Emvee
Banned deucer.
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Hey Smogon community. Hopefully you all had a great time this holiday. So to start the year off big, I'm going to post one of my favorite teams to use nowadays. I don't usually post my teams on Smogon forums, but this one has worked really well so I felt I should share it with you all (also some of my friends encouraged me to do so lol). The team is amazing, and it has peaked very high on the ladder in a short time. I went as high as 1525 with this team before getting hax'd down to 1500, then I stopped the laddering since being exactly at 1500 looks pretty cool. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how quickly this team got me wins. It has allowed me to beat many high ranked players on the OU ladder. This Semi-Stall Sand Team is built around the Pokemon Suicune, which is not too commonly seen in OU. Suicune is the main Pokemon on the cover of Pokemon Crystal Version, hence the title, "Crystal Sand". Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this RMT.
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
Having the ability to outrun speedy stuff like Latios, Gengar, and Starmie, Scarf Tyranitar is really good for this team. Stone Edge of course is its strongest STAB move, wrecking stuff like +0 Volcarona, Ninetales, Abomasnow, Flying-types, etc. Crunch is essential to revenge kill Latios, Latias, Starmie, and to kill off Deo-D, Celebi, Jellicent, etc. Now here's something you don't see everyday on Scarf Tyranitar: Ice Beam. I've chosen to run Ice Beam over Pursuit for a few reasons. Firstly, strong players nowadays expect Pursuit and stay in with whatever they have. This can be problematic against something like Jellicent, which can get me burned and render my Tyranitar useless. Same for Celebi: Pursuit doesn't do very much if they don't switch and depending on the situation, it can cost Tyranitar its life. Since Tyranitar is not banded, Pursuit is relatively weak in this case, and doesn't KO full HP stuff if the opponent doesn't switch. Ice Beam allows me to take down +0 Special Landorus by surprise (something everyone uses nowadays), as well as catch Gliscors off guard. It also helps me against certain Physical Walls since Ice Beam is a Special move (example: Hippowdon). Ice Beam results this set to have a Hasty Nature, so it will hit Super Effective types harder due to a neutral SAtk. If you think Pursuit is more useful for you, feel free to change Ice Beam to Pursuit and run a Jolly nature, with the extra 4 EV's going to HP instead of SAtk. The final move is Superpower, which helps me revenge kill stuff like Banded/SD Terrakion, Lucario, and Heatran.
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Gliscor (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Acrobatics
Gliscor causes so much rage in battles it's hilarious. Sand Veil gets really annoying for your opponent especially when they miss on an important move (as I'm sure some of the people I faced with this team can recall). Substitute gives you that chance for your opponent to miss so you can set up your Sword Dance. It also can be used for scouting purposes, and for avoiding any status conditions. Sword Dance of course gets your attack up so you can wreck havoc with STAB Earthquake and Acrobatics. Flying Gem gives you that boost on Acrobatics and ups Acrobatics base power to 110 (since it does more damage when you don't have an item, and Flying Gem gets used up the moment you use Acrobatics). Gliscor resists Electric moves which is useful especially since the team is built around Suicune. Gliscor gets an amazing 289 speed which really when you think about it outruns so many kinds of Pokemon. Overall it's an amazing Pokemon that can even eliminate the likes of Rotom-W, since Hydro Pump gets a low chance of hitting.
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Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Like I said before, Suicune was the reason this team was made. It possesses amazing Defensive bulk, and even has the ability to withstand +2 Close Combat from a Life Orb Lucario at full HP, even after Rocks. The Suicune I've chosen to use is the CroCune set. Rest and Sleep Talk are the moves that protect Suicune from status and allow it to recover the HP it lost while setting up. Though it's Special Attack is pretty weak at first, setting up Calm Mind allows you to turn Suicune into an absolute monster with both durability and power. Suicune makes an excellent Mamoswine counter, as well as taking on a whole variety of Physical Attackers, such as Cloyster, Salamence, etc. Scald gives you that decent chance of burn, which can really help you to set up Calm Minds. The only trouble this set has is Pokemon that are immune to Water moves, such as Jellicent, Gastrodon, and Toxicroak. The team offers a variety of ways to take down each Pokemon. Jellicent can be KO'd by Tyranitar, Breloom, or Latias (after setting up). Gastrodon can be taken down by Breloom, Latias, and Acro Gliscor, and Toxicroak can be defeated with Gliscor or Latias. Once the water-immune Pokemon are eliminated from your opponents team, Suicune has no trouble whatsoever. Even after Calm Mind, Super Effective Pokemon like Rotom-W still can't take down Suicune. Calm Mind helps you beat lots of Special Attackers, like Life Orb Tornadus-T for example (which this team plays around in order to beat). It's really underrated, but extremely effective in the OU metagame.
