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I can't put Cynthia anywhere below the top 2. I think the series has done a good job of showing she's unquestionably powerful. And she doesn't seem like the type to let the rest of her team slack off. I do find it weird that she has shown a Gastrodon and not a Milotic, though. I'm also a bit disappointed that Ash didn't bring his ultimate team, as well. I know the Journeys team has done well so far, but it's his previous teams that built that reputation to begin with. And I'd like to see what Pikachu, Charizard, Infernape, Greninja, Sceptile, and Snorlax/Krookodile/Lucario could do together.

I wish Tobias was part of the Masters 8 so I can see his 4 other Pokémon.

We got robbed of a good showing of Leon's power against Alain. I expect him to lose but the writers made Alain look a complete scrub. In fact it felt like we were watching Pokemon game tournament.

Personally, I believe Leon’s battles have definitely shown his skill as a trainer He’s the one trainer constantly changes Movesets to get the edge over his opponents, in his few battles we’ve seen him completely outsmart every opponent he’s come across, and he’s been completely undefeated in his entire career. I really wish Journeys had made Leon a far more involved character in the story, even though he’s returned far more than other characters, his presence in the story feels very lacking. I’m happy with what we’ve seen him do, but it can still be better.

We have seen so little of Diantha but I have a feeling she is going to impress us all Team Diantha! 💅

This Arc has potential to both be good and bad at the same time... I can see the writers rushing just to get to the Ash vs. Leon showdown with not much character development before that. Although, with Cynthia there, the potential is there...

Even though we don't see it onscreen, the only reason I give Leon some credit is that despite Alain having onscreen experience going up against numerous Megas and Legendary Pokemon; Leon seems to battle and WIN against trainers who are Elite 4 and Champion level on a seemingly 'regular' basis.

I agree that Leon having plot armour feels really bad and too obvious. Many wanted to see Tobias return but since he not had any real plot beyond beating Ash, he'd feel a bit akward tbh. What annoyed me the most is just how easily Alain was beaten and that even his ace, his mega Charizard just was so fast and easily downed. The rest is a fair mix and I'm already eager to see how it will end. Because if Ash wins this tournament... What next?

Well I hope by now there is some respect for Diantha. She showcased great strategy in her battle- even the other champions admired it. She’s clearly a lot more stronger than the Kalos episode let on. Definitely stronger than other members of this masters 8

Leon isn’t a bad person or character, but his problem is that he’s a predictable Mary sue. We know he won’t lose until Ash’s battle, and even then his power doesn’t fully feel deserved. This is what the other characters have, and make them fan-favorites, even newer characters like Diantha and Alain.

Diana has a full schedule, cuz she's an actress, and champion so the fact that she made it that far in the masters 8 is kinda of impressive, and I feel like your kinda underestimating ash Greninja a little.

I would definitely put diantha above iris for sure, reasons being that she is more experienced and has mega evolution.

