Who might the unknown members of Masters 8 be?

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I'm not seeing the correlation between the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and Virgil. And even though Virgil would be a giant advertisement for the Eievui line, I think Koharu's Eievui is probably going to be enough to fill that role, so I'm not convinced that Virgil would appear based on his team especially since he himself didn't seem like that popular of a character.

Virgil seems to have been inserted into the anime to try and save the writing of the BW episode which did lose some quality after the tsunami and the Rocket vs Plasma two parter was axed and the rest of the series had to be rewritten given that mini arc was going to be a major plot point for the finale of BW. Everything started to become a total mess and fall apart around Driftveil. The writers tried so hard to restart the momentum the beginning of BW had and you could see the difference by then.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

The personal shoe-ins for the Masters 8 are Ash, Leon, Raihan, Lance, Cynthia, & Steven.

The final three are hard to determine, but if I had to guess a few possibilities are Diantha, Alder, Wallace, Paul, Alain, Richie, Bea, Brandon (to introduce the new Regis), & MAYBE Iris if they decide to reference her being the champion in BW2 (though if that happens I see her as more of an Ultra Class opponent)

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

The personal shoe-ins for the Masters 7 are Ash, Leon, Raihan, Lance, Cynthia, & Steven.

The final three are hard to determine, but if I had to guess a few possibilities are Diantha, Alder, Paul, Alain, Richie, Bea, Virgil, Brandon (to introduce the new Regis), & MAYBE Iris if they decide to reference her being the champion in BW2 (though if that happens I see her as more of an Ultra Class opponent)

I’m not sure about Bea being one of the Masters. Maybe Ultra Class. She is strong but she really isn’t one of the strongest trainers in Galar. Raihan has been confirmed in the games to be the strongest Gym Leader in Galar and his Gym battle proves it since none of his Pokémon share a single type weakness and Duraludon is extremely hard to KO in one hit outside of having an extremely overlevelled Ground or Fighting Pokémon or a high leveled Fighting type that you either Dynamax or Gigantamax. Bea can be taken out with any good Psychic, Fairy, and Flying moves in one hit. One Dazzling Gleam will wipe out her Pangoro and while it has Bullet Punch to counter Fairies, Mawile could withstand the hit and keep attacking.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

It should be some of the trainers Ash hasn't fought or beaten so all of the past E4 and Champions. They don't have to do all of them, just some of them then Ash can fight the others some other time. Thing is, I don't know too many E4 members that would generate hype. I don't feel like people talk about them that much.

 

[AJ97]

I was taking into account the fact that he had three Legendaries last time we saw him, as well as the possibility that he could've captured two more like I previously suggested. A lot of people have said that they would expect someone like Takuto to be in the Top 8 since he won the Shinou League and had a Legendary and a Mythical, so I figure that Jindai's chances are pretty much the same given his own feats of being a Frontier Brain with multiple Legendaries and having a solid battle record.

Tobias Strength is simply overestimated. Ash's team was nowhere close to Elite four tier, but we see him capable of taking down 2 of his legendary Pokemon. Plus, Ash didn't even use some of his other strong aces like Charizard and Infernape.
Flint absolutely destroyed Ash in battle without even trying(And Ash used Pikachu and Infernape against him). Someone like the Elite four / Regional Champions would absolutely destroy Tobias.

I mean, we literally see Goh almost capture Zapdos with his Raboot. If he probably had Cinderace, he might've actually ended up capturing Zapdos which is pretty insane. Other than some of the Special Legendary Pokemon like Mewtwo, Eternatus, Rayquaza etc. Regular legendary pokemon are only on average stronger than regular pokemon. They aren't much superior.

Since my previous post was deleted I'll say it again: just because a Trainer is strong does NOT mean they aspire to be the best of the best. There's no reason to assume every E4 or Champ will be participating. I certainly can't see Alder doing it, as chill as he is. Diantha might be busy doing movie stuff. Also, casual reminder that Ash beat Brandon once. Out of three battles. In a battle where Brandon didn't even use all three Regis. Also don't forget the time he steamrolled Paul easily when Ash never came close to doing the same. Also, can we please stop with this arbitrary "standards of the PWC" stuff? This just the Alola League all over again.

