Smasher:MkLeo

MkLeo "Leo"
Ultimate mains	Joker, Pyra, Mythra
Other Ultimate; characters	Byleth, Marth, Corrin
Retired Ultimate; characters	Ike, Lucina, Wolf, Greninja, Cloud
SSB4 mains	Marth, Cloud
Other SSB4; characters	Bayonetta, Lucina
Retired SSB4; characters	Meta Knight, Corrin
Brawl mains	Meta Knight, Snake
Melee main	Sheik
Other Melee; character	Falco
Project M main	Mewtwo
Other Project M; character	Lucario
Sponsor(s)	Luminosity Gaming
Former sponsor(s)	Monster Kingdom, Echo Fox, Most Valuable Gaming, T1
Crew(s)	MKgaming
Former crews	Hydra Team, Rampage Zone, HDG, Smash Factor
Skill	Upper mid level (retired) ; High level (retired) ; Top level (retired) ; High level (retired) ; Top level
Ranking	Panda Global Rankings 100: 3rd ; LumiRank Mid-Year 2023: 7th
Winnings	~$99,606.99 ; ~$222,877.05
Additional info
Real name	Leonardo Lopez Perez
Birth date	January 20, 2001 (age 22)
Location	Mexico City

"Smasher:Leo" redirects here. For other players who use or have used the Leo tag, see Leo.

Wikipedia has an article on MkLeo.

MkLeo, also known simply as Leo, is a smasher from Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico, who previously lived in Florida, United States, and is currently living in Mexico City. He is widely considered to be the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player of all time, being considered the best player in the world from 2019 to 2022. He is currently ranked 7th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 and was formerly ranked 1st on the Mexican Ultimate Power Rankings. Originally playing Ike, he later found tournament success with Lucina and Wolf before picking up Joker shortly after the character's release. Although he briefly struggled during the online metagame, he eventually found consistent success after picking up Byleth, as well as Pyra and Mythra following their release, leading him to be ranked 5th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7. He has continued to use Byleth offline and achieve major success in tournaments.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, MkLeo played Marth and Cloud, with Bayonetta, Meta Knight, Lucina, and Corrin as strong secondaries. He is his country's best player and was considered to be the best player in the world in 2018 after ZeRo's retirement, leading him to be ranked 3rd on the Panda Global Rankings 100 and 1st on the final Mexican Smash 4 Power Rankings. He is also widely considered the best Marth and Cloud player in the world, one of the best Lucina and Bayonetta players in the world, and formerly considered one of the best Corrin players and the best Meta Knight player prior to dropping both characters. 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 later updates nerfed the character, as well as lower-leveled players picking up Marth due to his dominance with him. He is 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 Smash 4 doubles player and usually teams with komorikiri or his cousin Javi. Leo/komorikiri consists of Cloud/Cloud and has taken 1st at majors such as Super Smash Con 2017, 2GGC: SCR Saga, Shine 2017, and GameTyrant Expo 2017. They were considered to be the best team in the world throughout 2017. Leo/Javi generally consists of Cloud/Sheik or Cloud/Cloud and dominate the Mexican and American scenes, taking 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.

MkLeo was signed by Echo Fox^[1] and Most Valuable Gaming from January 4, 2017, to February 21, 2020.^[2] He was later signed by T1 from February 26, 2020 to February 23rd, 2023.^[3] He is currently sponsored by Luminosity Gaming, having been signed by them along with Tweek on March 23rd, 2023.^[4]

Playstyle[edit]

Leo is known for his patient and calculative, yet aggressive 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. He is most infamously known for his immaculate spacing and microspacing in neutral, especially with characters with swords and other disjointed hitboxes. As his career progressed, his strong mindgames transferred to his strong mentality as he became the number 1 player at the end of the competitive lifecycle of Smash 4 and in Ultimate. This is highlighted by some of his legendary loser's runs in multiple S-tier tournaments, most notably Evo 2019, Frostbite 2020, and Super Smash Con 2019, with multiple reverse 3-0 comebacks.

In Smash 4[edit]

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. His Marth in particular has been very effective against Bayonetta as Leo is known to lab that matchup a lot. 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. His Bayonetta is noted for its comeback ability and above-average combo game.

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). He is also known to struggle against grab-focused characters such as Donkey Kong and Bowser; at 2GGC: MkLeo Saga, he said that the player he dislikes fighting the most is Tweek since he often plays Donkey Kong against Leo and has taken numerous sets off of him with the character.^[5]

In Ultimate[edit]

Leo's playstyle remains the same with the release of Ultimate. Over time his play style evolved towards a more all-around approach, able to play defensively passively along with his signature aggression depending on the match-up. Leo's first character, Ike, was characterized by a solid grasp on fundamentals and bread-and-butter combos. Ike's usage in the early days of Ultimate complimented the unrefined metagame, Leo's ability to outread his opponent combined with Ike's simple yet damaging combos lead him to great success. However, as the game developed, this simplicity would lead him to drop Ike and transition to his period of domination with Joker.