I always felt like Leon's status in Journeys was unearned and cheap. What I mean by this is that his reputations as the undefeatable champion feels underserved when he has so little built up. Leon was only introduced in this series yet he is touted as the best champion of them all. That feels undeserving when we have seen other characters like Cynthia, Steven, Lance, etc have had much more build-up over several more years yet they are relegated to lower ranks. Built-up up your character is just good story telling. If you give a character a high level of importance with little build up (ex: Leon) but another character a comparatively lower level of importance with greater build up (ex: Cynthia) people are not going to be happy. It makes it feel like the former character does not deserve their status while later character desires a better status but doesn't get it. It feels like an injustice. And I'm going to use Cynthia as a chief example here because though her you can really see why Leon's status in Journeys as the big boss feels really contrived and unsatisfying. Cynthia was introduced 15 years ago as an unbeatable champion and has had much more screen time to back it up. She has appeared in dozens of episodes across Dimond and Pearl, Black and White AND Journeys. She has appeared in far more episodes than Leon, has a far greater history, and far more examples of her battle prowess being shown. Additionally, it was established 15 years ago that Ash directly aspired to battle and beat her. Defeating Cynthia was part of his dream to become a Pokemon Master and the series showed this. That's why it feels extremely cheap for Leon to show up out of nowhere in Journeys and suddenly be framed as Ash's top goal. His importance, foreshadowing, and history with Ash pales in comparison to Cynthia's yet the story still expects us to treat him as a bigger deal than Cynthia. In fact, Cynthia might have had more appearances in Journeys than Leon did which is to say nothing of her appearance in the older series. That just feels unsatisfying to the audience because it makes Leon's status feel unearned and contrived. And look, I know real life reason why the show frames Leon as Ash's final goal, because it wants to promote the Sword and Shield games. But a real life explanation does not justify bad writing in the story itself. Frankly, I just don't think there was anything the show could have done to make Leon seem like more of a threat than someone like Cynthia because she was established so much easier and earned the respect of the audience that much earlier. Try as they might, Leon just can't compete with 15 years of history, build-up, and foreshadowing. Which is why the show should not have even tired. By all means, make Leon a threat, make him a big deal. But don't make it so he's the final boss of the Pokemon anime. Give that honor to characters like Cynthia, Alain, Lance, Steven, etc who are far more deserving because the anime built them up more for longer. That way Pokemon can have it both ways, Leon gets lots of screentime to promote the new games but the story feels more satisfying because Ash has to defeat better built up and more iconic characters to win. Frankly, I think make a character like Cynthia be the faint boss would have actually made more sense from a meta perspective too since the Diamond and Pearl remakes has only just came out. What better way to get kids into the most recent games than by giving the Champion of those games the most screentime and stats as the best in trainer in the world?

Well it’s true, Ash and Greninja were so close to beating Diantha, that would’ve been the first time Ash defeated a champion from a region but after passing out the win didn’t happen on his end. Cynthia is definitely one of the strongest champions out of the others, she’s never lost a battle once. For Iris, she really gotten stronger over the years since she left the anime for almost a decade, her Dragonite still as tough as ever and her Axew finally evolving. And Lance has some pretty powerful Pokémon too, Dragonite, the red gyrados he caught in the Jotho saga and still has it till this day. I remember about how he used to work for the Pokémon G-Men, a police like organization. His Dragonite knows hyper beam.

Steven Stones truly deserves his spot in the Bronze place. I don't know why people do this to the gentleman when he almost beat Alain. This guy is a powerhouse.

I hope to see Diantha do well so she gets some spotlight (eventually losing to Leon). I do understand people bringing up that she almost lost to Greninja but that battle was more to help figure the bond phenomena out and unlike Alain who's seen it multiple times, it was a first time for Diantha, champion or not, I imagine it would be difficult in universe to counter something that new. Lance honestly is fine, he went from second place to 4th which even tho is a drop down, still means he is strong but doesn't have what it takes to be the best but still deserves all the respect he can get. Iris to me personally seems like the weakest link, not disrespecting her, she's defo a strong trainer but honestly as a champion we have only seen. her fight once with Ash. On that level we have seen Lance and the others do more. Yes Diantha almost lost to Ash his strongest pokemon while a new phenomena popped up, while Iris just lost to Ash, so I feel likes it's a bit unfair to put her above Diantha. Steven always seemed like a strong trainer and defo no push over but I do wish he had more on screen battles. It was nice to see him return in XY but it defo should have given him one more battle to establish him a bit more. Alain has defo proven himself to be strong BUT, also has a similar issue to me as you have with Cynthia. Cynthia was able to sweep Paul with just a single pokemon, she didn't need the rest. And the other times she used her other pokemon they never got to show their power while Alain suffers from a similar issue in a different way, his Charizard is the only pokemon that really got any spotlight, and the rest all had 1 battle which is still something BUT it still is clear his charizard when compared to his other pokemon are in different leagues just like Cynthia's pokemon, but at least her ace imo is an even higher league than Alain's charizard. And while I do agree giving Leon his own mini series would have been amazing to show him off, on the other side, his whole arc revolves around him being so good that none of the battles he has truly excite him as they used to where he worries he never will find someone that can match him so a series with him would just be him taking W's all the time while with Alain we saw his ups and downs.

You did bring up a good point about Cynthia only really having Garchomp as an ultra powerhouse. Garchomp isn't going down anytime soon during a battle but I feel like Cynthia would be in a bit of a pickle if it ever did.

