Welp, that took way too long. But it's here! My first rate in ages. Just know that the following rate is by a newb as well, and all my changes were from practical use. Technically... I guess people may have a say about it xP
And off we are!
Overview:
Believe it or not, this team is pretty stable despite it's seemingly meek nature towards Water types. Sand is the most anti-meta weather, blowing off the Sun and Rain quite easily. Hail is not concerned, as far as I know. Garchomp +Mega Tyranitar still works, and it catches some players off guard as they expect Mega Garchomp (and rightfully so). I'll give more details on that in the individual pokemon review.
Your main concerns here are Rain teams, Trick Room teams and Intimidate.
- Rain teams because even though you don't let it rain, they are choked with Water types, and they are your team's bane.
- Trick Room team is more of a threat in Swiss rounds. On the first look, this team doesn't quite look like a Tailwind team, but once it's clear then Trick Room will generate some pressure on you.
- Intimidate is a lesser threat, but it's there alright. You don't have any Intimidate counters (perhaps this team worked better without one), and your Sand-Dragon lead is somewhat neutralized by it. This would mostly have to be worked around.
Besides this, any Fighting type pokemon would create some strain on you. Most notably Virizion, Machamp / Scrafty and sometimes Terrakion or Conkeldurr. My changes don't really deal with this well enough, so against these you may just have to avoid Sand altogether or work around it.
Individual Analysis:
(changes in bold)
Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
Enter the man of the match. Tyranitar has got some new things on him now. I changed him to a mixed attacker. The obvious reason would be to demolish any Landog that dares try raining on T-tar's parade. But it also takes care of some more unseen (but obvious nonetheless) threats, such as Flying or Dragon types such as Salamence and the Genie duo. All this comes at the cost of Speed, but given speed is sufficient for Tyranitar to outspeed uninvested Heatrans, so it's workable.
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
I made no changes here, Garchomp was working fine and dandy along everything. Sand Veil is a cruel ability by the way, sometimes to the opponent and sometimes to you. Just remember to let it do it's own thing, don't rely on it until you're a cornered rat with no choices.
Suicune @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect
Aside from the change in ability and item, Suicune also sees no change. I didn't really get why you needed Leftovers, because in the same manner it neutralizes Sandstorm it also neutralizes recovery. Sitrus all the way.
Although you wanted to replace it, Suicune's presence itself is actually quite crucial for this team. It is your defensive standpoint; it doesn't drop quick even in sand. Secondly, it's what your primary protection against Landorus, Terrakion and Hydreigon. Lastly, Suicune is the Tailwind to your team. This allows Garchomp to outspeed what it would originally have underspeeded, and proceed to sweep.
To put it informally, Suicune is your bro and always has your back.
Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 160 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Rotom was made a bit more offensive, since you did lack strong counters to opposing Grass types. Overheat hurts like a truck, striking down half the HP to anything that doesn't resist it (even more so if Helping Hand is accounted for).
This EV spread mainly centralizes a bit on Rotom-Heat's bulk, having enough special attack to OHKO nearly all Amoonguss out there. Best part is that alongside being immune to sandstorm and hail, it is also immune to Sleep Powder, Spore and Rage Powder; a perfect Amoonguss foil. Alongside that, it survives random stuff like LO Terrakion's Rock Slide and completely invested Milotic's Scald.
Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet / Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 12 SpA / 36 SpD / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Trick Room
By now, the team looked ultra vulnerable to Trick Room. Your pokemon are too fast to afford a slow pokemon to take control of Tricky times. So I decided that Cress should carry around Trick Room as well, just to switch the dimensions back to normal when things get sticky. Mental Herb is good for when you are hit by Taunt, but Rocky Helmet is also good as a punishment for physical attackers.
The given EV spread makes Cress tough as nails, surviving the strongest of physical and special attacks, including but not limited to Max offense Kangaskhan Double Edge, Salamence Double Edge, LO Bisharp Knock Off and Choiced Hydra's Dark Pulse. All this while speed creeping opposing Cresselia's by 1 speed point (courtesy of EVs). Thing's all kinds of awesome.
CrayCrayLovr (Cradily) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 92 SpA / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Gastro Acid
- Protect
After countless bouts of testing, grueling Swiss rounds and several other opinions, I just couldn't find any use for Scizor. It went to almost no matches with me, and whenever it came I never got to use it as much. Although I can see that the Fairy weakness has increased with this, your team needed the Water counter more.
Almost all the Fairy types I saw (Mega Gardevoir, Sylveon, Azumarill) fell to one hit from Garchomp and Tyranitar anyways, although Tailwind had a hand somewhere in there. Cradily is by definition the check to Water types in a Sand team. It's spread, like Cress', is meant to be supremely bulky and as slow as needed for Trick Room mishaps. Rest is dumped special attack, just so I can KO random stuff like Talonflame and Gastrodon, while do just below 50% to Milotic (to avoid activating Sitrus).
It also does this, although this was by no means the benchmark I aimed for:
>252+ Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Chople Berry Cradily: 158-188 (81.8 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'm pretty sure you're "TL;DR, meh" right now, so here you go:
Original:
Final:
Hope you found this useful!
