When Will the "Big 5" End Their Reign

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

I was watching Big House and I realized... it's been around 5 years since the Big 5 started it's reign of terror. It started out with M2K, than Mango and Hungrybox, than Armada and finally PPMD. These 5 have been in undisputed dominance for several years.
I know M2K is going to be streaming full time as well as focusing on Smash 4 and creating video games. PPMD and Hungrybox both have their degrees and Mango has a wife and child to take care of. I don't know much about Armada though I doubt he is gonna stop soo soon since he just came out of retirement around 6 months ago. (Can anyone inform me on him?). The Gods of Melee are slowly moving on with life and therefore, moving on from Melee in the viewpoint that one day, they won't be at the top anymore.
My question is that once that happens, who will take the place as the "God(s) of Melee"?

 

[Spak]

Probably the next generation. M2K probably won't stop because he doesn't have another job, but their hand-eye coordination isn't going to be great forever. The next legend might not even be currently recognizable outside their region for competitive Smash.

 

[EPsilon933]

Leffen will take over the soonest open spot. Maybe he already has?

 

[Sketch]

I cant wait for Leffen Lucky and westballz to be considered gods if that ever happens.

And i was literally gonna make this post good thing i scrolled through first.

 

[AirFair]

It would be nice if some of the people right under the Big 5 could get some recognition soon lol. But yea, the next legend is a while away imo. It could be any of us even you know?

 

[Daytrip]

Leffen please. He definitely showed some true potential at the Big House.

 

[Sketch]

I was really hoping leffen took big house . But he got 4 stocked by The mangoat again .... sad days.

 

[Scrumpy]

Baby Mango will be given god status for his sixth birthday.

 

[Nooph]

i really hope to see axe and amsa in there. low/mid-tier character gods would be so rad.

 

[-ACE-]

I'd really like to see lucky take that extra step. He's got more than enough potential. Love that fox.

 

[XLAX_OVERDOSAGE]

I'm going to blindly assume the Big 5 will end their reign, or at least progressively diminish by the end of 2017.

 

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

I'd really like to see lucky take that extra step. He's got more than enough potential. Love that fox.

I always felt Lucky was a solid player and also a great doubles player imho.

 

[-ACE-]

I always felt Lucky was a solid player and also a great doubles player imho.

Me too. The "next step" for him would mainly just be an increase in consistency and busting into the top 5-6. And I made that post before seeing his BH4 results. I hope he keeps it up!!

Plus if you've ever met him he's cool af. Great dude.

 

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

Me too. The "next step" for him would mainly just be an increase in consistency and busting into the top 5-6. And I made that post before seeing his BH4 results. I hope he keeps it up!!

Plus if you've ever met him he's cool af. Great dude.

Since Mango is moving to Norwalk soon, Lucky will have lots of practice with Mango so he might become more consistent in placing.

 

[-ACE-]

That's good news.

 

[Oskurito]

It depends on the person choices.

Mango is not going down for sure, his desire to always be number 1 hasn't changed, and he has been successful for years and most likely for years to come too.

Mew2king on the other hand, seems a bit unmotivated to be the best, but I don't think he'll fall off the top that quickly because of the gap in score between the first 3 places and the 4th, 5th and 6th place is pretty big (somewhat like 200 score difference). Even if his interest in smash 4 takes over melee, he still holds an outstanding record, and it'll take a couple of years for any top 6 player below 3th place to overcome his score.

Armada, is still up there, and since his score is very high, it is likely that he will rank better than Jason by the end of next year if he's able to place better in tournaments consistently. I don't see Armada going anywhere but to the top, he loves the game and he strives to be the best.

PPMD will make his return on apex 2015 at the end of January, it seems like he still wishes to prove himself to be the best player (he performed amazingly at SKTAR 3) so I don't see him going out for a long time. I think that Ppmd will rise one rank next year taking hungrybox spot if he performs well enough.

Hungrybox hasn't shown any desire to quit, or take a break and whatnot, but it seems like more players are starting to figure out how to beat his play style, it is possible that he can drop one rank (like I said, if Ppmd performs better overall) but it'll be quite difficult for him to drop any further. The only bad thing that can happen to hungrybox is that leffen performs extremely well from now on and he performs pretty bad, like really really bad. So is possible that leffen could take the 5th place eventually, maybe over the next 2 years, all of this will depend on both player's performance.

