Welcome to the newest round of rating practice teams. If you're an aspiring rater, then these will hopefully allow you to pick up on and address any problems with your rating, provide you with experience rating teams that have been specifically made to be as tough to rate as possible, and make you think creatively in order to find the best changes for the team. Any rates we receive will be replied to with personalized feedback by one of Halcyon., Jirachee, Nova, ShootingStarmie, or Trinitrotoluene. At the end of the round, we'll give some general hints and feedback on how things went, and post the best rate that we received as an example of how to rate the team.
Anyone is welcome to participate and send in their rate, and everyone will be guaranteed to receive feedback appropriate to the effort they put into their rate, regardless of their ability. However, to keep things fair, we won't be considering rates sent in by official Team Raters as winners of the best rate.
If you would like to participate in this round, PM your rate to ShootingStarmie no later than Saturday, 2 August 2014. Do not post rates in this thread.
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we're back! since i'm a lazy bum who doesn't use capitalization, note that spa = special attack, spd = special defense, and spe = speed. the team's goal is to get a sweep w/ one of mega gyarados or landorus.
gyarados @ gyaradosite | intimidate ** JAEGAR BAIT
adamant | 40 hp / 252 atk / 216 spe
• dragon dance
• waterfall
• earthquake
• ice fang
mega gyarados is this team's primary physical sweeper because of its ability to blast past unaware mons (quagsire, in particular). it forms a nice offensive core with landorus, with each being able to open up a sweep for the other. the moves are all standard, and the evs give gyarados a bit more bulk while retaining enough speed to outpace greninja after a dragon dance boost.
breloom @ focus sash | technician ** NOT WEED
adamant | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• spore
• bullet seed
• mach punch
• rock tomb
focus sash breloom is the team's usual lead due to its ability to incapacitate one member of the the opponent's team w/ spore. however, against sand offense, i try to keep breloom alive as long as possible to keep excadrill in check. while focus sash may seem an odd choice because of tyranitar, it works because breloom usually is koed before tyranitar has to come in. the focus sash also gives breloom some utility as an emergency revenge killer, assuming no hazards are up.
thundurus @ life orb |prankster ** GET REKT
naive | 56 atk / 200 spa / 252 spe
• thunder wave
• thunderbolt
• knock off
• superpower
thanks to prankster thunder wave, thundurus is this team's "oh shit, gottago fast stop that boosted sweeper" button. in addition to keeping boosted sweepers down, thundurus also acts as a chansey and lati twin lure thanks to its access to knock off. superpower sees use in the last slot to dent tyranitar, non-sand rush / scarf excadrill and ferrothorn.
landorus @ life orb | sheer force ** THE FINAL BOSS
timid | 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
• earth power
• focus blast
• psychic
• calm mind
cm lando is powerful as fuk. it gives stall lacking assault vest tornadus-t or specially defensive unaware clefable trouble thanks to its incredible power. with a calm mind boost, it can actually 2hko chansey w/ focus blast, which is no small feat. i didn't use sludge wave on lando because earth power hits most of sludge wave's intended targets hard enough. tl;dr: lando will wreck your shit.
aegislash @ leftovers | stance change ** MR. OP AS FUK
quiet | 244 hp / 12 def / 252 spa
• king's shield
• shadow ball
• shadow sneak
• flash cannon
aegislash is this team's pivot and primary check to a fuckton of powerful pokemon, such as terrakion and mega gardevoir. it can tank hits relatively well thanks to its excellent typing, and it can deliver the pain train to anything lacking a ghost resistance. flash cannon sees use over sacred sword or another option because it allows aegislash to lure in and heavily damage chesnaught, weakening it to the point where it cannot reliably stop gyarados from sweeping. shadow sneak gives aegislash the ability to perform the role of the executioner.
tyranitar @ choice scarf | sand stream ** MECHA-GOJIRA
jolly | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• crunch
• pursuit
• stone edge
• earthquake
scarf tyranitar was chosen to ensure that thundurus is not overwhelmed in the process of checking flyspam and other sweepers. tyranitar also has some utility thanks to its ability to check many prominent threats, such as the aforementioned flyspam, lati@s, genger, and opposing thundurus. tyranitar's sand stream also has quite a bit of use in disrupting opposing weather, which helps prevent megazard-y and politoed-based rain teams from having a field day with this team.
Anyone is welcome to participate and send in their rate, and everyone will be guaranteed to receive feedback appropriate to the effort they put into their rate, regardless of their ability. However, to keep things fair, we won't be considering rates sent in by official Team Raters as winners of the best rate.
If you would like to participate in this round, PM your rate to ShootingStarmie no later than Saturday, 2 August 2014. Do not post rates in this thread.
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we're back! since i'm a lazy bum who doesn't use capitalization, note that spa = special attack, spd = special defense, and spe = speed. the team's goal is to get a sweep w/ one of mega gyarados or landorus.

