Keldeo, evaluating a potential suspect test.

[Pocket]

Approved by the OU Council

art by Ninja-Jamal

ITT we will convince the OU Council whether to suspect test Keldeo or not. Yes, many of us have already assumed that Keldeo would be an auto-suspect by presenting our thoughts about Keldeo elsewhere, but this is the official thread that the OU Council will review to determine Keldeo's suspect-worthiness.

Some people believe that Keldeo with Pursuit / Gothitelle / Rain support is too much for the metagame to handle. Others say that Keldeo has sufficient number of solid checks and even workable counters to impair Keldeo's performance in OU.

Keldeo is quite resilient to priority moves and resists SR, making it somewhat harder to remove than Landorus, the previous suspect. However, unlike Landorus it lacks U-turn (and immunity to Spikes), making it much riskier for Keldeo users to switch out of Keldeo's checks and counters without being forced on the defensive.

Regardless of which side you stand on, it's your duty to expand upon these pre-existing arguments or introduce new ones to the table. Sway the OU Council's with solid evidence and reasoning.

RULES (taken directly from kd24's Landorus-I Discussion Thread)

- Keldeo is not a suspect at this time. You either make a case or refute the points of the other side. That's it. If I find your post incoherent to the topic at hand, it will be deleted.

- If you're on the suspect side, your job should be first and foremost to convince the council it should be a suspect. The onus is on you and your posts need to reflect that. If you don't take time to think about what you're saying, then I won't waste time in deleting posts that serve no purpose.

- This goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. This thread is not a cesspool for flaming, trolling, or non-serious posts. If you're going to act like that and you want council to consider Keldeo as a suspect, good luck. No better way to drive a wedge between you and the council than by shitting up a thread.

After 3-4 days of productive discussion, I may put up a public poll so the OU Council can gauge the community's overall stance about this matter.

 

[MikeDawg]

Quick thought before I can make a real post:

Listing good things about keldeo does not define it as broken. It establishes it as an excellent pokemon. In order to make a proper case for its brokenness, you must also frame your argument within another one establishing what MAKES a pokemon broken.

Ie. Keldeo has incredible power from both spectrums and pursuit and rain support allows it to overcome a number of counters.

Vs

Keldeo has incredible power from both spectrums, meaning that many traditional walls such as the pink blobs are useless. Common pursuit support allows it to overcome a further number of counters. Finally, especially when boosted by rain, keldeo's absurd power that has the ability to 2hko things like amoongus reduces its pool of reliable checks and counters to such a small one that it does nothing besides centralize the metagame and punish any team that doesn't comply.


(Note: not neccesarily my, or even valid arguments. Purely for the sake of example)

 

[TCTphantom]

Keldeo is without a doubt the scariest pokemon in practice. I see Keldeo's threatening status is due to three main factors, its power under rain, Secret Sword, and its unique use of Hidden Power. Its power with its Hydro Pumps under rain is obscene, being able to OHKO or 2HKO most of the metagame. Secret Sword, while being a fantastic attack, makes Keldeo almost a mixed attacker, and shortening its pool of counters. However, its unique usage of Hidden Power pushes it over the edge, as between HP Ghost, Bug, and Electric, (don't know about Grass, thoughts on it?), it can remove a check or counter from its feared list, as checks such as Jellicent, Celebi, and Gyarados cant wall it after hazards, or are OHKOed in Gyarados case. Keldeo can also be many things, from a Expert Belt lure that works great as a wallbreaker, a devastating choice user, or even a scarce yet powerful Calm Mind set. Personally, I see it as leaning towards broken, but I see this is going to be 50/50 likely...

252 SpA Expert Belt Keldeo Hidden Power Bug vs. 252 HP / 236+ SpD Celebi: 269-317 (66.58 - 78.46%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

This is supposed to be the best counter to Keldeo.

