Presenting: Team Sandy Synergy (Ranked 6th with 1648 CRE in 2 Days)

[Reverb]

Okay so a couple days ago I was on #stark on IRC. Basically I was asking for a good idea for a team when KD24 suggested
Azelf/Rotom-h/Scizor/Salamence/Lucario/Swampert. I edited the model a bit to get the current result. This team is great for putting pressure on your opponents and forcing them to predict well. It's edited so that many pokemon on my team can take down their would-be counters. Now without further ado I present the team...

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Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Explosion

I once considered this lead outdated. Boy was I wrong. This guy is a perfect lead. His main job is get SR up and then do as much damage as possible. Essentially, he allows me to set up sweeps in the later game. His moveset allows me to take care of so many leads. Gengar is OHKOed by Psychic and standard Metagross is 2HKOed by Fire Blast. The lead which gives me problems is Heatran, in which case I'll get Stealth Rock up and then just explode. As long as SR is up, I'm happy.
Synergic Connection: This is a basic suicide lead. I need Azelf to be able to allow my other pokes to sweep. SR is great because it prevent Gyrados from continuously switching in on me. Furthermore, it breaks any sashed so that I don’t get a surprise counter attack on my sweeper. SR is what allows for just the right amount of damage I need. It lets Lucario 2HKO Skarmory and gives Scizor a shot at OHKOing Salamence with Bullet Punch. Additionally, SR lets me know whether switch ins are scarfed or not. Therefore, less thinking for me which is always good.
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Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Trick

This guy reminds everyone of their favorite childhood toy, their Easy Bake Oven (don’t lie). Electric / Ghost / Fire is an unresisted attacking combinations. I use this guy as a way to revenge kill DD Gyrados, which can be a big threat to my team. Additonally, he totally counters Lucario. Thus if my opponent is trying to get a sweep going, they’re going to have to have to get past Rotom-h.
Synergic Connection: Rotom-h is a revenge killer. Gyrados, Infernape, Salamence…etc. are all threats to this team, Rotom-h’s powerful Thunderbolt will either kill them or take them down low enough so that I can use a priority move to finish one of them off. The last move slot contains the move Trick. This is a great tool for beating stall. If Rotom-h is up against a Skarmory or a Forretress I will generally do the less obvious play and use Trick. Thus his poor Blissey is next to useless.

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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Ice Punch

Without a doubt, the greatest sweeper in DPPt is Lucario. His massive Atk stat coupled with Life Orb and a strong priority move allow him to wreak complete havoc. Now 3 of the moves are self explanatory, the last one is a bit odd. Crunch is the more standard move. I picked Ice Punch over Crunch for a very important reason: Gliscor. Ice Punch + Close Combat will 2HKO Gliscor. This is big since Gliscor is a reasonable defensive threat to this team. Thanks to Ice Punch, my opponent will get a pleasant surprise when he switches in his “Counter”.
Synergic Connection: This is one of my three dedicated sweepers. If I can I try to get an SD up. However, he is generally an early game sweeper so he often will be sacrificed in order to clear the field for another sweeper. Either way, he is a staple on this team. He nets an average of 2 kills for me each game. So I have nothing to complain about here.
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Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/6 SDef
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage

