SM RU Snakes and Ladders (RU Sand Semi-Stall)

[milothiccc]

Hello everyone!

I recently got back into RU for the first time since Gen 6, and despite not knowing what I'm doing at all, managed to be decently successful with the first team I built (?!). This is after only 29 battles. I'm someone who prefers randomized formats because you don't have to teambuild, so this was quite unexpected.

Also, after looking into some other RU teams on RMT, I realized that some people have very similar cores to me. I promise that is completely unintentional. Some of these mons just make sense together, I guess :)

Anyways, here's the team!

Teambuilding Process

*slaps roof of mega steelix* this bad boy can take so many hits
FR though, I had fond memories of RestTalk Steelix from back in my Gen 6 RU days before it got banned, so of course I was gonna bring it back now that it's returned to RU. Obviously it won't be as amazing as it was last gen thanks to power creep, but heck if I wasn't going to try.

Sand Force was useless on Steelix last gen, but this gen there's a brand new sand-setter in town and it's not a boulder, it's a rock. Gigalith also functions as a great rocks setter since I was using a RestTalk set on Steelix, and as a great Salazzle check.

Now there's two things on my team weak to ground, but lo and behold, there just happens to be a very viable flying type in the tier that doesn't take chip damage from sand! Mandibuzz was kind of an obvious addition. Moving on.

I needed a cleric since RestTalk can be kind of unreliable, so Steelix might need someone to wake him up sometimes. Florges stood out as a great choice who resists fighting for Steelix and Gigalith, as well as helps check Mega Blastoise.

Here's the second snake on the team. I needed a water resist and a secondary Blastoise check, and wow guess who just happened to match my username! Thicc. Helps too that it also resists fire for Steelix.

I had no idea who to put for the 6th member, so I landed on Chesnaught as a Feraligatr check. I played several battles with it and realized my team turned out much more stally than I intended, so I tried some other things.

Then I replaced Chesnaught with scarf Jolteon for the sole purpose of killing Feraligatr, but upon realizing it was garbage in the tier (sorry bb i still love you), that idea quickly came to an end as well.

Finally, I landed on scarf Shaymin. It hasn't been doing the most work for the team, so I'm still open to suggestions, but it's been carrying its own weight.

art by technoclove on tumblr

noodle (Steelix-Mega) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Atk / 160 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam​

I was happy to discover that Mega Steelix is still awesome in Gen 7. It walls a variety of things such as Mandibuzz, Bronzong, physical Swellow, and Umbreon, although it relies on stall against 3 of those 4. Sturdy before mega evolution also helps it serve as an emergency check against Salazzle. RestTalk gives it hecka longetivity, and although I hate pp stalling, if it comes down to it I have the option of resting without sleep talking. 160 SpD EVs helps it avoid the 2HKO from uninvested Milotic's scald (bar any crits), and the other EVs are poured into HP and Atk with Adamant nature to help it be fat and be strong (aka pick up KO's on Honchkrow and Zydog with Heavy Slam while living hits from both)

art by Pajara-san on deviantart

dwayne johnson (Gigalith) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion​

Stealth rock lead and sand setter. Edgequake seems pretty standard, and I threw Explosion on there in case I needed a WTF boom as a last ditch effort to take out something fat. 252 HP and 76 SpDef EVs with Careful nature helps it avoid the 2HKO (without crits) from +2 Salazzle's HP Grass in sand. Rest are thrown into Atk for a bigger boom. I'm open to replacing Explosion with another move, though, since I haven't had too many opportunities to use it.

art by GeneralGibby on deviantart

flintstones (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Knock Off
- Roost​

Mandibuzz turned out to be a surprise MVP of the team. It can take hits for days, and it can phase with Whirlwind, which my team was otherwise lacking. Toxic, Knock Off, and Roost are pretty standard. I wish I could fit Defog on there, but Mandibuzz has a bad case of 4 move-slot syndrome, so I stuck Florges with Defog duty. Max HP and Def for maximum fatness. I forget why I put 4 Atk EVs. I have a strong hunch I just took the suggested spread from the teambuilder. Better EV spread suggestions are welcome.

