I figured I'd start a thread to discuss how current Paul stacks up to the Master Class.
Paul has so far battled the Strongest Iteration of Ash (Post Raihan/Pre Master Class Tournament Ash). He seemed to perform relatively well against Ash and held his own in battle (Which also included having an advantage at times).
One could argue that Ash wasn't necessarily going all out in the battle and he wasn't pushed to his limits, however, frankly, the very same argument could also be extended to Paul as he too was more focused on training Ash (By Intentionally using the Master Class members aces). Plus, we also see Paul motivate Ash mid-battle when the former was having an advantage. This is very contradictory to Paul's general personality who in theory would be far more strategic and specific while choosing a team/pokemon against an opponent he's looking to win against.
Paul defeated Ash's Dragonite. A much weaker iteration of the very same Dragonite that defeated "Champion Dragon Master" Iris's Haxorus. Can't wait to see what defense Iris stans come up with, to diminish this feat now lol.
Paul and Ash were rivals who were always shown to be relative to each other in strength with equal odds of winning a battle if they were to go up against each other. While they had very different training philosophies at one point, they eventually respect each other's approach and have matured and become much better trainers as evident by their strength in the latest battle.
In conclusion, I feel Paul would ideally perform almost as well as Ash would in the Master Class Tournament.
The reason I say "almost" is because, outside of the MC Plot Armor, I think Ash has the edge over Paul, due to his highly unconventional out-of-the-box bizarre strategies that he ends up using during his battles.
I think this gives Ash a small advantage even over the other Master Class Contentants who we can assume are highly strategic and technical themselves (At least most of them).
Paul has so far battled the Strongest Iteration of Ash (Post Raihan/Pre Master Class Tournament Ash). He seemed to perform relatively well against Ash and held his own in battle (Which also included having an advantage at times).
One could argue that Ash wasn't necessarily going all out in the battle and he wasn't pushed to his limits, however, frankly, the very same argument could also be extended to Paul as he too was more focused on training Ash (By Intentionally using the Master Class members aces). Plus, we also see Paul motivate Ash mid-battle when the former was having an advantage. This is very contradictory to Paul's general personality who in theory would be far more strategic and specific while choosing a team/pokemon against an opponent he's looking to win against.
Paul defeated Ash's Dragonite. A much weaker iteration of the very same Dragonite that defeated "Champion Dragon Master" Iris's Haxorus. Can't wait to see what defense Iris stans come up with, to diminish this feat now lol.
Paul and Ash were rivals who were always shown to be relative to each other in strength with equal odds of winning a battle if they were to go up against each other. While they had very different training philosophies at one point, they eventually respect each other's approach and have matured and become much better trainers as evident by their strength in the latest battle.
In conclusion, I feel Paul would ideally perform almost as well as Ash would in the Master Class Tournament.
The reason I say "almost" is because, outside of the MC Plot Armor, I think Ash has the edge over Paul, due to his highly unconventional out-of-the-box bizarre strategies that he ends up using during his battles.
I think this gives Ash a small advantage even over the other Master Class Contentants who we can assume are highly strategic and technical themselves (At least most of them).