I know the Life Orb Set does more damage, but I love Lum Berry because it allows this Salamence to continue to sweep by being cured of confusion after its rampage ends. This is a great late game sweeper. One Dragon Dance and offensive Tyranitar is OHKOed by Earthquake after SR. Addtionally pesky Jirachi’s and scarf-trans are a thing of the past. Outrage is one of the most ruthless moves in the game. It will completely rip apart any pokemon that does not resist it (or isn’t Hippowdon). The last slot is Fire Blast. The reason I picked this move was so that I had a way of ridding the field of Skarmory, which can generally wall Salamence. Skarmory is another reason why SR is good. Standard defensively invest Skarmory is OHKOed by Fire Blast.
Synergic Connection: Late Game Sweeper. He rips apart the remants of my opponent’s team, if the game goes well he doesn’t even get sent out. The only time he might be sent out before the end of the game is when my opponent has a Salamence out on my Lucario. He will dodge the Earthquake or if my opponent Dragon Dances, I will go into Scizor to take the Outrage and kill the Salamence with Bullet Punch. He works well by covering all the types that Lucario is weak to, and vice-versa.
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Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 196 HP/252 Atk/62 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit
This guy is great for scouting out exactly what my opponent has in store for me. U Turn is also a good way to get some damage on Swampert if it is still alive because I didn’t get Azelf to explode on it (I often will just use Psychic on Swampert first). Also, Bullet Punch with Choice Band is an extremely strong priority move. It will finish of Salamence, Gengar, Azelf, or anything else I would need to revenge kill. My only issue is !@$%ing Magnezone. So it’s wise to just start out with Spamming U Turn.
Synergic Connection: If there is a weakened sweeper out, I will make sure they die via Bullet Punch. He serves as a counter for Tyranitar, Gengar, Azelf, and even other Scizors. My favorite thing about him is how he cleans Latias off the field after she gets around 60%. Plus U Turn is great to use on Latias as they seldom have hp fire. He also is great for luring Heatran so that I might switch to Tyranitar which resists fire.
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Tyranitar (F) @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge
Perhaps the star of the team! This is a fabulous Tyranitar set. I didn’t even consider it until I saw the set used on the Featured RMT on The Smog. This set counters all of Tyranitar’s usual counters. I can’t tell you how many times people bring in Scizor thinking that they can kill Tyranitar. Additionally, Breloom a common Tyranitar switch in is OHKOed by Fir Punch. All I need is one DD to sweep.
Synergic Connection: Sandstorm adds residual damage which wears down walls and prevent Leftovers recovery for my opponents. Additonally, Celebi, Cresselia, Heatran, Magnezone, Salamence, and Gyrados are all targets that I aim to bring down will Tyranitar. (Defensive Celebi needs to be weakened a little bit in order for +1 Atk Tyranitar to OHKO. Additonally, usual counters like Scizor and Forretress are my “surprise kills” that allow me to gain more of an edge on my opponents.
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(Threat List Coming Soon)

 

[Reverb]

Threat List:
Aerodactyl: Azelf 2HKOs with Psychic. I only see them as leads.

Alakazam: Scarf Rotom-h can kill it. Scizor can Bullet Punch, Tyranitar can beat it if it doesn’t have Focus Blast.

Azelf: Rotom-h can kill, Scizor can Bullet Punch, Tyranitar walls it and can get a DD in.
Blissey: Rotom-h Tricks a scarf, Lucario OHKOs with Close Combat, Scizor can OHKO with Super Power, Salamence can kill it after one DD.

Breloom: Lucario kills it with Ice Punch assuming your opponent isn’t using the Mach Punch gimmick. Tyranitar kills it without a DD if it is Adamant. Salamence can OHKO with Outrage, Azelf can OHKO with Psychic, and Rotom-h can OHKO with Overheat.

Bronzong: Azelf can weaken it so that anything else on my team can kill it. I can just OHKO it but it can’t hurt me much either.

Celebi: Scizor OHKOs with U Turn and can survive Hidden Power Fire if it is a defensive Celebi. Tyranitar can at least 2HKO with Crunch. Rotom-h can 2HKO with Shadow Ball.

Cresselia: Tyranitar can wall it and kill with Crunch. Scizor can U Turn it. Keep in mind that Moonlight sucks thanks to sandstorm.

Donphan: Azelf and Rotom-h can 2HKO, if theu can’t get a hit on it I will probably end up sacking Lucario to get it down low in hp.

Dragonite: Rotom-h can 2HKO. Scizor can 2HKO, Salamence outspeeds and kills. Tyranitar and OHKO.

Dugtrio: Lucario and Scizor OHKO with their priority moves. Rotom-h can kill it. Only pokemon affected by it is Tyranitar.

Dusknoir: Tyranitar will kill it after it’s weakened because I don’t want Tyranitar to get burned. Rotom-h can weaken it. The rest of my team can too. It’s a nuisance but who would use it? It’s outclassed. Why the hell is it OU?

Electivire: Rotom-h 2HKOs with Shadow Ball. Lucario can OHKO, Salamence can OHKO.

Empoleon: Lucario OHKOs, Salamence OHKOs, Rotom-h’s Choice Scarf lets it outspeed the Sub Petaya Agility Set and kill it with Thunderbolt.

