Captain Planet (OU Sand Team)

[BeyondOurwillMatt]

Welcome to my 2nd RMT! This is a team I've also recently made with my Balanced OU team. It's won the majority of the battles it's been in, but I feel like if I lose any momentum it crumbles. I'm hoping to get some constructive criticism from you guys, so please take a gander at my team!

Analysis

Tyrone (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Sand Stream | Impish (+Def, -SpA)
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Super Power

Tyranitar is my weather inducer. Nine times out of ten, I will lead with him, unless I see an opportunity that I can take full advantage of. Also, he's my specially defensive tank.

El Toro (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Justified | Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor

(NOTE: I am considering making him Choice Scarfed...)

Terrakion is my physical sweeper. CC and SE are hard hitting STABs that I have at my disposal, and X-Scissor and EQ are for coverage.

Serebii (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Natural Cure | Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
232 HP / 240 SpA / 36 Spe
- Leaf Storm
- Thunder Wave
- HP Fire
- Recover

Celebi, thanks to advice from ganj4lF, is now my first use of a Tinkerbell set. I can now paralyze and slow things down for my Terrakion to outspeed and destroy.

Maurie (Skarmory) @ Shed Shell
Levitate | Relaxed (+Def, -Spe)
252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Harsha suggested I remove my Bronzong for Skarmory to provide hazards and tank other pokes.

WhoYaGonnaCall (Rotom-W) @ Leftovers
Levitate | Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
248 HP / 32 SpA / 228 SpD
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Harsha also suggested removing my Trick Reuniclus for a Rotom-W to tank hurricane and water moves from Rain Teams.

Robin Williams (Landorus) @ Choice Scarf
Sand Force | Naive (+Spe, -SpD)
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Outrage

Landorus is another physical sweeper. With sand force in the storm, his Earthquake is menacing. I chose Choice Scarf to be able to outspeed other sweepers.

 

[ganj4lF]

Okay, there are quite a bit of problems with your team. You have any water resistance, which is incredibly crippling these days, and also you have three fighting weaknesses. This means Keldeo can easily wreck your team alone, Scarf versions can revenge anything especially in Rain (except Reuniclus) while Specs will basically get a kill every time thwy switch in. To fix this, I suggest removing Magnezone (really, it's not that useful in your team, your sweepers already hit hard Steels with Ground or Fighting STAB moves, and it's not that useful otherwise - it's also likely to be trapped by Dugtrio - Genesect chains) and using a Celebi instead. Celebi will provide the following things, that your team greatly appreciates: an additional Fighting and Water resist, a counter to Keldeo, and a status inducer. A Tinkerbell set will fix well here, being able to support via Thunder Wave (potentially catching faster things and making them slower than Terrakion, which can then obliterate them) while still retaining good offensive and defensive prowess. A specially defensive version is also possible, and enables you to take Specs Rain boosted Hydro Pumps from Keldeo and not be 2HKOed; the choice is up to you, depending on how many problems are you having with Rain boosted Water attacks.

Celebi

Tinkerbell:

Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Modest | 232 HP / 240 SpA / 36 Spe
- Leaf Storm
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power Fire
- Recover

Specially Defensive:

Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Calm | 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Wave / Leech Seed / Reflect / Perish Song

I'd also strongly suggest to give your Bronzong Leftovers; Bronzong is your all-around tank, and won't only take physical attacks, but also is the only safe switch you have for Tornadus-T, and Lefties helps a lot slowly recovering HP. I'd also alter the moveset a bit; Dual Screens aren't that useful since you don't have any set-up sweeper or Sub user that can take advantage of that, and the poor coverage it has means that lots of things can just switch in, set up a Sub and start setting up nasty things (see Sub + 3 attacks Keldeo, SubCM Jirachi). A moveset of Hypnosis | Gyro Ball | Earthquake | Toxic / HP Ice will allow you to hit many things and avoid being set-up bait for the threats I cited before. Also, you may consider pumping some EVs into Attack to be abe to break certain Substitutes, but I don't have any precise benchmark to hit here. Zong can also set up SR, in case you want to consider a Choiced set on Tyranitar, although I don't really recommend it since having three Choice locked poes in not a great idea in general.

