SPOILERS: Masters Eight Discussion/Speculation Thread

[Sai]

They literally said on that scan Lance's VA is wondering who he will battle. It's obviously not part of the tournament given it won't start till after summer. It's probably a training ep for Dracovish.

 

[Handy Man]

Ash vs Lance confirmed

I don’t think it’s confirmed, it’s just for a poster. PASH Magazine’s June 2022 issue also has a poster with Alain and Steven on it.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

They literally said on that scan Lance's VA is wondering who he will battle. It's obviously not part of the tournament given it won't start till after summer. It's probably a training ep for Dracovish.

That leads to an interesting idea, they can make up for it being a tournament by having ash battle the other four in smaller training battles leading up to the master's 8.

 

[Sai]

I can see Lance helping to train Dracovish similar to Wikstrom with Sirfetch"d

 

[nickdt]

They literally said on that scan Lance's VA is wondering who he will battle. It's obviously not part of the tournament given it won't start till after summer. It's probably a training ep for Dracovish.

Which in that case most likely means Dracovish will be the ace in one battle (Imagine its against Alains X, Fire/Dragon vs Water/Dragon).

 

[FelipePR]

There's buildup for a Cynthia battle, so...
...yeah. They may have brought Alain back with no rematch.

I think Alan should face Ash right away, in the quarters.

I'm not absolutely sure they're building a battle between Ash and Cynthia. Certainly Cynthia, after Leon, is the most present champion of the season, but this is due to the remakes. Ash, in none of the Sinnoh Champion's appearances, has shown any interest in fighting her, nor has she shown any interest in fighting him. So, while a battle between them makes sense and is possible, I wouldn't be surprised if the battle didn't take place.

I'd like that too, but I've heard some people saying she should battle Cynthia as a reference to BW.

Considering that Iris' main goal in the tournament is most likely to defeat Lance, just as Ash's goal is to defeat Leon, I don't believe the producers should deny her this battle. Furthermore, Iris is now Unova's Champion, which means she no longer visits Cynthia's Village, see BW2.

 

[Sai]

Which in that case most likely means Dracovish will be the ace in one battle (Imagine its against Alains X, Fire/Dragon vs Water/Dragon).

There's no reason to think it'll be a star pokemon. They're not going to do that when they have Lucario and other old pokemon. It's likely just to make its wins justifiable in the Leon fight. Also no idea why you would think Dracovish of all things would get the victor over Alan's Charizard if they battle, that would make no sense.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Huh... so then either this is round robin or either Alain or Cynthia is getting the shaft.

(Side note I wonder if this is just for the image or if Ash will actually have all three gimmicks equipped for these battles)

If it does turn out to be a round robin tournament, all the better especially if the 3v3 rule holds up. Seems Dracovish is gonna be the ace there rather than Dragonite though.

 

[PokeFan2005]

 

[Articfoxgamez]

Something about Alain in this art style looks off to me and i'm not sure why.

 

[KrspaceT]

Something about Alain in this art style looks off to me and i'm not sure why.

That hair of his kind of makes me think of the Fairy tale Girls from XY/ORAS. Like he's their older brother or something...

 

[Rath]

If it does turn out to be a round robin tournament, all the better especially if the 3v3 rule holds up. Seems Dracovish is gonna be the ace there rather than Dragonite though.

Wasn't it confirmed as single-elimination all the way back when Lance and Leon had their battle? They were the two finalists in the Masters Tournament.

 

[Sai]

You do realize the writers have pretty much changed the rules at random various times already since this series has gone on?

 

[Rath]

Someone who owns the Animedia magazine read it, and it doesn't actually mention anything about Ash battling Lance. It just reintroduces Lance as a character, says that he wants to battle Leon again, and confirms that he's still a G-Man.

Though the first two things could be seen as flags for an Ash vs Lance battle.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I don’t want Ash vs Lance. Barf

 

[Sai]

If they do a round Robin he could still battle Lance, Cynthia and Alan before Leon.

I think the writers might try something similar.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

One thing I have to wonder, what determined each person's spot in the master's 8? Were they battling each other during the PWC pre true final tournament just to see who ends up where and Ash missed out on the fun?

 

[Sai]

One thing I have to wonder, what determined each person's spot in the master's 8? Were they battling each other during the PWC pre true final tournament just to see who ends up where and Ash missed out on the fun?

A lot of them were already there from the previous tournament, Lance was ranked second last time.

Also both Raihan and Flint were in the top 8 but got bumped out when Ash and Iris got in

 

[Articfoxgamez]

A lot of them were already there from the previous tournament, Lance was ranked second last time.

Also both Raihan and Flint were in the top 8 but got bumped out when Ash and Iris got in

Yeah so they had to have been battling amongst themselves before the tournament just to see who is where in the 8 and also to save themselves from being possibly booted, otherwise wouldn't it make more sense for Lance to be in second place?

 

[nickdt]

A lot of them were already there from the previous tournament, Lance was ranked second last time.

Also both Raihan and Flint were in the top 8 but got bumped out when Ash and Iris got in

What they realistically should have done is make Ash tenth and Iris ninth. Because Iris was higher ranked, she got to battle Flint in place seven, while Ash got to battle Raihan. Would also instantly have given explanation for Iris's ranking, since she does have to have defeated Raihan to become number 7. And then just have the battles play out at the same time (Or to make it even more fun, make it a 2 v 2, Iris and Ash vs Raihan and Flint, but because Iris is higher ranked than Ash, she goes to seventh, while Ash goes to eight).