Smasher:Leffen

Leffen "MewTwoMan"
Leffen at EVO 2018.
Character info
Melee main	Fox
Other Melee character	Sheik, Mewtwo
Retired Melee character	Falco, Yoshi, Marth
Brawl main	Diddy Kong
Smash 4 mains	Diddy Kong, Pikachu
Ultimate main	Pokémon Trainer
Other Ultimate character	Terry
Retired Ultimate characters	Pichu, Roy
Project M mains	Fox, Zero Suit Samus
Other Project M character	Captain Falcon
Team info
Sponsor(s)	Team SoloMid
Former sponsor(s)	Red Bull
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking	SSBMRank Summer 2023: 4th
Winnings	~$137,640.87 ~$4,215.17
Personal and other info
Real name	William Hjelte
Birth date	October 16, 1994
Location	Stockholm, Stockholms Län

Leffen is a professional smasher from Stockholm, Sweden. He is currently considered to be one of the best Melee players in the world and the best player in Europe. He started off as a Falco main, but later switched to Fox, and is now known as one of the best and most technical Fox players in the world and one of the best Sheik players in the world, using Sheik as a counterpick to Marth. He is the first of only two players in competitive Melee history to have taken a set off of each of the Five Gods (the other being Plup), and has often been called a god himself since his ascent in 2014. Leffen is currently ranked 1st on the Swedish Melee Power Rankings, 1st on the European Melee Power Rankings, and 4th on the SSBMRank Summer 2023.

Although Leffen didn't play Brawl competitively and only went to a few Smash 4 tournaments, he was active in Ultimate for the game's first year, maining Pokémon Trainer and briefly touching Pichu and Roy. During this period, he was considered one of the best Pokémon Trainer players in the world along with Tweek, moxi, and Ned. Leffen has defeated players such as Tweek, Salem, WaDi, Puppeh, Mr.R, Maister, ZD, and 8BitMan. He was listed as an Honorable Mention on both the Swedish Ultimate Power Rankings and the European Smash Rankings, and was formerly ranked in the Area 51 position on the Fall 2019 PGRU.

Tournament history

2010-2013: 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.

Throughout the course of 2012, Leffen established himself as Europe's second-strongest player behind Armada, 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.

Leffen also began traveling to North American supermajors during this time, and was noted as one of Armada's frequent travel companions from Europe. He displayed many respectable performances vs. the world's best players, but ultimately failed to make any top eight placings in North America from 2011 to 2013. GENESIS 2 was his first tournament in the United States, where he placed 17th, defeating SFAT in pools, but losing to SFAT and S2J in bracket. At Apex 2012, his first serious event as a Fox main, Leffen placed 33rd, and lost a last-hit set to Mew2King in winners. At Apex 2013, Leffen defeated MacD and Cactuar in winners to meet Hungrybox. He made a splash by bringing Hungrybox to last hit but lost this set as well; this close loss would go on to inspire a Salty Suite rematch the following year. In losers, Leffen lost another last-hit set to JAVI, placing 17th.

In February 2013, a group of prominent TOs and community members (led by Armada) announced that Leffen was banned was from many European tournaments due to his conduct. As a result, he only attended three tournaments for the rest of year. His most significant result was at EVO 2013, where he defeated PewPewU before losing to Hungrybox and Shroomed in losers to place 9th, his strongest placing at an American tournament to date. He and Ice scored an upset victory in doubles against eventual victors Mew2King and Hungrybox; the European team went on to place 5th.

Leffen also attended a New York City 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 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 ended in early 2014, allowing him to compete in Europe again.

2014: Emergence as a top six player

2014 marked Leffen's emergence into the highest level of competitive Melee, establishing himself as one of the six best players in the world. He had a breakout performance at Apex 2014, where he earned his first set victory over one of the Five Gods, defeating Hungrybox 2-1 in winners' quarters (despite losing 1-3 in a Salty Suite the previous day). He then lost to Mew2King 1-3 in winners' semis; in losers' he beat Colbol 2-0 and then had a close and intense set with Mang0 in losers' semis, but ultimately lost 2-3, getting 4-stocked to close out the set. This 4th place showing immediately confirmed Leffen as a player to watch for the rest of the year and presaged his ascent as a top player.

Back in Europe, Leffen won his first European national and defeated his second God at B.E.A.S.T 4, winning two sets against Armada from losers, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. Leffen then won Republic of Fighters 3, qualifying for the MLG Anaheim 2014 championship bracket. After losing to Armada 0-3 in winners' finals, he returned to grand finals and defeated him 6-0 across two sets.

Leffen competed in two American supermajors in the summer of 2014: MLG Anaheim 2014 and EVO 2014. In his pool at MLG Anaheim 2014, Leffen earned his third God victory by defeating PPMD 3-2. He also defeated Axe, Colbol 3-1, s0ft, and Remen, but lost to Mew2King and Hax. Seeded in losers' for the championship bracket, he defeated both Westballz and Hax, before losing to PPMD 1-3 in losers' quarters, placing 5th overall. At EVO 2014, Leffen lost to Mew2King 0-2 in winners' quarters. In the losers' bracket, he was eliminated by Silent Wolf 1-2, finishing off at an underwhelming 9th place overall.

