Smasher:Leffen: Difference between revisions

===Early career===

[[Apex 2012]] was Leffen's first serious event as a Fox main. Leffen reached bracket, then lost a last-hit set to {{Sm|Mew2King}} in winners. He went on to lose his next set to {{Sm|Teczero}}.

Throughout the course of 2012, Leffen established himself as Europe's second-strongest player, with key results at [[Smashers' Reunion: Melee Grande]] and at [[hf.lan 4]]. He sparred often with Armada, making headway but never taking a set. He came closest at Beauty 6 in January 2013, where he was leading winners' finals 3-2 (in a best-of-7) and brought the sixth game to last stock before Armada clutched out the victory, going on to win the set 4-3.

At [[Apex 2013]], Leffen defeated {{Sm|MacD}} and {{Sm|Cactuar}} in winners to meet {{Sm|Hungrybox}}. He made a splash by bringing Hungrybox to last hit but would lose this set as well. This close loss would go on to inspire a [[Salty Suite]] rematch the following year. In losers, Leffen immediately lost another last-hit set, this time to {{Sm|JAVI}}.

Soon thereafter, Leffen was banned from many European tournaments by a group of organizers and Smashers, largely led by Armada (discussed in greater detail [[Smasher:Leffen#Controversy|here]]). He attended only three more events for the rest of the year. He traveled to [[Evo 2013]], defeating {{Sm|PewPewU}} before losing again to {{Sm|Hungrybox}}, this time without taking a game, and to {{Sm|Shroomed}} in losers to place 9th. He and {{Sm|Ice}} scored an upset victory in doubles against eventual victors {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}}; the European team would go on to place 5th.

Leffen also attended an NYC local in September called CFST: Warzone 2, where he suffered unusual losses to {{Sm|MattDotZeb}} and {{Sm|G$}}, perhaps due to lack of practice. He finished out the year at the French [[hf.lan 6]] where he placed second, defeating {{Sm|Baxon}} and {{Sm|Salepate}} convincingly before losing two close sets to {{Sm|Ice}}. Given his powerful play despite his scarce results, Leffen was ranked 14th on the [[2013 SSBMRank]].

Leffen's ban ended early in 2014, allowing him to compete in Europe again.

On day 1 at [[Apex 2014]], Leffen and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} played in a [[Salty Suite]] set, which Hungrybox won 3-1. In bracket, Leffen defeated {{Sm|Darrell}}, {{Sm|Scar}}, and {{Sm|Axe}} before finally taking revenge on {{Sm|Hungrybox}} 2-1 in winners' quarters to reach top 8 and earn his first win over one of "the [[Five Gods]]". He went on to lose to {{Sm|Mew2King}} 1-3 in winners' semis. He eliminated {{Sm|Colbol}} 2-0 in losers' quarters, and then had a close and intense set with {{Sm|Mango}} in losers' semis, but was ultimately eliminated 2-3. This 4th place showing immediately confirmed Leffen as a player to watch for the rest of the year and would presage his ascent to godhood.

Leffen won his first European national at [[B.E.A.S.T 4]], which was also his first European tournament after his ban was lifted. He lost to {{Sm|Ice}} 2-3 in winners' semis, but then eliminated {{Sm|Fuzzyness}} 3-0 in losers' quarters, {{Sm|Overtriforce}} 3-1 in losers' semis, and Ice 3-2 in a rematch in losers' finals. In the grand finals, he managed to win two sets against {{Sm|Armada}}, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. This marked his second "god" victory. Later, Leffen won [[Republic of Fighters 3]], qualifying for the [[MLG Anaheim 2014]] championship bracket. He defeated Ice 3-1 in winners' semis, but lost to Armada 0-3 in winners' finals. After eliminating {{Sm|aMSa}} 3-2 in losers' finals, he came back and won 6-0 against Armada in two best-of-5 sets.

In his pool at MLG Anaheim 2014, Leffen defeated {{Sm|PPMD}} 3-2 (the third "god" he had beaten), {{Sm|Axe}} 3-1, Colbol 3-1, {{Sm|s0ft}} 3-0, and {{Sm|Remen}} 3-0, but lost to Mew2King 1-3 and {{Sm|Hax}} 2-3. Seeded in losers' bracket in the championship bracket, he defeated both {{Sm|Westballz}} and Hax 3-2, before losing to PPMD 1-3 in losers' quarters, placing 5th overall. At [[EVO 2014]], Leffen defeated {{Sm|Lambchops}} 2-1, {{Sm|OkamiBW}} 2-0, and {{Sm|S2J}} 2-0 in the winners' quarters pools, but lost to Mew2King 0-2. In the losers' bracket, he was eliminated by {{Sm|Silent Wolf}} 1-2, finishing off at an underwhelming 9th place overall.

