Look you using Torterra not being used as a way of asserting some kind of cap is a bad argument period. I ask you to give me a single conceivable counter Ash could come up with that would make Torterra not that much more viable than flipping Gastrodon. The meta reason why Paul didn’t use Torterra was because Ash would have flat-out lost and the narrative couldn’t have that.
Aggron and Gastrodon were used to uncover Ash's strategy in the League(they were used to find out what Pokemon Ash uses and as a process uncover Ash's strategy). If Paul used Torterra, Ash could've possibly used a counter against it (maybe this is what Paul thought) and after all, Paul's plan of uncovering Ash's strategy at the League would fail. Ash had plently of Pokemon on hand in the SL(including reserves), so Paul had no idea about what Pokemon Ash would use. He had to be sure of that first.
Plus, claiming that Ash would've flat out lost if Paul used Torterra is something which blatantly contradicts the narrative. That means that Ash hasn't surpassed Paul actually, he only managed to beat Paul because he didn't use his best Pokemon Torterra in the League. If Paul used Torterra, Ash stood no chance, so Ash didn't actually surpass Paul. How does this make sense from the narrative perspective where the narrative of the final rivalry climax battle was that, Ash finally managed to surpass Paul after a gruelling rivalry.
Wonderful and does Paul ever say that he didn’t use Torterra because Torterra wouldn’t be viable? No? You do see your double standards here right. It’s unclear why Paul didn’t use Torterra, but regardless using that to cap Torterra is absurdly fallacious.
Torterra, at the very least, has to be within the reach that Ash could've beaten it in the Sinnoh League. Otherwise, from the narrative perspective, which is that 'Ash finally surpassed Paul after a long and gruelling rivalry' is blatantly contradicted if Torterra is out of Ash's reach during the SL. So that puts a cap on Torterra.
Torterra’s viability is vague since the only time it fainted was agaisnt Cynthia’s Garchomp after which it got unquantifiably stronger. From the beginning I’ve held the narrative assumption that Torterra ~ Peakachu (the starters of trainers on par are on par) and I’ve been upfront about it.
But Torterra isn't on par with Peakachu's progression if you look at it. None of Brandon's Regis are fainting after a single hit from Cynthia's Garchomp. Actually after watching the episode 'Pillars of Friendship' recently, I'm pretty sure that Brandon's peer Regis(Registeel and Regice) are at the very least, par with the Articuno commanded by Noland.
And Regice Pikachu is clearly better than Regice(it was a tough fight but Pikachu won
definitively). So Regice Pikachu clearly rivals the Tier 0's and is
clearly better than Cynthia Torterra.
Honestly Act 1 MGarch is possibly borderline high t-1 (MC-X was both bruised and panting) and I found MC-X vs M-Garchomp to be like F-Infernape vs A-Infernape and Latios vs Swellow. Yeah I’m settling on upper end low t-0 or lower end mid t-0.
Remebering Pikachu vs Aegislash and Metagross, I won't go as far as saying that ME-1 MCX is borderline High Tier 1. Aegislash and Metagross argueably pushed Pikachu harder than Mega Garchomp did to MCX.
Most likely somewhere between 10-20% but it could possibly be low as 0% (there are cases where it has happened with this and even less disparity) or as high as 30%+.
XY&Z13 imperfect A-G, who probably is a bit below Ash's Charizard/Tobias's Legendaries, landed a solid hit on MCX, so they should be able to do so too.
Yeah and Snorlax isn’t winning any less than lower high diff (25-30% health remaining).
Please don’t use that battle like it’s the norm. On average a 2 sub tier difference would result in a competitive match and not every battle in the anime is going to go the aggregate route. Moreover in that case it was more to do with Barry’s incompetency as a trainer (look at the most skilled trainer threads) rather than Empoleon being inherently outclassed by such a degree.
One thing that is to be remembered that Dragonite didn't use its full capabilities in that battle, didn't use its flying advantage.
Regarding Electivire vs Empoleon, could it just be that Electivire is just more powerful than we think? Otherwise it's quite difficult to explain that TBH.