252 SpA Expert Belt Keldeo Hidden Power Electric vs. 88 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 365-432 (103.39 - 122.37%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Expert Belt Keldeo Hidden Power Ghost vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Jellicent: 175-209 (43.42 - 51.86%) -- 72.66% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Expert Belt Keldeo Hidden Power Ghost/Bug vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 146-173 (48.34 - 57.28%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Meanwhile, how do the best special walls hold up to Keldeo's onslaught?

252 SpA Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 236+ SpD Jirachi in rain: 214-253 (52.97 - 62.62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Expert Belt Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 658-778 (100.92 - 119.32%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So Jirachi can't switch in, while Blissey will just die...

Also, it is rather easy to remove almost all of Keldeo's counters, save for the likes of Amoongus, via Pursuit trapping. Scizor and TTar are both exceptional at Psychic slaughtering, with Scizor having great synergy with Keldeo under rain.

Will I be upset if Keldeo is not suspected? Yes. Will I be upset if Keldeo is not banned, yet suspected? Not at all, it was the community's choice to let it "rain" supreme, but at least it was put up for debate. I personally also see its complete power and destruction combined with unique traits as a little suspicious, but thats just me...

 

[Pocket]

Good point and example, MikeDawg

MX42 I disagree with your stance on Hidden Power. If anything, Keldeo's dependence on Hidden Power for coverage is one of Keldeo's shortcomings. Keldeo wishes it has Ice Beam for Amoonguss / Celebi / Dragons, so it can attain flawless super-effective coverage with HP Electric. But because of its lack of Ice Beam, it must choose which Pokemon would check it, and requires team support (such as Pursuit / Gothitelle / Rain) to overcome its limited offensive coverage.

 

[Gary]

I've always been very torn on Keldeo, I mean VERY torn, and here's why.

There's no denying that Keldeo in the rain is an absolute monster, and its Specs/Scarf sets are obviously one of the biggest factors in people wanting this thing banned from OU. The ability to KO everything that doesn't resist it and potentially 2HKO very bulky special walls like Celebi, Ferrothorn, Amoonguss, and Latias is absolutely insane. The Scarf set may not be successful at wall breaking, but it still hits extremely hard, and it is much harder to revenge kill then the Specs sets. Aside from Jellicent and a fully invested specially defensive Amoonguss, there isn't much that can completely hard counter Keldeo. That on its own, makes Keldeo a very potent threat in the metagame.

Then of course we have Keldeo when partnered with Tyranitar/Scizor. Two of Keldeo's biggest roadblocks are Latias and Celebi, as they can easily wall both of Keldeo's STAB moves outside of rain. When partnered with a Pursuit trapper like Scizor or Tyranitar, Keldeo potentially no longer has to worry about these massive headaches for the rest of the battle once they're gone, potentially paving the way for an easy Keldeo sweep once these defensive threats are dealt with. A lot of people find this to be a bit unhealthy for the metagame, because Keldeo can potentially proceed to mop the floor with teams once there only Keldeo counters/checks are disposed of, and most of this is all accomplished by the help of one Pokemon, Tyranitar. Some people say that Keldeo finds it way too easy to sweep when partnered with Tyranitar, seeing as almost all of Keldeo's counters/checks can be easily Pursuit trapped. This is another factor in possibly making Keldeo broken.

With that said, I still find it hard to believe that Keldeo on its own is entirely broken. Keldeo in rain is indeed a huge threat that can sweep through pretty much any team lacking a reliable answer to it, but to tell you the truth, almost every team has a reliable answer to it, or should for that matter. Keldeo is obviously very good in the rain, but it certainly isn't over-centralizing. Rain is such a powerful force in this metagame that getting rid of Keldeo IMO won't really stop it from being as good. Most of the successful rain teams I've seen on the ladder don't actually have Keldeo on them, so the argument that Keldeo makes rain broken, isn't a very good argument. So basically, getting rid of Keldeo IMO wont neuter rain as much as you think it will. It is indeed very good, and pretty much impossible to counter, but there are few other things in this metagame that have been deemed un counterable and can also abuse the "spam" strategy, like CB Terrakion, Kyurem-B, and even Hydreigon.