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Breloom (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Low Sweep
Never underestimate the power of Banded Breloom. She works really well for this team as a Choice Band user. Spore isn't really needed since I don't want it to interfere with Burn from Suicune's Scald and Heatran's Lava Plume. Instead, I wanted my Breloom to have maximum power. Banded Mach Punch is amazing. It 2 hit KO's Genesect easily. It's great for finishing off weakened Pokemon as well. It helps me beat stuff like Terrakion, Stoutland, etc. Bullet Seed hits like a truck. It even takes resistant types with lower defense by surprise, doing massive damage to Pokemon like Tornadus-T that try and switch in on Loom (assuming you get like 4-5 seeds). Rock Tomb hits flying types really hard, and slows down incoming threats while getting a Technician boost. Low Kick also gets the technician boost. It can even 2 hit KO Skarmory and sometimes even Forretress after rocks. I used to have Banded Virizion in his place, however due to the fact that the team needed some priority as well as a multi hitting move Pokemon to break through subs and sashes (in case the weather wasn't in my favor), I switched to BandLoom.
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Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Roar
- Lava Plume
Heatran is my Specially Defensive wall, which like Breloom has great synergy with Suicune since it takes Grass type moves very well. It's also my Dragon tanker, having the ability to easily tank stuff like Draco Meteor, and sometimes Outrage. Stealth Rocks is of course the teams Hazard support. It's important you get Stealth Rocks up as early as you can in order to gradually weaken your opponent's team as they switch. Protect is used for scouting, and gaining some extra Leftovers HP. It can also be used to Burn Stall after Burn from Lava Plume. Roar is the teams method of Phazing, which helps me shuffle out Pokemon trying to set up on me, like CM Rachi, CM Latias, Volcarona, etc. Lava Plume is Heatran's main STAB move, which has the chance of Burning your opponent's Pokemon (similar to Scald). Heatran also helps me to counter Rock Polish Genesect, which wrecks so many unprepared teams in this metagame.
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Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
Latias is the Pokemon that I felt made this team finish strong. It really closes up the rest of the teams weaknesses, due to the fact that it has resistances to Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, and Fighting, as well as possessing immunity to Ground type moves. Calm Mind allows you to boost its already high Special Defense, while at the same time boosting your Special Attack in preparation for a sweep. Roost helps you heal any damage you have taken and helps to keep Latias alive longer. Dragon Pulse and Psyshock are your 2 STAB moves which takes down a variety of threats. She is probably the only Pokemon in OU that can take down all of the following threats at the same time: Keldeo, Breloom, Infernape, Terrakion, Rotom-W, Thundurus-T, as well as a variety of sun and rain sweepers. It's also my answer to Special Landorus.
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Semi-Stall teams were always my favorite play-style to run, besides Hyper Offense. Hopefully this team will encourage a lot more of you to use Suicune in the OU metagame, since it truly works so well in it. If you noticed, the team doesn't have a spinner, and it doesn't need one. It works perfectly fine without a spinner, as the 96 battles it took me to get to 1500+ has shown me, so please don't suggest it. With that being said, the team is very easy to play with, and it has really worked out for me. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this RMT, and like I do on all my RMT's, I thank you for taking the time to visit this page. Any comments or positive feedback are much appreciated, and are highly encouraged. Feel free to let me know if you have any doubts or difficulties about anything this team has to offer. Importable is below.
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
Gliscor (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Acrobatics
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Breloom (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Low Sweep
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Roar
- Lava Plume
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
Gliscor (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Acrobatics
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Breloom (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Low Sweep
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Roar
- Lava Plume
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock