| Leffen | |
|---|---|
| RB TSM Leffen.jpg | |
| Character info | |
| Melee main | Fox |
| Other Melee characters | Falco, Mewtwo, Marth, Yoshi |
| Smash 4 mains | Diddy Kong, Pikachu |
| Project M mains | Captain Falcon, Fox, Zero Suit Samus |
| Other Project M character | Mewtwo |
| Team info | |
| Sponsor(s) | Red Bull |
| Rankings and results info | |
| Most recent ranking |  2016 SSBMRank: 5th |
| Winnings | ~$64,081.50 |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | William Hjelte |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Stockholm 
|
| Miscellaneous info | |
| Skill | Top professional  Professional  Top professional
|
Leffen is a professional smasher from Stockholm, Sweden. He is currently considered to be one of the best Melee players in the world along with Armada, Hungrybox, Mango, and Mew2King. He started off as a Falco main, but later switched to Fox, and is now known as one of the most technical Fox players in the world. He is the only player in competitive Melee history to have taken a set off of each of the Five Gods and has often been called a god himself since his ascent in 2014. Leffen is ranked 5th on the 2016 SSBMRank and 2nd on the European Melee Power Rankings.
Tournament history
Early career
Leffen's introduction to Smash was through Brawl, which he played online in 2009.
In 2010, he started attending tournaments for Melee. He mained Falco and also trained a Yoshi secondary, which he used to great success at Stockholm locals and at Danish events.
Leffen's first stateside outing was at Genesis 2. After defeating SFAT in pools, he went on to lose to SFAT and S2J in bracket to place 17th.
Apex 2012 was Leffen's first serious event as a Fox main. Leffen reached bracket, then lost a last-hit set to Mew2King in winners. He went on to lose his next set to Teczer0.
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 an unrecorded local in December, 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 MacD and Cactuar in winners to meet 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 Javi, who himself had dropped into losers early due to a pools loss to ESAM.
Soon thereafter, Leffen was banned from many European tournaments by a group of organizers and Smashers, largely led by Armada (discussed in greater detail here). He attended only three more events for the rest of the year. He traveled to Evo 2013, defeating PewPewU before losing again to Hungrybox, this time without taking a game, and to Shroomed in losers to place 9th. He and Ice scored an upset victory in doubles against eventual victors Mew2King and Hungrybox; the European team would go on to place 5th.
Leffen also attended a NYC local in September called CFST: Warzone 2 where he suffered unusual losses to MattDotZeb and G$, perhaps due to lack of practice. He finished out the year at the French hf.lan 6 where he placed second, defeating Baxon and Salepate convincingly before losing two close sets to Ice. Given his powerful play despite his scarce results, Leffen was ranked 14th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
Leffen's ban would end early in 2013. Few Smashers knew how quickly he would rise after that.
Emergence as a top 6 player
On day 1 at Apex 2014, Leffen and Hungrybox played in a Salty Suite set, which Hungrybox won 3-1. In bracket, Leffen defeated Darrell, Scar, and Axe before finally taking revenge on Hungrybox 2-1 in winners' quarters to reach top 8. He went on to lose to Mew2King 1-3 in winners' semis. He eliminated Colbol 2-0 in losers' quarters, and then had a close and intense set with 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 national at B.E.A.S.T 4, also his first tournament after his ban was lifted. He lost to Ice 2-3 in winners' semis, but then eliminated Fuzzyness 3-0 in losers' quarters, Overtriforce 3-1 in losers' semis, and Ice 3-2 in a rematch in losers' finals. In grand finals, he managed to win two sets against Armada, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. 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 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 PPMD 3-2, Axe 3-1, Colbol 3-1, s0ft 3-0, and Remen 3-0, but lost to Mew2King 1-3 and Hax 2-3. Seeded in losers' bracket in the championship bracket, he defeated both Westballz and Hax 3-2, before losing to PPMD 1-3 in losers' quarters, placing 5th overall. At EVO 2014, Leffen defeated Lambchops 2-1, OkamiBW 2-0, and S2J 2-0 in the winners' quarters pools, but lost to Mew2King 0-2. In losers' bracket, he was eliminated by Silent Wolf 1-2, finishing off at an underwhelming 9th place overall.
