Smasher:MkLeo
MkLeo, also known simply as Leo, is a Smash 4 top professional smasher from Mexico who mains Cloud, Marth, and Corrin, with Meta Knight as a secondary. He is his country's best player and currently considered to be the second best player in the world behind ZeRo. He is also widely considered to be the best Marth player in the world, and makes a strong case for being the best Cloud player as well. He is cousins with professional smashers Serge and Javi. Leo arguably popularized both Meta Knight and Marth, characters that had been seen as mediocre after their nerfs from Brawl, as top players such as Abadango have since used Meta Knight against other top players until his nerfs in game updates, as well as lower-leveled players picking up Marth due to his dominance with him. He is so far the youngest player to win a major Smash 4 tournament, doing so at only 15 years old, achieving this feat at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga. Due to his aggressive style and heavy punish game with Meta Knight and proving his skills surpass those of top players at a very young age, some compare him to Nairo's early Brawl career. He is also a proficient doubles player, along with his static partner Javi. Their team consisting of Cloud/Cloud or Cloud/Sheik dominates the Mexican scene while having impressive first places at major tournaments such as 2GGC: Civil War, 2GGC: Nairo Saga, and Canada Cup 2016. The duo has wins over the likes of ZeRo and Nairo, Mew2King and Ally, and Larry Lurr and ANTi; and together are considered to be one of the best doubles teams in the world. Leo is currently ranked at the 0 position on the Mexico City Smash 4 Power Rankings and 2nd on the Panda Global Rankings v3. On January 4th, 2017, MkLeo was signed by Echo Fox[1] and Most Valuable Gaming. ContentsPlay style[edit]Leo is known for his aggressive, yet calculated, playstyle with most of the characters he plays with, which grants him a strong punish game, as well as being known for his intense mindgames. As Marth, he is well known for his masterful spacing of Marth's aerials, as well as a surprisingly aggressive approach with a character that is often played with a more patient and defensive playstyle. As Cloud, he is more known for his defensive spacing and reserved usage of Limit Break-boosted moves, though he does retain his signature aggressive playstyle with him whenever he has the advantage, allowing him to pressure the opponent very well. As Meta Knight, he is known for his mastery of Meta Knight's combos, his uncanny ability for reading the opponent's air dodges, and his proficiency at executing the Rufio, Meta Knight's famous death combo. He is also notorious for his player knowledge, defeating his opponents convincingly after initially losing to them in their first encounter. However, he does have some problems on the Ryu match-up, having dropped sets to Darkshad, Trela, Venom, Klein, and takera (though he began showing improvement in the matchup lately, notably having a perfect record against Locus). Tournament history[edit]
Pre-Smash 4[edit]MKLeo's tournament record before Smash 4 is relatively unknown (though it was implied he has been playing competitively since 2008). His first tournament victory came at Anime Expo Mexico TNT 2009, at only 8 years of age. [2] 5 years later, he attended Smash Factor 3 in Project M singles, losing to his cousin Serge 0-3 in winners finals, but defeating Ally 3-2 in losers finals. He lost to Serge again 2-3 in grand finals to place 2nd. Climbing the ranks[edit]In 2015, MkLeo was a Meta Knight main and considered the best player in Mexico. He burst into the international Smash scene when he won Smash Factor 4, Mexico's largest Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament at the time, defeating Mr.R in Grand Finals 3-1, 2-stocking him in each game he won. Later in the year, at another Mexican tournament, True Combo, Leo defeated Vinnie 3-1 in Grand Finals, further proving his capabilities as a player and creating more interest in the Mexican