Across the Endless Sands... LC RMT

[Angrysmurf]

Across the Endless Sands, Through the Fields of (Y)Our Despair…

LITTLE CUP RMT

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Recently, I decided to enter Kuja20’s Little Cup Tournament on the Marriland Forums, thinking that I could use a break from OU. One problem- I had never played,seen, or dealt with LC before. After some Googling (and a helpful EV chart on Smogon), I got my feet wet and got a feel for how the LC metagame works. As I was thinking of a team to build, I happened to hear the line ‘across the endless sands, through the fields of our despair’ from Heroes of Our Time by Dragonforce, and thought, Why not build a Sandstorm themed team? At first, I shunned the idea (A Weather team will never work in the LC Metagame was my argument), but as I was looking through strategies and moves of all the NFEs in the midst of team building, I decided to give it a shot.

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Team Building (bear in mind that during team building, I had already decided that all the Pokémon in this team must be resistant to Sandstorm)

I started with the lead, and knowing that the lead should have a fail-safe way of setting up Sandstorm, I went with Hippopotas.

Secondly, I wanted a backup Pokémon for setting up Sandstorm, but could also dish out damage offensively. I felt Gligar was my best option here.

This is where I made the decision that this would be a Run and Gun type of team. Most of the following Pokés can really dish a beating quickly, but with shorter lifespans. Gible is the beginning of these offensively styled Pokés.

Whilst looking for offense, I stumbled upon Cacnea. I was thrilled, because he can play offense, but also check Water-types that love playing a team like this.

I was still looking for offense at this point. Wanting to get a stat-boosting Poké in there that could set up and destroy with a spare turn or two, I decided on Larvitar.

At this point, a huge Water and Ice weakness existed. Magnemite eliminates that problem. Possibly the team’s most important member, Magnemite stops Water sweeps from working (Gligar for backup). HP Fire can also to counter Bronzor, who checks the rest of my team if it switches in correctly. Magnemite is really the only Poké with the goal in mind to stay in the match as long as possible.

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Team Strategy

With the team now built, it wasn’t difficult to come up with a strategy. Hippo comes in and sets up Sandstorm and SR, and can hopefully come back later if Sandstorm is somehow knocked out, or Phaze if needed. Gligar can also use Sandstorm if Hippo is knocked out and Sandstorm has been negated. The rest of the Pokés (excluding Magnemite) try to take advantage of Sandstorm by getting OHKO’s due to SR and Sandstorm damage. Most of the attacking four (Gible, Gligar, Cacnea, and Larvitar) can land OHKO’s with entry hazards set on the other team, but if that doesn’t happen, no worries- Sand Veil on three of the four can buy me an extra turn, and oftentimes the opponent can’t OHKO them anyways. Magnemite, however, is a whole different animal when compared to the rest of my team. He checks Waters, who wreck havoc on this team, and can also wall and KO Bronzor if needed with HP Fire.

Overall, entry hazards and Sandstorm wears the opponent down and sets up OHKO’s for my offensive threats.

Under the microscope:

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Lost in a dream, finally it seems, emptiness and everlasting madness…

Deserto (Hippopotas) (M) @ Focus Sash

Ability: Sand Stream

EVs: 212 HP/212 Def/20 SDef

Relaxed

Role: Set-up/Lead/Phazer

-Stealth Rock

-Yawn

-Toxic

-Roar

Hippopotas is really a set-up man. The first order of business is to set up SR, as a staple of the team is two entry hazards for opponents (Sandstorm + SR). After that, Hippo still fills a role on the team, even if he doesn’t appear to-he can Phaze with Yawn and Roar. Toxic can also stop a sweep cold. With good predicting, Hippo can put a status condition on the whole team, force a switch, which racks up damage for the entry hazards, and cripple the opponent without much effort. Focus Sash ensures that the SR’s are set up. As mentioned, I’d like to keep Hippo alive, cause he can do a great job Phazing late game.