At COMEBACK I, Leffen defeated 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 grand finals, this time 2-3, placing 2nd in Melee singles. Leffen also won Melee doubles with Beat, defeating Dev and Kuja 3-1 in winners' semis, Android and Zoler 3-1 in winners' finals, and Armada and C 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 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 Game 4), Leffen managed to win grand finals 3-2, earning his first national victory with at least 2 of the "gods" present.
At CEO 2015, Leffen earned 1st in singles, making it his first American national victory. He had a close set with Plup in winners quarters but ultimately won 2-1, and proceeded to sweep the rest of the tournament, beating Shroomed 3-0 and Armada twice in winners finals and grand finals; each set was 3-0 and 3-1, respectively, in Leffen's favor. In doubles, Leffen teamed with Hungrybox, placing 2nd; they had managed to trade sets with PewPewU and 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 once again earned 1st in singles. He defeated 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.
However, he failed to repeat this success at EVO 2015, being sent into losers by Hungrybox, and was then eliminated at 5th place by Plup's Samus.
At Super Smash Con, Leffen took first place once again in singles, beating Mew2King 6-1 in Winners Finals and Grand Finals.
However, an "upset" occured at PAX Prime 2015, where Mew2King avenged his loss at Smash Con in a 6-0 victory over Leffen.
Leffen once again failed to capture first place at Paragon Los Angeles 2015, being sent to loser's 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 Winner's side, defeating Hungrybox in Grand Finals 3-0.
Leffen 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. The video showing the rejection letter has started a movement to reverse the decision. Eventually, Leffen came to be temporarily allowed into the USA up until and throughout July 2016, letting him attend EVO 2016.[1] Due to his visa going through additional processing resulted from his deportation from the US however, Leffen was unable to attend EVO 2016. However, his visa was finally accepted on October 3rd, allowing him to compete in the US again.
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.
Other Smash games
Leffen also plays Project M at a top level, and is known as one of the best Captain Falcon, Fox, and Zero Suit Samus players.
Leffen has occasionally played Smash 4, and notably pioneered the usage of Diddy Kong's up throw to up air combo.
Playing Style
Leffen is one of the top Melee Fox players in the world. He has solid fundamentals in all aspects of the game, using a methodical and efficient approach, making him a very well-rounded player. Leffen has a great neutral game, as he rarely overextends or overreaches in games, and has excellent movement. He is also known for his heavy combo game, especially on fast fallers, and has one of the most potent Foxes in the Fox ditto and the Falco matchup. Leffen is also very consistent, and rarely drops tech skill inputs. While Leffen is well-rounded, he undoubtedly focuses on the mental game and adaptation more than technical play. Leffen has once stated in an interview that he believes many high-level players are held back by "flowchart" behavior that he is able to exploit. This is clearly exemplified by his ability to clutch out sets; Leffen has made many match-winning reversals from 0-2 deficits. While he may not be as technical as other players, he is very adept at using all of the tools available to him in any given situation. He is also considered a master in the Fox-Peach matchup, as Armada opts to play Leffen in the Fox ditto instead of his optimized Peach.
However, Leffen is known to have slight trouble against punish-heavy players, although this has been dramatically improved over time. Despite his strong fundamentals, he struggles if his opponent can consistently put him in a punish, as his ability to negate the effectiveness of opponents' punish games is not as strong as that of players such as Mango and Hungrybox. Because of this, he has dropped sets to punish-heavy players, such as Silent Wolf, Westballz, and Ice, and for a long time, was unable to defeat Mew2King. Leffen is also noted to be fairly poor at the Samus matchup, having a 2-1 record with HugS and a 1-3 record with Duck, both of whom are considered far below his skill level. He has also lost twice to Plup in solo Samus sets.
