Pokemon Sets Up Ash’s First Masters Tournament Match With New Poster

Pokemon’s anime is now working its way through the Masters Tournament, and Pokemon Journeys is gearing up for Ash Ketchum’s first big battle in the quarterfinals with a slick new poster! The newest iteration of the anime has seen Ash Ketchum working his way up the World Coronation Series thus far, and his efforts got him amongst the eight top trainers in the Pokemon world overall. This has sparked a final tournament to determine which of the trainers in the best in the world, and Ash Ketchum will be having his very first battle in these finals soon enough.

The Masters Tournament officially kicked off with its very first battle between Leon and Alain, and it was proof positive that each of these battles will be quite fierce regardless of which champions end up being involved. As for Ash, his is the final battle slotted within the Masters Tournament quarterfinals and he is up against the Ranked 3rd trainer, Steven Stone. The Hoenn regional champion has crossed paths with Ash before, but with the two of them finally going to battle Pokemon Journeys celebrated with a new poster! Check it out below: 

#アニポケ 最新キービジュアルが到着✨#マスターズトーナメント サトシの対戦相手は、
ホウエンチャンピオンのダイゴ🌠

勝利への強い思いがぶつかるバトル💥
どうぞお楽しみに😊

アニポケ次回の放送は7月8日‼
毎週金曜よる6時55分～テレビ東京系で放送中
※一部地域では放送日時が異なります pic.twitter.com/MFxO2ftPwd

— アニメ「ポケットモンスター」公式 (@anipoke_PR) July 1, 2022

It’s yet to be revealed exactly when Ash and Steven’s battle will be airing in Japan (and will be even longer before the Masters Tournament releases on Netflix worldwide), but the winner of their battle will go on to face either Cynthia or Iris, who will be settling their battle before. This means that even if Ash does manage to defeat Steven during this first match in the tournament, he’ll still be facing off against a pretty tough champion. If it’s Cynthia, then fans will finally get to see Ash taking on another major dream match before it’s all over. 

As for the other side of the tournament, the next battle coming to the anime will be between Leon and Diantha. The winner of this match will be going on to face Leon, and thus already is setting up the semifinals of the tournament with even bigger battles than we have gotten to see already. What do you think? What battles are you most excited to see in the Masters Tournament? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!