[OU] Sand Stall - Annoying as Firetrucks

[LimitBender]

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The basic idea of my team is to stall out the opponent with sandstorm, toxic (and to a lesser extent, burns), and entry hazards, maintaining momentum by switching into favorable match-ups. I use a defensive FWG core of Ferrothorn, Starmie, and Heatran, and supplement that core with a speedy offensive threat in Tyranitar, a sweeper in Jirachi, and an offensive pivot in Landorus-T. After testing the team, I've found that I may have a weakness to fighting-type moves and sweepers, which can set-up on some of my Pokemon. So, here's the team:

Annoying Thing #1 (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Tyranitar sets up sandstorm, which counters opposing teams' weather and helps stack on the residual damage. He also can revenge-kill and pull off surprise kills because most opponents don't suspect he's scarfed/252 Speed. He's usually my second go-to offensive pokemon, behind Landorus.

Annoying Thing #2 (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 200 HP / 60 Atk / 244 Def / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn

I usually lead with Landorus, and depending what I'm matched up against, I can set up SR, attack, or switch into something more favorable (oftentimes Ferrothorn). Landorus is a great help in combating dragon-types, and its intimidate is also very useful in mitigating damage/preventing sweeps. I added 4 extra Speed so as to outspeed an opposing unscarfed Landorus.

Annoying Thing #5 (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Protect
- Spikes

Ferrothorn is probably the Pokemon I use most during my battles. I usually switch into a favorable match-up, then proceed to Leech Seed on the opponent's switch, which reduces the advantage my opponent might have gotten from switching. Ferrothorn also can use opposing defensive Pokemon it walls to setup layers of Spikes (if the opponent lets me), which is also very useful in the long-run. Ferrothorn also acts as a pseudo-spinblocker (i.e. Iron Barbs) and has a favorable matchup against most of the spinners.

Annoying Thing #4 (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 4 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
- Psychic
- Scald

I used to use Jellicent in this team slot, but I found Jellicent to be a bit too fragile for my tastes. Starmie gives my team a rapid spinner to help me win the stall war against other stall teams dependent on entry hazard damage. Its Natural Cure also lets me sponge status inducing moves.

Annoying Thing #3 (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Toxic
- Roar

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Heatran gives me a useful immunity to fire, creating good synergy with Ferrothorn, and allows me to play mind-games on my opponent. I can also use it to phaze out the opposing Pokemon after switching into a favorable match-up. However, it does have a crippling weakness to fighting and ground type moves, which is a general problem for my team.

Annoying Thing #6 (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Spd / 108 Def
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Water Pulse

I tried Siglyph and CMSub Latias in this slot before deciding on Jirachi. For my last slot, I needed a sweeper to break through any potential stalemates during matches (which aren't that rare, because this team is based on stall). It also provides a counter to several potentially problematic Pokemon (e.g. Keldeo-R, Toxicroak). I usually start setting up late-game, after my team has whittled down the defenses of the opposing team.



So that's my team! Thanks for looking through it, and I hope you can give me some useful suggestions on how to improve it!

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[Princess Bubblegum]

This is a pretty solid team overall, although it does have a noticeable Breloom weakness, with only Landorus reliably checking, and Starmie emergency checking, so I suppose you can deal with it.

I have some quick suggestions though.

Tyranitar should be running Pursuit over Earthquake easily. Your team, like any other, greatly appreciates the ability to trap and kill Pokemon. If you feel you really need Earthquake, perhaps run Pursuit over Superpower.

I suggest you run Psyshock over Psychic on Starmie to more effectively check Keldeo on your team, currently CM-Keldeo is very problematic.

I have some ideas to check Brelooom better, with Skarmory or Roserade over Landorus or Ferrothorn, respectfully, but either of those changes seem to weaken the overall defensive backbone for this team, opening up weaknesses to other Pokemon. They aren't bad options, so if you want to consider them I can post some suggested sets.

I know the theme of this team is sand stall, but I feel the easiest change to this team to make it more effective, would be to lose Tyranitar and run a Pokemon which can check Breloom. Latias and Mamoswine are Pokemon to consider in its place, even Gengar might be something to test out.

So you have a few options as far as I see it, 1. change the defensive team structure to accommodate Breloom, 2 run a different check for Breloom over Tyranitar, losing sand, or 3 just have you team as is.

good luck man, sorry I can't help more

 

[LimitBender]

Hey Scarfwynaut, thanks for the suggestions!

I've tried pursuit-Tar before, and most of the time, the opponent just stays in, expecting a pursuit. In the majority of cases, I can just Crunch for twice as much damage. Also, it's not as bad to be locked into Crunch as it is Pursuit. Also, Earthquake helps me deal with Fighting-type Pokemon that would otherwise be really problematic (e.g. Conkledurr, Terrakion). I think scarf-Tar with EQ is a pretty good check to those Fighting-types it outspeeds.

I agree with your suggestion to change Psychic to Psyshock, and was actually thinking of doing so myself just now :D

Regarding the Breloom weakness, I actually had SubCM Latias instead of SubCM Jirachi before as a check to Breloom. Does Jirachi check Breloom to some extent? I think scarf-Tar with EQ also kinda checks Breloom, although I haven't been up against a Breloom since I switched out Latias.

I'd rather not switch out Tyranitar, but it's certainly an option going forward.

Thanks again for the great suggestions :D

 

[dwarfstar]

Just a note: Tyranitar is in no way a check to Breloom. Mach Punch completely destroys Tyranitar, and none of your Tyranitar's current attacks except Superpower do much to Breloom (it resists the other three). Earthquake does smash Terrakion, but Conkeldurr's not going to be taking too much damage from it thanks to an annoying combination of base 105 HP and base 95 Defense.

...If you do decide to swap out Tyranitar, I'd recommend Mamoswine or Sub-Disable Gengar in its place.

 

[LimitBender]

Oh, good point.

Would Ferrothorn wall non-SD Breloom variants? I think Ferrothorn is bulky enough to survive some Mach Punches while stalling with Iron Barbs/Sandstorm. If not though, I think Landorus-t checks Breloom pretty well, as mentioned by a previous poster.