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Old 07-08-2019, 06:06 AM   #26
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I mean the fact that the winner of the league gets an exhibition match against the Masked Royale almost confirms that Ash wins because we all know Torracat has to finally beat Incineroar. My call on how Ash gets there...

Ash > Faba (makes top 8 )
Ash > Hau (episode title confirms and makes top 4)
Ash > Guzma/Gladion not sure on the order of these two tbh but something tells me it will be Guzma in the final since Guzma has mad beef with the professor.
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Old 07-14-2019, 10:43 AM   #27
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Not sure if we need to cover spoilers here, but given this is a league thread, I guess I'll just post some thoughts:

(spoilers if you haven't seen the ep yet)





I actually really liked this ep. Obviously Ash/Faba and Hau/oak were just quick nothing battles, but Faba's fight was kinda funny the way Meltan ate it's pendulum.

But Guzma Vs. Llima was really good, both in terms of strategy and battles. If it had XY animation that battle would have looked even better. I was also impressed by Mallow Vs. Lana, even though Mallow was destined to lose, the writers gave her some nice character moments and Lana's encouragement to make it look like she got something in this league. I was actually thinking Mallow was going to win for a second with the episode giving her the underdog status and showing her past achievements, usually when that happens the character gets a come from behind win. Overall it was nice to give her a sendoff for a character who wasn't going to get much this season.

In fact I'd wager to say Ash is going to be the least interesting part of this league going forward, I'm looking forward to all the character moments from the SM cast and Guzma over him. I honestly don't care how Ash does in this one.
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Old 07-14-2019, 11:28 AM   #28
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Mega Shinka?!

Such a small thing doesn't mean anything to ya boi Guzma.
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Old 07-14-2019, 01:03 PM   #29
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Given Mallow got a nice character moment, I'm sure Lillie will get something similar next week despite her inevitable loss to Gladion. It seems kinda fitting the two "weakest" members of the SM cast lose their first real battles. Lillie and Mallow aren't really battlers in the traditional sense so them going out early was expected, and honestly would have went out during the battle royale if the writers didn't want all the main cast in the "real" part of the tournament.

I guess this generally does prove you can't be just an average battler to get into a league. Alola league had no requirements but even then a lot of the top 16 like Jessie/James especially lucked out making it in over other trainers. Kiawe took out a lot of powerful trainers in the prelims who probably would have made it over Lillie/Mallow and Jessie/James, and probably Alola Oak too.
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Old 07-14-2019, 01:24 PM   #30
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Guzma's battle was remarkable because he basically channeled Paul, which was completely unexpected. Scizor was tanky yeah but that doesn't speak to how Guzma overcame a seemingly impossible situation.

I hope Hidoide evolves next week. I don't think she has a shot against Wobbuffet otherwise.
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Old 07-14-2019, 06:29 PM   #31
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Ilima v. Gumza.

Round I is already pulling out all the stops. I'm disappointed at Shaymin though.

Here's hoping Poipole or Greninja return to wreck some havoc.
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Old 07-15-2019, 06:12 AM   #32
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I find it ironic that if you compare just their first 130 episodes, Lana is already a stronger water pokemon trainer than Misty was in this same timeframe. 130 eps into the OS we were in Orange Islands where Misty was still fiddling around with a Staryu, a Psyduck she couldn't control, and a newly caught Poliwag. Here...Lana has a fully evolved water starter, a Z move, she tamed the legendary Kyorge, beat a totem pokemon, etc. I actually wouldn't mind if they make a special after SM ends with Lana traveled to Cerulean City for a rematch now that she has a fully evolved starter against her Gyarados.

Then again Kiawe is also a powerhouse compared to Brock at the same time. Although to be fair, everyone was terrible at battling in the OS. If you take away the nostalgia you realize Misty and Brock were barely above the level of early rookie Kanto Ash, and while Brock was very knowledgeable about pokemon and attacks, he was quite the poor battler. Pretty much every time we got to see Misty or Brock battle back in the original series, outside a few here and there, it was just to watch them lose. It really took all the way until May was introduced and they brought the Contests into the show to get good battles out of a companion for the first time, and even then there were the few contest wins she got cheaply, although she still had a lot of great ones.