Tournament placings
Super Smash Bros. Melee
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STIIG | July 13th-20th, 2010 | 9th | 4th | AJP |
| SKN2 | October 8th-10th, 2010 | 7th | 7th | AJP |
| B.E.A.S.T | January 7th-9th, 2011 | 9th | 13th | AJP |
| SKN3 | February 11th-13th, 2011 | 3rd | 3rd | AJP |
| Tampora 2 | April 29th-May 1st, 2011 | 2nd | 3rd | AJP |
| GENESIS 2 | July 15th-17th, 2011 | 17th | 13th | AJP |
| B.E.A.S.T II | August 10th-14th, 2011 | 4th | 5th | AJP |
| Tampora 3 | November 25th-27th, 2011 | 4th | 3rd | Zoler |
| Beauty 3 | December 2nd-4th, 2011 | 2nd | 2nd | Zoler |
| Apex 2012 | January 6th-8th, 2012 | 33rd | 25th | Zoler |
| Gamers Meetup STHLM | February 18th-19th, 2012 | 2nd | 1st | Fuzzyness |
| Epita Smash Arena 5 | April 20th-23rd, 2012 | 5th | 2nd | Fuzzyness |
| Haags Kwartiertje 6 | June 16th, 2012 | 4th | 4th | Beat |
| Smashers' Reunion: Melee Grande | July 13th-15th, 2012 | 3rd | 2nd | Dr. PeePee |
| King Funk's Castle II: Måske | October 4th-7th, 2012 | 3rd | 2nd | Ice |
| hf.lan 4 | December 1st-2nd, 2012 | 2nd | 3rd | NMW |
| Apex 2013 | January 11th-13th, 2013 | 17th | 5th | Ice |
| EVO 2013 | July 12th-14th, 2013 | 9th | 5th | Ice |
| hf.lan 6 | December 14th-15th, 2013 | 2nd | 1st | Ice |
| Apex 2014 | January 17th-19th, 2014 | 4th | 9th | Dr. PeePee |
| B.E.A.S.T 4 | February 12th-16th, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Ice |
| Republic of Fighters 3 | May 17th-18th, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Fuzzyness |
| MLG Anaheim 2014 | June 20th-22nd, 2014 | 5th | 5th | Hax |
| EVO 2014 | July 11th-13th, 2014 | 9th | 3rd | Ice |
| COMEBACK I | August 1st-3rd, 2014 | 2nd | 1st | Beat |
| Hit & Stun Tournament 2 | September 6th-7th, 2014 | 3rd | 2nd | Ice |
| Beauty 8 | September 12th-14th, 2014 | 2nd | 1st | Professor Pro |
| The Big House 4 | October 4th-5th, 2014 | 3rd | 3rd | Hax |
| Smashsätra | October 11th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| DrømmeLAN 4.0 | November 7th-9th, 2014 | 2nd | 2nd | Ice |
| hf.lan 8 | November 22nd-23rd, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Ice |
| Beauty 9 | December 5th-7th, 2014 | 2nd | 2nd | Pop |
| B.E.A.S.T 5 | January 9th-11th, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Ice |
| Paragon Orlando 2015 | January 17th-18th, 2015 | 3rd | 3rd | MacD |
| Apex 2015 | January 30th-February 1st, 2015 | 3rd | 3rd | Ice |
| Cannes Winter Clash | February 27th-March 1st, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| NeoNebulous 7 | March 28th, 2015 | 1st | 1st | G$ |
| Beauty 10 | April 2nd-6th, 2015 | 2nd | 2nd | Professor Pro |
| I'm Not Yelling! | April 11th-12th, 2015 | 3rd | 1st | MacD |
| MVG Sandstorm | April 18th-19th, 2015 | 5th | 1st | MacD |
| DrømmeLAN 4.5 | April 24th-26th, 2015 | 2nd | 2nd | Fuzzyness |
| Press Start | May 9th-10th, 2015 | 9th | 2nd | MacD |
| Headstomper '15 | May 16th, 2015 | 1st | 1st | King Funk |
| Battle Arena Melbourne 7 | May 22nd-24th, 2015 | 2nd | 1st | Blue2ez |
| CEO 2015 | June 26th-28th, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Hungrybox |
| FC Smash 15XR: Return | July 4th-5th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| WTFox | July 10th-11th, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Mango |
| EVO 2015 | July 17th-19th, 2015 | 5th | — | — |
| Super Smash Con | August 6th-9th, 2015 | 1st | 1st | MacD |
| Heir II the Throne | August 14th-16th, 2015 | 5th | 2nd | Ice |
| PAX Prime 2015 | August 28th-30th, 2015 | 2nd | 1st | MacD |
| Paragon Los Angeles 2015 | September 5th-6th, 2015 | 5th | — | — |