I think we should be looking at Keldeo outside of rain, because most people seem to only focus on rain Keldeo. Keldeo in my opinion isn't broken on its own, but when partnered with Tyranitar, that's when things start to become a bit hairy. Still, I fail to see what's so broken about Keldeo when partnered with T-Tar. I understand that most of Keldeo's counters are easily trapped by Tyranitar, but couldn't the same be said for Terrakion as well? Celebi and Latias can both switch into a Banded Close Combat with the proper EV investment, but just like Keldeo they are constantly wary of that Tyranitar getting a free switch-in on their Terrakion counter. So what makes Keldeo so broken in Sand when there are many other Pokemon out there that also benefit a TON from Tyranitar's trapping abilities? Wouldn't that make them broken as well?

All in all, I'm not so sure about Keldeo. In my opinion, Keldeo is a very good Pokemon that can sweep a large portion of the metagame when given the right support. In the rain, it's an amazing wall breaker/revenge killer. I think Keldeo is just a really good Pokemon, but I don't know if I would call it incredibly broken like much of the community seems to call it.

I've used Keldeo and gone up against Keldeo so many times that I think I'm safe to say that I don't think it's broken. Rain will still find a way to succeed over every other weather even if Keldeo is banned, and Tyranitar wont find much of a problem finding another partner in crime. Hate me if you want, but that's my honest opinion, and I'm sticking with it.

 

[PDC]

Alright, here we go.

Keldeo is definitely a very strange practice, it is something that is very subjective in the eyes of many. No doubt this Pokemon is something that is very flexible and threatening and how it can run a myriad of very useful sets, and ultimately Keldeo is one of the most popular Pokemon in torunaments and on the ladder. But is it broken? Well I am kind of on the fence about its legitimacy in OU.

Keldeo has a lot of things going for it. It is very powerful and fast, can wear down and outright beat most of its standard counters, and has decent enough defenses that it can survive and switch into resisted hits and still keep momentum and its health. Keldeo is resistant to the most common entry hazard in the game, Stealth Rock, which most teams only carry. It is resistant to most priority and neutral to Mach Punch, meaning Breloom cannot revenge Keldeo unless it is weakened. This gives Keldeo a huge advantage against offensive teams. It outruns the majority of sweepers and is usually at a huge advantage. It overall has pretty solid coverage depending on the Hidden Power or select set it uses. Expert Belt with HP Bug is a nice surprise for Celebi, while an Icy Wind + Hidden Power Bug against a Latias on the switch can permanently impair it from contentiously taking repeated hits, especially if it is a more offensive variant. Stealth Rock is very crucial in Keldeo's case, as it can really help it out in getting crucial 2HKOs and such. Choice sets are also very viable, being where Keldeo originally got its start on offensive Rain. Simply add Choice Scarf . Keldeo with Politoed and you can basically single handily annihilate weatherless teams back in the days when it just became popular. Choice Specs is also a unexpected set nowadays, and under Rain you can basically 2HKO everything in sight with Hydro Pump. Also, CM HP Ghost completely wrecks some stall teams, and it acts as a nice surprise to incoming Jellicent who think they can win with ease.

Of course though, recently Keldeo has became something even more popular outside of Rain. Sand utilizes Keldeo very well. It almost always is paired with Tyranitar who can easily Pursuit its most common counters, and although Landorus-I is gone, those two still make a very potent pair together. Like Gary stated above me, this is another point in the favor Keldeo is broken. Its counters are just too easily trapped and it causes a lot of centralization in the metagame, and the combination can easily be used to defeat most teams. But that is far from a 100% guaranteed reason on why Keldeo is broken. There are plenty of other Pokemon that benefit from Tyranitar's trapping, but Keldeo is by far the most notable at this point in the metagame, and thats why Keldeo is one of the most prominent partners with Tyranitar in the first place.

