Thoughts on the Masters 8/PWC as a whole?

[Ignition]

Now that we’re finally finished with the Masters 8 tournament, how do you feel about it? What are your thoughts on the PWC in general? How would you rank each battle? What would you change/add?

 

[PsychoLogical]

Aside from the end, the PWC in general was mishandled and felt empty as whole.

All I can really say.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Ash vs Cynthia and especially ash vs leon saved it to much extent, otherwise this tournament felt rushed.

 

[Master Pikachu 11]

I felt Ash’s battles with Cynthia and Leon were great but the rest of the battles could have been a lot better handled.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I feel pretty good about it. The main two battles, Cynthia and Leon were absolutely spectacular and well written, with pretty good animation too and in Leon's case, God tier animation
Aside from that, we got pretty good battles with Ash vs Steven and Iris vs Cynthia even if they did have some flaws, and Lance vs Diantha was written pretty well too even if it was more static. While they definitely werent as High quality as you'd think from champions battle, they definitely were still entertaining and much better than most league premilinaries battles in the past
So in terms of your normal leagues, The PWC was definitely on par if not better thanks to its main two battles elevating it

Not to mention we know the anime production was basically in shambles, for them to give what we did get despite all that is a major victory in my books

Ash vs Leon - 10/10
Ash vs Cynthia - 9.5/10
Ash vs Steven and Iris vs Cynthia - 8.5/10
Lance vs Diantha - 7.5/10 altho a 9/10 in terms of writing
Leon vs Diantha - 4.5/10 (but then again it was pretty much skipped, and the Charizard vs Diantha fight in vaccum was pretty nice)
Leon vs Alain - 6/10

Sure Leon's battles prior to Ash were controversial, but i think all things considered, they have aged well.
PWC certainly had tons of flaws, and the narrative buildup to it should have been better and the breaks/recaps in between did hurt the pacing, but overall, I think PWC was an excellent arc and one of the best "league" arcs, with Sinnoh league ahead of it but confidently i can say beating Kalos, Alola and Johto leagues

 

[k6666]

As a whole it’s have great finale, but I think they mishandling pwc alot, the offscreen rank jump kinda hurt , should have more cameo like gym leader , familiar COTD , battle frointer and elite four in great-ultra class, use mix reserved and new mon in pwc would be great, the master 8 tournament could be better

 

[DankOverlord]

First third was below mid

Second third was mid-great and mid-mid

Finals were peak

 

[pardusco]

I'm not gonna let Ash vs Leon overshadow how terrible the PWC was prior to the Masters 8.

The constant reuse of the same types and characters already defeated by Ash made it extremely boring. And don't forget the plethora of COTDs that no one will remember after this series. Did they really have to include bootleg Wally (Rinto) over the actual character? Was it really necessary to beat Volkner again instead of introducing a Galar gym leader we haven't seen yet?

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I just realised my previous post talked about Masters 8 only and not the PWC
So let's talk about the PWC as a whole now

I think it was an amazing concept, had a lot of great moments, but had shoddy execution in many places.
I think the BIGGEST sore point of PWC is the Great Class. Too many skips in that class and too rushed when it could have been spaced out more and given much necessary screentime to JN mons that desparately needed. Basically it was treated like Normal class only but with stronger opponents when it should have featured many more battles and JN mons screentime
For the Normal class it works, battling a few trainers and quickly getting to Great Class. Ash vs Visquez and Ash vs Korrina were top tier battles as well

Now the Hyper Class i feel was a major improvement. The changes and presentation was much better, and Ash vs Volkner, Raihan and Marnie were great battles. Ash vs Drasna sucked though and Ash vs Bea round 3 wasn't as satisfying or well done as it could have.

And Master Class I've already talked about above.
Overall, while the PWC could have been much better and should have been structured more properly, and could have easily featured reserves, I think it was still decently done.