After dropping Ike, the first DLC character for the first Fighters' Pass Joker was released and Leo was interested in learning the character. As Joker, Leo has a mastery of combos and tools, being the main driving force of Joker's meta. While Leo had been previously known for his mastery of sword characters due to his unparalleled spacing ability, this same skill in spacing came into play with Joker's speed, able to weave in and out of combat just outside of the opponent's range. Leo's mastery of Joker emphasized all of the character's strengths: incredible edgeguarding and neutral with gun, a diversity of playstyles through movement, and an incredible read-heavy comeback factor due to Arsene. Leo's ability to adapt and adjust to his opponents became widely known, leading to the nickname of "Game 4 Leo", where he would initially struggle against his opponent, before dominantly defeating them in the latter half of a match. In fact, Joker's primary weakness, the inability to kill without Arsene, seemed absolutely negligible in the face of an unparalleled ability to read his opponent's habits. His infamous usage of forward air 1 into drag down up air and smash attack confirm would make even his base Joker a feared opponent.

Leo began playing Byleth upon the character's release, eventually transitioning to maining the character during the online era. Like many sword characters before, Byleth fit his mastery of spacing, but also provided a superb, yet simple neutral game with his usage of neutral air. While Leo's previous characters were highlighted by their explosive plays, this ability was emphasized in Byleth more than any other. Now, poignant reads lead into extreme punishes with shield breaks and spikes through down air or down smash, as well as deadly edge-guards with his unique usage of up-b. Leo's knowledge of the intricacies of Byleth's up-b was unmatched. With it, he routinely stole stocks at low percentages, often deciding the game then and there. With Byleth, Leo was shown to time and again be a master of reacting perfectly to an opponent's panic options, where a single mistake from would lead to a complete shift in momentum through a well-timed kill confirm, combo, or read. Even in matchups against quick characters, where Byleth is at a heavy disadvantage, Leo would find ways to close the space through well-timed usages of tilts and neutral air, to force his opponent into Byleth's disjointed aerials. His playstyle with Byleth is epitomized by precise, optimal play, combined with singular game-ending plays.

Tournament history[edit]

Mexico's Prodigy[edit]

MkLeo's tournament record before Smash 4 is relatively unknown, though it was implied that he has been playing competitively since 2008. His first tournament victory came at Anime Expo Mexico TNT 2009, with him being only 8 years of age at the time.^[6] 5 years later, he attended Smash Factor 3 in Project M singles, losing to his cousin Serge in winners finals, but defeating Ally in losers finals. He lost to Serge again in grand finals to place 2nd.

In Smash 4, MkLeo began as a Meta Knight main. Despite the character's unpopularity due to the nerfs from Brawl, MkLeo quickly became known as the best player in Mexico. He gained international fame in the Smash scene when he won Smash Factor 4, Mexico's largest Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament at the time, and defeated EVO 2015 runner-up Mr.R in Grand Finals 3-1, 2-stocking him in each game he won to everyone's surprise. Although Smash Factor 4 was the only PGR tournament he attended that season, he was ranked 19th for the first Panda Global Rankings due to his performance. Later in the year, he would defeat Vinnie 3-1 in Grand Finals at True Combo, further proving his capabilities as a player. His victories not only created more interest in the Mexican Smash scene, but also helped popularize Meta Knight.

In 2016, Leo's usage of Meta Knight progressively decreased as he started to use Cloud and Marth instead. Following Meta Knight's nerfs and Marth's buffs in update 1.1.5, MkLeo began to rely more on Marth and Cloud and would only use Meta Knight in specific match-ups such as Peach, Ryu, and Sonic.

Due to visa issues, Leo was unable to attend an American tournament for most of 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 widespread community approval. He defeated False and Nairo to reach top 8, but was defeated by Ally 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, ending his run at 5th place. In the following few months, MkLeo would continue to rise as he would defeat Dabuz and Mr.R twice at Smash Factor 5 as well as Ally twice at Canada Cup 2016.

International rise to fame[edit]

In October 2016, MkLeo's visa was approved, allowing him to travel to the United States. His first American tournament, KTAR XIX, saw him defeating Nairo a second time but falling to ZeRo and Salem, placing 3rd. His next American tournament, UGC Smash Open, was his worst performance of the season as he would lose to Marss and Darkshad, placing 13th.

