The Sand Dunes

[Cowtao]

The Sand Dunes

Hello~ This is the first RMT i'm making so I might be a little off on this. This is my first successful team I have used to ladder with and I have obtained an awesome ranking in the ladder. (Currently Ranked #11, Best was Rank #9) I basically looked at a lot of teams of Sand such as Fezzdog's, Heroic's, and etc. and basically tried to sow it all together. This is the end result and it has been working amazingly for me so far. Special thanks to Renzo, Dominator, and Kamina for help making this team the greatest.

Team Overview

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Proof Of Success~

Teambuilding Process~

I wanted to forgo against the common sand summoner of Tyranitar so I choose Hippowdon. With it's power to setup rocks effectively, being a giant physical wall, and sponging up electric type hits, it was an amazing options for me.

Pretty cut and dry, Excadrill was and still is the best Sand Abuser in the Reborn Meta and can cut through almost anything.

Since Excadrill isn't the bulkiest pokemon and can die off to an Adamant Breloom packing Mach Punch I figured I might as well throw in a revenge killer. With Magic Guard, an amazing movepool, and the reputation of being the best revenge killer, it's pretty hard to stray away from Zam' and his Mustache.

Seeing as Rain is still a prominent weather force in the Reborn Meta I figured I might as well have a counter towards it. Gastrodon sponges up a lot of hits from Politoed and other water types with Storm Drain and can retaliate back with Ice Beam or Earth Power.

To be honest. Fezzdog inspired this pick. Seeing this thing sponge hits like it's nothing and the ability to do a double phazing combo with Hippowdon with Spikes and Stealth Rocks this choice seemed to fit the bill perfectly with the team.

With the sand abusers fit to charge I decided I wanted to add another counter to water. Seeing as Gastrodon can't take out the bulky water tanks with just Toxic so a Sub's Magnezone seemed like a good idea. (Peaked at #49)

Over time. I realized the crippling flaws of having the old team with the fact that Breloom can sweep half my team. And this leaves my team open to dangerous Sun teams and Sun Sweepers like Volcarona. Breloom is what got my extremely concerned though because it can carry a lot of moves and is very unpredictable with it's movesets. So I needed counters and to let some go. After talking to a few friends I came up with Xatu and Amoonguss. Amoonguss is basically the evolved form of Gastrodon. Being able to spore pokemon, heal up, counter rain, and being a general annoyance to the enemy. Xatu is for insurance and to keep Entry Hazards away from the field as it does effect a Hippowdon in his recovery skills. The team seemed to be perfect but there was still one dead weight. (Peaked at #32)

Ultimately I choose Versatility over Defense as Hippowdon already acts as a Defensive Wall so what was the point in carrying a Skarmory in the first place? With Heatran I can check a numerous amount of threats on my team such as Mamoswine, Breloom, Salamence, Dragonite, and etc. In the end, there was still some pokemon that shined through to utterly defeat my team but honestly. I'm fine with the way my team is right now. (Peaked at #9)

Detailed Team Analysis

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LandFill @ Leftovers | Sand Stream

Impish | 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef

Whirlwind / Slack Off / Earthquake / Stealth Rocks

The Premier Defensive Wall of the team. The hippo can surprisingly survive a lot of offensive Sweepers that setup and can live multiple amounts of things such as a +2 Close Combat from Lucario, bait out Outrages from any dragon such as Mence or Garchomp, and can Slack Off the damage, setup rocks, or Phaze out to scout ahead what team i'm facing.

O'Grief @ Air Balloon | Sand Rush

Adamant | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Swords Dance / Iron Head / Rock Slide / Earthquake

Nothing much to say about Excadrill that hasn't already been said about him. He's the main sweeper of the crew. I gave him more Coverage in order to hit more things neutrally for damage. One of the most dangerous pokemon, when he runs lose you better pray that you have something that can handle the power that is Excadrill.

"Come together with your hands~"

Soundgarden @ Focus Sash | Magic Guard

Timid | 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe

Psyshock / Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire] / Signal Beam

The purpose of this pokemon is to be out on anything that has KO'd Excadrill or needs to be sent out to be immediate threats or setup sweepers. With the coverage of this thing even Tyranitar isn't safe. Purely a great revenge killer on my team in all regards.

W-Obsidian @ Choice Scarf | Flash Fire

Modest | 112 HP / 160 Satk / 236 Spe

Dragon Pulse / Overheat / Hidden Power [ice] / Earth Power

This is mostly used to capitalize on coverage and to beat out on other threats still staying by in late game. This also fixed out as it has a high potential to KO Mamoswine. A giant threat to my entire team. Also with the ability to drag in Fire Shots aimed towards Amoonguss and Excadrill it can retaliate back better than Gastro could ever do.

