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Do you consider the Alola league to be a “ real league? “

Legitimate league or no?

  • Yes

    Votes: 44 58.7%
  • No

    Votes: 22 29.3%
  • Don’t know

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Don’t care

    Votes: 7 9.3%

  • Total voters
    75

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Not anyone can enter... did you forget that Battle Royal requirement or something? There's your entry requirement right there. It's definitely more of an entry requirement than gathering pity badges and badges from beating Jessie and James in Kanto... For all you going on about that nameless Furfrou trainer Alola had the Mudbray guy who also failed to pass the entry requirement.
You concede that it doesn't have the prestige and it's a new conception. Which entails it is entirely different from its predecessors. Why is that not enough to deep it incomparable in comparison of the previous leagues? Why can the Alola " league " simply be placed in its own category of tournament?
Because it's not up to you or anyone else on this forum to set the standards for what constitutes as a league, that's up to the writers.
 
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Not anyone can enter... did you forget that Battle Royal requirement or something? There's your entry requirement right there. It's definitely more of an entry requirement than gathering pity badges and badges from beating Jessie and James in Kanto...

Because it's not up to you or anyone else on this forum to set the standards for what constitutes as a league, that's up to the writers.

Yeah, unfortunately for the Alola league, the Battle Royal thing was actually within the league itself. They were already participating in the League, which is what the actual show said as well.

Please don't use an argument like that. It's so hilariously flimsy and I knew someone was going to try and use that as an argument. I'm sure that there are cheaters and/or people who got lucky when winning their badges for every previous league, that doesn't equate to a blanket statement like the entry requirements are invalid or don't matter(because they do) because of one person who doesn't deserve it.

I consider that to be a moronic argument and one that doesn't even work in concept. There are some people in jail who are innocent, do we scrap the whole jail system because of those people? That argument doesn't work anywhere and it certainly doesn't work here.

The writers said Orange Islands was a league as well, unfortunately a vast majority of people don't consider it to be a valid league.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Please don't use an argument like that. It's so hilariously flimsy and I knew someone was going to try and use that as an argument. I'm sure that there are cheaters and/or people who got lucky when winning their badges for every previous league, that doesn't equate to a blanket statement like the entry requirements are invalid or don't matter(because they do) because of one person who doesn't deserve it.
If Ash was an exception... but nothing Ash did was exceptional in Kanto and there is no indication whatsoever that he got special treatment. He never cheated at those gyms, the leaders were just so incompetent and insane they were just giving away badges left and right. Giovanni was the one who left the Viridian Gym in charge if freaking Jessie and James so he might as well just be giving away badges, Misty's sisters were literally giving away badges, Brock just abandons his job because he doesn't feel like taking care of his family anymore and doesn't give a ****, Surge completely loses any kind of battle credentials the moment he faces an opponent with a fast pokémon, Erika is equally incompetent in banning people from her gym who don't like perfume, Blaine has a gym so dangerous challenger's pokémon could die there and he freaking hides it instead of actually doing his job. Like there isn't a single gym leader in all of Kanto that's even remotely competent. Where's the prestige of that?
 
If Ash was an exception... but nothing Ash did was exceptional in Kanto and there is no indication whatsoever that he got special treatment. He never cheated at those gyms, the leaders were just so incompetent and insane they were just giving away badges left and right. Giovanni was the one who left the Viridian Gym in charge if freaking Jessie and James so he might as well just be giving away badges, Misty's sisters were literally giving away badges, Brock just abandons his job because he doesn't feel like taking care of his family anymore and doesn't give a ****, Surge completely loses any kind of battle credentials the moment he faces an opponent with a fast pokémon, Erika is equally incompetent in banning people from her gym who don't like perfume, Blaine has a gym so dangerous challenger's pokémon could die there and he freaking hides it instead of actually doing his job. Like there isn't a single gym leader in all of Kanto that's even remotely competent. Where's the prestige of that?

It’s hilarious that you’re using this argument in the first place and it’s even more hilarious that you actually skipped on addressing everything else I said that completely nullifies this moronic argument.

