Thread: Start of the league

ash is not going to win, but if he loses, i hope it is to a powerful trainer- and not a powerful trainer with legendaries. Someone even better than tyson, for example.

kanto and sinnoh had horrible endings to the leagues. Ash had no business losing to Ritchie- his pokemon were stronger than Ritiches were IMO. And the sinnoh league loss was beyond pathetic.

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

If Ash was set to lose the Unova League in first place then why Writer made him lose all other Tournament ????

Thank you, that is my biggest question as well. To be honest, those tournaments were just to take the place of the Contests that are no longer in the main character quest of the anime. Think about it, if there were no tournaments the Unova series would have ended awhile ago.

It was just to "establish" rivalries for the other 2 main characters, that were pretty much given their own separate episodes when they introduced said rivals.

Either way, Ash made it to the Top 4 last time and honestly if not for Tobias he may have won the whole thing. I don't really think an Eevee trainer would stop Ash from winning though given his current team I still think he can come out on top.

Too bad, don't want to think negatively about the league even though it hasn't started but many of the past times in this series, whenever I would get excited over a battle or tournament it would usually end up to be a flat out disappointment.

Given that we see Ash's past Pokemon in the opening I was hoping that he would use some of them in the tournament considering that more than just Gen 5 Pokemon will be used by the other trainers, however this is just wishful thinking.

Since this is potentially the end of the series for Unova I am hoping that the writers really do some great writing because I know they've got it. They haven't been really using it all that well in this saga that's all...

As for the Trip vs. Ash pictures, I'm sure they are just from later episodes. Even though the Trip "story line" or "rivalry" or whatever you want to call it is all but done. Just have him re challenge the Unova league or Alder like Paul did against Brandon (except that was outside the league).

It would be cool to see Snivy, Scraggy, etc. (the lower evolution forms) have some spotlight in the early matches, but let Ash bring back some of his powerhouses from past leagues into the mix.

However, since he has about 10 Pokemon from Unova this seems rather unlikely. Though, it would be the perfect time to let those reserves we haven't seen in dozens of episodes have legit battles instead of 4 second wins like in the tournament a couple of weeks ago.

Ash got into the finals of two of the Unova tournaments, and only lost the other because of baby Scraggy who did the best he could.

Ash's biggest threat this league is Serperior. His team is not ill-equipped for the others. Even Kotetsu who will likely have a Lucario by league time is most likely going to wind up as the Morrisson of this league.

Hmm...a hyperactive kid met a few episodes before the league with a steel type (future anyway), and a calm older guy with an unevolved first Gen Pokemon as his best Pokemon...where have I seen this before? :P The outcome of the league is even more obvious now.

The Eevee guy doesn't give me a league rival that beats Ash vibe. He may be mature, but it doesn't feel like anything hyped.

Look at the rival summaries, they don't say anything about him that is too special, Bianca is hyped up more as being "much more powerful" than he is.

Ash's biggest rival in this tournament is either Trip or Kotetsu, whichever one the writers plan to have Ash battle second.

Virgil does seem to be the type of character who fits the "older, experienced trainer" archetype. Virgil has been confirmed to compete in the league, and like Harrison and Tyson (who defeated Ash in the Johto and Unova Leagues, respectively), had debuted exactly one episode prior to the start of the league. And as we have observed in most of the past regional competitions, trainers of Virgil's archetype seem to triumph over Ash. I can't say that I am a fan of Virgil's team, but realistically I can see Virgil beating Ash in the league. It isn't confirmed that Ash will be using the pokemon that he caught from his past regional travels (other than Pikachu), and only Ash's Unova team is featured in the league stadium in the opening. Virgil's team of Eeveelutions could be powerful enough to take down a team of pokemon that Ash recently obtained.

Originally Posted by Duckgon Z

and a calm older guy with an unevolved first Gen Pokemon as his best Pokemon...where have I seen this before? :P The outcome of the league is even more obvious now.

Eevee isn't confirmed to be his best Pokemon.

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

Originally Posted by Silktree

Why did they have him lost all 3 of those minor tournaments then?

To establish Iris, Stephan and Trip as powerful trainers in their own right. Ash has already defeated Iris and it is safe to assume that Stephan and Trip are up next, so the fact that those trainers won their respective tournaments is paying off. Unfortunately for Ash, Virgil never got the chance to prove his strength, and even Kotetsu (deliberately) couldn't participate in the Junior Cup.

The writers could make it up to Ash by having him win other tournaments after the league.

Seriously , Only for that !
Its a Stupid reason!
Paul , Conway , Gary, Ursola, May & Nando didn't need to win Major Tournament to establish themself but Ash has lose all Tournament just for that !
If I consider other Anime & Manga then there are rival who have never beaten the protagonist but still manage to establish themself as much better rival then Current Pokemon rival.
And What Ash going to do in Unova after League .
By that time , All Ash's Unova Rival will be lone gone!

Originally Posted by Caseydia

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

It's possible the Serperior Vs. Pikachu image is just a quick warm-up fight before the league. Do you really think Ash Vs. Trip would be the FIRST match of the league? Haha, no.

I am not sure the way the league will play out. On one hand the Eevee trainer seems to be another one of those league rivals, yet as said, I just can't see Ash losing to an all Eevee team with one of those Eeveelutions being glorified over the others.

