1. Is Blastoise/Keldeo god awful?
A: I say no because it really gets a paved down equaling trouble for the others once Blastoise hits the field. I'll say this though. If you say yes, this deck is not for you.
Paved down equaling trouble for the others? What? Can you clarify what this means?
2. Is the deck auto-pilot?
A: No. It requires past knowledge of how it works and functions. It is a deck from the past after all.
@Chompy: This is probably your problem.
Keldeo definitely isn't from the past, and the elder format you want to reference did not play anything like this one does. Keldeo games (with my list, at least) consist of a very simple flowchart, which looks something like this:
No Blastoise? Got cards to get it? If so, get it. If not, search what you can, then Juniper/N.
No Keldeo? Got cards to get it? If so, get it. If not, Juniper/N.
No Energy? Got cards to get it? If so, get it. If not, Juniper/N.
Got all of the above? Use Rush In until you can attack, then attack.
The hardest decisions are what to Catcher up and how much energy to attach at what times. That's pretty much it. Those decisions, in turn, depend on the list you're playing (how many retrieval? super rod? energy?). It's not like a deck like D/H where you need to be extremely careful which attacker you use, which Pokemon you Max Potion, or what energy you put where at what time (because you don't have nearly as much control over that, nor do you play the same diverse count of energy as even a basic D/H). It's not like a deck like Eels where you have loads of options, huge upkeep costs, and the need to balance both of those things while still maintaining offensive presence. It's very simple. Got what you need? Then attack. Don't? Then Juniper til you got it. Sure a smart player will make better decisions than a stupid/inexperienced one... but you don't need much experience or testing to play Keldeo well.
3. Can this deck beat Tier 1 decks like Zek-Eels and Darkrai?
A: Yes it can. All it needs is Blastoise + Keldeo EX and its golden.
Firstly, yes, it can beat tier 1 decks and it's stupid. But let's put me on the record as saying that it can, in fact, beat established tier 1 decks.
Saying "all it needs is Blastoise + Keldeo and it's golden" is somewhere between misleading and outright incorrect. Blastoise takes 3+ cards to get into play all by itself firstly. But aside from that, you need energy. And that's really where this archetype struggles. Darkrai/Hydreigon only needs the standard one attach per turn to function (Dark Patch is pretty nice though); Keldeo needs like three-four energy in its hand at a time (at least to get the first Keldeo attacking). That's where the whole "Got it? No? then Juniper" attitude comes in - it's the only way, combined with a high energy count, I've ever found to get the huge energy requirement that the deck demands.
It needs Blastoise, Keldeo, and 3+ energy. That is a commitment of at least 7 cards - in other words, an exactly perfect starting hand - without accounting for supporters. You have 60 cards in your deck. Statistically this should be very hard to do, and saying I can do it 60% of the time is quite impressive as it is.
4. Can this deck be beaten?
A: Yes, of course. There are cards that do shut this deck down.
Let's be clear about what beats this deck.
- Keldeo is a powerful attacker even without Blastoise, If you kill Squirtles and they manually power a Keldeo, you're still in a trouble spot, but you'll have an end of the tunnel in sight.
- Keldeo doesn't always work. Sometimes it just fails.
- Garbodor really helps, preventing Rush In and Deluge from working. Keldeo can easily OHKO a Garbodor however so bear in mind that this isn't foolproof.
- Shaymin EX techs do not autowin this match, but if you KO their only powered Keldeo and prevent them from getting any more energy, you can definitely put them into a tailspin.
5. Is the deck inconsistent?
A: Sometimes it is. However, I noticed that if you get Keldeo EX in play, you might not need Blastoise for a little while.
Two different remarks. Firstly, a deck is not "sometimes inconsistent"; consistency is a blanket statement made about the deck's overall expected success. It either is, or isn't, or somewhere in between - it isn't sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Secondly, that observation you made is one that I also made, and should be very telling to you about Keldeo/Blastoise as a deck - namely, that Blastoise is not that needed, and that if Keldeo had a better partner, it would do very well without having to rely on a stage 2 and a million energy. I've tested some other combinations, but nothing really comes out well yet, especially after learning about the cuts from BCR.
I don't really want to tear apart your thoughts here PM and make you look bad but I just really question some of the points you are making here, and want to share the depth of my experience in testing this deck. I have been looking almost nonstop for a way to beat it, and it's just come down to "It's not very consistent and you can prey on that inconsistency" - and in finding that out I have learned a lot about the inner workings of my own list and why my previous lists failed so atrociously.