I always thought it was cool how they brought back that specific trait Anabel shared with her pokemon being able to command them through telepathy or just quick glances through Diantha but seeing as how her ace almost got beaten only being saved by a timer from a unperfected form made me quite dissapointed, but still hoping to see her redeemed as her fight with lance closes in. (I would have honestly thought Irys and Diantha were on the same level but hopefully we get to see her adapt quickly thanks to her dragon training and battle experience through watching ash's fights) And nice list/ranking!

correct ranking based on consistent feats with no plot armor or nerf: 1. ash (with greninja) 2. alain 3. steven 4. diantha 5. leon 6. cynthia 7. lance 8. iris

Holy shoot, you have Alain way higher than I would've, and Alain's my favorite character. Personally, I'd have him below or equal to Cynthia, and I'd have Iris lower or equal to Diantha or Lance

Update on this Leon/Cynthia/Ash/Steven/Diantha/Alain/Lance/iris this would be the updated ranking list from strongest to weakest

I feel like the problem with Leon is his status as the undefeated champion and the strongest. now there's nothing wrong with that, he's DEFINITELY proven he has earned his spot as the monarch by constantly preparing his charizard's moveset to check/counter his opponents. The closest we've seen him struggle is against Alain, who was the first to knock out any one of his Pokemon - though the fight was WAY too short and deserved its own episode like the rest of the first round is getting. The first half of the episode was one of the best introductions we've gotten to a tournament. Then the battle half happened. The result was fine, how we got there was not.

Single round robin should be the battle format followed to have a better ranking of the Master 8

I think the M8 trainers rankings are pretty interchangeable considering the strength of the trainers, trainer battle styles and the potential Pokemon match ups. I think the final standings of this season was pretty fair although Iris and Ash at 7 and 8 respectively could potentially move up some spots considering they haven’t been in the M8 for very long. Also, at championship level, the small details will matter especially considering all the trainers are very strong. Leon’s Charizard for example just seems to be able to have incredible reaction time; you can totally see this against Alain’s Charizard/malamar and also Flint’s infernape. Diantha seems quite middly. Her mega Gardevoir poses a few issues to quite a few of the trainers in M8. However, Steven and Cynthia seem like top 4 trainers more so because their aces are just simply so so powerful. Alain could potentially move up however he’s suffering from simply having a ‘one man team’. His bisharp was amazing (we’ve not seen it since the Kalos League finals) but he needs to build a stronger group of 3. Finally, Lance looks powerful as well… he would also give anyone problems in any given battle. I think #4 spot his perfect for him.

Leon's Charizard was able to get the upper hand against Eternatus. And that's without the ability to G-Max. In comparison, Alain's Mega Charizard was able to combat Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon, but was ultimately bested by both of them.

Everyone just underestimating diantha. For the record, she was just observing ash greninja back then. She was just spamming shadow ball but heck she could just moonblast that greninja. And also, she is still the kalos champion hence alain lost to her after the privilege to challenge the elite 4 when he won the kalos league

Prior to the tournament, here was what I thought about the Masters 8 rankings: 1. Leon 2. Cynthia 3. Steven Stone 4. Lance 5. Ash 6. Diantha 7. Alain 8. Iris Basically, Ash enters ranked 5th instead of 8th I guess…

This could just be my Iris and Diantha biase speaking I feel like she actually let ash win because she was helping dragonite towards the end just so it can have fun battling. Same thing towards Diantha in the fight with her and ash I personally feel that Diantha was just testing the waters with ash greninja giving with the information she was told by Olympia too see this new type of power for herself. I can tell she panicked in her fight at the end but personally if she wanted to win a moonblast would’ve done the trick.

I don't accept Diantha as weak so far. And it's mainly due to the fact I feel like people can't separate video games Diantha and anime Diantha.

