Interview with New Top 100 Melee Player MnT | 2Saint

Toussaint “2Saint” Turnier, a Jigglypuff main, is the newly ranked #100 on SSBMRank 2017. He hails from New York, is #7 on the New York City Power Rankings, and plays for Mentality Esports. I spoke with 2Ssaint about his history with competitive Melee and his thoughts on the current meta.

What was your introduction to competitive Melee?

2Saint: I started getting into Melee because I was at a fashion show and one of my friends, Kami, said he was the best at Brawl, and I was like, “no, I’m the best at Brawl.” Then we started playing Brawl, and then we found out that no one plays Brawl anymore. This thing called Project M came about and then we moved on to that. After that, we were like, “oh, Melee is a big game, there’s a tournament close to us.” We went to this tournament and it just so happened that this was the same venue where ROM had been hosted. We started going there every other week just chilling and stuff.

What drew you to Jigglypuff?

2Saint: I started going Jigglypuff because originally I was a Zelda main, and then I became a Fox main, and my practice partner, Kami, was a Marth main. I got really annoyed by getting chain grabbed so I went Puff because I could duck grab, and that’s where I started with Puff.

2017 was clearly a breakout year for you. Do you think your play dramatically improved, or did you just get the chance to travel out more?

2Saint: I think my play dramatically improved, but it’s kind of weird because I can’t tell. I’m beating people that I used to lose to locally, but yeah that’s a really good question. I guess it’s a little bit of both.

At CEO Dreamland, your first major, you managed to 3-0 Gahtzu and get 13th place. How were you feeling going into the tournament? Did you expect to get such strong results at your first major?

2Saint: Heck no. It’s a funny story, me and TheSWOOPER, for that first major, we took a 24-hour bus to get to there, so we were very exhausted. I had no real expectations, I just hoped that we did good in teams, and we didn’t too well in teams, but I did pretty well in singles.

Some top players like Armada, Mew2King, and Plup have expressed their thoughts that they think Jigglypuff is a top 3 character in the game. Do you agree with this, and what are your general thoughts about Puff’s place in the current meta?

2Saint: Yeah Jigglypuff is definitely a top 3 character in the game, but the way I think about tier lists and stuff, I don’t think all that really matters too much. At top level it really becomes player-based and only some matchups are really bad like Puff Peach and Peach ICs.

How do you tend to solo practice? Do you make a lot of use of tools like Netplay and the 20XX Training Pack?

2Saint: I used to have a really long training regimen that was about two pages long and I would do it every single day. I did this for about three months when I first started playing Puff, but ever since then I just stopped doing that. I don’t really do much Netplay, I play it occasionally but not to practice, just to play the game.

What’s your favorite matchup to play, either in bracket or for fun?

2Saint: Anything that’s not a low tier I like fighting because I really like fighting every character in the game. I think it’s really fun to play every single character.

What matchup would you say you currently have the hardest time with?

2Saint: Probably none. I don’t think I have any bad matchup experience, I think I’m pretty well-rounded.

Do you take inspiration from any other players in your gameplay?

2Saint: I took inspiration from Mang0’s Puff and The King, where I should just go balls-to-the-wall aggressive style, but as of recent I’ve just been developing my own style. For the time to come, I hope people will look towards me to study and stuff.

Do you think you have a different style from some of the other top 100 Puffs like Legend or Hungrybox or Prince Abu?

2Saint: No one could play like Hungrybox, he’s just that good, so I’m not gonna try. Prince Abu tries to play like Hungrybox and he does a pretty good job at it. As for Legend, I have never seen him play, but with me, I do stuff like reverse aerials and offstage rests and stuff like that. I don’t see many other Puffs do that.

Are there any players you want a shot in bracket? Do you have any players or matchups on your hitlist?

2Saint: Definitely Hungrybox. I definitely want to play him again. I had a lot of fun playing him, and I think it would mean a lot to me if I did really well against him because I’m number 100 and he’s number 1. I really want to show the world that the worst best player can still do well, and number 100 is nothing to scoff at.

Anything else you want to add?

2Saint: Shoutouts to Mentality Esports, my sponsor. I love them a lot. Shoutouts to Hoss Delgado and Kami. Shoutouts to iBDW and Serf.

You can follow 2Saint on his Twitter, @2Saintt, and his Twitch, twitch.tv/xx2saintxx.

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