Help Ruling: Pokemon Abilities in Hand

[Dravinator]

I have been seeing many decklists that include cards such as Empoleon DEX 29/108;

and Gallade BKT 84/162;

.
The decklists I have seen have no prior evolution cards (Piplup, Prinplup, Ralts, and Kirlia) , so are you able to use their abilities from your hand? If not, how do you use these abilities without having them on the field?

 

[Vom]

You are not able to use any Ability from a Pokémon that is not in play unless specifically stated. The reason there are no pre-evolutions is that those cards are usually run with Archie's Ace in the Hole and Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick, both cards which allow to bring these two Pokémon into play without the need to play the pre-evolutions.

 

[Dravinator]

Ah, thank you, there was quite the confusion on my end. Now I know to add those pokemon for draw support along with Archie's Ace in the Hole and Maxies Hidden Ball Trick.

 

[Otaku]

Except you may be looking at older lists. I say this because those two cards aren't used much anymore and because Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick is banned in the Expanded Format (it is too old to be legal for the Standard Format).

Also, and I hope I am making things more clear instead of less, but some Abilities can be used from places other than the field. Weezing (SM - Cosmic Eclipse 77/236) has an effect that only triggers when you discard it from your hand with Roxie. Audino (SM - Boundaries Crossed 126/149) has an Ability that can only be used while it is in your hand. Exeggcute (BW - Plasma Freeze 4/116; BW - Plasma Blast 102/101) has an Ability you can only use while it is in your discard pile.

The vast majority only work while the Pokémon is in play, however.

 

[Dravinator]

Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick is banned? Wow, thanks for telling me that! I mostly play Expanded Format, so Archie's Ace in the Hole being an older Sun/Moon card isn't much of a problem for me to place in a deck, but now I know not to use Maxie.

I have seen Exeggcute and Audino in action, and Busybody and Propogation are good abilities to reference. You truly have made my the answer to my query quite clear, so thank you for that,

 

[Otaku]

Here is the current Banned List.

This page contains other useful resources, like a digital copy of the rulebook, the rules for organized play, etc.

One more thing... just in case you were unaware, while there is nothing that can copy the Ability of a Pokémon from your discard pile, Mewtwo & Mew-GX has an Ability which can copy the attacks of your Pokémon-EX or GX that are on your Bench or in your discard pile. So you'll find decklists for it that include Evolved Pokémon-GX without their lower Stages, because there are plenty of good card with discard costs.

I'll also mention Ditto {*} (SM - Lost Thunder 154/214). Ditto {*} a.k.a. Ditto Prism Star has an Ability that lets you play a Stage 1 Pokémon onto Ditto {*} to evolve it. You cannot use Rare Candy to skip to a Stage 2, but if you were unaware of this Pokémon, it explains some more "orphan Evolutions" being run without their corresponding Basic. Stage 2 Pokémon still need the correct Stage 1, however.