Man I hate how XYZ nerfed their own champion for the sake to show Greninja's plot armor. She should have one shot Ash so hard he would cry. 1:00

I personally think that the Masters’ 8 is ranked perfectly as it is. Having Ash at the bottom is a perfect way to set him up as the tournament’s underdog. Iris at 7 makes sense because she fairly recently lost to Ash when she was ranked 99th, so she wouldn’t have really had the time to raise above rank 7. She’s also only been a champion for presumably a short amount of time, so having her ranked low is reasonable. Alain has been portrayed as the strongest non-champion in the anime. He’s been this strong since his introduction in XY. Having him ranked above Iris makes sense because Iris hasn’t been extremely strong as long as Alain has, and having him ranked below Diantha is perfect because he’s not the champion of Kalos but he did win the Pokémon League there. Diantha has been shown to be a champion level trainer in XY, but she’s never felt as untouchable as Cynthia or Steven. Lance also hasn’t been shown to be as untouchable as Cynthia or Steven, but he did make the finals of the previous Masters’ 8 tournament, so his placement at rank 4 is reasonable. Steven is a fan favorite champion in the games, likely second to only Cynthia. His spot right below her is reasonable. Also, he was shown to be a powerful force in the XY side series. Cynthia can’t be #1 because of the way this series is structured (with Leon being this untouchable figure), so having her at #2 is perfect as she’s always been shown to be the strongest trainer in the show. The series has shown Leon to be this untouchable monarch prodigy. Ash’s entire motivation for entering the World Coronation Series is to defeat Leon since Ash wants to beat the most powerful trainers. Given the narrative, having Leon at #1 is a given. Also, Leon is shown to be a beloved, talented trainer in his home region in Pokemon Sword/Shield. He’s likely the most popular champion when just considering each champion’s home region. Having him be the host/entertainer/man to beat makes sense, especially since the Masters’ 8 tournament is in Galar.

Love your content! Still breaks my heart on the lack of love for sceptile! But keep up the good work!

Dragons, dragons, dragons everywhere ! Anybody with a fairy pokemon will have an hedge. Diantha might still surprise us ! Thank you for all your work.

I think Diantha is the best❤

I remember when i first saw you channel over a year ago and i knew you were gonna blow up, and your videos always improve

Diantha has beaten Lance in a really interesting way. With the typical Smogon Gourgeist: Trick-or-treat, Shadow sneak and Phantom force.

i personally dont think alain should be that high.

How is lance stronger then Diantha she beat him

Honestly, I agree on most of it, but I would say that even tho he was portraied as powerful trainer Alain shouldn’t be the second best (he clearly didn’t even defeat Diantha as she is still a champion of Kalos, if he even tried to take her title) and Iris above other champions (don’t get me wrong I like her more now than in BW series but we never even seen her winning against some powerful trainers to just say, yep she is now defenetly a champion and can go 1 v 1 against these masters with experiences-even Ash although same age as her has much more battle experiences to be truely consider a champ). So in my opinion it should be like this: 8. Iris 7. Alain 6. Diantha 5. Lance 4. Steven 3. Ash 2. Leon 1. Cynthia I know it doesn’t even match the anime (by Leon being second and not the first) but I just don’t see him as the most powerful Among all the champions (the problem with him is his massive plot armor, becose he didn’t do much against a Legendary pokemon yet he one shoted Alain’s Mega Charizard X), in Cynthia’s case we at least see her more often and actually even put a pretty good fight against some of the most powerful legends like Dialga and Palkia and yes her other pokemons aren’t as powerful threat as Garchomp but let’s be honest all champions have ace that is OP and their other pokemons are not as powerful, but even with that her Garchomp took Paul’s entire team in seconds (yes he was still a noob in that point but still), put a good fight with legends and if we consider that Tobias went after her title when he anihilated the Sinnoh league we can safely say she was even able to destroy his Darkrai, Latios and other pokemons becose she is still a champion of Sinnoh (IF Tobias tried to get her title). But that is just my view on these guys, to me Leon is just not the most powerful and in anime he is just becose of stupid plot armor, but it’s just my opinion.

I really wish this would have been a top 16 instead of a top 8. Then they could add Tobias, Brandon, Paul, Alder etc.

They did my boy Alain so dirty by having him lose to Leon in such a short battle smh.

personally, if the show replaced Alain for Tobias, i feel like it would have been more satisfying for Leon to win, while also giving the audience redemption for having Tobias come out of no where to beat Ash. they could have gave alain a “paul like” encounter and have him further help Ash with his training bc Alain was never a fighter anyways, he only fought when he felt he was doing it for the right reasons. Also seeing leon best darkri and latios and getting to see tobias’ third pokemon would have been extremely satisfying

Too bad we don't get to see alder, I always love the fact that he is a champion whose main pokemon is a normal type (buffalant) plus I want to see him use his volcarona or braviary in battle. In the series, I love that he seems to act like an idiot most of the time but deep inside he is actually very wise. Which Is why he is one of my favorite champion.

