Reports

Published on August 17th, 2015 | by MajorBowman

18

A Major Accomplishment: The Champion’s Journey Through the Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major

Honestly, it was rigged the entire time. MAJORBowman. Nugget Bridge MAJOR. Coincidence?

Yes, actually. Hey there, I’m MajorBowman, and I recently won the largest Pokemon tournament ever held. This 4th edition of the Nugget Bridge Major attracted 1,327 participants, and I was able to walk away with the title, $300 in cash, a spot in the Nugget Bridge Invitational, and most importantly, ultimate bragging rights.

For those that don’t know, the Nugget Bridge Major was a tournament held completely online over the course of a few months. The participants were split into four flights and played nine rounds of Swiss in their flight. Each player that finished Swiss with a record of 7-2 or better moved on to Top Cut and was placed into a single elimination 128-man bracket. Each match was a best of three set, which meant that a player who made it to the finals had the potential to play 48 battles throughout the tournament. I ended up playing only 38, with an overall (official) game record of 32-6 and set record of 14-2.

Due to the nature of the tournament, changing teams between rounds was allowed. I used similar teams in early rounds, but began to switch it up as the tournament progressed. With the gracious help of my opponents (thanks everyone!), I was able to compile almost all of the teams I used and faced throughout the tournament. In this report, I’ll walk through each round and talk a bit about each set I played, as well as give my thoughts on the tournament format and some of the issues that arose. But first, statistics!

Usage Stats

My Usage

Pokemon Frequency
Terrakion 10
Hydreigon 9
Landorus-T 9
Metagross 8
Thundurus 8
Zapdos 4
Heatran 4
Kangaskhan 4
Suicune 4
Charizard 3
Cresselia 3
Ludicolo 2
Aegislash 2
Amoonguss 2
Azumarill 2
Whimsicott 2
Arcanine 1
Bisharp 1
Breloom 1
Clefairy 1
Gardevoir 1
Gengar 1
Jellicent 1
Milotic 1
Rhyperior 1
Rotom-H 1
Rotom-W 1
Scrafty 1
Staraptor 1
Sylveon 1
Talonflame 1
Thundurus-T 1
Togekiss 1
Venusaur 1
Virizion 1
Volcarona 1

 

Mega Pokemon Frequency
Metagross 8
Kangaskhan 4
Charizard 3
Gardevoir 1
Gengar 1

My Opponents’ Usage

Note: I only remember 3 Pokemon from one of my opponents’ teams and I’m completely missing another. GamerMan or lovemaryn if you’re reading this, send me a PM!

Pokemon Frequency
Landorus-T 8
Heatran 6
Suicune 5
Aegislash 4
Kangaskhan 4
Virizion 4
Charizard 3
Hydreigon 3
Metagross 3
Thundurus 3
Arcanine 2
Bisharp 2
Breloom 2
Cresselia 2
Latios 2
Milotic 2
Rotom-W 2
Thundurus-T 2
Abomasnow 1
Amoonguss 1
Clefable 1
Clefairy 1
Conkeldurr 1
Crobat 1
Escavalier 1
Gardevoir 1
Gengar 1
Hitmontop 1
Jellicent 1
Kingdra 1
Ludicolo 1
Mamoswine 1
Mawile 1
Misdreavus 1
Politoed 1
Rotom-H 1
Salamence 1
Scrafty 1
Steelix 1
Sylveon 1
Terrakion 1
Togekiss 1
Tyranitar 1
Volcarona 1
Zapdos 1

 

Mega Pokemon Frequency
Kangaskhan 4
Metagross 3
Charizard 2
Abomasnow 1
Gardevoir 1
Mawile 1
Salamence 1
Steelix 1

As you can probably guess from my high usage of Pokemon like Metagross and Hydreigon, I ended up using my Missouri Regionals team a good amount. It was mostly confined to Swiss though, as I began to make adjustments once I got into Top Cut. I really appreciated the ability to change teams, as there are always slight adjustments that can be made to any team. I also think that this tournament in particular helped me grow as a player in that I learned how to use teams with different objectives and tools. It challenged my teambuilding more than one tournament ever has or will, which was an incredibly valuable experience.

