Playing in the sandbox- An LC RMT(Peaked@2003)

Hello, I'm Kingler12345. LC has been my favourite tier by far, and here's a pretty successful RMT to show it off. I'll be retiring this team now since sand is pretty easy to beat, but surprisingly I've beat quite a few hail teams such as dcae's one(IIRC it was pretty similar to this), etc etc. This is my first RMT so far and it's been pretty successful.
Ladder shots here-
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So woo hoo. I suck at laddering, don't hate on the peak.
ANYWAY,
Teambuilding process

I was new to LC one or two months ago. I used to run crappy stuff. Then I shamelessly got swept by sand rush drilbur. Guess what? I decided to make a sand team of my own. Hippo and drilbur started it off.

Because I just wanted to. I had no idea what the fuck double rush was then, but I went for two pokemon with sand rush.

Now this team was looking to be offensive. I put abra to abuse immunity to sandstorm, I guess(lol)


Magnemite was there to trap bronzor since I thought it(bronzor) was good then. Also ferroseed.

I read the smogon sandstorm article and saw vullaby.
Now needless to say, this team was incredibly weak to snover and waters. I had decent success with it, and then went back to making changes, some in the sets and some in the pokemon.

First to go was sandshrew. It just wasn't that good and i still have no idea why I used it as a secondary SR setter. I saw that tentacool was a great snover counter. I used it and it was actually really good despite lack of recovery.

Now vullaby went away in place of this thing. It counters every water in existence(kinda) and is just really really amazing in sandstorm.

Now this team was rather scraggy weak. Couldn't afford that.
You guessed it. Inb4 mienfoo(shelmet works too tho)
Ok, now let's move on to the team.
The team

upload_2013-8-20_18-0-54.png


Hippopotas@Eviolite
Ability- Sand Stream
EVs- 132 HP/ 20 Atk/ 212 Def/100 SpDef/20 Spe
Impish nature
Moves
-Earthquake
-Slack off
-Stealth rock
-Whirlwind

Now sand isn't that viable of a playstyle anymore(it wasn't when I made this team either) but this team works. This guy is an integral part of it, walling mienfoo, opposing drilbur, scraggy and a plethora of physical attackers like dwebble. He sets up the sand that can devastate weatherless(even if you have 1/2 checks to drilbur like most good teams do) and is definitely the one who makes this team work in the first place.
EVs are stolen from smogon, max physical bulk blah blah. Phazing, recovery, STAB move and hazards. Standard.

upload_2013-8-20_18-8-36.png


Drilbur@Eviolite
Ability- Sand rush
EVs- 236 Atk/ 36 Def/ 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
Moves
-Swords dance
-Earthquake
-Rock slide
-Shadow claw


The spawn of excadrill has left its mark in LC. The sole reason why sand offense exists is right here. With a 19 base attack, this thing is a terror to weatherless teams. It has decent bulk when coupled with eviolite, and after an SD, it's nearly unwallable. An immunity to thunder wave only bolsters its sweeping capabilities. Unfortunately, nearly is a word and pokemon such as foongus, shroomish, porygon and the like can live a hit at +2 and can put a hurt on this guy. But still, it's an S rank threat for a reason.
The EV spread is standard, adamant cuz jolly is weak and doesn't outspeed anything notable.

upload_2013-8-20_18-22-43.png
<-----------------------lol

Tentacool@Eviolite
Ability- Liquid Ooze(Fak u snover)
EVs- 196 HP/76 Def/196 SpDef/36 Spe
Calm nature
Moves
-Rapid spin
-Toxic spikes
-Sludge bomb
-Giga drain

Honestly when I had this thing i had my doubts. But tentacool is a great snover check and a great pokemon in general. It has a good SpDef and decent defence allowing him to tank hits well. He is the only spinner that counters snover and has good utility; I mean, toxic spikes doesn't seem great for an offensive team, but it just works to weaken porygon, mienfoo and stuff. Giga drain for bulky waters and keeping my HP relatively high. Knock off is an amazing move in LC and yeah, that's it.
EV spread for bulk, that's it really.
Changed knock off to sludge bomb.