Although he would claim victory at Showdown: Battle Royale, MkLeo's first major American victory was at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga. Despite being sent to losers by VoiD, MkLeo would make an impressive losers run, eliminating Dabuz, ANTi, and Ally along the way. He then met ZeRo for the third time that season and was able to defeat him 3-0, becoming the 16th player to defeat him. He then won the rematch against VoiD in losers' finals and double-eliminated Larry Lurr to win his first American national tournament. With this victory, he became the youngest person ever to win a major Smash 4 tournament, a record that still stands today. His outstanding performance that season, culminating with his victory at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, not only helped him rise up to 8th place on the Panda Global Rankings v2 but also helped him gain sponsorships from Echo Fox and Most Valuable Gaming.

With his new status as the youngest top 10 player, MkLeo went into the third season with hopes of becoming the best player in the world. His first tournament that season, 2GGC: GENESIS Saga, saw him lose to VoiD and Tweek, placing 5th. Despite this shortcoming, he would have a spectacular performance at GENESIS 4, defeating everyone in his path, including komorikiri, Mr.R, and Ally twice, to claim victory at his second supermajor ever.

His next few majors, however, would be marked with disappointments. At Frostbite 2017, he lost to kameme and VoiD, placing 13th. Although he had a successful performance at Frame Perfect Series 2, he failed to claim victory as he was unable to take a single game off of ZeRo, who cemented himself as MkLeo's bracket demon. Finally, he saw his worst performance yet by being upset by Meteor and AC at 2GGC: Civil War, finishing 65th.

Despite these disappointments, MkLeo would see his most successful season yet. He had several stellar performances such as his victory at Umebura Japan Major and top 3 placements at DreamHack Austin 2017, 2GGC: Nairo Saga, and CEO 2017. He also introduced a new secondary - Corrin - whom he used to claim victory at The Arena 2017 and defeat Salem at CEO 2017. His consistent victories over everyone except for ZeRo helped him rise all the way to 2nd on the Panda Global Rankings v3.

The fourth season, however, would be challenging for MkLeo as he would see some of his worst performances yet. At EVO 2017, he failed to make it past pools by losing to false and MuteAce, tying his worst placement at 65th. His next major, DreamHack Atlanta 2017, saw him losing to Vinnie and ZeRo, placing 17th. Finally, MkLeo would perform abysmally at the invitational PAX Arena at PAX West 2017, where he was only able to defeat KOSSismoss. Although MkLeo found success at a few majors during this period, he would still struggle against ZeRo. With Salem's victories at EVO 2017 - double-eliminating ZeRo in the process - and DreamHack Atlanta 2017 shutting MkLeo out of the top 2, people began to wonder whether MkLeo would drop even further.

However, MkLeo would see some light at GameTyrant Expo 2017. Although he fell to Elegant, he saw his first victory against ZeRo since 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, eliminating him using Meta Knight. He rematched Elegant in Grand Finals where he would barely double-eliminate him, with both sets going to the final game, claiming his first victory of the season.

The rest of the season saw a return to form for MkLeo. Although he would finish in 9th place at 2GGC: Fire Emblem Saga, losing to komorikiri and VoiD, and fall victim to the 2GG curse by placing 3rd at the 2GGC tournament honoring him, he would claim victory at the final 2 national tournaments of the season: IBP Masters Showdown and 2GG Championship. The latter tournament was MkLeo's best performance of the season: he defeated ZeRo in a very quick 3-0 using Meta Knight and, although losing the first set of Grand Finals, defeated ZeRo yet again 3-1. Due to his strong performances towards the latter half of the season, MkLeo would only see a small drop to 4th place on the Panda Global Rankings v4.

During the off-season, MkLeo was invited to Smash 4 Boot Camp. He lost to Tweek and Cosmos in his group pool, entering the top 16 on Losers side. He beat Dabuz but lost to Larry Lurr, placing 9th.

Claiming the throne[edit]

Following ZeRo's retirement, MkLeo would become one of the contenders for the top spot alongside Nairo. MkLeo would start off strong by defending his title at GENESIS 5 and winning EVO Japan 2018. Nairo would fire back by winning and defeating MkLeo at both Niconico Tokaigi 2018 and Smash Masters League: Battle for Vegas. In turn, MkLeo would win and defeat Nairo at both SwitchFest and Get On My Level 2018, picking up Bayonetta along the way. Eventually, Nairo's results started to decline, and it looked like MkLeo was to secure the top position. However, he was met with yet another challenger for the top spot: his rival Tweek, who won EGLX 2018, MomoCon 2018 and 2GG: Hyrule Saga; the latter tournament was one of the largest events of the season and was a tournament where Leo took a loss to ZAKI and ended in 7th place. With yet another challenger to the throne on the rise, all eyes were on CEO 2018, the tournament that would decide whether Tweek or MkLeo would take the throne. Despite taking an early loss to Captain L, Tweek refused to concede, and he made a brutal loser's run 3-0ing almost everyone in his way to meet MkLeo in Grand Finals, where he managed to 3-0 MkLeo with Donkey Kong to reset the bracket. However, MkLeo was able to overcome the Donkey Kong in the second set and, after Tweek pulled out Bayonetta, he switched to Marth to not only win the tournament but claim the vacant throne on the Panda Global Rankings v5.

