Sandstorm (Standard)

Shinkou

Here is the team I have been using on shoddy as of lately as I am getting back into the game and want to stick to my original theme of using sandstream:
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Dark Gaia (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Tyranitar mainly to summon the sandstorm and hit hard at the likes of gengar, azelf and other ghost/psychic pests.


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Sasori (Gliscor) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 120 HP/200 Atk/190 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Now that Garchomp is banned, I am now using Gliscor in its place as it can sweep the opponent's team really well especially after a Swords Dance or two and can raise evasion in sandstorm.


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Dreadscythe (Scizor) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 220 HP/236 Atk/54 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch

A really good physical sweeper that is unaffected by Sandstorm and has good resistances.

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Thestalos (Heatran) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Explosion
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Powerful scarf sweeper that can nail nearly anything with it's moveset and also unaffected by Sandstorm. Also I can switch into Heatran when expecting a fire move on Scizor then attack back with earth or fire.

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Aoi (Vaporeon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/70 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

A nice bulky pokemon that can deal with the weaknesses of the team with it's moveset and resistances.

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Knospe (Cradily) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Suction Cups
EVs: 252 HP/160 Def/98 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Recover
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

A pretty good Special Wall (especially with Sandstorm) with a recovery that can set up Stealth Rock and use Toxic to poison the opposing pokemon.

Edit: Took out Bronzong and Swampert for Vaporeon and Cradily and they have been doing good so far. Pokemon that I had problems against include Suicune, Infernape, lucario, and DDGyarados
 
I would use aqua tail>earthquake on tyranitar in order to 2HKO hippowdon leads (if losing coverage against jirachi and metagross doesn't bother you)
 
Looks like your team in general has trouble stopping DD Gyarados.

I really want to put Celebi in somewhere. Gliscor seems the most replacable; it might be just aesthetics but I usually only like one set-up mon on a team! Physically defensive Celebi with Grass Knot/Hidden Power Ice/Recover/Thunder Wave would take care of Hippowdon and Gliscor who are otherwise walling Tyranitar and Scizor and help stop DD Gyarados with Thunder Wave and Grass Knot. Celebi would also provide security against DD Salamence or Kingdra with either Thunder Wave or Hidden Power Ice. Paralysis really helps your slow team if you catch say, Gengar or Infernape on the switch.

I'd also recommend maxing Speed on Heatran. "Everyone else is doing it" and I would rather be able to at least speed tie other Heatran if it came down to that. Maxing Speed on Scarftran also gives you that added security against Skymin if Bronzong can't do the job.
 
Mixnape OHKOs your whole team. Even if it doesn't carry Hidden Power [Ice], it still can 2HKO Gliscor with Flamethrower. Grass Knot takes out Swampert, Flamethrower takes out Bronzong and Scizor, and Close Combat takes out Tyranitar and Heatran. All you can do is try to revenge kill it with Heatran. Hidden Power [Ice] version will be the most difficult, as they will destroy Gliscor and won't waste time setting up a Nasty Plot, especially considering that it wouldn't need to boost itself at all for this team.

So, I suggest adding Vaporeon somewhere to try to fix that.
 
Vaporeon could tackle gyarados AND infernape, but then, so could uxie... I think that a sand storm team with only one rock type isn't taking full advantage of sand storm. Too bad all 3 of the types immune are weak to either fight, water or ground... I would say get uxie and cradily. Maybe over swampert and bronzong? Cradily with barrier could be a last ditch effort to take on gyarados, and uxie can thunderbolt/thunderwave, set up stealth rocks, etc. Uxie is pretty much the best mixape killer in the game. Think of it as cressilia with better moves (but less HP and no moonlight) With a little special defense it takes flamethrower like a champ. You could send in uxie then switch directly to heatran on the flamethrower, and kill the monkey with ease.

I have cradily with barrier, recover, grass knot and rock slide (hidden power rock works, so does earthquake > grass knot)

Vaporeon can wish I suppose... use what you feel is best. I suggest trying both and see what works better.
 
It looks like a solid enough team but I have a couple of points.

Instead of Modest, consider either Rash or Naive. If you are using Explosion you dont want to have a -ve attack nature on Heatran. Naive with Scarf will let you outspeed and KO Skymin, so while that is OU I suggest you stick with Naive.

Gliscor might like Stone Edge over Earthquake. You are using an offensive Gliscor, and Ice Fang's paltry base 65 power might not cut it. The only reason people really used it was to do more damage to Garchomp, but Stone Edge can outdamage it now in almost every instance.

You will want your Scizor to be slower than Skarmory so you can use a super effective Superpower on it while it Roosts. I suggest 232HP, 252 Atk, 20 Def, 4 Spe. It puts your HP at a Life Orb number (339), allows you to outspeed Vaporeon by a point, and doesn't compromise your attack stat.

On Vaporeon, the 70 SpA was only run to ensure the OHKO on Garchomp with Ice Beam. Now that its gone you might want to put those extra EVs in SpD.

Tyranitar's fine.

Cradily's good.


Also, I know you have tried to balance out the weaknesses in your team by adding Vaporeon, etc, but the fact remains that a lot of your pokemon share the same weaknesses.

e.g.

