Pokémon TCG: Blastoise - Top 10 Best Cards

This article is part of a series of rankings with the 10 best cards of a certain Pokémon in Pokémon TCG, considering their strength, design and history, from the Wizards of the Coast era until now.

I'll start this series with the Kanto starter trio. The first Pokémon will be Blastoise!

10- Blastoise (Sword/Shield: Pokémon GO)

Its ability, Vitality Spring, looks for 6 energies of any kind in your deck and attaches them to your Pokémon in any way you like, but it ends your turn immediately.

This Pokémon occupies this list's tenth place precisely because it ends your turn, considering this is something that can put you behind your opponents. On the other side, it is very useful in decks like Moltres decks, for the "Deck Out" strategy, just like the Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR PR-SW SWSH256 decks, to set up Metal energies.

Its attack, Hydro Pump, is interesting because it deals 90 base damage plus 30 damage for each Water energy attached to it. If you combine it with Blastoise PLB 16, you'll look for and attach energies constantly, adding more and more Water energies to your game plan.

9- Blastoise ex (Ruby/Sapphire: Fire Red & Leaf Green)

This card was very relevant at the 2006 Worlds, and was used by Hiroki Yano. It stood out due to its ability, Energy Rain, which moves one basic Water energy from your hand to one of your Pokémon through Blastoise ex, but this Pokémon will get one damage counter (10 damage).

This ability was basically a tribute to the famous Rain Dance, the signature ability of its version from Wizards of the Coast Base Set: Blastoise BS 2.

However, its attack, Hyper Whirlpool, as promising it may seem in theory, needs to hit many consecutive coin flips to significantly impact the opponent and discard the energies attached to their Pokémon.

8- Blastoise (Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Unleashed)

This Pokémon occupies this ranking's 8th place due to its attack, Hydro Launcher, which returns two of Blastoise's Water energies to your hand and allows you to choose an enemy Pokémon to deal 100 damage to (doesn't apply weakness or resistance). To sum up, it is a "sniper" attacker.

To pay for its attack cost (which is high), we have its ability, Wash Out, which allows you to transfer one energy from one of your benched Pokémon to your active Pokémon.

7- Blastoise (Diamond/Pearl: Platinum)

This Pokémon was incredibly relevant due to its ability and its attacks (particularly its ability).

Its ability, Dig Well, allows you to look at the top three cards in your deck and, if you by any chance find basic Water energies, attach them to your Pokémon in any way you like. The other cards that aren't Water energies will be discarded.

This concept of looking at the top cards in your deck to look for Water energies was remade and upgraded in Sun/Moon, with Blastoise TEU 25.

Its first attack, Aqua Press, deals 20 base damage + 10 for each energy attached to all Pokémon in play (both yours and the opponent's). If I'm quite honest, it is one of the few "baby" Blastoise that has efficient attack.

Its second attack also isn't bad: Double Launcher is a kind of "sniper" attack.

6- Blastoise (Sun/Moon: Team Up)

This card stands out mostly because of its ability, Powerful Squall, which looks at the top six cards in your deck, and attaches basic Water energies that you find over there to your Pokémon in any way you like.

It is a great option as a recursive Blastoise to set up in Expanded, but it depends on the cards on your top deck to be effective.

Its attack is also interesting. It deals 150 damage, and, if you apply the weakness against Fire Pokémon, it reaches 300 damage. You can resort to the following options to boost this damage with tools:

► Choice Belt BRS 135 against Fire Pokémon V increases the damage from 180 to 360.

► Choice Band GRI 121 against GX and EX Pokémon and ex Fire Pokémon increases the damage from 180 to 360.

► Muscle Band XY 121 grants you an extra 20 damage, and, like so, 170 damage becomes 340 damage against Fire Pokémon in general.

► Defiance Band sv1 169, if you're losing the game, gives you an extra 30 damage, and deals 360 damage against Fire Pokémon in general.

► In a more extreme way, you can use Supereffective Glasses ASR 152, in case you want to triple your damage against Fire Pokémon. It will increase your damage from 150 to 450!

5- Blastoise (Black/White: Boundaries Crossed & Plasma Blast)

This card was vital for the Expanded format for those who like the Water archetype. At the time, players used the Archie's Ace in the Hole PRC 124 combo (nowadays, in 2023/2024 Standard, we have Baxcalibur PR-SV 19, which has the same ability).

So, it stands out in this list due to its excellent ability, Deluge, which allows you to move as many Water energies as you want between your Pokémon.

Again, this ability is a tribute to Blastoise BS 2, from Wizards of the Coast Base Set.

As for its attack, Hydro Pump, it can be used if you need to, but the damage is significantly inferior: 60 + 10 for each Water energy attached to it. Blastoise PGO 17 (listed in our 10th spot), which deals 90 + 30 damage, is much better.