MkLeo would also be invited to the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018 for the then-upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In the first round, MkLeo used Bayonetta and teamed with Mango to defeat Mr.R and Lucky. He then defeated Mango's Inkling with Sonic, but then lost to ZeRo's Sheik while using Snake. In Loser's Finals, MkLeo controversially swept Plup's Ridley with Bayonetta, causing discord in the audience due to Bayonetta's unpopularity in Smash 4. He would then rematch ZeRo in Grand Finals, resetting the bracket 2-0 with Bayonetta and Sonic over ZeRo's Mario and Sheik, but then losing 1-2, placing 2nd.

In the final season, MkLeo would only register for three major tournaments. He dropped out of EVO 2018 due to chickenpox but was able to come back strong by winning Super Smash Con 2018, only losing 3 games to WaDi, Nairo, and Samsora. At his final tournament, Shine 2018, he was upset 1-2 by JaKaL and performed one last Loser's run, defeating Dabuz and VoiD before falling to Tweek, finishing 5th.

Due to MkLeo's success throughout Smash 4's lifespan culminating in his rise to the throne in the game's final year, MkLeo was ranked 3rd on the PGR 100, the all-time Smash 4 ranking, behind ZeRo and Nairo.

The Ultimate player[edit]

Following his performance at the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate invitational, MkLeo went into Ultimate with strong results, using a combination of Ike and Lucina. MkLeo's first national tournament for the new game was Smash Conference United where he would claim victory over Samsora. At GENESIS 6, the first Ultimate supermajor, MkLeo would be sent to Loser's by Samsora in Winner Semis. However, he made an impressive losers run, defeating Light, Dabuz, Samsora in a runback then VoiD 3-1 in both grand finals and its bracket reset to take his third GENESIS title in a row.

With his impressive showing at GENESIS 6, MkLeo was shaping up to potentially be the best player in the world. However, his Smash 4 rival Tweek would challenge that position at Frostbite 2019, where he would beat MkLeo twice in Winner's Finals and Grand Finals. During this time, MkLeo would also experience a character crisis as he believed that Ike was holding him back, and he would experiment with Wolf and Marth. He would also fail to claim victory at a major save for Smash Ultimate Summit, which didn't count for the Spring 2019 PGRU.

With the release of Joker in Challenger Pack 1, MkLeo devoted more time to the new character and picked him up as a main despite the character's lukewarm reception in regards to viability. His first tournament with Joker, Umebura Japan Major 2019, ended with a dud as he was upset by TKM and Umeki to place 33rd, his worst Ultimate placement to date. However, he would stick with Joker and eventually started to see success with the character when he placed 4th at Get On My Level 2019. Following this tournament, however, MkLeo began his top 2-placing streak by placing first at the next three tournaments he participated in. MkLeo would showcase Joker's advantages with a commanding 3-stock on Samsora at Grand Finals of Smash 'N' Splash 5 as well as his run at CEO 2019, where he would only drop 2 games to ProtoBanham and Marss. At the end of the season, MkLeo took the top spot on the Spring 2019 PGRU, cementing himself as the best player in the world.

The following season continued MkLeo's dominance. He would have a weak start by losing to Marss twice at Smash Factor 8, the first Smash Factor tournament MkLeo attended and failed to win. Then, at EVO 2019, the largest Smash tournament to date, MkLeo would fall to kameme 0-2 in Winner's Top 24. This, however, didn't hold him back and he would make one of the best Loser's run of his career, defeating Maister, ScAtt, and Abadango to reach Top 8, and then zackray, Raito, Samsora, and Glutonny to reach Tweek in Grand Finals. Although Tweek would defeat MkLeo in the first 2 games, MkLeo held on, taking the third game. In the fourth game, MkLeo would make an impressive 3-stock comeback and would dominate Tweek in the remaining four games, winning EVO for the first time. The next week at Super Smash Con 2019 MkLeo would be in the exact same situation: after falling to Samsora in Winner Semi-Final, he would tear through the Loser's Bracket and defeat Samsora 3-2 and 3-0 in the bracket reset, claiming victory at his second Super Smash Con.

For the rest of the season, MkLeo would place 1st at every single tournament he attended aside from Shine 2019, Mainstage, and Mega Smash Mondays 213. He would only lose to 6 players at PGRU tournaments - Marss, kameme, Samsora, Nairo, Glutonny, and ESAM; Marss, Samsora, and Glutonny would also be the only players who would take more than one set off of him. MkLeo also became notorious for clutching out game 4 in sets against players while down 1-2, such as against Tweek at EVO 2019 and Samsora at Super Smash Con 2019, earning him the nickname "Game 4 Leo." The second PGRU season saw MkLeo ranked 1st once again with a win rate of 81.3%, over 12% higher than Zackray, the player with the next-highest win rate.

