Good episode. I looked through a bit of the thread before watching, to get a good gauge on the episode. But I think a lot of people misjudged this episode.
Noivern vs Sirfetch'd wasn't some completely one-sided thing. Sirfetch'd struggled and took a huge amount of damage, but Ash was able to help get its weapons back, it blocked one of Noivern's attacks and countered, and Noivern had to block Meteor Assault. It did pretty well considering it was going in with a handicap, against an unknown enemy.
Dracovish did pretty well against Noivern, and I'm glad Super Fang was portrayed as strong as it was. Noivern is pretty strong to tank x4 Ice Fang, but it still took damage.
Dracovish struggled against Altaria, but it was able to hold its own very well. Ash was able to counter Breaking Swipe and counter the cotton, and Dracovish didn't faint. Dracovish also showed off its naturally silly side, without making it feel like it's dragging out the match or forcing something too hard. It was a great episode to flesh out a Pokemon that has been seriously neglected in the series, without.
I saw some complaining that Ash used Dragon Rush on a Fairy type, but he never encountered a Mega Altaria before. He's familiar with regular Altaria, who isn't a Fairy type.
Sirfetch'd defeating Altaria was bull though. But I did like how Sirfetch'd was knocked out. It suffered serious damage and used all of its power to knock out the enemy. Dracovish vs Noivern, Round 2 was short, but it was cool and showed off the strengths of both Pokemon pretty well.
So I'd say it was a really good battle. The biggest downside is that the last matchups felt rushed, like they ran out of time and needed to wrap things up quickly. But other than that, both looked very creative, analyzing their opponents and coming up with counters and plays. Ash was on the ropes more than Drasna, but he and his opponent were clearly on equal terms throughout.
On Drasna herself, I love her. She has such a fun personality, and I like how they had both her and her Altaria have this little bond before the battle. I liked how Altaria seemed to be displeased (or was looking down on) Ash's Pokemon when they introduced themselves. She reminds me of a benevolent version of Rie Kishibe, from Digimon Cyber Sleuth.