In the spirit of Christmas...

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Twinkytoes

...I have made a Sandstorm Team!

Team: Bah Humbug

At a Glance




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Up Close

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Twinkytoes/Tyranitar@ Choice Band
Adamant w/ Sandstream
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Earthquake
-Pursuit

Standard CBTar, or atleast it was in the old days, but standard CBTar might be alot different now. If so, let me know.

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The Claw/Scizor@ Life Orb
Adamant w/ technician
EVs: 192 HP / 244 Atk / 64 Def
-Bullet Punch
-Brick Break
-Night Slash
-Swords Dance

This is siilar to the old Quick Attack set, but it has Bullet Punch now instead. As number one usage, it had to be worth a spot, but with sandstorm immunity it became almost compulsory, and this was the best set to go for. Bullet Punch and SD for obvious reasons, Brick Break for Steels that don't mind bullet punch (and it also helps if I predict a Tran Switch in. Night Slash for a quick KO on Cressy (2HKO after an SD I think, but need verification)

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AROOOO!!/Lucario@ Choice specs
Modest w/ Steadfast
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
-Aura Sphere
-Dark Pulse
-Psychic
-Dragon Pulse

ah, my favourite pokemon ever. But due to his lack of synergy with some of my other pokes, he has had to stay in the PC, until now, when I worked out and made a Sandstorm team with some new pokes (the three below, to be precise. I had Twinkytoes and Scizor and Luke before). Modest for the 2HKO on blissey, Aura Sphere for STAB, Dark Pulse for the Ghosts and Psychics that don't mind Aura Sphere, Psychic for Heracross that doesn't mind either, and Dragon Pulse for any sneaky Mences or Nites that think they can switch in and get the better of me.

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Swampinho/Swampert@ Leftovers
Impish w/ Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 58 Atk / 212 Def
-Earthquake
-Avalanche
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock

Standard Swampert to do some physical walling and set up some rocks. There used to be a Gliscor here but I needed something to threaten SD luke, which posed problems for my team after he got Ice Punch. I also needed something to threaten bulky gyara and zapdos, since they pose problems for my team and wall it too, so I went for Stone Edge over Waterfall. THe rest is standard.

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FossilRock/Cradily@ Leftovers
adamant w/ Suction Cups
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SDef
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Swords Dance
-Recover

Special wall (due to the Sandstorm boost to Rock types' SDef) and amazing stall breaker. It can Sd up and break stalls with good coverage, but it doesn't fear PHazers due to Suction Cups. EQ for Tran, Stone Edge for STAB, helps with gyara too.

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El Starro/Starmie@ leftovers
Timid w/ Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-rapid Spin

I put this in to deal with Ape, before she replaced Pory2 I had huge Ape problems. THis can help with Gyara if I switch in while he DDs, as I still outspeed him after one DD and TBolt him. Ice Beam for Dragons and Surf for Ape and STAB. Rapid Spin because at the time I made this I was annoyed with SR and Spikes and they had made the difference between a win and a loss, but none of my team are weak to SR so I might replace this with Recover. I need advice on that.

Previous Members

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Battydude/Gliscor@ Leftovers
Impish w/ Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace
-Stealth Rock
-Roost

THis is standard and was here as a Phys Wall before, but I saw a glaring SD Luke weak now that he gets Ice Punch so I put Pert in instead to take him. The team has so far done much better.

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GyaraKiller/Porygon2@ Leftovers
Modest w/ Trace
EVs: Can't remember, they were just standard. If anyone knows the standard, please point them out.
-Tri Attack
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Recover

Standard Gyara counter, replaced by Starmie as she can handle Gyara well but covered up my glaring Ape weak. I don't know the standard EVs, I have had this a while and did it long ago, but it worked fine.

Threats

These are in no particular order.

1. Scizor: He ain't getting past Pert easily but if he does I'm in trouble.
2. Heatran: He won't beat T-Tar, Pert or Starmie without a boost, but it is still a risk as Scarfis too common.
3. Gyara: Covered by Starmie and Pert.
4. Infernape: Starmie and, if I predict right, Pert.
5. Salamence: Starmie switches in on DD mences, revenge kills CBs. Easy now because he often ends up stuck in outrage.
6. Azelf: T-tar=Dead azelf, whether he stays in or switches. Scizor and starmie can revenge kill it with priority/amazing speed respectively.
7. Gengar: Gets walled by Cradily and Countered by Scizor as he switches in and Bullet Punches him in one shot.
8. Lucario: I used to have a huge weak to the SD variant, as he was no longer walled by Gliscor du to him now getting Ice Punch. The Specs set won't pose many problems, but the mixed set might (CC for T-Tar, Blaze Kick for Scizor, CC/Blaze Kick for Luke, HP Grass for Pert, CC for Cradily, Crunch or Dark Pulse for Starmie). He shouldn't be too much of a threat though.
9. Dragonite: Similar to Mence, although he is bulkier which can aid him in setting up DD, and thus sweeping my team, but If I can deal with him quick enough I am not bothered (Starmie switches in while he DDs, I still outspeed him and Ice Beam)
10. Rotom formes: Wash causes problems, as he blocks my spin and has an SE move for over half my team, but Craily seems to deal with him fine. Heat can be problematic as he counters Scizor which is a problem because I then lack a speedy/priority physical sweeper. Overall the most problematic
11. Skymin: Causes problems for most of my team but he won't get past Scizor without HP Fire, which most don't run (although if it has specs it might)
12. Zapdos: can cause problems, but won't do much to Pert or T-Tar without HP Grass, and T-Tar won't take much from HP Grass at all anyway (due to the Special def boost to rock types in the Sandstorm)

