A VGC 2013 Sand team

[StreetSmartPanda]

I've used this Sand team previously at a few local VGC 2012 tournaments (Australia don't get official VGC events ;_;), and it was pretty successful, so I wanted to bring it into the VGC 2013 metagame, but fix it up a bit.

The team

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 28 Def / 116 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Protect

Tyranitar, one of the two main Pokemon of this team, bringing the sandstorm to give my team the support it needs. The EVs for this Tyranitar were taken from here, with a few edits. The 252HP/28Def EVs allow Tyranitar to survive an unboosted Meteor Mash from Metagross and a Close Combat from a Jolly max Attack Terrakion relatively well from full health with the Chople Berry. The 116 SDef EVs make Tyranitars Special Defence higher than it's Defence to screw over Download users, and to take special hits a lot more comfortably. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack so that Tyranitar can hit harder, and the Brave nature with 2 Speed IVs to outslow other weather starters and get Sandstorm up at the start of the match, and to outspeed other minimum Speed Tyranitars.
For the moveset, it's standard Tyranitar. Crunch and Rock Slide are dual-STAB, and have a chance to lower Defence/flinch respectively, Low Kick is to hit Steel-types, and Protect is standard on just about every non-Choice Pokemon in VGC.

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- Protect

Terrakion is a hard-hitter, with it's massive Attack and Speed stats, it's able to hit hard and fast, leaving big dents in anything that doesn't resist it's STABs. Rock Slide and Close Combat are the standard moves for Terrakion in Doubles, with Quick Attack being the third attack to quickly finish off a weakened opponent, or get one last hit in before it goes down. Max Attack and Speed EVs are so Terrakion can be as fast and strong as it can, and an Adamant Nature is used over Jolly to get a guaranteed OHKO on 252/4 Tyranitar through the Chople Berry. A Focus Sash is used to work with Close Combats Defence drops, always leaving Terrakion with at least 1 HP remaining.

Latios (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Latios is a powerful special attacker, who did wonders back in VGC 2012. Draco Meteor and Psychic are Latios' dual-STAB, with Draco Metoer working with the White Herb, and Psychic being changed from Psyshock for the extra base power+potential SDef drop. Ice Beam was chosen for the 3rd move to hit the Therian trio for SE damage. Max SAtk and Speed with a Timid nature are to speed-tie with other Lati@s. White Herb is the item chosen after seeing it used on a Rain team in the VGC 2012 finals, and I just love the idea of being able to fire off two full-strength Draco Meteors before having to switch, although I will probably change it to Haban Berry with Dragon Pulse.

Rotom-W @ Electric Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect

Rotom-W is my main Rain counter. Rotom-W works well with this team by having a much needed Ground immunity, as well as dealing with Water Pokemon. The EV spread is standard Rotom-W, with the extra 4 EVs going into SDef over Speed to take the various special attacks hurled at Rotom slightly better. Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump are an excellent dual-STAB combination, with Hidden Power Grass to take out Rotom-Ws mortal enemy, Gastrodon. With Electric Gem, Thunderbolt is a clear OHKO on non-Wacan Berry Politoed, and dishing out severe damage to those carrying the Wacan Berry.

Excadrill (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 188 Atk / 188 SDef / 132 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake
- Protect

Excadrill is an absolute monster in the sand, outspeeding a large majority of the metagame in the sand, and being able to do a lot of damage to them before going down. Earthquake is Excadrill's only good STAB attack, hitting both opponents, and only my Terrakion and Tyranitar (if I don't Protect). Rock Slide has great offensive synergy with Earthquake, hitting the Flying and levitating Pokemon, and having a chance to flinch. X-Scissor rounds off the set by hitting Lati@s and Cresselia for SE damage, which is always nice. Now, with the EVs, which are also modified from the above link. 132 Speed EVs lets Excadrill hit 250 Speed in Sandstorm, outspeed everything up to and including neutral nature max Speed Cloyster after a Shell Smash and other things like Scarfed Darmanitan and Yanmega at +1. The 188 SDef EVs let Excadrill take Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Metoers from Latios and max SpA Heatran's Heat Wave from full health, and the rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack with an Adamant nature to give Excadrill more power, and a Life Orb is to give Excadrill more attacking power.

Cresselia (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Psyshock
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Trick Room

Cresselia is an amazing supporter in the VGC, with excellent bulk and a great supporting movepool. The EVs are standard Specially Defensive Cress, with a Calm nature. For the movepool, Psyshock hits Hitmontop hard and prevents Cresselia from becoming Taunt bait, Icy Wind slows down the opposing team, pressuring my opponent to switch, Helping Hand boosts the strength of her partner, which works extra well with Excadrill as Cresselia cannot be hit by Earthquake, and Trick Room is to counter opposing Trick Room teams, which give my team hell.



