Tyrant in the SandSpiral

[Dracule Mihawk]

Tyrant in the Sand Spiral

Hello and welcome to my second RMT, this time round I have decided to go into weather and chose sandstorm out of the 3 that were available. This team uses standard tactics in a sandstorm to win apart from Excadrill :P. It has been great for me but it can do better in my opinion. This team use a anti weather core and is focused on covering key threats. Each member handles certain things and without them the team would fail​

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Team Building Process

I started out with Scarf tyranitar, to handle thunderbro and tornadus. And I was using Hippo on my other ss team, so i wanted to try out Tyranitar.

Gliscor was added to handle Excadrill that could abuse my sandstorm, and to handle conkelldur and terrakion.

Heatran was added to handle sun teams in case tyranitar was not around, and it is the second part of my core next to gliscor

Gastrodon was the last part of my core, my answer to rain teams and the last part of my core.

I wanted to use Celebi ever since it owned me in a few games beforehand. Celebi is my answer to Jellicent, Rotom-W and my second check to rain teams.

Latios was added to handle Virizion and to hit hard right off the bat.

Tyrant (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Stone Edge

Choice Scarf Tyranitar, I am surprised more people do not use this. Tyrant outspeeds Thundurus and KOs with stone edge. Crunch is STAB, and Pursuit for trapping psychics. Superpower is for steels and stone edge is for STAB and to handle the genies. The EVs are standard, and jolly with 252 Evs in speed allows me to outspeed base 115 speed foes such as starmie. Tyranitar handles the lati@s for me, and can trap psychics.

Viper (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 184 Def / 80 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Taunt

Gliscor is excellent, it checks Excadrill and Conkelldur who would give this team a lot of trouble. Gliscor has excellent synergy with Heatran, being immune to Earthquake and resisting fighting type moves. It fills the role of a bulky sweeper. The Evs give maximum Poison Heal recovery while the extra speed will help to outspeed opposing Gliscor ,max Speed Tyranitar and all Adamant Breloom, yet still allow it to maintain amazing physical bulk to counter Excadrill and Conkeldurr. Swords dance allows Gliscor to boost its attack, ice fang is to hit flying pokes and levitate users. Earthquake is STAB and can 2HKO Jellicent after a swordsdance factoring in Stealth Rock. Taunt is stop phazers and other pokemon from setting up.

Bojack (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic/Protect
- Lava Plume
- Roar​

Heatran is excellent in its role. It handles sun teams, and checks Volcarono. This is the second part of the defensive core, and it checks the one of the three weathers. The Evs are standard and maximize special bulk. Stealth Rock makes it easier for Virizion to sweep, lava plume has been chosen for its 30 percent burn rate which can nerf physical attackers. Toxic is to hit bulky waters and walls that would otherwise wall heatran. Roar allows me to phaze, and protect is used to scout.

Lord Slug (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Recover
- Scald
- Toxic
- Earth Power

Gastrodon is the last part of my core, and the first check to rain teams. It is a standard set that handles hard counters Latios, Heatran, Rotom-W, Thundurus, and Starmie. The EVs maximize Special bulk. Recover is to regain health, scald is a good STAB and good for the chance of burn. Earth power is a reliable STAB and hits other opposing water pokemon. Toxic is to hit pokemon that otherwise gastro would not be able to touch.

Pixie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SAtk / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Nasty Plot

Celebi is excellent. It is my answer to jellicent, gastrodon, and a second check to rain teams. The EVs with a Modest nature, allows Celebi to outspeed all unboosted variants of Tyranitar,(apart from scarf)while maintaining efficient durability and maximum Special Attack. I have chosen coverage over recovery, Celebi handles cores similiar to mine. Earth power is for heatran, giga drain for recovery and reliable STAB and hp fire for ferrothorn and scizor.

Tidus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick

Ah latios, this thing is a destructive behemoth. The Evs are standard sweeper ones, and choice specs to hit hard. Draco meteor is powerful and dents a hole in teams. Surf is for coverage, and psyshock to handle virizion, and blissey. Trick is to screw over counters. HP fire is not used to outspeed other latios's and speed ties with other base 110s. Timid is used for the extra speed

Conclusion
Thanks for your time in reading my RMT, and any constructive criticism is welcome in effort to improve this team. A big thanks to my friend gm for giving me the idea about scarf tyranitar. Any future changes will be in bold

A last glance

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Hey man, this is a pretty solid team, I played a bit with a team with a similar core. Reunicles, Celebi, and Virizion are big problems as you have said. Now Latios deals with these problems, but not well, as its quickly taken down by hazards and sand damage. Instead, try Latias or Scizor. They deal with those pokemon quite well, and bring other things to the table. Latios can wish away and give many of your pokemon a second chance and use roar to phase things away. While scizor can simply destroy said threats, and provide an alternative way of dealing with physical monsters, like Terrakoin, so gliscor isn't bogged down.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there. Nice team.

I agree with Scarf Wynaut's suggestion of switching Latios to a Scizor, as it can still cover threats such as CM Virizion, without risking being killed by a Pursuit from a Tyranitar or Scizor. As for the item on it, I recommend a choice band set, as you will mostly need it to be a straight revenge killer.

Choice Band Scizor

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Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Speed
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Definitely run Protect > Toxic on Heatran, as getting extra Leftovers recovery is always appreciated, and the ability to scout moves from pokemon such as CB Scizor and Choice Specs Latios is very useful. Bulky waters aren't too much of a problem for your team regardless.

