The past year for Melee’s two-time EVO champion hasn’t been as indicative of the title of GOAT as he or his fans may desire, but Mango remains one of the best in the world, and the cautionary adage of not sleeping on the Kid is as relevant as ever to his opponents going into this year’s EVO.

The scene’s refractory period after EVO 2014 was largely broken by Orlando’s Smash the Record in late August, being the first major to feature three Gods since. Fresh off his EVO win, Mango opted to play only Captain Falcon and took 3^rd place behind Hungrybox and M2K. The next major was taken a bit more seriously at The Big House 4 as Mango took 1^st with Fox and Falco, though not before taking a pit stop to shame Hax$ into 5^th place with his own color Falcon and a pocket Marth pick.

However, Mango’s tournament activity in 2015 started to reveal his vulnerability, and lately it appears that he can only take 1^st if he doesn’t leave SoCal or he fights on underdeveloped ground (no offense, Australia!). This year, players (more importantly, non-Gods) like Shroomed, Axe, Westballz, and Leffen have drawn blood against the Kid, knocking him into his first 4^th place finish at a major in two years, and his first 5^th place finish since he went down at 17^th at Pound V four years ago.

Some would say while he’s lacking in gold medals he’s made up it for by growing into a successful streaming personality. Mango’s stream is casual, warm, and interactive, and his skill, along with his transparency as both a player and a person make him hard to not simply like. He’s been spending more time in front of the camera at events as well, offering astute insight into the game through match commentary, though this has been cited as a possible John.

However, despite his laid-back philosophy, Mango is known to hold himself to an extremely high standard for Melee and takes each loss to heart, further amplified by his large, intimate fanbase. As Mango’s legacy grows, so does the responsibility of perpetuating it; how will the newfound tangibility of twitch and twitter followers affect him in-game?

Mango’s playstyle is characterized by his legendary mental game and abilities of prediction, as well as his staggering knowledge of the game itself. Unfortunately for him, the current meta heavily emphasizes efficiency and reaction-based option coverage that nullifies some of his edge. This points to why strong Sheiks like Plup and Shroomed are giving him a hard time, and why there are more threats for Mango at this EVO than ever before as Tier 2 players continue to level up. Players like Westballz and Axe also pose a real danger, with the former taking him down repeatedly in the spacie matchup and the latter a hidden boss that needs to be prepared for.

On the God/slayer side of things, Armada has a Fox with a counterpick Peach (though Mango recently said offhand that he has “figured out” the Fox ditto), and Leffen’s proven more than once that he can beat Mango in top 8 with the whole room watching. PPMD remains an enigma with a poor recent sample size, but his Marth could be the answer to Fox in general. M2K won’t be competing, and Hungrybox doesn’t seem to have Mango’s number like many do these days. Although, Hungrybox’s recent announcement of semi-retirement after EVO could provide the motivation to unleash the monster Puff we saw against Leffen at Sandstorm back in April.

The road to the Three-VO is dark and full of techchases, but Mango has shown us for years just how good he can really be. There is no question that he possesses all the tools to succeed, and as long as he takes himself to the tattered edge of his skill, the Greatest of All Time can surely bring home the trophy for himself, his fans, and his son who will be likely be getting his father’s mail by accident for the rest of his life.