At Genesis 5, he defeated both Mang0 and Armada, eliminating any possibility of an Armada vs. Mang0 grand finals -rewriting the Melee script of yesterday and bringing it into a new chapter. The final boss to this story was none other than his friend and rival Hungrybox, the same Hungrybox who tragically ended his run a few months prior at The Big House 7. Though fans clamored for his Sheik, Plup opted for his secondary Fox, a character that had seen its ups and downs against Hungrybox. Earlier this year, he won DreamHack Atlanta against Hungrybox, but his overall set record in 2017 including locals was a paltry 5-19.

It would be wrong to say that Plup absolutely dominated Hungrybox at Genesis 5; the matches were excruciating close, boiling down to a last stock game five situation in the second set of the grand finals. Yet, Plup’s Fox did what no one else could on that Sunday evening: beat Hungrybox in a full set - something that Mang0, Leffen and Armada have not accomplished in a long time.

Keep in mind, Fox is Plup’s secondary, and also keep in mind, that he’s only seriously played him for less than two years. Yet, there’s something magical and different about his particular Fox. Unlike Armada, Plup loves engaging Hungrybox’s Jigglypuff and pressuring by staying in close proximity, but unlike Mang0’s Fox, his Fox wasn’t reckless or riddled with technical mistakes. In many ways, Plup’s Fox plays the matchup like Mew2King’s or Leffen’s, but with much better decision-making, especially in the mid-range game.

Mang0 once said that Plup is difficult to play against because he could never tell whether Plup would approach or disengage a situation. This particular trait to Plup’s game made it especially difficult for Hungrybox to formulate a game plan like he normally does against the other top Foxes. In some moments, Plup added an extra dash dance. In other moments, he’d fade back or stand in place, baiting Hungrybox into approaching incorrectly. Watch the game from Hungrybox’s perspective and you realize how many different types of zones and timing rhythms that Plup implemented into his mixups.

However, the key highlight may not even be Plup’s mixups and overall clean play. Aside from his intricate gameplay, Plup made noticeable improvements in his mental game. Hungrybox swept Plup in the first set of Grand Finals. Normally in these situations, we wonder if Plup would just fold over to Hungrybox’s rejuvenated self. Was this going to be another Hungrybox victory in a sea of wins or could Plup fight back?

The top players will tell you that the mental game is the most important aspect of tournaments once you get to a certain skill threshold, and at Genesis 5, we saw this come into play with Plup; He remained focused and fought for every opportunity to not let this tournament end in the way of The Big House 7. It’s tough to speculate whether this trend will continue beyond Genesis 5, but we’ve now seen Plup win DreamHack Atlanta last year and now Genesis 5 this year. If things come together for him, a Plup with a strong mental game might be the most complete player in all of Melee.