Since the masters 8 is done you should do a video on ranking all the Pokémon from the tournament from strongest to weakest!!

I wish the writers could have demo leon's strength by matching him up with iris. While alain fights diantha so the both of them could fight in the semi finals and atleast push leon into gmax. That would be better for everyone

bro might just be the no2 alain lover (im no.1...)

I would like to see Ash using his aces pokemon in the final battle with Leon (Pikachu, Sceptile, Infernape, Lucario, Greninja, Charizard, Snorlax, Incineroar)

Lucky Cameron didn't make it to the Masters 8. He'd take the first 7 slots before Leon

I honestly really wished that since Lance was in the master’s 8 they should’ve had Ash and Lance battle instead of steven just because if it’s ash’s last big run seeing him battle and defeat Lance would’ve made up his losses in both the Kanto and Johto league I feel it would’ve been more epic to see him and Lance going at it

I hope this video reaches to all those at The Pokémon Company. This is how things should be.

So who’s here after Diantha Beat Lance😅

Cynthia wears Black because she's the one who buries you at your funeral.

Great video. Can't wait for this arc. You can and will accomplish your goal. More videos from you will be great.

This was a nice list and a awesome vid as usual 👍

What if Cynthia took in Chimchar instead of Ash?

Why do you think Greninja nearly beat Mega Gardevoir? She fell once. How does that mean she nearly lost? She didn't even use a super effective Moonblast which suggests Diantha was holding back to test Ash

Great video Alex , it would be awesome to see Cynthia put in some work ! let’s just hope they do her justice

Iris over Lance definitely caught me off guard! But I'll always take Alain support so it balances out. 😉 Great Video!

Super insulted by Ash using the "only this season" team rule when it's literally the final battle to be top in the world. Especially since he didn't even do a League challenge! He was just screwing around wherever in Journeys. Dracovish being in his ultimate team is disturbing, insulting, and mindmelting.

I think if you put Iris at the bottom, Lance after Iris, and Diantha above Lance then it’d work well. You sold me in with the way you described Ash’s journey to become a Pokémon Master, he sure caught a plethora of Pokémon.

I get that Alain is awesome. But Leon is a totally different level... 😊

I would have loved to see tobais vs leon in the final

2:03 AND EMOLGA!

Journeys' lack of exposure towards Leon's strength makes it hard for me to believe that he's is supposedly stronger than Cynthia. Or maybe I'm just biased because we've known her longer idk

Bet you are now eating ur words now that diantha defeated lance

I feel Cynthia and Ash would face in the semi-finals and Leon would probably win or tie with Ash, as I feel the series has another way of ending Ash's journey. This is because if Ash does win, it would imply he is already way better than all the previous champions and rivals, and kinda ruins the writing for them, as I believe they too should have grown along with Ash. The majority of the video's thoughts on Ash's dream team are agreeable except for Snorlax, I think Sceptile would make a great replacement, as he was not just an iconic Pokemon but the Hoenn region ace.

This is such a cool idea to have all these legendary trainers duking it out. I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

Here's my personal ranking 1 Ash, with Pikachu, Charizard, Infernape, Greninja, Sceptile, and Lucario could definitely defeat Leon 2 Leon, he's the would monarch and beat Alain like it was nothing 3 Cynthia, her Garchomp is properly the 2nd or 3rd single strongest Pokémon in this tournament 4 Lance, he made it to 2nd place last tournament and he's Gyarados lasted longer agents Leon's Charizard than Alain did with he's Charizard 5 Steven, was going to defeat Alain but got interrupted by Lysander and fought agents Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza 6 Alain, his charizard beat Ash Greninja, beat 10 megas in a row, and toe to toe with Steven's Metagross 7 Diantha, was going to lose to a not even mastered Ash Greninja if it wasn't for plot, while Alain beat Ash Greninja 8 Iris, ok here me out ash beat Iris with Dragonite and Dracofish Including her ace Haxorus while Ash Greninja struggled but was going to defeat Diantha and we know Greninja is stronger than Dragonite and Dragofish putting Diantha over Iris

Diantha won 💅💅💅 so your ranking is not exactly true at all

I was about to comment that I think Journeys Ash is still relative to Alain and Leon but then you brought up Ash returning with his aces, and I cannot question the power of Ash's aces XD

People really think that leon was not gonna stomp allan? Ash vs Alian was down to the wire. Why would they introduce the strongest person ash will ever face and have that person have a close match with someone ash almost beat. It would make the stakes so much lower for ash vs leon. I feel like this episode sets up perfect long term storytelling. And I guess Leon could've stomped someone else but then how do you scale him to Ash?

