First off, I want to say that the way I look at Melee, the higher/more consistent you place, the more respect I have for your opinion/belief. If any of the top 10 players in the world tell me something, I'm much more likely to believe them than people below them skill wise, although of course I'm open to anything anyone has to say.
That being said, I'm far from the level that I want to be in regards to my skill, so although I feel I have a pretty good idea that I know what I'm talking about, I could be absolutely, completely wrong. Here goes haha.
1. Mango- This is just undisputed. Every time Mango touches his controller, people are amazed and inspired. His playstyle is the perfect combination of art (The when where and why's behind his decisions/executions) and science (Perfected technique behind his executions). He is constantly pushing the game to its highest levels that we can imagine at this point, with multiple characters. He has by far the best, most consistent tournament record out of any Melee player in history. Not to mention, it's the longest, and that's key.
If anyone wants a sliver of hope of going down in Melee history as the best player ever, they're going to have to win every tournament they enter with no to little signs of anyone coming close...for 3 years or longer. If 2012 rolls around and there's a new pro who looks to be better than Mango was (Is, if he's still playing) he's going to have to still be undisputedly the best by 2015-2016 at this point to go down as the best ever.
He's set a high bar for any aspiring "best" players, but at the same time I think we'd have it no other way. Ken set a high bar, but M2K topped it. M2K set a high bar, but Mango crushed it, and as such we were all amazed. If anyone ever does become better than Mango, it's going to be another repeat of awe and amazement, which I sincerely look forward to.
2. Hungrybox- Ah, admittedly, I don't watch that many of his vids. I should, I really should. I feel it should be unanimous that Hbox is the second best player in the world. Extremely consistent placings over everyone else below him, only losing to M2K semi-recently, and considering their tournament history together, that's impressive.
What impresses me so much about Hbox aside from his consistency and his inspiring attitude towards the game, is his rise to the top. I barely knew about him, only because of his videos vs Raynex from a georgia tournament I believe it was, a while ago. Hbox lost, and now he's the 2nd best player in the world. That's very impressive.
I watched his most recent matches vs PeePee and it seems he's gotten even better. Amazing, and his attitude towards the game is just amazing as well, rarely (if ever) bragging, setting up funds for players that people want to see play, dealing with the initial hating on his playstyle, almost never (again, if ever) johning, and travelling all over the place for tournaments. Haha, good job man if you read this.
3. Armada- Yeah, I think most people still don't want to believe it. I almost don't, but it would be unfair to deny the third place "Best Player in the World" spot to Armada. I don't think he's lost in Europe in years, he's never placed below top 5 here in America which is astounding.
Armada has a very murderous intent when he plays. He never skips a beat, and his punish game with Peach is so good it almost doesn't even make sense. If there were no videos of him losing, you'd look at him play and swear Peach has nearly no weaknesses, he covers them up so well and pushes her advantages so well that it makes me feel bad about playing Marth/Sheik/Fox, because I don't punish with them as hard as Armada does with Peach. (Yet, haha.)
It's too hard to say if Armada will become the best player in the world. I think he still has the motivation, but he's lost to Jiggs here time after time in America, and also Amsah's Sheik. I think this begs the question: Will Armada ever switch off Peach in order to hit his true potential? Or his his potential only realized because of the compatibility between him and his character? Questions I wish I had the answers to.
4-5. Amsah & M2K- Yeah, they're tied. It's too hard to tell who's better, and I almost want to put them both above Armada, but again that's unfair to Armada, who has proven to be better on so many occasions. I've watched both of these players play (youtube vids) so much I can almost watch their matches in my head haha.
M2K- M2K definitely has a better punish game than Amsah. That's not to say Amsah's weak when it comes to combos or edgeguards. No, not at all. But, you have to give this aspect of Smash to M2K. Just watch his matches, he gets tighter edgeguards and combos to death more than Amsah.
However, and I've only just begun to see him in this way, M2K does lack in the area of "yomi" or the ability to "read your opponent's mind." It's very hard to see, because he covers it up very well with his punishes, speed, and immense knowledge of the game and "situations." Also in addition to that, when I say "lacking" I mean in comparison to the other top 5 players. Watching M2K **** everyone else, it's clear that he out predicts them heavily, most of the time with exceptions here and there.
With the other top elite pros though, I think they have an edge in this department.
Another thing about M2K as well that most people, including me almost don't realize, is that he covers up his lack of prediction/toe to toe game through character strengths and weaknesses. An example would be him vs Kage. He rolls backwards so much because he knows Ganon really can't do much about it. It's smart, very smart, abusing his opponent's weaknesses. But, there's no prediction/mindgames there really, so when he has to play other players like Mango, Armada Hbox, it's harder for him to win.
That being said, M2K has created his own style of play which to this day is absolutely incredible to watch, and it almost pains me to put him at the #4 spot, because when you watch him play it almost feels like he should be 2.
