Tricky Sands

PokeMaster366

Okay, so I might've done something to make the mods(Wolfey) hate me, so now I'm banned from there for who knows how long. In boredom, I thought I might as well talk about the team I'm using for the Wi-fi tourney in March. Before we begin with this RMT, I would like to thank Ben7000, a regular player on the Skarmbliss PO ladder, for helping this team come into existence. Please note that all pokemon in this team with a Speed-lowering nature have the minimum IVs in speed.


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Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Slack Off

Being a physical tank, a generally slow pokemon, and the only weather starter with a reliable form of recovery that doesn't involve Sleep status, Hippowdon was a must have for this team. The EV spread allows him to be as bulky as possible w/o giving up any offensive grit. EQ gives him a solid STAB to use while Crunch lets him hit Cresselia for SE damage. Ice Fang is there for coverage against everybody's favorite Sand Veil abuser: Cacturne...Just kidding! :P Garchomp! With how much punishment that Hippowdon takes and the fact that he's going to be working under TR often, it was a better idea to give him Slack Off over Protect. I wanted to use TTar, but with Fighting types that work well under TR and Metagross Steel types being so popular, adding TTar was a generally bad idea.

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Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 86 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Rest
- Psychic
- Ice Beam

The Trick Room setter and literal damage sponge of the team. Thanks to Rest, Cresselia can wall attacks much longer than usual, and with the Chesto Berry, he can set up TR w/o a hitch or take her time killing off Amoonguss. Psychic and Ice Beam along with the Sp. Atk EVs let her give offensive support by damaging Fighting types and Dragons.

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Excadrill (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- X-Scissor

A sweeper in the sands in case things I just need to be sneaky with Sandstorm and Trick Room. Excadrill sweeps the rest of the opponent's team on the off chance that they stall out Trick Room. Earthquake and Rock Slide are its moves of choice. X-Scissor allows it to hit pokemon like Ludicolo and Cresselia for SE damage.

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Hitmontop (M) @ Fight Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Wide Guard
- Fake Out

The all-too-common Intimidate support of the group. Thanks to the Fight Gem, Hitmontop can 0HKO Max HP Chople Tyranitar so long as no other Intimidators butt in. Fake Out is there if I need to set up TR again with Cress. Wide Guard covers against the team's sensitivity to Heat Wave and Surf while giving Hitmontop some sort of protection against the team's own Earthquakes. Sucker Punch lets me pick off weakened pokemon.

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Escavalier (M) @ Bug Gem
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Protect
- Substitute

My chief Trick Room sweeper and the only pokemon that can claim to be able to 0HKO Cresselia w/o Crit hax or outside support. Bug Gem + Megahorn let him do just that and maim anyone that tries to switch into it. Iron Head gives him a more reliable STAB to use if he can't waste the Gem for some reason. With Escavalier's movepool being more shallow than your typical person's tolerance for ignorance and trolling, I had to give him Substitute so he isn't crippled by burn all the time.

Heatran_Pok%C3%A9mon_Ranger_3.png



Heatran (M) @ Fire Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 6 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Eruption
- Protect
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Well, well, well. If it isn't the Heatran from Oblivia w/ Eruption. The Quiet nature would normally be considered a terrible thing, but thanks to it, he's actually pretty good under TR. Eruption is the STAB of choice that imminently rapes the opposing side thanks to the Fire Gem. Earth Power and HP Ice give him much-needed coverage.

​

I hope this team does well in the upcoming tournament. Please rate and give your opinions.
 
On PO recently, my TR got screwed by a first turn Heatran w/ Fire Gem Eruption.... This looks like a pretty solid team, it might be hard to notice that it is TR. Escavalier's moveset is incredibly predictable, the only thing you don't already have that's viable is Swords Dance. Scizor is a decent equivalent, and would make it yet harder to notice this is TR. I personally prefer Escavalier, but his coverage is SO bad.
 
Drifblim said:
On PO recently, my TR got screwed by a first turn Heatran w/ Fire Gem Eruption.... This looks like a pretty solid team, it might be hard to notice that it is TR. Escavalier's moveset is incredibly predictable, the only thing you don't already have that's viable is Swords Dance. Scizor is a decent equivalent, and would make it yet harder to notice this is TR. I personally prefer Escavalier, but his coverage is SO bad.
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*nervous laughter* that may have been my team that did that, but I don't know. I know Escavalier's movepool sucks like an Octillery, but Scizor is not exactly TR material. In TR, he still gets outran by pokemon that he needs to kill. Escavalier w/ Bug Gem Megahorn makes switching out a bad idea and 0HKOes Cresselia, which is a big win. I'm honestly stumped on what move to give Escavalier to fill his 4th moveslot.
 
Scizor can underspeed pretty much everything you need it for except -Spe Tyranitar/Abomasnow, both of which die to Bullet Punch anyway. Since you're obviously not worried about Cresselia setting up TR on you, I think you can afford to lose the OHKO (nitpick, but it always bothers me: that's written with an O as in One, not a 0, unless you somehow expect it to die without attacking it) in exchange for an actual movepool.
 
