Mang0 Hypetrain, Royal flush edition

Setting the Stage

Mang0 loses to ChuDat at Dreamhack Austin

Coming into Mother’s Day weekend, all eyes in the competitive super smash scene were focused on Cloud 9’s Mang0. After losing to the Ice Climber player ChuDat at his last three events, the community started to doubt that Mang0 was still one of the top players in the community. People online were quick to criticise everything from Mang0’s playstyle to even his lifestyle choices outside of the game.

Since his rise in the smash scene in 2007, Mang0 has always been a polarizing player. When he first started playing he played a character that no one expected could be used at the highest tier of competition, and people were quick to call Mang0 a gimmicky, one trick player who would soon fall off when people figured him out. But no one was able to slow him down, and he quickly unseated Mew2King, the long reigning champ, as the best player in the world when he went on the most incredible losers bracket run in Melee history at Pound 3.

*Mang0 trash talking Mew2King after EVO2013*

Back in those days there was a strong west vs east coast rivalry, and Mang0 was a 15 year old kid who loved to talk trash on the popular online forum ‘Smashboards’ and Facebook. He had a pretty bad reputation, and a lot of people thought he was extremely cocky and annoying, and some still feel that way about him.

In 2009 at Genesis 1, Mang0 went on to defeat the first international threat who came all the way from Sweden, a relatively unknown smasher by the name of Armada who would go on to become one of the most dominant players in the modern age. This weekend was a continuation of that rivalry in an epic continuation of their long legacy as they played three sets at Royal Flush 2017.

Going into the tournament, Mang0 managed to be seeded on the opposite side of ChuDat, meaning the two would unlikely have to play. People were suggesting that if Mang0 fell short here it really was a sign that he had completely fallen off and had given up on the game. But fans who tuned into his stream the week prior would notice that Mang0 had been practicing exceptionally more often than his usual practice routine, which usually involves drinking Mickey’s forties and playing non-smash games to entertain his popular stream on Twitch.

Although he may have picked up the new Mario Kart, Mang0 was still practicing nearly everyday for multiple hours the week leading into Mother’s Day weekend, playing against local SoCal peach MacD in anticipation for Armada.

Mang0 managed to make it all the way to Top 16 without dropping a game, and continued that trend when he defeated another SoCal Fox by the name of MikeHaze who had recently handed him a loss in 2017. Setting him up to fight Sweden’s Alliance Armada in the Winner’s Semifinals. There would be a day break before the Top 8 on Sunday, and to twitter’s dismay, Mang0 was posted playing Mario Kart in his hotel room instead of practicing like the rest of the competition.

Mother’s Day Mang0

It is known in the smash community that Mang0 has a close relationship with his mom, who frequents his stream and gives motherly advice from time to time in the chat. For the last three years whenever there was a tournament on Mother’s Day, Mang0 had celebrated by winning the tournament for his mom. With this extra motivation and the amount of practice he had put in, Mang0 was looking like he could use this tournament to turn around his rough 2017 by proving all the haters wrong, but the road would involve beating three of the four other Smash Gods, Team Solo Mid's Leffen, Liquid HungryBox, and the dominant Alliance Armada (Mew2King did not attend).

Winner’s Semi Finals

For his first match in Top 6, Mang0 played Armada, and from the first stock in the first game it was obvious that this was not the Mang0 whose skill was in question. He was sticking true to his playstyle, but moving faster than normal and making all the right decisions at this faster pace time and time again. He was even using Fox’s laser to rack up percent, something Mang0 usually forsakes for a higher-risk higher-reward option like a drill or running shine. But Mang0 made the laser look like a natural part of his game in their first match, managing to take the crucial first game lead in this very important set.

In their third game we were starting to see some emotion from Armada that we had not seen in a long time, leaning in his chair towards the TV we could tell that Armada was finally being pushed in a way that he had not been in all of 2017. Mang0 would lose on his own counterpick, setting up game four on Pokemon Stadium.