gyarados @ gyaradosite | intimidate ** JAEGAR BAIT
adamant | 40 hp / 252 atk / 216 spe
• dragon dance
• waterfall
• earthquake
• ice fang
mega gyarados is this team's primary physical sweeper because of its ability to blast past unaware mons (quagsire, in particular). it forms a nice offensive core with landorus, with each being able to open up a sweep for the other. the moves are all standard, and the evs give gyarados a bit more bulk while retaining enough speed to outpace greninja after a dragon dance boost.

breloom @ focus sash | technician ** NOT WEED
adamant | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• spore
• bullet seed
• mach punch
• rock tomb
focus sash breloom is the team's usual lead due to its ability to incapacitate one member of the the opponent's team w/ spore. however, against sand offense, i try to keep breloom alive as long as possible to keep excadrill in check. while focus sash may seem an odd choice because of tyranitar, it works because breloom usually is koed before tyranitar has to come in. the focus sash also gives breloom some utility as an emergency revenge killer, assuming no hazards are up.

thundurus @ life orb |prankster ** GET REKT
naive | 56 atk / 200 spa / 252 spe
• thunder wave
• thunderbolt
• knock off
• superpower
thanks to prankster thunder wave, thundurus is this team's "oh shit, gotta

landorus @ life orb | sheer force ** THE FINAL BOSS
timid | 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
• earth power
• focus blast
• psychic
• calm mind
cm lando is powerful as fuk. it gives stall lacking assault vest tornadus-t or specially defensive unaware clefable trouble thanks to its incredible power. with a calm mind boost, it can actually 2hko chansey w/ focus blast, which is no small feat. i didn't use sludge wave on lando because earth power hits most of sludge wave's intended targets hard enough. tl;dr: lando will wreck your shit.

aegislash @ leftovers | stance change ** MR. OP AS FUK
quiet | 244 hp / 12 def / 252 spa
• king's shield
• shadow ball
• shadow sneak
• flash cannon
aegislash is this team's pivot and primary check to a fuckton of powerful pokemon, such as terrakion and mega gardevoir. it can tank hits relatively well thanks to its excellent typing, and it can deliver the pain train to anything lacking a ghost resistance. flash cannon sees use over sacred sword or another option because it allows aegislash to lure in and heavily damage chesnaught, weakening it to the point where it cannot reliably stop gyarados from sweeping. shadow sneak gives aegislash the ability to perform the role of the executioner.

tyranitar @ choice scarf | sand stream ** MECHA-GOJIRA
jolly | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• crunch
• pursuit
• stone edge
• earthquake
scarf tyranitar was chosen to ensure that thundurus is not overwhelmed in the process of checking flyspam and other sweepers. tyranitar also has some utility thanks to its ability to check many prominent threats, such as the aforementioned flyspam, lati@s, genger, and opposing thundurus. tyranitar's sand stream also has quite a bit of use in disrupting opposing weather, which helps prevent megazard-y and politoed-based rain teams from having a field day with this team.