Other player that need special mention (imho) are lucky, hax, axe and westballz. Lucky is a beast, but he needs to be more consistent with his performance if he wishes to be better. Axe's pika is brutal, but I feel like if he polishes his falco more it could serve him well, specially against sheik which is a extremely bad match up for pikachu. Hax fox is really good, and is a big threat for top 5, I feel like he well end up beating top 5 in the future. Westballz is also a very good player when he decides to play smart instead of showing off techskill. I feel he could be a much better player overall if he focused more on working on something else that it isn't technical skill because I think he has more than enough.

 

[The Prince: SDJ]

IMO, The reign of the big 5 will end when someone can do what wobbles did and win to cap it off.

 

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

IMO, The reign of the big 5 will end when someone can do what wobbles did and win to cap it off.

Wobbles tho... we need a wobbling emote for Smashboards!
Yeah we need someone who can auto cancel every move and can just have crazy DI and can get into the minds of these top players.

 

[victra♥]

After Big House 4 I think it's clear that Mango is still leagues above any smasher atm. M2K is still a significant threat as is PPMD.

I think more and more players are starting to figure out Armada and Hungrybox relative to the other big 5.

 

[Zodiac]

Its hard to say, with the way e-sports is progressing some of them may choose to play smash for their entire life (Mew2king) even if it isn't a full time job for them. (For example a lot of famous actors also double into Music production) Its entirely possible that all of them will be playing smash for a very very long time. But I think most of them will eventually stop in favor of using their smash time for something else they want to do and a new "five gods" will replace them.

And maybe the new five will actually strive to play melee for a living since at that point it will be a established career option. When the current five gods got into the game the only payout was winning tournaments, now there are sponsors that boast a monthly salary. So who knows.

 

[JohnnyDelMidwest]

I don't know if they ever will. Melee is over a decade old and I'm not sure that new players are going to be attracted to Melee for much longer. In the future, gamers who are of eligible age will have grown up playing Brawl and maybe Smash 4 so that's what they'll gravitate to.

 

[DerfMidWest]

once wobbles starts playing again.

there have been several players who definitely pushed into the ranks

shroomed for a period of time
hax for a little while
Wobbles without a doubt
Kirbykaze for sure in his prime
Axe for awhile

there are probably a couple I'm forgetting about too.
I hate referring to the current top 5 as gods, because it gives the impression that they are unbeatable or on a level that is unsurpassable, which is false.

Remember that mango (unless drunk) was unbeatable for years until armada popped up out of nowhere (same for m2k before mango popped up).

 

[Code Bread]

Aren't all of these guys around 21? What age would factors like diminishing hand-eye coordination or reaction time start to play a role in their smash abilities?

 

[-ACE-]

Aren't all of these guys around 21? What age would factors like diminishing hand-eye coordination or reaction time start to play a role in their smash abilities?

lmfao dude im 30 come get bodied by Ganon.

Or a character requiring more speed.

 

[Code Bread]

lmfao dude im 30 come get bodied by Ganon.

Or a character requiring more speed.

What? I think you're backing my point, but I'm not actually sure. Aging factors aren't really factors here.

 

[-ACE-]

What? I think you're backing my point, but I'm not actually sure. Aging factors aren't really factors here.

So bring up age, and specifically mentioning the age of 21, and mentioning diminishing hand-eye coordination means aging factors aren't really factors here? Lol gotcha.

 

[Code Bread]

So bring up age, and specifically mentioning the age of 21, and mentioning diminishing hand-eye coordination means aging factors aren't really factors here? Lol gotcha.

I was saying that unless these guys plan to play the same game until they're 70, these aren't factors. But people have brought them up like they are. Are you dumb?

 

[-ACE-]

Oh, I'm sorry, I should have known you were discussing people at age 70 still playing smash, because afterall, thats perfectly normal. I hope you find out how "dumb" my ganon is one day

 

[Code Bread]

Oh, I'm sorry, I should have known you were discussing people at age 70 still playing smash, because afterall, thats perfectly normal. I hope you find out how "dumb" my ganon is one day

I don't care how dumb your Ganon is. Damn. But if you still don't get what I'm saying, then, well, damn again.