Keldeo is a very solid Pokemon, one of the best in OverUsed undoubtedly. It is one of the few fast sweepers who absolutely doesn't care about Scizor at all and resist most common priority. It is very strong and doesn't care to the slightest about the most common hazard in the game, but that may not be enough to call it broken. Its a little hard to get a definite answer on the situation, as Keldeo certainly has had a large impact on the metagame, which isn't really positive in effect.

 

[TCTphantom]

Good point and example, MikeDawg

MX42 I disagree with your stance on Hidden Power. If anything, Keldeo's dependence on Hidden Power for coverage is one of Keldeo's shortcomings. Keldeo wishes it has Ice Beam for Amoonguss / Celebi / Dragons, so it can attain flawless super-effective coverage with HP Electric. But because of its lack of Ice Beam, it must choose which Pokemon would check it, and requires team support (such as Pursuit / Gothitelle / Rain) to overcome its limited offensive coverage.

Personally, the fact it has the ability to choose its counters and play a guessing game makes it so scary in my eyes.Also, it appears you are underrating Icy Wind due to a lack of even a nod to its existance. Icy Wind may be weaker, bu it isn't the scourge people see it as. It has several nifty advantages, including stopping Latios, the best offensive check, from outspeeding without a Scarf.

 

[MikeDawg]

Keldeo is different from terrakion, etc. in that ALL of its common counters can hypothetically be trapped by ttar.

In reality though, it is difficult to trap things like jellicent, and even celebi (if not scarved).

I think something to note is keldeo's speed tier. Something like hydreigon is "uncounterable" but very managable because you don't need to counter it due to how easy it is to outspeed. Outside of the latis and starmie, though (all of which are very suseptible to scarftar or whatever), something has to be scarved to outspeed keldeo, meaning that everything being 2hkod by specs/ebelt keldeo is potentially quite problematic.

 

[X5Dragon]

Keledo is great, it has fantastic stabs, great rain abuser, great speed tier, and overall good SpA. Obviously there is also the fact the 50% of team are weatherless, 25% are Rain teams and the rest belong to other weathers (June Stats), which brings puts it in a comfy spot if the user decides to run a rain team. Not to mention, it has an advantage of not giving a damn about Scizors Bullet Punch as well as the lesser used Ice Shard and Aqua Jet, and has good bulk to not by threatened by unboosted Mach Punchs and Extreme Speeds (no weakness to unboosted priorities, always a good thing).

The thing is though, it needs support and it's sets are a bit predictable, and aside from it's good resistance to some of the priorities, killing it with a strong stab isn't a hard job either.

To elaborate, you need Rain to amp up it's destructive power, should you win the weather war Keledo is gonna be much easier to handle, especially the Hydro Spam sets. Second of all, you need to gurantee rocks on the other side, lest sash mons such as Loom or MS (intact) Dragonite can dismantle it with even an unboosted Outrage. Third, the pokemon that outspeed it or should I say outscarf it, namely Kingdra and Latios both have Draco Meteor can take it out swiftly. Which brings the point that in order for Keledo to work you need to bring it at the right time with little to no damage, otherwise its gonna get picked off with a single hit while it can't OHKO back.

I run an HO team, I don't exactly have anything to take a hit except for my sash mon and MS Dragonite with full health, even Starmie won't dare switch under rain. However, a Kingdra does just great against Keledo's favorite team setting. Even more so when the opponent makes the mistake of using Keledo early and I land a hit or two.

 

[Magcargo]

I have used Keldeo before and I agree that it deserves a suspect test. (although I'm kind of steamed that we may suspect another pokemon solely due to weather).