Flygon: Scizor can 2HKO, Salamence gets a DD up if it doesn’t Outrage. If it does, Scizor will kill it while it is locked in.

Forretress: Tyranitar 2HKOs with Fir Punch, Rotom-h OHKOs, Salamence and Azelf do too.

Gengar: Rotom-h beats none scarf ones. Scizor can Bullet pUnch or Pursuit it. Tyranitar beats it after a DD / Gengar doesn’t have Focus Blast. Salamence can survive a Shadow Ball and DD then Outrage. Azelf outspeeds and kills with Psychic.

Heatran: None Scarf it beaten by Lucario. Scarf Tran it walled by Tyranitar after it locks in. Then I get a free DD.

Heracross: Rotom-h kills with Overheat. Salamence can DD if it is locked into Close Combat or Megahorn.

Hippowdon: @#$% me! Lol this guy is annoying. I will often sack a poke to bring him down if I can’t trick Rotom-h’s scarf onto him.

Infernape: Rotom-h brings him down low and then a priority move can beat him. Azelf beats outright.


Jirachi: Lead Jirachi is annoying. I go into Scizor to take Twave or Iron Head which are the common moves.

Jolteon: Rotom-h 2HKOs if it Specs jolt and he goes i=onto Shodow Ball I go into Tyranitar for a DD.

Kingdra: Salamence outspeeds and kills. Tyranitar keeps the rain away. Lucario can nearly kill it with Close Combat and Rotom-h will beat it outright.

Latias: Scizor can switch into it if it lacks Hidden Power Fire. Rotom-h 2HKOs. Tyranitar OHKOs.

Lucario: Rotom-h can come in on the SD and OHKO with Overheat. Salamence OHKOs with EQ.

Machamp: Azelf brings it down low or even OHKOs it. Lucario can do around 88% to it so if it is at all damaged I kill it.

Magnezone: Lucario beats it if it doesn’t have a Scarf. Salamence can beat it but if it has a Scarf Salamence will be left will very little HP. Rotom-h can OHKO with Overheat.

Mamsowine: Lucario beats it if it isn’t Jolly. Rotom-h can OHKO. Scizor’s Bullet Punch can OHKO.

Ninjask: I only see this as a lead so I play it safe and use Psychic on it. I’ll have a sash to take the hit from what it Baton Passes
to. Thus, I can damage that switch a bit or hopefully explode.

Porygon-Z: Tyranitar beats it If it doesn’t have Hidden Power Fighting. Scizor can take it down after it’s damaged a bit by SR and SS. Rotom-h can hurt it a good amount and will often beat it.

Rhyperior: Rotom-h can 2HKO it if it survives Stone Edge. Lucario or any other pokemon besides Tyranitar can finish it off from there.

Rotom Formes: Tyranitar will come in on the scarf ones assuming they’re not cut or wash Rotom. Rotom-h can at worst speed tie the formed while it Shadow Balls.

Salamence: Scizor can OHKO standard DD / MixMence after SR and 1 SS turn via Bullet Punch. Rotom-h can bring it down low. Salamence can at worst speed tie it. If it is max speed too which is not a guarantee and it wins the tie, it will be locked into Outrage so that it can be revenge killed.

Scizor: Rotom-h can OHKO will Overheat. Lucario can OHKO less bulky Scizor with Close Combat. In fact, even bulkier Scizors can be OHKOed after SR. Tyranitar has Babiri Berry to survive BP and OHKO with Fire Punch.

Skarmory: Rotom-h can OHKO, Salamence generally can OHKO after SR and Lucario will likely get an SD up so it can potentially OHKO thanks to SR after Swords Dance.

Smeargle: I see this as a lead. Let Azelf use Psychic then go to Rotom-h in case in Endeavors.

Snorlax: Lucario can OHKO, Tyranitar can 2HKO, Scizor can OHKO with Super Power.

Starmie: Rotom-h’s Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball will kil it. Tyranitar will not be OHKOed even by LO Starmie’s Hydro Pump after SR so it can kill it with Crunch.

Suicune: Lucario will often SD then bring defensive Suicune down very low or kill none defensive Suicune. Rotom-h’s Thunderbolt do decent damage.

