Hello! I wanted to post my team here both for critique since it's a new idea and I'd like to work out any kinks or hear criticism. Basically, I wanted to make a sand team that not only is unique to other sand teams but also can act really well as a swiss army knife team that can stand up to many threats that may come up against it. Also, I think it's a really fun team to play with. I think for the most part I've succeeded, but I know it isn't perfect since I'm still very new to competitive pokemon. Either way, please help me out so I can make this team more formidable!
Hungry Hungry (Hippowdon) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/248 Def/8 Atk
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
Simple start, obvious sand/stealth rocks setter. But this Hippowdon shockingly has a lot of useful utility to it. You can Toxic Landorous T on a switch in, acts as the perfect Excadrill wall (and a good wall for many physical attack mons in general, ESPECIALLY if they're weak to toxic). Otherwise though, it more or less should only be used when necessary as it's really important to keep Hippowdon around, and most other mons on the team can handle the job it want's to do better most of the time
Slap Chop (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Adament Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Poison Jab
Again, pretty typical swords dance sweeper. Now since Excadrill is a little baby who can't take any attacks without crumbling into a snivling mess on the ground, you're gonna want to use Excadrill very sparingly. Once you send him in, you basically get one chance to set up and wreak havoc. When you get to that point you are near unstoppable, but it's getting there that's the big goal. You're not going to use Poison Jab 9/10, but it's a strong move for sweeping past a grass type if necessary. But you're gonna be using Quake/Iron Head more often than not after swords dance, so it's only there if you need.
Bugs (Azumarill) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP/156 Def/100 SpD
Calm Nature
- Rest
- Whirlpool
- Perish Song
- Protect
Now this is where it gets really interesting. A trapper Sap Sipper Azumarill is a completely unexpected set to run, and not once have I ran into someone expecting this set. Azumarill plays a simple, yet effective role: Come in and take out the biggest counter. Most of the time, this will be the grass type mon like Ferrothorn or Tangrowth that could destroy your team, but other choices are Clefable, Urshifu, or whoever presents themselves as a vulnerable threat. Most times Azumarill goes in it goes Whirlpool->Perish Song->Rest->Protect. You can change the order of Rest and protect if your Chesto berry gets knocked off or some other issue arises, but this is generally the way to go. Then on the last turn of Perish Song, you switch out and still have a full health Azumarill on your team. You can do this only once a game most times, but if a chance arises again for you to get it a second time then go for it. Just make sure that protect comes before Rest anytime you don't have your Chesto Berry and you should be completely fine when you want to do this 9/10
Gary (Gastrodon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Toxic
Gastrodon is going to act as your big stalwart for the team. I've never seen this thing die to a non-boosted neutral move. You can switch into him 99% of the time and he can live the hit and regain you some momentum. The water type immunity is big on baiting our other water types and then using Toxic/Recover stall to leech their health. Watch out for Seismitoad Grass Knot, otherwise you can switch in and stall out near any pokemon so long as they aren't immune to Toxic. Scald is there for burn/ground or fire type kill, and ice beam is for dragons/incoming grass types.
Radioactive (Rotom-Heat) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Defog
Rotom here is the mom that keeps the group in check. You can reliably switch into rotom due to it's great defensive typing, and fair bulk. Overheat acts as a great nuke which can hit pokemon like Corviknight for an easy OHKO, but you will more often Volt Switch out so that you can regain momentum with a pokemon like Ferrothorn or Gastrodon since they can live checks of Rotom. I run defog on Rotom rather than Spin on Excadrill because it's hard for Excadrill to get a rapid spin off without basically sacking him and that Rotom with Heavy-Duty becomes pretty hard to kill. Use Pain Split for reliable recovery, and if Rotom is at very low health it can often use this on a pokemon nearing a kill on Rotom so that you recover health and bring them down, but you often won't have Rotom in for more than 2-3 turns on average.
Forretress Pt. 2 (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP/8 Atk/248 Def
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Body Press
Finally, Forretress comes in as a typical hazard setter/bulky stall mon. Pretty self explanatory, you can switch into pokemon like Rillaboom, Urshifu, Weaville, etc. and counter them pretty hard. You want to keep Ferrothorn around for those specifically if they have those mons, but otherwise he acts as a general wall against most pokemon. It's important to set up spikes and leech health, but otherwise it's a pretty simple set.
That's the team, I think it's really fun to play around with and I hope you guys would be willing to help me improve it if needed!