Thoughts on Scouting and Counterteaming

Counterteaming was a hot button topic this year during the Major. I know that a lot of players were annoyed when they were counterteamed by their opponents, and somewhat justfiably so. However, scouting and counterteaming are unavoidable in a tournament like this, and players need to be aware of that. I frankly think it’s pretty naive to assume that your opponent won’t have any information about your team going into a match if you’ve been using the same team over and over again. This is part of the reason that I began to switch up my teams more when I got to the latter stages of the tournament. There was a good chance that people who made it that far knew how to play the game, and I’m not just talking about battling. I’ll admit that I did a bit of counterteaming myself, and I’ll talk about specific instances when I go through each round. As Braverius has said, people will do anything they can to win when there is money on the line, and I am no exception. I was never ghosted and I didn’t ask people for advice during my matches, but I always made sure I was prepared.

What You Really Came Here For

Now that my little sermon is over, it’s time to talk about the battles! A lot of the details from early rounds are pretty fuzzy, but I’ll do my best to recall what went down. I saved replays to my 3DS each round, but I must have cleaned out my VS Recorder at some point since I could only find replays from Round 8 on. VioletPumpkin was gracious enough to send me codes from our battle (Thanks Amelia!), so I was able to record and upload all of my battles starting from Round 7. The playlist containing each video can be found here.

Round 1 vs GoldenEmp

My team: metagross-megathundurusterrakionlandorus-therianhydreigonludicolo
Their team: charizard-mega-ylandorus-theriancresseliavirizionaegislashsuicune

My first opponent was a player from Mexico whose name I had seen around the forums before. His team was pretty threatening, with Pokemon like Charizard and Aegislash that could give me issues. His Cresselia used Thunder Wave instead of Trick Room for speed control, so Metagross was able to control the match pretty well with its Substitute. If I recall correctly, I won the first game pretty handily. My opponent made some great adjustments in game 2 and I got a little lazy, so he was able to take even up the match. I remember game 3 being pretty close, but I ended up taking the game and the set.

W 2-1

Round 2 vs 8BitSnowman

My team: metagross-megathundurusterrakionlandorus-therianhydreigonludicolo
Their team: mawile-megasuicunevirizionthundurusmamoswineheatran

The only thing I remember from this match is that his Mamoswine had a Choice Scarf, which actually made it a pretty big threat to my team. It had the potential to OHKO 5 of my 6 Pokemon and I couldn’t slow it down with Thunder Wave. I imagine that Sash Terrakion put in some good work in this set, but I can’t remember specifics. Devin introduced himself to me at Nationals and I was happy to see he earned his Worlds invitation in the Seniors division. Good luck at Worlds, Devin!

W 2-0

Round 3 vs lovemaryn

My team: metagross-megathundurusterrakionlandorus-therianhydreigonludicolo
Their team: steelix-megatyranitarcresseliaunownunownunown

Unfortunately, I remember very little from this match. I had the flu at the time and the match was played pretty late at night, so nothing really stuck in my mind except that my opponent had a Mega Steelix Trick Room team. At least I won! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

W 2-0

Round 4 vs Shinelo

My team: charizard-mega-yzapdosgardevoirbisharplandorus-therianterrakion
Their team: charizard-mega-ylandorus-therianconkeldurrmisdreavussuicunethundurus-therian

Sitting at a comfortable 3-0 record, I decided to have a little bit of fun with my team this week. It started out as somewhat of a joke team that I used for fun on Showdown, but it ended up being halfway decent. The team was based around Jolly Assurance Bisharp, and the other 5 members of the team were both faster than Bisharp and carried a spread move, which allowed Bisharp to fire off boosted Assurances pretty easily. The funny (or sad?) thing is that I couldn’t bring Bisharp to this match because my opponent’s Conkeldurr scared it off. I even used this team (with Mega Gardevoir instead of stupid Scarf Gardevoir) in a Nugget Bridge Live tournament the next day and faced 6 Conkeldurr in a row. Needless to say I retired the team that night.

During this match, I know that I played game 1 very well and took it pretty convincingly. Similarly to my first round, I got careless and gave up game 2 without much of a fight, and needed to regroup to maintain my undefeated record. Game 3 was going pretty well until my Zapdos was frozen by an Ice Beam from my opponent’s Suicune. This was pretty detrimental, as Zapdos was incredibly strong in this matchup as long as it could keep Roosting away damage. Zapdos never thawed, so I lost game 3 and the set. It was pretty disappointing to lose like that, but I can only blame myself for not wrapping the set up in 2 games and giving my opponent the chance to come back.