Online era[edit]

Leo's first tournament of 2020 was GENESIS 7 where he tried to defend his three-year winning streak. He was initially sent into Loser's bracket by Samsora in a game 5 set during top 8 and, after fighting through several top players, lost to Marss 0-3 in Grand Finals, ending the streak. He would bounce back next month with his victory at Frostbite 2020. Although he was upset 0-3 by Prodigy in winners Top 96, he tore through the Loser's bracket, defeating the likes of Salem, Dark Wizzy, Samsora, Nairo, Zackray, Dabuz, Tea, and Tweek to reach Grand Finals; many of these sets went to game 5, including a reverse 3-0 on Tweek and a last-hit scenario with Tea. In Grand Finals, he 6-0'd Maister to win the whole tournament, famously choosing Byleth for the final game.

With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down tournaments worldwide, MkLeo began to participate in online tournaments. However, he quickly realized that Joker performed noticeably worse online and attempted to find a new online main, using Byleth, Lucina, Cloud, Wolf, and Greninja throughout the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5 season. At the start of the season, MkLeo would struggle to place top 8 at major online tournaments, falling to Wi-Fi Warriors such as IcyMist, BestNess, Epic_Gabriel, and Kola, as well as other players such as Hungrybox and rat. He also developed a bracket demon in Sonix, who held an 8-2 record over him by the end of the season. He would match his worst offline placement twice, first at The Box, losing to Jw and Prodigy, and then at The Box: Juice Box 8, losing to GamingHI9x9 and AoS.

Despite these early shortcomings, MkLeo eventually found some success. Towards the latter half of the online season, MkLeo would stick to Wolf, Cloud, and Greninja and started to consistently place in the top 8 at major tournaments. His best placement that season was at the S-Tier tournament The Quarantine Series: Major Tournament 1, where he only lost to Sonix in Winner's Finals and Grand Finals, placing 2nd. By the end of the season, he would have an even record against the entire top 10 and would be ranked 11th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.

In the 6th season, MkLeo started to play more Byleth and produced solid results such as 5th at A-tier Zinc Tank 3 and 9th at S-tier Lockhart Series. However, throughout the first half of the season, MkLeo would fail to claim victory at any major online tournament and his only victory would be at the B-tier Frame Perfect Series: ONLINE. It would not be until November when MkLeo would finally win a major tournament: the S-Tier tournament Ultimate 32. Starting off in the top 32, MkLeo defeated several top players including BestNess, Sharp, and Sparg0 as he used solo Byleth throughout most of the top 32 and top 8 brackets. Coming from Loser's side, he faced Maister in Grand Finals, where he lost the first two games. He then switched to Ike, considered one of Mr. Game & Watch's worst matchups, and pulled off a reverse 3-0 against Maister, resetting the bracket. He then defeated Maister 3-0 in the reset, winning the largest tournament of the season. Despite being an online tournament, several players compared MkLeo's performance to his runs at EVO 2019 and Super Smash Con 2019 and congratulated him on his victory.

Although MkLeo entered fewer tournaments than he did the previous season, his victory at Ultimate 32, as well as his overall outstanding results, brought his rank up to 6th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6.

In the 7th season, MkLeo would only make appearances at a couple online tournaments, notably placing 2nd at both the S-tier The Airlock, defeating everyone aside from Sonix, and the first Phase 1 Qualifier for the Smash World Tour 2021, playing the newly-released Pyra for most of the tournament. Following the latter tournament, MkLeo announced he was going to stop attending online tournaments,^[7] although he would attend three other tournaments: Ultimate @ Xanadu Online 400 due to its high prize pool,^[8] Frame Perfect Series 5: ONLINE at the request of Mew2King, and Smash Alzheimer's after being invited. Despite entering fewer tournaments than the sixth season, he would rise up to 5th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.

Adaptations in a changing metagame[edit]

As offline slowly returned, MkLeo decided to commit to Byleth and the Aegis, as he saw his Joker as rusty. MkLeo attended his first offline tournament since Frostbite 2020 at SWT: Central America Ultimate Regional Finals, where he won the event without dropping a set. His next tournament, Smash Ultimate Summit 3, saw him face-to-face with his longtime rival Tweek. However, for the first time since Frostbite 2019, Tweek managed to defeat MkLeo 3-0 twice with his new main Diddy Kong, leaving MkLeo at 2nd. Two weeks later, the rivals met again at Riptide. Although Tweek was up 2-0 against him, MkLeo managed to turn it around and ended their match with a three-stock. He would then defeat Tweek once again in Grand Finals, winning his first supermajor since offline returned. These placements not only washed away any doubt at MkLeo's abilities post-quarantine but also started a shift in perception for Byleth, who was previously considered a low tier by many players. With all three characters in his pocket, MkLeo continued to place top 2 at every major he attended, only losing sets to ESAM, Dabuz, and Sparg0 at these majors, and culminating in him taking the title of World Champion at the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships.

