New to DP, RMT

[alamaster]

Hey everyone, you might remember me from netbattle, but today I downloaded shoddy battle and I have been trying out some teams with limited success. It is a much different metagame than the last, and with that in mind I tried to compile a fairly successful team but so far there hasn't been much luck. I would say that the team below has given me the most success so far, but that isn't really saying much. I know it is kind of a standard team and all but I'm hoping eventually I'll get good enough that I won't need to use the same standard pokemon to win. Well, here it is:

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Surf

Obvious spinner, plus I find Starmie makes a good starter since it can take a hit from pretty much anything. No Ice Beam is kind of a downside, but so far thunderbolt has been necessary for waters that Magnezone can't finish off.
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Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 176 HP/252 Atk/80 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Aqua Tail

ChoiceTar was always a good pick in the 3rd generation, plus the whole team other than Starmie benefits from the sandstorm. Pursuit has been quite handy, aqua tail as well.
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Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 32 HP/252 Atk/224 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- X-Scissor

Scizor is a great sweeper, plus it can benefit quite a lot from an agility pass. So far it has worked fairly well, not much to say.
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Gliscor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/138 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace

Gliscor has come in handy, but not as often as I'd like. I originally had taunt instead of Aerial Ace, but Ground Immune pokemon eat it alive and I can't have them getting a free switch in on it.
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Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 172 HP/84 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

So far so good for this set, not a lot of people expect HP Fire, which seems to work wonders on scizor and even the odd jirachi. A great water counter as well, the only problem so far has been the fact that it cannot eliminate Skarmory. Does Skarm have some sort of ability that allows it to switch out? Unless it's an item that's the only explanation I can see.
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Rhyperior (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 132 HP/108 Atk/252 Spd/16 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

My other sweeper, since I read that this is an offense oriented game I figured I would need another. He hasn't done very much actually, if I can him to cover my weaknesses then that is fine with me. An Agility pass really helps, but it is pretty tough to pull it off and get a Swords Dance, so he has me thinking that it isn't worth it.
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So far it hasn't done too badly, but you can probably see that it has a number of weaknesses, such as a weakness to grass and special oriented attackers. No Ice Attacks in particular hinder this team. I'm just starting out in this metagame though so any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reaver12]

Yea Skarm is able to switch out probably because people put Shed Shell on it, although every Skarm I've faced has had lefties. His two abilities are Keen Eye and Sturdy btw. Rhyperiors attack is good enough to where if you wait till late enough in the game a passed Agility should be all he needs to sweep, I know it works on my Heracross. In Swords Dances spot put Megahorn to destroy Celebi and Latias, and think about using Expert Belt (which in case you don't know powers up Super Effective hits). I personally had to lose quite a few matches before I realized the differences between the generations.... my first team had a Houndoom who had Nasty Plot and Crunch ;-)

Anyway hope that helps.

 

[Shizzle]

Some small points here, gliscor should run EQ + Stone edge, aerial ace is weaker even after stab, and quakedge gives much better coverage.

Also, thunderbolt does more to jirachi than HP [Fire], and there is no reason for yours to run HP [Fire], scizors will just super power/brick break you, for jirachi AND skarmory thunderbolt does more, and to emploeon thunderbolt does more. I see no need for HP fire on yours. Use HP [Ice] so you get boltbeam.

 

[alamaster]

Alright thanks guys, I'll take your advice into account. Other than move changes, how do you think the team holds up to various threats? Personally I think it is fairly solid but if someone sees a better fit please let me know.

 

[haunter]

You have a quite solid team, just some suggestions:

1) Gliscor needs roost to counter TTar and Lucario effectively, and also, its nature and EV spread seem quite random. Change it to:

nature: jolly
trait: hyper cutter
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
-earthquake
-agility
-baton pass
-roost

with this spread you'll be faster than jolly Lucario, which can pose a massive threat to your team, and if Gliscor is slower than Lucario and Luke has ice punch, it's GG. Also, on baton passing Gliscor, hyper cutter is the preferred trait since it blocks the attack drop from intimidate which, otherwise you could pass to your baton pass receiver.

2) give Scizor brick break over superpower, in my opinion it is the best receiver of Gliscor's speed boosts, and superpower's attack\defence drops may end your sweep soon.

3) I'd replace Rhyperior, you have already two powerful physical sweepers and your team is quite weak to water attacks already. In this spot I'd have two suggestions:

Latias@leftovers
nature: timid
EVs: 148 HP / 108 SpA / 252 Spe
-calm mind
-dragon pulse
-surf
-recover

This pokemon would help with bulky waters as she can easily set up on most of them, while also adding an extra insurance against Heatran (scarf-Tran can be a massive threat to your team if Starmie dies) and Infernape.

or

Celebi@leftovers
nature: bold
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
-grass knot
-recover
-stealth rock
-leech seed/ perish song

Celebi would help with bulky waters as well, but would also provide SR, that your team lacks, and an extra insurance against Gyarados (again, Starmie is your only answer to it). Note that I suggested perish song in the last slot as an option just to pseudo-haze, because I noticed that you may have some problems with pokemons like cro-Cune. On the other hand, Celebi would make your scarf-Tran\Infernape problem more evident, so it's your choice.

Good luck!

 

[alamaster]

Thanks a lot Haunter, I think I'll try out Latias for a bit and maybe experiment with Celebi in the future. I've already noticed Infernape causing problems and I don't want to make them more evident at the moment, so thanks for the rate!