Earthquakes,Thunders,Lava,Floods and Rocks falling from the sky! 21.12.2012 IS HERE!

[Allen Blaze]

The new VGC 2013 ladder is awesome. I really enjoyed battles there. The battles are really strategic , fun and fast. The tier is really balanced and full of new and cool strategies. I think this is my new favorite tier. I tried VGC before on PO but there are few players up for VGCs and my team , a rain team , failed miserably in the few matches that I had. Now , with the new VGC ladder , I learned more about those type of battle from different articles on The Smog and the guides from forum. I build up a Sandstorm team which even hit the ladder with it. It's a basic Sand team and I found some teams that looked a lot like mine in my games , but it's very simple to use it and very effective. And now let's see the team , shall we?

lol SAND! (Tyranitar) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Protect
Every Sand team needs a Sand summoner and Tyranitar is my choice. He's having really good bulk , really good attack and is really slow so against a weather team , Ttrar will summon the sand almost every time. Focus Sash is a cool item on Ttar as he can take a move that would probably KO and it can revenge kill back. The EVs gives him bulk and full power. Brave Nature and 0Ivs in Speed means that he will be slower most of time so he will summon the sand and also make him a good Trick Room Check.

Molester (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Protect
When I wanted to make a Sandstorm team I wanted because of this thing. I haven't been around when Excadrill was allowed in OU and I don't have experience in Ubers. I think everyone knows that Excadrill is faster than Deoxys-S in Sand , but it has better offensive force. He is not than scary in VGC because his main STAB spamable move , EQ , beside it hits all the opponents on the field , it hits the partener too. And unless is paired with someone immune to Ground one turn I should protect with the partener , the other turn I should use another move...most time I use Rock Slide. He makes a good Rock Slide partener with Ttar also.

HAAX!!orus? (Garchomp) @ BrightPowder
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Substitute
This is no Garchomp! This is a Pokemon full of HAAAX! Is a Haxchomp or even Haxorus! He is my second Sand Abuser. And as you can see is based a lot around HAX! Sand Veil + BrightPowder + Sub will hax my opponent a lot until he will going to rage. Dragon Claw + EQ have almost an unresisted power , bar Skarmory and Bronzong that I never seen in a VGC battle. Excadrill is in most of time my Sand Abuser of chose , but against other weathers (even Hail) I choose Chomp.

JolteonWithWings (Zapdos) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SAtk / 116 Spd
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind
Such an amazing mon paired with either Excadrill or Garchomp forming the DisQuake Combo. I think I used Zapdos more than I used Ttar. (I don't use Ttar against other Sand Teams) It's such an amazing mon with great bulk , great offensive power , great typing , great look. This is my only Pokemon in my team that lacks Protect but that's because he is immune to EQ and I find Tailwind a really good and important move. HP Ice could be replaced with Protect to scout Sucker Punch or Fake Outs but i think killing Garchomp or Mence by surprise is more important.

DAT MOUSTACHE (Jellicent) (M) @ Water Gem
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Jellicent is my main stop to most Rain Teams paired with Zapdos. After Tailwind , he can act like a Mini Kyogre spamming Water Spout to opponent. Water Spout may seem weird in a sandstorm team as he take dmg every turn , but it haves his uses. The main reason why he is in team was because of my Fighting type weakness and the needing for a rain team check. He's packing a Water and Fighting Immunity so he was the perfect Mon for team!

HeatranOnABalloon (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Protect
The Pokemon that I'm using least in my team but it has his uses. First , it's a really good Pokemon against Hail and Sun Teams. Second , it has Taunt so he can stop Prankster users or TR Teams as they don't expect Taunt on Heatran. 252 Spd EVs may seem weird for Heatran but so Heatran could do fast Taunts and could abuse better Tailwind from Zapdos. Also , with the Ballon intact I could use the HeatQuake Combo (???) without OHKO from my EQ!

So that's my ordinary but pretty succesful Sand team and rate this team , comment , like , criticize or suggest something for imporvment? Only if you want.

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lol SAND! (Tyranitar) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Protect

Molester (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Protect

HAAX!!orus? (Garchomp) @ BrightPowder
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Substitute

JolteonWithWings (Zapdos) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SAtk / 116 Spd
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind

DAT MOUSTACHE (Jellicent) (M) @ Water Gem
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
- Protect

HeatranOnABalloon (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Protect

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

Although this team looks fine, it is a bit on the generic side personally, as I've seen tons of Sand teams look nearly like this. I do have a few suggestions:

-Your team is pretty much stopped hard by Gastrodon, so I would maybe suggest getting rid of either Ice Beam or Shadow Ball on Jellicent and putting in Giga Drain. If you feel you still need those two moves, opting for a Specs set could be great.
-Even with Baloon Heatran on a Sand team, you still need to expect a lot of caution while using him, seeing as how priority could easily pop that balloon. I would personally opt to using Ferrothorn or Scizor, or something that resists Ground in a better way, seeing as how 3 of your Pokemon could be Earthquake weak. On that subject, Ludicolo looks like he could tank a lot of hits from your team, so Scizor would be the more preferable one out of the two.
-If you're using Sand Rush Excadrill, you probably don't need to invest 252 speed. I can't access the exact calculations at the moment but I'm sure that they don't have to be that much EVs.

 

[Allen Blaze]

bump

 

[tlyee61]

I agree with TKOWL. Exca probably doesn't need 252 speed. Balloon on Heatran might not be as helpful as Shuca because the opponent can see it when tran comes out. It can be broken by common moves such as fake out, bullet punch, mach punch, etc. Since you want a fast jellicent, I might recommend choice scarf in case tw doesn't get set up.