L 1-2

Round 5 vs raptor

My team: kangaskhan-megaamoongusscresseliaheatranazumarillzapdos
Their team: metagross-megathundurusterrakionarcaninehydreigonsylveon

The team I used this round basically had two modes: Belly Drum Azumarill and Calm Mind Cresselia. I would see what my opponent was using and decide which of the two sweepers had a better matchup. The majority of the time, I would bring Kangaskhan and Amoonguss, then either Cresselia and Heatran or Azumarill and Zapdos. Heatran carried a Life Orb and the move Overheat so it could eliminate opposing Aegislash quickly, as Aegislash is probably the hardest thing for Calm Mind Cresselia to beat. Zapdos held a Choice Scarf and was useful for picking off Scarf Landorus and other faster Pokemon, like Mega Salamence.

It was cool to see my opponent’s team, as it looked like it was inspired by my Winter Regionals team. Azumarill and Cresselia both had pretty even matchups, and I know that I set up one during each game of the match, though I forget the order. The modes aspect of the team proved its worth in this set, as I took it in two games.

W 2-0

Round 6 vs GamerMan

My team: metagross-megathundurusarcaninejellicentterrakionhydreigon
Their team: unownunownunownunownunownunown

I’ll be honest, I remember literally nothing about my opponent’s team. I’m not even 100% sure that this is the team I used, but it’s a good guess. This match was played the night before the first Texas States’ Premier Challenge, and this is the team I used there. I had been at a Smash 4 tournament and driving all across the DFW metroplex that night, so I was beyond tired once my opponent showed up. At least I won! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

W 2-0

Round 7 vs VioletPumpkin

My team: metagross-megahydreigontalonflamerotom-washterrakionclefairy
Their team: metagross-megahydreigonthundurusludicoloheatranhitmontop

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2 (Game 3 unavailable)
Note: these battle videos are from VioletPumpkin’s perspective

I know Amelia had a lot of success at New England Premier Challenges, so I knew she would be no slouch. Her team looked pretty similar to mine, but had a few key differences. Most notably, her Thundurus was max Speed Timid, help a Life Orb, and carried Rain Dance to activate Ludicolo’s Swift Swim. Her Hydreigon also held a Choice Scarf, which really hurt me in game 2. Game 1 was very tight, and I ended up taking a very close win after I was fortunate enough to attack through paralysis and possible flinches multiple times. Amelia dominated game 2, even after my Clefairy managed to survive an Iron Head from what I assume was an Adamant Mega Metagross. Her Choice Scarf Hydreigon was able to pick off my Terrakion, and there wasn’t much I could do after that. Rotom and Talonflame weren’t enough to beat her combination of Thundurus, Hydreigon, and Metagross. Unfortunately, there was a disconnect during game 3 that prevented the battle video from being saved. The game started out very poorly for me, however. I led Rotom and Terrakion into her Thundurus and Metagross. She reavealed Bullet Punch on turn 1 and was able to knock out my Terrakion before it could even move with a combination of Bullet Punch and Thunderbolt. We couldn’t tell whose end the disconnect was on, but Amelia was awarded the win due to her commanding position. I was very happy to see Amelia do so well at Massachusetts Regionals. Great set!

L 1-2

Round 8 vs KVI

My team: metagross-megahydreigonsuicunevolcaronaterrakionthundurus
Their team: abomasnow-megascraftyjellicentescavalierheatrantogekiss

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

This set is a little bit embarrassing for me. I used a bulky Rage Powder Volcarona for this set, and I was pretty happy to see that it could do some serious work against KVI’s team. It could knock out his Abomasnow and Escavalier with Overheat, and comfortably redirect attacks from his Heatran, Scrafty, and Escavalier…or so I thought. It turns out that Overcoat does, in fact, make the user immune to Rage Powder, which I thought was not true. There were a couple turns when I used Rage Powder in front of Escavalier, assuming it would redirect a Drill Run away from Metagross. Luckily, my opponent ended up targeting Volcarona those turns anyway, or maybe he had a different ability, but I could have shot myself in the foot pretty hard.

