SwSh How does the Galar League work?

[SerenaToAlola]

This may be old news but I just finished the game and I've been wondering how does the Galar League work?

They've mentioned that there are 18 gyms and there's a minor league and a major league. And from the game, we know that you need an endorsement to take part in the major league Gym Challenge, and that if you beat all 8 gyms, you can take part in the Champions Cup, whereby the major league Gym Leaders are finalists. From them on, you can fight against Leon.

TLDR: Endorsement > Gym Challenge > Qualifying matches for Champions Cup amongst successful Gym Challengers > Champions Cup between major league Gym Leaders and Gym Challenge winner > Championship Match

So now I'm assuming that without an endorsement, you can only take part in the minor league. But what do you get from participating in that league? Do you get to become a minor league gym leader? If you win the minor league, is there a tournament for you to join the major league?

Also, what happens to Leon now that he is not the Champion? Would he have to take part in the Gym Challenge again?

 

[Esserise]

There is of course no "true" answer because the games don't really go into the mechanics of the minor league, saying only that those are the Gym Leaders who weren't strong enough to qualify for a spot in the major league. So however you want it to work in your head is fine.

Personally...

I like your idea that the minor league is open to Trainers without an endorsement. Keeping in mind that endorsements are not exclusively a matter of highly respected figures recognizing talent in select individuals, but can also take the form of corporate sponsorships, this makes sense to me - the business sector of the Galar region has clearly sunk its claws into the major league and transformed it in part into a platform for mass advertisement. So where do the Trainers who can't get the hookup go to participate in some formal battling action? But because of the inherent "weakness" of the minor league in comparison to the major league (with it being composed of the Gym Leaders who lost the qualifying matches against the Top 8), there is not nearly as much glory and prestige awarded by winning the minor league. Though I would imagine that many of the people who do well in the minor league might have an easier time negotiating endorsements for the next year's major league season.

Might be worth noting that Klara/Avery are explicitly training to become a Poison-/Psychic-type Gym Leader which are currently minor league types. Avery in particular provides an interesting detail, since his League Card establishes that every Psychic-type Gym Leader in Galar's history has come from Avery's bloodline, and Avery himself is seen as something of a disappointment by the rest of them because he lacks prowess with his own psychic powers. Meanwhile, Klara is said to have trained at the Poison-type Gym in hopes of becoming a Gym Leader, but dropped out when it proved more difficult than she'd expected. (Her League Card also says that part of the reason why she chose to specialize in Poison types was because there was "less competition." So maybe it's not a very popular type?) All of this leads me to believe that you have to first become a minor league Gym Leader before you can even think about maybe becoming a major league Gym Leader.

Also, I wonder if Dynamax is allowed within the minor league? Do they have huge stadiums too? My instinct says probably not, so no.

I also wonder about the structure of the minor league, since it has to cover 10 types as opposed to 8. Maybe you only have to win 8 out of 10 minor league Badges to participate in whatever the minor league's finals are, kind of like those times in the anime where we see someone with different Badges than the ones that are earned in the games. They must be challenging unseen Gyms that Ash never encounters.

> Also, what happens to Leon now that he is not the Champion? Would he have to take part in the Gym Challenge again?

My gut sense is that someone who has been Champion once cannot hold the title again. Obviously they can still take part in exhibition matches against the Champion, as that's what the post-game tournaments are (as well as the battle between Raihan and Leon in the opening scene), but I like to think that there is a tradition of accepting that your run as Champion was your spot in the history books, no do-overs. But that's just my interpretation - I'm sure one could just as easily imagine a former Champion being able to invoke some special challenge clause against a sitting Champion for the title. I don't think it would make sense, though, for a former Champion to have to go through the Gym Challenge again, because a former Champion is going to be incredibly strong and would steamroll the rest of the competition unless there were strict limitations in place on what Pokémon they could use. But even then, they'd still have scads of experience compared to Trainers who are just starting out... but then again, Gym Challenger Theemin looks quite old, so he probably has a lot of experience, and yet he can still participate in the annual challenge.

(Incidentally, I would love to have a second round of Galar games that focus on the minor league. It is a far more intriguing prospect to me than any of the remake options that are on the table.)