Even though SM isn't about battling, I'd say on average all the SM characters have better battles than Misty/Brock did for practically their entire runs in the show.
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Old 07-29-2019, 03:34 AM   #33
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This isn't a good look for Professor Kukui.



You get an S+ Ash!
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Old 07-29-2019, 05:11 PM   #34
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They're gonna let us all down again and Ash isn't gonna win.
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Old 07-30-2019, 09:55 AM   #35
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The finals is blatantly shaping up to be Ash vs Guzma. I suppose it depends if the writers want to let a “villain” like Guzma win the league. Guzma and Kukui have a history so then getting the final battle makes sense.

Ash is gonna beat Hau and then Gladion in top 4. Gladion was basically the Gary, Paul, Shota of the saga so he’ll be done. So Guzma and Ash will be the finals, normally I’d say Ash could win but Guzma has more story potential to win. If Torracat evolved i’d say it’s be more likely.

There’s also a lot of fans who hope Ash loses this league out of spite because he lost the Kalos league. :p people don’t want Ash to win a “fake” league over the big one. 😂
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Old 07-30-2019, 04:26 PM   #36
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Actually they released new episode titles which all but confirms the semi and grand final. I’ll put in spoiler....

Spoiler: show

Title confirms that Kiawe vs Gladion is one semi so we can assume that Ash vs Guzma is the other. Ash vs Gladion will be the grand final and since Ash hasn’t beaten Gladion yet, he will this time. Remember this isn’t a real league so Ash is allowed to win �� then Ash/Torracat vs Masked Royal/Incineroar in the exhibition because they set that up with the time travel episode.
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Old 07-30-2019, 04:49 PM   #37
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Heh, figures new titles would be revealed immediately after I made that post.

Either way I see a lot of people NOT want Ash to win this league, simply out of spite. Because he lost the Kalos league, because he has all unevolved pokemon and a weak team this gen, because this "isn't a real league," or because weak characters are allowed to enter with no prerequisites like Team Rocket, Lillie, Mallow, Alola Oak,etc.

I imagine the salt will be huge if Ash wins this when all the build-up for the Kalos league went nowhere, or even the Tobias fight back in DP before that.
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Old 07-30-2019, 04:53 PM   #38
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People are saying Ash is going to lose to Guzma in the semis because of the old league formula lasting only 6 or so episodes, but that's early false here. This is going to be the longest league ever.
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Old 07-31-2019, 02:28 PM   #39
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I think a problem is how many characters were just fodder in the league. Alola Oak, Team rocket, Mallow and Lillie all just existed simply to fail. The other trial leaders like Lima, Acerola and Mina were all brought back just to lose their first battle too. Now of course in a tournament you have to have the “fall guys” to lose each round, but it’s so predictable when half the cast that entered is fodder.

Nobody really matters outside of Ash, Guzma and Gladion. Even Kiawe, Lana and Hau who have some importance this league, especially Kiawe who is awesome, are still there just for some extra fights.

I can see why all previous leagues had filler round fights for Ash or just plain skipped over battles and rounds, in the end nothing really matters till we hit the semi-finals. I love the idea of all of Ash’s friends competing in a tournament with him but then you do it in a saga with the least focus on battles and then half the main girls either only have 1 Pokémon or are terrible at battling. So the interest is cut in half. I imagine how high the hype might have been if older characters like Misty/Brock, May, Dawn, Clemont, etc all got to enter when the battles could go either way and had full teams and battle experience.
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Old 07-31-2019, 05:02 PM   #40
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That's basically been true for every league after Hoenn. Characters were so unimportant that the battles were not even shown. The only early beginning-to-end battle we got to see in Kalos was Tierno v. Shota, and then Ash's first battle was against Shota in the semis.

The only real criticism against Alola is that the battles are 1x1, that is kind of boring and risky.
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Old 07-31-2019, 11:47 PM   #41
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We have another title reveal:

Spoiler: show
SM136 - Rising Fire! The Rival is Not Alone!!
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Old 08-01-2019, 01:08 AM   #42
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Spoiler: show
given the episodes placement, it looks like either Kiawe gets over Gladion or it has something to do with Ash’s Torrocat
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Old 08-01-2019, 01:23 AM   #43
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This is going to be the longest league ever and there's an outside shot the episodes spill over into October.