Game 1 my opponent managed his Trick Room turns very well, and played the game pretty much flawlessly. Towards the end I thought I was in a really good position, with my low health Hydreigon out against his Jellicent and Abomasnow without Trick Room active. Turns out I also forgot that Abomasnow often carries Ice Shard, which cost me the game. I switched up my game plan for game 2, and decided to go straight for damage on KVI’s Jellicent rather than a Substitute. I was a little annoyed that I wasn’t getting any Flame Body burns, but I stalled out Trick Room much more effectively in this match and took the win. Game 3 started a bit differently, and my opponent saw right through the Quick Guard + Taunt play. He switched his Pokemon around very well, and managed to get his Jellicent back on the field when my Thundurus was on the bench. I realized that the only way to prevent Trick Room from going up was to pray for a Rock Slide flinch, and RNGesus blessed me with not only a flinch, but a critical hit as well. The game was still very close until the second to last turn, when I correctly guessed that my opponent would Ice Shard my Hydreigon as opposed to Protecting Abomasnow and setting up Trick Room. I sent in Terrakion as a sacrifice and Hydreigon was able to come back in and clean up the weakened Jellicent.

W 2-1

Round 9 vs Unreality

My team: kangaskhan-megaamoongusscresseliaheatranazumarillzapdos
Their team: kangaskhan-megagengar-megaheatranlandorus-therianbisharpclefable

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

Aaron was one of the last people I wanted to see myself paired with. After meeting him at Missouri Regionals and seeing him take the title, I had a lot of respect for him as a player and as a friend. Since he played and defeated my Metagross team (under Andrew Burley‘s control) in his Top 4 match at Missouri, I didn’t think that was a good call. I looked at the teams I had on my cartridge and decided this one had the best matchup against his regionals team, which I correctly assumed he would bring (apart from switching Conkeldurr to Mega Gengar). I did decide to switch Heat Wave to Flash Cannon on my Heatran since I knew it would knock out his Clefable in one hit.

These were some pretty clean cut matches. Game 1 was basically over as soon as Azumarill got a Belly Drum off without much objection. Aaron managed Azumarill very well in game 2, not allowing me to set up as early. I was still able to get Azumarill to +6, but it didn’t have enough support to finish off the rest of his team at that point. Turn 1 of Game 3 was one of the biggest plays I made in the whole tournament, and it set me up very well for the rest of the game. I knew Aaron’s Clefable would be important and that he probably wouldn’t risk losing it on turn 1, so I just double targeted his Kangaskhan with Fake Out and Overheat for the knockout. Amoonguss was huge during this game, surviving so many attacks and firing off crucial Spores. I almost choked the game at the very end when I brought in Heatran instead of Kangaskhan. His Assault Vest Landorus managed to survive the Flash Cannon with a sliver of health, and would have won Aaron the game if it had woken up and fired off an Earthquake. Luckily enough, it stayed asleep and I booked my ticket into Top Cut.

After the match Aaron was very encouraging and told me that he believed I would win the tournament while offering his help with practice matches and the like. I sort of laughed it off, but the thought that someone was backing me was pretty inspiring.

W 2-1

Top 128 vs dingram

My team: metagross-megahydreigonsuicunelandorus-therianterrakionthundurus
Their team: kangaskhan-megasuicunelatioslandorus-therianheatranclefairy

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

After making it to Top Cut in last year’s Major and losing to Simon right away, I really wanted to win this match. Playing DeVon wasn’t going to be easy, and I knew he had been having a rough season so he’d be determined to do well. Knowing that DeVon was on the KangClef hype train, I was pretty comfortable with this version of my Missouri team in that matchup. I switched Landorus from Choice Band to Assault Vest to add some survivability, which ended up being pretty valuable. I also switched U-Turn to Knock Off, a move that I think is great on Landorus but not on choice item sets. DeVon was just two steps ahead of me for the entirety of game 1. He made some great switches and maintained offensive pressure quite well, taking the game pretty decisively. Game 2 started out similarly, but I managed to bring it back a little bit, thanks in part to some timely full paralyses. I was very happy with the way I played game 3, specifically getting a big Superpower off against his Kangaskhan as it was brought in. Suicune pulled a lot of weight in this match, and Assault Vest / Knock Off Landorus proved its worth.

