I think the dynamic between the top 3 is pretty simple.
Peepee is meticulous. He is constantly baiting while maintaining a lock down with safe offense. You'll see that he does great against players who are also meticulous, like KK for example. They're playing a 'who can think far enough ahead to not mess up' game. His lasers are calculated and his shield pressure is safe but threatening. He maintains a degree of control almost unseen by Melee.
Armada is the punisher. Armada, in the neutral game, is an extremely defensive player. He waits. Its just the nature of Peach. He understands that Peach cannot win by putting the other player in a bad position, but rather he must wait until they do it themselves. When that time comes, which it does for every player, Armada is one of the if not the best punisher in the game. You **** up once and you lose a stock.
Mang0, however, is playing a different game. Both Peepee and Armada are patient, but Mang0 just goes in. His constant reevaluation of options allows him to always pick the most aggressive yet safe option. When he locks players down, everything they know becomes irrelevant. When you're playing Mang0, you're getting ***** in your shield, getting punished, getting grabbed, or you're trying to do something OoS and Mang0 is punishing you for it. That's why Mang0 wins so decisively sometimes.
“One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or fights not at all.”
“Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.”
― Sun Tzu
I think these quotes are pretty accurate.
With that said, when Mang0 is on point, you lose more and more options as his pressure gets more airtight. When he doesn't have that airtight pressure, he gets punished. When he plays people like Armada who will wait all day for that opportunity, he loses stocks for single mistakes.
We all expect Mang0/Peepee/Armada/Hbox? for top 3. Peepee is always getting better, so who knows what will happen. Armada has probably gotten better, too. However, I think the placing will all depend on how Mang0 applies himself. We've all seen what happens when he throws the neutral game out of the window. I'd like to reference Genesis 2, Taj Vs. Mang0 in winners. Mang0 wasn't playing too well, so the neutral game became more apparent and Taj was able to do some fancy tricks. However, watch his match in losers with Taj. The difference between not warmed up Mang0 and warmed up Mang0 is clearly visible. Mang0 ****S Taj up, no doubt. I still wonder why he went so ham and then lost to Armada, but I guess that's in the past. If Mang0 just waited a LITTLE bit against Armada, I think his chances would double. He takes every aggressive option possible, and eventually Armada gets a punish and then a stock.
Another example is Kings of Cali. Winners, Peepee vs. Mango was a decisive victory for Mang0. Peepee was thinking too hard and being too patient, so Mango wrecked him. Whatever anyone wants to say, Grand Finals, Peepee got more aggressive than Mang0, and he won because of it. All johns aside, Peepee was playing much more aggressive than normal and it seemed like he flat out outplayed Mang0, regardless of Mang0's dedication to the performance.
We can see this evidence in other matches. Who is another character who punishes really hard? Ganon. We all know Mang0 has lost to Kage before. He loses when he gets punished really hard.
We'll see, though.
