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Honestly, can I just posit that the Unova league just isn't that strong in the first place. Like they flat out state that Unova doesn't see many foreign pokemon in the anime. I know that was to originally fit with BW, but it still means that they're rather insular. Moreover it'd also help to explain why this clown with an eeveelution team won their league. Just because Ash lost the Unova league with a brand new team and a gimped pikachu doesn't necessarily mean that Iris had a high bar to surpass. Like could you at least imagine her beating a team of eeveelutions.