I’ll state it again. Exceptions to the rule don’t shatter the rule. Did Ash win some of his badges through sheer luck? 100% Did he win some of his badges legitimately in Kanto? 100%

Did he win literally every other gym battle after Kanto legitimately and fairly? 100%

Where some of the gym leaders in OS incompetent? 100%

I don’t even know what some of what you’ve said even makes actual sense, Ash won his match against Sarge legitimately. Like 3 or 4 of the badges he won were completely fair and legitimate which already makes the Kanto league more legitimate cause it has actual entry barriers. If OS league was like the Alola league, it would be incredibly worse off

You’re making a non-argument. Ash also acted like a pubescent boy when he saw Giselle in OS, does he act that way now?

Pokémon had actual numeric levels in OS. Is that supported by literally everything after?

This point has no basis in reality. Exceptions don’t nullify reality and the reality is that gyms provide the necessary requirements to weed out the weak in almost scenarios. The reality is that entering the Alola league has no requirements and trying to invalidate a system that almost always guarantees quality opponents in concept is a hilarious dodge
 
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Epicocity

Well-Known Member
Not anyone can enter... did you forget that Battle Royal requirement or something? There's your entry requirement right there. It's definitely more of an entry requirement than gathering pity badges and badges from beating Jessie and James in Kanto... For all you going on about that nameless Furfrou trainer Alola had the Mudbray guy who also failed to pass the entry requirement.

Because it's not up to you or anyone else on this forum to set the standards for what constitutes as a league, that's up to the writers.
Uh...are we ignoring the fact James did nothing the whole Battle Royal and managed to make it to the Top 8? 'Cause that doesn't seem like an impressive entry requirement...
 

Mr. Reloaded

Cause a pirate is free
I voted no. But what I really meant was that's it more disorganized if anything.

Part of it really is the lack of any real prerequisites that led to such a disjointed battle royale.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
It's a league, just one built around the format of the series in question. I think if previous leagues had been more personalised and changed up the formula more often, it might have been easier to swallow.

Granted a detail concerning prestige is that the trials in Alola, unlike the gym badges, haven't been as mandatory a quest in this region. At least not yet. Several trainers besides Ash have took part in trials that he didn't do, not to mention other details like the Kahunas and the Tapus having more direct involvement in bestowing promising trainers. Ash and Gladion did all four Grand Trials (and Kiawe did one) but while a prestige is there, the more primary goal there was the Z Crystals.

As such with trainer requirements in such a primordial state in Alola at this point, it made sense to have other strategies inside the league like a Battle Royal, even if the more lax battling all around in Alola still meant less experienced trainers like Mallow and Team Rocket could make their way through. All that said and done though, the difference in experience clearly came into play in the following rounds anyway. Sophocles and Lana were the only non-battlers who didn't end up getting stomped early on, and even that was because they had underwent a crash course beforehand and utilised every Chekhov's skill they had learned to become palpable 'brains vs brawn' adversity (though Lana still got crushed by a battler who was brutal in the brains AND brawn departments).

The lower teams are something of a let down but I think that is also playing into the setup of this series. Even Ash doesn't have a full team right now. I think if the quarter finals had been 2v2 or double battles with the semis being 3v3 and the finals being full teams it might have still been able to reach form by the end, though I understand they had to compress time a little with charting ALL the matches this time, which no other series has done. The Alola league, like most of SM, was designed to be more character driven than goal driven.
 
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U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
The formation of a league or any competition in general is ultimately an iterative process.

I'm going to get on my soap box since I did start multiple competitions in my life.

Early incarnations of competitions tend to start out small. Often times, you may not even have standardized rules and equipment. Your rule book will barely constitute the definition of a book. You also don't have the population to even require prerequisites outside of filling out your paperwork and paying the fee, so foregoing those aren't unprecedented. As a competition grows larger, you require prerequisites in order to account for your population. Yes, prereqs tend to be a method of population control, especially in bracketed competitions like speech and debate competitions.

Year after year, you get better at your job and refine the rules, restructuring the competition once in a while.
 

Bortgreen

Captain Pikachu is EPIC
Is it real? Yes.
Not as much prestige as any other? Yes.
It's like comparing a soccer/football league from a minor country to a top 5 european league. It's still a league, after all.

But that was to be expected as the league is the first one in Alola(and it isn't a huge region already), along with the low requirements and low focus in battles of this generation.

---
Oh, and what inspired Kukui to create a league(aside from Ash coming from the future) were gym battles. So I think Kukui might create gyms around Alola in the future. Maybe we can see this in gen 8!
 
