. As for its moves, I think the attacks are pretty self-explanatory, but Rock Slide is used over Ancient Power to guarantee an OHKO on Volcarona if it manages to get to +1 (when with Mega Camel being Modest). Substitute I decided to use over additional coverage (which in all honesty is not relaly necessary) or Toxic/SR because its able to give Mega Camel an emergency blanket to stay in for at least 1 extra turn to something that would otherwise pressure it out, and be able to deal a massive amount of damage. It also comes in handy in the case that Breloom tries to stop your TR sweep with a Spore if its sash is in tact. All around, Mega Camerupt is absurdly strong, and Trick Room abuse makes it all the more threatening!
Seismitoad is absolutely mandatory on this team, to cover up Mega Camerupt (and 4/6 of the rest of the teams) Water weakness. It's also chosen over Gastrodon mainly to check Azumarill, but to also give me a little extra offensive prowess and utility. Choice Specs would be an understandable item to run over AV, however I would not be guaranteeing or changing any kills I would already be making without it, so the extra bulk if anything I found to be more reliable. The given EV spread is meant to allow it to outrun Adamant non-scarf Tapu Bulu, and be able to KO with Sludge Wave, as well as Adamant Diggersby. Otherwise, pretty clear what each attacking move is chosen for, however Knock Off is mandatory in order for Mega Camerupt to break Porygon2 reliably, who would otherwise either threaten or hard wall me. Seismitoad, while underhwhelming, blanket checks a lot of the problems my team would have without it.
Claydol is the most quirky part of this team, and it's able to seriously buff Mega Camerupt. While otherwise, there is really no point in using this, in this case it's proven to work nicely. Claydol has 2 jobs, to set up screens early match, and to late match set up Trick Room for Mega Camerupt to sweep. Explosion is to allow it not only to give Mega Camerupt a free switch-in and abuse a maximum of 4 turns under TR, but its able to deal heavy damage to anything that decides to stay in against it and let it set up.
Garchomp's slot was the most difficult one to decide on, as I was also considering Bandoswine and Landorus-T (either Rockium, Gravity, or both) as physical wallbreakers. The facts that eventually led me to make my decision was Garchomp's speed tier outside of TR, its strong capability to threaten quite a bit with Z-Outrage, and the role it can play in the Dragon matchup without needing to rely on Camerupt to check Mega Charizard Y (who is way too prevalent right now to not have a dedicated check to). While it would have been nice to have a 2nd reliable TR abuser (outside of Excadrill not under sand arguably), Garchomp proved to be a lot more consistent, and in general I'm able to easily break/threaten more things all around than I would either of those two. Light Screens only makes it all the more dangerous, as it's able to set up against Pokemon it normally would not be able to, such as Keldeo or Rotom-W. It's Z-Move has fantastic generla damage output, and it allows me to additionally 1 time use a Dragon attack without risking being locked.
While it could seem odd I'm running sand on a TR team, any other scarfer to use outside of that I found to be quite underwhelming (Garchomp, Krook, and Landorus-T don't threaten nearly as much as Excadrill under sand). Not to mention, with only 1 really viable TR setter, who arguably is not amazing as it is, abusing a full-TR team would not be as consistent. That is why I decided to run Hippowdon, who sets sand, set up Rocks, and spreads Toxic onto common defoggers as walls, and Excadrill, who is one of my sweeping/cleaning options that can work proficiently outside of TR. It also helps tremendously against Ice, Psychic, Fairy, Water, and Dragon, all of which I would have more trouble with to varying degrees otherwise. To put it plainly, Excadrill under sand does so much more than anytihng on a sandless team could ever do, you have a sweeper and a wallbreaker all in one (who technically is also able to abuse TR not under sand, since 275 speed is nothing impressive, and quite a bit actually outspeed it otherwise).
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