W 2-1

Top 64 vs TrickRoomMaster

My team: metagross-megahydreigonthundurusvirizionlandorus-theriansuicune
Their team: metagross-megapolitoedkingdrathundurus-theriancrobatbreloom

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2

Thanks to Showdown replays, I knew that my next opponent was fond of Mega Metagross rain with Life Orb Thundurus-T and what I assumed to be Choice Specs Kingdra. I liked the rain matchup with the altered Metagross team I had been using, but figured that a simple switch from Terrakion to Virizion would make it even better. I did consider Stone Edge for its third attack since it could hit his non-Choice Scarf Thundurus-T for big damage, but realized that using Sunny Day to turn off the rain would be more beneficial in the long run. I never got to use Sunny Day in the actual set, but it was a neat option I liked having. Game 1 was pretty clinical, and Virizion showed us just how great it is against rain. My opponent a great play at the beginning of game 2, but unfortunately missed a crucial Super Fang which allowed Hydreigon to survive a Hidden Power and knock out his Thundurus. From there, I was able to quickly clean up the rest of his team with Zen Headbutts and Leaf Blades.

W 2-0

Top 32 vs Lati

My team: kangaskhan-megahydreigonzapdoslandorus-therianaegislashsylveon
Their team: kangaskhanvirizionmiloticaegislasharcaninethundurus

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2

At this point I had decided I was done with Metagross for good. I knew Lati was a former worlds competitor, and he should know that I had been riding the Metagross train pretty hard. Once again, I trolled Pokemon Showdown for replays and found a team that Lati had been using that included Blaziken and Mega Gyarados. These two Pokemon were both reasons to drop Metagross, so that was the final straw. I built this team to somewhat model the Kangaskhan Clefairy teams that had been running around. However, I really don’t like Clefairy, and if Round 7 told me anything it was that I’m not too great at using it, so I replaced it with a super bulky Sitrus Berry Sylveon that knew the moves Helping Hand and Baby Doll Eyes. For those that don’t know, Baby Doll Eyes has +1 priority and will lower the target’s Attack by one stage, so it’s basically a targeted Intimidate that you can use at will. It was a neat move that I had been using pretty well in practice, but I ended up not bringing Sylveon to either battle in this match. Lati used a team other than the one I had scouted, but I was still pretty happy with my matchup. I played pretty well during this set, calling the Fake Out target correctly on the first turn of game 1, which basically set the pace for that battle. Lati caught a bit of an unlucky break in game 2 when he missed a Will-O-Wisp on my Hydreigon, which allowed it to stick around and whittle away at his Arcanine at the end of the battle. An unfortunate end to what was otherwise two very entertaining games, but Lati was a great sport and he and I had a good conversation about the tournament once it was all over. I would also just like to say that this was easily the best set of nicknames I had used all tournament. There’s always money in the banana stand!

W 2-0

Top 16 vs Lajo

My team: gengar-megawhimsicottterrakionstaraptormiloticrotom-heat
Their team: gardevoir-megarotom-washamoongusslandorus-therianheatranhydreigon

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2

This is where I thought the line ended. In my prediction bracket, I had myself losing right here to Lajo, as did most people who thought I would beat dingram. That’s not to say I didn’t think I had a chance, but Lajo is a player I’ve come to respect a lot since I’ve joined this community. He’s had some really consistent results in Europe with incredibly well built teams, and he’s kicked my butt a couple times in Nugget Bridge Live tournaments. I was really excited for this match, and I really didn’t have anything to lose. Between reaching Top 16 in the Major and results from some Lives, I had already qualified for the Invitational. I knew that Lati and Lajo were countrymen and most likely friends, so I would need to use a different team. A friend of mine had just played Lajo in the Summer Scramble, so I talked to him about what Lajo had used and what I should use. I came up with this wonky team, including Intimidate / Choice Band / Final Gambit Staraptor and Assault Vest / Dragon Tail / Mirror Coat Milotic, which was meant to have solid matchups against the team my friend had seen and other teams Lajo was known for using, specifically involving Gothitelle and Mawile. While the exact team was obviously not what I expected, the general archetype was similar and I knew I was in for a fun set.

Game 1 started out almost perfectly, as Gardevoir traced Staraptor’s Intimidate and gave Milotic a Competitive boost. Final Gambit didn’t take out the intended target, but did a hefty amount to Amoonguss, a trade I was fine with. I got a Scald burn on Lajo’s Gardevoir on Turn 1 as well, which put me in a pretty solid spot even though Trick Room was active. Whimsicott came in to Taunt the Amoonguss and prevent it from spreading Spores, but Lajo was ready with the Sludge Bomb. Luckily Whimsicott wasn’t poisoned, or else the game probably would have been over there. I was able to whip out Mirror Coat for a surprise knock out on Lajo’s Rotom the next turn, and Milotic underspeeding Gardevoir to knock it out in Trick Room was a huge bonus. The match was to be decided by an Earthquake, and luckily Milotic survived with 9 HP to knock out the Landorus and seal up the game.

