SPRING BRAKE YOOOO and A Pokemon Tournament (Set Included)

Hey, y'all! Welcome back to Acting in the Groove with your writer, Ryan B. Hebert, and gamer, Ryan (Pb) Hebert. For all of you who do not know me, I am a current freshman at DePaul University, studying at the fabulous, The Theatre School. Thanks for stopping by to do a little bit of reading today! Let's get started!

It is now Sunday, which means that Spring Break is coming to a close and that I am 10 weeks away from Summer! AHHH! So much to do in such little time, am I right? I am so sad that my freshman year is coming to a close, but I am so excited at the same time. 

Chicago has been amazing, and I love DePaul so much! I also cannot wait to meet the new freshman that come in next year as freshmen. My hope is that I can get back to doing some shows next year since I will not have my mandatory crew assignment anymore. (BTW the crew assignment could be a number of jobs for shows that are unpaid labor, it is what freshmen are most useful for). 

I do have one more assignment for stage crew this spring quarter, and it is Stage Management. I am stage managing a small show at TTS (The Theatre School), and I will be doing it with a classmate of mine as well. I have no experience Stage Managing, but I am so excited to do it. I will be able to gain some knowledge doing, and possibly get a summer job out of it as well? Who knows what I can get from the experience. That is the most important part. The sad part is that it is going to be taking up a lot of my free nights during spring quarter. I will be busy up until may. Bye bye, free time. I'll miss you.

Other than that, though, I am SO excited for classes and I cannot wait to start tomorrow!

I have 2 classes on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday and 2 on Thursday. None of them start before 11 AM. Can I get a HELL YAH?

NOW, for Pokemon!!! This past Saturday (March 25th, 2017) I partook in a Pokemon Mid-Season Showdown at Top Cut Comics in Loves Park, IL. There were 27 total masters, 4 seniors, and 3 juniors. The was a total of 5 rounds, with a Top Cut, that included 8 players. 

I am just gonna leave this here...

Yours truly came in 6th place (I lost 1st round, but other players in Top Cut also had to lose, and my Winning % was super high, so I do not think I got 8th. I did some math and I think I am at 6th place). The important thing is, I made top cut. You also might be wondering what team I used, so here it is!

This was a TR team that had the ability to go fast if needed. The big players on the team were Lele, P2 and Chomp.

Pink Fury (Gastrodon) @ Maranga Berry  Ability: Storm Drain  

Level: 50  

EVs: 188 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpA / 64 SpD  

Sassy Nature  

IVs: 0 Atk  

- Scald  

- Recover  

- Protect  

- Ice Beam  

I did not really use it much. I didn't need it because of the lack of water type Pokemon such as Fini or Araquanid. 

Puuu (Porygon2) @ Eviolite  

Ability: Download  

Level: 50  

EVs: 76 HP / 172 Def / 180 SpA / 80 SpD  

Relaxed Nature  

IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe  

- Ice Beam  

- Trick Room  

- Recover  

- Hyper Beam  

I found out really quick that once I was in Top 8, I was not the only person running a meme. I faced some players with some tricky stuff, and I think my P2 is what scared people the most. A Hyper Beam from a boosted P2 soon became the death to many Tapu Koko's and other frail Pokemon. 

Tapu Lili (Tapu Lele) @ Psychium Z  

Ability: Psychic Surge  

EVs: 156 HP / 180 Def / 168 SpA / 4 SpD  

Modest Nature  

IVs: 0 Atk / 8 Spe  

- Thunderbolt  

- Psychic  

- Moonblast  

- Protect  

Lele was definitely helpful against Snorlax at this event. The Z crsytal move really helped A LOT. Credit to Wolfe Glick btw. This was from one of his earlier videos for the VGC 17' season. This Lele can't take Smart Strike from Kartana, but it is defintely bulky enough for Garchomp Earthquakes.

Cah'chow (Arcanine) @ Assault Vest  

Ability: Intimidate  

Level: 56  

EVs: 156 Atk / 100 Def / 252 SpD  

Adamant Nature  

- Flare Blitz  

- Close Combat  

- Wild Charge  

- Extreme Speed  

AV was super helpful against the many power special attackers at this event. It actually surprised quite a few people. I would definitely change Close Combat to Toxic when I had the chance in the future. 

Homie G (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf  

Ability: Rough Skin  

Level: 50  

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

- Earthquake  

- Poison Jab  

- Aerial Ace  

- Fire Fang  

So. This Chomp was insane. It helped so much at this tournament against Koko, Snorlax, Arcanine, you name it! I would definitely change Fire Fang back to Rock Slide, it just was not effective enough against Kartana. Aerial Ace would have come in handy if Pheromosa or if any other bug type Pokemon were present. I am still gonna keep it on there because it really does come in handy.

Some people did ask about my use of Sash. While it is a setback, killing of Pheromosa's and Koko's before they kill you is a pretty nice perk!

Thank you Poison Jab for killing Lele, that is all. 

Paper Jim (Kartana) @ Focus Sash  

Ability: Beast Boost  

Level: 50  

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

- Leaf Blade  

- Sacred Sword  

- Smart Strike  

- Protect  

Last but not least, Kartana did a pretty nice job killing things at this event. I would keep the same set. I would never take off focus sash. Ever. That is just my preference. 

This is my team. Feel free to use it or change it as you like! Give me some credit though if you do go off and use it/change it. I would really appreciate it!

If you guys would like some more content posted from yours truly, please comment below and let me know! I'd be happy to let you guys see what I am testing out!

Finally, time to talk about my darling Izzy. (Izzy is my GF for all you new readers!) She is currently working her tushie off at Rite Aid and Riley's. She is working so much to be able to go to school in Chicago next year and I could not be more proud of her. She makes me proud every day. I love her so much. She is the best.

Thanks for reading everyone! I really appreciate it so much! Tah-tah for now- Ryan