What is the value of hard work? How do I keep myself motivated and moving along? Is any of this worth it at all?

I gotta lighten this thing up, dang.

This next player needs no introduction. The #2 puff in the world comes in for an interview with JD for an extended interview, covering everything from his first training partners and locals, work ethic, keys to improvement, and mindset. Then, 2Saint drops some sage advice on what he would tell his students, if he had them. Some absolute GEMS in this episode, no question about it.

Wassabi went to Genesis 7! And he has a hell of a story to tell!

Will goes in depth about his entire weekend, ups and downs, tournaments and money matches, player and spectator. Him and JD take a brief detour to completely pop off for the Tri-state players that kicked ass over the weekend, then talk about the importance of Majors as a whole and how we can best learn from them.

There's so much more Melee to play. 

While JD wants to move forward quickly, sometimes it's about taking it one step at a time. Taking a local off, or focusing on other projects instead of competing. But when is "Self love" detrimental, when is burnout just a boogieman? This episode, JD tackles the concept of balance and how it impacts his ambitious goal of being one of the top 100 players in the world.

Another early morning pod! This time at 6 AM on a Tuesday. Neat!

In this episode, JD and Will go over Will's performance at Giga HoG, his preparation for Genesis this weekend, and overall how to balance their Melee time with everything else they have going on. What happens when we look at our jobs as an excuse? What benefits and weaknesses do we have as smash-hobbyists? And how do we put it all together to improve and get results? Some tough questions, but a great episode to start on if you want to give us a first listen.

What’s up Wannabes, in this episode I want to talk about the technical side of making top 100, namely, getting the people on the ballot to notice me.

It’s not just about picking up wins, there needs to be some strategy to it as well. What tournaments do I enter, how often, and what are the benefits of a Major over a Regional? 

This episode will likely be the only one dedicated to this type of strategic tournament entry, but it had to be done sooner or later. Might as well get it over with, eh?

About time we get one of our listeners on the pod! Panos and Will have developed a strong relationship over the past year, playing each other often and navigating the wilderness of not-quite-top-playerhood. If you don't know Panos, he's an incredibly strong Tri-state Falcon that makes a splash in every tournament he enters, and the fact that he works full-time while balancing his Melee career makes him that much more appealing to us. His attitude toward the game and work ethic in how he improves is a great example of what it means to be a Wannabe.

Oh no, Wassabi and JD played in bracket!?! Honestly, it shouldn't be that weird, it just hasn't happened yet for some reason, so now they get to talk about it.

Since both of the Wannabes made top 8 at HNC this week, they had a lot to talk about. Then, they dive into topics like stylistic differences in fox dittos, the Falcon matchup, and why 2Saint may not be the world's most aggressive puff. He's still sick though, don't get us wrong!

In this week's episode of Road to Top 100, JD talks about his newest acronym, the VIPER method of improvement. VIPER stands for Vocalize, Internalize, Practice, Execute, and Refresh/Refine. Not too shabby, right? Using this strategy JD lines up his strategy for improving this year, since it'll take a strong player to crack the top 100, and there's plenty of improvement left to be had.

Also, before the main event, JD talks about his experience at the latest Hax's Night Club, where he placed 5th. This was a trial run to see if he wants to keep doing it, so let him know on twitter if it worked or not. At this stage of the project he is very impressionable, so, yea. Cyber bully him.

The first 1v1 of the New Year is with one of our favorite people in the world, Dr. Lobster! Currently ranked #1 on Long Island and #2 in New Hampshire, Doc Lob has had a storied history and some great insight into the game of Melee. In this episode JD and Dr. Lob talk a bit about his history, thoughts on improvement and mindset, and gives one of the best analogies about the game that we've ever heard. 

This episode is an absolute treat.