Trick Room Sand Team MK. 1

[KiwiTiger]

Kiwi here and im back with a new team, this time its a trick room/sand team. I wanted to try some more unique pokemon! All advice is still welcome

Offense


Again, the center of the team is a Mega Mawile. Pretty standard set. I have been considering replacing a move for Fire Fang but still only a consideration

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite  
Ability: Intimidate  
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD  
Adamant Nature  
IVs: 0 Spe  
- Sucker Punch  
- Play Rough  
- Iron Head  
- Protect



Here is the second beef cake for this team. I was going to use excadill but it gave me a lot of fire weakness and with how common charizard is i considered other options. I decided on a gigalith with a sash since it could benefit from either mode the team can do while still being able to not be OKHO. I have wondered if i could replace the sash with maybe a more damaging items, or giving it sturdy back.[color=#cc33ff]Have replaced Explosion with Wide Guard

Gigalith @ Focus Sash  
Ability: Sand Force  
Level: 50  
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD  
Adamant Nature  
IVs: 0 Spe  
- Wide Guard
- Earthquake  
- Explosion  
- Rock Slide  
- Protect



Miltoic was an interesting choice since i need a more offense special attacker and i need something that could resist Steel, Water and Ice. So I made a bit more of a mix of a offensive and definitive Miltoic. I have been considering replacing dragon pulse with protect.
Milotic @ Sitrus Berry  
Ability: Competitive  
Level: 50  
EVs: 200 HP / 108 SpA / 200 SpD  
Modest Nature  
- Ice Beam  
- Scald  
- Protect
- Recover

Defense



Another set I like to use is this Assault Vest Tyranitar, Since it tanks most things while under sand storm and can still deal decent damage and potentially dragon tail unwanted threats out. Tyranitar is also my sand setting I was considering Hipowdon but it didnt fit as well as Tyranitar.

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest  
Ability: Sand Stream  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def  
Impish Nature  
IVs: 0 Spe  
- Low Kick
- Rock Slide  
- Crunch  
- Ice Punch



Probably my favorite pokemon on this team is a Super Gourgeist. It is my trick room setting and has good support moves like skill swap and will-o-wisp but still can deal good damage with seed bomb. It also resists a lot of things my offence has issues with while they resist a lot of what Gourgeist is weak to.
Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers  
Ability: Frisk  
Level: 50  
Shiny: Yes  
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SpD  
Sassy Nature  
IVs: 0 Spe  
- Trick Room  
- Will-O-Wisp  
- Seed Bomb  
- Skill Swap

Support



My final pokemon is my Zapdos, whom is kinda a mix of Support with T-wave and have some good offense with thunderbolt and heat wave. Zapdos mainly helps with ground and water weakness my main core has issues with.

Zapdos @ Safety Goggles  
Ability: Pressure  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  
Lax Nature  
IVs: 17 SpD / 29 Spe  
- Thunderbolt  
- Heat Wave  
- Protect  
- Tailwind

And that is the team, like I said i did think a bit outside the box for it and from my showdown testing it seems to be working pretty will. All advice is welcome.

[Feax]

I don t really know much about teambuilding etc.

but i really love the Pokemon Mawile, and i love to see ppl picking them up in their teams, great work :D

[RebornFX]

Could you explain your picks a bit more? Having calcs and an explanation is kind of necessary when proposing strange sets and Pokemon choices. For example, why did you choose a Defensive spread for Ttar? Wouldn't a more offensive spread make more sense for it, meaning it doesn't need to waste a turn using p-u-p to do any damage? And if you are using a slow Ttar, why not make it mixed to have better coverage as you can use a Brave/Relaxed nature as opposed to Adamant/Impish? And you say that Gourgeist resists your team weaknesses while your team resists Gourgeists weaknesses, but what specifically? List how each of your member beats the most common Pokemon like Kangaskhan and Lando-T, and if it can't then you have something to work on.

For Dragon Pulse on Milotic, there is literally no point in running it. Literally the only Pokemon in the format Dragon Pulse will hit for super effective which Ice Beam won't are Kingdra and Zard X.

And you can get a much better Zapdos than the one you have there, with that SpD you'll be getting destroyed by common special attackers. I would also personally put Tailwind on Zapdos over Twave.

[Pokeventurer]

i assume u are transferring to VGC from singles right? plz tell me if i am wrong.
i love that u are gonna centralize your team around m-mawile. just a few fixes: i think it'll be great to use wide guard over explosion on gigalith as it greatly helps your team from stopping EQ's and RSs that make your way. gougeist is interesting as a trick room setter but i think another ground immunity should again be a must considering 3x mons are weak to it and not anything other than the central core of your team, cresselia will provide that w/ fighting resistant that you also needed, cresselia is alot more bulky and insures to set up trick room alot better than gougeist.
again on the EV's these fit more into singles play *i assume after watching Shadypenguinn build his mons* but in VGC you really need to use a mon for what it's supposed to do, all bulk won't help too much, also u might wanna change the P-u-P to low kick cuz that seems like too much to set up in 5/4 precious turns, milotic won't do anything w/ dragon pulse other than what ice beam does so definitely replace it with something like protect or recover. don't run t-wave with such a slow team on zapdos, it needs HP ice or roost maybe also w/ t-tar dragon tail is unnecessary .
hope this helps plus remind me if i am misunderstanding it as a singles over doubles team

[KiwiTiger]

(Oct 24, 2015, 01:45 PM)Feax Wrote: I don t really know much about teambuilding etc.

but i really love the Pokemon Mawile, and i love to see ppl picking them up in their teams, great work :D

Thanks!