Despite these successes, however, a notable weakness was starting to develop in the form of Min Min. MkLeo was unable to defeat the character with Byleth, forcing him to rely on his secondaries instead. Although he only met a couple of Min Mins during this season, they were not the smoothest sets: he went to game 5 versus Pink Fresh and lost to Dabuz for the first time this season. These results foreshadowed an obstacle that would be in MkLeo's way in the next season.

Despite having an incredibly strong 2021, MkLeo started 2022 lukewarmly as his dominance faltered a bit. At Smash Ultimate Summit 4, MkLeo lost to both Light and Glutonny and placed 3rd in his pools, relegating him to the Gauntlet Phase. Although he won his gauntlet, his run was ended by Sparg0 and ProtoBanham, both of whom defeated him after making a comeback in the fourth game; at 4th place, this was MkLeo's worst placement since Get On My Level 2019. The following day, he placed 3rd at G4 Smash Ultimate Invitational while primarily playing Corrin and Aegis, being double eliminated by Larry Lurr.

At the first supermajor, Collision 2022, MkLeo was reverse 3-0'd by Sparg0 before losing to Tweek, placing 3rd. These three placements, while still very good, were the first few tournaments since mid-2019 that MkLeo placed outside of the top 2, and his number one position was being challenged by Sparg0, who not only defeated MkLeo at two of these tournaments, but won all three of them as well.

As a result of these early results, MkLeo decided to change it up a bit by working on his Corrin, and he was able to showcase how strong the character could be at Delfino Maza RETA 2022. MkLeo placed 1st using a combination of Byleth and Corrin, defeating Sparg0 in Grand Finals and finishing the tournament with a 24-1 game count record, winning his first major since the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships. While many players applauded his skill with Corrin, others hoped it could mark a return to form, and many eyes were on him and Sparg0 for GENESIS 8.

Although there were several upsets at GENESIS 8, MkLeo managed to cruise into top 8, having only pulled out Corrin for three games total. Leo then defeated both Light and Sparg0 with Byleth before swiftly taking out Glutonny to win the tournament, marking his first supermajor win of 2022 and winning his runback against three players that had defeated him that season. The rest of the season marked a return to form for MkLeo, as he continued to place in the top 2 at every tournament he attended. His victories over Sparg0 at Relax & Smash at GeekFest Cancún were enough to barely edge his rival out on the rankings. Although he remained the best player in the world for the PGRU v3 season, a mere 0.7 points separated him and Sparg0, making it the closest someone has dethroned him.

The competition continued to tighten in the next season, with MkLeo facing three obstacles that challenged his position on the throne. The first was the matchup against Min Min, whom he would say was his least favorite character.^[9] At the supermajor Double Down 2022, he ran into ProtoBanham, who had previously defeated MkLeo at Smash Ultimate Summit 4 using a mixture of Min Min and Lucina. ProtoBanham fought using mostly the former and managed to defeat MkLeo and his Corrin in Winner's Finals, but MkLeo managed to win the runback in the first set of Grand Finals, this time using R.O.B., yet another character he had been working on. However, he was unable to defeat ProtoBanham in the second set, leaving ProtoBanham as the winner. Following the tournament, MkLeo conceded that he played too many characters and noted his struggle against Min Min.

His second obstacle came in the form of another Fighter Pass 2 character: Steve, a character that many players believed was overpowered. Japan's rising star acola had dominated the Japanese Smash scene since March and defeated several of North America's best players to win The Gimvitational, sparking debates on whether it was possible for acola to be the best player in the world instead of MkLeo. The two had avoided each other due to MkLeo's presence in Europe during The Gimvitational and acola dropping out of Super Smash Con 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, many players began anticipating for a set between the two at Smash Ultimate Summit 5. In addition, MkLeo suffered a devastating 3-0 loss to Onin at Super Smash Con which ended in a 3 stock from the rising Steve player; MkLeo ultimately placed 5th after losing to Glutonny, the first time he failed to make top 4 at a tournament since Umebura Japan Major 2019 over 3 years prior, while Onin went on to win the tournament through the winner's side.

