Team Chillin'
This team was written for Smogon, so some banning may be inaccurate.
Good day Beachers (more like people who bothered to read this). Through many days of play testing, ideas, scrapped ideas, foiled teams, losses, wins, and (above all) HAX, I have finally created a team that I feel is decent enough to waste the time of team raters on the Beach
So anyways... To the team!!!I wanted to make a team that countered the common threats of todays metagame. Those threats include Pokémon like Reuniclus, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Ferrothorn, Scizor... you get the idea.... What better way than to wear down the opponent with status, sandstorm, and entry hazards? Now before you think "Blaugh, another generic Sandstorm team... Tyranitar, Excadrill, Landorus, Garchomp, Ferrothorn, filler... yay.... next team", hear me out, I feel you'll be surprised how unique a Sandstorm team can be. I will admit, there is some typical move sets (how unique can you get with Excadrill?! Give me a break!), but please give my team your opinion and voice!
[Tyranitar]
The basis of my team is to wear down my opponent with Sandstorm!! I have the choice between Tyranitar and Hippowdon. I considered the benefits of each. Hippowdon has amazing bulk, can phase, and has reliable instant recovery. Tyranitar, on the other hand, also has amazing bulk in the Sandstorm, and is very unpredictable (especially mine), so I will be keeping my opponent at bay. I chose CB Tyranitar, because otherwise my team would have gigantical weakness to Reuniclus.
[Tyranitar][Skarmory]
I wanted the basic defensive core that all good stall teams have: a physical wall, a special wall, and a spin blocker. To start with, I need a physical wall. My choices were Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Forretress, as they can all set up Spikes reliably. Skarmory has the ability to phase, a handy Ground immunity, and an actually fairly powerful move in Brave Bird. Forretress can Rapid Spin, and is able to deploy all three kinds of entry hazards. Ferrothorn can spread Thunder Wave and Leech Seed. In the end, I chose Skarmory. I found his ability to phase very invaluable to my team's strategy, and getting a +2 Excadrill (among others) out of my sight was very appealing.
[Tyranitar][Skarmory][Blissey]
Next in my defensive core, I needed a reliable special wall. This was basically between Chansey and Blissey. And gosh, this took a heck of a lot of play testing. You know the story. Chansey has amazing defensive stats with the Eviolite, and is now one of the few Pokémon that can reliably take any unboosted special attacks not named Focus Blast. Blissey, on the other hand, cancels out SS damage with Leftovers. She also has a better Wish output. I chose Blissey, as Chansey could barely heal itslef, not to mention its teammates, with Wish and SS.
[Tyranitar][Skarmory][Blissey][Jellicent]
The final member of my defensive core was a spin blocker. In BW, there are not many reliable spin blockers... I had to choose between Jellicent and Cofagrigusk. Jellicent's main selling point for me was that key water immunity, which, as you will later see, my team has a fairly big weakness to. However (thank you suspect voters), with the banning of Swift Swim + Drizzle, and with Sandstorm already on the table, Water weakness became less big of a deal. Cofagrigusk is insanely bulky, completely wrecks things like Breloom, Gliscor, and Conkeldurr with Mummy, and has the little seen yet greatly effective move known as Haze. Cofagrigusk counters Breloom, Conkeldurr, and many other boosting sweepers. However, the water immunity was too good to pass up, and jellicent is pro at spreading toxic and Will-o-wisp. I have a fairly large weakness to electric, but its workable with Blissey+ Excadrill
[Tyranitar][Sigilyph][Skarmory][Blissey][Jellicent]
So I'm looking over my team, and I'm pretty satisfied with it so far. However, my team was suffering a bit from rain and stall breakers in general (I hate you Latios. And you, Landorus. And you Tyranitar. And you, Infernape. And you Ferrothorn. You get the idea.) Now, the addition of Sigilyph may not look like the best addition against most of these threats. However, Sigilyph more often than not single handedly disarms these Pokémon, and proceeds to OHKO the rest of my opponent's team. He can pass of status with Psycho Shift, and Magic Guard makes him immune to burns. Also, Magic Guard makes him immune to Leech Seed and Sandstorm, so he fits quite decently into my team.
[Tyranitar][Sigilyph][Skarmory][Blissey][Jellicent][Excadrill]
Okay, OKAY, I used him, sue me. But he works, so why not? Excadrill serves me as my broom. He sweeps away anything the rest of my team couldn't take on. Also, with a x4 resistance to SR, and an immunity to Toxic Spikes and Spikes (the latter with Balloon), he makes an extremely reliable Rapid Spinner. He breaks stall, he breaks stall breakers, heck, he breaks anything that doesn't break him... did I just say that?!
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 148 Def / 72 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Tyranitar's main weapon is his sheer unpredictability. I mean, Standard, Support, ChestoRest, Dragon Dance, SubPunch, Scarf, Band, Specs, Mixed, LO... the list goes on. Only you know what set you run, which puts you at a big advantage. I personally run a CB set, and he has been pulling off surprise OHKO's day in and day out. Stone Edge is an amazing STAB move, dealing huge damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Crunch is my other amazing STAB that sends Reuniclus into kingdom come, someone who otherwise would decimate my team. Pursuit murders Lati@s who are trying to run away at -2. Superpower is a surprise for things like Heatran and rival Tyranitar. For the EV's and nature, I maxed out HP for increased bulk. Then, I averaged the defenses (taking SS into account), and dumped the rest into attack for that extra bang.