Amsah- Hah, wow. What an awesome player, and for some reason still underrated. It's clear that Amsah is top 5. Not just clear, but crystal. I think the only reason people dispute this is because he lost to Lucky. Lucky's no joke at all, but I'm confident Amsah is better, and it shows...Placing 3rd at Pound 4 only to Mango and Hbox. Running through many of our top players. That's amazing.
Amsah's definitely has the edge on M2K in terms of prediction and overall "intelligence" I feel, although again it's hard to tell sometimes due to the above analysis.
Amsah plays heavily on prediction, and what's interesting is that it works well enough to the point where he is #4 in the world. (At least imo) That's also why he drops more edgeguards than M2K, because instead of covering options he's in your head, predicting where you're going to go and opting to cover that option as opposed to many.
The result is very unorthodox, unpredictable successes for Amsah. An example of this would be him vs Zhu on FoD, where Zhu was Foxfiring and Amsah ran away from it to sweetspot Bair it. It's like, how did he know? If Zhu did something safe like up b to the ledge, he'd have been safe.
But at the highest levels of play, I notice that knowledge of the game matters less, as well as what's generic and what's not. Why? Because all the top players know everything, they've been through every situation.
At this point, it's your mind vs your opponent's mind, and that's why Amsah succeeds at even the highest levels. He is a master of this dynamic, possibly "the master" aside from Mango. This is also why I feel Amsah out of any other top 5 player has the best chance of taking down Mango. Amsah plays that prediction/mind to mind game so well, and that's where it's at at that highest level. There's no "I'm just gonna practice tech skill," or, "How can I cover the most options in this situation?" That's what you need to beat everyone below the elite group of top 5 players.
Anyways, there is a disadvantage to Amsah's style of play. I feel he risks consistency. He is consistent don't get me wrong, very very consistent. But, compared to Armada and Mango and Hbox and even M2K to an extent, he's slightly less. His loss to Lucky is an example, and I don't think M2K would ever lose to lucky, obviously unless Lucky becomes insaneee (which I heard he is when he's playing his best). By trying to predict so much, you are vulnerable to losing to people you "shouldn't", and I put that in quotes because if you lose you deserve to unless it's like your controller or something, but you know what I mean when I say it.
Those are the best 5 at this point, I'm convinced. I think they represent the most elite group of Smashers ever in Melee history. Similar to Azen, Ken, M2K, KDJ, PC, but at this point in the metagame they have all pushed their characters and mental limits farther. I also think it's at this level of play where, in order to break into this group along with the above 5, there's a bit of a mystery as to what it is that is required to be this good.
When striving to improve, different people at different skill levels all analyze other players and try to figure out everything they can.
When trying to sort out the differences between the top 5 and everyone else, we can only make speculations about what separates them. We can try to analyze it, and perhaps we could break it down as scientifically as possible. I think though, that there's more to it. I don't think it's something that you can just really just "figure out." It's something abstract, or perhaps a combination of abstract concepts. Hah, who knows. It's fun for me to think about though.
6. PeePee- PeePee's too good. He's too consistent, has developed a unique and efficient style of play which is remarkable considering how many other Falcos there are out there. Just the fact that he was able to get to the level he's at currently without falling into the trap of trying to look like another top Falco is amazing.
His punish game is good enough I feel. When I say good enough, I mean there's other things he can and should be working on to try to be the next legend. And, he's doing it. I think PeePee is the unanimous choice for the next player to break into that "legend" category, and to many people, the choice for the next world's best player. Everyone sees it in him, and I see it too. It's clear, he has it in him.
Haha, I'm trying to think of something to say, but I can't think of anything atm. PeePee's next test will be Pound 5. He can win it all, and I genuinely believe that when I say it. But will he rise to that level is the question...And if not, when will it be? Hmmmm....
7. Axe- Axe is stupidly good. Pikachu/Falco, what an awesome combination, and a combination that's hard to counter as well. I don't feel like breaking down his intelligent/technically perfect playstyle, but there is one thing that I saw in Axe from the short time I played/chilled with him: His love for the game, and his near obsession. Yes, I use that word. Axe doesn't need to motivate himself to practice, I think he's just obsessed with being perfect, something I can relate to fully, although, he's much closer than I am to reaching that, haha. Idk, I could sit here and just talk about how **** he is all day, but I think the most significant thing is that he's never stopped improving, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
I saw Forward post that he thinks he's going to become the next best Falco. Rivalry between PeePee and Axe? Haha, I wouldn't be surprised to see those guys in the Grand Finals of a major tourney within the next few months-a year.
Below this is where it starts to get fuzzy for me, and even putting Axe up there is slightly fuzzy only due to the fact that we haven't seen him OOS enough.
Jman, Wobbles, Zhu, Lucky, SS all come to mind when thinking about who to put next. And even then, it's still fuzzy cuz there's other great players like Raynex, Tope, Shiz (Poor guy's starting to fall behind...Makes me so sad.) Lucien has gotten really good, Hax $ is ridiculous when he's playing his best, just gotta work on consistency, and so many others that I can't even think of.
But, the goal was to just break down the top and i did it so I'm done now haha. Once again and I stress this, I could be very wrong on everything.
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