The Sandmen - an OU RMT

thespike323


Hello Smogon,

This is my first RMT, as well as my first post on the Smogon forums.
This is probably the team that's yielded the majority of my competitive Pokemon battling success,
and the team that inspired me to make an account and post, so, here goes:

Team at a glance:
[pimg]669[/pimg] [pimg]428[/pimg] [pimg]455[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]490[/pimg] [pimg]680[/pimg]

[pimg]669[/pimg]

Terrakion @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Substitute

Terrakion. My physical sweeper. The set is a standard sub + SD set, and it works great as both a late game sweeper, and as a great early game damage-dealer,
should I manage to set up a sub on a predicted status move. I chose to eschew a rock gem in favor of leftovers for the longevity,
and Gastrodon and Genesect can come in on pretty much all opposing Gliscors for me, meaning I really don't need to worry too much about one switching in.
EV's are *fairly* straightforward, with speed given the positive nature to tie with other non-scarfed Terrakion, and not get beat by the positive-natured base 100's.

[pimg]455[/pimg]

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock

Hippowdon's role on this team is pretty obvious. He sets up my hazards, phazes out Pokemon who try to boost, shrugs off physical hits,
and summons my sand. A standard defensive EV spread is all this guy needs to take on some of the most prominent physical threats out there,
slacking off any damage taken in the process. Earthquake means he isn't total taunt bait and, coming off STAB plus a base 112 attack stat,
can put the hurt in some unsuspecting victims. Even though he doesn't resist the types,
Hippowdon is my go-to for taking most fighting and ground attacks as well, which my team is otherwise weak to.

[pimg]428[/pimg]

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 184 Def / 252 SAtk / 72 SDef
Modest Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Stockpile
- Scald

Definitely the most unique Pokemon you'll see on this team. Since a great majority of sand abusers don't resist water type attacks,
having one that turns water attacks into boosts was exactly what this team needed. Gastrodon is, believe it or not, usually the one I find doing the sweeping for this team.
Since most teams rarely will carry more than, say, 2 grass type moves, you just need to eliminate those 'mons, stockpile, and sweep. If you can get a storm drain boost, even better.
At 2.5x Def and SpD, the Don can take hits from the hardest of hitters, and with rest and sleep talk, outstall the stalliest of stallers.
The EV's are simply to max out his attack, and balance each defensive stat. Since Gastrodon has only one weakness,
my goal was simply for him to sponge neutral hits from across the spectrum with the help of stockpile. So why favor one defensive stat over the other?

[pimg]385[/pimg]

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Wish
- Ice Punch
- Toxic

The special wall. Jirachi partners Hippowdon in defense, sponging special rather than physical hits however.
Thus, you may notice some similarities in their movesets. Wish is Jirachi's recovery move of choice, and it really benefits the rest of the team as well,
seeing as I lack a spinner, and hazard damage can add up. Where roar allows Hippowdon to deal with set-up sweepers,
Protect allows Jirachi to deal with choiced pokemon, scouting their move and selecting an appropriate switch-in.
And it helps with wish healing of course. Toxic allows me to take down bulky water types that would otherwise trouble my team,
especially 'mons such as Jellicent who can absorb Gastrodon's scalds and stop his sweep cold.

[pimg]490[/pimg]

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Flame Charge
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Pulse

Heatran is the second custom set I use on this team, and acts as my special sweeper. Most offensive Heatran will sacrafice power
by using a timid nature, but I chose to use modest, with flame charge to circumvent the speed issue. Since most Heatran counters will attempt to come in on a non-OHKOing move,
outspeed, and revenge kill the guy, you can catch a lot of things off guard ny nabbing a speed boost on the switch. Dugtrio may expect to come in,
live a fire blast via focus sash, and KO with earthquake. Well, +1 modest Heatran outspeeds even jolly Dugtrio, and can finish it off easily.
Earth power allows me to deal with rock and other fire types, and dragon pulse because otherwise I would have no dragon attack at all in this team.

[pimg]680[/pimg]

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Genesect is my revenge killer, and was picked mostly due to its ability, download.
With a SpA boost from download, Genesect can consider himself having donned a pair of sexy specs to match his scarf. Coming off base 120 special attack,
a +1 super effective hit will more often than not *at least* 2HKO its victim, meaning that even dedicated special walls need to think twice before switching into this bad boy.
With a bug/steel typing, Genesect has only one weakness, meaning he can come in more often than your average scarf user.