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See the sadness grow, watching as we know, long before our journey for the world…

Inculta (Gligar) (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Sand Veil

EVs: 236 Atk/236 Spd

Jolly

Earthquake power/Grass insurance/Sandstorm Insurance

-Sandstorm

-Night Slash

-Earthquake

-Swords Dance

Gligar is the team insurance policy. He can set up Sandstorm if it’s been eliminated, and Hippo is unavailable, and can KO Waters if Cacnea and Magnemite are unavailable. He can still do other things, though. Given a turn to set up, he can SD to a high attack, and then Earthquake becomes a powerhouse of a move with LO support. Gligar, though, is mainly a safety net, and highly useful late game.

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Call for us, the power in all us, so far beyond the blackened sky tonight…

Erdbeben (Larvitar) (M) @ Flame Orb

Ability: Guts

EVs: 36 HP/244 Atk/36 Def/188 Spd

Jolly

Role: Power Sweeper

-Dragon Dance

-Earthquake

-Stone Edge

-Crunch

Larvitar can really rip holes in teams. Flame Orb activates Guts, which strengthens his attack, and if he’s given a turn to set up, his attack will skyrocket with DD, and he gets faster too. Than he can use EQ, Stone Edge, or Crunch to lay the damage down. When given the opportunity, Larvitar can wreck an entire team.

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Glorious, forever more in us, we are victorious, and so alive…

Aardbeving (Gible) (M) @ Choice Band

Ability: Sand Veil

EVs: 52 HP/196 Atk/236 Def/20 Spd

Adamant

Role: Power Sweeper

-Outrage

-Earthquake

-Stone Edge

-Fire Blast

Gible is another offensive powerhouse. Stat-boosting attacks need not apply- with CB support, Gible has all the offense he needs. His four attacks cover a variety of types, for maximum coverage. Gible works best when making a late-game appearance- with the opponent already worn down, he can run one of the four moves consecutively and get KO’s on all of them.

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We’ll all found our sacrifice tomorrow, or journey on towards a brighter day…

Terremoto (Magnemite) @ Leftovers

Ability: Magnet Pull

EVs: 76 HP/196 Def/236 SAtk

Modest

Role: Checks types that threaten rest of team

-Hidden Power Fire

-Flash Cannon

-Thunderbolt

-Explosion

Magnemite is the safety valve of the team. His weaknesses are well checked throughout by his teammates, but his effectiveness lies in his ability to wall and counter Water and Ice types, which wreak havoc on the rest of the team. HP Fire is useful for dispatching a myriad of Pokés with advantages over Ground and Rock types, and Flash Cannon is a nice all-purpose move for STAB. Explosion is a great move IMO- it’s highly useful in tight spots, and can finish battles too. With a gaping Water and Ice weakness in this team, Magnemite made a lot of sense to fill the sixth spot.

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Silent tears we left behind, still so far away…

Desierto (Cacnea) (M) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Sand Veil

EVs: 36 HP/156 Atk/236 Spd/76 SAtk

Hasty

Role: Sweeper

-Dark Pulse

-Brick Break

-Hidden Power Ice

-Energy Ball

Cacnea is sort of a wild card on this team. Knowing that it’s not wise to rely on only one Poké to stop threats, it’s good to have two responses to Waters, with Energy Ball as the sole Grass STAB move on the team. Brick Break is a great all-purpose move, and, if forced, I can try to outrun an Ice (of course, if they have Ice Shard, than that won’t happen). HP Ice is an interesting move here, but I like putting an Ice move here to surprise unsuspecting Fliers, and it can KO Ground types and Grass types alike. Dark Pulse is for type effectiveness on Psychics, which is otherwise nonexistent, and it is a nice, high-powered, reliable move. Cacnea’s item was one of the biggest choices I had to make on this team; do I make Cacnea, already a powerful Pokémon, fast, or do I stick with flexibility? In the end, I felt that the extra speed makes Cacnea a threat to sweep at any time, so I went with a Scarf.

