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Mang0 Shows his Hand at Royal Flush

Lately, the Super Smash Bros reddit has been aiming their vitriol squarely at Joseph “Mang0 Marquez." After a string of bad losses and below expected tournament results, a large chunk of the reddit community had dismissed Mang0 as a has-been alcoholic who has lost his passion for the game:

“He [Mang0] said 2017 was going to be his year and he was going to be the best. I haven't seen shit from him. He just drinks all the time and has a **** stream.” - disgruntled reddit user

As a Mang0 fan, I have to feel as though his Twitch subs have dulled his hunger for mad tournament $$$.” - disgruntled Mang0 fan (and reddit user)

Reddit was singing a very different tune on Sunday evening as Mang0 took home the trophy at Royal Flush in an impressive losers bracket run that culminated in him defeating Adam “Armada” Lindgreen in two sets. The first time that Mang0 has managed to achieve such a feat since the first Genesis eight years ago.

Mang0 was sent to the losers bracket by Armada in a back and forth game five set. In losers he looked shaky against Shiek main DaJuan “Shroomed” Mcdanial, going down 2-0 before making the reverse 3-0 and advancing to face Juan “Hungrybox” Debidma who he defeated in a sound 3-1.

Hungrybox seemed to lack his usual clutch factor and hunger for the win, and was visibly disheartened after his loss to Armada 3-0 earlier in the tournament. He even posted on Twitter that his loss was “better for the scene.” As the summer of Smash approaches, eyes will be on Hungrybox to see if he can regain his winning form in time to retain his Evo crown.

Hungrybox’s defeat left Mang0 to face off against Armada in grand finals, and it was indeed a faceoff. The two titans of Melee played two sets of five games each going back and forth before Mang0 took the final game in the final set with two stocks remaining.

Although some of reddit might not have been on his side, the crowd sure was, and as Mang0 took the final stock, they rushed the stage in order to congratulate their champion.

Peak viewership for the event was over 75,000 people, an impressive number for a new tournament with no legacy or brand recognition to drive up the stream views. The large viewer numbers were no doubt due to Mang0 and Armada facing off in grand finals.

 Mang0 put his doubters in their place with his gameplay, and during his post victory interview he had a simple but poignant message to reddit and those who doubted him.

“You can suck it.”