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Is it real? Yes.
Not as much prestige as any other? Yes.
It's like comparing a soccer/football league from a minor country to a top 5 european league. It's still a league, after all.

But that was to be expected as the league is the first one in Alola(and it isn't a huge region already), along with the low requirements and low focus in battles of this generation.

---
Oh, and what inspired Kukui to create a league(aside from Ash coming from the future) were gym battles. So I think Kukui might create gyms around Alola in the future. Maybe we can see this in gen 8!

I've stated my opinion on this line of thinking

I'd be willing to call it a " league " insofar it's the biggest tournament in Alola, but I will not be willing to call it a league in the context of previous regions. That's my stance. Ash winning this league would not have the same gravitas of him winning previous leagues.

Would that be something you disagree with?
 

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
Can't consider a league to be "real" in terms of prestige if there is no E4 nor gyms in that region. Wasn't it stated in previous series that the winner of a regional league would earn the right to participate in the Pokemon Champions League? In the Alola league you only earn the right to challenge the Masked Royal in an exhibition match lol.

It is an official league but it ain't no a real league in terms of progress and prestige. Ash will neither earn the right to face E4 nor qualify into the Champions' league if he wins the Alola league but he would have, had he won any of the previous conferences he particiapated in. If Ash wins the Alola league it won't be a progress towards his main goal of becoming a Pokemon Master as I stated above he'll only earn the right to challenge the Royal Mask and not the actual Pokemon champions, nor the strongest trainers (E4, regional champion).
 

PorcelainVulpix

currently watching LOK
Do you really care about our opinions or do you want to tell us that we’re wrong for considering it a real league?

Anyways, you can rant about how it’s not all day but it’s still a real league and is getting a lot of focus. For the first time, probably ever, I have hope that Ash will become champion. And that’s all that matters to me.
 
Ash will neither earn the right to face E4 nor qualify into the Champions' league if he wins the Alola league but he would have, had he won any of the previous conferences he particiapated in.
Alola doesn't have E4 nor Champion yet, so the winner of the league will be declared Champion of Alola. If this was any other region's league, Ash could only become League Conference winner and would still have to beat E4 and regional Champion to become one, in Alola he'd already be this region's Lance/Steven/Wallace/Cynthia/Alder/Diantha just by winning the league. I don't see how the lack of Champion's League makes this league not 'real'.
 

VoltTacklingPika

Well-Known Member
I can agree that JUST in the context of Alola it can be called a " real " league, but can it be called that in context of previous regions, i.e the rest of the show? Would that not make the Alola league seperate from leagues prior and put it in its own category?

A barrier entry has been the standard of leagues before Alola, it not having a barrier entry immediately eliminates it from being compared in context to previous leagues in value and prestige for this very reason. I've already stated the importance of having a barrier entry

Yes, I think it can.

I don't see the lack of barrier of entry as a problem because, in the end, the best trainers ended up in the final rounds. Winning the tournament still means something because they'll have overcome other strong trainers. If the Sinnoh or Kalos leagues didn't have any noteworthy competitions - no Alain, Sawyer, Barry, Paul, etc. - and just had random scrubs, would Ash's victory count for as much? I wouldn't say so. The eight badge requirement is a narrative device to imply competency but trainer strength has to be demonstrated on screen for the viewer to be convinced they're a legitimate threat.

Ash's route to the final this time has seen him face Hau, Guzma and Gladion - all trainers he's lost to before. From the show's perspective, he's overcoming the people he's struggled against before, which gives his victories weight.

The league isn’t something Bug Catcher Joe should be able to participate in. It’s an honor that a lot of trainers put blood, sweat, and tears in trying to obtain. Everyone saw how much it mattered to that Furfrou trainer and by extension, that’s everyone whose failed at obtaining all those gym badges. So Alola is basically spitting in the face of the trainers who did put in that effort, those hours of continuously working and improving their skills in favor of convenience and is rewarding people like the Froufrou trainer who simply aren't on the level of trainers like Ash.

It's not spitting in the face of anything. Most competitions in reality have open entry and offer the chance to compete to anyone, but, as I've said before, they have stringent qualification periods to ensure a high level of competition later in the tournament... which is exactly what the Alola League has done. This serves the exact same purpose as collecting x amount of badges or ribbons. Anyone with a Pokemon and ID can take the gym challenge, but only the best make it to the league. Anyone can compete in the Alola League, but only the best will contest the finals.