Swampert: Lucario can kill a weakened Swampert. Scizor can U Turn it then go into Rotom-h to further weaken it.

Tentacruel: Azelf, Rotom-h, Salamence, Lucario, Tyranitar all just outright beat it.

Togekiss: Salamence can generally OHKO after SR with Outrage. Tyranitar can kill with Stone Edge. Rotom-h can with Thunderbolt after SR unless Togekiss invests heavily in Sp Def.

Tyranitar: Scizor unless it is Babiri Tyranitar. If that is the case I will have Tyranitar use Stone Edge then finish it off with Scizor.

Vaporeon: Rotom-h can 2HKO with Thunderbolt. Lucario can do the same with Close Combat. I may have to sack a poke.

Weavile: Rotom-h can outspeed and kill with Overheat. Scizor can OHKO with Bullet Punch.

Zapdos: If it swiches into Lucario. Lucario generally outspeeds it and can finish it off with Ice Punch + the Close Combat damage it took before + SR damage. Additionally, Tyranitar walls it.

 

[Clefairy{m}]

Me thinks I may steal this. >:)

 

[reyscarface]

Hi Reverb :)

First of all, make sur to fix that horrible font tags on your threat list, because i cant even read what you are trying to say.

Alright. First of all, you are running Ice Punch on your Lucario, which is totally ok, but not in an Adamant one. A lot of gliscors are now running more speed to beat max speed Adamant Lucarios, not mentioning that one of the best things Ice Punch can do is OHKO Salamence, which you wont do if you cant outspeed the Adamant one. If you are going to use Ice Punch, i suggest you change your nature to Jolly.

Theres not a lot to change, and i cant see anything more, good job.

 

[dachickens]

lol, this reminds me of my old sandstorm team, which has 4 of the exact same Pokemon that you have (though two have different items). Anyways, it seems pretty good. Just a few small little things though:

Ice Punch Lucario generally runs Jolly. That way, it can outrun neutral-Speed Zapdos and Gliscor.

If Hippowdon is annoying you, maybe you could try Metagross as a lead over Azelf? It can still set up SR while staying immune to Sandstorm, and it also has a stronger Explosion. While Azelf's Explosion can only deal about 70% damage to Hippowdon, Metagross usually OHKO's it. It is also bulky and could possibly come back in later.

Overall a good team though!

 

[Asylum]

Nicely built team! I really would recommend crunch over ice punch so you could try to attempt sweeping stall. With ice punch you won't be able to do anything to a Rotom-H ( Most People switch it in on Luke even though it isn't scarfed)


Another thing i would change would be putting some Sdef evs on Scizor since your ttar really cant handle latias without pursuit.

 

[Reverb]

Rey and dachickens, thanks for the help. I'm actually ridiculous bored with this team so clefairy you can steal it.

Oh and I think I got rid of the font tags now.

 

[iKitsune]

Hippowdon: @#$% me! Lol this guy is annoying. I will often sack a poke to bring him down if I can’t trick Rotom-h’s scarf onto him.

Jirachi: Lead Jirachi is annoying. I go into Scizor to take Twave or Iron Head which are the common moves.

If you battle with these two leads it may be worthwile using a Lead Heatran @ Shuca Berry. THough this leaves you open to Infernape more which is not that wise but may be worth it considering you always have rotom waiting in the wings.

It may be an idea to help your various set-uppers sweep to run the dual screen azelf as your lead. This is the set.

Azelf @ Light Clay
Jolly
252hp/252spe

Light Screen
Reflect
Explosion / Taunt
Stealth ROck

This is going to allow your fragile pokes a much easier time. It's going to make it much easier against stall teams as you shut them down with taunt and screens. Interestingly against the two common leads on stall teams this wins outright easily beating both Swampert and Hippowdon particularly if you choose taunt.

Other than that the team is very solid and im not surprised its so successful. Im going to go against the run of play and say you dont need Jolly on Lucario. Most gliscors dont sacrifice that much of their defensive capability to outspeed by running 252hp 216spe and rather rely on Lucario running crunch or Stone Edge which gliscor takes easily. Adamant on the other hand is definitely needed to beat stall and get the most out of ExtremeSpeed. Even if Gliscor is Jolly it wont be a problem for the rest of your team so you shouldnt worry.