Team Sand Man

[Metal Bagon]

Team Sandman
I made this team because I got really pissed off at people using weather teams and I wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine. It worked well for awhile but recently it's been fading out so that's why I'm putting it up for rate.

Team Building Process

The Sandman himself. T-tar gets my all important sand up which allows my defensive core to stall and his unique even gimmicky set throws a lot of team off balance.

I've seen Ferrothorn and Jellicent around the place but the first I saw this combo (memorably anyway), was in my Smogon Tourney match vs Vinc. Both complement each other really well typing-wise and Ferrothorn is my main pokemon when it comes to getting hazards up.

Next I needed a choiced pokemon that wouldn't die through sandstorm damage. Mamoswine was really good in teams I played against in UU so I thought I'd try it in OU.

Reuniclus fits the role of bulky attacker perfectly and is able to check threats like choice scarf terrakion which rips through the rest of my team.

To round out my team I thought I'd use to top used pokemon in the OU metagame, Dragonite who is my build up attacker. If given the chance he'll get +2 attack and speed and proceed to a possible sweep. I previously used the bulky variant but since Reuniclus provides bulky attack I went for a more offensive set.

I replaced Mamoswine with Hydregion after Mamo wasn't very successful. Because this gives me a 3x ice weakness and Dragonite was too crippled by the sand damage. Scizor also has good offensive synergy with Hydregion in my opinion.

Karpman had a really good idea for a Reunilcus replacment and it was Celebi. It's typing is really good with Hydregion and both are naturalyy bulky which is always good. It also has natural bulk which can allow to get a Nasty Plot up before attack. Despite the fact I now have a 3x fire weakness I'll see if I can handle it.


The Team

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Atk / 56 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Focus Punch
- Crunch

This is my original Tyranitar set, I'm probably not the first to use it but I thought of it without looking at an analyse so I'm calling it mine. Sub-punch is self explanatory while Taunt is to stop other leads from getting hazards up. Crunch is reliable STAB and also gets ghosts who look to switch into focus punch after I've already used it.

Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
- Nasty Plot

This is a new edition to my team. Comments coming after I get time to playtest it.

Hydreigon (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Surf
- Flamethrower

As a replacement to Mamoswine it also runs scarf with max Sp.Attack and Speed. Modest is because Timid won't make much difference with a Scarf on and I obviously have no choice when it comes to levitate.

Moves are pretty limited but effective when it comes to Hydreigon. Draco Meteor and Dark Pulse are powerful STAB's. I use flamethrower over Fire Blast because I like accuracy over power. Finally I use surf as it seems to bring coverage together to allow me hit close-to-anything Super effectively. Also, it can

Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost

I may have said I didn't originally use roost-nite becauseIi already had reunilcus but this is the best scizor set ever so I couldn't resist using it.

56 HP is to give scizor decent bulk while the rest of the EV spread is practically streamline. Jolly over adamant 'cause I don't run max speed and technician and bullet punch is boss.

For attacks swords dance is obvious while superpower + bullet punch gives close to perfect coverage. Bullet Punch is the STAB move of this set and finally roost is recovery, allowing Scizor to live longer and do more damage.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 168 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn gets my hazards up and stalls with Leech Seed. Simple purpose but it takes good prediction to pull off. EV's are pretty standard but I put EV's in attack so Gyro Ball can do damage if needed.

Anyway, move-wise spikes are the hazards mentioned above and the combo of Leech Seed + Protect makes for some good stall action (if you can call stall action). Gyro Ball is only in there so Ferrothorn isn't Tauntme-thorn.

Gilscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Facade
- Protect

Toxic Orb Gilscor is pretty strait if I'm honest. Toxic=recovery with protect. Swords Dance + 2 attack allows Gilscor to be useful. The two attack in question are earthquake, which is reliable STAB, and Facade, which has base 140 power when poisoned, which with toxic orb Gilscor is.

EV's are pretty standard but I'll explain them anyway. Max HP is for max wall ability while I use 180 defensive EV's because Ferrothorn is Special based. The rest is put into offensive EV's so Gilscor still has a chance to do good damage even if he doesn't have the time to use swords dance.

