PotW: Blastoise

We here at the Pokemon Podcast are firm believers in Turtle Power. Well, Wil is, at least. Turtles, ninja or otherwise, are just awesome animals. So, with that in mind, I'd say it's about time to explore the terrific testudine potential of the Shellfish Pokemon, Blastoise. NOTE: The move Toxic wil (probably) not be mentioned in this article, for blatantly obvious reasons)

Now, I'm assuming that darn near all of pkmncast's regular listeners and readers have at least played through the beggining of a Generation One game, so there's about a 33% chance right now that you've already used a Blastoise on your team in the past. Back in the day, your Blastoise's moveset looked something like Water Gun, Surf, Bubble, Hydro Pump. As awsomely water as that moveset is, in today's competitive format, not really any Pokemon can have such a STAB-heavy moveset.

But, speaking of competitive play, Blastoise is in the same boat as Empoleon, as well as pretty much any starter: Its stats really aren't good enough to put him onto your team instead of a more powerful water type. Blastoise's stats are set up to be a kind of bulky water type that can also sweep a little bit. Yeah, I didn't know those existed either. To tell the truth, Blastoise's stats are just way too well-rounded to compete with Pokes like Ferrothorn or Haxorus or Garchomp. As awesome of a Pokemon it is, I can't really see Blastoise being much other than a faithful partner in a journey through the Kanto region.

With that said, here's my reccomended optimum moveset for this Turbo Mounted Nautical Turtle:

Ice Beam, Rest, Surf, Rapid Spin, Toxic

Evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Whatever

Bold Nature/Leftovers

This moveset allows Blastoise to be a pleasantly bulky Rapid Spinner that would be fairly hard to kill when battling in the Underused Tier of Smogon. Blastoise is one of the lucky few Pokemon to have Rapid Spin, a move that removes all the harmful effects of Spikes, Stealth Rock, or Toxic Spikes affecting your Pokemon. This proves to be a powerful tool in Blastoise's arsenal when trying to play with stronger, competitive Pokemon.

Well, that's it for this week's fabulous Pokemon of the Week article. Be sure to check out It's Super Effective for some semi-in depth discussion of each week's PotW, as well as Steve reading about the Pokemon in that ever-sexy voice of his. Hit me up on Twitter and email me at DavEdwTho@gmail.com to suggest the Pokemon that gets the spotlight next week!