Other Metagames Another One Bites the Dust (BH sand based team)

[ElMustacho]

Another One Bites the Dust (BH sand based team)

Introduction​

Well since I named the team with a pun name I guess this RMT is going to be funny. Sort of. Anyway the team revolves around Sand Stream and since at the moment nobody is running weather counterplay in the meta the opponent is under huge disadvantage because sand breaks sashes, scouts items and rock types becomes very bulky (examples later).

From this point, I'll abuse standard nomenclature and any Groudon/Kyogre I call is in its primal, reciprocal reversion, any pokemon that has a mega evolution is assumed to be in its mega form and Zygarde is assumed to be in its complete form. Additionally, some names have been shortened and some words may hardly mean something beyond Balanced Hackmons, and while for BH players those words may still be understood, if you don't understand them, just ask me to be more precise.

In-Depth​

Regirock @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
Moves: Shore Up | Parting Shot | Core Enforcer | Stealth Rock

The core of the team. You should always lead with it since it's 8 turns of advantage. Shore up is the boosted recovery move that keeps Regirock healthy as the match goes. Parting shot + minimum speed is for momentum and it also helps scouting Simple, Magic Bounce and Contrary (it can also evade Normalize Gengar). Core Enforcer is used to shutdown abilities and while not powerful at all coming from a meager 50 base Spa it usually connects since Regirock is very slow. Stealth Rock is entry hazard and it specifically helps Diancie beat Groudon (later on this). Activating sand also means I can know if the opponent is running Safety Googles and while it is mostly pointless for the team since I don't run Spore, on average defensive mons don't run googles only if they are running Magic Bounce, so that is another piece of information.
Under sand, Regirock has bulk equivalent to 80/200/174 which is pretty insane. So insane it can stall Adamant Primal Groudon on Thousand Arrows by spamming Shore Up (boosted by weather).
252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Regirock: 198-234 (54.3 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And it stalls Diancie Boomburst too.
252 SpA Pixilate Diancie-Mega Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Regirock in Sand: 154-183 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
Since the team is running poisoning strategies, stalling is viable for short times.

Groudon-Primal @ Icium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves: V-create | Thousand Arrows | U-Turn | Freeze Shock

The WTF member of the team. Under sand it outspeeds the unboosted meta (including common scarfers like opposing pdons) and it hits hard, just like any other Groudon-Primal. The first 2 moves are STAB: the first is extremely powerful and the second is the most spammable move in the meta.
U-turn is used for keeping momentum and while it is bloody fast Groudon Primal can dance around Diancie (with Solgaleo) when an imposter copies Diance. Freeze Shock is the Z-move you use when Zygarde, Giratina and Rayquaza are on the field, as after Thousand Arrows the are all OKHOed unless they are running Fur Coat, which decreased in usage lately (Zygarde and Tina should be targeted before Ray).
After you used your Z-move Groudon is usually easily revenge killed since its special bulk is rather mediocre and MMY and MGar can force it out when Groudon lacks Choice Scarf (you clearly don't have it after the Z-move, but you can bluff one before using the Z-move). That's where WTF kicks in; the speed granted by Sand Rush lets you OHKO both MMY and MGar (V-create and Thousand Arrows respectively). Special mention to Jolly, as while it does less damage it still lets you outspeed +1 130 base Speed pokemons, like MMX and Mgar and at +0 after V-create.

Example: Gengar gets a free switch and threaten to Normalize; you switch in Regirock to summon sand and it gets normalized. The turn later you Parting Shot out of it while it Quiver Dances safely. Groudon switches in, and by virtue of its massive 612 speed (that cannot be achieved with a scarf so Genger feels safe) it outspeeds Gengar out of nowhere and OHKOes it. Nice isn't it?

