Pokemon Black and White spotlight: Marakacchi, Ishizumai, Zuruggu and their evolutions

Another week, another set of brand-new Pokemon from Black and White to discuss. This week we've got a lovely cactus to share with you, along with a duo of crabs reminiscent of an old friend from Red and Blue, plus a pants-wearing lizard with unique typing. Let's take a closer look...

Marakacchi
#063 Unova / #556 National
Type: Grass
Species classification: Cactus Pokemon
Abilities:
Water Absorb – Restores 1/4 of total HP if user is hit with Water-type attack
Chlorophyll – Speed doubles during sunny weather
Dream World abilities: Storm Drain – Immune to Water-type attacks; raises special attack one stage when hit with Water-type attack; all opponents' single-target Water-type attacks are drawn to the user
Location found (Black/White): Resort Desert
Wild hold items: Miracle Seed (rare)
Egg groups: Plant
Capture rate: 255
Gender ratio: 50/50
Experience at lvl 100: 1,000,000
Base stats: 75 HP / 86 Atk / 67 Def / 106 SAtk / 67 SDef / 60 Spd / 461 Total
Effort values: 2 Special Attack
Evolution family: None

This is another Pokemon that has to fight against its own stat distribution, but Marakacchi still has some good moveset options as long as you're not completely focused on offense. Marakacchi can effectively use Grass Knot though, and Wood Hammer is still a powerful STAB option despite Marakacchi's lower physical attack. You could go with Leech Seed for attack/recovery too, but Synthesis might be a better option to recover more HP at once. You can't go wrong with Water Absorb or Storm Drain, which ultimately comes down to whether you're planning to use Marakacchi in single or double/triple battle more often.

To be honest, from a battle perspective you've got other, superior pure Grass options this generation, so we have trouble seeing Marakacchi as more than just one for the collection.

Next page: Paras 2.0