Fighting weak - Tyranitar, Heatran, Cradily
Fighting resist - Gliscor

Water weak - Tyranitar, Heatran, Gliscor
Water resist - Vaporeon

I just want to point out that if one of your pokemon such as Gliscor or Vaporeon goes down, your team could very easily be swept. I'll leave it up to your judgement because I don't want to go picking out pokemon from such a well made team, but I just wanted to bring that to your attention.
 
I will add Stone Edge to Gliscor and take out Ice Fang. Don't know about the doing the other recommendations however.
 
Your Heatran is walled by Gyarados, unless you use explosion.

Switch HP Ice for Dragon Pulse.

For Cradily, the only types that resist your toxic is steel, so I recommend you get EQ to get coverage, otherwise you are walled by Steelix.
 
You have fairly considerable Weavile weak. Most of your team will die to Ice shard/punch or to Brick Break. Only Vaporeon seems able to take it on, to some degree.
If a Weavile gets in, you're at its mercy. Doomed to play switching games until one player or another makes a mistake.

You might also consider putting Roar on Cradily over Toxic, as it allows you to scout out the opponent's team, as well as racking up SR damage.
 
I was thinking of adding Grass Knot to Cradily for Grass coverage (especially Swampert). Also I have found HP Ice to be more useful than Dragon Pulse as of yet.

Also I haven't seen a single Weavile on Shoddy, but I am sure I can take it on with Scizor.
 
Scizor can handle Weavile and Mamoswine pretty good with Bullet Punch, and due to the fact that the Scizor you carry is pretty bulky thanks to the HP EVs it seems to have.

Heatran should have Hasty instead of Modest, Hasty will be boosting Speed instead of Special Attack, because Modest takes Attack from Heatran, which you are running Explosion on, so Hasty > Modest on ScarfTran. I'm not really sure we can call Gliscor a 'safe counter to Lucario" in DPP anymore, since Lucario can the addition of Ice Punch thanks to Platinum, which a +2 Ice Punch now OHKOs a Gliscor, but this Gliscor makes me think that you can handle Lucario, due to the Jolly nature and Speed EVs that make Gliscor outspeed a +Speed Lucario. I do not understand why you have Stone Edge on Gliscor though, you can probably put that slot to something else. Fire Fang seems like a pretty dumb move over Stone Edge, but it can do something to Scizor and Heracross, and other Steel-type pokemon that might want to some in to an Earthquake (like Fortress and Skarmory) since a Fire Fang after a Sword Dance is probably going to do some damage, Fire Fang is a pretty mediocre move, but it's worth a try here. I can really see Bulky Waters stopping this team cold, such as Suicune and Vaporeon, but Swampert the most. Grass Knot or Energy Ball on Cradily aren't bad ideas, but it won't stop Suicune from setting up on you, which you will be in problems then. The best thing to do here is to switch Cradily with a Celebi, as Celebi is able to handle all Bulky Waters and be probably the best counter to Swampert, and Water-types in general. If you do this, you are probably thinking "who is supposed to take my special hits not then", I notice that Tyranitar you have, and it's not an effective EV Spread really. I would suggest you using 252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Special Defense with a Careful Nature, which this EV spread allows you to survive a Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast, and more effectively counter threats such as Zapdos and Azelf.
 
3 of your pokemon have Rock moves, two of which are STABed. Gliscor's is not STABed, and he can most easily forgo Stone Edge for another move. I recommend Ice Fang so he can serve as a Salamance counter, and it provides better coverage with Earthquake, hitting the grass and flying types that resist Earthquake. If you predict well, you can hit a Skymin as she switches in.

With Ice Fang, Vaporeon can have Protect instead of Ice Beam, Wish + Protect = reliable healing move, working well alongside Leftovers (to negate your Sandstorm damage whilst your opponent doesn't). It'll last longer to counter Gyara, Infernape and even Lucario (but don't swap in on it, that's why you have Gliscor).

Cradily should have more SpcDef EVs in place of Def because he is your only SpcWall; your physical wall is Vaporeon and Gliscor can act as a substitute if need be. I also recommend Grass Knot/Energy Ball/Seed Bomb over Rock Slide. They have better PP, power (usually in the case of Grass Knot) and accuracy (flinch is pathetic on such a slow pokemon), and no one on your team has a Grass move. As a SpcWall, you'll be walling Water pokemon, who are vulnerable to Grass moves. It also gives you a solid Suicune and Starmie counter.

I would make Scizor a CB set, with Pursuit over SD and U-turn over X-scissor. The reason for this is Skymin. Skymin creams your whole team except Scizor and Heatran. But Heatran gets OHKOed if he swaps in on Earth Power. If Skymin sets up a Sub as Heatran swaps in, you're in lots of trouble. Smart users of Skymin are tricky to beat. CB Scizor has a better chance against Skymin than LO due to more power without recoil - when swapping in against Skymin, there is no time to SD. And Scizor doesn't fear a Earth Power or Air Slash, and can take a Seed Flare. And most importantly, CB Scizor lasts longer than LO Scizor, and you need to predict well, with both Scizor and Heatran alive, to beat Skymin.
Plus many people assume Scizor to be a SD sweeper who rarely has his powerful Pursuit anymore. A OHKO on Starmie as it swaps out is very pleasing.
 
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