Put 2 Electabuzz (expedition) and 2 lightning energy in all of your 2 color-decks (you may even want to use this in your mono-color decks, especially Evolution class ones).

Trust me, this is great. You see, these four cards can solve all of your non-special energy-related problems. Electabuzz's Energy Catch allows you to search your deck for a basic energy card, then attach it to Electabuzz. Reflect Energy not only does 20 damage for 2 energy (1-1 energy ratio, average), but also has you take one energy attached to Electabuzz and attach it to one of your benched pokemon. It requires a lightning and a colorless, so here's how you play it (it works best if you can get him in the beginning of the game. think Forest Guardian, Computer Search, etc.):

Use Energy Catch with whatever energy you have to pull one of your 2 lightnings out of your deck. Next turn, use Reflect Energy, and move the energy you just attached last turn to your benched pokemon, but keep the lightning. From then on, you can either continue this sequence, or just attach your one-per-turn to Electabuzz and Reflect Energy it away.

The advantages of using Energy Catch+Reflect Energy: You practically get to attach two energy cards every other turn. Energy Catch, play an energy on your Benchy, next turn, play an energy on your Benchy and attach a card from Energy Reflect. Presto, 3 energies attached in 2 turns. This also allows you to pick out the exact energy you need, all you 2-color-deck players.

The advantages of just playing your one-per-turn to use Energy Reflect: You don't get 3-per-2-turns, and you don't get to select the exact energy you're getting, but it is much safer. Electabuzz has only 60 HP, and since Energy Catch doesn't do any damage, there's a chance he could easily get knocked out after using Energy Catch before he can use Reflect Energy, and that energy you pulled from your deck is wasted. However, if you play your one-per-turn as the colorless needed for Energy Reflect, it powers up this attack, and then gives your Benchy the energy, so if Elec is knocked out next turn, only that one lightning energy is wasted.

Lastly, I would like to let you know that, while this is an awesome strategy to play, there is a chance that both of your 2 Electabuzz's or Lightning Energies will be trapped in your prize cards for most of the game, where they can do you no good. So be careful.

And now, the big part.

I love posting strategies, but right now, I'm real usy and it doesn't always fit into my schedule, so my stuff is few and far between. So, my dear readers, I have invented a formula for you to find out a card's goodness by yourself.

Of course, this formula won't tell you strategies, but it will help in determining which version of a pre-evolution you should play, as it gauges single-card battle efficiency.

First, you must understand Ed.

Ed is the Energy-to-damage ratio. You find the Ed of an attack by putting the number of energies required to use an attack over the actual attack damage: For example, Misty's Gyardos' Tidal Wave would have 4/70. Now we take the zero off the end of attack damage, giving us the actual Ed:

M's Gyar's Tidal Wave's Ed = 4/7 (read four-to-seven)

For every energy you must discard, add one more to the Energy's digit.

Base Set Charmander's Ember's Ed = 2/3 (but requires you to discard a fire, so:

Base Set Charmander's Ember's Ed = 3/3 = 1/1

For every 10 damage that this attack does to yourself, take 1 from the damage digit.

Aquapolis' Hoppip's Careless Tackle's Ed = 1/2 (but Hoppip does 10 to itself, so:

Aquapolis' Hoppip's Careless Tackle's Ed = 1/1

This is the basic Ed, crucial to game mastery. The smaller the energy's digit, and the higher the damage's digit, the better the attack.

Moving on, we come to the REALLY complicated part...

I've devised a prodigous formula that tells a card's single-playing Battle Efficiency. I have named this formula Maxwell's Theorem, after my middle name (my first and last didn't have the right ring).

(note: Maxwell's Theorem works ONLY for pokemon cards, not trainers or energies.)

To find a card's battle efficiency, we divide it into 3 stats:

Attack | Defense | Speed

Attack

Number of offensive attacks: This is the number of attacks that have base damage.

Number of disruptive attacks: This is the number of attacks that do not have base damage, but hurt your opponent.

Ed: The Energy-to-damage ratio earlier discussed.

Edis: The Energy-to-disruption ratio soon to be discussed.

Defense 

Number of defensive attacks: This is the number of attacks that prevent damage.

Number of constructive attacks: This is the number of attacks that do not prevent damage, but help you.

Ep: The Energy-to-protection ratio soon to be discussed.

Econ: The Energy-to-construction ratio soon to be discussed.

Speed

Evolutionary stage: The Evolution stage of a pokemon.

Retreat Cost: The retreat cost of a pokemon

Attack cost: Soon to be discussed.

Now, to discuss all the soon-to-be-discussed:

Edis works like Ed, except it's "damage" is card discarding, or damage that you get to pick a pokemon to give to. For example, (Ex) Hitmonlee's Stretch Kick would follow Edis, not Ed, but it would work just like Ed, 1/1. Add one to the damage's digit for every card your opponent has to discard because of this attack.

Ep works also like ed, except it's "damage" is protection. For this, the damage's digit is made up by the amount of damage prevented by this attack.

Econ is works like Edis, but it's "damage" is healing and card-drawing. Add 1 to the damage digit for every damage counter removed by this attack and every card drawn by this attack.

Coin Flips

Whenever an attack requires a coin flip, divide the whatever it's flipping for by 2. For example: Quick Attack can do 30 on a heads coin flip, but you should count the damage as 15 because of coin flip division. (don't forget to move the decimal up on so that it's 1.5 for the ratio)

Special Conditions

Special Conditions are worth 10 damage in addition to an attack's damage, but if you have to flip for them, they are only worth 5 (per special condition, e.g., if it's heads poisoned and tails paralyzed, they would both be worth 5 and thus combine to make 10).

Lost yet? I hope not, because here comes the actual formula

Attack