Sand teams
Usage, win rate and the rosters built around Sand in Pokémon Champions VGC, from tournament data.
What counts as Sand: A member has Sand Stream (including via Tyranitarite), holds a Smooth Rock, clicks Sandstorm, or has Sand Rush, Sand Force or Sand Veil.
Sand teams FAQ
Is Sand good in Pokémon Champions VGC?
9,836 rosters are tagged Sand, 10.69% of the field. They have won 48.33% of 102,323 games, below the 50% line. Usage says how many players built one; the win rate says how those games went.
How reliable is Sand's win rate?
The 48.33% above is a posterior mean, not a raw average; the interval behind it is 48.08%–48.58%, from 102,323 games. That is a narrow band for a figure with this many games behind it.
How many teams could even be checked for Sand?
92,025 rosters published enough of a list to classify at all; 9,836 of those satisfied the rule, which is where the usage share above comes from. A roster with too little published to check is left out of both numbers rather than counted as a miss.
What counts as a Sand team?
A member has Sand Stream (including via Tyranitarite), holds a Smooth Rock, clicks Sandstorm, or has Sand Rush, Sand Force or Sand Veil.
What does a Sand team run?
The most-carried Pokémon are Tyranitar, Excadrill, Sinistcha and Sneasler.
| Name | Share of Sand |
|---|---|
 Tyranitar | 85.56% |
 Excadrill | 48.83% |
 Sinistcha | 36.68% |
 Sneasler | 31.57% |
 Garchomp | 28.76% |
 Incineroar | 24.17% |
 Milotic | 24.16% |
 Corviknight | 22.76% |
 Gholdengo | 18.93% |
 Wash Rotom | 17.56% |
 Staraptor | 15.11% |
 Salamence | 11.71% |
 Basculegion | 10.93% |
 Farigiraf | 9.99% |
 Kingambit | 9.51% |
 Whimsicott | 8.17% |
 Eternal Flower Floette | 8.05% |
 Rillaboom | 7.54% |
 Charizard | 7.50% |
 Venusaur | 7.32% |
 Indeedee | 7.10% |
 Sylveon | 6.98% |
 Aerodactyl | 6.89% |
 Hydreigon | 6.21% |
 Kommo-o | 5.25% |
 Heat Rotom | 4.85% |
 Primarina | 4.81% |
 Talonflame | 4.80% |
 Scovillain | 4.17% |
 Scizor | 3.59% |
 Gengar | 3.47% |
 Meganium | 3.46% |
 Mimikyu | 3.33% |
 Volcarona | 3.24% |
 Gardevoir | 3.14% |
 Delphox | 2.90% |
 Aegislash | 2.83% |
 Houndstone | 2.80% |
 Froslass | 2.70% |
 Indeedee ♀ | 2.68% |
What's the best Sand roster?
The most-played is Excadrill / Gholdengo / Milotic / Sinistcha / Staraptor / Tyranitar, which has won 52.61% of 9,191 games.
| Name | Share of Sand | Win rate | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excadrill / Gholdengo / Milotic / Sinistcha / Staraptor / Tyranitar | 8.40% | 52.61% | 9,191 |
| Corviknight / Excadrill / Indeedee / Salamence / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 2.68% | 49.80% | 2,513 |
| Corviknight / Excadrill / Hydreigon / Mimikyu / Wash Rotom / Tyranitar | 2.12% | 54.73% | 2,657 |
| Excadrill / Gholdengo / Milotic / Rillaboom / Salamence / Tyranitar | 1.78% | 51.20% | 1,713 |
| Eternal Flower Floette / Garchomp / Incineroar / Kingambit / Sinistcha / Sneasler | 1.49% | 51.12% | 1,659 |
| Charizard / Incineroar / Milotic / Sinistcha / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 1.46% | 47.29% | 1,730 |
| Excadrill / Indeedee / Milotic / Salamence / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 1.27% | 52.78% | 1,416 |
| Corviknight / Garchomp / Primarina / Heat Rotom / Tyranitar / Venusaur | 1.15% | 49.63% | 1,476 |
| Aerodactyl / Charizard / Farigiraf / Garchomp / Incineroar / Sylveon | 0.75% | 51.76% | 816 |
| Gengar / Incineroar / Kingambit / Kommo-o / Sinistcha / Tyranitar | 0.71% | 43.62% | 676 |
| Excadrill / Houndstone / Wash Rotom / Staraptor / Tyranitar / Venusaur | 0.69% | 49.39% | 755 |
| Excadrill / Eternal Flower Floette / Incineroar / Wash Rotom / Sinistcha / Tyranitar | 0.68% | 50.66% | 692 |
| Basculegion / Corviknight / Garchomp / Scizor / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 0.67% | 45.72% | 592 |
| Wash Rotom / Sinistcha / Sneasler / Steelix / Talonflame / Tyranitar | 0.59% | 42.30% | 530 |
| Basculegion / Corviknight / Excadrill / Scovillain / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 0.57% | 50.10% | 629 |
| Excadrill / Gholdengo / Indeedee / Salamence / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 0.54% | 50.55% | 567 |
| Basculegion / Incineroar / Kommo-o / Scizor / Sinistcha / Tyranitar | 0.51% | 51.39% | 597 |
| Hisuian Arcanine / Corviknight / Froslass / Garchomp / Hydreigon / Tyranitar | 0.45% | 52.86% | 445 |
| Basculegion / Blastoise / Farigiraf / Kingambit / Sinistcha / Tyranitar | 0.39% | 48.28% | 435 |
| Excadrill / Indeedee / Kingambit / Salamence / Sneasler / Tyranitar | 0.35% | 53.32% | 339 |
Where do these numbers come from?
Tournament decklists and real match records for Pokémon Champions, ingested from Limitless, Victory Road and the official circuit. A roster can satisfy several archetypes at once (a team can be Sand and Trick Room and Priority together), so archetype shares across the site do not add to 100. Win rates are shrunk toward this archetype's own rosters, not the format's, since a Sand roster is a different population from the field.