Nobody is saying every champion will participate. But given how PWC is trying its best to include all regions and how much they are hyping up the pwc, it would be a very good opportunity to Bring back all the regional champions. This would be a very good opportunity to Bring back all the regional champions and to have them go all out. At the same time, Leon is constantly referred to as the World Champion and Strongest Trainer in the World. If they don't bring back the Regional champions, it might simply again Diminish Ash's achievement if he does manage to win or even be ranked second in the master class. I can see a lot of Cynthia fans arguing she is stronger than Leon if we do not see her participate in the league.

It was stated that Paul wasn't focused in the battle and was caught up with his emotions. Plus, we don't really see him use his ace and some of his strongest pokemon against Brandon. Right after that battle, we see Paul absolutely destroy Ash in Lake Acuity.
Ash was possessed and wasn't necessary himself during his first fight with Brandon. In the second fight, he used Torkoal which is one of his weaker Pokemon and it has such a poor battling record, yet in managed to Bring his Registeel down to its knees.

But all of that is irrelevant. The PWC is supposed to show Ash's growth as a trainer by finally Bringing him to an Elite four tier/ Regional Champion tier trainer. Having him battle a trainer he's already been in the highest class would just take away the amount of effort they've put in so far.

I mean, they already brought back Lance who is absurdly strong and had him lose against Leon. So this gives them more than enough reason to Bring back elite four members and regional champions.
Wouldn't you rather see Ash battle a Regional Champion or An Elite four while in the highest class instead of battling someone he's already beaten?

 

[Leonhart]

Virgil seems to have been inserted into the anime to try and save the writing of the BW episode which did lose some quality after the tsunami and the Rocket vs Plasma two parter was axed and the rest of the series had to be rewritten given that mini arc was going to be a major plot point for the finale of BW. Everything started to become a total mess and fall apart around Driftveil. The writers tried so hard to restart the momentum the beginning of BW had and you could see the difference by then.

But what improvement did Virgil's character bring to the series? He was mostly a promotional tool for the Eievui line when he debuted, and even when he competed in the Isshu League Higaki Conference, he served more as an obstacle for Kotetsu than he did for Satoshi since he never battled the latter there but did defeat the former. Then there was his role in the Genesect movie prologue, although it was rather forgettable from my perspective.

I just question if he really was such an integral character considering that the Isshu League would've been almost the same even without him since any COTD or Dino could've won the tournament in his place. Him returning now for the World Championship isn't impossible, but to me it would be out of left field.

 

[ImBeVillain]

see my new video about Marnie.

 

[CMButch]

Since my previous post was deleted I'll say it again: just because a Trainer is strong does NOT mean they aspire to be the best of the best. There's no reason to assume every E4 or Champ will be participating.

Agreed, just because ideally or realistically Champions and E4 since they're the strongest would appear in Top 8 , that doesn't mean they would even participate in an event. Like you said maybe they have their own problems or other stuff. Maybe their ideas are different. Diantha probably doesn't wanna be the strongest trainer and she's fine with being Kalos Champion doing movie stuff etc.
Heck even if per say in Top 8 Flint is in it and Cynthia is not that doesn't mean Flint is stronger than Cynthia, that means Cynthia simply didn't want to participate because she was building something in Unova per say.

 

[Kazuniya]

I hope at least one of the eight is a returning character from the past, someone like Paul, for example.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

But what improvement did Virgil's character bring to the series? He was mostly a promotional tool for the Eievui line when he debuted, and even when he competed in the Isshu League Higaki Conference, he served more as an obstacle for Kotetsu than he did for Satoshi since he never battled the latter there but did defeat the former. Then there was his role in the Genesect movie prologue, although it was rather forgettable from my perspective.

I just question if he really was such an integral character considering that the Isshu League would've been almost the same even without him since any COTD or Dino could've won the tournament in his place. Him returning now for the World Championship isn't impossible, but to me it would be out of left field.