The final obstacle came in the form of a character crisis as MkLeo not only dropped Corrin and R.O.B., but began to slowly shift away from his Byleth in favor of Pyra and Mythra, due to him finding the latter two more fun to play. However, this started to work against him, as seen in his 5th-place finish at Super Smash Con 2022. Although he remained confident in the character after winning the major Rise 'N Grind solely using the character, this confidence was shattered by his performance at Smash Ultimate Summit 5. Having ended up in the Gauntlet round after losing to Riddles in pools, MkLeo was unable to make it out on the Winner's side after Glutonny reverse 3-0'd him, leaving MkLeo in the Loser's side. In the final bracket, Tweek handily defeated MkLeo in the first two games of their set, forcing him to switch to Byleth. However, despite coming very close, MkLeo was unable to complete the reverse 3-0 and Tweek eliminated him in 9th; not only was MkLeo unable to face acola, who would've been his next opponent after Tweek, but it also marked the first time ever since Umebura Japan Major 2019 where he failed to make top 8.

Although he eventually decided to switch back to Byleth, the damage was done: his two underwhelming performances caused players to once again question MkLeo's position in the current metagame. The discussion shifted from whether MkLeo was still #1 to who was #1, and during this period several candidates popped up, which included Light, who had seen consistent top 3 placements throughout the year, and acola, who continued to dominate the Japanese Smash scene after his victory at The Gimvitational. Many players believed a clearer answer would present itself at the supermajor Ludwig Smash Invitational, a tournament that saw both Light and acola seeded above MkLeo.

Having returned to Byleth, MkLeo not only won the tournament, but bested the competition by winning every single game he played save for the first game against Kurama, whom he ultimately won the runback. Furthermore, MkLeo finally had his long-anticipated set against acola, which went 3-0 in MkLeo's favor in both Winner Semis and Grand Finals. With Light finishing in a disappointing 13th and MkLeo defeating acola twice, doubt on MkLeo's abilities quickly faded away.

However, he would not be able to follow up on this outing, largely due to situations out of his control. MkLeo had been developing hearing problems, which led to him canceling most of his travel plans, including a tournament dedicated in his honor in Canada.^[10] Although he had planned on only attending the circuit finale tournaments, those plans were dashed following the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships's cancellation and the shutdown of the Panda Cup that followed. With the two major end-of-season tournaments gone, the only other tournament MkLeo attended was the Scuffed World Tour, the Smash World Tour's replacement tournament. However, his performance was significantly weaker than his previous Ludwig appearance: he ultimately placed 5th, going game 5 against Kazuya players Ferps and Riddles - the latter of which he reintroduced his Marth into top competitive play - but being 3-0'd by Tweek and Shuton, both of whom solidified themselves as MkLeo's new bracket demons. Despite this disappointing season, as well as a rather inconsistent season overall, most power rankings, including the half-year UltRank 2022 and the yearly OrionRank 2022, still ranked him first, albeit with very close competition from both acola and Sparg0.

Losing the throne[edit]

After MkLeo's most fragile year yet, he began working on ways to keep his hold on the throne. The most notable change was his character lineup, as MkLeo swapped out his Byleth for his former main Joker while maintaining many other characters as secondaries. He put this Joker to use at Let's Make Big Moves 2023, but the choice initially backfired, as after being defeated by Tweek, he stubbornly stuck with the character against Sonix, resulting in his first ever loss to his former online bracket demon, ending his run at 4th. Nevertheless, he stuck with his character choices in GENESIS 9. Although he used Joker for most of the tournament, he pulled out R.O.B. against Justice to barely clutch out a 3-2 victory, and used the Aegis against Sonix, where despite going down 2-0, MkLeo managed to reverse the bracket and redeem his previous loss. Although he did also pull out his Byleth, it ultimately cost MkLeo his set to MuteAce, who defeated the Byleth in the first 2 games and took a win over the Joker in the fourth, knocking MkLeo into Loser Finals. Following yet another reverse 3-0, this time against Light, MkLeo stuck with the Joker for all 2 sets against MuteAce, and despite MuteAce surviving to high percents for almost every game, MkLeo was able to defeat MuteAce twice, claiming his fifth ever GENESIS title.

But GENESIS proved to be an outlier for his season, as MkLeo followed it up with his worst performances since the early metagame: 9th place finishes at Collision 2023, Smash Ultimate Summit 6, and Get On My Level 2023 -- with more losses than wins at Summit -- as well as a 13th place finish at Battle of BC 5. His record against Tweek, Riddles, and Glutonny continued to worsen as they became three of his biggest bracket demons, with Riddles notably defeating him 3-0 at both Collision and Summit. Furthermore, MkLeo began dropping more sets to players outside of the top 10, including to ShinyMark at Collision, ApolloKage at Summit, and Jakal at Crown the Third. Conversely, his record against the top 10 worsened, as for the first half of 2023 he not only had a losing record against his three bracket demons but also a losing record acola and an even record with Sparg0, with acola soundly defeating MkLeo at Summit and Sparg0 double-eliminating MkLeo at MAJOR UPSET, which marked the first Ultimate major that MkLeo lost from the Winner's side of Grand Finals. These performances were also hindered by MkLeo's continued character crisis, from adding Meta Knight to his lineup at Summit to sticking to only the Aegis and Byleth for MAJOR UPSET and Crown, to returning to Joker at Get On My Level. Due to his underwhelming major performances and poor record against players in the top 10, most players stopped considering MkLeo for the season's top 3, let alone the best player in the world. This was ultimately reflected in his final placement on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023, where he fell all the way down to 7th, the first time he was not ranked in the top 5 since the PGR v2.

