So for my birthday my parents are basically letting me get a large amount of "something", and since I can't think of anything better to get I decided to get some Pokemon cards. I imagine I can spend around $200-250 or so on cards, and preferably they should be all from the same place (one website). I have a fairly random collection right now (Roseanne's, Bebes, Lux Balls, Ebelts, and a few singles of random good cards like Gyarados and Garchomp X), so I don't know what to add onto that.

I know I want to buy cards that will still be legal when the format changes in like a week (so no GE or anything). I also don't know how much to spend on singles (Azelf / Uxie) and how much to spend on boxes / tins / packs. So, some recommendations would be nice.

If you had $250 to spend on cards to boost a collection, what would you buy?

x4 Uxie
x2 Azelf
2-2 Luxray GL Lv.X
boxes of boosters - fuk tins

Thanks. Next question: What boxes should I get? Basically, rank all the legal sets in order of awesomeness and I'll get one of as many as I can and buy single cards to pick up the slack of the rest.

Platinum
Rising Rivals
Stormfromt
Legends Awakened
Supreme Victors
Arceus
Majestic Dawn
HGSS
Unleashed
Undauneted

Platinum, Platinum, Platinum, then just buy a Lux and Uxie X, trade for some random staples and you are good to go!

BTW if you do want to trade for some Collectors, DCE, Bebes', etc catch me on IRC.

I'm not buying cards for my birthday anymore (horray my parents got me a digital SLR) but this is still good advice. I just got my 3 uxie in the mail today (if anyone has any pop azelf i could use 2 of those) and I'll buy enough Platinum, Collectors, Rare Candy, and DCE to get competitive. Thanks.

There aren't pop Azelfs, so they are still a ten dollar card.