4- Blastoise-GX (Sun/Moon: Unbroken Bonds)

Solid Shell, its ability, reduces by 30 points the damage taken by this Pokémon from attacks, which guarantees that this Pokémon will be a "tank" Pokémon, and guarantees it more durability while on the board.

So, Blastoise-GX UNB 35's attack combo has two goals:

► If you don't have any Water energies in play, you'll use its GX attack - Giant Geyser to attach as many energies you have in your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like.

► Like so, by using the Rocket Splash attack, you'll return all Water energies attached to your Pokémon in play, and, for each energy, you'll deal 60 damage. These energies will return to your deck later.

This Blastoise-GX UNB 35 would play alongside Blastoise TEU 25, which pulled energies from your deck to attach them to your Pokémon and continue this cycle.

3- Blastoise VMax (Sword/Shield: Promo)

Opening up our podium, we have Blastoise VMAX PR-SW SWSH103. It has two excellent attacks that have two roles:

The first attack, Grand Falls (W)(W)(W), besides dealing the base damage described on the card, attaches 3 basic Water energies from your deck to your benched Pokémon in any way you like. This helps you set up a new attacking Pokémon significantly.

Its last attack, G-Max Bombard(W)(W)(W)(W), deals 220 base damage to the active enemy Pokémon and targets two Pokémon on your opponent's bench to deal an extra 30 damage to each one (doesn't apply weakness or resistance).

Particularly, I consider these cards' cost to be very heavy, even more so because it demands pure Water energies, and its second attack, which is a sniper attack, deals very little damage, which is complemented by the following tools:

► Wide Lens ROS 95 will apply weakness.

► Telescopic Sight VIV 160 will deal an extra 30 damage to one GX or V Pokémon on your opponent's bench.

Usually, to make up for Blastoise VMAX PR-SW SWSH103's second attack, we use Greninja VUnion, which is an excellent companion and deals 100 damage to all Pokémon on your opponent's bench.

2- Blastoise & Piplup TAG TEAM-GX (Sun/Moon: Cosmic Eclipse)

In our second place, we have the only Tag Team Blastoise that exists, from the Sun/Moon set.

Its main attack is great because, besides dealing its base damage, allows you to move up to three basic Water energies from your hand and heal 50 points of damage for each energy moved this way!

Of course, with Blastoise PLB 16 in your deck as a support Pokémon, your strategy will be to heal constantly by moving these Water energies, not to mention items like Max Potion GRI 128a. Afterward, you can return these energies with Superior Energy Retrieval PLF 103, and create this combo. To look for cards in your deck, we have Capacious Bucket RCL 156 and Earthen Vessel sv4 163.

We also have this Pokémon's GX attack, Bubble Launcher, which, for the cost of (W)(W)(C), deals 100 damage and can also Paralyze your opponent. If you manage to add three Water Energy CRZ 154 to this attack's cost (like so: (W)(W)(C)(W)(W)(W)), besides the Paralysis effect, you'll deal an extra 150 damage, totaling 250 damage!

And the best of all - this GX damage can be dealt again by this card:

1- Blastoise ex (Scarlet/Violet: 151)

Closing our podium, we have Blastoise ex sv3pt5 9, which combines utility and fun:

1) It has the same ability as Blastoise-GX UNB 35, which reduces the cost of enemy attacks by 30 points.

2) It is practical to set up energies on it to deal its damage, which is quite a lot.

In Standard, currently, in 2023/2024, we have Baxcalibur PR-SV 19, which is this format's current energy setup Pokémon (the same role as Blastoise PLB 16 and Blastoise BCR 31 in Expanded). For just two Water energies, it can use Twin Cannons, which, by discarding up to two Water Energy CRZ 154 in your hand, deals 140 damage for each energy discarded this way. You can recover these energies with Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189 or Energy Retrieval sv1 171.

In Expanded, to recover these energies you discarded, we have Starmie EVO 31 with its Space Beacon ability. You can "loop" them this way and return energies to your hand constantly.

Blastoise (Ruby/Sapphire: Crystal Guardians)

This card stood out only because of its ability: if it has 40 HP or less left, your attacks get an extra 40 damage. It would be very welcome nowadays if there was an enhanced "baby" version of it that also had its attack.

Usually, when we had attacks similar to Hydro Pump, we used to say they were attacks that dealt a base damage plus a specific amount of damage for each Water energy attached to it, but it couldn't go over a certain value. This is quite frequent in many Pokémon TCG cards, like the examples below:

What did you think of this list? Do you agree with it or not? Which Blastoise would you put in your top 10? Comment down below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!