Potential 'Unusual' Sandstorm team

[alteredegoX]

As the title says, this is just a potential team I've been working on which isn't designed around fitting into the tiers (because I don't know the tiers, and to be fair, I couldn't care less about learning them. This is just how I play)

So, here they are;

Hippopotas @ Focus Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SDef
Nature: Careful
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Slack Off
- Roar

Reason: Hippopotas is simply there as a lead to set up Stealth Rocks. The Special Defence EVs is to even out it's defences around 200, whilst the HP is just to keep it in longer. Whilst it's main reason is to Stealth Rock, as well as to set up a Sandstorm with it's ability, I chose to give it Toxic to do a little more damage if it survives one hit, which to be fair unless my opponent buffs or switches, it wouldn't. Which is also why it has Focus Band, just to give the extra chance of surviving into a second round. Slack Off is simply to restore HP in the off situation when I could get away with it. Roar is just to annoy. I really cannot see more than to Roar out to give myself a chance of knowing my opponent's team, and to deal a bit of Stealth Rock damage.

Hippowdon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Att, 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Thunderfang
- Firefang

Reason: Hippowdon is a basic physical Sweeper. As it it more likely to come out during a Sandstorm already set up, Sandforce makes 50% of it's attacks, Earthquake and Stone Edge, stronger. EQ is the obvious powerful STAB, Stone Edge is to combat Flying types which are immune to Ground. And water types and grass types which could take both of those, Thunderfang and Firefang respectively, are there to combat those. It's nature is simply to try and combat the low speed of Hippowdon, and due to it likely taking damage a lot before it can attack, Life Orb is just there to help it dish out the major damage whilst it can.

Alakazam @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpAtt, 252 Spd
Nature: Modest
- Psychic
- Grass Knot
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power (Ice)

Reason: Magic Guard is quite simply, one amazing ability to me, and as Alakazam avoids the Sandstorm damage set up, this just limits the damage done to Alakazam. Nature and EVs are very obviously to maximise the Special Attack. Psychic is obviously for STAB. Grass Knot I chose because it's not something I've often found, and from my experiences using it, it can really come in handy in a fair few situations. Focus Blast is to get off damage on Dark types. Hidden Power Ice, to be honest wasn't my first choice, originally it had been Dragon, just to provide a little more coverage, but I was told to change it to Ice, so I did.

Excadrill @ Muscle Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Att
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Rapid Spin
- Aerial Ace

Reason: Excadrill is my fast but tough hitter. Sand Rush was chosen over Sand Force, so that I have a physical sweeper that isn't slow, but it's EVs and nature are still aimed towards boosting attack, due to the doubled speed in Sandstorm. EQ is again, the STAB, whilst Poison Jab, and Aerial Ace, deal with other potential type opponents, being able to strike at Grass, Fighting, etc, that could take an EQ with less damage. Rapid Spin is a recent addition, as Toxic Spikes became a nuisance, and with switching into Excadrill, I could clear them off, and hopefully deal with whatever set them up.

Madibuzz @ Left Overs
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP, 128 Def, 128 SpDef
Nature: Careful
- Roost
- U-Turn
- Substitute
- Payback

Reason: Payback is the STAB for being offensive should the need come, and it makes use of the fairly low speed (I think). Sub to create a little more defence when I U-Turn out for something. Roost, is the obvious way to get some health back after a Sub or after taking damage when it breaks. I treat Mandibuzz as a less than conventional wall really. Overcoat was really the only good ability for Mandibuzz really, the other two involve lowering it's Defence and preventing Defence lowering which really isn't so good. At least this way, it doesn't take Sandstorm damage too.


Note: As of current, this final is just a theorised Pokémon, due to still scouting the Dream World for the right Magnemite. Hopefully, won't be much longer till I get this Magnemite and I can start to train.


Magnezone @ Zoom Lens
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 128 HP, 128 Def, 124 SpAtt, 128 SpDef
Nature: Modest
- Zap Cannon/Thunder
- Mirror Shot
- Wild Charge
- Tri-Attack

Reason: This entire set, is based around dealing damage last, hence why there is the Zoom Lens, and the Analytic ability. Due to this, Zap Cannon/Thunder is chosed as it's main STAB electric move. I have still really to decide which I will go for, Thunder is more accurate, but Zap Cannon has the chance of Paralysis. Mirror Shot is the Steel STAB move, chosen for the annoyance of chance of lowering accuracy. Wild Charge is for the 'free switch', as Magnezone would act second, taking the hit for the next one to come in. Tri-Attack in my experience, p***es people off. With the addition of it being neutral across the board for types (except for steel, ghost and rock), and chance of 3 different status conditions. Quite often when I've used this on a Dodrio (this was back in Gen 4 though) I was quite often commented on by my opponent with 'F***ing Tri-Attack'.

 

[Phoopes]

Okay, you have the general right idea, but there are some really obvious areas here that you could improve on.

Hippopotas: I'd replace with Hippowdon, because it has higher defenses, and packs a bit more of a punch here. However, if you really insist on using Hippopotas, get rid of Focus Band (Focus Sash is better anyway) and replace it with Eviolite. It increases your defenses to make it survive a hit better. However, Hippowdon is better at doing this, plus it can get recovery with Leftovers too. However, your moveset and EV's are good.

