if he's so worried about losing money that he goes with top tier characters then maybe m2k should
git gud
it's not like diddy is an automatic win pass
esp with the nerfs and everyone having to learn everything about beating him to tilt the matchup more to their favor
the thing about top tiers is at the highest level, lower tier characters are basically unviable because they have glaring flaws, that when exploited, are almost unwinnable for them. so the top tiers are the way to go for his kind of play
you can actually tell he's getting worse. he's aging, and younger players like emukiller are already borderline replacing him.
people don't get better with age.
he's not actually that old
i'm pretty sure it's a variety of factors (depression, competitively playing like 4 different smash games simultaneously, traveling all the time)