Keldeo is referred by many as the best pokemon in OU. The reasoning for this being keldeo's many outstanding traits. Thanks to its amazing Water/Fighting-Typing, it not only resist common priority moves, but also gets amazing STAB coverage. Under the rain Keldeo's Choice Specs Hydro Pump is so powerful, that even Latias gets 2HKO'd by it.

Whats differentiates Keldeo from other hard hitting water-types is Secret Sword. Secret Sword not only has amazing coverage with hydro Pump, but allows Keldeo to go mixed, eliminating what would be checks such as Ferrothorn.

One of Keldeo's main flaws is that it has to rely on the weak Icy Wind and Hidden Power for coverage. Like Pocket said, Keldeo wishes it had Ice Beam to nail many of its counters. However, Keldeo makes good use of what it has to work with. Icy Wind is actually quite thanks to Keldeo's amazing special attack and it can actually 2HKO the Lati Twins after Stealth Rock (assuming Keldeo is Specs). The Hidden Power type really depends on what you want to hit super effectively. If you want to hit Jellicent hard, while still maintaining coverage on Celebi and Latias, use HP Ghost. If you want to hit both Gyarados and Jellicent use HP Electric etc.

Overall, Keldeo is one of the best pokemon in OU, if not the best, and I completely agree that it deserves a suspect test. However I do NOT think it is broken for reasons I will state later.

Sorry if I was confusing.

 

[ginganinja]

To elaborate, you need Rain to amp up it's destructive power, should you win the weather war Keledo is gonna be much easier to handle, especially the Hydro Spam sets. Second of all, you need to gurantee rocks on the other side, lest sash mons such as Loom or MS (intact) Dragonite can dismantle it with even an unboosted Outrage. Third, the pokemon that outspeed it or should I say outscarf it, namely Kingdra and Latios both have Draco Meteor can take it out swiftly. Which brings the point that in order for Keledo to work you need to bring it at the right time with little to no damage, otherwise its gonna get picked off with a single hit while it can't OHKO back.

So basically, your criteria for Keldeo to be a problem is SR up on the field (Watch out for those sash mons!), Rain up, and the enemy team not using Kingdra or Scarf Latios? Like, the above is fairly common (heck, I can tick those boxes facing a rain team if im using SS + Keldeo) I am sure there are better arguments than this. For instance, the problem I previously had with Keldeo, was that it severely limited my teambuilding process. Sure, it has a good range of counters like Latias, Tenta, Amoonguss, Slowking, Croak, Jellicent, but I always struggled to fit these mons on a team, without handicapping myself. That said, this hasn't quite happened so much, although I don't know if thats due to the lack of a high level ladder, or just my teambuilding getting better. To be perfectly honest, the Keldeo set that scares the most out of me would easily be the Specs Set, for managing to knock a truckload of health off its common checks and counters.

That all said tho, im not 100% convinced its broken either, as with Landorus-I going iv been able to expand my teambuilding options which has made dealing with it easier.

 

[Shining_Latios]

Keldeo is certainly one of the best Pokemon in OU right now. When given the support it needs, Keldeo can wreck havoc on teams with ease. As stated above, Keldeo's resistance to common priority attacks and Stealth Rock are great perks it has. Keldeo's fantastic Special Attack stat coupled with its good Speed makes it truly a force to be reckoned with. Keldeo is also very versatile. It can run a Scarf set for revenge killing, a Specs set for wallbreaking, and a Calm Mind set for sweeping. Even an Expert Belt set does very well as you can bluff a choice item and potentially grab a KO. When paired with Tyranitar, Tyranitar can Pursuit trap most of its usual counters and let Keldeo proceed to annihilate the enemy team. You never know what move Keldeo is going to use against you and I think this is what makes it really scary to play against. I think once you know the set Keldeo is running though it makes it that much easier to deal with. Specs, Expert Belt, and Calm Mind sets provide more power but are also easier to check for the lack of speed. The Scarf set is much harder to check/revenge kill but does not hit as hard. Personally, I have been able to deal with Keldeo most of the times than not. However, the biggest problem I find whenever going up against Keldeo, is that I always seem to need to sacrifice a Pokemon to ensure I can check it. Overall, Keldeo does not have much counters but it for sure can be checked. Does it deserve a suspect test? Yes, but I do not deem it to be broken.

