First competitive team - OU

[Mizuken]

I have not been in this forum in a long time, but I started to play Diamond again.
I have little experience with the competitive scene, but thanks to Smogon, I was able to put this team together. The team could be seen as a very offensive oriented sandstorm team (I guess). Any feedback would be appreciated.

Tyranitar@Lum Berry
Adamant
252 Hp/ 252 SpD/ 4 Def
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Payback
-Stealth Rock

This is the lead variant. Its very defensive oriented and can set up sandstorm and or stealth rock. From what I understand tyranitar is one of the more unorthodox leads, so if you think one of the other variants would be more useful, I would be happy to switch.

Vaporeon@Leftovers
Bold
188 HP/ 252 Def/ 68 Spd
-Wish
-Surf
-Protect
-Ice Beam

Switched a Agili-Empoleon in favor of something not weak to ground and fighting and could provide team support.

Flygon@Choice Scarf
Adamant
252 Atk/ 4 Df/ 252 Spd
-Outrage
-Fire Blast
-U-turn
-Earthquake

The OU's run of the mill revenge killer. This was the last pokemon I added, and I felt it had good synergy with the rest of the team.

Zapdos@Leftovers
Bold
248 HP/ 228 Def/ 32 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Roost
-Heat Wave
-Roar/HP Grass

I replaced aerodactyl for this excellent steel counter. Unless I find a Zapdos with the right IV's (A bold zapdos is hard enough for me to obtain as it is), I am going to run roar to scare away counters or for psuedohazing.

Gengar@lifeorb
Timid
252 Satk/ 252 Spd/ 4 Hp
-Shadow Ball
-Substitute
-Focus Blast
-Painsplit

I swithed the four attack life orb for the sub-painsplit set for survivability. Shadow ball and the focus blast provide the coverage while the substitue can search out pursuits, protect status inflictions, and protect gengar from tyranitars sandstorm.

Lucario@Life Orb
Adamant
252 Atk/ 4 Df/ 252 Spd
-Close Combat
-Sword Dance
-Crunch
-Extreme Speed

Again with A-bird's advice I switched the choice set for a sword dance sweeper for versatality and better all around sweeping.

 

[aragornbird]

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Hmm, 3 Ground weaknesses and 3 Fighting weaknesses. So half your team is weak to 2 of the most commonly used types in the game.

Jolly Choice Scarf Flygon beats your team to smithereens. It's faster than your own Flygon and even faster than Empoleon with an Agility. You're right, Scizor also hurts your team really badly simply by spamming Bullet Punch and U-Turn as well as Metagross with an Agility.

Vaporeon is a great choice for this team as it counters Infernape and takes on Flygon pretty well. It also gives you a Water/Ice resist and passes Wish to your teammates.

Vaporeon @Leftovers
Bold Nature

-Surf
-Ice Beam/HP Electric
-Wish
-Protect

Zapdos is also a great choice for countering Steel types. A physically defensive Zapdos can replace Aerodactyl. It will also give you a more reliable Ground/Fighting resist than Gengar, who is easily taken out by Pursuit/Priority moves.

Zapdos @Leftovers
Bold Nature
248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spd

-Thunderbolt
-Heat Wave
-Roost
-HP Grass/Roar/Toxic

Speaking of Gengar, it needs a set change. Right now, it's just two frail especially since it's taking 16% damage every single turn.

Gengar @Life Orb
Timid
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spd

-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-Substitute
-Pain Split

With Pain Split, you'll be able to recover health quite easily especially if your opponent uses Blissey as a Gengar counter. Substitute lets you ease prediction so you can escape from Pursuit as well as protect you from status. Keep in mind Pain Split is an HG/SS tutor move only, so you need to have a friend with those games.

Finally, change Lucario's set. Choice Band Lucario is too easily walled, whereas Swords Dance Lucario can sweep much more easily.

Lucario@Life Orb
Adamant
252 Atk/ 4 Def/ 252 Spd

-Close Combat
-Crunch
-Extreme Speed
-Swords Dance

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[Mizuken]

Thnx for the suggestions, but naturally I have a couple questions.

1) Am I supposed to assume to replace empoleon with the bulky vaporeon? You know water for water.

2) Until I find someone with HG or SS what would be a good temporary replacement for painsplit on gengar?

3) If energy ball is taken from gengar and empoleon is removed completely, would swampert be a problem?

 

[weavile77]

I would make my lead Blissey w/grass knot (and possibly ice beam/ flamethrower) or something unconventional (e.g. stealth rock enabled metagross),as for a pain-split substitute, perhaps a status condition (like hypnosis)
Hope my input was useful

 

[aragornbird]

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1) Am I supposed to assume to replace empoleon with the bulky vaporeon? You know water for water.

2) Until I find someone with HG or SS what would be a good temporary replacement for painsplit on gengar?

3) If energy ball is taken from gengar and empoleon is removed completely, would swampert be a problem?

1) Yes

2) Nothing, lots of people have HG/SS so its easy to get it.

3) No, Vaporeon walls Swampert, and Shadow Ball hits it hard enough anyways.

I would make my lead Blissey w/grass knot (and possibly ice beam/ flamethrower) or something unconventional (e.g. stealth rock enabled metagross),as for a pain-split substitute, perhaps a status condition (like hypnosis)
Hope my input was useful

No your input wasn't useful. In fact, it was pretty horrible.

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[Mizuken]

Thanks Aragorn-Bird for the superb advice. The vaporeon works like a charm, and lucario is three times the beast he ever was (although the zapdos is getting hard to come by). Anyways thank you. Your advice is always appreciated.

 

[L1AM12]

sorry bout that spam.... i figured it out!

 

[Kylie-chan]

I suggest changing Tyranitar to Lum. Still beats sleep leads and can help later on in the match with Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. Also, I have some general advice. Having a Tyranitar on your team doesn't mean all your Pokemon have to be immune to sandstorm. :) Using only Rocks, Steels, and Grounds gives you a big weak to a number of types, especially Water, Ground, Fighting. AB's advice is good. Also, don't worry about Swampert. If you use Zapdos, Hidden Power Grass will cover it, and Zapdos lures it pretty well, though better players will scout for HP Grass first, since it's relatively common.

Make sure to edit changes to your team into the original post, so we know what we're rating. By the way, pretty good start for your first time. ^_^ As a new trainer you have lots to learn, but seems you've already been taking the time to study up, since your first attempt is way better than most people's.