[TEAM REPORT] [ORAS OU] X-Ray's Sand Team (Analysis/Showcase)

[croissant]

Hey wassup guys, today I thought I could make an analysis/showcase of a team I really like. It's a sand team build around Mega-Chomp and Excadrill that is really good against most playstyles. I will be explaining how it works, give some tips to use it effectively and also show a replay of a battle I got on Pokémon Showdown! to show to team in work!

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The sandy squad

The defensive core

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Analysis

This team is a bulky offense built around Mega-Garchomp, a very potent wallbreaker that is often overlooked due to its slightly underwhelming Speed tier. To support it well, a Tyranitar is an excellent partner since he can summon sandstorms, and due to its ability Sand Force, Mega-Chomp has a great poweer boost to it's main STAB move, Earthquake. To deal with Garchomp's lack of Speed, another sand abuser is there: Sand Rush Excadrill. It's an excellent late-game cleaner and can also spin away rocks. Now, to patch up some of the team's weaknesses, such as Water, a good defensive backbone is added: a Water/Fire/Grass core in Slowking/Tangrowth/Talonflame. They complement themselves really well and they are thus able to really cover their weaknesses. It's also good to mention that Slowking and Tangrowth also form a Regenerator core, which allows them to stay healthy.
This team is really well built, since it has the bulk to deal with hyper offense as well as a deadly late-game cleaner in Excadrill, but also the ability the destroy balanced teams because of Mega-Garchomp's insane raw power. Stall is not safe either, because Garchomp can plow through these teams with Swords Dance and it's decent coverage.

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Tips

The main way to use this team is to weaken/break the opposing defensive core with Garchomp and/or wear down the team with your own defensive core. If you plan on using this team, a good idea would be to keep Excadrill and Tyranitar the longer you can. Tyranitar provides sand which is really imprtant for both Garchomp and Excadrill, and Excadrill is just so fast, so you should keep it since most of the time, people will want to keep their faster threats until the end, but in sand, Excadrill outspeed most Pokémon. Slowking can often pressure opposing teams with Calm Mind, but you would want to remove opposing physical attackers before starting to set up to make sure it doesn't die to a Knock Off or just a strong physical attack.

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The sets:

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam

Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang

Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 128 Def / 132 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off

Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp

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The Team in Action

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-428702332

A replay of a game I played where the defensive core is showcased pretty well.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-428888580

Another replay of one of my game where once I removed the physical attackers, Slowking was able to clean up. Raikou also couldn't risk the Thunderbolt since I still had two ground types, which allowed my Slowking to set up.

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This team is really fun to use, and I also like the fact that there is no legendaries, so all mons are breedable.

If you enjoyed this little team analysis, let me know because I enjoyed doing this and if you are interested, I will probably do more in the future :]