Leffen's last big event of the year was The Big House 4, where he defeated Hungrybox 3-2 in winners' quarters and Armada 3-2 in winners' semis; this marked the first time Leffen made winners' finals at an American major. However, he lost 0-3 to Mew2King in winners' finals and 1-3 to Mang0 in losers' finals, with a 4-stock by Mang0 to close out the set, finishing 3rd, his best major placement so far.

Leffen ended the year ranked 6th on the SSBMRank 2014, only behind the Five Gods. Many players now viewed Leffen in the same tier as the Gods (as part of a new "big six,"), as he was the first non-God who had proven the ability to consistently beat several of them in tournament, and rarely losing sets to non-God players. He was popularly nicknamed "The Godslayer" as a result.

2015: Rise to the top

2015 marked Leffen's final push to the very top of competitive Melee, defeating all five Gods and competing for the title of best player in the world. He started the year at B.E.A.S.T 5, where he defeated Armada 3-1 in winners' semis, earned his first victory over Mang0 3-2 in winners' finals, and faced Armada again in grand finals. 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; Leffen had now defeated four of the Five Gods, and became the first non-God to win a major with at least two of the Gods present since the start of the Five Gods era. Mew2King was now the only God he had yet to beat.

Apex 2015 was a highly anticipated tournament for Leffen. He first fought a Salty Suite exhibition match vs. Chillin; Leffen easily won 5-0, and as punishment for losing, Chillin was unable to use the default Fox color in tournament ever again. Following the match, Mang0 went on stage and challenged Leffen to place $1000 on their match if they played each other in bracket, which Leffen accepted.

In the main bracket, Leffen easily made it to winners' quarterfinals to face Mew2King, his last undefeated God. 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 of the Five Gods of Melee. He then went on to defeat Mang0 3-1, winning the set and earning an additional $1000. Looking poised to take the tournament, Leffen ultimately fell to PPMD 2-3 in winners' finals and Armada 1-3 in losers' finals, earning 3rd place. Having defeated all Five Gods in tournament, and having outplaced three of them, Leffen cemented his title as the "Godslayer" of Melee. (While Leffen was considered at the same level as the Gods, the Melee community has reserved "God" as a historical title to mark an era of the game's competitive history.) Soon after, Leffen was signed by Team SoloMid, one of the largest and most famous eSports organizations.

In the spring of 2015, Leffen placed 3rd at I'm Not Yelling!, 5th at Sandstorm, and 9th at Press Start (where he was upset 2-3 by SFAT in winners' quarters and lost 0-3 to Mang0 in losers' bracket); this was now considered a relative underperformance for Leffen.

Leffen's dominance continued to grow throughout the summer of 2015, and following a series of first place finishes, he developed a claim as the best player in the world. At CEO 2015, Leffen won his first American major, defeating Armada twice in winners' finals 3-0 and grand finals 3-1. He then placed first at FC Smash 15XR: Return, where he 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 earned another major victory at WTFox, including an impressive 3-0 victory over Mang0's Falco in grand finals, marking three consecutive first place finishes in singles.

Following his three major wins, Leffen was seen as the favorite to win EVO 2015, the biggest event of the summer. However, he failed to repeat this success at EVO, as he was sent into losers by Hungrybox and then upset by Plup's Samus for 5th place.

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 famously took the tournament with a collective 6-0 victory over Leffen.

Due to his performances, Leffen was ranked 2nd on the Summer 2015 SSBMRank (only behind Armada); by now, Leffen had firmly established himself as a clear tournament favorite.

Leffen entered more American events in fall 2015. At Paragon Los Angeles 2015 he was sent to losers by Mew2King, and eliminated by Hungrybox, ending at 5th place. At HTC Throwdown, Leffen made it to grand finals from the winners' side, where he defeated Hungrybox 3-0.

2015-2016: Visa issues

Leffen's reign of dominance was cut short, however. While traveling to The Big House 5, he was denied entry into the United States and deported due to his lack of a workers' visa (as required due to his sponsorship by Team SoloMid). Leffen was unable to enter the Big House 5, and his visa issues continued to affect him for over a year, preventing him from entering many large tournaments, including Smash Summit, GENESIS 3, Battle of the Five Gods, and Smash Summit 2. Furthermore, he was denied a worker's visa from the United States, primarily for reasons that questioned Melee's legitimacy as a sport. The video showing the rejection letter started a movement to reverse the decision, including a petition on the White House's official website. Eventually, Leffen was temporarily allowed into the United States up until and throughout July 2016, tentatively letting him attend EVO 2016. However, due to his visa going through additional processing resulting from his previous deportation from the US, Leffen was ultimately unable to attend EVO 2016.

Despite being unable to travel to the United States, Leffen was still able to compete in Canada, and entered majors in the spring of 2016. At Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo, Leffen lost to Axe and Duck to finish an underwhelming 7th. However, he rebounded at Get On My Level 2016, where he defeated Mew2King 3-2, Armada 3-1, Hungrybox 3-2, and Mang0 3-1 to take 1st place without losing a set. Leffen's GOML run is often regarded as one of the most difficult and impressive tournament runs in Melee history, as he defeated all four active Gods in succession.