Hippowdon: Like I said, make this your Sand Stream user. Replace this guy with Landorus, not the Therian Form one though. Landorus is a much better user of Sand Force because it has higher attack and speed than Hippowdon. Usual set is Earthquake, Stone Edge, U-Turn, and Hidden Power Ice. But a little critique on Hippowdon... get rid of the current EV's, and put them into a set like the Hippopotas you have right now. Hippowdon can't outspeed anything relevant, and you want as much bulk as possible. The EV's you have now are what you'd want on the Landorus that I suggested.

Alakazam: First off, ditch Wise Glasses for Life Orb. Magic Guard gets rid of the recoil that is present with Life Orb, so you get a free 30% boost to your attacks, instead of the 20% with Wise Glasses. As for your moveset, it's not bad, but you could do a bit better. First off, Grass Knot should be replaced with Shadow Ball. Grass isn't a great offensive type to begin with, plus Shadow Ball will you give you Ghost + Fighting coverage with Focus Blast, which hits every Pokemon in the game for at least neutral damage. Finally, I'd go with Timid Nature because Alakazam is pretty frail, and you'll want to outspeed as many things as possible. Plus, it's Special Attack is really good as it is, plus with Life Orb boost you'll be fine if you don't have Modest.

Excadrill: Excadrill is banned from Smogon OU for now, though that may change. However, it is for now, so you'll need to replace it. If you're looking for a fast sweeper in Sand, then you might want to try either a Lucario or Metagross with Agility. Lucario would have Crunch, Ice Punch, and Close Combat, while Metagross would have Earthquake, Meteor Mash, and either Thunderpunch or Ice Punch. While it does take a turn to set up, you'll be outspeeding a lot of things and KO'ing them while you're boosted with Life Orb. As for now, if Excadrill does become legal again, I'm gonna critique the set. First off, ditch Muscle Band for Life Orb. Yes, it gives recoil, but the 30% boost really helps in KO'ing things that you otherwise wouldn't. As for your attacking moves, it looks like you're going for an offensive Rapid Spinner set. That's all fine and dandy, but you need to get rid of Poison Jab and Aerial Ace. Poison is the worst offensive typing in the game, and I'd replace it with Rock Slide, because you get pseudo-EdgeQuake coverage, which hits most Pokemon in the game for neutral damage. In the last slot, you can have either Swords Dance or Shadow Claw. The former boosts your attack to monstrous levels, while the latter gives you a bit of extra coverage. Your pick.

Mandibuzz: Mandibuzz, as a Flying type wall, is really outclassed by Skarmory, Gliscor, and Sigilyph. I won't go into detail about them, but you may want to look into them as they are all immune to Sandstorm like Mandibuzz (Sigilyph with Magic Guard), while doing a better job at walling in general than Mandibuzz. Though if you insist on Mandibuzz, a few changes can be made to Mandibuzz to improve upon it. Mandibuzz usually works better when just picking one defensive stat to focus on, and I'd choose focusing on being a special wall, since that seems to work better. I'd replace Substitute and Payback with Toxic and Brave Bird. With Roost, Mandibuzz can be a great ToxiStaller, whittling down opponents over time. Brave Bird is just more powerful than Payback, and even though you take recoil damage, you can just roost it right off. Also, U-Turn does not pass your Sub along to your next Pokemon. That's only Baton Pass.

Magnezone: With the set you're running here, it seems you want an offensive Magnezone. That's why I'd change the EV's to something that maxes out Special Attack, and gives Magnezone high speed as well. Something like 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe maybe. As for your moveset... I'd scrap the whole thing, and your ability too. I'd try a Substitute, Thunderbolt, Charge Beam, Hidden Power Ice or Fire moveset, along with Magnet Pull. Magnet Pull allows you to come into an opposing Steel type like Skarmory or Ferrothorn, and trap them. Then, you can set up a Sub and use Charge Beam to boost your already high Special Attack. Following this, you can sweep with Thunderbolt and Hidden Power. As for your current moveset, Zap Cannon and Thunder (outside of Rain) are just too unreliable, even with Zoom Lens. Plus, Thunderbolt at +1 will be doing more damage than an unboosted Thunder or Zap Cannon anyway, and has 100 accuracy. You have Mirror Shot on your current set too, but Flash Cannon is much better. You could use that in place of Charge Beam, I guess, but I wouldn't recommend it. Also, Wild Charge does not give you a "free switch" as you said. Wild Charge is a physical move that you take recoil from. You're thinking of Volt Switch. Finally, while Tri Attack isn't a bad move, you can get better coverage from Thunderbolt and Hidden Power than the set you have now.

Finally, one last thing in general: you can add 4 more EV's into one stat, to give you that little bit of extra bulk. While it may seem like one HP added won't do anything, there have been a bunch of times where that one HP has saved my butt during competitive battling. So I would suggest adding that as well as trying out the rest of the things I suggested.

Overall, it's a good start. You do have the right idea about some things, but the whole team, with some improvement, could be pretty good. Hope I helped.

 

[alteredegoX]

Overall, it's a good start. You do have the right idea about some things, but the whole team, with some improvement, could be pretty good. Hope I helped.

I appreciate all that and I'm gonna look through it again when I'm done waking up and look at making the changes. Main thing though that I'll admit I'm ignoring, is that I personally don't like using legends or ubers in my team, so I wouldn't be using a Landorus.

Alakazam had Wise Glasses because in most of the tournaments I've entered, you can only have one item in a team at a time, and my Hippowdon there had the Life Orb. Same would go for the changed Excadrill.

And on the Excadrill, that's just showing I don't keep track of the tiers because I had no idea it was banned.