Smasher:MkLeo


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

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, he later found tournament success with and  before picking up  shortly after the character's release. Although he briefly struggled during the online metagame, he eventually found consistent success after picking up, as well as and  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, MkLeo played and , with , , , and  as strong secondaries. He is his country's best player and was considered to be the best player in the world in 2018 after '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 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. 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 's early Brawl career.

He is also a proficient Smash 4 doubles player and usually teams with or his cousin. Leo/komorikiri consists of Cloud/Cloud and has taken 1st at majors such as, , , and. They were considered to be the best team in the world throughout 2017. Leo/Javi generally consists of Cloud/ or Cloud/Cloud and dominate the Mexican and American scenes, taking impressive first places at major tournaments such as, , and. The duo has wins over the likes of ZeRo and Nairo, and, and  and.

MkLeo was signed by and  from January 4, 2017, to February 21, 2020. He was later signed by from February 26, 2020 to February 23rd, 2023. He is currently sponsored by, having been signed by them along with on March 23rd, 2023.

Playstyle
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
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 match-up, having dropped sets to, , , , and  (though he began showing improvement in the matchup lately, notably having a perfect record against ). He is also known to struggle against grab-focused characters such as and ; at 2GGC: MkLeo Saga, he said that the player he dislikes fighting the most is  since he often plays Donkey Kong against Leo and has taken numerous sets off of him with the character.

In Ultimate
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.

Mexico's Prodigy
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. 5 years later, he attended Smash Factor 3 in Project M singles, losing to his cousin in winners finals, but defeating  in losers finals. He lost to Serge again in grand finals to place 2nd.

In Smash 4, MkLeo began as a 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, Mexico's largest tournament at the time, and defeated  runner-up  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 3-1 in Grand Finals at, 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 and  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, , and.

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 and  to reach top 8, but was defeated by  1-3. In Loser's bracket he faced 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 and Mr.R twice at  as well as  twice at.

International rise to fame
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 a second time but falling to  and, placing 3rd. His next American tournament,, was his worst performance of the season as he would lose to and , placing 13th.

Although he would claim victory at, MkLeo's first major American victory was at. Despite being sent to losers by, MkLeo would make an impressive losers run, eliminating , , and 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 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,, saw him lose to VoiD and , placing 5th. Despite this shortcoming, he would have a spectacular performance at, defeating everyone in his path, including , Mr.R, and Ally twice, to claim victory at his second supermajor ever.

His next few majors, however, would be marked with disappointments. At, he lost to and VoiD, placing 13th. Although he had a successful performance at, 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 and  at, finishing 65th.

Despite these disappointments, MkLeo would see his most successful season yet. He had several stellar performances such as his victory at and top 3 placements at, , and. He also introduced a new secondary - - whom he used to claim victory at  and defeat  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, he failed to make it past pools by losing to and , tying his worst placement at 65th. His next major,, saw him losing to and ZeRo, placing 17th. Finally, MkLeo would perform abysmally at the invitational, where he was only able to defeat. 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. Although he fell to, 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, 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:  and. 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 and  in his group pool, entering the top 16 on Losers side. He beat but lost to Larry Lurr, placing 9th.

Claiming the throne
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 and winning. Nairo would fire back by winning and defeating MkLeo at both and. In turn, MkLeo would win and defeat Nairo at both and, picking up  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, who won , and ; the latter tournament was one of the largest events of the season and was a tournament where Leo took a loss to  and ended in 7th place. With yet another challenger to the throne on the rise, all eyes were on, the tournament that would decide whether Tweek or MkLeo would take the throne. Despite taking an early loss to, 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 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 for the then-upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In the first round, MkLeo used and teamed with  to defeat  and. He then defeated Mango's with, but then lost to ZeRo's  while using. In Loser's Finals, MkLeo controversially swept Plup's 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 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 due to chickenpox but was able to come back strong by winning, only losing 3 games to , Nairo, and Samsora. At his final tournament,, he was upset 1-2 by and performed one last Loser's run, defeating  and  before falling to , 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
Following his performance at the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate invitational, MkLeo went into Ultimate with strong results, using a combination of and. MkLeo's first national tournament for the new game was where he would claim victory over Samsora. At, the first Ultimate supermajor, MkLeo would be sent to Loser's by Samsora in Winner Semis. However, he made an impressive losers run, defeating, , Samsora in a runback then 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 would challenge that position at, 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 and. He would also fail to claim victory at a major save for, 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,, ended with a dud as he was upset by and  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. 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 at Grand Finals of  as well as his run at, where he would only drop 2 games to  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, the first Smash Factor tournament MkLeo attended and failed to win. Then, at, the largest Smash tournament to date, MkLeo would fall to 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, , and to reach Top 8, and then , , Samsora, and  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 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, , 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
Leo's first tournament of 2020 was where he tried to defend his three-year winning streak. He was initially sent into Loser's bracket by 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. Although he was upset 0-3 by in winners Top 96, he tore through the Loser's bracket, defeating the likes of, , Samsora, , , , , and  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 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, , , and , as well as other players such as and rat. He also developed a bracket demon in, who held an 8-2 record over him by the end of the season. He would match his worst offline placement twice, first at, losing to and Prodigy, and then at The Box: Juice Box 8, losing to  and.

