The Future of the World Championships

[AuraChannelerChris]

Oh, right. I guess being this far into the series means the remaining Galar Gym Leaders won't be very important to fight Ash.

Imagine that. A saga that has Ash fight over 10 people in 3-on-3s with almost no breaks.

 

[Ignition]

Who do you guys want Ash to battle in the Master Class? To get into it he’s probably going to have to battle Raihan which will serve as his “8th Gym Leader” battle of the season. Besides Cynthia, Ash would have to battle one more trainer to get to the finals.

And saying this I just realized even if all 6 Champions besides Iris are in, there are still two missing spots. Wonder who else is included.

Ideally Raihan, Cynthia and some wild card like Brandon or Palmer. It’ll probably be someone boring like Lance though

 

[masdog]

At this point i'm really thinking Bea might end up being the one he has to beat to get into the master class, i would love to be wrong but it's a strong possibility.

Bea is the closest thing that Ash has to a rival in this series, so it would make sense that she would be the final hurdle before the Master Class.

Who do you guys want Ash to battle in the Master Class? To get into it he’s probably going to have to battle Raihan which will serve as his “8th Gym Leader” battle of the season. Besides Cynthia, Ash would have to battle one more trainer to get to the finals.

And saying this I just realized even if all 6 Champions besides Iris are in, there are still two missing spots. Wonder who else is included.

One of the eight spots would go to Ash.

I think it’s going to depend on the structure of the Masters 8. If it’s a single-elimination tournament with traditional seeding, then he’d have to face Leon first in order to advance. I’m assuming Cynthia would be ranked somewhere around 4 or 5, so she would be next So it would be Leon, Cynthia, and then Lance, who is ranked second.

(If you’re not familiar with a ranked, single-elimination bracket, you can see an example here)

If it’s random seeding, like the DP Contest Battles (which I think is more likely), then it would probably go Raihan, Cynthia, Leon.

Ideally, I’d like to see Ash battle his way through the entire Masters 8 to earn his battle with Leon. That would give Ash a chance to face off against all of the regional champions that he’s met along his journey.

 

[Almighty Zard]

Ideally, I’d like to see Ash battle his way through the entire Masters 8 to earn his battle with Leon. That would give Ash a chance to face off against all of the regional champions that he’s met along his journey.

The only way I could see something like this is if they do the round robin point's system the jouto league used.

but who knows how things will be conducted when the anime gets to that point.

 

[LucasMV]

Two words:

Unova League

I don't get what you're trying to say with that. Just pointing out one of the series' biggest disappointments? Or is it something more specific I'm missing?

Judging from the pacing he is progressing through the ranking they basically showed at the very least the minimum opponents he would face in the Hyper Class at the end of episode 65 where they showed 5 silhouettes with one of them belonging to Volkner and another one belonging to Bea.

So basically unless he loses a battle at the very least he has 4 more Hyper Rank opponents to battle before getting to the Master Class.

True, I completely forgot about how many silhouettes were there. Then that means we should have 4 remaining Ultra Class battles, with one of them being Bea. Interesting, they'll definitely have to up the pace and shorten the episode span between PWC battles then.

 

[Ragnarok4]

Imagine the salt storm if Leon defeat Cynthia

Well, they can keep crying, Leon is much better than Cynthia in every way

 

[masdog]

Well, they can keep crying, Leon is much better than Cynthia in every way

Except navigating.

 

[Almighty Zard]

I don't get what you're trying to say with that. Just pointing out one of the series' biggest disappointments? Or is it something more specific I'm missing?

I think he's referring to how in the unova league they brought in Virgil the eevee team trainer, and treated him with enough hype that it seemed like he would be the one to take Ash out, however that didn't happen and Ash never even fought him.

It's not really hard to see that happen here as well.

