I was under the impression that the King can use Pom Flare from the start, does killing the BLM give him that ability? If that's true, it makes no sense to kill the BLM first, because as you said, the King is far more dangerous with it.

Anyway, I also don't see any way to do this without at least 2 competent Archers. Having more competent Archers just makes it easier. Thus most groups just bandwagon the same setup. This is the same issue that has been going on since 1.18... it's getting tiring.