My responses are in bold.
KG, face it, Mario cannot win without complete utter luck, there is skill involved, but most of it is luck because Mario does not have the draw power to draw out of bad starts. If you no energy, you're doomed; If you have no supporters, you're doomed. If you have no Lucario by T2-3, people who play speed decks will have already outsped you.
I'm sorry, but can you explain to me what deck has the magical ability to draw out of a bad start? The last time I played with Empoleon (a consistant deck by many player's standards), my starting hand was: Water Energy, Water Energy, Holon's Castform, Battle Frontier, Battle Frontier, Scramble Energy, and Windstorm. Was there anything magical about that deck that helped me "draw" out of such a bad situation? No. The success of one's deck can nearly be anticipated by its trainer line, specifically the number of supporters one's deck has in it. I think this is what you're getting at with your comment, but if you think that KG's Mario list doesn't have what it takes to get out of a bad start, I can assure you that there are lists that can. As I said earlier on this thread, I have almost never had a bad start with my Mario list.
Like I said, good decks need to do good no matter what. They at least need to get that bad hand under control to survive because swiss rounds is only 1 game. I used to play set-up decks because I love the power and control, but all those bad hands... I can't do anything about it. My luck is like... I draw 3 Stage 2s in 3 turns in the opening, and the second game, I draw into 3 RCs. Luck-wise, I'm a even little worst than Kant (I mean playing out of 3 Electabuzz starts is ridicious, even for him) you cannot do anything with those hands. Right now, I don't have the skill yet either to play out of bad hands.
Even though I'm a skilled player, if you gave me a deck with a horrible trainer list, chances are I'll do bad. All the in-game skill in the world can't pull you out of a bad hand, but that's why deckbuilding is such an important part of this game. I looked at KG's Mario list and changed it to my style of play, and I can honestly tell you that the deck sets up. Machamp isn't even needed until late game, after you've pressed offensively with Lucario. If you can find me another high HP Pokemon that can do 70 damage for one Basic Energy, I will certainly change my Mario list up. Until then, Machamp is the only effective Pokemon that allows an overpowering swarm with Lucario. Everything else that looks good with Lucario requires 2+ energy to satisfy decent damage output mid to late-game.
So, let's move on to your "Blissey Counter": Machamp PK, well, let's see, 2 Energies for... 40, 70 in Blissey's case, dead if Lake Boundary is on... all this adds up to? A big waste of time and resources.
I'm not a big fan of the PK Machamp either. Although Blissey is a good card, it still has a hard time with Mario. I only lost to Blissey once in tournament play (yes, NC had its own appearance of TRUKs), but that was because a major component of my deck was prized (Lucario Lv.X). Aside from that, I could have T1'd my opponent if I had the fighting energy for Riolu. It would have been my first T1 ever...
first of all, what does 70 do a full-health Bliss? She can still happy chance another 50-60 in that stage before she dies. and because she is SO easy to set up, another one is coming, most likely, Blissey or not. Machamp will not be able to take the second shot so easily, let alone get another shot at the second guy. Since Machamp is harder to set up than a 2 dollar steak, you basically run out of steam. Unless you have another guy all ready (Lucario, namely), but eventually. when you are fighting against Blisseys, you cannot hold on for so long because you would know how long can the Blissey variant last.
This is true, but this is true of Blissey in itself. It's a good deck, of course. I feel you're speaking more to KG at this moment than anyone.
Lake Boundary, if you play that, you dug your own grave for your DP Machamps and Lucarios, at least in my Blissey variant.
I'm confident that Mario will eventually, sooner than you think it would, show its ineffectiveness against faster and stronger decks that are out there. Mario is not a deck, it isn't then, it isn't now, and it will never be.
People will learn if it's a bad choice in time. It seems that for Battle Roads at least people learned that Mario was a good choice for the metagame. Many people knew about the deck, played it in tournaments, and won with it. You could say that just as many people lost with it, but what would have happened if everyone knew about the TRUK decks? So then we have the idea that TRUK decks are good because the elites played with them and nobody else. So then... there's Ambush...
Once again I'll say the same thing. People should understand that Mario is a deck and that so far it has seemingly been a good deck choice. I can understand why people are frustrated with the deck, as it appears to be such a stupidly simple idea that most people don't even try to find a strategy behind it. However, it's a fact that the deck has won many Battle Roads tournaments. And if you say that Battle Roads don't matter, stop taking TRUK decks into account when you talk about the metagame.
If you disagree that Mario is a good deck, that's fine. But at least respect those who feel that Mario is a good deck. Repeating the same unhelpful thing over and over again ("Mario is not a deck") isn't going to do anything. Saying that the deck relies on T1 flips is nonsense (otherwise, I would have bombed during Battle Roads). And if you have a problem with the supposed trainer line of the deck, there's always room for individual improvement.