upload_2013-8-20_18-31-28.png


Abra@Focus sash(finally no eviolite lol)
Ability- Magic Guard
EVs- 240 SpAtk/ 68 SpDef/200 Spe
IVs-30 Def/30 SpAtk/30 SpDef/30 Spe
Timid nature
Moves
-Psychic
-Shadow ball
-Hidden power fighting
-Protect

Abra is a good special attacker, and earns itself a place because of its immunity to sandstorm, good special attack(tied for highest in the tier) and ability to revenge kill stuff like clamperl(god that's scary) and shell smashers. The moves are standard. In the fourth slot, people run calm mind, energy ball.......it's hilarious. Protect just has SO much utility against croagunk and mienfoo's fake out and can help tell a scarfoo from a defensive foo(unless defensive foo bluffs with u-turn).
EVs are standard, not much to say.



Mienfoo@Eviolite
Ability- Regenerator
EVs- 156 HP/196 Def/116 SpDef
Careful
nature
Moves
-Taunt
-Drain punch
-U-turn
-Knock off
Replaced scarfoo with tauntfoo, it does well. This is more specially bulky than standard foo and it's really good to use. Knock off spam FTW. I stole the spread from charmander's RMT. Taunt has good utility, drain punch gives a great way for recovery and with regenerator works amazingly. U-turn is also amazing with regenerator and is a great pivoting move.


upload_2013-8-20_18-44-27.png

Lileep@Eviolite
Ability- Storm Drain
EVs- 228 HP/ 220 Def/60 SpDef
Bold nature
Moves
-Giga drain
-Ancientpower
-Recover
-Toxic

Now, last but not least, the tank of the team along with hippo. This thing just never fucking dies, I'm not even joking. It can easily survive SE attacks with its awesome bulk and retaliate with a potentially storm drain boosted giga drain or ancientpower. The moveset allows it to come out on top against subroost murkrow, a threat.
The EV spread is rather standard, more emphasis on defense as I'm getting the SpDef boost with sand.

Shoutouts to Dcae, whom I had laddered with and against, I beat his hail team once or twice :) Whatever, it was a really fun experience playing LC. Also the whole LC community has been awesome and stuff.

Conclusion
This team is what got me into LC and it's a pretty good team. While it does have flaws(no heal bell support for lileep, blah blah blah) it is still a pretty good team and it's been my only really succesful team.

Importable
Hippopotas @ Eviolite
Trait: Sand Stream
Level: 5
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Atk / 212 Def / 100 SDef / 20 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Drilbur @ Eviolite
Trait: Sand Rush
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- Shadow Claw

Tentacool @ Eviolite
Trait: Liquid Ooze
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 76 Def / 196 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Giga Drain

Lileep (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Storm Drain
Level: 5
EVs: 228 HP / 220 Def / 60 SDef
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- AncientPower
- Toxic

Mienfoo @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Drain Punch

Abra @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SAtk / 68 SDef / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Protect

Well, this is the end of my first RMT here. I'm open to any suggestions but mainly I just wanted to RMT it because it's the only team that imo has done consistently well for me.
 
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Hey there. This is a pretty good sand team though I think there can be some improvements to be made. Firstly I noticed you are pretty misdreavus and opposing sand weak with only lileep being able to stand up against thwm. My suggestion would be to replace abra with vullaby who checks both nicely. A lot of sets could work on this team so I'll you decide also because I'm lazy. A couple of other changes i would make would be to switch scarfoo out for tauntfoo with knock off (sorry to steal your set charmander :/) as it supports drilbur excellently and lets you stall out bronzor without psychic with ease as well as putting foongus in KO range for drilbur with kncok off. The last change i would suggest would be to replace knock off on tentacool for sludge bomb. This lets you actually kill snover rather than just knock its scarf off. Tenta doesn't lure much in that won't be hurt by giga drain that will help your team by having its item removed.