At [[COMEBACK I]], Leffen defeated {{Sm|Android}} 3-0 in winners' semis to make it to winners' finals against Armada, in which he lost 1-3. After defeating Android 3-1 in losers' finals, he lost again to Armada in the grand finals, this time 2-3, placing 2nd in ''Melee'' singles. Leffen also won ''Melee'' doubles with {{Sm|Beat}}, defeating {{Sm|Dev}} and {{Sm|Kuja}} 3-1 in winners' semis, Android and {{Sm|Zoler}} 3-1 in winners' finals, and Armada and {{Sm|C|p=Sweden}} 3-1 in grand finals.

At [[The Big House 4]], Leffen defeated Hungrybox 3-2 in winners' quarters to advance to winners' semis. He then faced off against Armada in another close set, ultimately managing to clench out a victory 3-2 and advance to winners' finals for the first time at an American national. However, he lost 0-3 to Mew2King in winners' finals and 1-3 to Mango in losers' finals, with a 4-stock by Mango to close out the set.

At [[B.E.A.S.T 5]], Leffen managed to solidly defeat Armada 3-1 in winners' semis to advance to winners' finals. He managed to take his first victory over Mango in a 3-2 set to advance to grand finals, where he would once again face Armada. Despite a closely fought set from both players (with Armada notably 4-stocking Leffen in game 4), Leffen managed to win grand finals 3-2, earning his first national victory with at least two of the [[The Five Gods|"gods"]] present.

After this 1st place finish at a major, there was one achievement left before Leffen could indisputably be considered in the same tier as the "gods": defeating Mew2King, the only one he had not beaten.  

This set the stage for [[Apex 2015]], a highly anticipated tournament for Leffen as he had two notable sets that would take place that tournament: a [[Leffen vs. Chillin (Apex 2015)|salty suite]] against {{Sm|Chillin}} and a match against Mew2King in winners' quarterfinals. First came the salty suite, which Leffen infamously won in a dominant 5-0 fashion; following the money match, Mango challenged Leffen to a $1,000 money match if they ever met in bracket that tournament.

In the main bracket, Leffen easily made it to winners' quarterfinals to face Mew2King. In a momentous 2-1 victory, including a dominant 3-stock in game 3, Leffen defeated Mew2King, becoming the first player to take a tournament set from all five "gods" of ''Melee''. He then went on to defeat Mango 3-1, winning the money match and proving that his previous victory against Mango was no fluke. Looking poised to take the tournament, Leffen ultimately fell to PPMD 2-3 and Armada 1-3, earning 3rd place. He outplaced three of the five "gods" and cemented himself as one of what was now the "top six," a player able to beat any other ''Melee'' player and take major tournaments. As the "Five Gods" is a historical term, the community gave Leffen the title of "Godslayer."

Leffen continued to develop as a top-level threat. At [[CEO 2015]], Leffen earned 1st in singles--his first American national victory. He had a close set with {{Sm|Plup}} in winners' quarters but ultimately won 2-1, and proceeded to sweep the rest of the tournament, beating {{Sm|Shroomed}} 3-0 and Armada twice in winners' finals and grand finals; each set was 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. In doubles, Leffen teamed with Hungrybox, placing 2nd; they had managed to trade sets with {{Sm|PewPewU}} and {{Sm|SFAT}} and take a set off of Armada and Shroomed, but they ultimately lost a close second set 2-3.

At [[FC Smash 15XR: Return]], Leffen earned 1st in singles. He defeated {{Sm|Swedish Delight}} 3-0 in winners' quarters, he then beat Hungrybox 3-1 in winners' semis and Armada 3-1 in winners' finals, including a 4-stock in game 1 on Final Destination. In grand finals; he met Hungrybox once again and beat him 3-1.

Leffen once again got first place at [[WTFox]] singles, including an impressive 3-0 victory over Mang0's Falco in grand finals, making three consecutive first place finishes in singles. At this point, Leffen looked dominant--a favorite to take future major tournaments.

However, he failed to repeat this success at [[EVO 2015]], being sent into losers by Hungrybox and then eliminated in 5th place by Plup's Samus.

At [[Super Smash Con 2015]], Leffen bounced back and took first place once again in singles, beating Mew2King 6-1 collectively in winners' finals and grand finals. Mew2King answered back in their next meeting at [[PAX Prime 2015]], where Mew2King took the tournament with a collective 6-0 victory over Leffen.