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

I hope that the Minor League will be explored.

 

[Emmy]

As Esserise mentioned, we can only offer our inferences as there is only vague references to the Minor League.

Assuming that Trainers are allowed to challenge the Minor League, I imagine that beating them earns you an Endorsement from the final Minor Gym Leader, otherwise I wouldn't see the point of participating. Of course the Minor League may just be there to make sure the Gym Leaders don't get complacent and have to fight for the privilege of the Champion Cup since there's more that don't take part than do.

As for Leon, I genuinely couldn't see him going for the Champion title again considering his whole dream as per his Rare League Card to create the Battle Tower was to go beyond and create the World Champion (kinda like in the anime). As an aside, it isn't directly stated but I personally interpret Leon's creation of the Battle Tower was a way to circumvent the commercialisation of Pokémon Battles in Galar and the Endorsement nonsense.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone.

But because of the inherent "weakness" of the minor league in comparison to the major league (with it being composed of the Gym Leaders who lost the qualifying matches against the Top 8)

This was interesting. Do you think all the Gym Leaders can take part in the championship cup and it just so happens that the 7 that qualify are all the major league gym leaders?

Right now, I'm most curious about how a Gym Leader goes from Minor to Major league. Any ideas?

 

[Esserise]

As an aside, it isn't directly stated but I personally interpret Leon's creation of the Battle Tower was a way to circumvent the commercialisation of Pokémon Battles in Galar and the Endorsement nonsense.

Oh, I like that! And it dovetails with something I noticed about SwSh's Battle Tower, which is that it's - I'm pretty sure - the first time one of the post-game facilities have been introduced without any of that "This is a place where people even stronger than the Champion gather!" rubbish, which always felt very abrasive to the worldbuilding and never made much sense to me (and which I think has been a contributing factor in the general sense in fandom of battle facilities being non-canon only semi-canon). Galar's Battle Tower has absolutely no contradictions that would lead one to question it's canonicity - in fact, it's how you get Leon's Rare League Card, after all, and is sort of the final payoff to his story, which lends more credence to it being a real thing in the narrative. Hell, the only Legendary that's even used in there (another oddity of previous battle facilities that made for dubious canonicity) is Silvally, which we know is ripe for repeat production now.

 

[Esserise]

This was interesting. Do you think all the Gym Leaders can take part in the championship cup and it just so happens that the 7 that qualify are all the major league gym leaders?

Right now, I'm most curious about how a Gym Leader goes from Minor to Major league. Any ideas?

It seems there is a separate tournament among all 18 Gym Leaders in Galar that determines who sits in the major league and who sits in the minor league. This is alluded to within the games; an NPC in Motostoke says this:

> "The Gym Leaders of the Galar region are divided into the major and minor divisions based on how strong they are."

And an NPC in Hulbury elaborates further:

> "If a Gym Leader is too weak, their Gym will be relegated to the minor division."

Remember that the Gym Challenge is an annual event. Something you can notice after beating the game is that the banners that hang on the outer wall of Motostoke Stadium, which during the main story depicted each of the major league Gym types, are now all replaced with generic League logos. That is because this annual season has ended, and so they are going to start gearing up for the next one soon. So the process probably goes:

1. Major League qualifiers - All 18 Gym Leaders battle each other to sort out which of them is the strongest. This determines which Gym Leaders will compose the Major League for the next season.

2. Endorsement season - Where hopeful Trainers go out and seek endorsements that will allow them to participate in the Major League season.

3. Gym Challenge - Where endorsed Trainers take on the eight Major League Gym Leaders in a predetermined order that is based on how strong the Major League Leaders themselves are (Raihan is repeatedly said to be the strongest of Galar's Gym Leaders).

4. Champion Cup Semifinals - A bracket to weed out the strongest Gym Challenger among the few that have been able to earn all eight Badges.

