Joseph “Mang0” Marquez won the inaugural Mang0/Axe Thursday Super Smash Bros. Melee iron man at Smash Summit 8 over Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson. Mang0 won a trophy for his victory that featured two dolphins, one that looks like Mang0 and one that looks like Pikachu.
Every Wednesday, Mang0 and Axe stream an iron man between themselves, a show known as “Mang0/Axe Wednesdays.” This was obviously the inspiration for the Smash Summit 8 event. It was done on Thursday since Mang0 and Axe could not stream during Smash Summit 8’s Wednesday Media Day.
In the Mang0/Axe Thursday iron man challenge, the player must win in a two-stock battle with every character in the game. The player cannot switch to a different character until they win with their current character. For this iron man, Mang0 and Axe started on opposite ends of the character select screen and chose characters in order as they moved across the screen. Axe began with Dr. Mario, and Mang0 began with Roy.
Axe got off to a strong start at the beginning of the iron man. However, Mang0 picked up momentum near the end. In particular, Axe struggled with Mewtwo, as it took him a long time to win a match and move onto a different character. As a result, Mang0 was able to come back and win with a three character advantage. He celebrated by playing “Suavemente” by Elvis Crespo and dancing as Axe was forced to sit and watch in disappointment.
Mang0/Axe Thursday in the competitive world
Mang0 and Axe are very well-known for their casual play against each other. During Mang0/Axe Wednesdays, they play on non-tournament legal stages with items on. They did the same during Smash Summit 8’s Mang0/Axe Thursday competition.
Despite this, they also have a rivaled history in the competitive scene. For years, Axe was one of a handful of players who had a chance against Mang0, even before the demigods of Melee did particularly well against the gods. Recently, Mang0 has had the edge, as he is 2-0 against Axe in legitimate tournament sets in 2019.
This pair of friends most recently played in Grand Finals of Get On My Level 2019. The set went to game five, but Mang0 came out on top. Both of these two have had strong results this year. Mang0 is one of only three players to win a supermajor this year, along with Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma and Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett. Though he has not won a supermajor, Axe has placed 2nd at two supermajors this year, GENESIS 6 and GOML 2019.