Other little things: Naive nature on Lando is useless unless you use some Special attack; use Jolly instead. Or just keep Naive, remove Outrage and use HP Ice, that is much more useful in general, allows you to revenge Dragons better and to not be complete Gliscor bait.

Hope my rate helped somewhat. Good luck for your team.

 

[Harsha]

Yeah, like ganj4lf said, you need a way to tank omnipresent Water-type moves. Right now, each and every one of your Pokemon is gutted by Choice Specs Politoed, and your only option to KO it is revenge killing. Choice Specs Keldeo is even worse as you are outright helpless. I can sympathize with your choosing Magnezone, as Skarmory can definitely be a bit troublesome, but Reuniclus is definitely not pulling its weight. The most common switch-ins to Reuniclus include Tyranitar, Scizor, and Genesect. Once Reuniclus uses Trick, yeah, those Pokemon are crippled, but so is your Reuniclus. I think you'd be much better served if you chose a better rain counter, so I would recommend using specially defensive Rotom-W in its place. This brings you a Pokemon to tank Hurricane and Water-type moves from rain teams. I'd run Leftovers with a spread of 248 HP / 32 SpA / 228 SpD with a Calm nature and a moveset of Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, Will-O-Wisp, and Pain Split.

Now Bronzong isn't doing anything for your team at this point. You already have Stealth Rock, so it's basically acting only as your switch-in to Garchomp and other Dragons. However, Bronzong has no reliable recovery, and your team doesn't really need dual screens to function at all. I think you'd be better suited if you used a specially defensive Skarmory in its place. This lets you tank stray hits from rain teams, sponge Fire-type moves that Dragons might use to hit you, and still wall the same threats Bronzong walls. It also provides Spikes support, which in my opinion is a great asset for your team. I'd run it with a Shed Shell and a spread of 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe with a Careful nature. The moveset would be Spikes, Roost, Whirlwind, Brave Bird. The Shed Shell guarantees Skarmory can still do its job against opposing DragMag teams, but Leftovers is an option if you feel like you can outplay them.

With that out of the way, I only have some minor moveset changes to help out. Currently, Outrage is not hitting anything except for Dragons, and Hidden Power Ice will hit all the Dragons you want to hit, only harder. You're already running a Naive nature anyways; I think you should go ahead and switch Outrage on Landorus out for Hidden Power Ice. On Magnezone, an Air Balloon is not really helping you out. Many good teams run two Choice Scarf users in this metagame, and I think changing your Magnezone to a Choice Scarf set would be beneficial to take on boosted Dragon-types and grab momentum in tandem with your VoltTurn core of Rotom-W and Landorus. The moveset would remain the same. Good luck, I hope I helped.

 

[BeyondOurwillMatt]

Okay, there are quite a bit of problems with your team. You have any water resistance, which is incredibly crippling these days, and also you have three fighting weaknesses. This means Keldeo can easily wreck your team alone, Scarf versions can revenge anything especially in Rain (except Reuniclus) while Specs will basically get a kill every time thwy switch in. To fix this, I suggest removing Magnezone (really, it's not that useful in your team, your sweepers already hit hard Steels with Ground or Fighting STAB moves, and it's not that useful otherwise - it's also likely to be trapped by Dugtrio - Genesect chains) and using a Celebi instead. Celebi will provide the following things, that your team greatly appreciates: an additional Fighting and Water resist, a counter to Keldeo, and a status inducer. A Tinkerbell set will fix well here, being able to support via Thunder Wave (potentially catching faster things and making them slower than Terrakion, which can then obliterate them) while still retaining good offensive and defensive prowess. A specially defensive version is also possible, and enables you to take Specs Rain boosted Hydro Pumps from Keldeo and not be 2HKOed; the choice is up to you, depending on how many problems are you having with Rain boosted Water attacks.

