I'm new to this, and want some help...

My little brother's just getting into the Pkmn Card Game, and so am I, so I've got a couple of questions. I used to collect the cards, but never really played it seriously... now I'm actually thinking of getting back into this thing, but I'm confused with all the new changes that have happened while I was away.

1) WHAT the heck are the "Unlimited", "Modified" and "Draft" Options of play?
2) Can you give me a list of good Electric Pokemon that'd work together, complete with effects? Specifically:
- The most effective Raichu. (NOT them Ex p.o.s'es... first thing that comes to my mind is the Base Set Raichu)
- The most effective Eevee
- The most effective Jolteon (I'm thinking that one that has a Paralyzing attack, but I don't remember...)
3) And how about a list of good Psychic Types? In particular...
- The most effective Abras
- The most effective Kadabras
- The best Alakazam
- The most effective Gastlies. Preferably ones without Weakness.
- Good Haunters... because the crap I got now is worthless X_X. Same thing as the Gastlies with Weakness. There was one Haunter with a Pokemon Power that made it practically untouchable, I remember.
- Is the old Gengar from way back when, with that Pokemon Power, good? Or is there any other effective Gengars I could get?
- Any more effective ghosts, maybe speedy ones or Beatdown-worthy ones?
- And are Psychics EVEN good anymore? I've been hearing about Sneasel and such...
4) Since Psychics are supposedly suffering in the tourney-scene today, I've decided to make my deck both Psychic and Colorless, so does anyone know any effective Colorless cards? Specifically, tell me what's the best Wigglytuff I can get my hands on, because I already know that I'm settling for four Erika's Jigglypuffs with Pulled Punch, supported with Plus Powers. ;) But anything that's fast and powerful would be nice (Non-Evolution Beatdown-Worthy Basic Pokemon in other words)
5) Lastly, please tell me what are THE Trainer Staples in anyone's deck.

Thanks in advance.

P.S: Oh yes, one last quick question, can you cross-evolve? In other words, evolve a standard Rattata into Lt. Surge's Raticate, or evolve Sabrina's Kadabra into a standard Alakazam? Or evolve a Dark Kadabra into Sabrina's Alakazam?

O_o You need looooots of info about the Pkmn TCG.
Check out some good articles (single card strategies) at www.pokeschool.com ;)
Im Castrainer! Aka Casty aka Gian aka a Spoon O_o
Im addicted to girly avatars but im a boy!
Have fun at PC!

(And for your last question, the answer is no! And ya cant evolve a Scyther ex into a Normal Scizor and cant evolve a Team Magma's Houndour to a normal Houndoom!)

Wowwie, that's alot of questions >__<.. But I'll try to help you out!

The_OtakuDude said:

My little brother's just getting into the Pkmn Card Game, and so am I, so I've got a couple of questions. I used to collect the cards, but never really played it seriously... now I'm actually thinking of getting back into this thing, but I'm confused with all the new changes that have happened while I was away.

1) WHAT the heck are the "Unlimited", "Modified" and "Draft" Options of play?

Click to expand...

What are they? I'll give you a quick rundown of them:
Unlimited Format - You build a 60 card deck from any promo/set that has been released thus far. The only cards you cannot use is Ancient Mew and Promo #24 aka "______'s Pikachu"

Draft Format - This is a rather broad category, but I'll try to keep this short. The Draft formats basically allow to only make a 40-card deck using only the pokemon packs and or starter decks provided for you. This particular format is also called Limited Format. Since you are limited to Basic energy and whatever cards you recieve at that tournament. But there are other sub-formats for draft play like, Rouchester Draft, Sealed Draft, and Team Limited Format.

Modified Format - Like the unlimited format, you build a 60 card deck using only your cards. Difference here is that there are a number of older sets that are no longer usable in this format and they are:
Base Set
Base Set Two
Jungle
Fossil
Gym Heroes
Gym Challenge
Rocket

But if a card within those sets is reprinted in a Legal set (ie Potion, Switch, and Basic Energy) then you may use the older card(s) from the illegal sets for your Modified decks. But I hear Nintendo is changing up the Modified rules one more time, I think they were going to make only the EX Sap/Ruby set and up legal. I'm not exactly sure on that, but you might want to look into that.

The_OtakuDude said:

2) Can you give me a list of good Electric Pokemon that'd work together, complete with effects? Specifically:
- The most effective Raichu. (NOT them Ex p.o.s'es... first thing that comes to my mind is the Base Set Raichu)
- The most effective Eevee
- The most effective Jolteon (I'm thinking that one that has a Paralyzing attack, but I don't remember...)
3) And how about a list of good Psychic Types? In particular...
- The most effective Abras
- The most effective Kadabras
- The best Alakazam
- The most effective Gastlies. Preferably ones without Weakness.
- Good Haunters... because the crap I got now is worthless X_X. Same thing as the Gastlies with Weakness. There was one Haunter with a Pokemon Power that made it practically untouchable, I remember.
- Is the old Gengar from way back when, with that Pokemon Power, good? Or is there any other effective Gengars I could get?
- Any more effective ghosts, maybe speedy ones or Beatdown-worthy ones?
- And are Psychics EVEN good anymore? I've been hearing about Sneasel and such...
4) Since Psychics are supposedly suffering in the tourney-scene today, I've decided to make my deck both Psychic and Colorless, so does anyone know any effective Colorless cards? Specifically, tell me what's the best Wigglytuff I can get my hands on, because I already know that I'm settling for four Erika's Jigglypuffs with Pulled Punch, supported with Plus Powers. ;) But anything that's fast and powerful would be nice (Non-Evolution Beatdown-Worthy Basic Pokemon in other words)
5) Lastly, please tell me what are THE Trainer Staples in anyone's deck.

Thanks in advance.

P.S: Oh yes, one last quick question, can you cross-evolve? In other words, evolve a standard Rattata into Lt. Surge's Raticate, or evolve Sabrina's Kadabra into a standard Alakazam? Or evolve a Dark Kadabra into Sabrina's Alakazam?

Click to expand...

Yikes, you might as well tell me to construct a deck for you with that kind of question. Depending on the format you play any card can be a suitable card (at least in the modified format.) But if you want deck strategies and card combos check out the following sites:
www.pokeschool.com
www.pokemonzeo.com
www.pojo.com/pokemon (yeah, they still make good strategies over there XD)

And as for your bonus question, that is a NO! Pokemon cannot, and I repeat. Cannot cross-evolve, I'm sorry but there is no way around it. If it say Sabrina's Abra on it that means it can only evolve into Sabrina's Kadabra. Simple =).