I know a lot of people have complained about the 1x1s, but the rich character drama makes up for it. Technically speaking, the best league from a battle perspective was Hoenn which had like three 6x6 battles. DP, BW, and XY all still wrapped up in 6 episodes.
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Old 08-01-2019, 03:23 AM   #44
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Spoiler: show
The first episode features the conclusion of the Top 8. The second episode features the start of the Semi Finals and the third episode features the battle between Ash and Guzma.
Episode 1077: Everyone's Fully Powered! The Road to the Semifinals!!
Episode 1078: The Semifinals! Kiawe VS Gladion!
Episode 1079: Rising Fire! There's More Than One Rival!!

So this confirms that Ash beats Hau! Yay Rowlet! Such a little powerhouse. I’ll be eager to see if Ash actually does the smart thing and use Torrocat here. The title could just be flavour but I’d like to think it increases the likelihood that he goes with Torrocat here.
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Old 08-01-2019, 04:42 AM   #45
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Assuming 1v1, I think it's going to be:

v. Guzma = Pikachu (or Poipole)
v. Gladion = Lycanroc
v. Masked Royal = Torracat

I understand that Torracat has that rivalry with Incineroar, but I honestly don't think Torracat is a match given what that Incineroar has been able to body. I think God Mode Pikachu would be the only decent match, and I think Kukui feels as much deep down too.

It would be really cool if we had a 6v1 and Incineroar mauls Melmetal, Naganadel, Torracat, Rowlet and Lycanroc. Then he has to battle God Mode Pikachu.
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Old 08-01-2019, 05:09 AM   #46
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Surely we get to see Melmetal at some point. Either post league or Meltan sticks around next gen. The issue with it sticking around next gen would be it’s connection with Rowlet.
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Old 08-01-2019, 05:56 PM   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheKnightsFury View Post
Surely we get to see Melmetal at some point. Either post league or Meltan sticks around next gen. The issue with it sticking around next gen would be it’s connection with Rowlet.
Maybe Meltan going to Galar with Ash could be Rowlet's idea in the first place, it could encourage Meltan to spend more time with their Trainer, get to know him like Rowlet knows him. Dunno how likely this is, but it's a cool idea IMO.

And y'know, since Ash now has a Firium Z, I'm thinking it's pretty likely we see something out of Torracat at some point in the league. I honestly really think Ash has a shot at winning this one, if only because I can really see him using Torracat against the Masked Royal's Incineroar in the exhibition match. Whether he wins or loses that, I got no idea, but I can honest-to-Arceus see him winning this league.

...of course, I was also convinced he was about to win the Kalos League...
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Old 08-02-2019, 11:13 AM   #48
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Ash having no fully evolved starter this time is a shame unless Torracat gets a mid-league evolution. But that’s never happened before with a starter.

His Johto and Unova teams got screwed over with no real powerhouse starter and Alola looks to be the same. Very strange Ash is only allowed to be strong in the sagas he has the main girl from the games traveling with him (May, Dawn and Serena) and the ones without them his team stays mostly unevolved and he’s portrayed as weaker.
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Old 08-02-2019, 05:03 PM   #49
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Unova had Krookodile who is better than any of the Unova starters. I think the bigger issue is Lycanroc is apparently his "ace" of this region, as it is his only fully evolved Pokemon.

Lycanroc has a pretty good battle record in Alola: 6-4 overall and 4-1 in official matches. Sinnoh was the only region where Ash and his rival had the exact same Pokemon, with Paul also owning a Gliscor and Torterra. Even here, Gladion has a different Lycanroc forme, and Lycanroc isn't even his "ace". Silvally and now Zoroark are.

With only two evolved Pokemon on the whole team, it really bugs even if Ash had a 5x5 battle here. I really want to see some evolution excitement.
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Old 08-03-2019, 07:23 AM   #50
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Yeah we either need to see Meltan > Melmetal or Torrocat > Incineroar for me to get behind Ash winning the league. His team just needs to bump up a level. I must say though, I’m enjoying the length of this league. I wish they gave every league this amount of episodes.
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