The Masters Eight Tournament (Japanese: マスターズトーナメント Masters Tournament) is a tournament held at the end of a World Coronation Series ranking season, where the top eight ranked competitors, known as the Masters Eight, face off to determine the most powerful Pokémon Trainer in the world, known as the Monarch.
The second-latest tournament ended in Flash of the Titans!. The most recent tournament began in Curtain Up! Fight the Fights! and concluded in Partners in Time!. Both editions so far have utilized the single-elimination format.
The event is held at Wyndon Stadium in the Galar region.
Competition[]
The tournament table The scoreboard for the Full Battles
Opening ceremony[]
During the opening ceremony, each member of the Masters Eight is introduced one by one, after which the match-ups of the first round are chosen by random seeding.
Rounds[]
In this tournament, each Trainer can only use techniques such as Dynamax/Gigantamax, Z-Moves, or Mega Evolution once per match. Both challengers must send out their first Pokémon at the same time and may switch their Pokémon at any time. There is no time limit for any of the matches. The battlefield used for all matches is a standard dirt field.
Quarterfinals[]
The quarterfinals are 3-on-3 matches. The winners here move on to the semifinals.
Semifinals[]
The semifinals are Full Battles. The winners here move on to the finals.
Finals[]
The final match is a Full Battle. The winner here is crowned Monarch, a title that is carried over to the next season. At Leon's request, an exception was made in his battle against Ash to allow each Trainer to use every technique at their disposal.
Most recent season[]
Participants[]
Ash, the winner, holding the World Championship Trophy
| Trainer | Place |
|---|---|
| Ash | Winner |
| Leon | Runner-Up |
| Cynthia | Top 4 |
| Diantha | Top 4 |
| Steven | Top 8 |
| Iris | Top 8 |
| Lance | Top 8 |
| Alain | Top 8 |
Bracket[]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||
| 1 | Leon | |||||||||||
| 6 | Alain | |||||||||||
| 1 | Leon | |||||||||||
| 5 | Diantha | |||||||||||
| 4 | Lance | |||||||||||
| 5 | Diantha | |||||||||||
| 1 | Leon | |||||||||||
| 8 | Ash | / | ||||||||||
| 2 | Cynthia | |||||||||||
| 7 | Iris | |||||||||||
| 2 | Cynthia | |||||||||||
| 8 | Ash | |||||||||||
| 3 | Steven | |||||||||||
| 8 | Ash | |||||||||||
Second-latest season[]
| Trainer | Place |
|---|---|
| Leon | Winner |
| Lance | Runner-Up |
| Trainer | Pokémon | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Leon | Win | |
| Lance | Loss |
Trivia[]
- The English name of the tournament was first mentioned by Ash during The Classic Thunderbolt special event in Pokémon Masters EX.
- The structure of this tournament is similar to the Champions Tournament of the Pokémon World Tournament in Black 2 and White 2.
- This is the first major tournament in the anime to have its arc interrupted by episodes that do not take place at the tournament's location.
- The Masters Eight Tournament appeared in Pokémon Mezastar as an event that ran from October 27 to November 21, 2022.
- James's Morpeko keeps eating in Hangry Mode until the conclusion of the tournament, when it turns into Full Belly Mode.
- In most episodes, Morpeko is seen eating food items related to various characters or elements in the episode from the regions they were introduced in.
- Ash is the only competitor shown to have used a non-fully evolved Pokémon in the tournament.
- As stated in a caption in JN121, Ash's Pikachu is the first Pokémon to be brought to the opening ceremony of the tournament.
- The most common Pokémon throughout the Masters Eight Tournament is Dragonite, as Lance, Iris, and Ash used theirs at least once.
- No Pokémon from Generations II and VII were used in the latest tournament.
- Additionally, no Pokémon with the Normal or Bug type were used.
- Iris was the only competitor from the latest tournament to not utilize Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, or Dynamax/Gigantamax.
- Ash and Cynthia were the only competitors from the latest tournament to utilize more than one technique, with Cynthia using Mega Evolution and Dynamax and Ash using all three.
- All participants in the most recent Masters Eight tournament had at least one Pokémon with a quadruple weakness.
