Hi, me again. I had recently made a RMT Post here not too long ago, featuring a core of Mega Gallade and Tapu Lele. However, it was brought to my attention that this team that I had originally made was very similar to a team used by HSA in a tour. Granted, I understand that teams are bound to look very similar to one another at times, but a part of me wasn't satisfied with making a team that was already done. I went back to the drawing board, and, although I still do use the team I had previously made with several changes suggested to me, I still wanted something with my own sort of stamp to it. So, this is what I have come up with, though I admit that I've had a few issues with this, and would love another set of eyes to look over it.
Excadrill @ Steelium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Tyranitar-Mega @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
First thing first, I went back to the core thread, just like the first time I did with the Mega Gallade and Tapu Lele team, and looked for a core I hadn't seen done in my limited experience in what you'd all consider "low ladder". I know that this isn't necessarily the best place to pick out a unique core, as you run into some very weird things that should really never see the light of day in OU, but it was at least something to go off of. One thing I noted was that there are a LOT of weather oriented teams in low ladder, especially Rain. That being said, I've seen Rain, I've seen Sun, I've seen Aurora Veil Hail, but Sand doesn't seem to exist at all. So, I made the call to try a take on a Sandstorm Team, featuring Sand Rush Excadrill and Mega Tyranitar. Excadrill was the very standard Sand Rush set, I didn't want to deviate too far from what the template was provided, Swords Dance makes Excadrill not just go fast, but hit extremely hard as well, Earthquake and Iron Head are powerful STAB options, with Iron Head also activating our Steelium-Z for a very powerful one time nuke, and Rapid Spin is there for just a little bit of emergency utility. Tyranitar, on the other hand, acts as our enabler for Excadrill, setting up Sand upon switching in. Furthermore, Tyranitar holds further utility as our Stealth Rocks setter, though I've been considering running a different coverage move over Rocks, and give this job instead to Clefable. The rest of the boves are used to pressure teams with a massive punch, Stone Edge is our very hard hitting STAB, while Pursuit allows us to pick off switching targets that become too afraid to stick around. Finally, I remembered from my last RMT that it was a good idea to slightly tweak Smogon sets for my advantage, so, I decided to take a bit of a gamble and run Ice Punch over Fire Punch. This allows us to catch common threats to our Excadrill's sweep off guard with a surprise icy fist, primariy Landorous-Therian, Gliscor, and Garchomp.
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
Excadrill not only needs checks to threats that could stop it's threatening sweep, but teammates who can come in and take hits from things that may threaten it. Tangrowth acts as a fantastic check to Greninja, specifically Ash Greninja. It's just big, bulky, can easily come in and out despite the constant chip it can take from Sandstorms thanks to Regenerator. Giga Drain is our STAB of choice, solely for the regeneration, though I was also considering Power Whip for this spot. Knock Off allows us to remove items nicely, allowing us to cripple item reliant sets, like Chancey, and allows us to potentially cripple some Choice Item users, reducing their Speed or Power drastically. Hidden Power Ice is our go to option whenever we see, again, Garchomp, Landorous-Therian, or Gliscor coming in on the switch. Finally, Earthquake is very nice to help nail Heatran, Magearna, and Mega Mawile.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 28 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
Another massive threat to our success is none other than Mega Alakazam, as it can trace our Sand Rush and easily one shot us before we can even move. Of the options available to check Mega Alakazam, I chose Celesteela to take the reigns. This set is unchanged from the Smogon set, so the goal here is pretty simple. Celesteela's EVs allow it to boost Sp. Def upon a kill, which, granted, doesnt happen too often, but it can be useful in those strange cases where it does come up. Leech Seed is the only source of health regeneration Celesteela has, so it is a bit of a "must run" option, along with Protect. Heavy Slam is great for general STAB damage, and Flamethrower is used so that it isn't hard walled by Ferrothorn.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
These last two members came after some initial testing around with the team. Throughout matches earlier on with this team, I began to realize that my team struggles standing on its own two feet at times due to being worn down over time. Clefable helps remedy this issue. I'm running a Magic Guard set to ignore passive chip damage from Sand, and I also chose to run Thunder Wave over Knock Off to help with naturally fast threats, such as Mega Lopunny. Moonblast is general STAB, and I'm running Wish and Protect for reliable healing, while also keeping my other teammates on their feet, keeping them from being totally worn down.
Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Toxic
This last slot was really weird for a while, as I wasn't, nor am I now, sure as to who makes sense for this spot. In order to assist with Excadrill dealing massive damage, I needed an answer to those bulky Steel Types that were immune to Earthquake, like Celesteela and Skarmory, but I also needed a reliable answer to beiting up on bulky Grass types as well, like Tangrowth and Ferrothorn. Upon me realizing this, I wasn't really sure what to do, so I decided to try something a little bit weird, just to see if it would work out. Rotom-Heat seems to actually be doing a pretty alright job, holding a bunch of very useful resistances, another immunity to ground, and, of course, hits all of the mentioned threats very, very hard. I wasn't exactly sure how to build this Pokemon for the OU meta, so this is actually the standard set that one would find in UU, and it seems to be holding it's own reasonably well, though a part of me still questions if this was a good call, or if i should try something else. Defog acts as a more safe way to remove hazards, despite the weakness to Rocks, Volt Switch is for both Electric STAB and momentum, Overheat is a powerful nuke of an attack, even without much Sp Atk investment, and finally, Toxic is mainly run to cripple defensive walls.
Anyways, that's what I have for now. Granted, when I first set out trying to make this team, I had a very different vision as to what this would be, but somehow would up with this really bulky take on a Sand team. I enjoy the teambuilding process quite a bit, but this one has me a bit stumped. To start, I find this team very reliant on the chip damage from Sandstorm and Rocks, but the team itself tends to get worn down quite a bit, and relies a lot on passing heals via Wish or Leech Seed, so the team has a little bit of an identity crisis. It wants to be stally, but can struggle to do so. It can hit hard, but it also seems to struggle to do this at times as well. I want someone with more experience to give this team a try and point out what should change to achieve it's goal more successfully, so I came here to see if I could achieve this goal. Of course, any and all advice is welcome, I can't hope to improve without critique after all. Thank you for reading this, it means a lot.