Ranking of battles:
1) Ash vs Leon
2) Ash vs Cynthia
3) Ash vs Volkner
4) Ash vs Raihan
5) Ash vs Visquez
6) Ash vs Marnie
7) Ash vs Iris
8) Ash vs Korrina
9) Ash vs Steven/Iris vs Cynthia
10) Leon vs Lance
11) Lance vs Diantha
12) Ash vs Bea round 2
13) Ash vs Bea round 1
14) Ash vs Rinto
15) Ash vs Bea round 3
16) Ash vs Gurdurr guy
17) Ash vs Meganium guy
18) Ash vs Drasna
19) Leon vs Alain
20) Leon vs Diantha

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Masters 8 and PWC was trash aside from Ash vs Leon

 

[Ragnarok4]

If Masters 8 is rated as a whole, then the tournament would have a pretty mediocre score.

 

[Dragneelo]

Ash vs Leon and Ash vs Cynthia to some extent saved the tournament from perishing.


Well, Ash vs Steven, Iris vs Cynthia and Lance vs Cynthia were nothing special but the rest were below mid

 

[Red and Blue]

I thought it started out pretty strong but kind of lost some steam the longer it went on. Big missed opportunity that Ash didn't get to battle more E4 members in the hyper class. Kind of silly that he beat more Champions then Heavenly kings. That is something I would have changed as well as have more Galarian Gym leaders. Still I enjoyed the actual Master tourname with Cynthia and Leon being worth the wait

 

[Dragneelo]

I thought it started out pretty strong but kind of lost some steam the longer it went on. Big missed opportunity that Ash didn't get to battle more E4 members in the hyper class. Kind of silly that he beat more Champions then Heavenly kings. That is something I would have changed as well as have more Galarian Gym leaders. Still I enjoyed the actual Master tourname with Cynthia and Leon being worth the wait

Ash is the Champion Slayer with the record of defeating 6 champions and almost winning against Kalos Champion

Geeta needs to avoid this man or else he is coming for her

 

[Ragnarok4]

Ash is the Champion Slayer with the record of defeating 6 champions and almost winning against Kalos Champion

Geeta needs to avoid this man

6?

W : Iris, Steven, Cynthia, Leon
L : Alain
D : Diantha

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Needed reserves, shouldn't have skipped so many battles, and more characters from the past series like AJ and Giselle etc should have been in it. It should have been something similar to the Battle Frontier series.

 

[Dragneelo]

6?

W : Iris, Steven, Cynthia, Leon
L : Alain
D : Diantha

Wallace: Am I a joke to you?

It's 5 but considering Kukui + Tapu Koko as the Alolan Champion tier, it's 6

 

[Spyro39]

Ranking of battles:
1) Ash vs Leon
2) Ash vs Cynthia
3) Ash vs Volkner
4) Ash vs Raihan
5) Ash vs Visquez
6) Ash vs Marnie
7) Ash vs Korrina
8) Ash vs Steven/Iris vs Cynthia
9) Leon vs Lance
10) Lance vs Diantha
11) Ash vs Bea round 2
12) Ash vs Bea round 1
13) Ash vs Rinto
14) Ash vs Bea round 3
15) Ash vs Gurdurr guy
16) Ash vs Meganium guy
17) Ash vs Drasna
18) Leon vs Alain
19) Ash vs Tauros guy
20) Leon vs Diantha

You forgot Ash vs Iris.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

You forgot Ash vs Iris.

.....Bruh how did I even forget that lmao
Ig I'll place it around 7th place, above Ash vs Korrina

 

[Ragnarok4]

Lmao Tomiyasu is like a frustrated fan who wanted to see Ash destroy everyone after years of losing, he actually eliminated 5 champions in Journeys

I'm sure the reserves are the fault of higher orders, but seeing as how they tried to do their best to make the reserves relevant at least contributing with training , I'm sure tomiyasu would have done away with the whole M8 with the reserves.