Unintentional Sandstorm

[Jarl222]

So I'm pretty new to B/W and after making a really lackluster team I thought I'd try and give it a proper go. The first thing that came to mind when creating this team was the specific pokemon that I had major problems with. Notably Terrakion, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Scizor and a few others. After consulting Smogon I decided that my team would HAVE to contain counters to the aforementioned troublesome pokes. This led me to my first choice:

Gyarados@Leftovers

Intimidate
Adamant
176HP/124Atk/204Spe

~Waterfall
~Dragon Dance
~Taunt
~Stone Edge

Standard bulky Gyarados. This thing shuts down Heatran pretty quick and also helps with Terrakion by lowering its attack stat with intimidate (although it has to watch out for stone edge). Taunt has been invaluable for nullifying annoying will-o-wispers and toxic abusers such as Jellicent and Gastrodon, although Gyara can't do much in the way of offense to the latter.

Magnezone@Leftovers

Magnet Pull
Timid
36HP/252SpA/220Spe

~Subsitute
~Thunderbolt
~HP Fire
~Signal Beam

This thing is hilarious. As soon as Ferrothorn rears it's retarded head Magnezone traps the motherf***er, sets up a sub and HP Fires it into oblivion. Similarly it does the same to Scizor, although it has to watch out for superpower. Having played a fair few battles with this team there has only been one case in which the opponent has used shed shell for it's steel pokes.

Dugtrio@Choice Band

Arena Trap
Adamant
4HP/252Atk/252Spe

~Shadow Claw
~Double Edge
~Earthquake
~Stone Edge

Another sneaky beast hell bent on revenge! The amount of pokes that Dugtrio has dealt with with his arena trap/earthquake is amazing. Terrakion, Heatran and Jirachi are all dealt with thanks to the aforementioned combo and Gengar is destroyed by shadow claw. Stone edge also comes in handy for fliers. Double edge is basically a filler for neutral damage.

These pokes also have pretty good synergy. Rock and electric cause Gyarados problems but are dealt with by Magnezone. Similarly, fighting, fire and ground moves hurt Magnezone but are resisted by Gyara. Dugtrio also resists Gyara's weaknesses and both Gyara and Magnezone resist Dug's. Pretty nifty. I then began to think about the remainder of my team:

Scizor@Leftovers

Technician
Adamant
252HP/252Atk/4Spe

~Swords Dance
~Superpower
~Bug Bite
~Bullet Punch

Standard annoying scizor that basically sword dances and then wreaks havoc with bullet punch. After two swords dances only the bulkiest of water pokemon can deal with his bullet punch. Even annoying toxic orb Gliscors are taken down by this guy. Scizor's only weakness is fire as well which is resisted by Gyarados and the two remaining pokemon on this team:

Starmie@Choice Specs

Natural Cure
Timid
4HP/252SpA/252Spe

~Trick
~Hydro Pump
~Thunderbolt
~Ice Beam

This guy is a relatively new addition to the team, I originally had Latios in its place but found that Starmie's hydro pump was just way to powerful to ignore when big, fat, dirty Hippowdons are lurking in the current metagame. Trick has come in pretty handy for nullifying Chanseys/Blisseys and other wallers such as Jellicent and Gastrodon. I am considering switching either ice beam or thunderbolt for grass knot seeing as Gastrodon and in particular Swampert are causing me significant trouble at the moment.

Tyranitar@Choice Scarf

Sand Stream
Jolly
4HP/252Atk/252Spe

~Pursuit
~Stone Edge
~Ice Punch
~Superpower

This guy finishes the line up and although he was the last to be considered he often serves as this team's lead. Stone edge is the main move used by tyranitar as his high attack stat means a significant dent can be put in most pokes. Pursuit also comes in very handy for fleeing ghosts such as Chandelure. Tyranitar also sets up sandstorm, which coincidentally, was not a conscious decision. Considering there is one rock, one ground, two steel and one water poke that carries leftovers, sandstorm doesn't adversely affect my team too much. Here's the team as it lines up:

Let me know what you think I can improve on... Thanks!

Jarl222

 

[TehRaquaza2094]

Hey! so it occurs to me that Gastrodon can pretty much completely wall your team without any kind of threat to it once Scizor is gone (even then if a scald burns scizor you are screwed at + 1.) For this reason I would recommend a Gastrodon counter (such as Keldeo with HP Grass, Ferrothorn with Power Whip, Tentacruel with Giga Drain)

also, once Scizor and starmie are gone, mamoswine becomes a huge threat to you, so you may wanna invest in one more Mamo counter as it's use is high to combat the therians and garchomp.

The last few things are just set changes.

I would personally go with the sub dragon dance gyarados over the one you have now.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 56 HP 248 Atk 208 Spe
Moves:
Substitute
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Bounce

Reason: It may seem unconventional for a sandstorm team, but a gyarados behind a sub can really put on the pressure and ease predictions for you. also, it makes Mamoswine less likely to switch in and do anything to you.

You also seem to have no hazard set up, and while I admire you keeping up the offensive pressure, at least stealth rocks are vital to break things like Dragonite's multiscale. For this reason do I recommend Reversal Dugtrio. a nice anti-lead as well.

