Keldeo-EX is possibly one of the most metagame defining cards introduced in Boundaries Crossed. An amazing Ability, a decent attack, a hardly-used type as a Weakness, and a great combo makes Keldeo-EX one of the best cards in the format.
Uses:
Well, if you have played the Pokemon Trading Card Game recently, then this section requires no further explanation. Anyways, Keldeo-EX main use is being another attacker. Rush In allows it to switch out a damaged or undesired attacker without drawbacks and use Secret Sword. It's tyiping also allows it to OHKO a Landorus-EX without an Eviolite attached to it, assuming it has 2 Water/Prism/Blend(WLFM) Energy attached to it.
Strategies and game play:
Rush In is a great Ability, switching out damaged attackers and Catchered Pokemon with no drawbacks, allowing it to then attack whatever Pokemon that is in front of it.
It's attack, Secret Sword is a very powerful attack, doing 50 for 3 Energy, and 20 more for each Water Energy attached to it. With a DCE, Keldeo-EX can KO some weakened Pokemon-EX. And with 3 Water Energy, it does 110 damage, enough to knock out any Pokemon-EX with an Eviolite. This damage, however, can be hard to do without the help of Blastoise, in it's own deck, though.
Combos with other cards:
The obvious one would be Blastoise, with Blastoise powering Keldeo-EX to do massive amounts of damage with Secret Sword.
Super Scoop Up is another obvious one. Using Super Scoop Up to reset the damage done by opponents to your own Pokemon makes it very hard for your opponent to do damage, preventing them from taking prizes and constantly returning Keldeo-EX to the bench and powering it up again. However, the time and effort required to set it up makes the combo only usable with Blastoise, and the flip may fail you.
Now, any other Energy accelerator may work, though not as effeciently as Blastoise. Hydregion can be used with Prism Energy, moving it to Keldeo-EX to do about 90 damage, allowing it to counter the deck's biggest threat, Landorus-EX. Ho-Oh-EX can also be used in conjuction with Energy Switch, with Ho-Oh-EX's Rebirth, accelerating Energy, then using Energy Switch to move the Energy to Keldeo EX.
It also combos with RayEels, using Rush In to get into the Active spot, then using Eelektrik's Dynamotor to charge up another Pokemon, then retreating it with it's cheap 1 Energy Retreat Cost when Skyarrow Bridge is up. It also eliminates Landorus-EX with 2 Blend/Prism Energy, making it a great tech to free up space for.
Finally, Energy Switch allows Keldeo-EX to be used in a few more decks, as it switches an Energy from a Pokemon to Keldeo-EX, being able to power it up quickly and then attacking with it after it uses Rush In.
Ways to counteract it:
The first thing that you will notice is it's Grass Weakness. Teching Shaymin-EX or Bad Virizion into the deck can hit Keldeo-EX and OHKO it. However, Shaymin-EX has low HP for an EX, so you must be careful when pulling it out, and also needs at least 2 prizes to be taken to OHKO it. Any other Pokemon that can OHKO it is also good, if it is used by Blastoise.
When not with Blastoise, anything that 2HKOs it can just easily take it down, though if you really need to you probably should use Mewtwo, Bouffalant, ot Terrakion and it's EX counterpart since the only deck this would be a priority on is a Landorus deck.
The last way to counter it is with Hammers and Garbodor, when not with Blastoise. These take away the Energy acceleration benefits and leave it stuck in the active, allowing another Pokemon to easily KO it, though this way, you might as well use Darkrai/Hammers or a Garbodor deck.
Strengths/Pros:
*Rush In is extremely useful
*Secret Sword does a lot of damage
*Combos well with Blastoise
*Hard to OHKO and take Prizes from it
*Great non-existant Weakness
Weaknesses/Cons:
*High retreat cost when needing to retreat to another Pokemon
*Special Energy hog when not with Blastoise
Variations:
The same as Mewtwo-EX, except for it's not-released status as a tin promo, which would certainly help players.
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