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If You Could Change The Unova League.....

LuxrayOfTheWild

LuxrayOfTheWild

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The Unova League/Higaki Conference as we all know was an utter train wreck and it seems to be widely agreed upon by the forum that its the worst league in Pokemon anime history. With Ash regressing in rank, how rushed and short it was, Cameron's idiocy, multiple rounds being skipped, a useless filler, only a 3rd of Ash's team getting any victories, and Ash only getting a one on one with his primary rival, most have been left severely disappointed. So the question is...If you could write the league out how would you have written the league?
 
Make it two or three episodes longer. Heck, I would've made it the longest league yet.
Take out that BS about Axew getting lost (of all the times for that little idiot to get into trouble...)
Save Ash vs. Trip for near the end and make it an actual battle
Heck, better battles all around!
Have Kotty use his brains for *bleep* once (though keep the evolution. I likes me some Lucario!)
Less talk, more rock

And show Pink Haired Vegeta in action
 
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About the only things I'd change about the league would be for Ash's battle against Trip to be 3 on 3 (Serperior, Vanillish, Frillish vs Pignite, Scraggy, Snivy) and have Bianca lose to Virgil instead of Cameron.

Otherwise, all the problems with the league are because of events leading up to the league - you would have to totally rewrite the whole season to fix most of the problems with the particular Pokemon of Ash's doing badly and the strange outcomes of the rivalries. I can't think of a part of a battle that was the 'wrong' result.
 
I would replace that horrible Axew gets lost! episode and instead have Ash a battle with Bianca.

Can't come up with any other changes right now, but I wouldn't rank Ash in the Top 4 again. Top 8 is already quite impressive for a team like that.
 
I'd keep Trip as the first opponent but give him a three on three with Jellicent Chandelure and Vanilluxe but against Virgil to show virgil as a threat. I would have Cameron beat Stephan instead of Bianca and have Ash fight Bianca in the top sixteen. Then have Cameron and Virgil lose to Ash then have Ash lose to Dino's Hydreigon in the final (Cameron can have Druddigon). And I would have Ash fight Katie esc trainers and lose the filler.
 
I would make the Shooty battle 6 on 6, make the league an episode longer and kill Virgil. I'd keep a filler, but change the Kibago plot for something more entertaining.
 
What I'd prefer would stretch the League a few more episodes indeed;

- I'd also have Shooti against Ash as a 3 VS 3 at least, I don't know which Pokemon opposed to which, but Conkeldurr must be used and defeat one of Ash's Pokemon. He just needed a victory.
- I was fond of BW105, but I'd slot it as the start of the League (so I'd have some scenes altered to fit the beginning of the League) as opposed to where it was, and have no rounds skipped.
- This whole Kotetsu forgetting his sixth Pokemon for him VS Ash... no. The match also would be lengthened.
- I'd have an Ash VS CotD shown for longer than a few seconds, and have a full battle (even 2 vs 2) of Virgil's showcased, as I'd keep him as the victor.
- I'd probably have Bel lose later on than she did, against who? I'm not sure. If not that, I would've made Kotetsu VS Bel a 3 VS 3.
- I think I would've had at least one of Ash's Pokemon that had no wins get a win as opposed to one who had a few wins under their belt.
 
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The Ash and Trip battle should have been at least a 3 on 3 battle, but it's fine by me that it was in the 1st round, that Axew filler in the middle of the league wouldn't have taken place, and tbh I would have had Ash place lower in the top 16 instead of the top 8 because that's the best his skill for BW seemed to be imo.
 
Well here's what I would've done for the league.

-First of all I'd set up for the Episode N arc. Not only would N debut in the league eventually, but Team Rocket would attack during the opening ceremonies which WOULD include Alder being present. Oshawott would evolve into Dewott here and learn Blizzard and help defeat Team Rocket. We'd learn that Giovanni has gone back to his original plan of trying to lure out Team Plasma and this work to set up Episode N.

-Scraggy would evolve in the league while facing Katherine's Gothitelle

-Ash losing to Virgil in a full battle rather than to Cameron who only brought 5 Pokemon. Cameron would be knocked out earlier to show how strong Virgil is.

The matchups and episodes
-Opening ceremonies: BW 103
-Top 128: Ash vs. Katherine (1 on 1) BW 104
-Top 64: Ash vs. Stephan and Virgil vs. Cameron (3 on 3 triple battle) BW 104 and BW 105
-Top 32: Ash vs. Bianca (3 on 3 triple battle) BW 106
-Top 16: Ash vs. Trip (6 on 6) BW 107 and BW 108
-Top 8: Ash vs. Virgil (6 on 6) BW 109 and BW 110
 
I would have given the league an extra episode or two as well as replace that filler about axew with actual league action.

