We had some exciting events last week with Republic of Fighters in France and also had the Socal Fraud Fund last week featuring Plup. We asked 5 people from the community to share their thoughts.

With Leffen’s win at ROF3, does he belong in the same tier as the “Big 5”?

Wynton “pr0g” Smith – Yes. I think the five have expanded to six. APEX may have been his breakout tournament, especially with the win over Hungrybox, and sets against both Mango and Mew2King that show that he is capable of hanging with the other gods. Everyone will talk about the four-stock, sure, but leading up to that, it was a coin toss.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato – Not yet. One distinguishing characteristic of the Big 5 is that they’ve almost all won major tournaments with the rest of the Big 5 present: Mango at Evo 2013, Armada at Apex 2013, Hungrybox at Apex 2010, and PPMD at Pound V. I think Mew2king is the exception as he’s the only one of the Big 5 who has never beaten Armada, but he’s won enough major tournaments for that to be overlooked. For Leffen to join their ranks he needs to win a major tournament with at least two of the other Big 5 in attendance.

Landon “DoH” Cox – Not at all. His only other win against the big five is hbox, which a few other players have done – Fly, Chu, Colbol, Plup, Lovage, KK, etc – and he is playing someone who he does have experience playing against. When he takes sets from pp/m2k/mango then we can talk.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez – Yes, I believe he deserves that feat. Not only has he beaten Hungrybox, taken games from Mew2king and Mango, AND defeated Armada, nut he defeated Armada twice. In my opinion, defeating a Top 5 player twice really solidifies his position. Others have beaten Top 5 players, but no one has consistently taken sets.

Bernardo “Byrd” Alves – Yes, I believe that given Leffen’s recent showings, he definitely deserves to be at least considered for the Big 6. He beat not only Armada’s Peach at Beast, but also his Fox at ROF3. Furthermore, if we look at his placing at APEX, he took 4th, being outplaced solely by members of the Big 5, and outplacing Hungrybox in the process. The numbers don’t lie, regardless of one’s opinions towards Leffen, the man is competing with Melee’s elite.

With no big wins from Armada in a while, does he still belong in the “Big 5”?

Pr0g – I think he has a legacy spot in the big 5. He didn’t enter Melee at APEX, the last two large events we’ve seen him at in Europe, he’s lost to Leffen in his meteoric rise. EVO, he fell to PP and Mango, beat M2K. The spot is his, but his inactivity in Melee may have hurt his reputation as well as his overall gameplay.

Nintendude – I think he does, but top-3 finishes at upcoming tournaments – SKTAR 3, Super SWEET, MLG, Evo, and CEO (if he’s going) are necessary for him to remain in that club.

DoH – Yes. His only singles opportunity since his retirement to play big names outside of Europe was Evo, which was when he had just gotten back into the game and it showed. He did 3-0 Amsah though who gave Leffen a run for his money.

Ryobeat – Yes he does. I think it would be an overstatement to even say that he hasn’t won anything in a while. The tournaments that he has competed in were Evo, Beast, and RoF I’m assuming. At Evo, he was not as practiced as he wanted to be, and I didn’t expect him to do well considering his lack of practice. Beast he was relatively busy, but besides the Johns, he did lose to Leffen. At RoF, Leffen cemented his dominance over Armada. Armada may not be as good as before, but he is still a Top 5 player. SKTAR will tell how strong he is.

Byrd – Armada still belongs in the Big 5. He may not have gotten his usual 1st place finishes, but he has still been placing high at the tournaments he attends, usually being bested only by Leffen. He’s still a powerhouse to be reckoned with, and certainly still belongs in the top 5, I think the current results are merely reflecting Leffen’s rise as a challenger in the area, contesting the title of best player in Europe.

VGBC|aMSa is in the MLG Final Bracket. He will place…..?

Pr0g – 9th. The guy is an extremely talented player, he’s proven it time and time again. He’s got fundamentals that a lot of good players wish they had, and he’s got a solid gameplan that most players don’t really know how to deal with (it’s most similar to Peach, but even then it has some stark differences). I think his skill combined with matchup in experience should help him out.

Nintendude– 9th. I don’t think aMSa is quite ready to defeat one of the Big 5, and I think a lot of A tier players will be able to keep it very close with aMSa. Especially with his lackluster performance at the Japanese MLG qualifier, he’s probably not consistent enough yet to crack the top-8 at a tournament as difficult as MLG.