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THREATS

Water Pokémon: Water Pokémon pose a special threat to this team, with four of six team members weak to water attacks. Fortunately, the other two score supereffective STAB on Waters, so a good plan prevents this from being too much of an issue. It’s important, though, to keep Cacnea and Magnemite hidden for as long as possible, because if they’re KO’d, I’m likely screwed. Gligar can try to tackle Waters too, but that’s more of a ‘in case of emergency, break glass’ sort of thing- it’s only as a last resort.

Other Sandstorm resisters: These mess up my plans a bit, as they pretty much completely mess up all entry hazards. If one of the attacking four isn’t locked into the wrong move, they can use Fire moves for Steels and Ground moves for Rocks. Ground Pokés scare me a bit, as they totally destroy Magnemite, but Cacnea can be employed to stop these.

Bronzor: Obviously, these are a bit of an issue, as they resist Ground moves, and even a Toxic from Hippo doesn’t work. Magnemite gets put onto the task for these buggers. Usually they’ll switch Bronzor in on one of the attacking four locked into Earthquake, so I merely switch in Magnemite and roast with HP Fire. If Magnemite is unavailable, one of the other attacking four can clean up with a well-timed Fire Blast.

Across the endless sands, through the fields of our despair…

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Thanks for reading this RMT. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed building the team and writing the RMT. If I missed an obvious threat, let me know, and I’ll address it (I feel like I’m leaving something out).

Das Ende!

Our kingdom come, we stand as one, and we will live for always, evermore…

Edited January 11, 2010 by Angrysmurf

[Relyte]

You could replace Needle Arm on cacnea with either Seed Bomb (learned via move tutor) or Energy Ball ™ depending on whether you want physical or special STAB. They've both got higher BP than Needle Arm. Also, Gligar will hit any water that is neither resistant to ground nor double weak to grass harder with EQ than with HP Grass. You could replace that with Stone Edge, or Night Slash, for example. Thunder Fang would do almost as much as an EQ against a water-type, and it could cover a flyers/levitators that are immune to EQ.

Other than that, you've obviously spent a long time coming up with a good team!

[Angrysmurf]

Thanks a lot Relyte. I'll probably use both changes.

[randomcouchpotato]

your team would look good with those changes, im not an NFE user so i dont know for sure but this would look pretty good

[wraith89]

Needle Arm is weaker than Seed Bomb of course, but Needle Arm has a chance of flinching, which can be useful with a Scarf set. But Seed Bomb is far more reliable so I would take that.

Agreeing with what Relyte said, Hidden Power Grass on Gligar = NO. Gligar has a Special Attack base of 35, which may have a negligible effect on LC though due to everyone being level 5... but that slot can be replaced with something like maybe Quick Attack (in case those speedy as heck Abras are asking to get Revenge killed) or Night Slash or something which works off Gligar's bigger attack score. STAB Earthquake does 150 damage against stuff not named Lotad or Mantyke anyways... and with SD it shouldn't be hard dealing with the other waters. HP Grass runs off a weaker base of 35 while only doing 140 base damage on waters weak to it... while its only feasible 4x target would probably be Barboach or Wooper... hitting it for 280. But they will most likely survive and OHKO Gligar with something like Surf or Ice Beam. HP Grass is pretty overspecialized and unfortunately impractical on Gligar. But if it works for you... see what it can do. I'd go with X-Scissor/Night Slash/Aerial Ace/Aqua Tail/Quick Attack or something in that slot though... or even Rock Slide. Hmm... how about Roost?

Be warned that while Magnemite can revenge kill Waters, it will have a hard time switching into them, so tread with extreme caution (not to mention Magnemite is extremely slow). Cacnea is your only relative safe switch in, but even that thing is not taking too many Surfs. Otherwise, this is a nice creative team.

[Angrysmurf]

Sorry for not making it clear Wraith, but I already threw Night Slash in there. Thanks for all the positive input though, should help me strategy wise