I mean if the masters 8 was conducted in a 8 man tournament scenario, then logically, Raihan, Cynthia and Leon would make the most sense out of anyone for Ash to face throughout since it benefits promoting the current games, he doesn't absolutely need to face Lance all things considered.

now if Ash fought Raihan before then to get into the masters 8 then yeah he could probably face Lance instead.

then again this is all theory at this point anyway.

 

[LucasMV]

Well, they can keep crying, Leon is much better than Cynthia in every way

In the games, Cynthia's fight is much harder than Leon's. But then again, Gen 4 games were harder than games from Gen 6 onwards, so it's a given I guess.

I think he's referring to how in the unova league they brought in Virgil the eevee team trainer, and treated him with enough hype that it seemed like he would be the one to take Ash out, however that didn't happen and Ash never even fought him.

Oh, right, I forgot he didn't even get to fight Virgil. What a mess that was. Still, it doesn't mean that we should be pessimistic and assume Ash is gonna fight the more boring and underwhelming possible opponents instead of the ones people really hope for. Just seems needlessly cynical.

 

[Torpoleon]

It does make sense for Leon to be considered more powerful than Cynthia considering he is ranked #1 in the PWC and he's the champion for the most recent generation. That being said, I hope Ash fights Cynthia and not Leon. I think it would be better for Ash to fight and beat Cynthia, and then after the battle Cynthia could tell Ash that in the prior season, she lost to Leon (which would explain why he is #1 and Lance is #2).

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Paul and Ash should take the last two spots in the master class sorry @TheWanderingMist

 

[nuzamaki90]

Bea is the closest thing that Ash has to a rival in this series, so it would make sense that she would be the final hurdle before the Master Class.


One of the eight spots would go to Ash.

I think it’s going to depend on the structure of the Masters 8. If it’s a single-elimination tournament with traditional seeding, then he’d have to face Leon first in order to advance. I’m assuming Cynthia would be ranked somewhere around 4 or 5, so she would be next So it would be Leon, Cynthia, and then Lance, who is ranked second.

(If you’re not familiar with a ranked, single-elimination bracket, you can see an example here)

If it’s random seeding, like the DP Contest Battles (which I think is more likely), then it would probably go Raihan, Cynthia, Leon.

Ideally, I’d like to see Ash battle his way through the entire Masters 8 to earn his battle with Leon. That would give Ash a chance to face off against all of the regional champions that he’s met along his journey.

I think you misunderstood. There are 6 Champions currently that could be in the Master Class and that’s Ash, Lance, Leon, Cynthia, Steven, and Diantha. Ash is going to have to battle one of the current members of the Master Class in order to get into it, and that in my opinion would be Raihan. If the 6 Champions I listed all make it into the Master Class, there’d still be 2 vacant spots that could go to possibly anyone. Who those two end up being could be anyone’s guess.

 

[masdog]

I think you misunderstood. There are 6 Champions currently that could be in the Master Class and that’s Ash, Lance, Leon, Cynthia, Steven, and Diantha. Ash is going to have to battle one of the current members of the Master Class in order to get into it, and that in my opinion would be Raihan. If the 6 Champions I listed all make it into the Master Class, there’d still be 2 vacant spots that could go to possibly anyone. Who those two end up being could be anyone’s guess.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, you don’t compete outside of your rank. So if you are in the Ultra/Hyper Class, you only battle against people in the Ultra/Hyper Class rank. It’s possible that there is some sort of battle to enter the Master Class, but that hasn’t been established yet. As of right now, ranking is based on whatever arcane ranking formula they use.

It also wouldn’t make sense to compete against Raihan to enter the Master Class. He’s ranked 7th overall.

Either way, we will just have to wait and see.

 

[JustAStatistic]

My gut feeling is that Bea will be the last opponent Ash beats before the master class. I also feel that if Iris is set to return, it'll be around this time, where she will try to get into the Masters 8 but lose to Raihan.

I'm pretty confident that Ash will win if he battles Raihan. But between Lance and Cynthia, I'm not sure who I want Ash to battle (and defeat). On one hand, beating Lance would cement Ash as Kanto's strongest trainer, but on the other, Cynthia has an actual connection to Ash, and she played a part in his greatest rivalry.