The league starts off with hundreds of entrants but finishes with just 16. That's a steep barrier. Bug Catcher Joe doesn't make it through that, and neither does the Furfrou guy, either. Ultimately, the trainers who have trained the hardest progress. The ones there for a laugh get dumped out.

So the Alola League isn't rewarding anyone. People still have to earn their way to the part that matters. It's not like Furfrou guy is turning up and getting a round of 16 match for free.
 
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Genaller

Silver Soul
Yes, I think it can.
Let’s see how you back this up.

^I don't see the lack of barrier of entry as a problem because, in the end, the best trainers ended up in the final rounds.
Alright let’s consider the following thought experiment. Suppose we have 2 sets of n trainers where n is some positive integer (let’s say 100). Suppose we know nothing about either set except that 1 set necessarily had to go through a rigorous screening process (e.g. collecting 8 of a region’s gym badges) and the other didn’t. With this in mind we can say with high confidence that the first set would have a far higher aggregate standard than the second, and therefore it is a greater achievement to emerge as the best trainer amongst the former rather than the latter. Note that probability and plausibility are different; it’s plausible that the 2nd set is just as good as, if not better than, the first, but based on the information we know in this hypothetical, it would be extremely silly to claim that it’s probable or even just as likely that the second set is even in the same ballpark of the first with respect to aggregate trainer quality.

Winning the tournament still means something because they'll have overcome other strong trainers.
Sure, but it won’t mean nearly as much as Ash winning any of the other league conferences, and that’s the heart of the matter as was pointed out above.


If the Sinnoh or Kalos leagues didn't have any noteworthy competitions - no Alain, Sawyer, Barry, Paul, etc. - and just had random scrubs, would Ash's victory count for as much? I wouldn't say so. The eight badge requirement is a narrative device to imply competency but trainer strength has to be demonstrated on screen for the viewer to be convinced they're a legitimate threat.
Let me make something clear; the burden of proof is on you to justify why the the aggregate trainer quality of the Alola league is on par with that of other conferences and not on me to show that said aggregate trainer quality is superior in other conferences (that’s the base expectation given by the hypothetical I illustrated earlier). Being a prominent character who was built up onscreen beforehand should make viewers more invested in battles involving them, but don’t conflate investment with merit. Ash beating ‘scrubs’ who are confirmed to have gone through a rigorous screening process is objectively a more meritocratic achievement than Ash beating most of the people who signed up for the Alola league even if there would be more investment in some of those battles (for example say if Ash battled Lillie, Mallow or a TRio member).

Based on statements and depiction, there are only 4 trainers barring Ash who I’d say would meet league qualification standards in other regions. Ilima since he’s confirmed to have qualified for an iteration of the Kalos League, Guzma since he beat Ilima convincingly, Gladion since he (presumably) completed the Island challenge and has been built up for so long, and finally Kiawe (in particular his Turtonator) for giving Gladion somewhat of a fight.

Ash's route to the final this time has seen him face Hau, Guzma and Gladion - all trainers he's lost to before. From the show's perspective, he's overcoming the people he's struggled against before, which gives his victories weight.
Not really with Hau since he got his win back in the very same episode lol. Regarding Guzma the battle was unfinished but sure Ash was struggling ( thank’s to Pikachu’s usual inconsistency). For argument’s sake, let’s say that Guzma and Gladion are comparable to Sawyer and Alain in terms of trainer strength (they’re really not based on feats, but whatever). It would still follow that beating Sawyer and Alain would be the considerably superior achievement because they had to be beaten in 6 vs 6 battles whereas Guzma and Gladion only needed to be beaten in 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 battles respectively (I hope I don’t have to explain why winning in a full battle is a greater achievement over a 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3).



It's not spitting in the face of anything.
Speak for yourself, but it absolutely spits in the face of any long term fan who’s been invested in Ash’s league quest since the beginning.

Most competitions in reality have open entry and offer the chance to compete to anyone
Yeah and doing well in competitions at the highest lvl that actually require some form of merit for entry objectively has more merit to it than doing so in any of those open tournaments.

, but, as I've said before, they have stringent qualification periods to ensure a high level of competition later in the tournament... which is exactly what the Alola League has done.
Yeah so ‘stringent’ that flipping Jessie and James got through them xD. In principle this could have worked, but as I said before, only 5 of the 16 trainers who made it through could be conceived of as legitimate league contenders in any other region, and it’s a fairly large problem if we can’t do that for over 2/3rds of the Alola league’s top 16.