Matchups would include the following as stated below

Top 128-1on1 Singles:Ash vs Reccuring COTD(Either Ramone, Manning, Antonio, or Kenton)-Ash Wins
Trip vs Recurring COTD-Trip Wins
Bianca vs COTD-Bianca Wins
Virgil vs COTD-Virgil Wins
Stephan vs COTD-Stephan Wins
Cameron vs COTD-Cameron Wins
Dino, Katharine, and Flora Advance to Next Round


Top 64-3on3 Singles:Ash vs Cameron(Pignite,Krookodile,Pikachu vs Samurott,Hydreigon,Riolu[evolves to Lucario in match])-Ash Wins
Trip vs Bianca(Revenge Match Conkeldurr,Unfezant, Serperior vs Escavalier, Cincinno[evolved prior], and Emboar)-Trip Wins
Stephan vs COTD-Stephan Wins
Virgil vs COTD-Virgil Wins
Dino,Katharine, and Flora Advance to Next Round

Top 32-3on3 Singles:Ash vs Katharine(Scraggy[evolves during match],Snivy,Oshawott vs Mandibuzz, Darmanitan[evolved prior], and Gothorita[evolved prior/evolves again during match]-Ash wins
Trip vs COTD-Trip Wins
Stephan vs COTD-Stephan Wins
Virgil vs COTD-Virgil Wins
Dino and Flora Advance to Next Round

Top 16-3on3 Singles:Ash vs Stephan(Boldore[evolves during match], Leavanny, and Krookodile, vs Sawk Zebstrika, and Liepard)-Ash Wins
Trip vs COTD-Trip wins
Virgil vs Flora-Virgil Wins
Dino Advances to Next Round

Top 8-Full Battle Singles:Ash vs Trip(Pikachu,Unfezant,Snivy,Oshawott,Pignite,Scrafty vs Serperior,Jellicent,Chandelure,Conkeldurr,Vanilluxe,Unfezant)-Ash Wins with 3 Pokemon barely remaining.
Virgil vs COTD-Virgil wins by a landslide

Top 4-Full Battle Singles:Ash vs Virgil(Pikachu,Gigalith,Unfezant,Scrafty,Oshawott,Snivy vs Espeon,Umbreon,Flareon,Vaporeon,Leafeon,Eevee)-Virgil Wins after an epic final showdown between Pikachu and Eevee which decided who won the battle.
Dino Advances to Final Match

Final Match-Full Battle Singles-Virgil vs Dino-Virgil beats Dino with only 3 of his Pokemon KO'ed in the Match, leaving Virgil as the winner of the Unova League Higaki conference.

Yeah this is my take on what I woulda done for this league to make it at least slightly better that it actually is.
 
The problems with the league are much deeper rooted than the league itself. It was doomed before it started. To "fix" it, I would need to fix the entire saga. If you want me to just ignore the saga and just do the league, it would essentially amount to a reordering of the rival parade, which would consist of having a battle with Bianca, and Cameron would not win against Ash. Trip would be the climax, and we would actually see all six of his pokes fully evoed. It would be a battle similar to Paul, but I do not believe that would fix matters with him at all. The final battle would be with Virgil, and depending on if Eevee still gets an evo or not, I would make that the climax of that battle. It'd be hard to stomach Pika being beaten by an ordinary Eevee, though, but perhaps it would've been unnaturally powerful like it was in what actually happened.
 
It's not the league that needs changing, it's the whole saga. Ash's ranking in this league was adequate with the setup for the league we got throughout BW. I don't think the league was unbelievable. Maybe Cam's shitshow of bringing 5 just to show he's an idiot, which wouldn't have mattered in the end, was annoying, but that didn't break the league. The easy way out would be to say improve BW. As a whole. We all had a lot of complaints with it, first and foremost were character development and with that what Ash was doing with his pokemon. The problem with BW was the whole thing. Not just the way it ended.
 
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First round: Ash vs random trainer 1-on-1
Second round: Ash vs Bianca 3-on-3
Third round: Ash vs Stephan 3-on-3
Semi-final round: Ash vs Trip 6-on-6
Final round: Ash vs Virgil 6-on-6

End: Ash as runner-up (Top 2)

Ignoring all other NPCs and stuff and for god's sake if Kotetsu wasn't in the anime, we wouldn't have had that stupid battle.
 
Id get rid of the Axew filler or whatever you want to call it,
Add at least 2 more eps,
Get rid of Cameron,
Have Bianca progress to at least the Top 16 and have her show a few more of her pokemon,
Make the top 16 rounds onwards all 6 v 6's. Have Ash battle Trip in this round and win, Bianca can lose to Virgil.
Ash loses to Virgil in the top 8.
Stephan loses to Ash in the Top 32. 3 on 3 battle same as before. Keep this battle relatively the same, maybe evolve Palpitoad.
Definetely have Ash battle Katherine in the 1st round (128 competitors). Have Scraggy be the star, master Focus blast, maybe learn a dark type move. 3 v 3.
If they need to skip a round, have it be the 2nd round. But show which pokemon were used.
Make the battles good lol, more Ash vs Stephan, less Ash vs Cameron.
That way, everyone on Ash's team will be used at least twice, and give everyone at least one win.
 