Overall, I've found this team to migrate fairly well to the new metagame, but there are a few kinks to be worked out. For example, Terrakion is usually a dead weight, not being much help or entirely useful. Another thing is Latios' item issue and it's 3rd move, which I'm still not 100% happy with.

Thank you for taking the time to read and rate my team :D

 

[tlyee61]

you're wasting evs on ttar, 108 atk gives the same stat point.
(reserved for a possible later rate)

 

[Majestic Electric]

Glad sand is getting some love! That aside, this team looks very promising and hopefully I can help you out a bit.

Even with Rotom-W, this team still has a major weakness to Rain. I'd recommend giving Gastrodon a try. With Storm Drain, Gastrodon makes all water attacks useless and increases its own power instead. It also has a great defensive typing that abuses Rain and won't let it be damaged by Sand recoil, which is a plus! Gastrodon can also support your team with Icy Wind. Lastly, its low speed stat can help to turn the tides when under Trick Room if Cresselia goes down early.

I also see a large weakness to Grass. Although Sunny Day teams are uncommon, they are packed with Sun abusers and Grass-types. Venusaur is the main mon to watch for as it has Chlorophyll. Since you said Terrakion was being deadweight on your team, I'd recommend replacing him with Heatran. As a Fire-type, Heatran abuses the sunlight and becomes extremely powerful. Being part Steel is also a big "f**k you!" to Grass-types. In addition, Heatran makes an excellent revenge killer when equipped with a Choice Scarf.

Summary of Changes

Rotom-W -> Gastrodon
Terrakion -> Heatran

Good luck with the team!

 

[tlyee61]

Glad sand is getting some love! That aside, this team looks very promising and hopefully I can help you out a bit.

Even with Rotom-W, this team still has a major weakness to Rain. I'd recommend giving Gastrodon a try. With Storm Drain, Gastrodon makes all water attacks useless and increases its own power instead. It also has a great defensive typing that abuses Rain and won't let it be damaged by Sand recoil, which is a plus! Gastrodon can also support your team with Icy Wind. Lastly, its low speed stat can help to turn the tides when under Trick Room if Cresselia goes down early.

I also see a large weakness to Grass. Although Sunny Day teams are uncommon, they are packed with Sun abusers and Grass-types. Venusaur is the main mon to watch for as it has Chlorophyll. Since you said Terrakion was being deadweight on your team, I'd recommend replacing him with Heatran. As a Fire-type, Heatran abuses the sunlight and becomes extremely powerful. Being part Steel is also a big "f**k you!" to Grass-types. In addition, Heatran makes an excellent revenge killer when equipped with a Choice Scarf.

Summary of Changes

Rotom-W -> Gastrodon
Terrakion -> Heatran

Good luck with the team!

when he adds gastro and heatran, they do form a solid core, but the team still get raped by ludicolo in rain or any other weather besides sand. the only "check" to it is exca's x-scissor or by double targetting it. it can hit everything on the team for at least neutral with *water move*, giga drain/grass knot and ice beam. I would suggest maybe virizion in place of terrakion so you at least have a chance (even though ice beam is probably a 2/3hko) and plus, it has better synergy with the rest of your team.

EDIT: now for an actual rate

Terrakion < Virizion

Latios White Herb < Dragon Gem (can be screwed over by scrafty/landorus-t/hitmontop's intimidate which is soooooo common, plus you could switch out) and HP Fire < Ice Beam possibly (you already have cress to give an ice attack)

Rotom-W you're wasting EVs with HP Grass, i know you use 248 SpAtk with it, not sure about any other stats (basically - any sat with a 30 IV lower / increase the EVs by 4)

Excadrill : do the EVs specifically help survive anything? if not go for bulky excadrill with a spread of 172 HP / 64 Atk / 116 Def / 156 SpD and Chople Berry (The extra bulk allows Excadrill to survive Earthquake from Adamant Landorus, Heat Wave from Modest Chandelure, and Close Combat from Adamant Terrakion with the aid of Chople Berry.)

Cress: go with a spread of 252 HP / 52 Def / 28 SpAtk / 176 SpDef calm to 2HKO terrakion, virizion, hitmontop with psyshock, 2hko genies with ice beam and survive volcarona's +1 bug buzz and ttar's crunch (separately of course)

Ice Beam > Icy Wind

Hope this helps! :D

~Tommy