Diancie-Mega @ Pixie Plate | Splash Plate
Ability: Pixiliate
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves: Boomburst | Fake Out | Volt Switch | Steam Eruption / Surf / Judjement

I needed a special attacker, and Diancie is very good at being one. Having its Special Defense buffed under sand is icing on the cake and it lets Diancie tank better some special hits, like Revelation Dance or Scald from non STAB users. The first two moves are standard -ate and needs no particular explanation. Volt Switch is used for momentum and has the benefit of not working on Primal Groudon (since you want to bait it in) and dealing less damage to Solgaleo. It doesn't work on Zygarde too but I don't see how it is willing to switch on Diancie.
Speaking of baiting Groudon-Primal Diancie has just enough Spa to OHKO Primal Groudon on a neutral natured water move (Steam Eruption) but if it misses you may be forced to rage quit(on a side note, during one match I had Diancie vs Groudon. Turn 1: Steam Eruption misses, Precipice Blades misses. We both "crap". Turn 2: Groudon switches out. What a relief!); it also has a nice chance of burning Solgaleo and that is annoying. Surf is an acceptable replacement that doesn't miss and ensures the OHKO after Stealth Rock damage. Fakeout + Surf has a respectable chance of 2HKO but I don't like that risk. It isn't guaranteed without prior damage: consider yourself warned. On the bright side, those calcs assumed Groudon to be +SpDef; when it isn't Fake Out + Surf is a guaranteed 2HKO.
Water Judjement is the combination of both prior moves: it doesn't miss, it doesn't burn you back and it OHKOes Primal Groudon (while letting Diancie be even more imposterproof), but you have less power on STAB and it isn't advisable. Some imposter may run a plate and that won't end up good for you.

Solgaleo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Moves: Nuzzle | U-turn | Rapid Spin | Core Enforcer

Nothing can switch on MMY Psycho Boost so far (Regirock is 2HKOed but can heal the damage pretty quick) and Solgeleo seems to exist just for that reason. All Solgeleo has to do is force out the opponent and Nuzzle + Core Enforcer are naturally great at that. U-turn is used to grab momentum and Rapid Spin is used to get rid of hazards. Not much to add; it's fairly a standard set.
Groudon+Solgaleo dancing: when an imposter copies Diancie, you have to start dancing; immediately switch Solgaleo in to tank whatever attack your Diancie may fire. Because of the slow pivoting of Solgaleo, Groudon can switch in safely, but because of Groudon speed, Solgaleo takes all the damage (not counting the fact that Groudon scares Diancie). The imposter can only grab momentum on the turn Groudon U-turn away into Solgaleo; in every other possible way it loses a momentum or it loses an entire turn (Volt Switch against Groudon, but it requires prediction).

Giratina @ Safety Googles
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Moves: Toxic Spikes | Shore Up | Encore | Parting Shot

What an annoyer we have here: it will Encore most of the setup pokemons and in the mean time it will lay Toxic Spikes. Recovery is boosted too and pivoting is added to aid the team.
This is your Groudon check: it can switch on anything it can throw easily and heal back, if it tries to Freeze Shock you send something else to wall it with Parting Shot. It is also faster than most of the other Prankster users and you can switch Tyranitar easily on them. Safety googles so that you ignore the sand and Spore, then you can Encore into the latter and send Tyranitar in for free. It could have been a Zygarde but I wanted a spin blocker.

Tyranitar-Mega @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Moves: Knock Off | Sacred Fire | Defog | U-turn

Being a good user of Poison Heal is nice; being a rock type under sand is also nice; being both is awesome (remember to burn or paralyze imposters or they will start healing when poisoned, so don't use tspikes blindly).
Whittle down the enemy and let the attackers finish the job; physical attacker hates being burned by Sacred Fire and special attackers have an hard time overcoming an equivalent of base 205 SpDef (in one of the replay you can see this set survive a Liquid Voice Boomburst from Kyogre), especially since Tyranitar hits quite hard and it isn't a setup bait between the damage it produces and the fact that it will U-turn away slowly if it wants (slowly for momentum and Core Enforcer, since when it doesn't trigger you can take it very comfortably). Defog further helps keeping the ground clear. Being a dark type also means you wont allow Prankster users to target you, like when they want to defog hazard you want to keep on the field.

That's all folks!
Here is some replay and the importable.

