Sand-loving Warriors

[EnigmaKalion]

(a.k.a another Sandstorm team...)
I'm sorry if my very second post is a RMT thread, but well, I'm really new, and after introducing myself in "congregation of the masses", I thought it was a good idea to introduce the team and get in some sneaky advices... Hope you guys won't hold it to me because of that! :)

Anyway, I read the whole rules and I think I'm doing it fine..
This is my first and only team in Shoddy, I'm prepairing to build it on the DS once it's ready..
It's very standard, and far from flawless, but it has some personal twists and well, it worked fairly well for me until now (not perfect but not too ugly anyway).

The concept is to induce Sandstorm and then make full advantage of the sandy weather, while keeping the team balanced in terms of wall/sweepers..
Anyway, off I go :)

Pokémon are listed in order, and comment are in italics after each set.

Unnerving

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge (prev. Earthquake)
- Taunt

My sand inducing lead, and one of the two physical sweepers of the team. DDtar with Taunt, I think it is called... I discovered that, with little prediction, it destroys Blissey, Umbreon and many other Pokes that rely on setting up. The problem is, without DD it is quite slow in comparison to other sweepers. It also walls some special sweepers in Sandstorm.
Ryo suggestion is to go for Stone Edge over Earthquake, and tough i loose some precision, I get the feeling he is right!

Cita (?)

Infernape (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Grass Knot
- Close Combat

This is the weakest point of my team. I added MixApe basically because I needed a special sweeper and I wanted to keep this team makeable on my DS (Heatran would have shined on this team, I know, but I really don't think I will ever be able to obtain a ModestRan with HP Ice :'( ).
It has medium to no sinergy with the rest of my team, but still whoops much damage and deals with annoyances some threats that usually bother me a bit (Swampert, Suicune to some extents, Bronzong, eventually Forretres if it doesn't go Boom and others)
Suggestion are to go for Lucario, tough I'm not sure of Specs luke's Speed (need a Special sweeper for sure)

Mr. Wolf

Mr. Wolf (Garchomp) (M) @ Brightpowder/Salac Berry (?)
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake

SubChomp, pretty easily. Still, it can destroy one or 2 enemies before eventually going down, expecially with Swords Dance Up.. I know people consider Chomp to be 6-0ing teams and such, but I added it because of the Sand Veil - Brightpowder combo, more than simply to ruin people after a set up. Still, I'm unsure if the 8% boost if enough to take out the Salac Berry... Well, anyway, he's my second physical sweeper.

Siren

Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/68 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Wish
- Hidden Power (Electric) / Roar

I added Vaporeon after reading reviews on Sandstorm teams on Smogon.. Surf absorbing, Ice Beam and Wish support and psuedo hazing.
Not much to be said, pretty much a needed thing.
Hidden Power Electric over Roar seems interesting for Gyarados, but then I loose phazing.. Is it worth it?

Dune Buggy

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/16 Atk/152 Def/88 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

Physical Wall and Stealth Rock support, AND second sand inducer. Just be safe if Unnerving falls ;) I used to run a Roar support on Dune, but due to some changes to the special wall (big surprise), I had to switch to him..
Ice Fang helps for coverage.
Suggestion: going for Gliscor with pretty similar moveset. Sand Stream times two or SD Lucario coverage?

Tiny

Shuckle (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/96 Def/160 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Toxic

Ah, my pride and joy! I discovered this chap while I was looking for a Special Wall, because I thought "Hey, this guy gets SDef boosts in sand, let's try".
Until now, never had to repent...
Rest to heal (Tiny can usually resist more than 2 turns anyway), Toxic to wear down walls and enemies who stay in, Knock Off to annoy Choice and Life Orb users (and scout enemy), and ofcourse Encore to make the enemy really angry.
Encore supports setting up for sweepers and help countering a LOT of stuff (Encore stat boost and switch to appropriate sweeper, if the enemy stays in, he's usually dead).
The only pokémon Tiny has problem with is No Guard Machamp and its evil Dynamicpunches..

And so, here it is. I am aware that is it probably not a good team, but still, I came up with the idea and I'm sticking to it, for now...
Oh, and if I made some misstakes, please, don't be too hard, me little newbie needing Smogon love :'(
Thanks for the reading folks!

NOTE: I added in green suggestion given until now...

 

[Ryo]

Pretty good team overall, but it has problems with Lucario since after a Sword Dance it only Garchomp can stop it. You don't need 2 sand streamers so just Tyranitar will be fine most of the time. I suggest you replace Hippowdon with Gliscor to beat Sword Dance Lucarios (you can pretty much run the same moveset with roost instead of slack off).

For Tyranitar Crunch+Earthquake is the worst out of the 3 combanations you could have picked since it gives you the worst type coverage. Either Crunch+Stone Edge or Earthquake+Stone Edge give you better coverage. If you want both Crunch and Earthquake then you would be better off getting rid of Taunt since the metagame is very offensive right now so another attack would help you alot.

You'd probably have to trade for it, but you really want HP Electric on your Vaporoen or else Gyarados will be able to sweep your team.

As for Infernape, Lucario will be better on a Sand team for sinergy. Infernape isn't particularly bad so it still works fine.

 

[EnigmaKalion]

Thanks Ryo for the review! :)

On the Tyranitar problem, I'd get rid of Earthquake since I can probably get it on some other team member... Well, Taunt helped me a lot till now, so I'd go for Crunch + Stone Edge (STAB combo!).

Well, I'm a bit afraid that if I loose Tyranitar, Sandstorming could be off.. But I'll give it a go, if not else because you took the time to tell it to me!

Yeah, I can to try to Breed Vaporeon but I'm not really that good at IV breeding.. Maybe I can trade one, as you said. I assume I need to get rid of Roar, right? (hurts me a bit tough :'( )

And finally, for Lucario, I still think I need a special sweeper, so I got for Special Luke.. just to know, is Specs fast enough to effectively sweep?

Thanks a lot for the response, anyway!