Smash scene as a whole. In 2016, Leo's usage of Meta Knight progressively decreased as he started to use Cloud and Marth more and more. Following Meta Knight's nerfs in game update 1.1.5 and Marth's buffs in the same update, he began to rely more on him and Cloud, only playing Meta Knight in specific match-ups such as Peach, Ryu, and Sonic. Due to visa issues, Leo was unable to attend an American tournament prior to October 2016. He received his Canadian visa after registration for Get On My Level 2016 had closed, but a decision was made by TOs to allow him to enter despite this, due to a widespread community approval. He defeated False and Nairo to reach top 8. Leo was matched up against Ally and was defeated 1-3. In loser's bracket he faced ZeRo in a highly anticipated set, which he narrowly lost 2-3 in a last hit, last stock situation, proving that he could go toe-to-toe with many other top players. He placed 5th. At Smash Factor 5, after losing to Wonf in winners quarters 2-3, Leo made a run through the losers bracket, getting the runback against Wonf in losers semis 3-0, eliminating Dabuz in losers finals 3-2, and beating Mr.R twice in grand finals (3-0 and 3-2) to win the tournament. At Canada Cup 2016, Leo once again confirmed his place among the best. He double eliminated Mew2King, and despite losing to Ally in winner's finals 2-3, he ended up taking 2 sets off of Ally in a close 3-2/3-2 grand finals to get 1st place. USA debut[edit]In October 2016, MkLeo's visa was approved, allowing him to travel to the United States. His first American tournament was KTAR XIX where he placed 3rd, beating Nairo a second time 3-2 but losing to ZeRo 2-3 in winners finals and Salem 1-3 in losers finals. At UGC Smash Open, he lost to Marss 2-3 in winners and was then upset by Darkshad 1-3 in losers, finishing at a disappointing 13th place. At 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, MkLeo was sent to losers by VoiD 2-3; subsequently, he made an impressive losers run, defeating Dabuz 3-1, ANTi 3-0, and Ally 3-1. He then defeated ZeRo 3-0 in loser semis, becoming the 16th player to defeat him. He then won the rematch against VoiD in losers finals 3-0 to reach Grand Finals against Larry Lurr. He reset the bracket 3-1 and claimed the second set 3-2 to win his first American national tournament. Soon after, he was sponsored by Echo Fox and Most Valuable Gaming as a result. 2017[edit]MkLeo travelled to California to participate in the upcoming international tournament GENESIS 4. His first event there was 2GGC: GENESIS Saga, set the weekend before GENESIS, where he beat Rich Brown and his cousin Javi both 3-1 to make it to top 8. He was then sent to losers by VoiD (2-3) and eliminated by Tweek (1-3), placing 5th. At GENESIS 4, Leo solidly cruised through his round 1 and 2 pools, defeating You3 and Raffi-X both 2-1. In top 32, he beat Elegant and komorikiri in two very close 3-2 sets. In top 8, he beat Mr.R 3-0, then he defeated Ally 3-1 in winners finals and 3-2 in grand finals, winning his second supermajor tournament in a row. At the Texas regional Austin's Really Feeling It 16, Leo was defeated by Trela 1-3 in winners finals. After defeating Karna 3-0, once again Leo fell to Trela 1-3 in grand finals, placing 2nd. At Frostbite 2017, in top 48, he was defeated 1-3 by Kameme and sent to losers. In losers, he defeated Abadango 3-0 before being eliminated by VoiD 1-3 and finishing at 13th place. At Frame Perfect Series 2, Leo defeated Ranai in a rather dominant 3-0. He was then sent to the loser's bracket by ZeRo 0-3 in winners semis, landing next to Dabuz in bracket where he won 3-2. Leo then went on to face komorikiri in loser's semis, defeating him 3-0 in Cloud dittos, before losing to ZeRo again in losers finals 0-3, placing 3rd. At 2GGC: Civil War, Leo was upset by Meteor 0-2 in winners semis of his pool. He then lost in another upset to AC 2-3 in Meta Knight dittos, finishing at 65th, his worst placement yet. MkLeo attended KTAR XX where he qualified for top 8 winners after defeating