Whenever Spring PokeBeach Tutoring started, I instantly applied. Ever since Generation Four ended, I never really got into Generation Five and wasn't really that great. I was assigned to be tutored by Steadfast, which was really great since I already knew him well. Steadfast is probably the reason why I'm writing this, as he really got me back into the game and taught me about the metagame. My original team was some kind of stall breaking team with about three Pranksters and two special defensive walls. Long story short, it was horrible. After Steadfast tutored me, I instantly put those skills he taught me to use and started building a new team. One of the greatest playstyles I've had success at and understood the most is sandstorm-based teams, so I began making a few to test. Some of them were really great, but they just didn't have something. By the time I started making the fifth sandstorm team, SubSD Garchomp was becoming really popular, and sandstorm was seeing even more play. I decided to build a team around SubSD Chomp, and that's where this team begins. I've had great success with this team, and it's basically the only team I've really used. Now that Garchomp is banned, the team has a new star; Landorus. Overall it's been a lot of fun building the team. It's been really interesting watching the team change, and this is by far the best team I've made in my honest opinion.
The entire team was built around the monster known as SubSD Chomp. With Sand Veil, it was an unstoppable beast that can sweep through much of the metagame after just one Swords Dance and Substitute up.
I went with Skarmory and Tyranitar to finish off my core. Tyranitar brought out the Sandstorm, which makes him Garchomp's partner in crime, set up Stealth Rock, and could eliminate Garchomp's two biggest threats, Skarmory and Bronzong, with a Fire Blast. Skarmory sets up Spikes, and it served as my only Garchomp counter. ;P
Added in BalloonTran as a more decent way to deal with Skarmory and Bronzong. He also brought in a lot of offensive power to the team and is able to usually save me in games. Whenever I was deciding on weather to put him or Magnezone, I went with Heatran because he was faster and could take Fire-type attacks aimed at Skarmory.
I realized that the team is pretty weak to Fighting-type attacks, so I added in Reuniclus. Not only does Reuniclus absorb Fighting-type attacks like a boss, he also acts as a decent Pokemon that's always my backup sweeper encase I'm ever down in a game. Reuniclus has saved me a match quite a few times.
I eventually added in Terrakion as a decent lategame sweeper encase Garchomp dies for whatever reason. Ehhh, that's pretty much it. It rarely got any real use and was just as an important backup sweeper.
I eventually dropped Skarmory for Bronzong. Skarmory, in my honest opinion, wasn't the greatest Garchomp counter. Skarmory could only phaze, which lets Garchomp just come back to troll again later. Bronzong, on the other hand, could beat Garchomp one on one with HP Ice (provided that Sand Veil doesn't screw that up). Bronzong also served as a decent counter to some of the biggest threats this generation.
After playing with Steadfast, I asked him what he thought of the team. He suggested that I drop Terrakion for Excadrill, which I actually agreed with because of how useless Terrakion has been for the team. Excadrill, however, is just amazing. He's been a great asset to the team and can pull his own weight around when needed.
After Garchomp was banned, I was thinking about retiring the team. I had built the team around Garchomp and now he's gone. I began looking in to making a rain team, but then I though about switching Garchomp with Landorus and see how that worked. It actually worked great after some adjusting, and he worked well with the rest of the team. I've been using Swords Dance Landorus, but I might tryout Rock Polish instead. Still giving it some thought.
Bye bye Bronzong, hello Virizion (did that rhyme?). I eventually added in Virizion as a solid Pokemon to help with various other threats, while also being a great Pokemon to help beat rain teams. It's still in testing, so it might or might not leave.