It was here that the two players pace was picked up and did not come down for the rest of the day. The two were in each other’s heads to a degree and were back and forth throughout the entire match. Mang0 was down again on potentially his final stock when he managed to catch Armada with a hard read, putting them in a tense last stock situation. But with the Mang0 chant from the crowd, Mang0 kicked it into overdrive and managed to take Armada’s last stock without even being touched.

With that it was game five, and we saw Mang0 falter as he lost two quick stocks, and had a phantom hit on one of his edgeguards, resulting in even more damage on Mango’s second to last stock. Unfortunately the lead proved insurmountable, and Mang0 would fall again to Armada for the third time this year.

Loser’s Semi Finals

It was here in Mang0’s first loser’s bracket match that he was supposed to fight the other Swede, TSM’s Leffen, an up and comer who rocked the Melee community boat in 2013 when Armada had banned him from competing in Swedish tournaments as he was also the most influential Tournament Organizer in Sweden at the time, with an infamous post on smashboards that included evidence.zip which showed Leffen bullying other players.

TSM Leffen will have to wait until next time to prove to the people that he’s still the rising star from 2015 that everyone needs to watch out for.

With his complete return in 2015, he would rock the boat in another way by defeating Armada in a huge run at Apex, securing his return as one of the best Melee players in the world. Unfortunately Leffen lost to a player by the name of DruggedFox who has been making his own waves in the competitive scene by placing Top 8 at the last handful of major Smash events.

With Leffen sidelined, Mang0’s secondary character, Falco, made quick work of DruggedFox in a convincing 3-0.

Loser’s Finals

Hungrybox and Mang0 have had a rivalry since Hbox became a top player in 2009. Although Mang0 recently said that he considers Hbox to be similar to a brother who you always want to fight, in the past their relationship was a huge beef that was constantly talked about. Mang0 infamously responded with this after Hungrybox called him immature in a thread on reddit.

After a competitive back and forth year between the two in 2016, Mang0 defeated Hbox the last time the two played in 2017, and looked to solidify himself as Hungrybox’s better here at Royal Flush.

Mang0 closed out the first two games by winning both and was making Hbox struggle for any opening. He secured the second game with a technically difficult shine upsmash combo that had the crowd once again on their feet.

Before the start of game three, Hbox looked to get under Mang0’s skin by taking as long as he legally could before starting the game, through the camera that was pointed at Hungrybox you could see Mang0 flicking his cursor around the character select screen showing Hbox that he was ready to go. The strategy may have worked as Hbox would win game three, but Mang0 would ultimately be victorious in the set, closing the set out at 3-1 in Mang0’s favor.

Grand Finals

Mang0 vs Armada Grand Finals is something that every Melee player and observer loves to watch. Many times in the past these sets have pushed people’s expectations of Melee as a competitive game, as they execute at the highest level of both technical and mental gameplay.

At Genesis 3 in 2016, when the two played the entire 2,700 person San Jose Civic Center was on their feet in anticipation for their set, and 100,000 people tuned in to watch one of these amazing sets between the two competitors.

Mang0 started the set out strong by taking the first stock, causing the entire crowd behind the two to erupt. But at the end of the game when both players were down to their last stock, Armada manages to execute an incredibly difficult combo resulting in his game one victory.

On the next stage, Pokemon Stadium, Armada halfway through the matches hits an incredibly hard read and lands an up smash onto Mang0, Armada is infamous for letting out little emotion when he plays but after this he lets out a big grin. These two love to play each other, and they know that they are putting on a show for everyone else to learn from. But like a mirror from the last match, Mang0 manages to pull out a crazy combo while behind and takes the second game in incredible fashion.

Games three and four are traded, leading into a game five situation with Mang0’s back against the wall going into Armada’s counterpick Fountain of Dreams where Mang0 fell incredibly short in Winner’s Semis.

The crowd has their hands on their heads going into potentially Mango’s last stock of the tournament, the tension is starting to peak as Armada is up two stocks to one.