Importable​

Importable

Groudon-Primal @ Icium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Thousand Arrows
- Freeze Shock

Regirock @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Shore Up
- Parting Shot
- Core Enforcer
- Stealth Rock

Diancie-Mega @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Boomburst
- Steam Eruption
- Volt Switch
- Fake Out

Solgaleo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Nuzzle
- U-turn
- Core Enforcer
- Rapid Spin

Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Encore
- Shore Up
- Parting Shot

Tyranitar-Mega @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Sacred Fire
- Defog

Replays​

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-625654621 In this match I end up with all the pokemons at full HP, although the opponent gave up at 6-3.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-625659704 A lot of successful predictions happened here: in fact I practically evaded 2 V-create. The latter one let Groudon outspeed Diancie out of sand.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-625649652 Turn 30: I decide that Kyogre has to take damage and so I make calcs wondering if Tyranitar ends up well after Boomburst. Results: it can survive, and so Kyogre starts taking sand damage after taking Knock Off. I also save Regirock life by switching in Tar into a predicted ghost Judgement.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-625640978 Turn 12: Sand damage and an unexpected crit from -ate Diancie 1HKO PH Xerneas, that would have annoyed the team. At the end of the match Tyranitar negative speed tier and typing completely neutralize a weird Zygarde Set.

 

[CallMeLefty]

Really nice to see a BH team on this forum, especially one with such a good concept. The team looks quite solid overall, but I think it can be improved even further.

You have a big weakness to PH QD Xerneas, as your only "answer" to it is Encore on Giratina. It means every time it comes in, you are forced into a 50/50 between switching into Pdon (which eventually gets weakened), switching into tina, and just staying in. It is made even worse by the fact that xern can freely click lovely kiss against your team, since your only answer to that is Ttar (if it has activated the orb).
I think the answer to that is running skill swap over core enforcer on regirock. Its great bulk and ability to recover 66% makes it a decent check. While you lose a bit of damage with core (but as you said 50 SpA is weak), you still beat magic bounce (which is why I am not suggesting Entrainment) and you can also set up the sand back when it expires (although Entrainment had the benefit of doing it against Primal Weather, which is something you lose with Skill Swap :/ ).

Secondly I would replace Sacred Fire with core enforcer on tytar. Sacred Fire typically doesn't hurt the common switchins tytar, as Pdon doesn't fear the burn and neither does PH kyogre (considering knock off would be unsurprising, I doubt people would switch in an unactivated orb Kyogre into tytar anyway). It gives you an incredibly reliable answer to PH regigas.

You also have no answer to Psychic Surge SS MMX (which admittedly is uncommon), and are just generally weak to Shell Smash sweepers if you don't predict correctly and go into tina. Unless you need encore specific sets (especially now that you are less weak to PH setup sweepers) I would use Haze over Encore on Giratina.

Your team has a quintuple ground weakness. Technician Pdon 6-0s you with a little momentum, but that's the same for most teams anyway. Replacing Solgaleo with Flash Fire Celecteela would help fix these issues (although thousand arrows remains just as threatening) whilst still countering MMY (Specs Psurge is walled by tytar). That is with the exception of ice beam sheer force, but when you lose to it you can still say moonblast is a better option, and the sheer force set also runs earth power which 2HKOes solgaleo anyways.
I would assume something standard like recover/pivoting/thief/core could work, but running beak blast over core would probably annoy all u-turn spammers, defensive and offensive. Spectral Thief also helps you against good old Shell Smash Judgment + Secret Sword Mega-Gar, since it otherwise just wins pretty easily.

 

[ElMustacho]

Really nice to see a BH team on this forum, especially one with such a good concept. The team looks quite solid overall, but I think it can be improved even further.

You have a big weakness to PH QD Xerneas, as your only "answer" to it is Encore on Giratina. It means every time it comes in, you are forced into a 50/50 between switching into Pdon (which eventually gets weakened), switching into tina, and just staying in. It is made even worse by the fact that xern can freely click lovely kiss against your team, since your only answer to that is Ttar (if it has activated the orb).
I think the answer to that is running skill swap over core enforcer on regirock. Its great bulk and ability to recover 66% makes it a decent check. While you lose a bit of damage with core (but as you said 50 SpA is weak), you still beat magic bounce (which is why I am not suggesting Entrainment) and you can also set up the sand back when it expires (although Entrainment had the benefit of doing it against Primal Weather, which is something you lose with Skill Swap :/ ).

Secondly I would replace Sacred Fire with core enforcer on tytar. Sacred Fire typically doesn't hurt the common switchins tytar, as Pdon doesn't fear the burn and neither does PH kyogre (considering knock off would be unsurprising, I doubt people would switch in an unactivated orb Kyogre into tytar anyway). It gives you an incredibly reliable answer to PH regigas.

