Ash had decent strategy against Paul, but against Tobias, it got thrown out the window just so he wouldn't beat the league. All he really relied on there was brute force - so I point fingers at D&P for his reset, not BW.
You
could point fingers at DP for it, but that doesn’t mean your argument would stand up to scrutiny.
Ash’s first Pokemon against Tobias’ Darkrai was Heracross, a Bug/Fighting-type Pokemon who carried a natural advantage over it (this is specifically commended by Ash’s friends in the stands). He even had a countermeasure against Darkrai’s move in Sleep Talk - and whether or not you find it “impressive” is beside the point, it was a logical maneuver for Ash to have made that had actually worked in his battle against Nando. Heracross lost because of the strength of Darkrai, a Pokemon that defeated every other league competitor alone. Torkoal didn’t last long enough either way. The one move Gible landed on Darkrai was the super-effective Rock Smash attack, and also had access to a powerful Draco Meteor that Tobias himself stated would have beaten any other Pokemon but Darkrai. Sceptile defeated Darkrai, and then lost to Latios - which was a surprise, and had the advantage of being fresh. Ash’s next Pokemon was Swellow, whose choice was also commended by Brock for its ability to match Latios in the air, but it was defeated because Latios was stronger. Ash’s last Pokemon was Pikachu, and he was able to force Latios to a draw in large part because Ash came up with the idea to make up for Pikachu’s disadvantages by having it latching onto Latios and blasting it. While Ash could have used better Pokemon,
Tobias was the one relying purely on brute force for most of that match while Ash actually made logical moves that would have - and in some cases, actually did - worked with anyone else but the eventual winner of the Sinnoh League.
The funny thing is, Ash vs. Tobias was a 6-on-6 battle crammed into a single 22 minute episode that had no right being as good as it actually was. More thought than I would have expected went into it, and DP clearly leaves off with the impression that Ash lost because Tobias was a stronger trainer, not because Ash was a weak one. Tobias commends the fight Ash gave him and Ash was the only person to defeat two of his Pokemon, no one else in that League - all trainers who received eight Badges - could even take down one. Brock specifically notes Ash’s progress to the semifinals of the tournament for the first time, which is a clear indication by the show that this is his progress - the first time Ash actually made progress in a Pokemon League since
Johto.
Tobias wasn’t a beginning trainer fighting with a Pokemon he just received not five minutes beforehand, but one capable of defeating eight Gym Leaders and all but one (Ash) tournament competitor with a single Pokemon. That Ash lost to him but still gained his respect at the end of the fight speaks volumes about where his strength as a trainer was at the end of the series. AG left off with Ash suffering a one-sided beatdown to Gary and being told he still had to get stronger. DP left off with an Ash who actually did get stronger - in the area that actually counted for something (which was not the Battle Frontier) - and actually came closer to realizing his dream than ever before.
That's why I say he was better in AG/BF - even in Johto, he wasn't stronger, of course, but he was more impressive (to me) because he relied less on moves like Counter shield and more on natural strategy.
How exactly was "Thunder Armor" anymore of a natural strategy than Counter Shield? And how was the Pikachu vs. Regice battle impressive?
) that it looked as if DP was going to be the anime's final series. Perhaps that was what it was going to happen, and perhaps Ash was reset (I'm sorry, I still feel that he was reset) because he wasn't meant to be in BW, as a main character at least. But I don't want to create more speculation.