Top 128: Ash (Scraggy<Scrafty, learns Head Smash) vs Katharine (Gothielle), Trip (Vanniluxe) vs Emmy (Haxorus), Bianca (Cinccino) vs CoTD (Garbordor) Stephan (Braviary) vs Joltik kid from Don Battle (Galvalantula) Burgundy vs CoTd

Top 64: No particularly important battles although featured because it involves Triple Battles, Ash battles Manning.

Top 32: Ash vs Stephan (no grudges here, exactly how it was in BW106) Bianca (Cinccino, Zorua, Escavalier) vs Burgundy (Stoutland, Leavanny, Dewott) Bianca wins.

Top 16: Ash (Unfeazant, Pignite, Oshawott) vs Bianca (Archeops, Zorua, Emboar)

Top 8: Ash vs Virgil

Top 4: Ash vs Cameron

Top 2: Ash vs Trip Ash wins.
 
If I can change it, I'll make sure I make some twists.

Episode 1: Ash vs COTD in Top 128, which all Top 128 results announced in a fast speed (totally skipping) , after that, its the start of Top 64 battle vs Bianca.

Episode 2: Ash win against Bianca, with a a show of other competitors beating their opponent, at the end, it is shown that Ash's next opponent is Trip.

Episode 3: Before the Top 32 fight with Trip, Trip appears and taunt him about his unevolved Pokemon. At the fight, Ash pull off an Ice Aqua Jet with Mijumaru and a Leaf Storm+Energy Ball (which is similar to Buizel's Water Pulse+Aqua Jet) combo with Sniny, beating him 3-0.

Episode 4: In Top 16, Ash vs whatever COTD, while Cameron vs Virgil being the match of the day, with Virgil winning by beating 5 Pokemon of Cameron with 4 of his Eeveelutions (Cameron is totally oblivious that its a 6v6 since he beat the COTDs with his Hydreigon only and he is not watching or paying attention to the number of Pokemon in others battle.)

Episode 5 & 6: At Top 8, he face Kenyan, I'll make this the most hyped battle (2 episode) in the league, ofcourse, with Pikachu vs Sawk being the last battle, with Pikachu winning in a close battle with Iron Tail. (Something like Sawk attacks Pikachu when Pikachu is charging for Thunderbolt, but Pikachu stopped charging and evade the attack, slipping behind at a fast speed by hitting the ground with his tail, then finish Sawk with an Iron Tail from behind)

Episode 7: Skipping another COTD battle of Ash and Virgil with just the clash of the Pokemon shown and the winner announced. Ash and Virgil were the finalist. And then halfway of the battle this episode ends.

Episode 8: Althought I'd like Ash to win, it seems the writers aren't going to, so I'll make Ash lose here. Then they continue their journey.
 
-Skip the prelims
-Kenyan would fight Ash in the top 32 (3vs3)
-Kotetsu would fight Ash in the top 16 (3vs3)
-Bianca would be fed to Trip and the Serp in the top 16 to make them look like a threat.
-Ash vs Trip in the top 8 (6vs6) with Trip using a wide range of strategies.
-Ash vs Virgil in the top 4 (6vs6) Ash loses narrowly, with Pikachu falling to Umbreon.
-Battles wouldn't be turn-based. Pokemon wouldn't just sit their and let a move hit them and trainers would use a lot of strategies (particularly in the latter rounds).
 
The only changes I would implement to the Unova League without completely rewriting the rest of the series prior to that arc are changes to make it even more intentionally shitty, but quicker to get through and not dragged out with a two-week break like the other crappy tournament arcs have been (seriously, I think the first Don Battle AND the Junior Cup were dragged out due to unusually long breaks). I personally find it impossible to change this League and make it genuinely good since the build-up for it has been awful - hence to make it GOOD I'd have to go on a long-ass tirade about the things I'd change in-series, so let's just work with what we got.

- The League itself would be like 2 episodes long. Less episodes means less wasting our time with the bullshit.

- Ash places in the Top 16 (at best) or Top 64 (at worst). The lower the better because Ash's Unova team sucks and so does Ash's skills as a trainer. If he did make it to a higher tier, I'd make sure Pokemon other than Pikachu, Pignite, and Krookodile got some victories. And preferably some evolutions in the team occurring in the downtime periods after each League round because I'm sick and tired of Ash's Pokemon winning battles by having a Pokemon evolve in the middle of it.

- Ash vs Trip being a 1v1 happening in the first round with Trip getting a Top 128 ranking (and leaving the show right after) is exactly what I wanted, though if it were up to me, the battle itself would last about 5-10 minutes maximum and wouldn't be so damn one-sided.

- Cameron would have lost so hard to Bianca. SO HARD. Virgil would have lost to Stephan. Ash would lose to Bianca. The finals would end up being Bianca vs Stephan, where Bianca finally gets revenge for losing to Stephan twice in past tournaments by defeating him and winning the whole League.

- The episodes would be animated by Shimura. :p Or whichever AD is deemed the crappiest nowadays.

So yeah, my aim would be to sabotage the league even further than it has been already. As I said, to make it GOOD, I'd have to revamp the whole damn series to make any of the climactic stuff mean anything and be deserving of any true effort.
 
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