You also have no answer to Psychic Surge SS MMX (which admittedly is uncommon), and are just generally weak to Shell Smash sweepers if you don't predict correctly and go into tina. Unless you need encore specific sets (especially now that you are less weak to PH setup sweepers) I would use Haze over Encore on Giratina.

Your team has a quintuple ground weakness. Technician Pdon 6-0s you with a little momentum, but that's the same for most teams anyway. Replacing Solgaleo with Flash Fire Celecteela would help fix these issues (although thousand arrows remains just as threatening) whilst still countering MMY (Specs Psurge is walled by tytar). That is with the exception of ice beam sheer force, but when you lose to it you can still say moonblast is a better option, and the sheer force set also runs earth power which 2HKOes solgaleo anyways.
I would assume something standard like recover/pivoting/thief/core could work, but running beak blast over core would probably annoy all u-turn spammers, defensive and offensive. Spectral Thief also helps you against good old Shell Smash Judgment + Secret Sword Mega-Gar, since it otherwise just wins pretty easily.

Ok I'm discussing every bold part now.
1) Fair enough, but Regi has no attacking move then (taunt bait).
2) No way, If I run Core Enforcer the imposter can force me out. Regigigas doesn't bring anything against Ttar: if it setups it gets encored, if it doesn't Diancie forces it out since I pivot out of it slowly.
3) Haze is a huge momentum drainer and can be played around rather easily. With encore it's all or nothing and both me and the opponent knows it. Also I'm not weak to Surge SS MMX because sand breaks sashes and MMX can't set up on Solgaleo, Diancie and Groudon at all and if it thinks that I switch out from Ttar it gets Sacred Fired which has an equivalent 47,5% chance of having half of its options ruined.
4) Solgaleo has a replaceable role but Ttar loses to Specs Fighting coverage (it lives 2 consecutive Fleur Cannon due to PH and sand tho). The team, excluding Solgaleo, already has 5 resists to Fire so FF is unnecessary since pretty much everything can switch on Fire. Regirock is ridiculous at walling V-create for example:
252+ Atk Groudon-Primal V-create vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Regirock: 97-115 (26.6 - 31.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Technician Pdon might kill something but Diancie Steam Erupting on its face is a clean kill (except rage quit from 5%). I'll give a try to Regenvest Celesteela. (or AV Shuckle as a meme, but look at that stupid 1381 Spdef in sand it has. The imposter ends up being the bulkiest thing ever but it has no offensive power whatsoever).

 

[aki0s]

Hello. Interesting team. I don't quite agree on your opening statement - but the concept reminds me of gen-6 (back when Sand-rush M-Latis used to be a thing) so it brings a bit of nostalgia. While the team seems to follow a cogent path, there are a number of glaring weaknesses that need to be addressed. Note, like all rates, this is just my personal opinion of what your team should be like; please don't take it as a criticism of your team, but look towards this as something constructive.

Without further ado, let me show you shortly what problems I have noticed:
1: Safety Goggles Shedinja paired with a Magic Bounce Fairy walls your team ad-infinitum.
2: You cannot effectively break fur-coat Giratina paired with a prankster Steel type.
3: You are extremely weak to APS users that abuse power trip (ex: Unburden Yveltal).
4: As CallMeLefty has correctly surmised, you are weak to PH Xerneas.
5: I also agree with CallMeLefty regarding Primal-Groudon.

This is how I would go about fixing this if this was my team:
1 Shedinja + Magic-Bounce Fairy

Solving this is simple enough in theory, but hard in practice. In theory: removing fake out on M-Diancie and replacing it with Sunsteel strike or Knock off fixes the problem to an extent without changing the team all that much. In practice: A competent opponent can play around this relatively easily by scouting. Unfortunately there is no great way to prevent counter-play without dramatically switching roles of any of your pokemon so I will leave it at this.