So summary of changes:
Vullaby>abra
Tauntfoo>scarfoo
S bomb> KF on tenta

Hope i helped. Gl :)
 
Hi there Kingler12345, it's nice to see a LC team here for a change! This team is definitely very good, as Sand alwayss is. Abra definitely looks like the weak link on the team, it really just doesn't add much of anything. It's a decent special attacker, but it offers 0 defensive synergy, and doesn't beat a lot of the big threats to your team (Snover is still a big threat, so are some variants of Misdreavus)

I think an offensive Porygon could work quite well in that slot. The set I recommend is:

Porygon @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
- Tri attack
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Thunder Wave

Porygon has the sheer bulk, as well as the power to threaten things that hurt your team. It can take on many variants of Misdreavus, and can tank some hits from Snover. It fills a similar role as Abra, as they are both glue pokemon. However, Porygon fills that role for your team better because it has the bulk to actually switch into attacks.

This change does make you weaker to other Mienfoo, but Hippopotas can take them on quite well. And any variant relying on Drain Punch is defeated by Tentacool, so it is stil not a major issue for your team.

I also agree with adding Sludge Bomb to Tentacool, as it would let you defeat Snover easier should it stay in.


List of Changes:
Porygon > Abra
Sludge Bomb > Knock Off on Tentacool


This is a really cool team though, its nice to see sand used well!
 
Hey there. This is a pretty good sand team though I think there can be some improvements to be made. Firstly I noticed you are pretty misdreavus and opposing sand weak with only lileep being able to stand up against thwm. My suggestion would be to replace abra with vullaby who checks both nicely. A lot of sets could work on this team so I'll you decide also because I'm lazy. A couple of other changes i would make would be to switch scarfoo out for tauntfoo with knock off (sorry to steal your set charmander :/) as it supports drilbur excellently and lets you stall out bronzor without psychic with ease as well as putting foongus in KO range for drilbur with kncok off. The last change i would suggest would be to replace knock off on tentacool for sludge bomb. This lets you actually kill snover rather than just knock its scarf off. Tenta doesn't lure much in that won't be hurt by giga drain that will help your team by having its item removed.

So summary of changes:
Vullaby>abra
Tauntfoo>scarfoo
S bomb> KF on tenta

Hope i helped. Gl :)
Thanks for the rate! I was gonna retire this, but I will certainly try this stuff.
Hi there Kingler12345, it's nice to see a LC team here for a change! This team is definitely very good, as Sand alwayss is. Abra definitely looks like the weak link on the team, it really just doesn't add much of anything. It's a decent special attacker, but it offers 0 defensive synergy, and doesn't beat a lot of the big threats to your team (Snover is still a big threat, so are some variants of Misdreavus)

I think an offensive Porygon could work quite well in that slot. The set I recommend is:

Porygon @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
- Tri attack
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Thunder Wave

Porygon has the sheer bulk, as well as the power to threaten things that hurt your team. It can take on many variants of Misdreavus, and can tank some hits from Snover. It fills a similar role as Abra, as they are both glue pokemon. However, Porygon fills that role for your team better because it has the bulk to actually switch into attacks.

This change does make you weaker to other Mienfoo, but Hippopotas can take them on quite well. And any variant relying on Drain Punch is defeated by Tentacool, so it is stil not a major issue for your team.

I also agree with adding Sludge Bomb to Tentacool, as it would let you defeat Snover easier should it stay in.


List of Changes:
Porygon > Abra
Sludge Bomb > Knock Off on Tentacool


This is a really cool team though, its nice to see sand used well!
Offensive porygon sounds cool, will try it out. Thanks for the rates guys!
Trying all suggestions except vullaby as of now, working p well imo
 
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Good team! I don't have that much to say apart from Scald better than Giga Drain, which is quite weak even super effectively, and also has that omnipresent trolling 30% burn chance, on Tentacool, so I would replace either Sludge Bomb or Giga Drain.
 

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