5. Champion Cup Finals - Another bracket in which the winner of the Semifinals and the Gym Leaders of the Major League face off for a chance at battling the Champion for the title. (Although I do wonder what happens in a season in which one of the Gym Leaders didn't just conveniently retire? Opal stepping down is the only reason why there are an even number of participants in the Finals we take part in. Maybe the weakest among the Major League Leaders - in this case it would have been Milo had Opal stuck around - gets a one-on-one match against the winner of the Semifinals, giving them a chance to steal their spot, and if they win, then the Finals just become a bracket between the 8 Major League Leaders.)

6. Championship Match - The big one.

7. Post-season - Probably an off-period to allow people time to rest up, train, and create new strategies.

8. Major League qualifiers - The cycle begins again for the new year.

 

[Kallyle]

5. Champion Cup Finals - Another bracket in which the winner of the Semifinals and the Gym Leaders of the Major League face off for a chance at battling the Champion for the title. (Although I do wonder what happens in a season in which one of the Gym Leaders didn't just conveniently retire? Opal stepping down is the only reason why there are an even number of participants in the Finals we take part in. Maybe the weakest among the Major League Leaders - in this case it would have been Milo had Opal stuck around - gets a one-on-one match against the winner of the Semifinals, giving them a chance to steal their spot, and if they win, then the Finals just become a bracket between the 8 Major League Leaders.)

Considering that Bede ended up taking Opal's place as a Gym Leader and Leon just so happened to approve of giving the boy another shot by battling the player, I'd say that the "weakest leader has a ono-on-one match to take the finals spot" could very well be something that normally happens.

 

[Esserise]

Considering that Bede ended up taking Opal's place as a Gym Leader and Leon just so happened to approve of giving the boy another shot by battling the player, I'd say that the "weakest leader has a ono-on-one match to take the finals spot" could very well be something that normally happens.

Yeah, that was a factor in my thinking. The way it played out this year was a little unorthodox, but even under normal circumstances, the sequence would look very similar. Another thought in my head is, the Galar League is different from all the others we've seen in that it lacks an Elite Four. But, the sequence that we go through in the Finals still approximates one, particularly in the linear style of the Indigo, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Leagues - we battle Bede, Nessa, Bea/Allister, and Raihan in succession, and then move on to Leon (or at least we would have, were it not for Rose). So maybe it is always like this - a set of four battles that the winner of the Semifinals must endure, it's just that Galar prefers to structure it like a tournament rather than a gauntlet, but in order to do that evenly, they need to offer an individual "chance to steal" match to one of the Gym Leaders before the tournament proper begins.

 

[Daren]

Right now, I'm most curious about how a Gym Leader goes from Minor to Major league. Any ideas?

This is speculation, but I imagine the Gym Leaders tournament is a round robin type; a knockout style tournament with 18 is problematic because it would leave an uneven number of competitors after the first round.

(Although I do wonder what happens in a season in which one of the Gym Leaders didn't just conveniently retire? Opal stepping down is the only reason why there are an even number of participants in the Finals we take part in. Maybe the weakest among the Major League Leaders - in this case it would have been Milo had Opal stuck around - gets a one-on-one match against the winner of the Semifinals, giving them a chance to steal their spot, and if they win, then the Finals just become a bracket between the 8 Major League Leaders.)

I admit I didn't notice that when I played the game. That seems like as good an explanation as any for how it normally works.

 

[Silktree]

It's akin to Gary getting non-canon badges in the anime (Misty even battled a Water gym leader in Johto). It's harmless flavor text, but the amount of needless speculation is unfortunate. Even Avery and the other Slowbro girl weren't incorporated into minor gyms. Just the word "minor" screams "not going to happen."

 

[Esserise]

but the amount of needless speculation is unfortunate.

Look man it's either this or debating which Sinnoh Mythical is going to get a post-game story in DP remakes for the millionth time

Besides, I don't think this topic is "serious speculation for the next games" so much as "the setting of SwSh leaves a nice bit of off-screen brain candy for headcanoneers"

 

[swiftgallade46]

It's harmless flavor text, but the amount of needless speculation is unfortunate.

Care to elaborate? I don’t see what’s wrong with or “unfortunate” about harmless speculation.