 

[-ACE-]

I don't care how dumb your Ganon is. Damn. But if you still don't get what I'm saying, then, well, damn again.

Keep scrubbing it up bro. Have fun with it!

 

[Code Bread]

Keep scrubbing it up bro. Have fun with it!

yea u too bruh

 

[Circle_Breaker]

Probably the next generation. M2K probably won't stop because he doesn't have another job, but their hand-eye coordination isn't going to be great forever. The next legend might not even be currently recognizable outside their region for competitive Smash.

Just like Justin Wong, right?

... No, as long as Melee continues to be played, whichever of the current big 5/6 continue to put the time and effort in will be among the most dominant. Leffen is young and has major fire though. He's my pick for the next consistently dominant player. Armada could also do well if he deals with his obvious stress issues. Same for PPMD.

 

[Nooph]

but what if i want to keep playing melee until i'm 70

 

[OgiEthan]

Luckyyyyyyyy :D
If he wants it badly enough, he's the best candidate to become top 5/6 imo

 

[LunarWingCloud]

I wanna see Leffen and Axe get up there.

 

[Crawfiish]

Leffen will definitely be the next god, and it's almost there. While he did get 4-stocked by Mango, he also took down Armada and Hungrybox at BH4, something even the gods would be proud to say they did. If he can win a National or even get second place, I'd argue for him as a god and as part of the "Big 6"

 

[Darklink401]

I see a severe lack of Amsa in this thread. Amsa can fight on almost even ground with the top 5.

Now, nothing states there WILL be 5 big ones.

After all

This is how it all went

Ken
PC Chris-KoreanDJ-M2K
M2K-Mango-Armada-PP-Hungrybox

I'm thinking we might see 3 big ones. Though if it follows the pattern we'd have 7.

 

[Crawfiish]

I see a severe lack of Amsa in this thread. Amsa can fight on almost even ground with the top 5..

This is so wrong. Look at aMSa's placings at major tournies. 17th at EVO, 33rd at CEO. 17th at MLG. He did very well at Kings of Cali 4 but that's about it. Compare that to the big five at nationals over the past few months:

PPMD: 1st at SKTAR, 4th at MLG, 4th at CEO
Mango: 3rd at SKTAR, 1st, at MLG, 2nd at CEO, 1st at KoC, 1st at EVO, 1st at BH4
M2K: 2nd at SKTAR, 3rd at MLG, 4th at CEO, 3rd at KoC, 5th at EVO, 2nd at BH4
Armada: 4th at SKTAR, 2nd at MLG, 1st at CEO, 2nd at KoC, 3rd at EVO, 4th at BH4
Hbox: 7th at MLG, 3rd at CEO, 2nd at EVO, 9th at BH4

This is how it all went

Ken
PC Chris-KoreanDJ-M2K
M2K-Mango-Armada-PP-Hungrybox

Just finished up that documentary, eh boy?

 

[Darklink401]

This is so wrong. Look at aMSa's placings at major tournies. 17th at EVO, 33rd at CEO. 17th at MLG. He did very well at Kings of Cali 4 but that's about it. Compare that to the big five at nationals over the past few months:

PPMD: 1st at SKTAR, 4th at MLG, 4th at CEO
Mango: 3rd at SKTAR, 1st, at MLG, 2nd at CEO, 1st at KoC, 1st at EVO, 1st at BH4
M2K: 2nd at SKTAR, 3rd at MLG, 4th at CEO, 3rd at KoC, 5th at EVO, 2nd at BH4
Armada: 4th at SKTAR, 2nd at MLG, 1st at CEO, 2nd at KoC, 3rd at EVO, 4th at BH4
Hbox: 7th at MLG, 3rd at CEO, 2nd at EVO, 9th at BH4



Just finished up that documentary, eh boy?

Indeed I did, and what a riveting tale it was o3o


And well, from the matches I saw, he was able to play against them. But that fact is made even more awesome when you consider he's using Yoshi XD (and he did beat Mang0 in a set, I believe)

It might just be personal bias, but I think Amsa's got what it takes.

 

[Crawfiish]

Amsa is just extremely inconsistent, and it will take a long time for that to change. No great player has ever been inconsistent during their reign. Leffen, Hax, Shroomed, Westballs, Axe, Nintendude, Plup, Fly, and Silentwolf are all much more likely to become one of the greats.