Let's Talk About What it Means to be a God

[Unholy_Moly]

So after Mew2King placed 13th at Do You Fox With It this past weekend, some people (most notably and vocally, of course, Leffen) have been bringing up the possibility that he's not a God, or once was but no longer is a god. I wanted to see what people thought the definition of a "God" of Melee should be, and discuss whether some people we consider Gods as of now should or shouldn't have that status. The currently (mostly) agreed upon Gods, in no particular order, are listed here just in case you don't remember:

• Mango
• Armada
• Mew2King
• Hungrybox
• PPMD

So the question I'm posing is threefold. One, what is the definition of a "God" of Melee? Two, can "God status" be revoked? And three, if God status can indeed be revoked, are there any current Gods who don't deserve their title?

 

[Spak]

First of all, I don't like the term "Melee God" because it assumes that the player is immortal, which none of the top 5 are. Secondly, a Melee Master is someone who is amazing at the game and has proven their skill time and time again. I would say after one of them starts consistently placing low in tournaments, they should have their "Master" title revoked. They should then be placed under "Legend", a status that shows they used to be a Master, but they fell behind. A prime example of this is Ken. He left the community for a couple of years after being unbeatable (he is the only smasher I would categorize as ever being a "God" in his prime) and then came back behind the meta. He will forever and always be a Legend unless he gets good enough to be a Master or a God again.

 

[XLAX_OVERDOSAGE]

When M2K isn't feeling it, he will slowly deteriorate. That being said, don't expect him to be worse just because he didn't place well in a secondary tournament. He knows his ****, and will be a lot more focused on bigger tournament events. From what I heard, it was his worst placement since SKTAR in 2012.

 

[OBI1JABLOMI]

You should always be compared to your contemporaries. Ken is a Melee God because he was dominant against his era of smashers and helped develop a lot of techniques you see in competitive play now. I know he is not as good against the current crop of players out there, but his prime was back P.B. (Pre-Brawl). He was dominant for so long, I don't think you can just revoke his status because he isn't as comparatively as good now.

You look at any sport or other game played out there and experts in those games/sports always rank dominant old school players high on their GOAT lists because they know the old schoolers paved the way for new school players to be as good as they are. I think the same mentality should be applied in Melee as well.