Not so ordinary sand team

[Conor]

Okay so my computer hates me. Today i tried doing this post during 3rd period and my laptop shut off. I then made a second attempt during 5th period and the same thing happened. but anyways... here it is. this is my sand team that i made when i got bored today. it basically is just a sand team that doesn't use your standard sand Pokemon ex- gliscor/ excadrill / garchomp / skarmory etc. okay here it goes i guess... oh yeah, tell me if i should change anything in your opinion.

okay here is the lead. i really love using this Tenshi-Boah set because its the only tyranitar set that works in my opinion. oh and i know ttar is that different but i need something to start the sand right?

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Sand Stream

EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 100 SAtk / 76 Spd

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

- Focus Punch

- Fire Blast

- Substitute

- Crunch

okay next up is my regular calm mind Alakazam. i really really really like Alakazam in sand because of its speed as compared to Reniciculous. switch in when you know your opponent will switch and get in your calm mind. pretty much a guaranteed sweeper.

Alakazam (F) @ Life Orb

Trait: Magic Guard

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Calm Mind

- Psyshock

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

okay following Alakazam is Sharpedo. and i know everyone is going to say WHAAAAA???? but Sharpedo is amazing as a late game sweeper in sand with its speed boost. its leftovers also cover the damage being lost from sand. or you can go life orb if you want the extra strength boost.

Sharpedo (M) @ Leftovers / Life Orb

Trait: Speed Boost

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Protect

- Ice Fang

- Waterfall

- Crunch

okay here is your rain counter. Magneton is even better than its evolved form Magnezone. this is because of its item evolite. this give its defenses an outstanding boost. you switch in on a ferrothorn or other steel so they cant switch out, you than sub and charge beam. this wont be too hard because steel types are piss poor at countering other steels. once you get your special boosts from charge beam you have thunder for stab and either flash cannon or hidden power fire for a move selection.

Magneton @ Eviolite

Trait: Magnet Pull

EVs: 96 Def / 208 SAtk / 204 SDef

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunder

- Substitute

- Charge Beam

- Hidden Power [Fire] / Flash Cannon

okay so next up is one of my favorite lesser know sand Pokemon. Infernape is awesome because of this sets hit and run style. its meant to have like no health because of life orb and sand wearing it down. just use your over heat or other move to revenge kill and then u turn your but out to lose the stat changes. it works out quite well.

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Blaze

EVs: 128 Atk / 128 SAtk / 252 Spd

Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)

- Overheat

- Hidden Power [ice]

- Mach Punch

- U-turn

okay finally on our sand team we have Gardevoir. this set for Gardevoir is very good in sand because trace can trace another weather sweepers abilities. for instance your ttar goes down against a ninetales or Politoed. and then comes out there sawsbuck or kingdra. with trace you can copy their ability of chlorophyll or swift swim. with the boost of the speed ability and your scarf you can out speed and kill them. or if your against no weather he is a great sweeper and pokemon with trick to switch out of the scarf.

Gardevoir (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Trace

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunderbolt

- Trick

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Focus Blast

Okay so tell me what you think, suggest pokemon or changes to the sets. and thanks a lot

[Bullet]

Gardevoir doesn't really have the power to kill, say Kingdra, which is really the biggest non sand weather abuser right now. I don't really see how Alakazam is a guaranteed sweeper, scarfed and super fast Pokemon can kill it no sweat,also priority really hurts it. To be honest there's really no point to even having the sand in your team because you really don't have anything that cares about it too much, no abusers, w.e. Also not really sure why Magneton has Thunder in a Sand team, either way that moveset it pretty laughably easy to wall, especially with lower SpAtk than Magnezone. And it's just not very resilient due to its weaknesses. Actually your team is just really vulnerable to sweeps in general.

[Conor]

actually tenshi i completely agree with theg aredvoir set up. i just tested it. no treally my best idea. and alos the sand really helps with wearing down hp against my opponent. ive tested it in 5 battles so far and they all came down to the sand wearing them down. also alakzam is almost a guranteed sweep if you set it up at the right time to clarfy. the only piroirty to kill it wuold be a shadow sneak which is rarley used. and also i generally like to use a team of sweepers myself. rarely have i ever used strategy in my teams which may explain why this team might be less than quality, but from what ive noticed nobody wants to sweep anymore. everyone is all about weather stalls. oh and kinda skipped over this but the whole reason i picked magneton was sop it was different. i know it might not be astrong but most of the time it comes in handy bar fire/fighting aka nape and blazeiken... but for the msot part your description was correct...

[Conor]

oh and your right say scarfed gengar is also a problem

[Aero]

Sharpedo is not a counter to Rain teams.

Honestly, a good Scald or something in the Rain nearly or probably does 2HKO it, and it really doesn't do all that much damage to Politoed and other popular mons in the rain.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Aero

[Kiozo]

I'll try to keep things nice and organized so you can really grasp it well~

1] Sand is hurting you instead of helping you.

What I mean is; you have one Pokemon outside TTar that can effectively deal with Sand and not take damage. In addition; you placed a move that halves its own accuracy in Sand. That's a big hindrance. Also; If the opponent has something that benefits from Sand - say a Rock type like Aerodactyl - That can change the field for you. A 2HKO might become 3, and you might lose a Pokemon over that. Overall - I wouldn't actually call this a Sand team.

2] You don't seem hurt over losing Sand.

Here; you said that if something happens to weather, plans x/y/z are relevant. This seems more like you want Ttar to just take out their weather from time to time if possible. Also, some sets aren't going to shine. You have 2 HP Fire and 1 Overheat - dealing with the expectation of some Rain battles, this is bad overall.

3] Origionality vs Synergy

It's something you wanted but I feel you fell short. Skipping the lead; Alakazam I've seen in that role before, Infernape I've seen in that role before, and Sharpedo and Magneton too. The main difference is running Sharpedo in Sand and running Gardevoir at all. Although; I do wish to say this is mainly hurting you. You are running 2 Psychic's, in a weather where Anti-psychic Pokemon are strong, and that leaves you open. Also, it's not hard to pick off Sharpedo with the same type, Bug, as well as picking off that and your lead with Fighting and Grass Manuvers, and Magneton as well with Fighting and Infernape and Magneton with Ground. You see, it's not hard to nail 2-3 or even get a whole sweep in; and for the sake of "origionality" which I'm not really seeing a lot of. You need to basically not look at tier or overshadowed Pokemon, but actually what gives something a potential niche. You also should look at types because you will find that even sweeps need to consider types. Not just walls.

Alright, I think you'll get a lot out of that.

As for bullet, Magneton has base 120 Special Attack, so it's not laughably easy for something like a wall, actually. It's pretty decent for walling with power rather than stall oriented moves. A tank if you will.