 

[Esserise]

Secondary question: How does the Galar League work location-wise? Like, let's say Bede doesn't qualify to make it into the Major Leagues next year. Does his Gym stay in Ballonlea even though he becomes relegated to the Minor League, or does he have to relinquish that site and relocate to somewhere else? It's a little hard to imagine a Gym of any other type specialty being situated in a big glowing fairy forest, but the uniformity of the Gym architecture (aside from Motostoke, Hammerlocke, and Spikemuth, anyway) gives me a sense that they are designed that way for the sake of easy conversion from one type to another. They would just have to change up the lighting and give the building a slight paint job, in addition to reworking the underground puzzle (which would probably be the biggest hurdle, but honestly I could see Gym Leaders changing up their puzzles each year or so even if they don't fall down in rank; plus, Poké Jobs probably contribute a fair amount to the work). Furthermore there is the element of Power Spots, as well as the linear progression of the Gym Challenge. To me, it sounds like more of a hassle to have to locate entirely different Power Spots and plot out a less intuitive travel plan as opposed to just using the ones that are already established. It would be a pain to have to go from Turrfield to somewhere in Poké-Wales to Circhester to Hulbury and so on depending on how the Gym Leaders scored that year. Easier to just make Turffield always be Gym #1, Hulbury be Gym #2, etc. and simply remix the aesthetics to match whoever gets assigned as that Gym's Leader. Although, perhaps there is still room for some degree of shuffling at least within the eight Galar mainland Gyms. Hulbury could just as easily be the first destination, since you'd just have to go the opposite way from Motostoke. Hell, on top of that, maybe in Ballonlea's case, Opal has such a strong reputation that she can call in favors and negotiate to keep the Ballonlea Gym under her supervision.

 

[Emmy]

^ To be honest, I always perceived the Schrodinger's Bea/Allister situation to be just that. In Sword Bea qualified for the Majors that particular year and took over the Gym whereas in Shield it was Allister instead. Especially given how interchangeable the version exclusive Gym obstacles are. The Gordie/Melony situation on the other hand could just be handwaved away as Gordie not being ready to inherit the Gym yet as opposed to a Major/Minor situation.

As regards to Challenge Order, keep in mind that Milo's League Card states that it was his gentle nature that causes him to hold back against weak opponents that is why he is the first opponent Challengers face and thus not necessarily indicative of his power level. Thus your idea of Turrfield always being #1 could actually be correct and that is why Milo is deliberately stationed there.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

7. Post-season - Probably an off-period to allow people time to rest up, train, and create new strategies.

8. Major League qualifiers - The cycle begins again for the new year.

I suppose the Minor League probably takes place in-between these two stages. The prize for winning the Minor League could be an endorsement for the Major League's Gym Challenge.

Does his Gym stay in Ballonlea even though he becomes relegated to the Minor League, or does he have to relinquish that site and relocate to somewhere else? It's a little hard to imagine a Gym of any other type specialty being situated in a big glowing fairy forest, but the uniformity of the Gym architecture (aside from Motostoke, Hammerlocke, and Spikemuth, anyway) gives me a sense that they are designed that way for the sake of easy conversion from one type to another.

The question of the gym's location is interesting. I would imagine the gym leaders would also want to be based somewhere within their locality as well. Aesthetically speaking, the town's culture also largely reflects the gym types imo. I think for Circhester, once can easily see how it could house both a Rock and Ice type gym but I'm not too sure about Stow-on-Side though it arguably somewhat fits too. As for the sequence of the gyms, I would say that the current sequence isn't too convenient anyway so they're probably not too fussed about what path they make the challengers take. Perhaps its a mix of the Gym's availability, the Gym Leader's preference and the league's planning.

Imagine if Milo lost the Major League qualifiers to say Klara. I don't think they will redecorate the whole town to create that poison aesthetic cause that would pretty much erase their whole culture. That said, I can kinda see Ballonlea being taken over by a Psychic type gym and possibly Poison too though I think Klara would fit in more with Motostoke.

Man, now I kind of want a sequel where they start with the minor league through a new character.

 

[RK9]

What I assume is that if you get endorsed you can go Major League straight away.

Without one, I imagine that you first need to beat the entire Minor League, after which you immediately gain access to the Major League.