On Gastrodon, I recommend running Earthquake over Earth power and switching to a Relaxed nature. This will let you do much more damage to pokemon such as Jirachi, Heatran, and Tyranitar, and also let you beat Volcarona much more easily (you do have Heatran but this will act as a secondary counter). Switching to a Relaxed nature would be good because Heatran already covers you on the specially defensive side. Also, change the spread to 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 SDef. This allows Gastrodon to take physical hits as well; it still walls pokemon such as Rotom-W to death because of it's typing, and it's decent Special defensive stat + it's high HP and Recover allows it to take other special threats as well.

On Celebi, run a spread of 60 HP / 252 SAtk / 196 Speed. This will let Celebi outspeed many threats, including Adamant Lucario (which can cause you some problems if Tyranitar is weakened enough), Max speed Dragonite, and also Life orb Mamoswine, which can destroy your entire team. None of the Celebis nowadays outrun Mamoswine, so running one that does will be highly unexpected, allowing you to kill it off very easily. The bulk isn't really necessary, as you have 3 walls as is. I also think you should Psychic over Earth Power. Heatran really isn't that big of a threat to your team...while a DD Dragonite with Aqua Tail / Lum Berry w/ Outrage can destroy your team pretty easily. Psychic would stop Celebi from being complete set up fodder, and allow it to stop Dragonite from hindering it's sweep.

Good luck.

 

[Tomahawk]

Very cool team. Calm Mind Virizion seems like a problem though. It can Calm Mind against Tyranitar, Gliscor, Gastrodon or Latios locked in Surf. After a Calm Mind, nothing on your team can take a +1 Giga Drain / Focus Blast / Hidden Power Ice besides Celebi, who gets 2HKOed by HP Ice while HP Fire only does 23% - 27% to +1 Virizion. Trick Room Reuniclus is another threat. He can set up Trick Room against Latios, Tyranitar locked in Superpower, Gliscor or Gastrodon. After he sets up Trick Room, he outspeeds your whole team and hits them with super powerful Psychic / Focus Blast / Shadow Ball. The only thing you can do is hoping to survive a Focus Blast with Heatran (it does 64% - 76%) and Roar Reuniclus out, after which he can just come in another time and try to sweep against. Double Dance Terrakion can also be a minor problem if Gliscor has a little prior damage or is already taken out (by HP Ice Landorus, for example).

To solve these problems, a Choice Band Scizor would fit over your Latios. He can beat Virizion as he can revenge kill with Bullet Punch while Focus Blast doesn't KO. He can beat Reuniclus, as Focus Blast is Reuniclus's strongest attack against Scizor, which doesn't KO. Scizor can then KO with U-turn. He also beats Terrakion by Bullet Punching him. The exact set is:

Scizor @ Choice Band | Technician
Adamant | 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Bullet Punch / U-Turn / Superpower / Pursuit

Good luck!

 

[BKC]

As mentioned above, Reuniclus is definitely a problem. Virizion isn't as threatening, since no matter how many Calm Minds it's gotten in, Latios's Psyshock will take it out. He is Pursuit weak though, not the best option, especially because Virizion is often on teams with Tyranitar to cover for the rain weakness. In my opinion, Heatran is the most replaceable member. His main benefits are taking on sun teams and Volcarona. The former is covered by Latios and ScarfTar, so you don't need more coverage on them. With that in mind, I think specially defensive Jirachi would work excellently over Heatran.

Jirachi @ Leftovers | Careful | EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Wish | Stealth Rock | Body Slam | Iron Head

Rachi has the same steel typing and high bulk, but it counters Reuniclus and Virizion extremely reliably. It also passes Wishes to Latios easily thanks to their great synergy, meaning he gets several more opportunities to nuke something with Draco Meteor. This change opens up a slight weakness to Volcarona, but Gastrodon and Tyranitar should be able to take care of it if you keep them at high health and / or prevent Volc from setting up. Tyranitar and Gliscor defeat Starmie and Excadrill, respectively, who are the two of the most common Rapid Spinners - this way you can abuse Volc's crippling SR weakness.

Good luck with your team!

 

[San_Pellegrino]

Hey,

As posted above, I would definitely agree that Reuniclus is a big threat for this team. A Scizor could easily be a great fit over Latios, being able to counter Reuniclus, and check most of what Latios can, as well as Terrakion and weakened speedy threats. The set and EVs that Tomahawk suggested are perfect. I would definitely recommend using a Relaxed nature on Gastrodon and replacing Earth Power with Earthquake so you can have a solid secondary check to Volcarona, who can become an issue for this team.

You could try using Protect over Taunt on Gliscor to save yourself vs. late game Excadrill, since it provides you with just that extra little boost in HP that in some case will put you out of the KO Range of an Excadrill's Rock Slide or CB Terrakion's Stone Edge.

You have made a pretty solid team here. There isn't much else in the metagame I see that can't be played around through some "smart play". Hopefully I helped, good luck!

 

[min min]

Your team looks pretty weak to Mamoswine, since Gastrodon isn't the best at taking EQs with that stat spread, and it nails a super-effective STAB hit on the rest of your team. I second that Scizor as a decent check to Mamoswine and the aforementioned Reuniclus.