OK, look at my team and rate it please. I spent alot of time on it and posting this thread, so read it carefull and rate. If you spot any major weaks or anything I could add to the threat list, please mention it.​
 
This team shouts out MixApe weak. Cradily coming in to absorb a special attack, is done for with Close Combat. Swampert is easily OKO'd by Grass Knot, and especially that Lucario doesn't have extremespeed to outspeed 'Nape.. Scizor + Tyranitar are killed by Flamethrower + Close Combat. Plus, having 3 different pokemon weak to same type isn't a great idea anyway. Maybe give lucario something like Vacumm wave?
 
I don't think it is so Mixape weak, Starmie is one of its number one counters, switching in on any attack (surviving grass knot), outspeeding it and a guaranteed OHKO with Surf. It works, trust me, and I highly doubt he will be carrying Mach Punch to priority me and kill me off.

EDIT: Grass knot does 70.61% - 82.82% (credit to metalkid) against starmie when ape 252 SAtk EVS. I can switch in, survive that and Surf it OHKO.
 
For Tyanitar: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Spe

Night Slash for Cressalia? Try X-Scissors.

What's Tri Attack for on Porygon? Put Toxic so you can damage Blissey a bit.

Your team is still Mixape weak. Between Stealth Rock, Sandstorm and other damage Starmie will not last long. I think Recover should go somewhere on it so you have a more constant Mixape counter.

Vacuum Wave really should go on Lucario (over Psychic) so you can atleast revenge kill Ape.
 
Well If you are looking for the Standard CBTar then you might want to consider Aqua Tail, it is a 2HKO on Hippowdon at least, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it "standard." I'm pretty sure that you are fine against Hippowdon anyway, you have Starmie, and Specs Luke is a great Lure. On Scizor why not run X-Scizzor? After a Swords Dance it is an easy OHKO on Cresselia, and before the Swords Dance you will still be doing 61-72% rendering Night Slash Pretty redundant, unless you really want to be hitting Ghost-types hard. As for Lucario, Vacuum Wave might be a good idea somewhere, with Lucario's Mediocre base Speed, a powerful STAB priority attack is very useful, maybe it could go over Dragon Pulse? I worry that you do need Psychic for Heracross now that you have removed Gliscor. If you are planning on not using Vacuum Wave I would suggest Timid Nature for the chance to outspeed Jolly Lucarios.

Moving onto Swampert, I would change it back to Gliscor, as Swampert is a poor answer to SD Luke. You still maintain the Electric resist, you can get a Toxic in on Zapdos (most of whom carry Hidden Power Grass) and Gliscor can be easily EVd to outspeed Lucario (EV wiping won't be a problem). Here is the set that I would recommend:

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Jolly Nature / Sand Veil
EVs: 160 HP / 136 Def / 212 Spe
~ Earthquake
~ Aerial Ace / Toxic
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roost

If you are using this Gliscor feel free to change Psychic on Lucario to Dragon Pulse again, you shouldn't be having Heracross problems any time soon. Earthquake will kill Lucario no matter what, Aerial Ace will provide nice coverage against Heracross, but seeing as it cant do that much to Gliscor anyway you might want to go for Toxic to get rid of Zapdos. Stealth Rock and Roost are obvious. With the EVs you gain the maximum possible physical defense whilst outspeeding Jolly Lucario. As for Starmie definately replace the Rapid Spin with Recover, it is a good insurance against Salamence, Bulky Gyara and Infernape, and Recover will help it repeatedly do this. "CounterStar also tends to run 160 HP / 132 SpA / 216 Spe which will be a more efficient Spread.

I'll now go through your threat list and see what problems you might be having and how to fix them:

