​From May 12-14, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez and most other top Melee players were all together in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the first iteration of Royal Flush.





At the end of three days of fierce competition, Mang0 managed to force Adam "Armada" Lindgren to hold that L, if only for a little bit. Not only is the victory great for Mang0, but the path itself was at least a bit crazy, too.

worst team we ever lost 2 LMAO — Joseph Marquez (@C9Mang0) May 12, 2017

​​Initially, the tournament wasn't looking the greatest for Mang0. He ended up severely under-performing in doubles with Joey "Lucky" Aldama.





As expected, though, he comfortably made it out of his pools on Friday with a series of comfortable 2-0s to put him in winners side of top 64, ready to play James "Mafia" Lauerman.

​​Even at the beginning of Saturday, Mang0 looked a little bit shaky in his set against Mafia. It was a 3-0 in favor of Mang0, but since he was looking to dethrone the best Peach in the world, playing one of the second-tier Peach mains and only winning by a single stock each game didn't bode well.





Mafia actually may have been able to take at least a game if he had called out the seriously questionable spots that Mang0 lasered from, but the GOAT advanced.

​​Next on his hit list was Ryan "The Moon" Coker-Welch, against whom Mang0 traditionally does quite well. This set ended up fitting right in with the projected bracket, as Mang0 ran through The Moon, with a 3-0.





Each game was more demandingly in favor of Mang0 as his Falco figured out when Moon wanted to swing and recover, causing him to earn a number of quick stocks like the one highlighted above.





Perhaps the best part about the set for Mang0 was his ability to simply not get edgeguarded. The Moon had to get a solid read on Mang0's recoveries in order to actually kill him, and he couldn't.

​​In order to qualify for top eight winners side, Mang0 had to take out Michael "MikeHaze" Pulido for his final match on Saturday. MikeHaze may have won over Mang0 at UGC in December, but there wasn't much real upset potential this time around.





Mang0 is undeniably the best player in the world at the Falco-Fox matchup right now, so only Fox mains around as good as William "Leffen" Hjelte stand any chance of taking a set against Mang0 in that matchup. And if he's playing well, forget about it.

mothers day mango  — Joseph Marquez (@C9Mang0) May 14, 2017

​​After not dropping a single game over the course of Friday and Saturday, Mang0 was in winners semifinals and ready to face off against Armada on Sunday.





Though Armada was statistically favored in the matchup, Mang0 had fortune on his side: Sunday was Mother's Day. And Mother's Day Mang0 always wins. GOML 2014, Press Start 2015, and DreamHack Austin 2016 all fell on Mother's Day, and Mang0 won all three tournaments despite all odds.





Knowing this, he was perfectly ready to play against his biggest rival Sunday afternoon.

​​The winners semifinals match was a heartbreaker for the Mang0 Nation. He forced Armada to game five, but ultimately got three-stocked by the Peach on Fountain of Dreams.





The game-changer for game five in particular was that Mang0 was trying to ride the momentum he had earned from clutching game four too hard, while Armada simply played the defensive game and punished hard.

In losers bracket, he was almost put out at fifth by DaJuan "Shroomed" McDaniel. Throughout two input flub-heavy games, Shroomed went up 2-0 over Mang0.





Come the start of game three, though, Mang0 cleaned up his gameplay, and went on to defeat Shroomed in a clutch reverse 3-0.

​​There's not too much to say about the losers semifinals match. Mang0 brought the Falco right back out, as he had to play Sami "Druggedfox" Muhanna's slippery Fox.





Mang0 handed Druggedfox a brutal 3-0 loss and looked ahead to his next opponent.

​​Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma's Jigglypuff was Mang0's final obstacle on his journey to earn a rematch against Armada. This stock kind of explains how the set went. Hungrybox got a lot of great openings, but Mang0 was ready for most of the setups he had and won the set 3-1.





Interestingly enough, none of the four games that the two played went to last stock. Every single game was a two-stock in one direction or the other, and Mang0's Fox looked on point the whole time.

​​At long last, Mang0 had his rematch against Armada. Seeking revenge for how brutally he was treated at GENESIS 4, Mang0 looked to earn a solid win over Armada on Sunday.





Both of the sets of the grueling 10-game grand finals followed the same order. Armada won Dreamland, Mang0 won Pokemon Stadium, Armada won Final Destination, and then Mang0 won Battlefield and Fountain of Dreams.

Thou shall not sleep on the kid — Joseph Marquez (@C9Mang0) May 15, 2017

Mang0's last big victory was The Big House 6, also over Armada, and he proved himself perfectly capable of doing it again at Royal Flush. We may be nearly halfway into 2017, but it looks like The Kid is just getting started.