DoH – I’m gonna say 9th. He’s very talented, but I think he might run into trouble vs some characters he can’t death combo

Ryobeat – 7th. I believe he is Top 12 player in the world, and along with people not knowing the Yoshi matchup, I think he can make Top 8. Who knows, Amsa’s skill may even carry him to 5th.

Byrd – 11th. While I believe aMSa is amazingly skilled, and a pleasure to watch, I don’t think he’ll be able to defeat the elite, and may run into some difficulties with players of his own caliber. With more footage of his play style, and players respecting him more, I think they’ll be more readily able to mitigate the surprise effect of the Yoshi pick. As Armada, Leffen, and OverTriforce, to a lesser extent, demonstrated, there are exploitable flaws with Yoshi, and as players become more consistent with identifying those and punishing them accordingly, aMSa might run into some bumps along the road, though he will still place well.

Should Armada have tried Peach at RoF3?

Pr0g – There is an old adage in fighting games, “Sometimes you have to pick your stuff.” However, for Armada, we’re trying to figure out what his stuff is. He’s said that he’s adding Fox as a main for the ditto and the Puff matchup. Personally, when I think Armada’s Fox, I think of Genesis 1, baffled by Mango’s Puff. I think of dittos with Professor Pro testing him, and well, yeah, that doesn’t bode well. Peach has been what got him to this point, and picking Fox isn’t an automatic cure all. However, in the end, its about his psyche, if his confidence is in the ditto more than the Peach, more power to him. Take the losses now, hope it gets you the W later.

Nintendude – Absolutely. His Peach dominated the Melee world for several years. He shouldn’t put much stock in his losses to Mango at Evo and to Leffen at BEAST 4. At Evo he had been out of the scene for half a year (and Mango was playing the best he played in his life), and at BEAST 4 he admitted he was worn out from TOing for the entire weekend. Fox may be better than Peach but years of experience outweigh the advantages of switching characters if it isn’t a specific counter (like Young Link vs. Jigglypuff). I’d also argue that the tier gaps at the top become negligible as long as you can win the neutral game and punish hard, which are two of Armada’s strongest assets with Peach. If Armada sticks with Fox I think he will be exiting the Big 5 quite soon, similarly to Hax’s downfall since succumbing to 20XX.

DoH – Absolutely. He was going into a match where he was dittoing someone’s main. I don’t think he can compensate for the experience Leffen brings to the table. His Peach has the experience and punish game to win that matchup, he just needs to believe in himself. Plus I need new armada vids!

Ryobeat – Yes. I feel like it was kind of stubborn of him to stay Fox considering he was getting 2-3 stocked and last time his peach was at least staying close. I understand fox will be his best bet in the future, but if you cantry with Peach for one game, why not try?

Byrd – It depends on what his goals were. Was he playing solely to win the tournament? If so, then yes, he should have tried Peach. However, if he is serious about mastering Fox for the ditto, then the 9 games of experience and footage vs Leffen will be invaluable. He will be able to look back at mistakes he made, and learn more about the matchup. If he is as serious as he sounds when he claims about sticking to Fox in the matchup, he definitely made the right decision sticking with him, regardless of placing.

Plup: Fraud or not Fraud?

Pr0g – Not fraud. Florida has been recently compared to a mini-SoCal in terms of strength and character variety, Plup showed that’s the case. He got 7th, nearly won all of the Boss Rush battles, etc. The kid is special, period.

Nintendude – Losing by only one stock to SoCal’s A team and placing top-8 at an insanely stacked SSS, Plup’s certainly not a fraud. You know what’s fraudulent though? His Fox. He better put that space animal away soon before he follows in the footsteps of Hax.

DoH – No fraud. He shoulda won that SoCal A team gauntlet!

Ryobeat – Clearly not a fraud. I personally felt lke his bracket was one of the hardest he could have gotten. Hugs was definitely out for blood since the Salty Sweet. S2J having one of the best matchups vs Samus (even though Plup’s fox put up a good effort.) Ken, knowing the Samus match up extremely well as he proved in the crew battle. And Okami, being one of the best players vs Floaties as well as a Sheik main made it very difficult for Plup to run through bracket. I feel like I’d he got the right bracket, he could have made Top 2.

Byrd– Not a fraud. He lost to S2J, who took the entire tournament, and OkamiBW, who got 5th. He tied with SoCal’s number 1 ranked player, Westballz, and outplaced number 2, Fly Amanita. Furthermore, while he did not outplace the main mastermind behind the Fraudulent Player Fund, Plup 3 stocked HugS in the crew battle, as well as 2-0ing him in bracket. While it was not the top 5 finish I expected from him, 7th place at a 100+ man tournament is nothing to scoff at.