[RATE MY TEAM] VGC 2017 Sand Team

[WickedGligar]

With the disaster of VGC 2016 behind, I decided to try my hand once again in this highly competitive format. For the past couple months, I've been building various teams, with little success. When trying to convince my friend to try VGC, I came up with the idea for a Garchomp/Celesteela team core. When I arrived home I was excited to pursue this further, and in the past few weeks I've made a variety of improvements. I am looking for feedback and hope that this team will be capable of winning tournaments. The teams' biggest problem, apart from Kartana, is Arcanine, since Intimidate and Snarl are quick to cripple.

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EV's: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Poison Jab

One of the first members of my team, Garchomp is a hard hitter, made better by a noticeable ground weakness in the current metagame. Life Orb increases the damage output, while not being much of a hindrance, since Garchomp is so frail. Earthquake is necessary for STAB, Rock Slide helps to hit flying types, I like to have Protect on most Pokémon, and Fire Fang allows it to OHKO Kartana. I have added Poison Jab (instead of Fire Fang) because, since adding Flamethrower on Celesteela, the team is not as weak to Kartana. Poison Jab, however, will allow Garchomp to OHKO the Tapus most of the time, which has been a benefit more times than I can count.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
-Heavy Slam
-Flamethrower
-Protect
-Earthquake

Celesteela pairs very well with Garchomp; Garchomp covers electric and fire types (Celesteela's weaknesses), and Celesteela counters Dragon, Ice, and Fairy (Garchomp's), while also being immune to Earthquake. Since Celesteela is tied for being the heaviest Pokémon (with Cosmoeem), Heavy Slam was the obvious choice for STAB. Flamethrower, as earlier stated, is a check to Kartana. Since adding Earthquake on Celesteela, it has much greater coverage, can 1v1 or 1v2 a lot more successfully, and activates Beast Boost much more frequently. Side note: KO'ing your own Pokémon still activates Beast Boost.

Gigalith @ Rockium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
EV's: 100 HP / 244 Atk / 100 Def / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
-Rock Slide
-Wide Guard
-Protect
-Heavy Slam

After building Garchomp and Celesteela, I realized that both were immune to sand, so I decided to add Gigalith to the team. I did a lot of damage calcs to finalize the EV spread, heavily basing it around surviving the Tapus' attacks, and OHKO'ing Tapu Lele. The set is not unusual, though I am unsure of the item. It is a great weather counter, as Torkoal is the only weather setter that underspeeds it, and it has Wide Guard to block Blizzard and Eruption. The 4 Speed EV's are only there because they wouldn't bring up any other stat (except Special Attack).

Drampa @ White Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
-Hyper Voice
-Draco Meteor
-Protect
-Flamethrower

I know what you're thinking: "Why are you running Sap Sipper? Berserk is so much better!" I started out running Berserk on Drampa, but in all of the battles I used it, I never received a Berserk boost. I added Drampa because of my need for a special attacker, and with Sap Sipper it can also switch into a Horn Leech. Hyper Voice hits two targets hard, Draco Meteor can OHKO a multitude of threats (with White Herb negating the stat drop), and Flamethrower hits steel-types for super effective damage.

Tapu Fini @ Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
EV's: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpA
Modest Nature
-Moonblast
-Scald
-Hidden Power Fire
-Grass Knot

With the first half of my team being heavily sand-based, Tapu Fini provided much needed coverage to common threats. Moonblast OHKO's most dragons, and with Specs it can sometimes even pick up neutral kills. Scald is a second STAB, being there mostly for power because of Misty Terrain. Hidden Power Fire KO's Kartana, and Grass Knot hits Gastrodon.

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EV's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Protect
-Grass Knot

With only one slot left, I felt my team really needed a strong Celesteela counter. Tapu Koko's Gigavolt Havoc can pick up so many kills, it may really turn the tide of a battle. Dazzling Gleam also OHKO'a a surprising number of targets, making up for Koko's lack of Moonblast. Grass Knot, once again, KO's Gastrodon, but I am debating swapping it for HP Fire, since this is my only Pokémon that outspeeds Kartana.

[Rockycombo]

Your team looks solid defensively, the one thing I would recommend is to mix some more diverse coverage into your movepools. I get that Kartana is spooky, but having four of your mons run Fire moves can leave you open to other threats without a solid response. Grass Knot on two Pokemon is also suboptimal, and in the (potentially rarer) cases you take along both Fini and Koko it's completely redundant.

After plugging your team into the builder, it looks like you're missing the following move types: Fighting, Flying, Poison, Bug, Ghost, Pyschic, Ice, and Dark. Of course there is some overlap and not all of these are necessary by any means. But giving Garchomp Poison Jab over Fire Fang to cover Tapus, Tapu Fini Ice Beam over Grass Knot so you're not locked into a potentially redundant move, etc. could really benefit your team.

[WickedGligar]

(Feb 1, 2017, 09:44 AM)Rockycombo Wrote: Your team looks solid defensively, the one thing I would recommend is to mix some more diverse coverage into your movepools. I get that Kartana is spooky, but having four of your mons run Fire moves can leave you open to other threats without a solid response. Grass Knot on two Pokemon is also suboptimal, and in the (potentially rarer) cases you take along both Fini and Koko it's completely redundant.

After plugging your team into the builder, it looks like you're missing the following move types: Fighting, Flying, Poison, Bug, Ghost, Pyschic, Ice, and Dark. Of course there is some overlap and not all of these are necessary by any means. But giving Garchomp Poison Jab over Fire Fang to cover Tapus, Tapu Fini Ice Beam over Grass Knot so you're not locked into a potentially redundant move, etc. could really benefit your team.

Thanks! I will take these suggestions into account.