This serves the exact same purpose as collecting x amount of badges or ribbons.
It definitely doesn’t in the case of badges since we know for a fact that gym leaders undergo quality control and hence we can be assured that every gym leader meets a certain minimum standard of quality whereas the same can’t be said about any of the scrubs who got beaten in that battle royal (and those scrubs don’t even have any known qualifications to fall back on, so beating them amounts to practically nothing in terms of meritocracy).

Anyone with a Pokemon and ID can take the gym challenge, but only the best make it to the league. Anyone can compete in the Alola League, but only the best will contest the finals.
As I’ve stated before, the screening process to determine the league winner being far more extensive in other regions generally makes winning those leagues a far greater achievement than winning the Alola league, and even if the quality of the final few opponents in both cases were comparable, the respective formats (full battles vs 2 on 2 and 3 on 3) make winning the former a superior achievemnt to winning the latter.

The league starts off with hundreds of entrants but finishes with just 16. That's a steep barrier. Bug Catcher Joe doesn't make it through that, and neither does the Furfrou guy, either. Ultimately, the trainers who have trained the hardest progress. The ones there for a bit of a laugh get dumped out.
Yeah and this show hasn’t done nearly enough to convince the audience that Jessie, James, Lillie, Mallow, Sophocles, Lana, Hau, Acerola, Samson, Faba and Mina should be considered legitimate league contenders which is a problem for a large section of the audience, and part of the reason why they can’t take this league even remotely as seriously as they did the others. It also doesn’t help that the execution of certain battles made the league feel like even more of a joke than it already was due to certain participants placing where they did.

So the Alola League isn't rewarding anyone. People still have to earn their way to the part that matters. It's not like Furfrou guy is turning up and getting a round of 16 match for free.
Lmao the Furfrou guy could probably beat at least half the people in that top 16.
 

VoltTacklingPika

Well-Known Member
Alright let’s consider the following thought experiment. Suppose we have 2 sets of n trainers where n is some positive integer (let’s say 100). Suppose we know nothing about either set except that 1 set necessarily had to go through a rigorous screening process (e.g. collecting 8 of a region’s gym badges) and the other didn’t. With this in mind we can say with high confidence that the first set would have a far higher aggregate standard than the second, and therefore it is a greater achievement to emerge as the best trainer amongst the former rather than the latter. Note that probability and plausibility are different; it’s plausible that the 2nd set is just as good as, if not better than, the first, but based on the information we know in this hypothetical, it would be extremely silly to claim that it’s probable or even just as likely that the second set is even in the same ballpark of the first with respect to aggregate trainer quality.

Let me make something clear; the burden of proof is on you to justify why the the aggregate trainer quality of the Alola league is on par with that of other conferences and not on me to show that said aggregate trainer quality is superior in other conferences (that’s the base expectation given by the hypothetical I illustrated earlier). Being a prominent character who was built up onscreen beforehand should make viewers more invested in battles involving them, but don’t conflate investment with merit. Ash beating ‘scrubs’ who are confirmed to have gone through a rigorous screening process is objectively a more meritocratic achievement than Ash beating most of the people who signed up for the Alola league even if there would be more investment in some of those battles (for example say if Ash battled Lillie, Mallow or a TRio member).

Based on statements and depiction, there are only 4 trainers barring Ash who I’d say would meet league qualification standards in other regions. Ilima since he’s confirmed to have qualified for an iteration of the Kalos League, Guzma since he beat Ilima convincingly, Gladion since he (presumably) completed the Island challenge and has been built up for so long, and finally Kiawe (in particular his Turtonator) for giving Gladion somewhat of a fight.

You and I have incompatible views about this. This isn't a real life sporting event where the prowess of the competitors can be measured, but a story where the narrative significance of the battles are the most important thing. Characters with build-up face other characters with build-up because it creates dramatic stakes and tension, whereas a character introduced specifically for the tournament vs a main character lacks the same narrative weight. For example, Ash vs Katie in the Hoenn League. Katie seems a good trainer, which makes Ash's win impressive, but the only significance to that fight was Ash progressing to the next round. Going back to the example I used, I would not give a damn if Ash beat a bunch of trainers who have been rigorously screened and are "objectively" strong if I knew nothing about said characters.