Sigilyph (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 128 Def / 128 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Cosmic Power
- Roost
- Psycho Shift
- Stored Power
Sigilyph wasn't mentioned very much in the lead up to BW, and is still very overlooked and underrated. This living obelisk has pulled me out of many tough situations, and also is good at creating tough situations for my opponent. If they don't have a phaser, and Sigilyph is at +2 defenses, its pretty much GG or crit (usually the latter). This set revolves around Magic Guard. With Magic Guard, Sigilyph can take a burn without damaging itself, and Psycho Shift it onto any physical attackers threatening me. Cosmic Power boosts my defenses, so that Sigilyph can take super effective hits like a champ and Roost away the damage. Stored Power, after 6 CP's, hits 260 base power. It's redonkulous!! I can easily OHKO the top threats in OU, and 2HKO everything else (even Chansey after entry hazards!!). Roost is simply instant recovery. EVs and Nature, I maxed speed so I can almost always get that first CP up, and that I can Roost off damage without being afraid of getting out sped by much. The rest was dumped equally into each defense.
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The steel phoenix makes an appearance on my team as my defensive wall, and the first member of my defensive core. Skarmory is amazingly bulky physically and (when you invest EVs) specially. He also has amazing typing, giving him 2 Immunities and 9 Resistances. He is one amoozing defensive Pokémon. On team Chillin', I run standard Skarm. Skarm does an amazing job at setting up Spikes, which is a key element to winning in my team. Whirlwind phases away any boosting sweepers trying to ruin my day, and racks up entry hazard damage against the opponent. Roost is instant recovery, increasing Skarm's longevity by a long shot. Brave Bird is a last resort, and makes sure I'm not Taunt bait. For the EV's and nature, I want to make sure that Skarm will be reliably taking some neutral special attacks as well, so I maxed Special Defense and HP, and dumped the remaining 4 in defense.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Blissey is the second member of my defensive core, and serves the role of Specially Defensive wall. However, she can also take non-Fighting Physical hits like a champ too. In my team, Blissey is a 100% team player. She runs Wish/Protect as recovery for herself, and full recovery for her teammates thanks to the new Wish mechanics. Protect also surprises Mienshao or Infernape who are planning to Hi Jump Kick me. Blissey is also the member of my team that sets up Stealth Rock, the debate-ably most valuable and devastating entry hazard. Toxic is for the valuable residual damage, which is very important late game. However, this Blissey is unfortunately Taunt bait... so thats a bit of a drawback :\ For EV's and Nature, I maxxed out Blissey's defense to maximize her overall bulk, and dumped the rest into HP.
Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDpe
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Recover
This spot is still up for grabs between Jellicent and Cofagrigusk. I am using standard Jelli here, with some credit for PDC for giving me the set a while ago. The key thing going for Jellicent on my team is that water resistance, and my team is fairly weak to water types. Scald is my attacking move, and the 30% burn rate comes in very handy. Toxic is my other status move, gnawing away the health of bulky pokemon like Suicune, Hippowdon, opponent Jellicent to name a few. Taunt is for slower walls like Ferrothorn and Forretress who will be trying to set up entry hazards. Recover is the obvious instant Recovery move. For the EVs and nature, I'm fairly shaky with this spread, I made it up quickly... Advice would be appreciated.
Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin
You know him. The trophy at the end. The late game sweeper. Excadrill. Excadrill functions on my team as my broom and spinner. By broom, I mean he sweeps up anything the rest of my team couldn't take earlier. We all know the hype of the monster mole in Sandstorm. And I mean, Sand Rush, Great attack, and Rapid Spin all add up to a great pokemon. We all know how great and threatening Excadrill is, but nonetheless, I'm going to insult your interlligence and describe how it functions anyway (lucky you). Excadrill is, as mentioned, my late game sweeper. He will also be spinning away entry hazards if they involve TS or 3 layers of Spikes. He can even switch into Electric attacks from Zapdos, Thundurus, and Raikou, and OHKO with Rock Slide and Earthquake respectively. Earthquake hits things HARD. Seriously, anything that doesn't resist is going to get a huge dent in its skull. Rock Slide has great coverage with Earthquake, and pulls OHKO's on Thundurus after SR(and sometimes Zapdos after SR) after switching into an Electric attack. Swords Dance is to turn Excadrill into an even bigger monstrosity, killing pretty much everything except Skarmory and Gliscor. Since Excadrill x4 resists SR as is immune to Toxic Spikes and SPikes (the latter with a Balloon), he makes an ideal Spinner. Balloon is for that extra handy ground immunity in case of other Excadrill, or if I have to pull him out earlier then I'd like. For the EV's, I maxxed out Attack And Speed, and dumped the rest into HP.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this RMT. Thank you in advance to all criticism and complements!!!
THREAT LIST
MAJOR THREAT-Arcanine
Arcanine, with Wild Bolt, Close Combat, and Flare Blitz, will almost always KO one of my pokemon unless I get lucky. I can easily revenge kill with Excadrill, but I'll be losing somebody.
MODERATE THREAT-Thundurus
Nasty Plot Thudurus is also a pain. Blissey can Toxic it, Excadrill switch in on a Nasty Ploy/Thunderbolt, but I need to be careful with my predictions.
MODERATE THREAT-Reuniclus
Despite me having CB Tyranitar, Reuniclus can still OHKO him with Focus Blast. I need to be wary. Also, if Ttar is gone, I need to be very careful in my play or its GG.
MODERATE THREAT-Tyranitar
Tyranitar is very unpredictable, so I have a tough time switching in. Generally Excadrill can KO, but they're still a threat.
