Bater: When you are playtesting a deck, you discover which cards you
need or want to keep in the deck and which are best left in your binder.
  But what if there was a card that you needed more often, but never
seemed to get, or there was a card that, while good, was taking up space
in your hand too often?  (Such as your Electabuzz against a mono
fighting deck.  Laying the Electabuzz when there is any other option is
the pokemon equivalent of suicide.)  For this problem, you have to look
at your deck and how it uses the card you are considering changing the
number of.  For example, let's look at the listing of pokemon in the
original potpourri deck.

3 Hitmonchan
3 Mr. Mime
3 Scyther
3 Electabuzz
1 Ponyta
1 Kangaskhan

    The Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, and Scyther (along with Mr. Mime) are
present in the largest numbers because they are the deck's main
attackers.  Ponyta is a single card because it is a situational card (it
is useful only in certain situations).  Kangaskhan is present in a
singular form (probably) because of the fighting weakness and the fact
that it can't do any real damage without a high energy cost, and it can
easily be searched for in a deck like potpourri.  No doubt this deck had
4 of some of its pokemon when it was first made, but through play
testing, the creator of the deck (you all know who that is) found that
the higher numbers limited the ability of the deck to deal with all
types of pokemon.

    But that may not seem to have anything to do with your deck.  It
does.  There is no deck that has perfect ratios, a pokemon mix that can
deal with all obstacles, and a perfect energy mix.  But using the
following guideline may help you improve your deck and create space for
more cards and more copies of those cards.

-If the card is an Integral part of the deck, and the main strategy
can't function without it, you usually need 4 of that card in your deck.

-If the card is needed in the deck, but it is a Stage 1 or Stage 2,
considering running 2 or 3 to conserve space (and realize that it will
be rare to get 4 of that stage 2 out in a game).  This is also a good
number for cards you need but can survive without.

If the card is a situational card, but can work well in most
circumstances, 2 of that card is an acceptable number to run.

If the card is only in the deck for a single purpose, and can almost
never (if not ever) be used effectively outside of that one instance, 1
copy of it can be used.
Just be sure you have a way to get it back if you may need it again.

If that appears to contradict things you have read earlier from various
sources, consider Gambler: Do the decks that use Gambler use it for a
purpose other than deck replenishing?  If not, there is no reason to use
multiples of it, because getting it early makes it 'dead weight' in your
hand.  The same holds true with cards like Ponyta in potpourri.  Drawing
a lone Ponyta as your starting basic is an extremely unprofitable
position to be in.  With only one in the deck, the chance of drawing it
too soon is diminished.

Energy Conservation is more simple.  Figure out how much energy your
deck needs, then replace 2 colored energy with either a DCE or an Energy
Retrieval.  You shouldn't count on Nightly Garbage Run to get energy, as
you may need it to get a pokemon.

I hope this article helps you make your deck better, and I hope it makes
you a better player in the process.  Even if it doesn't, the process of
thinking about what is in your deck and what needs to be in it will make
you a stronger player over time.

This is Bater, signing off.

P.S. If you can't seem to find a corner to cut to include a new card in
your deck, there may not be one.  No one deck can possibly have every
card that could benefit it in it.  That is what the 60 card limit is
for.  I also don't understand why people bash Magic.  It isn't a bad
game, and some of the things you learn while playing it can make you a
better pokemon player.

Just something to think about, the next time you lose 4 Electabuzz to a
Diglett and can't find your other pokemon.