 

[X5Dragon]

I'm saying Keledo needs weather support, hazards, other powerful scarfers/outspeeding mon (depending on set, using the Scarf as a reference) to be dealt with and to be in relatively good health so it's not picked off by either unresistant priorities or opponents who can live a hit.

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

Keldeo is an absolute monster, and not many things can stop it, but, it has limiting factors that prevent it from being as efficient as it would like to be.
1. No Ice Beam. This forces Keldeo to run HP Ice if it wants an Ice move, or the weak Icy Wind, which is honestly a horrible move.
2. Weather Reliance. Keldeo NEEDS Rain up to be able to two hit things like Jirachi, Amoonguss, and Celebi (using Hydro Pump). If Rain is down, then these things can take a hit, and either kill, or cripple Keldeo, making it useless.
3. Hazard Reliance. If Hazards aren't up, Keldeo has a harder time breaking through walls. Sure, 128 base Special Attack can destroy the whole tier, but if hazards aren't up it makes the difference between OHKO's and Two hit KO's to a HUGE extent.
4. It's checks and counters are very common. Things like Jellicent, Latias, and Jirachi are all EXTREMELY common in the OU tier. This makes Keldeo have a tough time just destroying an entire team.

I'm not the best at OU, but this is my two cents.

 

[MikeDawg]

4. It's checks and counters are very common. Things like Jellicent, Latias, and Jirachi are all EXTREMELY common in the OU tier. This makes Keldeo have a tough time just destroying an entire team.

This is a completely unfair claim. I know that on my current team I am ONLY running jellicent because without it I can't deal with keldeo. Otherwise I would just use jirachi or something as a special wall. But since my team isn't completely offensive and I needed a special wall that could deal with not only normal special attackers but also keldeo (not every team can afford both rachi and celebi). Am i now weaker to things like latios? Yes, but things like -2 spatt from dmeteor keep other special attackers from being able to run straight through my team. If keldeo didn't exist, I wouldn't use jellicent, plain and simple, and I can't believe I'm the only one that is in this situation.

Think back to excadrill. Post ban, gliscor plummeted, skarm plummeted, bronzong plummeted. Was it well handled by these? Of course. But was the fact that it was manageable only by virtue of centralizing the meta around itself to promote the prevelanxe of its counters? Pretty much.

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

This is a completely unfair claim. I know that on my current team I am ONLY running jellicent because without it I can't deal with keldeo. Otherwise I would just use jirachi or something as a special wall. But since my team isn't completely offensive and I needed a special wall that could deal with not only normal special attackers but also keldeo (not every team can afford both rachi and celebi). Am i now weaker to things like latios? Yes, but things like -2 spatt from dmeteor keep other special attackers from being able to run straight through my team. If keldeo didn't exist, I wouldn't use jellicent, plain and simple, and I can't believe I'm the only one that is in this situation.

Think back to excadrill. Post ban, gliscor plummeted, skarm plummeted, bronzong plummeted. Was it well handled by these? Of course. But was the fact that it was manageable only by virtue of centralizing the meta around itself to promote the prevelanxe of its counters? Pretty much.

The things I listed were already common before Keldeo was introduced. Therefore, your statement is invalid. Just remember what I said, I suck at OU, so my logic might not be correct. :l

 

[emboarrocks]

Keldeo may be very powerful but it is stopped too easily by some pokemon. It's coverage is inadequate. For example, it can run HP Bug to get past Celebi but then it's walled by Jellicent. It can run HP ghost to get past jellicent but then it's walled by another array of pokemon. Even if it runs the Hidden power types, it may not even get past the opposing pokemon.