Former Members

Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 172 HP / 80 Def / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Reuniclus is as said above, my bulky attacker. EV wise I run max Sp.Attack with modest to maximize damage. I also put 4 speed EVs to break any speed ties with other Reuniclus'. Defensive EV's brings the defence and Sp.Defence stat to an equal number and the rest goes into HP.

Psychic is obviously for STAB while Shadow Ball is for Ghosts and other psychic types. Hidden Power fire is really helpful against ferrothorn and Fortress, finally recover is to regain HP, keeping that bulky attacker aspect in mind.

Also, Magic Guard allows me to switch into Jellicents Toxic's/Will-o-Wisp's and then shadow balls it for an almost certain KO. This makes it a reliable check for Jellicent.
Conclusion
I'm unsure how to improve this team but it obviously needs improving. All help is welcome so hopefully you can help me.

 

[Ninjadolphin]

you should probably have focus blast over hp fire on reun, and maybe use a life orb

 

[Metal Bagon]

you should probably have focus blast over hp fire on reun, and maybe use a life orb

Thank you for your rate but I don't like Focus Blast's inaccuracy and putting a Life Orb on Reuniclus destroys the point of having a bulky attacker.

 

[Dk Law]

I don't really rate teams but I would use movesets and items that compliment each other.
I don't see the point of having taunt and sub on ttar when using sub would prevent them doing any status, etc. to you. i wouldn't worry about them setting up on you because they have to worry about breaking your sub first. I would probably replace taunt with Earthquake because Toxicroak is the only poke that could possibly set up on it.
I see that you put the normal speed evs from a Gliscor set to attack which means other Gliscors can beat it before you beat them. I understand why you would have facade because of the poison boost but ice fang is still better imo, but its a matter of reference.
If you're going to run a bulky reuniclus, you should probably have calm mind. If your going to use leftys instead of life orb, then you need another way to make its attack stronger and make it a threat to your opponent. Bulky reuniclus can still be taken down, but that extra power makes it harder to take down.

 

[doughboy]

I know you want to run HP Fire, but Life Orb+Focus Blast does something close to 70%-77% to the usualy CB Scizor. If you really want a Bulky Attacker, use CM reuniclus. Besides Scizor handles Scizor anyway.

As of now you have a lot of overlapping roles on your team. Your bulky attacker? Hell, look at Scizor and Gliscor, they're doing pretty much the same thing. As of now, you lack a stall breaker, if you make Reunclus a standard CM set, you will have a great stall breaker and bulky attacker.

Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Recover
- Calm Mind

The Next thing is that you lack Stealth Rock. Without Stealth Rock, volcarona and Dragonite are really hard to deal with. You really need to put SR on your team. Sub-Punch Ttar isn't taunting walls anytime soon other than Ferrothorn and Forretress, who would break your precious subs with Gyro Ball anyway. For this reason I'm recommending specially defensive Ttar since it can set up SR and give special bulk this team needs.

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Last, but not least, I would recommend Rock Polish Landorus over Gliscor. RP Landorus will help you sweep fast, offensive teams better (scizor has bulkier ones with SD) and it can ease this teams problem with Gliscor with HP Ice. Make sure you set the EV's to 30/31/30/31/31/31 so you don't get outsped by opposing Landorus when you are unboosted and to outspeed base 100's.

Mr. Fro (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish

 

[AB2]

Hi, I think that this team is pretty cool but I really do not think that you are allowing yourself to abuse some of the cool offensive combos that are built into this team. Hydregion is actually a pretty good choice for this team as it supports other members of this team quite well. The ability to run a scarf set on it is really cool, but I think that if you tried out an expert belt set in that slot it could be even better. With expert belt, Hydregion lures in and kos Heatran and Jellicent, which are two 'mons that Scizor will pretty much never be able to get past on its own. If you try to pack an expert belt set with something like draco meteor / flamethrower / dark pulse / focus blast, then you are able to easily bluff a scarf set while luring in and koing threats like Rotom-W who want to take advantage of of you being "locked" into a certain move. While I think it is interesting that you're using a speedier Scizor, I really think that you can change to either a bulkier version with roost or an all out offensive version. If you take my advice and run expert belt on Hydregion, then your team pretty much sets up perfectly for a Scizor sweep.

