Well, here's an observation or two from a Pokémon player in regards to Mr.
Tyler Grund's essay on why the basic pokémon do not matter when choosing
which evolved form is more powerful.  This is a blatant and obvious mistake.
If the basic pokémon cannot stay alive, what chance is there for the evolved
form to come out?  None.  Alright, here is a situation that will be all too
common if you use crappy basic forms just for the good evolved forms:

YOUR BOARD:
Active Pokémon:  Wartortle (buyin time for the big guys)
Bench: Squirtle

MY BOARD:
Active Pokémon:  Farfetch'd with 3 energy
Bench:  Farfetch'd getting charged and a Jynx just waiting for the first
Farfetch'd to die

Your turn:  You draw Bill, and from Bill, draw Magikarp and a trader, lucky
you!  So you put Magikarp down and trade for that magical Gyrados, just
giggling in anticipation to lay the smackdown on the rest of my guys.  You
almost forget to smack my farfetch'd with Wartortle, but you remember just
before ending your turn.

My turn:  I draw gust of wind, and keeping a straight poker (pokér?) face,
lay another energy on my benched farfetch'd.  Then, with a small glint of
mischief in my eye, I Gust of Wind your little Magikarp into action, then
POT SMASH him.  He is now dead, and so are your hopes of getting Gyrados
out.  Oh, and I also get to draw a prize.  Sure, you may bring out Wartortle
again to finish off Farfetch'd... but I might have potioned him, depending
on my cards.  Also, I have a fully functional Jynx and another Farfetch'd
just itching for some action.

Now, the above situation could not have happened were you trying with Seel
and Dewgong.  Seel would have brushed off Farfetch'd's attack and then
evolved, laying waste to my Pokémon and possibly finishing the game.  And
like you said, Farfetch'd is a very nice basic pokémon, and a very common
one in the playing scene.  There are many situations like this, but with
60hp on that Seel, not many Pokémon can just Gust him into play and kill him
first turn, but with Magikarp, its all too easy.
But then... this is only my opinion, and is quite possibly wrong.

Just an informative article from a Poképlayer with nothing else to do...
-InsaneDream's Farfetch'd (Quixote)
"Fetch'd Far Far!"

This message has been translated from Farfetch'd to English by the dutiful
Pokétranslator, InsaneDream, the world's premier breeder and trainer of
Farfetch'ds.