As far as the Tournament goes. I assume it works the same as the anime tournaments always do, it's just not possible in the games cause the majority of challengers already dropped out during the League Challenge.

 

[nickdt]

What if the Minor League is another method of receiving an endorsement for the Major League. It would make sense if the mechanic works that way, since Minor League gym leaders can alos challenge the Major League gym leaders for a place in the Major league and not everyone knows someone that can hand out Endorsements (I imagine the only characters that can hand out endorsements are Chairman Rose, Oleana, Major League Gym Leaders, the current and previous champion and the regional professor).

 

[Epic Spheal]

If you win the minor league, is there a tournament for you to join the major league?

What I like to use for some of my fanfiction is the minor league is a way to get an endorsement for the gym challenge if you can't convince (or don't have access to) a business/gym leader/chairman/professor/champion to endorse you. Since it's implied the minor league doesn't actually have gyms, I picture it as like gauntlet style tournament over the course of a week (which happens multiple times during the offseason) where you battle every. The top 3 trainers (as in the ones with the best win-loss ratio) get an endorsement.

Also even though we didn't see a trainer school, I imagine the top student of each gradudating class could get an endorsement.

Also, I wonder if Dynamax is allowed within the minor league? Do they have huge stadiums too? My instinct says probably not, so no.

I think only the major gyms get stadiums. The minor gyms may only participate inhuge stadium fights (with Dynamax) during the gym ranking challenge. I think it's encourage for minor gym leaders to get experience in Dynamax so I headcanon that's why Klara/Avery go to the Isle of Armor since they can Dynamax at Mustard's dojo.

My gut sense is that someone who has been Champion once cannot hold the title again. Obviously they can still take part in exhibition matches against the Champion, as that's what the post-game tournaments are (as well as the battle between Raihan and Leon in the opening scene), but I like to think that there is a tradition of accepting that your run as Champion was your spot in the history books, no do-overs. But that's just my interpretation -

With Mustard's rare league card, I think it is possible for a champion to retake their spot. The chairman at the time wanted Mustard to win a rigged match to regain his spot. So it's possible, I just think most champions do what you said in the latter part and just accept their time is over.

(Incidentally, I would love to have a second round of Galar games that focus on the minor league. It is a far more intriguing prospect to me than any of the remake options that are on the table.)

Oh I definitely agree. I've honestly considered that perhaps a feud between minor and major gym leaders could be an interesting plots, or even just the struggles of a minor gym leader.

As for Leon, I genuinely couldn't see him going for the Champion title again considering his whole dream as per his Rare League Card to create the Battle Tower was to go beyond and create the World Champion (kinda like in the anime). As an aside, it isn't directly stated but I personally interpret Leon's creation of the Battle Tower was a way to circumvent the commercialisation of Pokémon Battles in Galar and the Endorsement nonsense.

Yeah and add to the fact tht his rare league card states that's he's livelier now that he's no longer champion (not to mention Opal's Note in her gym stating he's rather hard to read) I get the sense Leon wasn't 100% happy as champion. I don't think he would want to take his title back if that's the case. Not to mention part of his development at the tail end of the game is realizing that he can do more than just focus on battling, which he can do better as part of the battle tower (and the CEO of Macros Cosmos) than being champion.

Without one, I imagine that you first need to beat the entire Minor League, after which you immediately gain access to the Major League.

You know before we knew Piers existed (who probably gave Marnie her endorsement) I thought Marnie wasn't going to have a traditional endorsement (since the Ben affleck leak said that you and Hop get yours from Leon and Bede from Rose). And that her goal was to bring attention to the idea that having to be endorsed to participate in the gym challenge was unfair. When you think about it the endorsement thing could lead to good trainers being overlooked if they can't get access to a champion/chairman/major gym leader or if a business doesn't want to endorse (because we know businesses endorse influencers can be skewed). And that Team Yell (since some of their design is based off of punks) were all trainers who couldn't even get endorsements and thus rallied behind Marnie (who went through the minor league to get intot he major leagues) as she said "when I'm champion, I'm doing away with the endorsements"

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Spoiler

Looks like someone got a promotion.