For information on where Mario won, see the Front page of my article. I have been keeping score (just my love showing, I guess). Not as many Florida as Michigan/Illinois, but represented.
As Matt said, the metagame differs from region to region, and frankly, I would be surprised to see Mario played often in Florida, just as people are surprised that Blissey isn't played more often in NC (not that it hasn't been played- it has).
As to Zapdos, I totally agree that it had little staying power. Mario has endurance.
I don't quite agree that we have to "wait until States" to make a judgment now on Mario. What it has done, besides become very popular, is win many games, and some tournaments also. Now, if Mario wins States, that would be good. I make no predictions. I would be just as happy with Mario if it came in 2nd or 3rd at States. This thread is about happiness and love, not just winning.
Concerning Blissey playing Holon FF, all I can say is... c'mon. If Blissey didn't fear Fighting, it wouldn't play FF. Instead, Blissey would play GL or WP, in order to get those effects. So halt your excuses. You play Holon FF to avoid the Fighting loss. And Mario is a big, popular part of that (not all of it, by any means).
Perhaps this is why the Mario backlash. Mario was, to my mind, the first deck to really exploit the Fighting Weakness apparent in last year's format. You can offer other theories, it's ok with me, but I believe that Mario caused a ruckus in the elite ranks. First, Castform decks had to be re-engineered or abandoned. Then, Eevee decks had to include Mew EX. Now, Skitty is left to the litter box by the fear of Fighting. And Blissey has to be careful too. It seems that all of the good ideas, such as I mentioned, are splintered by the appearance of Mario. So, it makes sense to me that certain resentful people would go out of their way to spread propaganda so that Mario is made to be some sort of evil, or a stupid play. This has been done in history before. Make a certain group of people (let's call them Mario-lovers) the target of attacks. Not only does it make the resentful feel better, but perhaps it will cause other players to refrain from playing Mario, thus leaving the field open for more Delcatty, Blissey, etc. The only flaw to this is that Lucario can be paired with other Pokemon.
Which leads me to this: why is Empoleon/Lucario a deck if Mario is not? What is the great idea there except to put two cool Pokemon together (but I have no hate for it- I think it's cool, especially TJ's version)? Why is Blissey a deck if Mario is not? It's a line of Pokemon with lots of Trainers and Energy (but, again, no hate-I love Blissey too). Krickets? Same thing.
What constitutes "a deck?" A deck is basically Pokemon, Trainers, and Energy that work together. Even if you don't win, it's a deck. Granted, some decks are better (win more) than others. But to put down someone's concepts is not only childish and immature, but against everything that Pokemon stands for, which is *friendly* competition. I notice that you said that Kant has written some type of anti-Mario article. That would be the epitomy of hatefulness, IMO. Dante wrote an excellent article about countering Blissey. All I can hope is that Kant wrote an article stating the same thing. But to address a deck that you neither respect nor fear makes no sense to me.
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