Following this season, MkLeo decided to take a step back from competing to focus on his personal life, opting to only attend events in Mexico until October. He attended a few events during this time, including the supermajor Smash Factor X and the major Delfino Maza 2023. His performance at these events, however, were also rather underwhelming; aside from winning two superregionals, MkLeo underperformed at most of the events he attended. For example, Smash Factor X marked the first Smash Factor event since Smash Factor 2013 where he didn't make Grand Finals, as he ultimately placed 5th. In addition, this period saw MkLeo gain his first-ever unranked loss, losing to SuperDog 2-1 at Hooters Universidad Smash Ultimate, a regional event where he ultimately placed 4th.

Little seemed to change once October came, as at Rise 'N Grind 2023, MkLeo once again saw his worst placement at a major since Umebura Japan Major 2019. After losing 3-0 to Skinny the Pooh, having stuck to Joker the entire set despite his Joker historically having trouble against Mario, MkLeo ran into Riddles in Loser's Round 4. Despite pulling out Marth, who he used to defeat Riddles previously, Riddles ultimately defeated MkLeo 3-2, eliminating MkLeo at 17th. This trend would continue at Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2023, as MkLeo would lose yet another set to a Mario player, this time to Kurama. Picking up Marth for the first two games and switching to Lucina for the third game. This gamble would not pay off as he would lose 3-0 to him, reminiscent of his loss to him at Frostbite 2020. He later lost 3-1 to SHADIC in the losers bracket. Ending his run at 13th. Later, he started off decent at the most stacked tournament of the year Port Priority 8 where he reverse 3-0'd MVD to qualify for top 64 Winners Side. He then faced against Kaninabe, the best Fox player in Japan, who was fresh off of reverse 3-0ing his fellow Luminosity teammate Tweek. Kaninabe also proceeded to beat Leo 3-2 in a clutch fashion with a jump read up air, sending him into the losers bracket. He then fought MuteAce in a runback from GENESIS 9 earlier this year, but this time MuteAce came out on top 3-0ing MkLeo's Byleth, tying his worst placement at 17th since Umebura Japan Major 2019, along with the rest of the Mexican players Sparg0, Skyjay, and Maister.

Rankings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Mexican Power Rankings[edit]

Ranking	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
2017	42nd

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

Panda Global Rankings[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
PGR v1	January 2015-May 2016	19th
PGR v2	May-December 2016	8th
PGR v3	January-June 2017	2nd
PGR v4	June-December 2017	4th
PGR v5	January-July 2018	1st
PGR 100	January 2015-November 2018	3rd

OrionRank[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
OrionRank 2016	March 15th-December 18th, 2016	3rd
OrionRank 2017	December 24th, 2016-December 24th, 2017	4th
OrionRank Mid-Spring 2018	January 1st-May 1st, 2018	1st
OrionRank 2018	January 1st-December 2nd, 2018	1st

Mexican Power Rankings[edit]

Ranking	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
2017	1st

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Panda Global Rankings Ultimate[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
Spring 2019 PGRU	February 1st-July 7th, 2019	1st
Fall 2019 PGRU	July 13th-December 15th, 2019	1st
PGRUContenders NA	2021	S+ (1st)
PGRU v3 NA	March 1st-June 13th, 2022	1st

LumiRank[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
UltRank 2022	June 18th-December 18th, 2022	1st
LumiRank Mid-Year 2023	December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 2023	7th

OrionRank Ultimate[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
OrionRank Ultimate	January 5th-June 30th, 2019	1st
OrionRank 2019	January 5th-December 15th, 2019	1st
OrionRank Pre-Quarantine	December 27th, 2019-March 15th, 2020	1st
OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse	April 2020-December 19th, 2021	1st
OrionRank Mid-Year 2022	December 22nd, 2021-June 26th, 2022	1st
OrionRank 2022	December 22nd, 2021-December 18th, 2022	1st

Wi-Fi Warrior Rank[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5	January-June 2020	11th
Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6	July-December 2020	6th
Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7	January-June 2021	5th

OrionRank North America[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank
OrionRank North America Top 200	January 2019-March 2020	1st
OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse North America	June 2020-December 19th, 2021	1st
OrionRank 2022 North America	December 22nd, 2021-December 18th, 2022	1st

Mexican Power Rankings[edit]

Ranking	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
2020/2021	1st
January-June 2022	1st