2 Fur Coat Giratina and a Prankster Steel

I specifically mention fur-coat Giratina due to the fact that it is not as annoyed by freeze-shock and a prankster steel due to the fact that it can switch it relatively safely on your Mega-Diancie and recover its HP back quite easily. I specifically mention these two abilities (fur coat and prankster) due to the fact that they are exceptional in walling things that do not have set-up. Neither of your offensive pokemon have set-up and thus fail to break these (the only way I see of handling them is toxic spikes or whittling - both of which a competent opponent can handle). With this in mind, I would suggest the following changes:
(2.1) I would suggest changing u-turn on Primal-Groudon to Swords Dance. This allows you to still do what Primal-Groudon should be doing on your team, while providing valuable options against problematic fur-coat pokemon.
(2.2) I would further suggest completely removing M-Diancie from your team. While the sp-def boost is possibly valuable, I wouldn't try over-focusing on the concept of sand beneficiaries. With this in mind, I would suggest a Poison-heal attacker along the lines of Poison-Heal Xerneas or poison-heal Primal-Kyogre. Poison-heal Xerneas keeps the fairy slot while offering a good offensive option versus tougher to break teams, while still being imposter proof. Poison-heal Primal-Kyogre (with water-spout) does relatively the same thing, however it does remove your fairy; the benefit of Primal-Kyogre is that it can beat Poison-Heal Xerneas on a 1v1 provided there are no crits.
3 APS Power Trip

This can be solved by quite simply adding Haze over Encore as CallMeLefty has mentioned. While it does provide a somewhat momentum drain, the role it plays is too important in the metagame to forgo it.
4 PH Xerneas

I would recommend Entrainment over skill-swap on Regirock or make use of Poison-heal QD Primal Kyogre. Your issue with no attacking moves can be solved by switching parting-shot with u-turn on Regirock. Your Giratina can use its parting shot or toxic spikes to scout M-bounce pokemon for your team.

5 Primal-Groudon

Adding Haze onto your Giratina solves this issue somewhat without altering your team too much. But I might suggest Fur-coat if it becomes too much of an issue.

Other Suggestions

I don't quite like PH Tyranitar on this team, however I understand why you have it there. If this were my team I would instead place an Imposter Chansey in that slot to help make this team more usable on the lower to mid ladder for users who are using this team from the beginning of the ladder. The double addition of Defog / Rapid spin is also a bit of a waste of moveslots and this can therefore effectively be fixed by adding shore-up on your Tyranitar instead. I would also rather use Spectral Thief over Sacred Fire to provide better options versus Mega-Rayquaza.

--------

I hope my suggestions have helped you. Good luck on the ladder! ^_^

 

[ElMustacho]

Hello. Interesting team. I don't quite agree on your opening statement - but the concept reminds me of gen-6 (back when Sand-rush M-Latis used to be a thing) so it brings a bit of nostalgia. While the team seems to follow a cogent path, there are a number of glaring weaknesses that need to be addressed. Note, like all rates, this is just my personal opinion of what your team should be like; please don't take it as a criticism of your team, but look towards this as something constructive.

Without further ado, let me show you shortly what problems I have noticed:
1: Safety Goggles Shedinja paired with a Magic Bounce Fairy walls your team ad-infinitum.
2: You cannot effectively break fur-coat Giratina paired with a prankster Steel type.
3: You are extremely weak to APS users that abuse power trip (ex: Unburden Yveltal).
4: As CallMeLefty has correctly surmised, you are weak to PH Xerneas.
5: I also agree with CallMeLefty regarding Primal-Groudon.

This is how I would go about fixing this if this was my team:
1 Shedinja + Magic-Bounce Fairy

Solving this is simple enough in theory, but hard in practice. In theory: removing fake out on M-Diancie and replacing it with Sunsteel strike or Knock off fixes the problem to an extent without changing the team all that much. In practice: A competent opponent can play around this relatively easily by scouting. Unfortunately there is no great way to prevent counter-play without dramatically switching roles of any of your pokemon so I will leave it at this.

2 Fur Coat Giratina and a Prankster Steel

I specifically mention fur-coat Giratina due to the fact that it is not as annoyed by freeze-shock and a prankster steel due to the fact that it can switch it relatively safely on your Mega-Diancie and recover its HP back quite easily. I specifically mention these two abilities (fur coat and prankster) due to the fact that they are exceptional in walling things that do not have set-up. Neither of your offensive pokemon have set-up and thus fail to break these (the only way I see of handling them is toxic spikes or whittling - both of which a competent opponent can handle). With this in mind, I would suggest the following changes:
(2.1) I would suggest changing u-turn on Primal-Groudon to Swords Dance. This allows you to still do what Primal-Groudon should be doing on your team, while providing valuable options against problematic fur-coat pokemon.
(2.2) I would further suggest completely removing M-Diancie from your team. While the sp-def boost is possibly valuable, I wouldn't try over-focusing on the concept of sand beneficiaries. With this in mind, I would suggest a Poison-heal attacker along the lines of Poison-Heal Xerneas or poison-heal Primal-Kyogre. Poison-heal Xerneas keeps the fairy slot while offering a good offensive option versus tougher to break teams, while still being imposter proof. Poison-heal Primal-Kyogre (with water-spout) does relatively the same thing, however it does remove your fairy; the benefit of Primal-Kyogre is that it can beat Poison-Heal Xerneas on a 1v1 provided there are no crits.
3 APS Power Trip

