He's not a set up heavy char, ofc you could find some but they're not as strong as others.
Everyone lists his pros but not his cons.
Let's see...
Short Ranged slow backdash.
Average walk speed.
Average reversal/wake up attack(24frames of start up)
no OH/Low 50/50s.
Average AAs.
So yeah he's good just not unbeatable.
True he's not as heavy a setup character as say Darkseid, Cyborg or even Brainiac but I honestly believe he is supposed to be played that way to a degree. The problem is EVERYONE that plays Bladam only plays him 1 maybe 2 dimensional.
Yea he has a slow, short ranged backdash but he tends to always have meter. Pushblock becomes your friend. (I just started using it).
This goes for wake ups too. Lightning cage is useless on wake up now, so block 1st mixup, pushblock then back to neutral. Hello F12, which enhances his average walk speed.
And his overhead low mixups require meter with 112/B2 low lightning strike. On a side note, this also grants a lightning bomb against most of the cast with a few exceptions.
But still like you said he's good, just not unbeatable.