art by Amastroph on deviantart

who is she (Florges) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Defog​

Lovely special defensive wall and cleric, and solid switch-in to Mega Blastoise and Mega Fabio Ampharos. Aromatherapy, Moonblast and Wish are all pretty standard. Defog since I couldn't fit it on Mandibuzz. Considering switching Wish with Synthesis, but a lot of people tend to predict a Protect after the Wish, so I often get an extra turn to do whatever I need to do (e.g. Defog or Aromatherapy). Aromatherapy is especially useful for healing Toxic on Mandibuzz and waking up my two RestTalkers. I think I also just took the Teambuilder's suggestion for this EV spread with this one, but max (odd) HP and max SpDef seems logical to me.

art by VeroneLeffron on deviantart

milothicc (Milotic) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Scald
- Ice Beam​

Another surprise MVP of the team. Although RestTalk is less reliable and takes up the same number of moveslots as Recover + Refresh, imo this fits much better with the team because Rest 1. activates Marvel Scale,
2. only takes one turn to heal AND cure status,
3. can be awoken by Florges,
4. heals more in one go, and
5. is good for PP stall if it comes down to it.
88 SpA allows Scald to 2HKO Gligar 96.7% of the time, which makes prediction a little easier. 252 HP and 168 Def with Bold nature allows it to tank 2 Crunches from +1 Feraligatr and fish for a burn as well as live 2 Superpowers from banded Emboar and go to sleep in its face. Replacing Ice Beam with Dragon Tail has been something that's been on my mind, but I have gotten a couple of freeze hax, so I'm on the fence. Milotic also has good enough natural special bulk to live 3 Dark Pulses from Mega Blastoise, which makes it a great switch in for that bar any unlucky flinch hax.

art by samwiselim on deviantart
gotta go fast (Shaymin) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- HP Fire​

Another good check for Feraligatr. I pretty much ripped this set straight off Smogon. Not too much to say, except that I'm open to changes in this slot, as adorable as Shaymin is.

Weaknesses

Mandibuzz can avoid the OHKO from +2 Stone Edge and phase it out, but if Mandibuzz is on low health, rest in pieces.

Especially an EQ set. My current best answer is to set up sand so that Blizzard might miss, but that's a very risky strategy. Luckily I haven't run into too many of these on the ladder.

If it gets a Shell Smash up, it's pretty much gg. I haven't gone against one yet, but after looking at some discussion about Barb in RU, I realized I don't really have a good answer for it.

Replays

Mandibuzz being a champ
Vs Virizion
Healing wish from Shaymin
I forgot to save this one, but there was one vs. another stall team that was really painful. After about 50 turns we let a dice roll decide who wins, and I lost lol

That's it folks! Any feedback is appreciated, but please be nice because I am still relatively new to the meta :)

 

[Lil Infant Tylenol]

Alright, so the first thing that sticks out to me is your weakness to common fighting types in the tier. First thing I would change is to change the set on milotic. Instead of rest sleep talk, run recover and haze. This will allow Milotic not to be set up bait to those mind. Next change is I would run is to run brave bird okln mando. This allows it to take on the tiers fighting types just a little better. Then finally, I would run Stoutland over shaymin. It still gives u speed control in sand, and it also allows you to beat the fighting types in a tough pinch since it is faster than bewear, pangoro. In sand, its faster than toxicroak and virizion. Next, I think you are misusing gigalith. I would go full sp def on this thing. You say that ur team has trouble with salazzle, and gigalith is the premier salazzle counter. Also I wouldnt run explosion. Instead I would run toxic as its still important to keep this thing alive. Also, there is no need to run sp atk investment on Milotic. Run full physical defensive as it helps take on threats like gator better.

So yeah thats all I cab think of. The team is still weak to zydog, but I honestly cant figure out how to deal with that mon on this team. Also, a guy used a similar team to this and got #1 on the ladder so ur overall idea was good.