Xanadu @ Leftovers | Magic Bounce

Bold | 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe

Toxic / Heat Wave / Roost / U-Turn

It was a choice between either a spinner or a Magic Bouncer. Ultimately in the sand Xatu seemed to stand out the best as it can be used to gain momentum, switch in on Spores and bounce them right back, disrupt Deoxys-S and Deoxys-D from forming their beloved Entry Hazards and can even check a few of the threats that threaten my team such as Scizor.

"Oh hai."

Amanita @ Black Sludge | Regenerator

Calm | 252 HP / 28 SAtk / 228 SDef

Spore / Giga Drain / Hidden Power [ice] / Stun Spore

Politoed's worst nightmare. With Amoonguss, it does everything that Gastrodon was lacking the countering Rain with Spore, the ability to regain health better, the ability to put something to sleep or stun something, and to be able to sponge up Special Hits so Ice Beams won't be a 2HKO.

So, that is that. One of the greatest teams I've made so far and certainly always trying to improve and become an even more powerful team. Is it the best team ever? Not at all. Is it good even to be considered a threat to most teams? Absolutely. And as should any other team to mine. Thanks for reading this and i'm open to suggestions, feedback, and etc. Or on how bad I flopped this. Srsly, it's liek 12 AM right now. Take care and I hope to battle you soon!

Importable~

LandFill (Hippowdon) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Sand Stream

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef

Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)

- Whirlwind

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Slack Off

O'Grief (Excadrill) (F) @ Air Balloon

Trait: Sand Rush

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Swords Dance

- Earthquake

- Rock Slide

- Iron Head

Soundgarden (Alakazam) (F) @ Focus Sash

Trait: Magic Guard

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Psyshock

- Focus Blast

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Signal Beam

Obsidian (Heatran) (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Flash Fire

EVs: 112 HP / 160 SAtk / 236 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Overheat

- Earth Power

- Hidden Power [ice]

- Dragon Pulse

Xanadu (Xatu) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Magic Bounce

EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spd

Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Toxic

- Roost

- Heat Wave

- U-turn

Amanita (Amoonguss) (M) @ Black Sludge

Trait: Regenerator

EVs: 252 HP / 28 SAtk / 228 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Spore

- Giga Drain

- Hidden Power [ice]

- Stun Spore

Edited September 10, 2013 by Cowtao

[Lord Emvee]

Hey I'm glad my sand team gave you some inspiration for this one! (it also seems you like the way I format my RMT's lol). Anyways for the team, I would strongly suggest that you keep at least 2 Pokemon that can beat standard Reborn rain teams. You have Amoonguss, which is great. However, it can't stand up to heavy hitting Swift Swimmers such as Ludicolo and Specs Kingdra, which people seem to really love using on this ladder. Specs / LO Ice Beam can cost you the game entirely. It's difficult to solve this without changing your team around a lot, but a good suggestion would be to replace Scarf Heatran for Scarf Chandelure, which can help trap Pokemon that the rest of your team can't handle, act as an anti-spinner, and trap weakened Politoeds and KO with Energy Ball to ensure that you win the weather war. Furthermore, your team also has trouble beating Mamoswine (as well as opposing Excadrills without popped balloons). The Chandelure I recommended to you (with Energy Ball) can check Mamoswine but it is by no means a safe switch into Mamoswine. I would recommend keeping a back-up Pokemon to beat it. I strongly recommend a bulky CM Suicune over Alakazam, which can effectively sweep with Calm Mind, as well as tank attacks from Mamoswine and Excadrill, while being another Pokemon to beat opposing rain teams (since it has Water Absorb).

EDIT: Some minor nitpicks that will help:

- Run Shed Shell on Amoonguss to avoid getting trapped by Chandelure.

- Run Rocky Helmet on Xatu to outplay stallmons that spam weak moves.

- You only need 56 speed on Xatu to hit 240 for Breloom, not 60 Speed.

Edited September 10, 2013 by So Heroic

[Cowtao]

Chandy actually solves some problems as Heatran's Overheat was very shaky. With the set you gave me, I can actually Check Mamoswine and beat it with an OHKO with Overheat. With the nit picks, I like all of them except Rocky Helmet on Xatu as it mostly seems with the teams that I face will immediately send out their Special hitter and I can't do jack towards them. Also being that Xatu already has HP and the sand that get's rid of it every turn. It isn't really ideal.

Reserved because i'm heading to school~ Be back with more thoughts later.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Cowtao

[Kamina]

I agree with emvee on pretty much everything. Scarf chand is much more useful than heatran and would also aid you a lot more in the weather war. if you dont like suicune you might also want to try out specially defensive rotom-w because it can resist the hurricane which you lost with replacing heatran with chandalure and is like the perfect counter to mamoswine since it resist both of its stab. Nice job in peak btw