IMO, no one trainer deserves to be unbeatable. Not Leon, or Cynthia, or Ash, or Red (where applicable). If Ash makes it to Leon, I want their match to end in a draw. If Leon battles Cynthia, or Lance again, I hope Leon loses.

 

[Torpoleon]

My gut feeling is that Bea will be the last opponent Ash beats before the master class. I also feel that if Iris is set to return, it'll be around this time, where she will try to get into the Masters 8 but lose to Raihan.

I'm pretty confident that Ash will win if he battles Raihan. But between Lance and Cynthia, I'm not sure who I want Ash to battle (and defeat). On one hand, beating Lance would cement Ash as Kanto's strongest trainer, but on the other, Cynthia has an actual connection to Ash, and she played a part in his greatest rivalry.

IMO, no one trainer deserves to be unbeatable. Not Leon, or Cynthia, or Ash, or Red (where applicable). If Ash makes it to Leon, I want their match to end in a draw. If Leon battles Cynthia, or Lance again, I hope Leon loses.

Can't really see Leon losing against Cynthia or Lance or someone like that, but him tying with Ash does seem interesting. Technically, it would break his unbeatable streak, I guess.

As much as I'd like to see Ash fight Lance (preferably with a mix of his best members from Kanto & Johto), I can't see it happening, assuming that it is a regular tournament. Really depends on how this thing is set up.

 

[JustAStatistic]

Can't really see Leon losing against Cynthia or Lance or someone like that, but him tying with Ash does seem interesting. Technically, it would break his unbeatable streak, I guess.

A draw against the number one is honestly the most optimistic scenario. Unless the show execs finally decided to axe the whole show, there's no way Ash will get to be the strongest trainer in the world. (Unless the gen 9 champ shows up.)

I also just realized that if Cynthia beat Leon, she'd be the new unbeatable one. In that case I'd rather have Leon win, because he at least has a sort-of-loss against Eternatus.

As much as I'd like to see Ash fight Lance (preferably with a mix of his best members from Kanto & Johto), I can't see it happening, assuming that it is a regular tournament. Really depends on how this thing is set up.

Betting it's just like the other classes, just with a bigger audience. Maybe 4v4 battles if we're super lucky. (Even though both onscreen Master class battles have been 1v1s.)

 

[Torpoleon]

A draw against the number one is honestly the most optimistic scenario. Unless the show execs finally decided to axe the whole show, there's no way Ash will get to be the strongest trainer in the world. (Unless the gen 9 champ shows up.)

I also just realized that if Cynthia beat Leon, she'd be the new unbeatable one. In that case I'd rather have Leon win, because he at least has a sort-of-loss against Eternatus.

Betting it's just like the other classes, just with a bigger audience. Maybe 4v4 battles if we're super lucky. (Even though both onscreen Master class battles have been 1v1s.)

To be fair, even if Ash ties or loses to Leon and thus stays at #2, I can't see how the writers could raise the stakes further in the next generation.

Hopefully it's 6 on 6, especially if it is a tournament like the League Conferences. Top 8 and up were usually 6 on 6 in League Conferences after all. Can't imagine there'd be no 6 on 6 matches in Journeys.

 

[Morax]

Except navigating.

Leon is a discount Zoro

 

[thedarkdragon11]

Bea is the closest thing that Ash has to a rival in this series, so it would make sense that she would be the final hurdle before the Master Class.

Actually makes sense if we are to base it from Sword since she's the opponent before Raihan... Raihan is likely the 1st Master Class opponent...

The writers should develop more interaction and rivalry between Ash and Raihan though... Unlike with Lance and Cynhia, Ash has very limited interactions to him...

 

[Pteranodonte]

The only thing I want is Ash to use his regionals team against specific champions, for example his Sinnoh's team against Cynthia, the Johto's team against Lance and so on, maybe with some episodes spent on training said teams.