Class 1-B has been chasing after the limelight that Class 1-A has monopolized throughout the entirety of the My Hero Academia anime. While fans have good reason to follow Midoriya, Bakugo, and Uraraka as they come face to face with villains outside of school, Class 1-B does deserve some respect too.
Outside of a few big players for Class 1-A, Class 1-B appears to be pretty evenly matched with their high-profile schoolmates. It would have taken at least two big changes to the Joint Training Arc for Class 1-B to live up to Vlad King’s expectations, but there were plenty of opportunities for this overlooked group of young heroes to overcome Class 1-A and make Monoma proud.
9 Match 1: Vine Should Have Attacked Shinso & Kaminari Alongside Her Teammates
The first match of the Joint Training Arc would have been an easy victory for Class 1-B if Vine had been able to coordinate her strengths with her teammates. Thanks to Shinso’s ability to cripple the enemy team’s communication, Class 1-A earned their first win in match 1. However, if Vine had been able to serve as both a distraction and an offensive force, Class 1-B would have walked away victorious since she is one of Class 1-B’s strongest students. Relegating her to the role of scout & bait is a terrible strategy considering how easily she could have wrapped up the members of Class 1-A who were trapped in Tsubaraba’s wind boxes.
8 Match 1: Gevaudan Could Have Knocked Shinso Out After Regaining Consciousness
Shinso’s mind control is an incredibly powerful quirk, but the young purple-haired hero fails to take full advantage of his enemies after gaining control of their actions. Whether it is a weakness of Shinso’s or a result of his kindness, the fact that Gevaudan managed to regain consciousness after being controlled by Shinso is Shinso’s own fault. Shinso is lucky that Gevaudan did not use his beast form to knock him unconscious the moment he regained control of his body.
7 Match 2: They Could Have Organized Strategies Around Mudman’s Softening Traps
The second match of the joint training arc was lost the moment Tetsutetsu committed to an all-out brawl with Class 1-A. Though this strategy did play into the strengths of Class 1-B’s team composition, it forced them to think quickly and selfishly.
Mudman did a fantastic job of supporting his teammates throughout the second match of the Joint Training Arc, but a lack of foresight stopped him from really taking advantage of his quirk. If Class 1-B had chosen to set softening traps for Class 1-A instead of facing them head-on, they may have won thanks to Mudman’s team-centric approach to combat.
6 Match 2: Class 1-B Could Have Targeted Ida As A Team
Class 1-A is not an easy team to beat. With big names like Midoriya, Bakugo, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu leading their teams, Class 1-B was often outmatched in terms of firepower during the joint training exercise.
To make up for this discrepancy, Class 1-B should have approached the joint training exercise strategically instead of trying to out-box their overpowered peers. Mudman states it very clearly near the end of his match against Class 1-A. In a game that prioritizes capturing the opponents, leaving a speedster like Ida on the field was far too dangerous. If Class 1-B had targeted Ida instead of Todoroki, they could have walked away from Match 2 with more than just a tie.
5 Match 2: Tetsutetsu Needed To Defeat Todoroki Before He Pushed Through His Limits
A high school full of superheroes is bound to promote safety, grace, and self-control over violence, but if Class 1-B had approached Class 1-A with the mindset of a villain, they could have easily won the joint training exercise.
One example of this comes during Tetsutetsu’s battle with Shoto. The metallic hero proved to be a difficult opponent for Shoto thanks to his incredible durability, but unless Shoto is a master of hand-to-hand combat, there is no way he should have remained conscious while Tetsutetsu threw metal arm after metal arm at him. At one point in the fight, Tetsutetsu hoisted Shoto up by his collar just to toy with him. If he had just knocked out Shoto in this moment, Class 1-B could have easily defeated Class 1-A in the second match.
4 Match 2: Rocketti Could Have Flown Out Of Tentacole’s Range Much Earlier
The second match of the joint training exercise ends in an anti-climactic tie that Class 1-B could have easily turned into a victory. With the clock ticking down, Rocketti uses her horns to save two of her allies and steal an unconscious Todoroki.
With Tentacole hot on her trail, Rocketti chose to use her horns to fly up out of her pursuer’s range and avoid being caught. If she had just chosen to use this verticality to her advantage earlier, there is no way Tentacole could have stopped her from locking Shoto up and winning Match 2 for Class 1-B.
3 Match 5: Monoma Could Have Targeted Another Quirk Other Than Deku’s
By the time the final match of the joint training exercise had begun, Class 1-B had no chance of winning. Still, they could have at least walked away with a tie if Monoma had trusted his instincts and avoided copying Deku’s quirk.
At the start of the final match, Monoma mentions the fact that Deku’s quirk could be a blank. A blank quirk doesn’t mean that it is weak, but rather that Monoma cannot copy it. If Monoma had used his quirk to copy Uraraka or even Mineta’s quirk rather than Deku’s, Class 1-B could have come up with a strategy that played around Monoma’s versatility and defeated Class 1-A.
2 Match 5: Shinso Could Have Taken Out Deku & Uravity
The final match of the joint training exercise paired one of Class 1-B’s loudest and strongest members with Shinso. The general studies student may not be a member of either Class 1-A or Class 1-B, but his quirk is terrifyingly powerful and could’ve been an asset to Class 1-B.
When Deku lost control of One for All during the Joint Training Arc, Shinso used his mind control quirk to stop him from destroying the battlefield. If Shinso had moved quickly enough while controlling Deku, he could have crippled his opponents and won the final match for Class 1-B.
1 Class 1-B Failed To Plan For Class 1-A’s Growth Potential
On more than just one occasion, Class 1-B failed as a result of underestimating the pace that Class 1-A had been developing their quirks at throughout the school year. When Mudman faced Ingenium, he made the assumption that Ida’s quirk had not developed in the slightest since the U.A. Sports Festival.
Tetsutetsu made the same mistake by allowing Shoto to lean into his flame quirk after proving that ice alone wouldn’t be enough to slow the metallic man down. If Class 1-B had just assumed that Class 1-A had improved since the last time they faced off, they could have prepared for their growth, countered it, and walked away from the joint training exercise as winners.
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