| HTC Throwdown | September 19th, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | MacD |
| The Call of Ragnarok | September 26th-27th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Eclipse | November 14th-15th, 2015 | 2nd | 2nd | Ice |
| DreamHack Winter 2015 | November 26th-29th, 2015 | 9th | 5th | Ice |
| Kickstart 5 | January 24th, 2016 | 1st | 2nd | Professor Pro |
| B.E.A.S.T 6 | February 19th-21st, 2016 | 2nd | 1st | Ice |
| Kickstart 7 | March 13th, 2016 | 1st | 1st | Lamp |
| HFLAN 12 | April 9th-10th, 2016 | 1st | 2nd | BrTarolg |
| The Come Up 2016 | April 23rd-24th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo | April 29th-May 1st, 2016 | 7th | 2nd | Hungrybox |
| Battle of BC | May 14th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Get On My Level 2016 | May 20th-22nd, 2016 | 1st | 3rd | Hungrybox |
| Headstomper '16 | June 4th-5th, 2016 | 1st | – | – |
| DreamHack Summer 2016 | June 18th-21st, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Monthly 6/28 | June 28th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Stockholm Weekly 8/8 | August 8th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Stockholm Weekly 9/13 | September 13th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Heir 3 | August 19th-21st, 2016 | 7th | 33rd (DQ) | Yabasta |
| The Big House 6 | October 7th-9th, 2016 | 17th | — | — |
| Stockholm Weekly 10/18 | October 18th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Eclipse 2 | October 21st-23rd, 2016 | 3rd | 2nd | Ice |
| Stockholm Monthly 10/25 | October 25th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
| Smash Summit 3 | November 3rd-6th, 2016 | 9th | 3rd | Mafia |
| DreamHack Winter 2016 | November 24th-27th, 2016 | 3rd | — | — |
| UGC Smash Open | December 2nd-4th, 2016 | 4th | 2nd | Ice |
| Don't Park on the Grass | December 17th-18th, 2016 | 1st | 2nd | Ice |
| GENESIS 4 | January 20th-22nd, 2017 | 5th | 2nd | Ice |
| LanETS 2017 | February 11th-12th, 2017 | 1st | 1st | KirbyKaze |
| B.E.A.S.T 7 | February 17th-19th, 2017 | 2nd | 2nd | Ice |
| Smash Summit Spring 2017 | March 2nd-5th, 2017 | 3rd | 2nd | Ice |
| Full Bloom 3 | March 25th, 2017 | 9th | 5th | Ice |
| DreamHack Austin 2017 | April 28th-30th, 2017 | 7th | — | — |
| Royal Flush | May 12th-14th, 2017 | 5th | 2nd | Ice |
| Smash 'N' Splash 3 | June 2nd-4th, 2017 | 2nd | — | — |
| DreamHack Summer 2017 | June 17th-18th, 2017 | 2nd | — | — |
Project M
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GENESIS 2 | July 15th-17th, 2011 | 3rd | — | — |
| King Funk's Castle II: Måske | October 4th-7th, 2012 | 2nd | 1st | Fuzzyness |
| Apex 2014 | January 17th-19th, 2014 | 9th | — | — |
| B.E.A.S.T 4 | February 12th-16th, 2014 | 3rd | — | — |
| COMEBACK I | August 1st-3rd, 2014 | 2nd | — | — |
| Hit & Stun Tournament 2 | September 6th-7th, 2014 | 2nd | — | — |
| Beauty 8 | September 12th-14th, 2014 | 3rd | — | — |
| The Big House 4 | October 4th-5th, 2014 | 33rd | — | — |
| DrømmeLAN 4.0 | November 7th-9th, 2014 | 2nd | — | — |
| hf.lan 8 | November 22nd-23rd, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| B.E.A.S.T 5 | January 9th-11th, 2015 | 4th | — | — |
| Beauty 10 | April 2nd-6th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| DrømmeLAN 4.5 All-Star | April 24th-26th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Paragon Los Angeles 2015 | September 5th-6th, 2015 | 49th (DQ) | 17th | Professor Pro |
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DrømmeLAN 4.0 | November 7th-9th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty 9 | December 5th-7th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| B.E.A.S.T 5 | January 9th-11th, 2015 | 3rd | — | — |