---------------------------------------------------

Well, there's my team. I think it's decent, but could definitely do with some work. It definitely isn't perfect.
Thanks for reading, and if you plan on dropping a response, thanks in advance!
​

Terrakion @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Substitute

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 184 Def / 252 SAtk / 72 SDef
Modest Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Stockpile
- Scald

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Wish
- Ice Punch
- Toxic

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Flame Charge
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Pulse



Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
 
I've gotta say, this is quite the nice team. Really, my only suggestion is that on Heatran you give it air balloon instead of leftovers. this is because, as you said, Heatran +1 is fast. This should help him get a bit more sweeps and also while the opponent goes to knock out ballon he can get up a flame charge otherwise good team, Gratz on first rmt, would like to see more in the future.
 
This is a great team. I don't really have any good suggestions, but I think you should change your Gastrodon's move set to recover, earth power, stockpile, scald. Gastrodon wont have to rely on getting another special attack boost and have the ability to hurt ferry thorn or possibly OHKO a weaker ferrothorn. Rest is only good with chestorest and restalk pokemon have a chance to use a useless move costing you the match.vsorry I give dull rates like electroltye and Asek but I'm on an iPad so sorry.
 
Hi there, really nice balanced sand team you got here. One major threat to your team I can see is Keldeo which seems to cause your team all sorts of problems especially if it is supported by rain, being able to OHKO every member on your team barring Gastro who falls to a 2HKO from a Specs/+1 Secret Sword, seeing as Keldeo and Rain Offense are very common at the moment I would suggest that you replace your current Gastrodon with an Amoonguss, it still gives you a great bulky Pokemon to combat Rain but also can beat Keldeo and is very hard to take down with its new dream world ability Regenerator, and added bonus of using Amoonguss over your current Gastrodon is the fact your team gets Spore which can prove to win you many games being a 100% accurate sleep inducing move. Now that's the only major change I would right now because this team looks very well balanced, but I would suggest using Hidden power Ice on Heatran over Dragon Pulse simply because it can hit the likes of Salamence, Landorus and Dragonite much harder making it a better coverage move to have especially on an offensive Heatran. Next I think you should be running U-Turn over Bug Buzz on Genesect because of the fact Genesect is a great scout, the amount of switches it causes is insane so having U-Turn to go with a hit and run route is much better, along with that you should move 16 Evs from Special Attack on your Genesect to Attack and run a Naive nature to keep your U-Turns as strong as possible without lowing on other KOs with your special attacks.

591.png

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge | Regenerator
Calm | 252 SAtk / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Spore | Giga Drain | Hidden Power[Ice] | Stun Spore

Good Luck!
 
Hi

This is a pretty cool sand team you've got there. However, you will have issues with Fighting typed Pokemon, especially Swords Dance Breloom and Choice Band Terrakion. This is mainly because you offer them (especially Terrakion) a lot of opportunities to switch in and you have no resist to their powerful STAB attacks. Hippowdon might be bulky but it can't take two Choice Banded Close Combats from Terrakion and a boosted Bullet Seed from Breloom will hit it for an absolute ton of damage. Your Jirachi lacks any attacks that really scare Terrakion (like Iron Head or Body Slam) so it can switch in any time, add to that Heatran and Genesect which are easy switch ins for it thanks to Sandstorm's Special Defense boost. Your team will get destroyed by Choice Band Terrakion pretty easily if the player you're facing is decent. Honestly, I think that you should replace Gastrodon with a defensive Celebi. Celebi is able to tank Water attacks, which is great, while also resisting Fighting attacks giving you a nice switch in to Close Combats. This means that Celebi will be able to do Gastrodon's job while also giving you a nice tool against Fighters. Lastly, Celebi has Natural Cure which means that if you mess up a bit against Breloom and switch into Spore, your counter isn't screwed up.

I think that you miss out on something big by bypassing U-turn on Genesect. It's simply too good to pass up, as it gives you insane momentum and gives you something to gain advantage of the Attack boost you'll often gain, as a lot of people have adapted to Genesect's Download and try to get higher Special Defense on their Pokemon. Even without investment, U-turn is fairly powerful and it slams Pokemon like Blissey. Since Genesect is Scarfed, you will end up giving a lot of free turns to your opponent as once you choose an attack, you're locked into it; giving the opponent's Spikers a good opportunity to set up. When you are not sure early game, simply choosing U-turn means you don't get locked into a move (since you switch out) while still puting offensive pressure on the opponent. With Celebi, Thunderbolt becomes rather useless, as you don't need something to revenge kill Gyarados anymore and while slamming Jellicent is certainly cool, you can simply U-turn out of it and go to Celebi.

Anyway that's a cool team, good job n_n. Here's the set you should use:
251.gif

Celebi @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
~Giga Drain
~Psychic
~Thunder Wave
~Recover

Good luck!
 
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