You're going to leave yourself helpless against opposing Scizor with this team. Pretty much all of your team members will not be able to take boosted moves from an opposing Scizor. I'd like to see you run a bulkier Gyarados over Reuniclus on this team. Gyarados has the ability to easily take on most Scizor while not really disturbing any synergy on this team. If you want to pack thunder wave on Gyarados, that would also help this team a lot as you will be able to cripple Rotom-W switch ins so that Scizor can easily ko with a +2 bug bite later in the match. Gyarados is one of the best Volcarona counters around as well, which is another threat that can easily have its way with this team after a boost or two. I would also try running stealth rock on Tyranitar. If you shift Tyranitar to a stealth rock variant, you have a potent offensive core between Hydregion and Scizor that can abuse hazards as well as Gyarados which can shuffle most teams around. gl.

 

[NatGeo]

Hey, I'm really digging this team, no joke. If you dig down a bit you can say that you are weak to rain teams and a lot of the threats on them, mainly powerful Water-type attackers and Virizion, both of whom can really screw you up if you play wrong with Tyranitar. Scizor also seems to pose some sort of a problem if Gliscor's weakened, but that's just a matter of keeping Gliscor healthy whenever you see it. However, to give yourself a better check you can switch you Gliscor set atm to:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal | 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Earthquake / Toxic / Ice Fang / Protect

This provides you with not just a further safeguard against Scizor, but also a nice check to some of the Fighting-types you might have trouble with, Terrakion being the most apparent in my eyes, as well as many other physical attackers - which is what you want it to be doing, no? Gliscor still hits hard enough off of 95 Attack anyways. That said, I really like AB2's ideas of Expert Belt Hydreigon and a different Scizor spread - imo you should probably switch to a more defensive spread just to give you a bit of utility outside of sweeping. Also definitely switch your Tyranitar atm to a Stealth Rock variant, not just to provide hazard support like AB2 said but in my opinion the set that Tyranitar is carrying right now doesn't exactly go with the feel of the team. To address your weakness to rain I think you should try a Calm Mind Jirachi over Reuniclus:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serene Grace | 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Substitute / Calm Mind / Psyshock / Water Pulse | Thunderbolt

This will give you a great check to most rain teams, as well as a great counter to CM Virizion, as you can live a Focus Blast at +1 and wipe it out with Psyshock. Hope this rate helped and good luck!

 

[verbatim]

I know you said this was meant to give weather teams a taste of their own medicine, but you really don't have anyway to abuse the sand you put up as of now. An interesting suggestion might be to change Gliscor into a modified Britscor (better known to 5th gen players as AcroBat)

Gliscor @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Substitute

The basic premise of this set is to use the turn most Gliscor's use Protect to get inflicted with poison (a turn most smart opponents will see coming and use to switch into something that can take Gliscor) and Substitute right in there face. From there you are free to fire off a boosted Acrobatics or Swords Dance (assuming the switch in meant to cripple you via something Substitute blocked or something that you can outspeed and kill after one Swords Dance). The lack of Poison Heal hurts, but Sand Veil is pretty useful in its own right.

 

[Honus]

Hey, cool team.

As others have pointed out, you're weak to strong water type attackers and your Reuniclus set seems a bit out of place, due to the fact that it can't check things as well as the CM set and that it lacks the raw offensive power of the TR Set. I think Nasty Plot Celebi would make a great replacement for Reuniclus, as not only does it grant insurance against rain and beat Scizor 1 on 1, it's also naturally bulky, so you can invest more in its speed.

Hide

Celebi @ Leftovers

Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
- Nasty Plot

Honestly, AB2 and Zurich's rates have hit the nail on the head, but if you do choose to switch to Defensive Gliscor [which is a good idea], make sure you have Taunt on there, it will allow you better insurance against Pokemon like Conkeldurr, Scizor and Ferrothorn.