Leffen once again failed to capture first place at [[Paragon Los Angeles 2015]], being sent to losers by Mew2King, and being eliminated by Hungrybox, ending another tournament run at 5th place.

At [[HTC Throwdown]], Leffen made it to Grand Finals from the winners' side, where he defeated Hungrybox in grand finals 3-0.

Leffen's reign of dominance was cut short, however. He was unable to enter [[The Big House 5]], [[Smash Summit]], [[GENESIS 3]], [[Battle of the Five Gods]], and [[Smash Summit 2]] due to international visa issues. Furthermore, he was denied a worker's visa from the United States, primarily for reasons that question ''Melee''{{'}}s legitimacy as a sport. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVejIOYp-M The video showing the rejection letter] started a movement to reverse the decision. Eventually, Leffen came to be temporarily allowed into the USA up until and throughout July 2016, tentatively letting him attend [[EVO 2016]].[http://tsm.gg/index.php/news/leffen-visa-update/] Due to his visa going through additional processing resulting from his deportation from the US, however, Leffen was ultimately unable to attend EVO 2016.

During his American visa issues, he notably won ''Melee'' singles at [[Get On My Level 2016]], after beating Mew2King 3-2, Armada 3-1, Hungrybox 3-2, and Mango 3-1 without losing a set.

Leffen's visa was finally accepted on October 3rd, 2016, allowing him to compete in the US again. Since then, he has remained a steady top-level threat but has not reached the same dominance as in 2015 before his visa issues.

After many years of coming close to the top and failing in the [[EVO|Evolution Championship Series]], Leffen finally took 1st place in the Grand Finals of [[EVO 2018]] for Super Smash Bros. Melee.

At [[Super Smash Con 2019]], Leffen took 1st place, notably 6-0'ing Hungrybox.

After the lockdown was over and offline tournaments finally came back, Leffen was perceived to be a Top 3 player in the world, alongside Zain and Mango. In 2021, he attended only 1 tournament in North America: Smash Summit 12. Unfortunately for him, he got 5th place losing to Wizzrobe, iBDW, and Mango. While still a good performance, Leffen was very dissatisfied and was determined to show his true potential in the upcoming Genesis 8 in April 2022.

 

However, he would not attend that event due to taking care of his new dog. He would attend Pound 2022 the weekend after; as expected, he got to winners' semis and was going to face Zain. He opted to go Sheik instead of his usual Fox due to difficulties against Marth. While the set was competitive, he lost 3-1 and later lost to Amsa in losers' quarters for 5th place. Leffen would later have an underperformance at Smash Summit 13 in May 2022, ending at 9th place after losing to Jmook and Llod.

 

But in June 2022, Leffen would take first place at Battle of BC 4, beating Amsa, Hungrybox, and Zain in two sets. This victory would be his first tournament win in North America since Super Smash Con 2019. Leffen would take a small break before returning to competition in North America in the Fall of 2022, placing 17th at The Big House 10, 3rd at the Ludwig Smash Invitational, and 7th at Smash Summit 14.

 

 

By this point, it had been an entire year since Leffen last won a major. He attended [[Tournament:Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5|LACS 5]], where he lost to Joshman and Cody once again in pools. He managed to make it out of the Swiss bracket and in winners' top 16. He beat Hungrybox 3-0 and Zain despite him 3-stocking Leffen with Ice Climbers in game 3. He beats Cody in winners' finals and beats Zain once again in the runback, claiming his first major win of 2023.

The discussion group announcing his ban compiled a significant amount of evidence of his poor behavior into a downloadable archive, and demanded that Leffen create a lengthy apology about all of his wrongdoings and how he would change his behavior in the future, should he return to the community. On March 21st, 2013, [http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rjbt3e Leffen made his public statement asking for forgiveness]; despite this, he was not immediately unbanned, and ended up missing almost one year's worth of local tournaments. On January 24th, 2014, it was announced by {{Sm|Armada}} that the Swedish ban on Leffen was no longer in place [https://www.facebook.com/events/182185045312694/permalink/206413366223195/?stream_ref=2]. His conduct since then has improved dramatically, but he still remains a relatively controversial figure in the community, especially on social media sites such as Reddit and Twitter, due to his blunt comments.

At [[Heir II the Throne]], Leffen was banned from commentary on all future European Smash Circuit events for saying that it wasn't a "serious" tournament and players were playing their secondaries and not trying. Leffen notably compared the tournament to [[The Foundry]], a series notorious for its relaxed and non-competitive atmosphere. Many argued that the TOs had overreacted in their decision, and that a full ban was an excessively harsh punishment.