Tyranitar
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk / 72 SDef / 4 Spd
Nature: Sassy (+SDef, -Spd)
Stealth Rock
Crunch
Fire Blast
Superpower
Tyranitar gets the entire team rolling. Sandstorm is generally what this entire team revolves around, and pretty much every Pokemon on the team enjoys it. Excadrill needs it to sweep, Landorus enjoys it for the extra power boost, and Reuniclus loves sandstorm to deal extra damage to opposing Pokemon. Fire Blast is the move that gets the most usage, as it eliminates Bronzong and Skarmory who wall my biggest sweepers; Landorus and Excadrill. Crunch and Superpower have great coverage, but the Attack and Defense drop from Superpower sometimes force me to switch out Tyranitar as he's not going to be doing much outside of Fire Blast. I've been considering dropping Superpower for Ice Beam. Another consideration is running 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef spread with Careful as more of a Special Wall, but this set has had the greatest success. It may be intresting to note that I put 4 EVs in speed so I can win versus other mixed Tyranitar, but that's simply because I don't want to hope on winning a speed tie.
If the other team is a rain team, then keeping Tyranitar alive is priority number one. Eliminating their Politoed is then priority number two, as rain absolutely is this team's worst enemy, so much so that I've been considering changing up the team so that I have a better matchup versus rain.
Excadrill
Item: Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SAtk)
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Rock Slide
X-Scissor
Excadrill is a completely insane monster with Sand Rush, provided that sandstorm is up. After one Swords Dance, Excadrill sits at an amazingly impressive 810 attack that's able to put a dent in most things. Earthquake plus Rock Slide offer near-perfect coverage. Rock Slide is also really great for the 27% flinch rate, which has actually saved me quite a few times. X-Scissor serves the purpose of hitting Bronzong for neutral damage. I did run Rapid Spin over X-Scissor, but nothing on my team really fears Spikes and Stealth Rock, and Tyranitar is the only thing that's affected by Toxic Spikes. I've been considering replacing X-Scissor with Return (or Frustration since I always overlook changing the happiness level) so I can kind of hit Gliscor and Rotom-W harder. Currently I'm running 8 EVs in speed to outspeed Pokemon like ScarfTran, while the rest goes in bulk.
Virizion
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
Calm Mind
Giga Drain
Focus Blast
Hidden Power [Ice]
No need to fear, Tyranitar, it's Calm Mind Virizion to make sure it puts that pesky rain team in its place. Virizion is the team's main defense when it comes to facing rain teams. It can set up a few Calm Minds, sweep, while also ridding of some of the team's counters to allow others to sweep. Gliscor is handled by a HP Ice. Landorus really can't hurt me too much since Earthquake boosted by Sand Force, Life Orb, and a positive nature is a 2HKO. Same with Balloon Excadrill, except I have to fear a X-Scissor from him. Overall a wonderful asset to the team who can sweep, help win weather wars, and handle some of the team's threats. I haven't done much testing yet, but it's done great so far in my opinion.
Heatran
Item: Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Nature: Modest (+SAtk, -Atk)
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Dragon Pulse
Hidden Power [Grass]
With Air Balloon, Heatran is a great asset to the team. His main purpose is to eliminate Bronzong and Skarmory, who wall my two biggest sweepers. Earth Power has great coverage with Fire Blast, and it's my main move of choice when facing a rain team. Dragon Pulse is to hit Dragon-types who can't really break through Heatran until its balloon is popped, like Dragonite and Salamence, while Hidden Power Grass nails bulky Water-types. HP Grass also gets a 2HKO on Rotom-W, who I can outspeed if they choose to run Modest and are not scarfed. I still need to hit it on the switch to guarantee the 2HKO, though. Overall, Heatran is a wonderful Pokemon who can serve multiple purposes, like switching into WoW, which would otherwise troll my Physical sweepers, and eliminating pesky Steel-types.
Reuniclus
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Calm Mind
Recover
Psychic
Focus Blast
Calm Mind Reuniclus makes as a great lategame sweeper, and a wonderful way of ripping most forms of stall to pieces. With excellent physical bulk, Reuniclus also makes a great switch-in to most physical attackers, and it serves as the team's main way to deal with Fighting-types. Usually I'll use Reuniclus once I get rid of any Scizor and Jirachi (and maybe Spiritomb if they're that desperate for a Reuniclus counter), or when I'm done in a game. For some time I've considered dropping Focus Blast for HP Fighting, but Focus Blast is a much more stronger option in my opinion, despite the annoying accuracy and low PP. I originally had Psyshock to win other Calm Mind wars, but that's the only real purpose it serves.