This was just so awesome to watch I really enjoyed it

I was rooting for my mans Steven to be in the semi finals against Leon but since he’s going against Ash i already know hes going to loose but it’s whatever long as the battle is good

Do The Complete SHORT History of Ash's Raticate. Only appear once in Battle Aboard the St. Anne, it's the Pokémon he traded his Butterfree for until trading it back by the end of the episode.

Can you make 'What if Ash won Pokémon Leagues?' videos?

Great channel bro, I'm an 90s kid so I love anything from pokemon to dragonball but I'm not up to date with the pokemon anime but still enjoy your videos and definitely the videos I can relate to. Good luck on the two videos a week

I am really keen to place Cynthia in the first spot but after seeing her fight with iris.. i think ya.. i agree with your ranking.

Thanks for the amazing list

How I think the order should be pre masters tournament. 8th - ash 7th - Alain 6th - iris 5th - diantha 4th - Lance 3rd - steven 2nd - cynthia 1st - leon Which I think is pretty damn close to what they did in the anime if not the same thing. If it the same thing i just wasted like 3 minutes for nothing 😅

2:45 every time you say "giant rock", I have to remind myself you're not joking.

Awesome video professor

I debate that diantha is the weakest trainer in the master's eight she defeated lean's hydragan without Gardevoir dealing damage

I am too hyped up for Daigo vs Satoshi.

If Ash would have used his ultimate team and won in finals it would have been great end for the wait of 22 years !!

We’ll look like this list neededs a recount diantha definitely poven she’s 4 strongest champion

Honestly at this point we need some champions in Smash as playable teams. Like Cynthia, Lance, Diantha, Iris, Leon, or Steven could all add something exciting to the table and this anime arc shows how marketable for Nintendo they really are.

Hasn’t done enough to be Monarch you say? This man hasn’t lost a battle

Who knows who will win while reaching the master class.

“Or first round” Alain got BODIED

That was straight on the money 💰. That was perfectly said!

I didn’t rank Alain as high due to a variety of strength in Pokémon. His charizard was definitely a powerhouse which I was kinda surprised lost quickly. But most of the master 8 have adleast 2-3 Aces

Im so hyped right now!

How we gonna forget our boy Tobias like that

I'm rooting for Steven Stone to win it all, but since he's matched up against Ash his chances look really bleak.

What if Iris wins against Cynthia and Ash wins against Steven? I disagree, Ash should of won against Alain in the Kalos League. People were saying that Ash is not using his old pokemon in the masters 8. His Unova pokemon, Kalos pokemon, and some Johto and Hoenn pokemon could so use these moments to show their development and shine

Great video,I agree with the rating.I still wonder how ash is going to win the masters 8 as his team seems so much more weaker than all the other champions

I know the entire tournament hasn't ended but its precisely dianthas stare command can give her the win since its like Anabel all over again except dialed down a little and that one look says it all sure ash almost beat diantha with unmastered bond but at the same time i don't think diantha was very serious on that fight sure she used mega gard but I think she's pushing ash to the limit to almost have ash master the bond phenomenon. Now when I said can give her the win ain't talking about her beating Leon but its gonna be enough for her to be on par with her opponents.

Can you do James's Ultimate Team? James surprisingly have more Pokémon in his possession then Jessie does. Growlie, Cacnea, Chimecho, Mime Jr., Carnivine, Inkay, Mareanie and Morpeko. Didn't include Yamask or Amoonguss on there since he gave them away to Giovanni, but these are still enough Pokémon to do a solo Ultimate Team video with James.

Another good video professor I hope ash has a battle with Cynthia would be awesome because I remember at The end of diamond and Pearl when she beat flint the announcer asked who could beat her ash said I can