...and hitmontops sets are extremely predictable -_-. On to teh super magical rate:

Hippowdon:He's a pretty cool guy eh. I never really think hippo is overshadowed by the prevelant ttar. Though all hippo got over tar is hp and stab eq. Your set is standard though I believe protect should be tested on him. Ca be usefuk for protect+tr setups. Maybe test protect>>icefang.

cress:Standard and rest is pretty cool

Top:Standard

Excavi:Stay as is. Sub imo is probably one of the best moves that can be used at higher levels of play(usually 5/6 of my team got sub haha), and in escav's case can be used when predicting a protect.

Exca:I really don't like this guy. He needs ttar or hippo(both of which aren't immune to eq)You only have 1 levitater and protect+eq or wideguard+eq wast a turn you can use to attack. Plus outside stab eq he puts out pitiful damage.

Heatran: Is great. Though I'd put heatwave>eruption for usability. The set kinda reminds me pf watergem jellicent, but after it takes damage your gonna wish you had hydropump or in this case HW. Its a double edged sword that has high reward but a very high risk

Teams pretty solid overall though i'd suggest:

->Another tr user preferably ghost as a plan B. Cress has some flaws and being weak to FO can stop a turn. With a ghost you can get tr up 1st turn.

I would write more which I intend to but that'll come later.
 
soul_survivor said:
...and hitmontops sets are extremely predictable -_-. On to teh super magical rate:

Hippowdon:He's a pretty cool guy eh. I never really think hippo is overshadowed by the prevelant ttar. Though all hippo got over tar is hp and stab eq. Your set is standard though I believe protect should be tested on him. Ca be usefuk for protect+tr setups. Maybe test protect>>icefang.

Already tested Protect and found myself in a lot of situations where he was better off with the Stall and Slack recovery. It's a useful niche for a weather setter to have a reliable recovery.

cress:Standard and rest is pretty cool

Top:Standard

Excavi:Stay as is. Sub imo is probably one of the best moves that can be used at higher levels of play(usually 5/6 of my team got sub haha), and in escav's case can be used when predicting a protect.

Exca:I really don't like this guy. He needs ttar or hippo(both of which aren't immune to eq)You only have 1 levitater and protect+eq or wideguard+eq wast a turn you can use to attack. Plus outside stab eq he puts out pitiful damage.

In all honesty, Exca is mainly doing time on the clean-up committee. When TR goes out of play and the damage is done, Excadrill comes out to pick up the pieces.

Heatran: Is great. Though I'd put heatwave>eruption for usability. The set kinda reminds me of watergem jellicent, but after it takes damage your gonna wish you had hydropump or in this case HW. Its a double edged sword that has high reward but a very high risk

Now we know how people who use Water Spout Jellicent feel. The overall accuracy of moves like Heat Wave and Hydro Pump have always been let-downs, and 9 times out of 10, Trick Room is going to be up by the time he arrives

Teams pretty solid overall though i'd suggest:

->Another tr user preferably ghost as a plan B. Cress has some flaws and being weak to FO can stop a turn. With a ghost you can get tr up 1st turn.

With so much emphasis being put on beating a pokemon as quickly as possible and with how the games go nowadays, it's normally better to have things like Trick Room set up on the 2nd or 3rd turn.

I would write more which I intend to but that'll come later.
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voodoo pimp said:
Scizor can underspeed pretty much everything you need it for except -Spe Tyranitar/Abomasnow, both of which die to Bullet Punch anyway. Since you're obviously not worried about Cresselia setting up TR on you, I think you can afford to lose the OHKO (nitpick, but it always bothers me: that's written with an O as in One, not a 0, unless you somehow expect it to die without attacking it) in exchange for an actual movepool.

True, but Scizor's overall power has always been underwhelming barring GemCrobatics. He also loses out to the more dedicated TR pokemon such as Amoonguss, Jellicent, and Rhyperior. With Trick Room constantly putting me on a time crunch, I can't really afford the power drop, nor can I afford to have random contingency TR counters ruining my day. Bug Gem Escavalier makes things simpler because no one can safely stall out TR by constantly swapping pokemon into a move that can potentially have more destructive force than a STAB Explosion this generation. Escavalier has also been useful in weird situations where my opponent uses TR instead of me. Outside of its ability to use Acrobatics, which doesn't even get the Technician boost, and the Base 65 Speed that trolls Trick Room teams that don't have the room set up, Scizor isn't all that good. He gets Bullet Punch, Bug Bite, Acrobatics (again, eats up a slot that can be used for better items), Superpower, Feint, and maybe Swords Dance as viable VGC moves, but with all the Chandelures and Zapdos running around and the typical lack of Occa Berries, the only role that Scizor can really do well in is revenge-killing.
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