Landorus
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Naive (+Spd, -SDef)
Hidden Power [Ice]
Stone Edge
Earthquake
Substitute
Ah, Landorus, my substitute for Garchomp. Overall a great Pokemon, he's done quite well since the Garchomp ban. With sandstorm in play, Sand Force activates causing Stone Edge and Earthquake to get an amazingly powerful boost. Substitute is for ease of prediction, while also giving Landorus more chances at survival. It's walled by Skarmory and Bronzong, who are handled by Heatran and Tyranitar, and Gliscor, who is revenge killed by Virizion (can't switch in on Ice Fang or Acrobatics :x). Overall extremely strong and brings a lot of power to the team. It's not like Garchomp, but it's still really great. Pride suggested the moveset you see now. It's pretty self explanatory.
Politoed
Quite a troll if it's specs, as most everything on my team can't take a specs Hydro Pump without being 2HKO. If it's support, I have more hope of beating it, but most of the times I only see specs.
Now that the team has Virizion, Politoed is no longer a problem.
Jellicent
Don't ask, I always have to play around one. I can beat it after playing around it, though. Still a troll.
Now that the team has Virizion, Jellicent is no longer a problem.
Rotom-W
What a troll. I have zero Water resists, and my only Electric resists can't take a Hydro Pump or burn. Heatran can catch it on a switch with HP Grass, but it's only a 2HKO and will only work if it's not Timid or scarfed.
Now that the team has Virizion, Rotom-W is no longer a problem.
Thundurus
Excadrill can only revenge kill it if sandstorm is up. Otherwise it's good game.
Terrakion
Item: Air Balloon
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SAtk)
Swords Dance
Close Combat
Stone Edge
X-Scissor
Probably the most useless Pokemon this team has seen. It was great and all, but it didn't really do much besides cleanup after Chomp is dead. Yea, I basically dropped it for Excadrill.
Garchomp
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SAtk)
Swords Dance
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Substitute
The beast, the king, the complete ruler of OU. He was the team, and possibly the best sweeper that's ever come out of Gamefreak's head. Why? Let's see, it has great offensive power? Check! Perfect nearly unresisting typing? Check! Decent bulk? Check! A useful ability? CHECK! He's no longer on the team because he was banned ... again. So long, my friend. Landorus will try to live up to your expectations.
Skarmory
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SAtk)
Spikes
Roost
Whirlwind
Taunt
Whenever Garchomp was around, this was the guy to handle him. Well ... not actually. It could only phaze, and pretty much lost if it was the last man standing. It could set up Spikes ... uh, yea. I eventually dropped him because, well, Bronzong fit into the team better.
Bronzong
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SDef
IVs: 2 Speed
Nature: Sassy (+SDef, -Spd)
Gyro Ball
Hidden Power [Ice]
Earthquake
Hypnosis
Bronzong is a great tank and helps the team deal with threats very easily. It is able to stop prominent threats like Excadrill (provided it doesn't run X-Scissor) and Landorus dead in their tracks, as well as removing Gliscor who would otherwise troll the team. Other than the obvious tanking, I also gave it Hypnosis other than Stealth Rock, since Tyranitar already has that covered. I don't really like Hypnosis because of the accuracy, so I usually use it on a predicted switch or when I'm against something I know can't hurt me much. Other than that, Hypnosis is rarely used. I've considered using Toxic instead to deal with other walls who would otherwise laugh at Bronzong, like Jellicent, but Hypnosis has really been useful because of the new sleep mechanics. I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this, though.
I eventually removed him for Virizion as a typical rain counter. Virizion can still handle Gliscor, and Excadrill and Landorus to a certain extent. I find Virizion more useful in a metagame where weather is a dominant force, hence why I have it.
I hope you enjoyed reading this RMT. This team has been used for almost three months, and it's had some great success in my opinion. Post any suggestions or changes if you want.
