Since the pandemic, several players have grown their brands to now be major personalities within the scene. One of the prime examples of this is Panda’s Chris "WaDi" Boston. The Mewtwo and R.O.B. player has not only become a popular Twitch streamer, but one of the best Ultimate players in the world.

Inven Global had the chance to sit down with WaDi, and discuss his thoughts on Ultimate, streaming, and his future plans.

Hyping Up the Crowd 101: R.O.B. & Mewtwo

What is your general feeling about your tournament results recently? Have they been going the way you expected them to? What are you think the biggest things you need to work on?

I've actually been more than happy with my tournament results. I was kind of aiming to use more Mewtwo than R.O.B., which is kind of scary because I've used R.O.B. throughout my entire Ultimate career.

And now swapping to Mewtwo, not only is he much worse than R.O.B., I didn't know how good I would be performing with him. Two ninths, and 25th—those are pretty good results. I'm happy with it so far. Good wins, not too bad.

What is your general perception of Mewtwo right now? With all the mileage you got with R.O.B., why try with both?

The narrative I'm trying to push is I believe that whatever character you have the most fun with is the character that you will be the best with. You will perform best with the character that you have the most fun with. And right now that is Mewtwo for me. I feel like R.O.B.'s meta is going more technical, where I'm not a technical player at all. And Mewtwo is a little bit more reactionary and just knowing the character. That's more my route, so I feel like Mewtwo fits me more.

Do you think you'll be in any position going forward to win majors going forward? How long would it be?

I don't know. I have a weird mentality where I don't necessarily care about winning the entire tournament. I've always been the kind of player where I like beating certain players. If I see somebody in my bracket run that I'm like, "Hey, I want to beat this guy." A lot of times I beat the person.

I know that I never have and never will want it as much as the best player in the world. That's just not me. I don't have the same drive as him. The same motivation. However, I still like to perform well. I like top eighting and I like beating top players. As far as winning tournaments, I don't have the same drive for that specific thing.

What's the plan general plan? Will you stick with Mewtwo, dual-main with R.O.B., or have even other characters potentially?

I never solo main. I always have at least two characters. I always like having a counterpick character. R.O.B. I'm going to keep for counterpick purposes, because there are some matchups that Mewtwo just can't do, like Min Min or something like that. So I'm always going to have at least two characters. Right now I'm looking around for a third.

Zackray is the other really strong R.O.B. player. How would you say your style differs from his?

So if you look at every other R.O.B., including Zackray, they do a lot of technical things, especially with Gyro setups. And I feel like to be good with R.O.B., you got to be pretty setup oriented. You got to look for the setups for the true zero-to-deaths and stuff like that. And they play around that. I don't play around that — I kind of just play neutral and just use my fundamentals to my advantage. So it's a lot different playstyle.

He's someone that's played a lot of Joker. Could that be a potential third character?

No, because I use characters that I like on a personal level. If I think they look cool, or I played their games when I was a kid—that's why I like Banjo, even though they kind of screwed Banjo over in this game.

But yeah, I like characters that I think are cool or look fun. I have no connection to Joker. I'm also not big on like...he's too cool-looking. I like goofy characters. He's a kind of technical. He's kind of quick. I'm more of a projectile user. I like projectiles, charge-shots, and stuff like that. He just doesn't fit any kind of interest to me.

You highlighted your philosophy of playing with a character you like the best. If someone like MkLeo or Tweek went with this thinking and chose a character like Mewtwo—you think they'd still be regularly winning tournaments?

Yeah, I would honestly put Byleth in that same category as Mewtwo. They're not great, but they're good enough, and I feel like Byleth really plays how Leo wants to play. It suits him as a player and as a person. So it really works out for him.

So yeah, I feel like it definitely works, I just feel like that most people are scared to do that because...when you're making tier lists and stuff, you're seeing what the best character is. And you're like, "Well in order to win, I have to use the best character."

And I don't agree with that. I just think the best character isn't for everybody to me. And it won't be your best-performing character. I don't believe in that.

If you had to put an estimate on it, percentage-wise, how much of a disadvantage is it playing a character like Mewtwo compared to, say, Pikachu?

There are definitely disadvantages to using a not as good character. Mewtwo has got a lot of flaws and stuff like that. But what comes with using a character you like such as with me and Mewtwo—I look past the fact that he's a big character, he's light, and his tail. Because I'm having fun so I'm like, "Well, how do I not get hit with his tail?"

And I experiment, trial-and-error, I figure out certain spots that I shouldn't be in. I figure out good decision-making with the character. So the tail doesn't bother me that much. I'm not in a disadvantage as much. So it becomes less of a problem, because I'm willing to experiment with that character. Because I'm having fun.

I feel like a lot of people who just use a top tier because their top tier, they only work on what is to be considered their broken options, their combos, and stuff like that. They don't work on the flaws and the little things. They just work on "what's going to make me win?" And they don't really work on the little things that really matter once you get to the top level.

Do you think we'll see a rise in more Mewtwo players going forward?