Celebi

Tinkerbell:

Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Modest | 232 HP / 240 SpA / 36 Spe
- Leaf Storm
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power Fire
- Recover

Specially Defensive:

Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Calm | 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Wave / Leech Seed / Reflect / Perish Song

I'd also strongly suggest to give your Bronzong Leftovers; Bronzong is your all-around tank, and won't only take physical attacks, but also is the only safe switch you have for Tornadus-T, and Lefties helps a lot slowly recovering HP. I'd also alter the moveset a bit; Dual Screens aren't that useful since you don't have any set-up sweeper or Sub user that can take advantage of that, and the poor coverage it has means that lots of things can just switch in, set up a Sub and start setting up nasty things (see Sub + 3 attacks Keldeo, SubCM Jirachi). A moveset of Hypnosis | Gyro Ball | Earthquake | Toxic / HP Ice will allow you to hit many things and avoid being set-up bait for the threats I cited before. Also, you may consider pumping some EVs into Attack to be abe to break certain Substitutes, but I don't have any precise benchmark to hit here. Zong can also set up SR, in case you want to consider a Choiced set on Tyranitar, although I don't really recommend it since having three Choice locked poes in not a great idea in general.

Other little things: Naive nature on Lando is useless unless you use some Special attack; use Jolly instead. Or just keep Naive, remove Outrage and use HP Ice, that is much more useful in general, allows you to revenge Dragons better and to not be complete Gliscor bait.

Hope my rate helped somewhat. Good luck for your team.

Yeah, like ganj4lf said, you need a way to tank omnipresent Water-type moves. Right now, each and every one of your Pokemon is gutted by Choice Specs Politoed, and your only option to KO it is revenge killing. Choice Specs Keldeo is even worse as you are outright helpless. I can sympathize with your choosing Magnezone, as Skarmory can definitely be a bit troublesome, but Reuniclus is definitely not pulling its weight. The most common switch-ins to Reuniclus include Tyranitar, Scizor, and Genesect. Once Reuniclus uses Trick, yeah, those Pokemon are crippled, but so is your Reuniclus. I think you'd be much better served if you chose a better rain counter, so I would recommend using specially defensive Rotom-W in its place. This brings you a Pokemon to tank Hurricane and Water-type moves from rain teams. I'd run Leftovers with a spread of 248 HP / 32 SpA / 228 SpD with a Calm nature and a moveset of Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, Will-O-Wisp, and Pain Split.

Now Bronzong isn't doing anything for your team at this point. You already have Stealth Rock, so it's basically acting only as your switch-in to Garchomp and other Dragons. However, Bronzong has no reliable recovery, and your team doesn't really need dual screens to function at all. I think you'd be better suited if you used a specially defensive Skarmory in its place. This lets you tank stray hits from rain teams, sponge Fire-type moves that Dragons might use to hit you, and still wall the same threats Bronzong walls. It also provides Spikes support, which in my opinion is a great asset for your team. I'd run it with a Shed Shell and a spread of 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe with a Careful nature. The moveset would be Spikes, Roost, Whirlwind, Brave Bird. The Shed Shell guarantees Skarmory can still do its job against opposing DragMag teams, but Leftovers is an option if you feel like you can outplay them.

With that out of the way, I only have some minor moveset changes to help out. Currently, Outrage is not hitting anything except for Dragons, and Hidden Power Ice will hit all the Dragons you want to hit, only harder. You're already running a Naive nature anyways; I think you should go ahead and switch Outrage on Landorus out for Hidden Power Ice. On Magnezone, an Air Balloon is not really helping you out. Many good teams run two Choice Scarf users in this metagame, and I think changing your Magnezone to a Choice Scarf set would be beneficial to take on boosted Dragon-types and grab momentum in tandem with your VoltTurn core of Rotom-W and Landorus. The moveset would remain the same. Good luck, I hope I helped.

Thank you both! I can't believe I was so blind before haha I guess I was just trying my best to run with Pokemon I've never really used before, but your advice has given me much insight. I'll make the changes as soon as possible! Thank you again.