Strong Strategy Steals the Show! (767)

[Locormus]

Kotetsu has a Gigalith, or he faced one I think.

He faced one with Riolu...

Is Dino out?

Nope, he's in! Dino for Champion!! I'm surprised Heatmor dude is out, and that Antonio is in..

I think this is the first time in the anime that even-though a pokemon activated its ability, still ended up losing immediately.

Also it seems the move which Krookodile dropped turned out to be Crunch. I really hope now that the writers really make Krookodile similar to Cilan's Pansage.

Nice animation for Sludge Wave,

Nope, happened quite a few times before.. And Leavanny didn't lose immediately. Eitherway, she did most of the work against Sawk.

Krookodile:
- Stone Edge
- Dig
- Dragon Claw
- Aerial Ace
Leavanny:
- String Shot
- Razor Leaf
- Energy Ball
- X-scissor
Palpitoad:
- Mud Shot
- Hydro Pump
- Supersonic
- Sludge Wave
Pignite:
- Flame Charge
- Fire Pledge
- Flamethrower
- New Fighting-type move?

Round 4 matchups

My man Dino still in the game!

They could just troll us all, and have Katherine win the league.. :P Eitherway, we know that everybody left aside from Kotetsu and Virgil are slight pushovers..
- Ramone: Beaten by Dawn's Piplup
- Dino: Beaten by Palpitoad once.
- Antonio: Beaten by Dino once.
- Katherine: Beaten by Ash once.
- Itomaru: Don't see him winning against Virgil..

Katherine is still in the game huh? It's a bit disappointing they haven't interacted with her at all.

I think this is quite the case.. But they haven't interacted with Dino either.. Funny..

I can't remember correctly if Flora was Virgil's opponent, if so, then her Gothorita has evolved.

Think it's the first time for the " boost when you're down " abilities (Blaze/Torrent/Overgrow/Swarm). A few Pokemon lost with other abilities last region.

I guess similar to Ash and Paul's Lake battle this is to show us that an Ability Pull won't always equal a win.

Barry's Empoleon's Torrent kicked in and did nothing to save Barry's life.

[Lucario At Service]

At last Palpitoad's Supersonic really caused a long term confusion status. All the other times it hadn't been able to cause any confusion (but it did block the opponents moments).

Barry's Empoleon's Torrent kicked in and did nothing to save Barry's life.

Oh that right. I forgot about that one.

[An00bis]

Barry's Empoleon's Torrent kicked in and did nothing to save Barry's life.

Thanks for that. Both Serebii and Bulbapedia were down so I couldn't double check.

[naughtynun]

Stupid writers not giving Leavanny a win when Pikachu gets three. Thet really are a bunch of vicious morons.

[p96822]

How many times do they want to cut to the announcer or cilan and iris?

This is just another club battle.

They do that in ever tournment so it nothing new

[Lucario At Service]

Bianca without her hat looks a bit odd,

http://www.filb.de/content/anime/bw2/022/515.jpg

Also first on-screen appearance of Katherine,

http://www.filb.de/content/anime/bw2/022/570.jpg

And Hydreigon looks scary here,

http://www.filb.de/content/anime/bw2/022/581.jpg
http://www.filb.de/content/anime/bw2/022/582.jpg
http://www.filb.de/content/anime/bw2/022/583.jpg

[IcySealeo]

Sludge Wave was surprising. Too bad Palpitoad got a tie.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

So I didn't watch the episode I got the match exactly rigth thigh. the battle seems to be good, would have liked that Leavanny beat Sawk instead.

Haha, so Pepsi guess right huh?

That's an interesting first choice.

In both battles Xd you guys need to believe me more haha.

[Joltik-Kid]

In both battles Xd you guys need to believe me more haha.

You've got some serious battle prediction mojo going on right now... Those who think Ash will beat Kotetsu be warned now, Pepsi thinks Kotetsu will pull an upset

[p96822]

This episode is awesome Ash's Pokemon all get new moves to show the people and the battle was awesome

[gliscor&yanmega]

Saw the pictures, it's a nice belated birthday gift from the writers to me :3

I would have liked everyone to get a win but Palpitoad and Leavanny showed a new move each and the latter finally used it's Ability, plus both did great anyways. Krookodile is my favorite Pokemon with Ash(Overall, Gliscor and it are tied for most favorite), so I have nothing against it getting two wins.

Aside from Krookodile vs Sawk, I thought all the matches were pretty intense and enjoyable, the only reason I don't feel the same about Krookodile vs Sawk is because it went pretty quick, both Pokemon were tired though so I have no problem with a quick battle.

Krookodile vs Liepard-It's nice to see a Liepard battle finally, moveset may have contain nothing but overused moves, it was still interesting to see Double Team and combo it with the other moves, claw vs claw was nice too.

Palpitoad vs Zebstrika-I'm glad it got Sludge Wave, something new for it and new for the show, I was surprised to see it though, thought it would come from it's mouth and not be such a dark Purple like that, I like the way it was done though. Poor Zebstrika, Poisoned and Confused, it's lucky it can't be Paralyzed as well, other wise Palpitoad would have gotten Bounce and added that to Zebstrika's bad day, is this the first time a Pokemon was under two Status ailments?