I know there's a couple Mewtwos like Zenkai. And I know there's a Japanese Mewtwo. I don't know how good they are—I've never watched another Mewtwo in a tournament. I've only ever seen other Mewtwos do tech videos where they're doing like advanced tech and stuff like that. I've never actually seen another me to compete.

So I don't know how much better I am than every other Mewtwo. But I would assume by a margin as there are none. But yeah, I feel like I'm hopefully paving the way for other Mewtwo players to give the character another chance, you know?

Hyping Up the Crowd 101: Content Creation

Since the pandemic, you’ve really built up your presence as a content creator. Coney said he thought it might lead to more fans in the crowd for you and Marss. Have you noticed this at all?

Oh yeah. Because I've been a top player since 2016, and I never really had a personality. People just knew me for my play. And that would get people to come up and get a picture every now and then, or sign something. But it wasn't anything crazy. You know, 10-20 a tournament.

But now ever since quarantine came back with Riptide, Low Tide, Smash Con—it's hard to even have a conversation with somebody without somebody coming up to me asking for a picture or autograph. Don't get me wrong, I love all my fans and stuff. It is a lot though. I'm not used to it, but I'm getting used to it as it goes.

You’re someone that already has what most would say is a really entertaining stream. When I talked with Moky, he said sometimes he feels as good after a great stream as a great tournament run. What do you think?

I kind of agree with that. Because my whole thing is I'm living to have fun. And you know, a great stream means I had a great time. I had a lot of fun. And a great tournament run means that I had a lot of fun in tournament. So yeah, I can I can agree with it.

Do you think you want to go into more variety streaming in the future?

I definitely want to do variety. The main reason why I haven't been doing variety is because my PC couldn't handle other games, because it was bad. But I just got a new PC, so things are looking like I'm going to be adventuring into other games a little bit more. Still keep Smash my main game for now, but slowly start to make it more variety.

What’s your most memorable stream experience over the last couple of years?

Probably campaigning for Smash Summit was probably my most fun stream. Because it showed me—even though I didn't make it in—it showed me just the overwhelming support that my community had for me. And it made me really realize that I could do it full-time at that moment. The way my stream was being very supportive. I had a whole bunch of people come in and try to help me and support me. So that was a really good moment for me.

Hyping Up the Crowd 101: Melee, Nick All-Star Brawl & Other Games

You were playing Pokémon Unite quite a bit but stopped a couple of months ago? What do you think the problems with that game are? Do you still see any potential in it as an esport?

Well, a couple reasons why I stopped playing that. One, there's not really a Pokémon in Unite that I care that much about. Two, before that I also played League of Legends which is just a better version. And I started to play that a little bit more recently. So that's why—I know don't hate me, but I play League.

Since you have a better computer and want to do more variety streaming, would you consider playing Melee in any capacity? What's your opinion on the game and who do you think you'd main?

I probably wouldn’t because I suck at it. [Laughs] It’s too fast and too technically heavy for me to be any good at. I love watching it though, when I did play as a kid I used Falco, not knowing he was as good as he is.

It’s awesome that you still watch it and support Melee when you can. Would you say tournaments with both games are more enjoyable?

Definitely!

As a competitor, what's been your general impression of Nick All-Star Brawl?

It's kind of a toss-up, because I feel like there have been games like this where they have a good reception, and it'll it'll die off pretty quick. But Nick All-Star, it's made really well and it seems like the developers are there to patch things and make things better. It looks like they are a part of the competitive scene, so they're more aware of the little things. They keep putting in fan favorites and stuff like that. I feel like it could live.

I don't know for how long, but I feel like it's good for the community right now. It has a little bit of silliness to it. Instead of all this seriousness with these goofy characters, we got a little bit more....I feel like people try too hard. I feel like they're missing out on actually having fun with the game. And I feel like Nick All-Star Brawl, even though it's a tournament, I feel like people are having fun with it with the game. Which is good.

Are there any characters there that are personal to you?

Yeah, I was a big Ren and Stimpy fan when I was a kid. Even though it shouldn't have been a kid show. And I also like Patrick—granted I haven't used Patrick yet because he looked kind of bad. So Ren and Stimpy I use because I love Ren and Stimpy. Patrick, I like him as a character, but he just didn't seem like my kind of playstyle. 

I'm waiting on Rocko. I heard Rocko might get in, and I'm a huge Rocko's Modern Life fan, so hopefully he gets in.

Ideally, where do we see WaDi in 5 years?

Honestly, in five years I just want to be good. I just want to be chilling, and I want content creation to be my main thing right now. I still want to compete, I'm a competitive person. But I know inside that I do not have that drive, as say Tweek or Leo. I don't have the same drive. I like competing on a semi-competitive level. I just happen to be good.

But my main thing is I like entertaining. I like making people laugh and I like making people smile, and have a good time. And that's where content creation is. So I'm more focused on content creation. And I still want to also be competing, just more casually. Same thing as now.

But yeah, I still want to be doing what I'm doing now, but a little bit more focused on content creation. You know, be humble. Have a couple more subs and stuff like that, nothing crazy.