Armada gives Mango no chance to breath and takes him off stage, any other fox would be dead in this situation but with the years of experience with this level of play, he pulls off a gutsy fast fall into a perfect off-stage position that allows him to sneak just past Armada’s deadly forward air and grab ledge, where he punishes Armada’s recovery.

During the last stock, you can hear gasps in the crowd as Mango gets hit by another combo but somehow manages to live after Armada’s deadly downsmash. Mang0 manages to get out of Armada’s combo and starts one of his own, nearly killing off of a series of impressive waveshines into an upsmash, then calls out Armada’s recovery with an up-air, taking Armada’s last stock and resetting the bracket.

The whole crowd is on their feet, Mang0 even stands up and pumps his fists, while his long time childhood friends Alex19 and Lucky rush on stage for a quick hug and remind mango to keep his cool

After a short break the two start their second set to determine the winner of Royal Flush. With 75,000 people tuned in to this grassroot tournament, edging out League of Legends for the most watched game on Twitch at the moment, the recent talk of ‘is melee dying?’ seems to be in the back of everyone’s mind. With the next chapter of the Mango Armada legacy up in the air, everyone is wondering if Mother’s Day Mang0 can take on the dominant Armada who has been giving Mang0 an incredibly tough time this year after stomping Mango at Genesis 4 and Smash Summit 2.

By taking the first stock of game one in their second set, Armada is able to take that advantage to the bank and secure the first game. But Mang0 is able to fire back with some incredible technical play that seems almost uncharacteristic of him, as Armada grits his teeth Mang0 is able to take game two in an incredibly close game.

After another couple of traded stocks in the third game, Mang0 manages to get the upperhand with impeccable movement that forces Armada to the corner of the stage, where Mango is able to continue to apply enough pressure and land a great up smash.

But the counterpick is too strong, Mang0 only has so many options without the typical platforms you find on every other stage. Armada’s punish game is extremely potent on this stage, and secures him a two stock victory.

With a clean first stock in the fourth game by Mang0 the hype continues to build, but the whole grassroots aspect of the Melee community comes to the forefront when the commentators monitor cuts out leaving them in the dark, Phil jokes that the producer should simply give the mic to the crowd as they continue to yell and gasp while the intense set unfolds in front of them.

Armada seems to be gaining momentum, and in a classic moment both players go for their signature moves. Mango goes for a series of down airs to set up for his waveshine dair combo, while Armada nearly catches Mango in the Parasol he hit a young Leffen on the come up with back in 2014.

But as Phil states, Mango is playing with the crowd and all of Melee on his back, and quickly finds Armada’s third stock and gives himself a lead that proves insurmountable for Armada, taking us to game 10, the final game of this incredible third set between the two world class competitors.

The USA chant leads us into the final game on Fountain of Dreams.

Holding onto this momentum Mango is able to plow through two more of Armada’s stocks, the fans in the background are already jumping around in anticipation, Armada lets out a big smile, at this point even he can’t help but feel for his long time competitor and friend.

With some incredibly quick drillshines Mang0 manages to deal heavy damage to Armada, and after an incredibly hard fought set Mango lands an upair that seals his victory. Mango takes a huge jump into the air as the crowd storms the stage, all wanting to be a part of the moment. Mango finds his way through the crowd and gives Armada a hug and the two exchange words briefly as they always do, the two respect each other so much and obviously are capable of pushing each other to new limits. This time Mango managed to come out on top after a long week of preparation, Mang0’s new mentality seems to have paid off.

With the Mang0 chants throughout the venue, the Kid emerges from the crowd donning an American flag around his shoulders, and does a little cha cha on stage, a well earned celebration.

But this is just another day in the life of Mang0, the community hero who has always struggled with consistency issues on any day that isn’t Mother’s Day. So we will have to wait with baited breath to see if this momentum can carry forward into future events. But if Mango can keep up this level of play, it will make for an interesting summer as the world’s biggest fighting game tournament at Evo in Las Vegas grows closer and closer. Could this be the year that Mang0 finally secures the 3vo?

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Mang0 Hypetrain, Royal flush edition