Axe is, without a doubt, my new favorite player.

[BarlessPianist]

In all my time watching smash (Which, admittedly, has only been about half a year) I could never pick a favorite. I never particularly liked any of the top 5. They were all pretty even for me.

But after watching evo and how Axe performed and acted, I was super impressed. Not only did he use a low tier character, but he kicked some major tail with it too! Tiers aside, his game was just incredibly solid. He gave Mango a run for his money and tore through his pools really decisively. He's fun to watch, really skilled, and seems to lose fairly gracefully.

Cheers to Axe.

 

[Squartle]

Axe's only obstacle is his mind. He chokes in high-pressure situations, and when his second game against Mango came to the last stock, he definitely did so.

Regardless, Axe played better at EVO than I've ever seen him play, ever. It was amazing to see. Pikachu has some nasty tricks.

 

[Juushichi]

My heart literally broke at the end of game two.

You got this though Axe! You are amazing!

 

[007-jake]

Game 2....So sad to see lol. He probably couldn't accept the thought of sending Mango into loser's like a BAWS

 

[Spiffykins]

Mango wouldn't have been sent to losers, he would have been eliminated entirely. Wobbles had already beaten him, iirc.

 

[007-jake]

OH?! thats right. Holy balls Axe choked.

 

[stelzig]

Pretty sure mango and axe met before mango and wobbles and that axe was knocked out by shroomed.

Either way though, i'm sad that axe lost.

 

[atangerine]

Mango wouldn't have been sent to losers, he would have been eliminated entirely. Wobbles had already beaten him, iirc.

Nope, Mango was still in WB when he faced Axe.

 

[Ulevo]

I was rooting for Axe sooo hard.

 

[BarlessPianist]

Axe's only obstacle is his mind. He chokes in high-pressure situations, and when his second game against Mango came to the last stock, he definitely did so.

Regardless, Axe played better at EVO than I've ever seen him play, ever. It was amazing to see. Pikachu has some nasty tricks.

What bothers me is that he was KILLING Mango, but once that Mango chant started up behind him, he just shut down completely. IMO, Axe didn't lose to Mango. Axe lost to the crowd.

 

[mixa]

I say Mango emcompasses mangonation.
So when fighting Mango, the MU is: character&stage, his playstyle, and the crowd.
Everytime you fight Mango in a big tournament you'll have a crowd. Mango is a beast and he always wins the crowd.
With EVO that hidden skill only escalated.

So if you can't charm the crowd and if you can't deal with it, you can prolly say you're "losing to the crowd" but you're losing to mangonation, but remember that is just an extension of Mango.

At the end of the day is all Mango.

Mango I should've never doubted you.

---

Of course I just made this up for kicks and I really wanted Axe to win that. But saying he lost the crowd is kinda scrubby.

 

[BarlessPianist]

I'm just saying that I think that the crowd was the deciding factor. That's all.

 

[Sedda]

Axe for EVO 2014 Champ #onemoreyear

I play 64, and my favorite player is Axe. I don't even play Pikachu. Axe, you're too fun to watch.

 

[StickandFluid]

I remember at another big tournament a commentator said that axe was "just trying to recapture a past run and he is to predictable to make another upset" and that always just irritated me, axe is one of the best players ever in my opinion he focuses on him being good and getting better not the character, he's humble, and all around a joy to watch, I'm from Socal but I also play low tiers so needless to say the Mango vs Axe match was hard for me but in the end Axe was the one I was cheering for, hope to see him win one day.

 

[EpixAura]

It's not just Axe. Shroomed and Wobbles gave some of the lesser seen characters a lot of screen time (although I suppose ICs go up a couple of spots on the tier list with wobbling legal). All three of them seemed to be having fun whether they won or lost, and played remarkably well, even more so than usual.
There was a ridiculous amount of hype for lower tier characters this time around (even Yoshi and Zelda had some serious hype). I hope they can keep this up. Much respect to all of them.

 

[Juushichi]

The tier list is assuming Wobbling legal, Epix.

Not sure if they would reeeally go higher. There is still Fox, Falco, Falcon, Peach that they have to worry about, lol.

 

[Plum]

It's been shown many times before that Wobbling doesn't really improve the tournament performance of top Ice Climber players.
When Icies players are on point they are going to place well regardless of whether or not Wobbling is legal. Things might be easier execution wise with Wobbling legal, but the execution after a grab is far less important than everything leading up to that point.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Axe has been my favorite player by far for 4 years now. He is never boring to watch. Not only does he defy logic by finishing really high in tournaments with a true low tier, but his falco is flashier than Broadway and he always seems to be having a good time and is very classy. I do think he is a bit inconsistent and seems to dislike pressure sometimes. If he could just get past this (and I know he can) he could definitely win Apex and Evo. That said, Mango put on an epic display of skill and he certainly deserved the win.

Even in teams, he and V3ctorman tore it up with Yoshi and Pika. How great is that? <3 Axe

 

[IsmaR]

He's really nice and cool in person, too. Mad respect.

 

[hectohertz]

the only real question is why was he not already your favorite player?

 

[BarlessPianist]

Because most videos I could find of old matches had a huge Big 5 Bias. I'd only even heard of Axe by the time I saw him in Evo. I'd never even seen him play.

 

[hectohertz]

watch this on repeat until your computer explodes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTWI2f6AIE

 

[BarlessPianist]

I think I just came.

And this is 4 years old too! This is Axe minus 4 years of experience!

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Why do people say that Axe mains a low tier

 

[BarlessPianist]

It's mostly perspective. Yeah, Pikachu is listed as is out of 26, which is right above the halfway point, so technically could be considered mid-tier, but you could argue that anything D-Tier and below is "Low Tier". I don't really have an opinion on it, since either way sounds about right.

Edit: I now see that I actually used the phrase "Low Tier" in my first post. Guess I do have an opinion.

 

[AXE 09]

Pikachu used to be considered a low tier back in the day, but over the years, he got moved to mid tier lol.

BarlessPianist: Thank you so much!! I'll keep trying my best =)

 

[BarlessPianist]

*Attempts to contain inner fanboy*

*Fails miserably*

 

[pokemongeof]

Axe did amazing! Mad respect for that guy!!

 

[Osennecho]

The real reason to like Axe is because he likes PI. That is the 3.141592.................... type of pi.

 

[AXE 09]

I memorized exactly 69 digits of pi lol

 

[Frame Perfect]

i wanted to see more of axes's fox. he';s defnityly the fox melee deserves. like what lovage woulda been.. you know, if he werent a *****

 

[Frame Perfect]

p^ssy lmfao