This can be solved by quite simply adding Haze over Encore as CallMeLefty has mentioned. While it does provide a somewhat momentum drain, the role it plays is too important in the metagame to forgo it.
4 PH Xerneas

I would recommend Entrainment over skill-swap on Regirock or make use of Poison-heal QD Primal Kyogre. Your issue with no attacking moves can be solved by switching parting-shot with u-turn on Regirock. Your Giratina can use its parting shot or toxic spikes to scout M-bounce pokemon for your team.

5 Primal-Groudon

Adding Haze onto your Giratina solves this issue somewhat without altering your team too much. But I might suggest Fur-coat if it becomes too much of an issue.

Other Suggestions

I don't quite like PH Tyranitar on this team, however I understand why you have it there. If this were my team I would instead place an Imposter Chansey in that slot to help make this team more usable on the lower to mid ladder for users who are using this team from the beginning of the ladder. The double addition of Defog / Rapid spin is also a bit of a waste of moveslots and this can therefore effectively be fixed by adding shore-up on your Tyranitar instead. I would also rather use Spectral Thief over Sacred Fire to provide better options versus Mega-Rayquaza.

--------

I hope my suggestions have helped you. Good luck on the ladder! ^_^

Ok I'm discussing every bold part now. Again.
1) Shed has to go trough SR, Sand Stream, Toxic Spikes, Knock Off, Sacred Fire and Core Enforcer. Is there a team that has more checks without being unbalanced?
It is covered enough. Fake Out is important for said reasons, I cannot really remove it. Volt Switch can be swapped however, as it still baits Groudon since it does nothing to it. I also removed Solgaleo to Celesteela. I cannot dance around it anymore, but cele has poison fang to force it out. And the imposter hates switching on Sunsteel anyway.
252 Atk Diancie-Mega Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Diancie-Mega: 252-300 (35.7 - 42.6%)
2.1) Steel types can be abused due to V-create and you can't see it coming (MMY can run V-create to trash Steels after Psycho Boost, but has no options to deal with dragons). Prankster steel is bad because everyone excepts that. In one of the replay you can see exactly this. V-create out of nowhere, twice. That would have easily OHKOed weakened Solgaleo (If I hadn't expected that). I can't use Sword Dance since I'm always on a timer (sand stream running on the field) and my imposter check can only counter unboosted imposters. Sword Dance will ruin Groudon.
2.2) I needed a special fairy nuke, and Diancie is. Everything else is setup (that I can't afford due to timing, as without sand Diancie is pretty frail).
3) You call it somewhat, its actually enormous. You are not even forcing out any decent APS. You just have to stay there as if you switch out and it setups you lose at least something. I know that APS won't be targeted by Encore but do you actually care? They can't setup on half of the team, and even if they have a sash to live an hit it is washed away by sand.
4) Parting shot cannot be removed from Regirock as it scouts already said abilities (and Soundproof, I forgot Soundproof). But the real fact is that Parting Shot on Regirock is my only counter to Normalize Gengar, as it summons sand no matter Entrainment, and it can pivot out of it safely to Groudon (to outspeed) if it attacks and Giratina if it setups. With U-turn it doesn't work. I'm still considering Entrainment vs Skill Swap (Core is 99% sure of going to be removed).
5) Never had issues with Groudons. I played like 12 times with this team (never lost) and Groudons never got more than one kill (and those were sacking).

Celesteela doesn't have Rapid Spin so Ttar is the only hazard controller at the moment. Won't remove Defog. And Rapid Spin can be spinblocked anyway.

For the next improvement of the team, I decided to add an imposterproof PH check to team, namely adding Purify to Giratina with TTar both Knock Offing away orbs and ignoring Giratinas Purify due to to Prankster not working on Dark.

EDIT
2.1, inside the parentheses: nothing to do after the Spa drop.