Also, while your Tyranitar set is creative, I think a specially defensive variant with Stealth Rock will be more beneficial to your team and can also take a +1 hit from Volcarona in most cases.

Hide

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry

Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 SpDef
Sassy Nature
-Stealth Rock
-Fire Blast
-Rock Slide
-Crunch

You could also try Rest over Fire Blast and a Chesto Berry if you really want to get creative. Either way, Chople Berry can help Tyranitar tank Focus Blasts from Pokemon like Reuniclus and defeat them afterwards, Leftovers is also an option, but Chople Berry usually comes in more handy.

Good Luck!

 

[Jayde]

Hey MetalBagon,

Nice team. However, you look a little weak to Quiver Dance Volcarona. When Volc gets a QD under its belt, you'll be hard pressed to stop it. Tyranitar might be able to live a +1 Bug Buzz, but Crunch won't KO back. The Sub variant would probably be the hardest to best. Even making Tyranitar specially defensive and giving it Rock Slide would leave it a very shaky check. As other users have mentioned, you also struggle with powerful special attacks in rain. Stuff like SpecsToed and Rotom can really leave you gasping for breath.

My take on what you could do to solve this is to replace Reuniclus with Support Blissey. Contrary to popular belief, Blissey has not lost its touch, and is still the premier special wall to use on Sand and Hail teams. Blissey can Toxic or Thunder Wave Volcarona, as well as sponge some special attacks from powerful rain threats such as Politoed, Starmie, and Rotom-W. It also gives you a way to set up Stealth Rock if you don't want to change your Tyranitar set. I also honestly fail to see what Reuniclus is doing for you right now. You have Scizor for threats like Terrakion now, and Hydreigon (even moreso if you replace it with the Expert Belt version) is as good a check to Jellicent as any.

As for other changes, I support switch Hydreigon to an Expert Belt variant and Tyranitar to a Specially Defensive variant with Stealth Rock. This will also let you free up a spot on Blissey, if you end up deciding to use it. Power Whip is the better option of Ferro IMO, since you can get damage on some of the rain threats mentioned above, as well as do decent damage to Tentacruel if it comes in for a spin.

Hope I helped, GL!

Hide

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Toxic / Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss

 

[Metal Bagon]

OK, time to look at all of this because there are a lot of cool contributer in this thread.

@dk law, you just seem to keep droning on without actually providing good reasoning.

@TPDB, I'll try using your Reuniclus set however I'm hanging onto HP fire instead of Focus Blast sorry. I like my Landorus the way it is sorry and I'll decide on T-tar at the end of this post.

@AB2, Scarf Hydregion is the one of the best mons on my team, I just don't see myself changing now or anytime soon. Your Gyarados idea intrigues me though. I'll use if TPDB's Reuniclus doesn't work out.

@Zurich, I'll try this Gilscor set as it does truthfully look workable, it's only a matter if it will blend well with my playstyle. The only thing about Jirachi is that it has 5 moves but other then that it looks pretty good, of course it may have to wait in line for awhile lol.

@ Verbatim, I do like the look of set but I like my Gilscor to be defensive based. It is an interesting set though and I may use it elsewhere.

@Karpman, Celebi has skipped to the front of line and taken Reuniclus' place. I played with Celebi a couple of months ago with a team that sadly only floated around the the top 2500-5000 (forgot where it peaked) and it was easily the best pokemon of the team. Exactly the same set (maybe different EV's it's been awhile) but also it's typing is a great mesh with Hydregion allowing me to potenially swtich between the two in the right situation.

@Jayde, I too believe Blissey hasn't lost its touch however on a sand team sandstorm damage doesn't help it stall out much. Also I am a little against stall teams and with blissey this will be moving towards one.

Thank you every for your rates and sorry about being late to reply. I've not decided which T-tar to use so that's the main issue, I'm trying to decide about, so some more ideas for T-tar would be nice.