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly
4 HP 252 atk 252 spe
Moves:
earthquake
reversal
stone edge/sucker punch
stealth rocks

Reason: the focus sash will guarantee you an easy rock set up, and also give reversal it's max power. the rest are just coverage moves.

Overall: I hope this helps, there are a few other changes but I'm waiting for another RMT reviewer to check them for you.

 

[CedOmega]

Hi Jarl222, sorry to say that your team has a lot of major holes.

First off, you seem to have made a mistake in making this RMT:

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Tyranitar should have SandVeil> SandStream/Unnerve. This mistake, thought small, is misleading.

• Next, we get down to the suggestions for your team. When it comes to Sand teams, having a solid core is vital to keep everything alive and healthy. For one, I suggest a more defsnive set on Gyarados(or the rarely used RestTalk shuffler set) to further the damage taken by hazards, which your team could set up.

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Gyarados@Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
Impish nature
252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Def
Waterfall, DragonTail, Rest & SleepTalk​

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• Next, having 3 choice items on a team is not necessarily a bad thing, unless it further cripples the team. In this case, it does, sorry to say. Dugtrio is one of the best SR setters in OU; being fast, able to trap pokemon and revenge easily against Scarfed Thundurus-T, Rotom-W & Magnezone variants. You may find the follwing set should suffice for your team.

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Dugtrio@FocusSash
Trait: Arena Trap
Jolly nature
252 Attack/ 252 Spd/4 Sp.Def
EarthQuake, StoneEdge, SuckerPunch/Reversal & StealthRock​

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• Next, is a smaller suggestion of SignalBeam> ChargeBeam to boost Magnezone's Sp.Attk stat while doing one of the things it does best, trapping. Flash Cannon is also an option to hit other types for sufficient neutral damage.​

• Last, Starmie needs RapidSpin to help your team fend off against opposing hazards like Stealthrock & Spike(not to mention the occassional Toxic Spikes). I'd suggest a somewhat bulkier spread of 252 Hp/ 252 Spd/ 4 Def to help Starmie stay somewhat healthier as it may need to repeatedly switch in & out during battle. Also, an alternative set could work to keep away those before mentioned threats in your RMT.

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Starmie@Leftovers
Trait: NaturalCure
Timid nature
252 Hp/ 252 Spd/ 4 Def
HydroPump/Surf, IceBeam/Thunderbolt, Recover and RapidSpin.​

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In the end, I hope this helps and good luck with the team! :)​

 

[Arcticblast]

Welcome to Smogon, Jarl222! I hope you enjoy your stay :)

Unless I'm reading your post wrong, CedOmega, you seem to be suggesting to use Sand Veil on Tyranitar. Not only does it not summon Sand (that's Sand Stream), but it's banned. Of course I might be misreading the post though.

While I'm here, I would like to back up Sub+DD Gyarados and Sash Dugtrio. This might not be the case anymore with Tornadus-T (unofficially) gone, Sub+DD Gyarados could literally sweep every Pokemon commonly found in Rain with a Sub and a Dragon Dance boost or two. It's an amazing sweeper under any weather except Sun. Sash Dugtrio, meanwhile, can easily defeat or weaken every weather starter in OU, as well as a few other Pokemon like Terrakion and Magnezone. I also support Rapid Spin on Starmie.

However, no matter what way you look at it you have a big gaping hole in your team, and that is Sun teams. Obviously the big offender is Scizor, with its 4x weakness to Fire and no usable STAB to hit common Sun abusers. I have two changes to make to fix this - keep in mind I wouldn't normally say to change one of these...

I suggest Choice Scarf Infernape over your Scizor set to help handle Sun teams. It resists Fire, is immune to burn damage, and has Fire STAB of its own to handle some of the Grass-types found on Sun (as well as hit its non-resist members 1.5x harder than normal!). Close Combat lets you take out a rampaging Terrakion while smacking opposing Tyranitar and Heatran hard. It also has U-Turn to keep up momentum and Stone Edge to take out Volcarona and Salamence. (This is the one I wouldn't normally suggest - if you need a fast physical check to Sun teams [like this team kind of needs] Infernape is probably the best you'll get. Otherwise don't use it.)

Now that you have Infernape, Tyranitar's boosted Speed isn't as important. So what do we do? Give it as much freaking Attack as possible. Choice Band Tyranitar is an incredible set in the current metagame, trapping dangerous threats such as Reuniclus and Latios with CB Pursuit. Stone Edge and Crunch are its more powerful STAB moves, so they get a slot too. They'll hit any non-resist pretty darn hard. Superpower is generally the last move on CBTar, but since you're running Magnezone and Dugtrio, Ice Punch can be used to hit Breloom or Dragonite on the switch - two Pokemon that are quite threatening in their own right.

Sets in importable format for PO/PS (Spd = Speed, SDef = Special Defense)

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower / Ice Punch

Good luck with the team!

 

[Jarl222]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll make ths uggested changes. Would you recommend intimidate or moxie on Gyara?

 

[Arcticblast]

For Sub+DD Gyarados, Intimidate is easily the better choice. It gives it the bulk to set up more easily against things like Ferrothorn.