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, 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 and 9th at S-tier. 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. It would not be until November when MkLeo would finally win a major tournament: the S-Tier tournament. Starting off in the top 32, MkLeo defeated several top players including BestNess,, and 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, defeating everyone aside from , and the first Phase 1 Qualifier for the Smash World Tour 2021, playing the newly-released for most of the tournament. Following the latter tournament, MkLeo announced he was going to stop attending online tournaments, although he would attend three other tournaments: Ultimate @ Xanadu Online 400 due to its high prize pool, at the request of, and  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
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, where he won the event without dropping a set. His next tournament,, saw him face-to-face with his longtime rival. However, for the first time since Frostbite 2019, Tweek managed to defeat MkLeo 3-0 twice with his new main, leaving MkLeo at 2nd. Two weeks later, the rivals met again at. 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, , and at these majors, and culminating in him taking the title of World Champion at the.

Despite these successes, however, a notable weakness was starting to develop in the form of. 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 and lost to  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, MkLeo lost to both and  and placed 3rd in his pools, relegating him to the Gauntlet Phase. Although he won his gauntlet, his run was ended by and, both of whom defeated him after making a comeback in the fourth game; at 4th place, this was MkLeo's worst placement since. The following day, he placed 3rd at while primarily playing  and Aegis, being double eliminated by.

At the first supermajor,, MkLeo was reverse 3-0'd by Sparg0 before losing to , 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. 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.

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 at  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. At the supermajor, 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, 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:, a character that many players believed was overpowered. Japan's rising star had dominated the Japanese Smash scene since March and defeated several of North America's best players to win, 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 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, many players began anticipating for a set between the two at. In addition, MkLeo suffered a devastating 3-0 loss to 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  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 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 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, 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, 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. Although he had planned on only attending the circuit finale tournaments, those plans were dashed following the 's cancellation and the shutdown of the that followed. With the two major end-of-season tournaments gone, the only other tournament MkLeo attended was the, 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 and  - the latter of which he reintroduced his  into top competitive play - but being 3-0'd by  and, 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
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 for his former main  while maintaining many other characters as secondaries. He put this Joker to use at, but the choice initially backfired, as after being defeated by , he stubbornly stuck with the character against , 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. Although he used Joker for most of the tournament, he pulled out against  to barely clutch out a 3-2 victory, and used  and  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, 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, 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.

However, 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, , and -- with more losses than wins at Summit -- as well as a 13th place finish at. His record against Tweek,, and 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 at Collision,  at Summit, and  at. 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 and an even record with, with acola soundly defeating MkLeo at Summit and Sparg0 double-eliminating MkLeo at , 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 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 and the major. 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 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 2-1 at, a regional event where he ultimately placed 4th.

Little seemed to change once October came, as at, MkLeo once again saw his worst placement at a major since Umebura Japan Major 2019. After losing 3-0 to, having stuck to Joker the entire set despite his Joker historically having trouble against , 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, as MkLeo would lose yet another set to a player, this time to. Picking up for the first two games and switching to  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. He later lost 3-1 to in the losers bracket. Ending his run at 13th. Later, he started off decent at the most stacked tournament of the year where he reverse 3-0'd  to qualify for top 64 Winners Side. He then faced against, the best Fox player in Japan, who was fresh off of reverse 3-0ing his fellow Luminosity teammate. 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 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, , and.

So far, things were not looking good for MkLeo. Not only had he lost sets to non-top level players, but he also failed to make it into top 8 at every major he attended after. It reached such a low that some people would go as far as to question if MkLeo would even end up in the top 10. As 2023 would near its end, MkLeo would attempt to make inroads at two important events: and, the former being the largest Smash Ultimate tournament in Europe and an latter being an invitational tournament that included the best ultimate players in the world. At UFA, MkLeo would have a rough start after losing to 1-3 in top 64, yet another underwhelming loss to yet another non-top level player. However, MkLeo would later soar through top 64 losers and would eventually make it to top 8. He then went on to defeat 3-2 and would upset  3-1, the latter being the number one seed of the tournament. Unfortunately, he would get upset by 2-3 in Losers Semifinals, finishing his run at 4th. Despite the losses, this was a drastic improvement for MkLeo, being his best placement in an Ultimate major since almost 8 months earlier. Then December came and so did the last invitational of the year,. On the Round Robin stage, MkLeo would take a set off 3-1, but would lose back to back sets off both  0-3 and  1-3. He would later be sent to Gauntlet and would face off, but Sparg0 ultimately defeated MkLeo 1-3 which resulted in MkLeo starting in losers. MkLeo who despite the poor start, started to perform better as he would defeat 3-2, a player which he had previously lost to twice earlier this year, and would then defeat  3-1 successfully making into top 8. But would soon lose to 1-3 ending his run at 7th. Despite the streak of bad performances and poor results, MkLeo would prove to show some degree of consistency given his encouraging performances at two important events to conclude the season, and most people would start to regain confidence that MkLeo may stay as a top 10 player.