252 SpA Life Orb Keldeo Hidden Power Bug vs. 252 HP / 236+ SpD Celebi: 291-343 (72.02 - 84.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Celebi Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 176-210 (54.48 - 65.01%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As shown by the calcs, a LO keldeo can't KO Celebi and Celebi can take out a huge chunk in return. Will post more later when I have time.

 

[Lady Alex]

If Keldeo doesn't land the HP bug as Celebi switches in, it's going to switch out the next turn. It's never going to try to trade with Celebi, so that calc is misleading.

 

[Laga]

But if Keldeo forces people to run Latias or Celebi on every team, then is it not over centralizing?

 

[phantom]

It doesn't. You can run a lot other things like Toxicroak, Jellicent, Amoongus, ect. Heck, you can even run defensive Gyarados, Dragonite, and Starmie if you want to check it. I think with Landorus out of the way, I've found Keldeo to be much more manageable because you can use a lot of things to check Keldeo that aren't run over by Landorus. I don't think it's broken because unlike Landorus, it doesn't hinder an entire playstyle(s) and restrict your team building to the same degree.

 

[MikeDawg]

The things I listed were already common before Keldeo was introduced. Therefore, your statement is invalid. Just remember what I said, I suck at OU, so my logic might not be correct. :l

Jellicent rose ~2%
Latios rose ~2%
Latias rose a %
Etc

And, hell. With all the ttars and such running around now, these pokes aren't even all the favorable at the moment.

Of course this isn't all equatable all to keldeo.

But it's clear the meta became even more wrapped around tanking water attacks and the like from its release to now

 

[Halcyon.]

Ok, here are my thoughts on Keldeo.

Many have talked about Keldeo in two different situations, in rain with Politoed, and with Pursuit support from Tyranitar. Keldeo is equally as potent on both team styles, I think we can all agree with that. Politoed provides it with insane power, turning Specs Hydro Pump into essentially a 270 base attack that can be fired off at will, with only the 20% miss chance as a drawback. This means things like Latias, Amoongus, and Tentacruel are no longer counters, since all of them are 2HKO'd (Latias can out-speed and OHKO, but it has to choose between Roosting and using Psyshock, and if it predicts wrong, then Keldeo can either hit it hard again, or switch to a counter, and then Latias can't switch in again). Amoongus, and Tenta are both 2HKO'd and out-sped by the Specs set. This is also assuming that NONE of these Pokémon have taken any prior damage whatsoever. I don't think its uncommon for Tentacruel Amoongus, or LO Latias especially to take a bit of damage before having to counter Keldeo. Amoongus has Regenerator to offset this problem somewhat, but it still can't take rain boosted Hydro Pumps all day long.
In the sand, Keldeo plays a bit differently, it goes in, attacks something, and then when Lati@s, Celebi, Jellicent, or whatever comes in to counter it, Tyranitar switches in to save the day but Pursuit trapping them, freeing up a Keldeo sweep. Though this strategy is one that has been weakened with the banning of Landorus, it is still extremely potent, since there are many other threats that are walled by Latias and Breloom that also appreciate Pursuit support. Breloom and Thundurus-T come to mind off the top of my head. I find Keldeo to be like a two man DragMag team. It overloads the opponent's "counters" with only two or maybe three Pokémon counting Tyranitar. You could argue that there are many sweepers that require little support to eliminate their counters and then sweep, since that's the nature of sweepers, but I think Keldeo is so versatile and requires such insignificant support (even a layer of Spikes turns almost all of those shaky 2HKOs into solid ones), that it crosses the boarder into broken.
What I think a lot of people are missing, and that I feel really needs to be stressed is a lot of Keldeo's counters are only counters on paper. You Celebi just might be switching into an HP Bug, or your Latias might switch into an Icy Wind. Only Bulky Toxicroak is really a counter, since Secret Sword 2HKOs offensive variants. None of that takes teammates into the equation, it's just Keldeo. And another thing, Keldeo almost never comes in early game, when all these things are at full health. It usually waits until the end, when they have been weakened to a point where it can bypass them anyway.