In game 2 I wagered that he wouldn’t lead with his Landorus, considering my Milotic lead from the last game, and thought that TerraCott was a solid option to get some quick knockouts. I was so happy to see Amoonguss and Hydreigon, because that meant I could basically Beat Up and Rock Slide for free. Unfortunately, I missed the Rock Slide on Lajo’s Hydreigon and his Landorus just barely survived thanks to Intimidate. His Hydreigon was able to set up a Tailwind, which completely threw me off. My Whimsicott actually wasn’t carrying Tailwind, so I couldn’t just Protect and Tailwind myself to cancel it out either. I was forced to withdraw my boosted Terrakion and bring in Gengar to take the Hyper Voice as I went for a desperate Beat Up knockout with Whimsicott. After Tailwind ran out, I was able to get Staraptor and Gengar on the field against Amoonguss and Taunted Gardevoir. Since Lajo saw Final Gambit and probably assumed Choice Scarf Staraptor, I knew there was a good chance he would Protect Amoonguss from the potential faster Brave Bird. I was able to knock out Gardevoir with Sludge Bomb and U-Turn, and from there I played a few really solid turns to clean up the game. I set up a Substitute with Gengar at the perfect time, and that momentum carried me to victory. I was so thrilled to have won this match and moved on to Top 8. It was about this time when I realized there was a very real chance that I could win this tournament.

W 2-0

Top 8 vs Pd0nZ

My team: charizard-mega-yterrakionwhimsicottthundurus-therianlandorus-therianaegislash
Their team: charizard-mega-ylatiosaegislashweavilerotom-washlandorus-therian

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2

Between Patrick, Ben Hickey (darkpenguin67), and myself, there were three Americans left in the tournament, and this match would guarantee that at least one would move on to Top 4. I knew Patrick was quite fond of using Charizard and Latios, so I knew I had to come prepared for those. After seeing TerraCott almost sweep a match from turn 1 against Lajo, I thought it would be a good idea to bring against Patrick. I asked my good friend Tommy Cooleen (Tman) for his best TerraCott team, since I knew Tom Hull (TheGr8) had used a team Tommy had built to win a recent Premier Challenge. He ended up giving me the same team Tom used, and it was really entertaining. Between Beat Up and Fake Tears, Whimsicott was all about helping teammates do more damage, while Charizard and boosted Terrakion in Tailwind are all kinds of threatening.

I played the beginning of Turn 1 a little bit risky, since I knew Patrick had used Choice Scarf Latios against DaFlo the week before. I left my Choice Scarf Thundurus in to scout the Latios item, and I was lucky enough to survive the Draco Meteor. I was able to set myself up for a pretty clean Beat Up sweep, which is exactly what happened from that point. I had 3 turns of Tailwind with +4 Terrakion, which wasn’t to be stopped. I know I should have used Close Combat on the last turn to guarantee a knock out on one of Patrick’s remaining Pokemon, but I had Aegislash and Thundurus in the back. Even if I missed Rock Slide on either Patrick’s Latios or Charizard, I had a Pokemon in the back that could OHKO the survivor without any trouble. I would have needed to double miss the Rock Slide to lose that game, and I risked the 1% lose condition for some style points.

Game 2 was much less cut and dry. I knew Patrick had a fondness for Assault Vest Landorus, so I was confident that my bulky Charizard would outspeed to launch an Overheat its way, then most likely survive the Rock Slide. The game was pretty tight up until I called a King’s Shield right and doubled up on Patrick’s Weavile on the last turn of Tailwind. For those that were wondering, I did have Earthquake on Terrakion, but chose not to reveal it just in case I missed a million Overheats and had to go to a game 3. I did end up missing one, but I still had Thundurus in the back at full health. I nailed my next Overheat and moved on to Top 4!