I don't think so. Trip has been proven to be strong so I don't think he will get knocked out so early. And that goes the same for Ash. I just wish they didn't show us that so soon.

The only thing Trip is proven to be is ''Writer's Love Child'' !
Ya , He lose 2 Tournament But if you see what Writer planning for him then those 2 Tournament defect is nothing !
Does writer planning anything like that for Ash in Future ?
I bet , Writer let Trip to be defected in 1st round of Two Tournament in order get people's Sympathy .
They probably Give Trip a back-story with Alder for similar reason .
They were planning Junior Cup for Trip from the first first and thats why they gave Trip 2 Tournament defect in row & a backstory with Alder to make sure some fan feel petty for him and support him!
Or,
They might give Trip Junior Cup with flawless victory because they were planning to knock Trip early in Unova League conference So his fan doesn't Complain and say anything like ''Writer treat Trip poorly '' Or Writer mistreated Trip !

The Writer's love child? Don't you think that's a bit weird? I don't know if this all will mean he will be knocked out early but what about the other rivals? Suppose someone else beats Ash in the league? Will they be in the same boat? If Bianca would have won the first Don tournament or if Ash won first, would that mean that Trip won't get as far?

I think his win in a Junior Cup won't determine his position in the league. Nor will it determine that Ash will even win the league.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by Five-Gate Omega

Especially considering Harrison,Tyson,Ritchie,and Tobias were either introuced at the start of the league or during the league. Both Kotetsu and Eevee-dude were introduced in standalone episodes as far as we know.

But Virgil's episode is apparently going to be immediately followed by the league. Likewise, Harrison was introduced in the episode just before the start of the Johto League. Granted, the episode tied into the torch ceremony at the end, but most of it was about Sneasel and Harrison. Besides, if the Sinnoh League is any indication, there won't be a plot about the torch this time.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

Even though he may not battle all of them, just like he didn't battle Barry, he still has had 5 rivals in both. I don't really see them introducing ANOTHER guy after this, when they already just introduced two last-minute league rivals.

You do realize that Ash needs to defeat at least six opponents in order to win the league, right? I can't imagine that there will be fewer than 64 participants.

We don't know exactly wat episode Virgil will be introduced but i think he will be introduced in episdode 99 the episode before the whole Drayen and Iris schtick which definately takes place before the league. At least that is what im guessing.

I don't think three one on one tournaments are any guide to how well or badly Ash would perform - the only decent battles in this series have been a handful of the Gyms - everything else was either skewed through a mid battle evolution or were simply too short to actually get an impression of Ash's Unova Pokemon's strength level.

It's part of the reason the battle against Roxie annoyed me so much - right up until now that is still his most recent proper battle, yet he showed he was only barely capable of winning despite a massive numbers advantage.

The only real trainer battles we've seen were in BW010 and BW031 against Trip - by the time of the league we'll be near on 70 episodes since Ash actually took on a trainer in a battle of a decent length, on his own.

The issue is similar with his opponents - Bianca and Stephan both don't have full teams shown - and therefore seem very reliant for wins on only one of their Pokemon. Indeed Trip's problem is the same as Ash's - they both bothered to train more than one or two Pokemon, and as such lost in one on one tournaments against people who relied to heavily on one. Totally skewing the results. Trip seemed to learn from this for the Junior Cup, he focused on Serperior and was successful.

The description seems to hint that Bianca at least has worked on that - but in the other Pokemon Leagues, the early rounds are shorter than the latter ones. I'd be surprised if Bianca managed to get a full set of 6 or more Pokemon up to the standard of her Emboar in the episodes since we last saw her.

All of the above combined mean that this is not only one of the least exciting leagues, it's totally unpredictable, we have no idea at all of any of the competitor's real strength levels.

I consider the Roxie battle to be the conservation of ninjutsu Tvtropes in action. Ash really only needed Pikachu, pignite, and Leavanny to win but they had to stretch out the episode for a full hour and they were probably too lazy to make it a 6v6.

We just watched Ash take out an all-powerful Dragonite that is arguably stronger than anything his current rivals have besides Serperior.

Seriously, Ash will do fine.

Most of the pre-league tournaments like Tag Battle were just to provide character developement. These tournaments were to provide rivals' with Pokémon and it takes the place of contests.

I would be annoyed if Virgil or Bianca won it. I can't even imagine what Bianca's full battle team's going to look like. Virgil's team of Eeveelutions could not beat even Ash's current team. I love the idea, but the team has no balance. He will definitely make it through to the full battles in my opinion.


If Kotetsu wins I won't be too disappointed, but I agree, I think that he will be the Morrison.

Originally Posted by AlphaMouse

Virgil's team of Eeveelutions could not beat even Ash's current team. I love the idea, but the team has no balance.

How does a team consisting of different types lack balance? They have different attributes and moves, as well.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by AlphaMouse

Virgil's team of Eeveelutions could not beat even Ash's current team. I love the idea, but the team has no balance.

How does a team consisting of different types lack balance? They have different attributes and moves, as well.

It is balanced in terms of types, but in the anime Eeveelutions are generally portrayed as fast Pokémon with low defense. Ergo, Virgil's team will just have that sort of Pokémon, and a few tanks like Boldore could take it down.