Well Virgil took out Cameron who had the most undeserved League win ever so that gives him a ton of points in my book. Ash may have defeated Virgil once but he did have an interesting character and backstory to him which every other character introduced after the tsunami and reworking of the BW series, minus the ones seen in the games, were lacking. Virgil is the only one that people seem to remember other than Cameron. Alexa doesn’t quite count as she was more of a XY character and Kalos is where she truly belongs. In BW she was just a promotional character for the next series and she had far more importance in her home region than she did in Unova.

 

[Dragonsoldier77]

Well Virgil took out Cameron who had the most undeserved League win ever so that gives him a ton of points in my book. Ash may have defeated Virgil once but he did have an interesting character and backstory to him which every other character introduced after the tsunami and reworking of the BW series, minus the ones seen in the games, were lacking. Virgil is the only one that people seem to remember other than Cameron. Alexa doesn’t quite count as she was more of a XY character and Kalos is where she truly belongs. In BW she was just a promotional character for the next series and she had far more importance in her home region than she did in Unova.

People remember virgil?

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

People remember virgil?

Ok, who's this Virgil everyone keeps talking about?

 

[Mr. Reloaded]

Ok, who's this Virgil everyone keeps talking about?

The Eevee guy who won the Unova leauge.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

The Eevee guy who won the Unova leauge.

Sounds made up

 

[ShadowForce720]

Sounds made up

It’s not, he is real character and he won Unova League using a team of Eevee and it’s Eeveelutions. He also beat Cameron after Cameron had beaten Ash.

 

[PsychoLogical]

It’s not, he is real character and he won Unova League using a team of Eevee and it’s Eeveelutions. He also beat Cameron after Cameron had beaten Ash.

Sarcasm.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

It’s not, he is real character and he won Unova League using a team of Eevee and it’s Eeveelutions. He also beat Cameron after Cameron had beaten Ash.

Oh I know, it just sounds really silly imagining Virgil doing all of that with something like a Flareon.

 

[Leonhart]

I hope at least one of the eight is a returning character from the past, someone like Paul, for example.

He would make the most sense from my viewpoint given his competitive streak and overall popularity. Assuming that we get D/P remakes in the next few years, his return could be used as indirect Gen IV promo, or at least as a DP saga reminder.

 

[RileyXY1]

He would make the most sense from my viewpoint given his competitive streak and overall popularity. Assuming that we get D/P remakes in the next few years, his return could be used as indirect Gen IV promo, or at least as a DP saga reminder.

I think that role will actually go to Barry, not only is he from the games (so far, they have only brought back characters from the games), but his Japanese VA is on the cast of Journeys as the VA for Raihan.

 

[Eddieursa]

We have already talked about this topic, and I think the answer is obvious about who are the members of the Master Class. Essentially, they are all the Champions from each of the previous Regions visited in each Generation. Of course, there are some exceptions. So, let's see who are the candidates I see:

1º) Leon, the Champion of Galar. (Confirmed)
2º) Raihan, Leon's main rival and Galar's Dragon Gym Leader. (Confirmed)
3º) Lance, potentially the champion of both Kanto and Johto. (Confirmed)
4º) Steven, the Champion of Hoenn.
5º) Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh.
6º) Alder, the Champion of Unova. [No way Iris can become Champion in the Ainme]
7º) Diantha, the Champion of Kalos.

All of them deserve to be at the top, and if Ash reach this, it means the eight member should be removed to leave its place for Ash. And Ash could be in this Class as the first Champion of Alola, even if he comes from Kanto. So, who could be the last member that would lose to Ash so he can enter the Master Class? I only see one candidate: Giovanni, secret leader of Team Rocket and self proclaimed the Self-Proclaimed Strongest Trainer. It would be appropiated for Giovanni to be here, and for Ash to remove him from the place. (Not to mention to publically unmasks him as leader of Team Rocket and being desqualified). So:

8º) Giovanni, secret leader of Team Rocket.

And that's it, that's the 8 members.