W 2-0

Top 4 vs Lumina

My team: charizard-mega-yvenusaurscraftycresseliarhyperiorheatran
Their team: kangaskhan-megavolcaronalandorus-therianaegislashzapdosmilotic

Battle videos: Game 1

Ah yes, the famous 5 move Volcarona. I was completely blind going into this match, so I decided to use this combination Pledge + Cresselia / Rhyperior team that a lot of my friends used at Kansas City Regionals. Lumina outplayed me pretty hard in game 1 and won it without much of a fuss. I didn’t get Trick Room up fast enough, which needed to be my goal against that team. I got off to a much better start in game 2, baiting a Fake Out and setting up Trick Room on turn 1. However, I let my lead slip as Lumina revealed the infamous “Billaslash,” which carried both Wide Guard and Substitute. I won’t say that I was definitely going to lose that game, as I think I still had a chance to come back, but then something happened that made any effort I may have made unnecessary. In game 1, Lumina revealed all 4 attacks on his Volcarona, including Quiver Dance, Heat Wave, Hidden Power, and Protect. Midway through game 2, Lumina’s Volcarona used Bug Buzz, which was immediately followed by a disconnection. Lumina messaged me saying that he had two versions of the team in his Party and Battle Box that he was using to test on Battle Spot, and he accidentally picked the wrong one for game 2. It was certainly an unfortunate circumstance, but I was awarded the match win after the stream was reviewed. Again, I won’t say that I was 100% going to lose that second game, but Lumina had a good amount of momentum that could have carried him to victory. However, I was once again moving on, and needed to regroup for what was to be the biggest set of my career so far.

W 2-0*

Finals vs Juan Carlos Mateos

My team: kangaskhan-megalandorus-therianthundurusbreloomheatrantogekiss
Their team: salamence-megarotom-heatsuicunelandorus-therianbisharpbreloom

Battle videos: Game 1 Game 2

Full set with commentary by Duy and Evan Falco can be found here:



 

I was sad to see fellow American Ben Hickey lose in the semi finals, since that would have made for a fun All-American finals. Ben was nice enough to give me a bit of info instead, which influenced what type of team I would bring to the finals. Again, I built this team a couple days before the match with Tman, who also played a lot of practice battles against me with similar teams to what I had seen. Juan Carlos ended up using a slightly different team, but with similar components, so I knew that his Landorus was probably slower than my Breloom and holding an Assault Vest, and that his Rotom was most likely wearing a pair of Safety Goggles. The rest of his team was incredibly bulky, so there weren’t too many turns where either of us scored huge damage on anything. This match was mostly a war of attrition. The player would could whittle down the opposing team first would be the one to win.

Game 1 started out somewhat poorly, with Juan Carlos reading through the Taunt immediately and going straight for some damage. It took a few turns for me to get the gears turning, as he kept spreading little bits of damage across my team. On turn 3, I knew that if I could Power-Up Punch the Suicune without activating its Sitrus Berry, I’d be in a pretty commanding spot. Suicune ended up barely getting knocked under half health, so it survived the subsequent Thunderbolt, but I was still able to get my Kangaskhan up to +1 Attack without losing much. The rest of the game turned into an Intimidate fest, with my Landorus and Juan Carlos’s Landorus and Salamence switching in and out. Eventually, I forced myself into a position where Breloom could start Sporing by switching it in without it taking any damage. At that point, Rock Slide did it’s thing, and I eventually racked up enough damage to win the match. I did get a few timely flinches, but nothing that was too game altering…yet.

Game 2 started out in a similar fashion, with neither me nor Juan Carlos making a whole lot of progress. I almost took a big lead early on when I read the Safety Goggles Rotom switch in the Suicune slot and Spored the Landorus instead, but his Rotom barely survived the combination of Mach Punch and Return on the next turn and was able to burn my Kangaskhan. Had Rotom gone down, Breloom would have been able to command the match with its fast Spore, and could take one attack from Salamence with its Focus Sash. Unfortunately, I had to play the switching game, trying to get myself into a spot where I could start getting knockouts. This game is where luck was clearly on my side, as I scored a crucial first turn full paralysis on Juan Carlos’s Suicune, as well as a million flinches on everything else. Juan Carlos made some good plays, like not letting my Breloom stick around and Spore the Salamence like it did during game 1, but there was unfortunately not much he could do. I’m not necessarily apologizing for what happened, since Rock Slide was pretty clearly the best move to use damage-wise in most of those situations, but I felt pretty bad that Juan Carlos had played a solid game and had nothing to show for it. He was an incredible sport however, and he had nothing but congratulations for me. Juan Carlos proved himself to be a classy competitor and person, and I wish him all the best in his future tournaments.