Oh, one other thing. What ever happened to Sub CM Keldeo? Honestly, if any Keldeo set appreciates Pursuit support from Tyranitar or Scizor in the rain, it's this set. With Lati@s, Jellicent, Slowking, etc. gone, it can do serious work to a team behind a Sub with a boost or two. Just wondering, because I haven't used it since the Genesect era.

@Icecream, Specs Keldeo in the rain OHKOs Standard Starmie after Rocks and easily 2HKOs Gyarados even without them. This isn't taking prior damage into consideration since, like I said, Keldeo is mainly a late-game cleaner.

 

[superstar]

If Keldeo doesn't land the HP bug as Celebi switches in, it's going to switch out the next turn. It's never going to try to trade with Celebi, so that calc is misleading.

It doesn't need to trade or land HP Bug switching in, though, right? Celebi is taking around 25% or so from an Ebelt Hydro Pump iirc, so Keldeo can just spam its best move and then kill the next turn with HP Bug. I'd also like to point out that Icy Wind isn't a bad move at all. It KO's Dragonite and Mence after rocks, and the speed drop is quite useful indeed.

I don't think anyone can even possibly argue against giving Keldeo a suspect test, although whether it should be banned is another point entirely. It's easily the best mon in OU right now (a case could be made for Kyu-B I guess), and it's very difficult to not justify using it on your team unless you're running sun. However, it's hard to say whether Keldeo is broken as the current best threat, or if we've finally dumped all the broken stuff out of OU (again, you can argue Kyu-B). So let's let the voters decide, and see if a metagame without Keldeo is better or not.

 

[phantom]

@Icecream, Specs Keldeo in the rain OHKOs Standard Starmie after Rocks and easily 2HKOs Gyarados even without them. This isn't taking prior damage into consideration since, like I said, Keldeo is mainly a late-game cleaner.

I said you can check it with Starmie, I even said specifically the defensive versions. You have to fair though, if I had an offensive Starmie I wouldn't switch it directly into Keldeo w/o predicting a Secret Sword or something. Then there's the fact that offensive Starmie outspeeds and KOs Specs Keldeo, surprise surprise. It's a pretty solid check imo and defensive Gyarados is as well.

 

[Halcyon.]

I still disagree with Gyarados. It can't take Specs Hydro Pump, and Scarf variants often carry HP Electric. not only that, but Gyarados has to use RestTalk, which is pretty unreliable. I won't mention his weakness to Rocks because I think that's unfair since almost anyone using Gyarados will have a spinner/bouncer. That being said, it's a check, but it's a shaky one, imo. I feel like Gyarados was a better counter for Landorus that Keldeo.

Oh also:

252 SpA Starmie Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 188-222 (58.2 - 68.73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 244-289 (75.54 - 89.47%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

nope. Offensive Starmie can't check it unless they have Psyshock, which they rarely do. Defensive ones do, but...

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Starmie in rain: 250-295 (77.16 - 91.04%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hidden Power Ghost vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Starmie: 260-308 (80.24 - 95.06%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

and

4 SpA Starmie Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Keldeo: 188-224 (58.2 - 69.34%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

So you can't really reliably switch in on Specs Keldeo at all unless it's on a predicted Secret Sword or Icy Wind. And even then, remember what I said about only really needing a tiny bit of prior damage or a layer of Spikes to KO its counters? This is pretty minor support, and it doesn't count teammate support. For example...

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Starmie: 118-140 (36.41 - 43.2%) -- 83.98% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Spikes and weather

So yes, Defensive Starmie is a check, but it seems like a pretty shaky one to me.