I've been playing Gen 5 for a decent while now and sand is my favorite style. I've gone through a few versions but has seemed to be most consistent. note i didn't mention much in terms of these pokemons weaknesses due to time constraints. exams in case you're wondering. anyway here's the team. also if you see the poll, i can assure you, i don't.
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
I have Tyranitar as the seter of sand because it threatens the magic guard psychics unlike hippowdon from what I've seen. the ev's given are to get the guaranteed 2hko on reuniclus with crunch while still maximising special bulk. Crunch and Pursuit are there as it's best stab moves, and eq is to threaten heatran which i just struggle with for some reason. (not sure if it's a weakness in the team or just bad plays on my part). Right now I'm split on weather (ha) to run stone edge or superpower. stone is stronger than crunch and actually can pressure specially defensive variants of skarmory. superpower on the other hand hits switch-ins to tyranitar hander all other moves on the set like terrakion, breloom, hippowdon, and scizor. i did go with stone edge thanks to it's lack of drawbacks outside of accuracy.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Skarmory is chosen since the spikes support is quite nice and un like ferrothorn it's fighting neutral so it's harder for threats like terrakion, keldeo (with sand up at least, and no specs), and breloom to threaten it. i find those kind of difficult to the team so that's nice. also i find it has an easier time setting spikes, not sure if this is true but i did notice it. whirlwind racks up spikes damage and dominates setup sweeper. brave bird alongside rocky helmet is to pressure excadrill, and keep up spike in the long run. the given ev spread avoids a 2ko from brelooms low sweep and mach punch, and rest is dumped into spdef.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Night Shade
- Toxic
- Recover
jellecet complements skar pretty much perfectly, in opinion. the only spinner it can't block is excadrill and skarmory tends to beat offensive variants in the long run, from experience. this spread isn't 2hko by hp grass or ghost keldee so long s it lacks specs, (how is it still legal) this really helps as you might notice i have no keldeo switches aside from jellicent. i used to run gastrodon is this slot as it was more offensive and checked thundurus quite well, but it's spin blocking capabilities was just to good to pass up and i think it is better in more situations.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
the amount of okos i have gotten with this scares me. i picked it over reuniclus as i peffer this things more immediate power. it absolutely murders with spikes up, it did influence my decision to run jelli. the evs are pretty straightforward. max spa and speed with timid nature make it hard and be hard to revenge kill without priority. the moves should be easy to understand as well. psychic for spammable stab move, focus blast beats dark types, single beam beats other psychics, and hp ices coverage is just necessary on a mon that pretty much lives and dies off okos. that's why it has focus sash, to make as hard to revenge kill as possible.
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
sand killer number 2, i prefer more immediate power so cb ofver sw. in sand it can survive even a +1 reuniclus psychic with minimum investment on both mons. it' fast hits hard and can take a hit if need be and ko the revenge killer, so basically it's physical zam. it also always 2kos skarmory so so walling it outside of immuniters can be difficult. stone is it's other stab and is great for flying types but otherwise inferior to close combat. x-scissor good for the reuniclus match up. and quick attack is there to pick of low hp target, ussal focus sash alakazam.
this next is mostly filler because i have no idea what to put here.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Excadrill is there to relive hazzard pressure and frankly that's it. i'm not really sure how to use it. again it mostly a filler pick because it because for this team set up right now, i don't know what fits. i experimented a little with some others like landorus-t, breloom, hippowdon, and others, but exca's ny unblockable spin just seemed like the right call. i did use mold breaker set with stealth rock or iron head and max hp instead of speed with an adamant nature, but liked this one better as it it's so hard.
Alright so there's my team. I would have liked to go in a bit more detail, particularly about their weaknesses but it's exam week at the highschool and i need to be ready for.
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
I have Tyranitar as the seter of sand because it threatens the magic guard psychics unlike hippowdon from what I've seen. the ev's given are to get the guaranteed 2hko on reuniclus with crunch while still maximising special bulk. Crunch and Pursuit are there as it's best stab moves, and eq is to threaten heatran which i just struggle with for some reason. (not sure if it's a weakness in the team or just bad plays on my part). Right now I'm split on weather (ha) to run stone edge or superpower. stone is stronger than crunch and actually can pressure specially defensive variants of skarmory. superpower on the other hand hits switch-ins to tyranitar hander all other moves on the set like terrakion, breloom, hippowdon, and scizor. i did go with stone edge thanks to it's lack of drawbacks outside of accuracy.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Skarmory is chosen since the spikes support is quite nice and un like ferrothorn it's fighting neutral so it's harder for threats like terrakion, keldeo (with sand up at least, and no specs), and breloom to threaten it. i find those kind of difficult to the team so that's nice. also i find it has an easier time setting spikes, not sure if this is true but i did notice it. whirlwind racks up spikes damage and dominates setup sweeper. brave bird alongside rocky helmet is to pressure excadrill, and keep up spike in the long run. the given ev spread avoids a 2ko from brelooms low sweep and mach punch, and rest is dumped into spdef.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Night Shade
- Toxic
- Recover
jellecet complements skar pretty much perfectly, in opinion. the only spinner it can't block is excadrill and skarmory tends to beat offensive variants in the long run, from experience. this spread isn't 2hko by hp grass or ghost keldee so long s it lacks specs, (how is it still legal) this really helps as you might notice i have no keldeo switches aside from jellicent. i used to run gastrodon is this slot as it was more offensive and checked thundurus quite well, but it's spin blocking capabilities was just to good to pass up and i think it is better in more situations.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
the amount of okos i have gotten with this scares me. i picked it over reuniclus as i peffer this things more immediate power. it absolutely murders with spikes up, it did influence my decision to run jelli. the evs are pretty straightforward. max spa and speed with timid nature make it hard and be hard to revenge kill without priority. the moves should be easy to understand as well. psychic for spammable stab move, focus blast beats dark types, single beam beats other psychics, and hp ices coverage is just necessary on a mon that pretty much lives and dies off okos. that's why it has focus sash, to make as hard to revenge kill as possible.
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
sand killer number 2, i prefer more immediate power so cb ofver sw. in sand it can survive even a +1 reuniclus psychic with minimum investment on both mons. it' fast hits hard and can take a hit if need be and ko the revenge killer, so basically it's physical zam. it also always 2kos skarmory so so walling it outside of immuniters can be difficult. stone is it's other stab and is great for flying types but otherwise inferior to close combat. x-scissor good for the reuniclus match up. and quick attack is there to pick of low hp target, ussal focus sash alakazam.
this next is mostly filler because i have no idea what to put here.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Excadrill is there to relive hazzard pressure and frankly that's it. i'm not really sure how to use it. again it mostly a filler pick because it because for this team set up right now, i don't know what fits. i experimented a little with some others like landorus-t, breloom, hippowdon, and others, but exca's ny unblockable spin just seemed like the right call. i did use mold breaker set with stealth rock or iron head and max hp instead of speed with an adamant nature, but liked this one better as it it's so hard.
Alright so there's my team. I would have liked to go in a bit more detail, particularly about their weaknesses but it's exam week at the highschool and i need to be ready for.
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