W 2-0

Closing Thoughts

I had done it! I was the Nugget Bridge Major Champion! It felt pretty surreal to have won the biggest Pokemon tournament to date, and the only thing that could get me down that day was getting called in to work a closing shift. This entire tournament was such a great experience for me. I got to play some intense matches with great players, and it helped me grow a lot as a teambuilder and a player. I was not hesitant to spend my prize money, and I’m really looking forward to the Invitational. Can’t wait to defend my title next year!

Huge thanks to everyone that helped me teambuild for each round and calmed me down when I got nervous, specifically Tman and Adam Hoffer (AdamHoffer). Whenever I needed help I went on Showdown and at least one of the two was usually there to talk me off the ledge.

Also thank you to everyone who commentated my matches, including Ben Irons (Benji), Cedric Bernier (Talon), Kenan Nerad (Lucien Lachance), Chuppa Cross (Chuppa), Jon Evans (Ezrael), Duy Ha (Duy), Alex Ogloza (Evan Falco), and anyone else I may have forgot. Streaming my matches was really entertaining, and I’m sure the viewers appreciated your presence.

Huge shoutout to FloristtheBudew for the article art! Check out more of his art here.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @jakesaysstuff!


About the Author

MajorBowman started playing VGC in late 2013 after stumbling across the live stream of the 2013 World Championships and instantly falling in love with the format. Now he travels to events whenever and wherever he can, while also playing in just about every online tournament imaginable. Notable accomplishments include winning the Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major and qualifying for the World Championships in 2015.



18 Responses to A Major Accomplishment: The Champion’s Journey Through the Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major

  1. TrickRoomMaster says:

    At least I lost to the champion! Although I knew you would use metagross/genies/dog things/hydra, I wasn’t able to breed another team in time for the match, so GGs!

  2. XacerB8 says:

    Congrats Jake, MAJOR props to you on winning the tournament!

  3. Socialgames says:

    MajorBowman-Sama Great Victory

  4. Gilbert says:

    Great report, what was latis last mon? There seems to be 2 virizions in the top 32 match

  5. Feis says:

    He had a Thundurus in that slot.
     
    On that note, gratz on winning the Major ^_^

  6. Size says:

    Regarding the Top 4 team you used, I believe I battled some of those friends of yours because I went up against that team twice. 😛

  7. Keonspy says:

    Congratulations JAKE! 
     
    You used some cool teams! I like the Gengar one the most <3
     
    Keep up the good work and good luck at worlds!!!! 

  8. Life Orb says:

     Although I knew you would use metagross/genies/dog things/hydra, I wasn’t able to breed another team in time for the match, so GGs!

    no johns homie

  9. Seaco says:

    Dear Jake,
     
    Good job. <3

  10. Dawg says:

    Congrats MajorMuller or Jake Bowman. Wp

  11. ThunderPunch says:

    Congrats, Jake!
    Kewl teams!

  12. Eakes says:

    In Top 16 V Lajo, you say his Gothitelle was taunted but he didn’t have one haha. Most likely Gardevoir is what you meant to say (Do your jon Daniel Song), congrats!

  13. Eakes says:

    *job (lol)

  14. DaWoblefet says:

    It’s a minor thing, but your links to the matches in rounds 7, 8, and top 16 are broken. I watched the videos in the playlist, however, so I still got to see them.
     
    Of course, congratulations on your victory! Winning a huge tournament like the Major is no easy thing to do.

  15. MajorBowman says:

    Great report, what was latis last mon? There seems to be 2 virizions in the top 32 match

     
     

    He had a Thundurus in that slot.
     
    On that note, gratz on winning the Major ^_^

     
     

    In Top 16 V Lajo, you say his Gothitelle was taunted but he didn’t have one haha. Most likely Gardevoir is what you meant to say (Do your jon Daniel Song), congrats!

     
     

    It’s a minor thing, but your links to the matches in rounds 7, 8, and top 16 are broken. I watched the videos in the playlist, however, so I still got to see them.
     
    Of course, congratulations on your victory! Winning a huge tournament like the Major is no easy thing to do.

     
    Thanks for the catches! They’ve been fixed.
     
    And thanks to everyone else for the kind words and whatnot, this was a really fun article to write and I was really happy to have the opportunity to write it.

  16. Super stoked to see and be able to read this. I love how these things can be rigged for the Major players ;) Fantastic quality seriously though, and it showed how Mega Metagross was a good pick early in the season. Thanks for letting me draw it too haha. 

  17. GoldenEmp says:

    This was an excellent read! I’m glad you could win the whole thing! Congratulations!

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