| Paragon Orlando 2015 | January 17th-18th, 2015 | 9th | — | — |
| DrømmeLAN 4.5 | April 24th-26th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
Controversy
Despite being considered one of the best professional smashers in Melee, Leffen has led a controversial career as a smasher, due to his previously rude conduct during and outside of tournaments. Several players, most of which were new smashers to the scene, accused him of:
- deliberately sandbagging in pools by playing low tier characters while insulting his opponent's skill throughout and after the match.
- spreading exaggerated rumors about others.
- making rude and provocative comments on SmashBoards and deliberately starting arguments with users.
- further blaming other people when confronted about his actions, using his status as a top professional player to decrease his punishments.
After noticing his poor behavior, Swedish tournament organizers and other Melee professionals of his caliber gave him repeated warnings concerning his attitude. In August 2012, Leffen was eventually threatened with a ban from tournaments if he did not improve his attitude, but he did not take the claim seriously. This led to further lengthy online discussions among the European Smash community that culminated in his national ban from Swedish tournaments, effective February 9th, 2013.
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, 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 Armada that the Swedish ban on Leffen was no longer in place [2]. However, Leffen still remains a relatively controversial figure in the community, especially on social media such as Twitter and Facebook due to his blunt comments.
At European tournament 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.
Trivia
- At Apex 2015, Leffen defeated Mew2King in tournament for the first time in his career, which marked Leffen as the first, and currently only player, to have won at least one tournament set against each of The Five Gods.
- At Apex 2015's Salty Suite exhibition, Leffen won a $100 money match 5-0 against Chillin in Fox dittos; Chillin was also forbidden from using Fox's default costume in future tournaments. However, at The Big House 6, Leffen allowed Chillin to use the costume again.
- Leffen is commonly considered a villain in the Smash community due to his reportedly rude behavior and trash-talk. He claimed that he enjoys his given title due to the community's need of someone to root against, although a controversy exists over whether he should embrace it or not.
- Ironically, his surname is Swedish for "hero".
- At FC Smash 15XR: Return, Leffen became the first player to four stock Armada in bracket, in game 1 of winners finals on Final Destination.
- Leffen, along with Tafokints, holds the title of the most money won in a single money match, a title which he earned at Apex 2015 when he defeated Mango in a $1,000 money match. At DreamHack Winter 2015, he defeated SFAT 5-1 in another $1,000 money match.
- Leffen decided not to compete seriously at The Big House 6; he instead used his secondaries Falco and Marth to place 17th, losing to Gahtzu and Swedish Delight.
- Leffen donated the prize money he won at B.E.A.S.T 7 to multiple charities.
- Leffen is infamous for a spate of losses against Samus players HugS, Plup, and Duck in 2015 and 2016 after having mocked Chillin's losses to the same character on Twitter.
- Leffen is sometimes referred to by his nicknames Big Leff or Yung Leff.