I was thinking about building an offensive team centered around Mega Lopunny, an amazing offensive Pokemon. After some mixing and matching, the final product turned into a "Sand" offense.
Thought Process
I started with the synergy between Mega Lopunny and Tyranitar. Tyranitar can check birds like Talonflame for Mega Lopunny, provide Stealth Rock support to make use of the switches that Mega Lopunny forces, and Pursuit trap Psychic types like the Latis.
With Tyranitar in the team, Sand Rush Excadrill is a natural.
SD Talonflame is added to check bulky grass types. Also, Excadrill, Talonflame and Mega Lopunny all share similar defensive checks, so these three form a strong offensive core that puts a lot of pressure on those checks.
Taunt Gengar is added to break the aforementioned defensive checks. It also switches into the Ground and Fighting type attacks thrown at Mega Lopunny, Tyranitar and Excadrill.
Finally, CM Latios provides more wall breaking, another wincon, and a check to waters which can be hard for sand teams to deal with.
The final product is some very high octane offense. It can be, and perhaps should be played like the traditional HO with systematic sacking. But I feel it also gives me some switching options -- some wiggle room instead of having go all in.
Team Explained
Rabbit (Lopunny) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Ice Punch
Your standard Mega Lopunny. Excellent speed tier, good power (especially with high BP moves), unresisted STAB coverage -- it has everything it needs to be a cleaner and a threat to opposing offense. HJK and Return are natural choices: powerful and reliable (except HJK misses) STAB moves. Fake Out is chosen here to do extra chip damage when sand is up, and allows Mega Lopunny to Mega Evolve safely. Ice Punch rounds up the moves because there are a few things on this team that appreciate a dead/severely damaged Lando-T, Garchomp and to a lesser extent Gliscor.
Dinosaur (Tyranitar) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
Tyranitar supports Mega Lopunny by 1) providing Stealth Rock support, since Lopunny forces a lot of switches; 2) check birds; 3) Pursuit trapping some troublesome Psychic types, like Scarf Latios or Jirachi; 4) do extra chip damage with sand when Lopunny uses Fake Out; 5) bait out and heavily damage Landorus-T and Garchomp with Ice Beam. In fact, Tyranitar is bulky enough to sometimes survive 2HKO from Tankchomp's Earthquake and OHKO from Scarf Lando-T's Earthquake, so not even a lot of prediction is required there. 88 Atk EVs so that Tyranitar can break Keldeo's substitute with Stone Edge, this way I don't just auto-lose to Pursuit trapper + SubCM Keldeo that sets up on TTar.
Mole (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
With Tyranitar's sand support, here comes its partner in crime Excadrill, the face of Sand offense in OU. Incredibly fast in Sand, Excadrill serves as a cleaner and revenge killer against offensive teams. Excadrill and Mega Lopunny share some common checks, so one can soften them for the other to break through. Additionally, Excadrill is another solid bird check under Sand, able to beat Mega Pinsir, Talonflame and Thundurus which all trouble Lopunny. Excadrill also checks Fairy types like Clefable and Mega Diancie, which give Tyranitar and Lopunny trouble. Rapid Spin is used here because Talonflame is a teammate.
Bird (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
Talonflame feels like a natural teammate with Mega Lopunny and Excadrill. Talonflame checks bulky Grass types that give Excadrill and Lopunny trouble. Talonflame also switches into Scizor fairly consistently, which is a major threat to the first three. Talonflame, Excadrill and Mega Lopunny together put a lot of pressure on physically bulky mon, like Garchomp, Landorus-T, Slowbro, Rotom-W, Skarmory and Hippowdon. Defensively, all previous three tend to force Scarf Lando-T into using either Superpower or Earthquake, of which Talonflame can take advantage. With Talonflame's fast priority, Mega Lopunny being naturally fast, and Excadrill being ridiculously fast under sand, these three put more than sufficient pressure on opposing offense IMO, which leaves me now to focus mainly on beating defensive teams.
Ghost (Gengar) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
And that way of beating defensive teams takes the form of a malicious ghost. Of that list of physically bulky mon listed above, Gengar can pretty much break every single one except Lando and Garchomp, and these two are heavily pressured with no recovery -- they'll break, eventually. In addition, it has excellent defensive synergy with the rest of the team: Mega Lopunny resists Dark and is immune to Ghost, Tyranitar resists both Dark and Ghost; in return, Gengar is immune to Ground and Fighting, and resists Fairy. It is also something that can switch in on the Earthquake and Superpower that Scarf Lando is forced into. Finally, it also baits in Pursuit trappers like Tyranitar and Bisharp, removes them on the switch with Focus Blast, so Latios can roam a bit more freely.
Dragon (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
This is a set that I feel is somewhat underestimated. CM + Draco Meteor may seem counter intuitive, but Draco Meteor after a CM boost hits very hard, so Latios can come in, may or may not grab a boost, nuke and gtfo. Or, when the situation arises, it can clean up with boosted Psyshock. Besides being a powerful threat against defensive teams to beef up Gengar, Latios also has some defensive and offensive synergy with this team. Gengar can bait in the two common Pursuit trappers and nail them with Focus Blast, making life easier for Latios. Latios pressures defensive Steel types like Heatran and Skarmory -- the former checks Talonflame while the latter checks Excadrill and Mega Lopunny. Defensively, Latios acts as a much needed switch-in to water types like Keldeo, Rotom-W and Slowbro.
Threats
Fighting types
Fighting types in general can be troublesome to deal with, since relevant OU Fighting types have ways of dispatching my three Fighting resists, be it Scald or Thunder Punch or Rock coverage for Talonflame or Ice coverage for Latios or simply just a powerful Knock Off -- you get the idea. Some prediction is required, but usually what happens is simply just sack + revenge.
Pursuit Trapper + SubCM Keldeo
Possibly the most reliable way of beating this team: remove Latios with Pursuit, put Keldeo in against Tyranitar, and set up a Sub. It'll take two sacks to be able to force it out, and that's a 3 mon deficit right there.
Azumarill
The only OU water type with a priority that Latios can't reliably handle. Lots of pressure is put on Mega Lopunny and Talonflame to KO it. If my opponent is smart and plays conservatively with Azumarill, things may become very difficult for me.
Importable
Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Ice Punch
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Ice Punch
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
