Back with Sand

[ComeAtMe]

Hello! I just came back to Pokemon and I would love some help with my sand-stall team. I haven't played since about a month after Black and White came out in English so if you know of any changes that came with BW2 that affect my team that would be fantastic. I forget where the website is with the gifs of all the Pokemon so I guess we'll have to go without pictures. But if someone does know the site where to find gifs like these that would be awesome.


Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge

Tyranitar is one of the few Pokemon that I've already changed from when I first made this team. Before he was a mixed attacker with Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Rock Slide and I think the last move was Crunch, but I like him with a Choice Band better. I feel like this set is pretty self explanatory, attacks that can hit things hard and Pursuit because it's useful. He's also serves as a great wall breaker with over 600 attack.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef / 4 HP
Calm Nature
- Protect
- Wish
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic

Blissey is the best special wall for a reason. She can take just about any attack and can pass huge wishes. I like the set but I'm not sure about the EVs. That's what Smogon said to do but I'm still not sure if that's the best EV spread.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Toxic
- Waterfall

I'm sure that the first Pokemon everyone will say to take out of my team is Quagsire but give him a chance. Unaware is one of the most useful abilities in the game, making him able to stop any boosting sweeper without a grass attack. His once stopped a +6 special attack Latios behind a sub and then swept the rest of their team. After a few curses he's able to get past almost anyone, but Ferrothron is a notable exception. I've considered removing toxic and adding earthquake for coverage but he wouldn't be able to hit too many more Pokemon and it stops him from KO'ing pokemon like Jellicent.

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes

I'm not sure if I want to keep this guy, but he's pretty useful. He's bulky enough to almost guarantee a rapid spin and toxic spikes add to the fun. Scald and Ice Beam are useful coverage wise but Liquid Ooze is probably my favorite part about him. I get to switch into leech seeds and everyone always thinks that using Giga Drain against him is a great idea.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Ice Fang

Substitute and Protect make him difficult to kill and let him attack safely. While he can be useful he probably accomplishes the least on my team right now. He's not strong enough to do a lot of damage and I feel link there's got to be someone who can check similar threats and be useful. Maybe I add Jellicent here as a spin blocker? I'm not really sure, but a spin blocker kind of sounds nice now that I think about it.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 168 SDef / 252 HP / 88 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn's fantastic. He's a defensive staple for most of the metagame, and it's pretty obvious why. I do often wish that he had another move slot or two to add thunder waver or toxic, but beyond that I have no problems with him. The Rocky Helmet is super fun I do sometimes miss Leftovers when Leech Seed can't make up for it.


All in all, I think it's a pretty good team. I'm sitting at about 1450 on the Pokemon Showdown ladder but any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Hi there!

This is a really cool sand team you got here, with good use of underrated threats such as Quagsire, so props on that. However, this team suffers from some fatal flaws and common weaknesses. So, hopefully with my rate, this team can combat the threats that am about to address, and more importantly iron out those flaws. With all that said, let's get to my rate. First up you have a huge weakness to Offensive Rain Teams. Rain teams that carry Tornadus and Keldeo can simply run right through your team, as you have literally nothing to switch in to their movesets. Another huge to your team is Life Orb Mamoswine. Mamoswine can OHKO or 2HKO every one of your Pokemon with it's STAB moves (Blissey is KO'd by Superpower). First up, to remedy your Tornadus and Keldeo weakness, I would like to suggest running a Special Defensive Jirachi over your current Blissey. Specially Defensive Jirachi can check a whole bunch of threats to your team, such as the aftermentioned Tornadus and Keldeo, and some other threats, by utilizing it's notorious ParaFlinch strategy to annoy opponents to no end. Not only that, but Jirachi can also pass huge wishes to your other Pokemon and it also provides vital Stealth Rock support. Moving forward, I would recommend running Skarmory over your Ferrothorn. Skarmory fulfills almost the same role as Ferrothorn, but it has Roost for reliable recovery, and WHirlwind for those pesky setup sweepers, and like i said before, it helps you counter Mamoswine. Now that I have fixed your huge flaws, I would like to make some nitpicks. First up, I would like to suggest running Protect on your Tentacruel over your current choice of Ice Beam. Protect is an excellent scouting move that also helps rack up some major burn and Toxic damage. Another nitpick is to run Toxic over Ice Fang on your Gliscor. Toxic can help immensely against those that are immune to Toxic Spikes, such as Dragonite & Salamence. Well, that's all I have to say for now. I hope my advice helped. Good luck and have fun in your future endeavours!​

Jirachi & Skarmory

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- Stealth Rock​

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird​

TL;DR

• Blissey

  

  -------------------> Special Defensive Jirachi

  

• Ferrothorn

  

  -------------------> Skarmory

  

• Tentacruel

  

  : Ice Beam -> Protect​

• Gliscor

  

  : Ice Fang -> Toxic​

~Dr Ciel~​

 

[ComeAtMe]

Dr Ciel, thanks for the advice, but I do have a few questions. My first is that are you sure that taking away both of my ice attacks is a good idea? I'd rather keep Tentacruel's Ice Beam of the two since it's more powerful and Tentacruel generally does better against the dragon types I would need an ice attack for.

Next I feel like Skarmory and Glicor would be redundant as they cover many of the same threats. Is that right or am I forgetting something? If I am forgetting something and Glicor covers a few more threats do you think there's a Pokemon who would be able to fill that role and do something else?

Also, what should I look out for that Blissey covers better than Jirachi?

I'm trying out your changes now but I won't make the edits on the original post until I decide if I want to keep them.

Thanks a bunch for your comments.