Trivia

 * The "Mk" in his gamertag stands for "Monster Kingdom", which is the former name of a local game store owned by his brother. The store now operates as "mk.nime" and focuses on selling anime merchandise and hosting Super Smash Bros. tournaments. Since Mk is also a common acronym for Meta Knight and MkLeo started his rise while maining Meta Knight in Smash 4, many have incorrectly assumed that is what his gamertag means.
 * He frequently uses gamertag "seulgi", an homage to his favorite member of the Korean girl group Red Velvet.
 * Prior to, he had won every single Mexican tournament that he had entered. However,  (his cousin) managed to double-eliminate him at said tournament, ending his 6-months streak.
 * and stand as MkLeo's worst tournaments, placing 65th at both.
 * MkLeo is also a very skillful doubles player, especially with set partners.
 * MkLeo and his cousin have only ever lost five doubles tournaments teaming together. As such, they are considered to be one of the best doubles teams in the world, winning the "Best Doubles Team in Smash 4" award at.
 * In addition, prior to 's ban from doubles, MkLeo and had never lost a doubles tournament, notably winning Super Smash Con 2017,, , and . As a result, they were widely considered to be one of the greatest Smash 4 doubles teams of all time.
 * In Ultimate, MkLeo enters doubles with Glutonny in majors, winning doubles at Mainstage, 2GG: Kongo Saga and and finishing 2nd at.
 * MkLeo has won the largest prize check for Smash 4 for winning the, earning $20,000.
 * MkLeo's ability to make a comeback in Ultimate sets is so strong that from the release of Ultimate to throughout 2021, he has won roughly half of the best-of-5 sets where he started the set 0-2 at PGRU events. He is the only player to hold this title out of players that have started out 0-2 in at least eight sets at PGRU events.
 * From, up to and including the , Leo would place no lower than 2nd place at every offline tournament he attended.


 * MKLeo vs Mr. R - Smash Factor 4 - Grand Finals - Smash Wii U
 * IQHQ Vinnie RZ Leo Grand Finals
 * HY M(k) Leo vs SC Serge - GRAND FINALS - Smash@Tier3 Vol6
 * SF5 Smash 4 - SF HDG | MKLeo (Marth, Metaknight) Vs. Mr. R (Sheik) SSB4 Grand Finals - Smash Wii U
 * SF5 Smash 4 - dT Dabuz (Rosalina, Olimar) Vs. SF | MKLeo (Metaknight, Cloud) SSB4 LF - Smash Wii U
 * 2GGT: ZeRo Saga - SF | MKLeo (Marth) Vs. TSM | ZeRo (Diddy Kong) Losers Semis - Smash Wii U
 * Genesis 4 Smash 4 - C9 | Ally (Mario) Vs. FOX MVG | MkLeo (Marth) SSB4 Winners Finals - Smash Wii U
 * GTX 2017 Smash 4 - BSD | Elegant (Luigi) vs FOX MVG | MKLeo (Cloud) Wii G.Finals
 * CEO 2018 Smash 4 - Echo Fox | MkLeo (Lucina, Bayo, Marth Vs. Tweek (DK, Bayo) Wii U Grand Finals
 * CEO 2018 Smash 4 - Echo Fox | MkLeo (Lucina, Bayo, Marth Vs. Tweek (DK, Bayo) Wii U Grand Finals

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 * CEO 2019 SSBU - FOX | MKLeo (Joker) Vs. PG | Marss (ZSS, Falcon) Smash Ultimate Grand Finals
 * EVO 2019 Smash Ultimate Grand Finals - TSM | Tweek (Pokemon Trainer) Vs. FOX | MKLeo (Joker)
 * SSC 2019 Smash Ultimate Grand Finals - eUnited | Samsora (Peach) VS FOX MVG | MKLeo (Joker)
 * Glitch Konami Code Losers Finals - Kola (Roy) Vs. MkLeo (Byleth) Smash Ultimate Tournament
 * Mainstage 2021 Grand Finals - T1 | MkLeo (Byleth) vs Sparg0 (Pyra and Mythra)
 * GENESIS 8 Winners Finals - T1 | MkLeo (Byleth) vs FaZe | Sparg0 (Cloud)
 * Ludwig Smash Invitational Winners Semis - T1 | MkLeo (Byleth) vs ZETA | acola (Steve)
 * Ludwig Smash Invitational Grand Finals - T1 | MkLeo (Byleth) vs ZETA | acola (Steve)