Leavanny vs Sawk-X-Scissor isn't much of a rarely used move, but that's fine with me, still would have liked to seen Struggle Bug with it. Swarm finally being used, even if it didn't give it a win, was nice, I hope more of Ash's Pokemon use their Ability...whatever they are. I enjoyed seeing Leavanny's movements...and I'm going to enjoy hearing it's voices...probably replay it a hundred times.

Krookodile vs Sawk-Aerial Ace is certainly a surprise(Well not really, I already about it a few days ago whenever it was first shown), I like it though, I don't think it really needed it(Gave it something useful against Sawk though) but I'm fine with it. Crunch going isn't that big of a deal to me, but I wouldn't mind it being used in another battle whenever Krookodile battles again.

I like the look of the episode.

[p96822]

Iris was annoyed at the end of episode right

[ShinyCharyZard]

Leavanny lost and Palpitoad got a tie, while Krookodile took two wins?

I may appear calm, but my inner self is kicking and screaming..

[Dax]

Leavanny lost and Palpitoad got a tie, while Krookodile took two wins?

I may appear calm, but my inner self is kicking and screaming..

I share your sentiments. I just didn't like how Krookodile defeated Sawk. Liepard was a strong opponent and he did a good job at it. The feline should have been his last win allowing Leavanny to get the victory it rightfully deserved. The bug did all the job. It just felt like Leavanny got cheated.

It was still, while average, the best battle of the League so far. I really enjoyed Palpitoad's new move and Liepard was great to look at. Leavanny, however, was my favorite battler of the episode.

[MetalFlygon08]

Just color the animation for sludge wave blue and they could use that for surf!

[RickHoenn]

Round 4 matchups

Dino, Katherine and the chubby kid advance to the top 8!

Were those characters at bottom left in previous don tournaments? I can't recognize them. o_O

Well, this episode proves Krookodile is the Charizard/Sceptile/Infernape of Unova nice battles for Palpitoad and Leavanny, great battle overall: 9.5/10 a -0.5 just because Palpitoad tie T_T at least Leavanny got wins at Roxie gym and JWC.

[Groundedshock]

Watched the pictures and I found this battle very enjoyable.

Starting with the Cons: Veggie Madien losing while doing all the work and BossToad and Zebstirka getting a tie was not very favorable but expected in this battle. Also Krok N' Roll losing Crunch for Aerial Ace. That is all I have for the cons.

First off Nice Liepard debut. A good counter to ghost and dark types from Epic Bert and Thunderer. Double Team + Shadow Claw really was awesome and effective. Krok N' Roll took enough hits from ghost moves to deal reasonable damage to him.

WOWOWOWOH! Bosstoad back in action. Stephan's Thunderer made Elesa's look like crap.....well she is the 4th and easy gym leader.....
Thunderer really showed its power even though it took too many hits for a Zebstrika though.
Three Giga Impacts and a stomp is believable for Bosstoad to go down and its WAY better than being taken down by poison moves so they showed his physical toughness.
Sludge Wave was awesome. I was expecting Supersonic + Sludge Bomb crap but this is very good! Way to go animator Miyuki Katayama and Team Kato!
Liking BossToad's battle style. Poisoning and confusing your enemies as well as slowing them down with Mud Shot before finishing with Hydro Pump.

AWWWWW. Poor Veggie Madien. Oh well. At least you have X-Scissor and activated Swarm to give Epic Bert a run for his money.
Swarm String Shot + X-Scissor is an amazing combination.

Epic Bert vs Krok N' Roll was short but both had reached their limits anyway so no surprise Krok N' Roll wins with Aerial Ace.

Ash seemed strategic in his battles while Stephan tried to muscle it out.

Overall: BEST BATTLE IN UNOVA LEAGUE! Unfortunately it seems like it WILL be the only best battle in the Unova league........ 15/10!

[XXD17]

A few things...I really liked this episode...BUT the major flaw was leavanny LOSING!! Why did he have to lose!! It was doing so well the whole time I really wanted it to win...but no, they had to go and glorify krookodile...I like krookodile, but this is a little much...clotheslining Sawk with aerial ace was cool though...also, why does zebstrika know ALL normal type attacks?! stomp, take down, giga impact and facade...I think they did that on purpose so it could face palpitoad with a better move pool...btw, sludge wave is awesome...

[RickHoenn]

Overall: BEST BATTLE IN UNOVA LEAGUE! Unfortunately it seems like it WILL be the only best battle in the Unova league........ 15/10!

What??? The Kotetsu vs. Ash battle looks awesome.. and Trip vs. Ash and Kotet vs. Bianca were cool imo, to each his own I guess =/

[HatersGonnaHate]

Why are Ash's pokemon pulling new moves out of their rear end all of a sudden? And people have the nerve to give Axew a hard time for it. Another beautiful double standard.

I also couldn't help but laugh in sadness that Krookodile managed to get two wins while the other two got squat. It's a nice example of the writers playing favorites and making sure certain pokemon are made to look inferior over others.

Although the battle was fine, you might as well have called it the "krookodile show" because that's exactly what it was. And of course, the Krookodile stans are gonna eat it up.