Mr.E 3-0 in a highly anticipated Marth ditto set. He then beat Nairo 3-1 but lost to ZeRo 1-3 in winners finals and Tweek 2-3 in losers finals, placing 3rd. Returning back to Mexico, he attended The Arena 2017 using almost exclusively Corrin. He defeated Wonf 3-0 in winners finals, but lost to Javi 1-3 in the first set of grand finals. Switching out of Corrin, he won the second set 3-1. At DreamHack Austin 2017, MkLeo made it to top 8 winners without losing a game, beating players such as Locus and Whispy. He then defeated VoiD 3-2 and Ally 3-1 to reach grand finals, where he lost to ZeRo 0-3 twice, placing 2nd. MkLeo traveled to Japan for the first time and attended his first event there, KSB 2017. He solidly won the tournament: defeating Ranai, Edge, and Abadango solidly. He then attended Umebura Japan Major 2017 defeating the likes of Kirihara 2-1 and Choco 3-0 until losing to KEN 0-3 in winners finals. After defeating Choco 3-2 again in losers finals, he won both sets of grand finals against KEN 3-2 and 3-0 using Meta Knight, taking the tournament. After returning to the USA, he attended 2GGC: Nairo Saga, making top 8 winners without dropping a single game. He defeated Ally 3-0 in winners semis, but lost to ZeRo 2-3 in winners finals (this time using Cloud) and Salem 2-3 in losers finals, placing 3rd. At CEO 2017, MkLeo made it to winners quarters after beating ZD 2-0 and Marss 3-0 where he lost to Larry Lurr 2-3. He made top 8 after defeating Dabuz 3-2. He went through the bracket, defeating Salem 3-2 (with a choice of Corrin games 4 and 5), KEN and Nairo 3-1 and Larry Lurr 3-0 in a runback before finally losing to ZeRo 1-3 in grand finals (again playing Corrin in games 3 and 4), placing 2nd. At EVO 2017, MkLeo was upset by False 1-2 in his pool in winners. Then in the same pool, he lost to MuteAce 0-2, placing 65th (his worst since Civil War). One week later, at DreamHack Atlanta 2017, MKLeo was upset 1-2 by Vinnie in pools, entering top 64 on losers side. After defeating Ridae 2-0 and Manny 3-1, he lost to ZeRo 0-3 (despite choosing Meta Knight games 2 and 3), placing 17th. Despite the underwhelming placings, he did win International Gaming Expo 2017 in Texas, defeating players such as Ryo and Konga. MkLeo attended Smash Factor 6 in his native Mexico. He solidly cruised through the bracket, defeating NAKAT 3-0 to make top 8 winners. After defeating his cousin Javi 3-2 though, he lost to Mr.R 1-3 in winners finals (despite choosing Meta Knight games 3 and 4). After defeating NAKAT again 3-0 in losers finals, he won both sets of grand finals 3-0 and 3-1 over Mr.R using solely Marth, taking the tournament. The following week, he attended Super Smash Con 2017 where he solidly made top 8 winners, defeating Komorikiri 3-2 in pools, then Salem 3-1 in winners quarters. In top 8, he defeated WaDi 3-0, but lost to ZeRo 1-3 in winners finals and Nairo 1-3 in losers finals, placing 3rd. At 2GGC: SCR Saga, MkLeo made top 8 winners after defeating Tweek 3-0. In top 8, he lost to ZeRo 0-3 but then made a losers run, defeating CaptainZack 3-1, Mistake 3-2 and Larry Lurr 3-1 before losing to ZeRo again 2-3 in grand finals, placing 2nd. At Shine 2017, MkLeo made top 8 winners after defeating Ally 3-1. He lost to ZeRo 1-3 in winners semis and Tweek 0-3 in losers quarters (despite counterpicking Corrin, Bayonetta and Toon Link against Tweek's Donkey Kong), placing 5th. MkLeo was invited to PAX Arena at PAX West 2017. He lost every set in his round robin pool except against KOSSismoss, whom he defeated 2-1, to be seeded in losers side for the final bracket. In the top 10 bracket, he would lose his first round set to another Donkey Kong, this time Konga's 1-3, finishing in 9th place. Tournament placings[edit]Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
Project M[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
Trivia[edit]
External links[edit]Gameplay videos[edit]Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]
References[edit] |
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