I'm not going to argue about the weight of achievement because I've already acknowledged that the standard of competition isn't as high as other leagues. But being a lower standard doesn't diminish the league's legitimacy. The winner proves himself the best within that group of trainers, and assumes a recognised position in the story. Ash winning would be an accomplishment for him, as something he's not done very often, and while it may not be as big a deal as you'd like it to be, it'd be a significant point in the story and for Ash's character.

Yeah and this show hasn’t done nearly enough to convince the audience that Jessie, James, Lillie, Mallow, Sophocles, Lana, Hau, Acerola, Samson, Faba and Mina should be considered legitimate league contenders which is a problem for a large section of the audience, and part of the reason why they can’t take this league even remotely as seriously as they did the others. It also doesn’t help that the execution of certain battles made the league feel like even more of a joke than it already was due to certain participants placing where they did.

I acknowledged this in a previous post. What I'll say here is that the number of "legitimate league contenders" in previous leagues has always been small. There has never been a league where every competitor was viewed as a potential winner, and we've always known which ones would go deep and which wouldn't. In the Kalos League, you only had Ash and Alain. In Sinnoh, it was Ash, Paul and Tobias. In Hoenn, it was Ash or Tyson, and now in Alola, you've got Ash, Guzma and Gladion. So if you're going to criticise the Alola League for not having convincing competitors, then you have to criticise every other league, too.

I'll finish with this, because I don't want this to be a circular debate:

Our views on many issues with the show are polarising and we've never reached an agreement on anything. I don't care about which trainer is objectively the strongest, which Pokemon you think are objectively stronger than others, and whatever system you have to determine whether something is an achievement or not. I don't believe, for one second, that the writers create battles with any of that mind. I know full well that making trainers seem strong and giving them significant victories over strong opponents lends itself to the narrative, but for me, it's not something that has to be so specific you can measure it. Most of all, I'm more interested in the narrative stakes behind the fight, and how the fight itself reflects those stakes in the action. The league is merely the stage for those fights to occur, ensuring there's more significance to the outcome than just your average fight.
 

Doppelgänger

Superancient Member
Uh...are we ignoring the fact James did nothing the whole Battle Royal and managed to make it to the Top 8? 'Cause that doesn't seem like an impressive entry requirement...

He and Jessie did go in with a strategy to progress, and they were the only successful ones. At that...we don't have 100% confirmation that James didn't have to battle someone at some point. We did see Mimikyu murder some Pikachus.
 

CMButch

Kanto is love. Kanto is life.
I voted no because it's not as important as other leagues, where league that Samson Oak, Team Skull and Trio can participate on same level as Kalos league for an example? Where? Nowhere. Lmao.
This is just advanced Junior Cup or something.
This league is not minor like Don or JC, it's nor major like Kalos, Unova, Hoenn etc.
So I give it middle.
Edit: changed to I don't know.
This is how it goes:
Major stuff: Kalos = Unova = Sinnoh = Hoenn= Johto = Kanto (leagues)
Middle stuff: Orange League = BF = Alola league ( that's why Ash can win it because it's not major)
Mini/Minor Stuff: JC = Don Tournaments= Rota Tournament etc
Change my mind.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
In fairness, half of the supporting cast can be considered of similar ambiguous tier as the usual early competitors in previous leagues. Mina and Acerola's strength was never shown onscreen, Samson and Faba didn't battle regularly either though were implied to be powerful, having previously wiped the floor with one of Ash's Pokemon. Lana and Sophocles weren't battlers, though they were intentionally played as underdogs against the main competition, having trained vigorously beforehand and trying to utilise their established skills and brain power to make up for lack of experience and brute strength, something that kind of fits SM's multi talent approach (there were some questionable moments like Vikavolt being able to hold off a Z Move with a standard one for a while, but I suppose it can be halfway pinned to Sophocles' most experienced vs Kiawe's least experienced, and ultimately it still failed).

Only Team Rocket, Mallow and Lillie kind of fell into questionable territory. The battle royal admittedly undermined the qualification method a little by showing all three got around it by spurious means (Team Rocket tried to hide while the others eliminated each other, Mallow had a mythical Pokemon and double teamed with Lana, Lillie got by sticking with the group and tending to their scraps), though all of them were defeated promptly when the rounds became 1 v 1.
 
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