[KiwiTiger]

(Oct 24, 2015, 02:03 PM)RebornFX Wrote: Could you explain your picks a bit more? Having calcs and an explanation is kind of necessary when proposing strange sets and Pokemon choices. For example, why did you choose a Defensive spread for Ttar? Wouldn't a more offensive spread make more sense for it, meaning it doesn't need to waste a turn using p-u-p to do any damage? And if you are using a slow Ttar, why not make it mixed to have better coverage as you can use a Brave/Relaxed nature as opposed to Adamant/Impish? And you say that Gourgeist resists your team weaknesses while your team resists Gourgeists weaknesses, but what specifically? List how each of your member beats the most common Pokemon like Kangaskhan and Lando-T, and if it can't then you have something to work on.

For Dragon Pulse on Milotic, there is literally no point in running it. Literally the only Pokemon in the format Dragon Pulse will hit for super effective which Ice Beam won't are Kingdra and Zard X.

And you can get a much better Zapdos than the one you have there, with that SpD you'll be getting destroyed by common special attackers. I would also personally put Tailwind on Zapdos over Twave.

The T-Tar was mainly a set I wanted to try in VGC since it tanks quite a bit of stuff but i can look into a more offensive set. Gourgeist was added in since I needed something for fighting grass and steel and I knew it could also learn trick room, I decided to give it a try. Miltoic having dragon pulse also is something i was just testing with and i see i could do without it. The Zapdos's set is mainly because it is the zapdos i have that i use for most of my zapdos needs. Not the biggest fan of getting legendaries off of the internet. I do know that its SpD is quite bad, But this team is only in the begining stages so all advice is welcome :>

[KiwiTiger]

(Oct 24, 2015, 02:11 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote: i assume u are transferring to VGC from singles right? plz tell me if i am wrong.
i love that u are gonna centralize your team around m-mawile. just a few fixes: i think it'll be great to use wide guard over explosion on gigalith as it greatly helps your team from stopping EQ's and RSs that make your way. gougeist is interesting as a trick room setter but i think another ground immunity should again be a must considering 3x mons are weak to it and not anything other than the central core of your team, cresselia will provide that w/ fighting resistant that you also needed, cresselia is alot more bulky and insures to set up trick room alot better than gougeist.
again on the EV's these fit more into singles play *i assume after watching Shadypenguinn build his mons* but in VGC you really need to use a mon for what it's supposed to do, all bulk won't help too much, also u might wanna change the P-u-P to low kick cuz that seems like too much to set up in 5/4 precious turns, milotic won't do anything w/ dragon pulse other than what ice beam does so definitely replace it with something like protect or recover. don't run t-wave with such a slow team on zapdos, it needs HP ice or roost maybe also w/ t-tar dragon tail is unnecessary .
hope this helps plus remind me if i am misunderstanding it as a singles over doubles team

Nah I've been playing VGC for a while but I normally keep with simple sets to see if i need to change something. Wide guard is a great idea as i didnt know gigalith got wide guard. Gougeist is an intesting mon but i like a challange. ;3 The p-u-p is mainly if i get the chance to use it but low king would probably be better and i could change dragon tail to ice punch or something along those lines. The dragon tail was mainly cause the set was a singles set.

[Delta]

I just want to make a simple suggestion. Instead of Protect on your Milotic, I would recommend Mirror Coat. I understand that Protect is pretty staple on VGC teams, but Mirror Coat is such an amazing attack on Milotic that I would not pass it up. This is just my two cents.

[Marcusube]

Most of the members on your team are below the average speed tier of max speed base 70-100. With that said, a huge chunk of the meta already lands the first hit on your team. Remove Milotic and mons such as Salamence, Terrakion, Landorus-T, Politoed, Charizard-Y, Charizard-X, Thundurus, Breloom and Ludicolo easily crap on this team. That's just a few easy checks to it by the way. What I'm saying is this team is going to have trouble with mainly weather teams, fast and strong attackers and Pokemon with redirection moves.

Another thing I realize is that you focused mainly on balancing out the weaknesses. Consider other factors such as how each Pokemon complement each other offensively, defensively or supportively. Milotic for example gets Light Screen which turns moves such as Earth Power and Flamethrower into 2HKOs making it easier for Mawile to either safely switch in or get more attacks off.

Keep practicing with this team until you reach a point where you realize the benchmarks needed to make the EV spreads for each of your mons more diverse in order to survive certain hits.

I wouldn't recommend Fire Fang Mawile. Just put in a Fire type on your team.

[KiwiTiger]

(Oct 25, 2015, 05:35 AM)Marcusube Wrote: Most of the members on your team are below the average speed tier of max speed base 70-100. With that said, a huge chunk of the meta already lands the first hit on your team. Remove Milotic and mons such as Salamence, Terrakion, Landorus-T, Politoed, Charizard-Y, Charizard-X, Thundurus, Breloom and Ludicolo easily crap on this team. That's just a few easy checks to it by the way. What I'm saying is this team is going to have trouble with mainly weather teams, fast and strong attackers and Pokemon with redirection moves.

Another thing I realize is that you focused mainly on balancing out the weaknesses. Consider other factors such as how each Pokemon complement each other offensively, defensively or supportively. Milotic for example gets Light Screen which turns moves such as Earth Power and Flamethrower into 2HKOs making it easier for Mawile to either safely switch in or get more attacks off.

Keep practicing with this team until you reach a point where you realize the benchmarks needed to make the EV spreads for each of your mons more diverse in order to survive certain hits.

I wouldn't recommend Fire Fang Mawile. Just put in a Fire type on your team.

Any suggestions on ajustments?