  • Scizor: I don't see it getting past Specs Luke in a hurry as long as you don't switch it in on a fighting attack, Gliscor also does weel against it and Starmie can revenge it if it's health is low enough
  • Heatran: Starmie does quite well as it can recover off any damage done, Heatran is essentially Craydily set up fodder so again a low level threat
  • Gyarados: OK so here is a slight weakness, hopefully counter star will help you to get through most varients. If they try to set up on Gliscor you can Toxic and then switch stall. Unfortunately there is a large reliance on Starmie here. Put a Choice Scarf on Starmie if it becomes a large scale problem.
  • Infernape: Starmie deals with it well, Putting Vacuum Wave on Specs Lucario will also help you to revenge kill it. Craydily can probably deal with non- Swords Dance varients as well
  • Salamence: Hopefully Starmie can do well enough to possibly lock it into Outrage, and then it can be revenge killed, Craydily should be able to Survive an attack or so to hit it with Stone Edge. Again it is a slight Issue. Put Ice Fang on Gliscor if it becomes a large problem
  • Azelf: Most Azelfs are leads these days, and Tyranitar deals with those fine, it will deal with sweeping versions quite well too, can also be finished off with Scizor
  • Gengar: Craydily set up bait, Tyranitar will finish varients without Focus Blast or Focus Punch, Scizor can revenge with Bullet Punch
  • Lucario: Added a Speedier Gliscor in that hopefully solves this problem, Vacuum Wave on Specs Luke should also help out here
  • Dragonite: Starmie should do well against it, read Salamence lol
  • Rotom formes: Tyranitar will have fun dealing with Scarf, Specs or even ResTalk varients unless they have Will-o-Wisp in which case Lucario can revenge them, you can still essentially pursuit trap them with Tyranitar. They are a problem and killing them may come at the sacrifice of Tyranitar if they have Will-o-Wisp but it should be OK really
  • Zapdos: HP Grass varients can be Toxiced by Gliscor, Tyranitar also does very well either pursuiting or Stone Edging depending on what its going to do, Toxic-less varsions are cradily set up bait
Having done this I now realise that not many of these are large scale threats so it wasnt a list of threts to your team. I guess it helped me to clarify some stuff anyway, and we have highlighted slight problems in Salamence and Gyarados. I guess you could change something back to Porygon 2 should that be the case, but I believe your team can keep them under "enough" pressure to keep those threats at bay. I hope some of this helped =D
 
Since Starmie is the only thing stopping Infernape and Gyarados from going straight through your team, it's probably worth giving him Recover over Ice Beam and using a bulkier EV spread:

136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe with a Timid nature ensures that you can survive a DD LO EQ from Gyarados after taking SR damage or you can use the old standard of 160 HP / 132 SpA / 216 Spe which obviously isn't as bulky but you maintain some offensive power.

SpecsLuke would rather have Hidden Power Ice over Dragon Pulse as it hits all the Dragons harder with the exception of Kingdra who dies to Aura Sphere anyway. HP Ice also has the benefit of doing huge damage to Zapdos and Gliscor who love to switch into Lucario expecting the SD version. Vacuum Wave over Psychic to revenge kill SDLukes who pose a serious problem for this team if they get in on Tyranitar's STAB attacks. Boosted Close Combat OHKO's Swampert so I don't know what you were thinking there! :X
 
boosted Luke does 91.02% - 106.98% with a boosted Close Combat, so he has sort of less than half chance, and I will switch in on the turn he SDs.

And I don't know of another pokemon that can counter SDLuke, so please tell me if there is one.

Oh, and my luke has HP Dark, and I'm not re-breeding, sorry but I've done it three times already.
 
Did you read my post in which I clearnly outlined that Gliscor can be EVd to outspeed Jolly Lucario? Well heres the tl;dr version...

Gliscor can be EVd to outspeed Jolly Lucario

Sure its not a _perfect_ counter seeing as it can get hit by a stray Ice Punch on the way in, but its sure as hell one of the best "checks" i've seen for Lucario. After Stealth Rock there is no way Swampert will survive it, Lee is right.

EDIT to stop me spamming up your thread. you can easily re-breed Gliscor if you care that much about this team doing well, if you don't want it to do well then keep the Swampert but you will have a poor counter to an SD Lucario, Do what you will but raters jobs are to make a team better, not to decided what it is or not that you would like to re-breed.
 
Yeh, SR, I forgot bout that, so I might add Gliscor back in, but I don't wanna re do Gliscor.

oh, and I posted that before I saw your post. Sorry.
 
That calculation assumes Lucario is Jolly, twinkytoes.

Adamant +2 LO CC does 98.76% - 116.09%, giving you a mere 12.78% chance of survival. If SR is down, Swampert goes don,
 
SDLuke is more commonly jolly though. But yeh, I will deal with that, but I will look at what pokes I can redo.

EDIT: I have put the Gliscor back in, because I found a jolly Gligar with 31, 31 and 30 EVs in HP, Defense and Speed respectively. It also has 28 in Attack, so it will do. I have just started EVing it as you said above: 160 HP / 136 Def / 212 Spd.
 
| Lucario | Nature | Adamant | 52.0 |
| Lucario | Nature | Jolly | 21.8 |
| Lucario | Move | Ice Punch | 27.4 |


Jolly Luke makes up about 30% of the Physical Lucarios in the metagame at the moment and I'm sure that number is rising as people continue to catch on that Ice Punch Lucario needs Jolly to be effective at all. I wouldnt be surprised if Jolly Luke usage rises in the next month and it is the one that I prepare for when I build teams, as it really does constitute a "threat" at the moment.

EDIT: Those calculations are wrong, Neutral Speed nature Gliscor will never beat Jolly Lucario, Jolly Gliscor (as I previously explained ._. will need 216 Speed EVs to outspeed.
 
Yeh, I have just done some calcs and I have found that to beat jolly Luke my Gliscor needs 248 Speed EVs, so I will edit that now.

EDIT by TAY: closed to allow user to post another RMT.
 
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