Leffen's visa was finally accepted on October 3rd, 2016, allowing him to compete in the US again. Leffen’s first tournament back in the US was The Big House 6, where he elected to sandbag with secondaries, placing 17th. He ended the year ranked 5th on the SSBMRank 2016, largely due to his lack of attendance compared to the other top players.

2017-2020: EVO 2018 victory

After finally returning to full-time competition, Leffen was unable to replicate his dominance of 2015. While still regarded as a tournament threat, he failed to win a major throughout 2017 and the first half of 2018, ending 2017 ranked 6th on the SSBMRank 2017. Leffen additionally began competing in other fighting games at this time, including DragonBall FighterZ.

Leffen's biggest tournament win to date came at EVO 2018, where he finally won the coveted title after many years of coming short. After going down 0-1 vs. Hungrybox in winners' semis, he didn't drop a single game for the rest of the tournament; he made the comeback against Hungrybox to win 2-1, and then easily defeated Plup 3-0 in winners' finals, followed by a 3-0 over Armada in grand finals to win one of the largest Melee tournaments of all time. Leffen's EVO 2018 run is often regarded as one of the most dominant tournament runs in Melee history.

At Super Smash Con 2019, Leffen took 1st place, winning his first major since the EVO victory, notably 6-0'ing Hungrybox.

2020-present: Post-pandemic era

Leffen was one of the top players most heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to his location in Europe. He was unable to enter many North American online events, as they were often region-locked for European players due to high ping issues. During this time, Leffen was perceived to be a top three player in the world, alongside Zain and Mang0, but it was difficult to compare his skill against other players due to a lack of results.

He received an automatic invite to Smash Summit 11, the first post-pandemic LAN major, but was unable to attend due to further visa problems. As such, in 2021, he attended only one tournament in North America: Smash Summit 12, where he placed 5th.

Leffen began entering more North American events starting in 2022; by this time, he also had picked up another fighting game, Guilty Gear Strive, and competed in that title full time alongside Melee. Despite splitting time between the two titles, Leffen still proved that he was capable of winning a major and defeating the best players in the world. His first post-lockdown victory came at Battle of BC 4, where he beat aMSa, Hungrybox, and Zain twice. In 2023, he won Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5, where after losing to Joshman and Cody Schwab in pools, he managed to make it out of the Swiss bracket and into winners' top 16. He beat Hungrybox 3-0, Zain 3-2, Cody Schwab in winners' finals, and Zain once again in the runback.

During this time, Leffen also developed his secondary Sheik as a counterpick to Marth, due to his previous difficulties against Zain in the Fox-Marth matchup. He used Sheik to double eliminate Zain at both Battle of BC 4 and LACS 5, and is one of the few players who holds a positive record against Zain post-pandemic.

Other Smash games

Leffen also played Project M at a high level for a while, and was known as one of the best players of Captain Falcon, Fox, and Zero Suit Samus.

Leffen has occasionally played Smash 4, and notably pioneered the usage of Diddy Kong's up throw to up air combo.

Upon Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's release, Leffen often streamed the game and offered his own opinion on the meta. He was one of the early pioneers of using Pokémon Trainer and has since used the character successfully in tournaments. Leffen briefly dropped Pokémon Trainer in favor of Roy and Pichu in April 2019, citing that Pokémon Trainer was not worth the effort, but he would eventually return to the character. Leffen also began labbing Joker upon his release and discovered an infinite lock technique performed by repeatedly using short-hopped up aerials under the opponent while the opponent is on top of a platform. The technique has since been named "Leffoble" in honor of him.

At the end of April, Leffen announced his semi-retirement from Ultimate singles, mainly citing the smaller scene in Sweden and issues with online play making it difficult for him to get any meaningful practice. However, the release of Hero saw his return to the game, and he intended to compete in EVO 2019, but issues with his visa kept him from doing so. Leffen continued to enter for both Melee and Ultimate at major tournaments such as Super Smash Con 2019, and although he put more importance towards Melee, he still found success in Ultimate, with set wins over Tweek, Salem, and other top players. Following his first place at DreamHack Winter 2019, Leffen announced he would once again be putting Ultimate on the backburner, instead focusing on Melee and other fighting games. He has since been critical of the game, which has brought about some controversy.

Playstyle

With Fox, Leffen is known for his consistent execution and movement, and boasts solid fundamentals in all aspects of the game, using a methodical and efficient approach, making him a very well-rounded player. Leffen has both a great neutral game, as he rarely overextends or overreaches in games even against weaker opponents, and a solid combo game, especially against fastfallers. He is renowned for his proficiency against Falco, Peach, and other Foxes, having made his first upsets against the Five Gods in those matchups. Leffen's prowess against Peach is so great that even Armada, the best Peach in the world, would primarily opt for the Fox ditto in tournaments instead, generally only playing Peach on Final Destination. He is also arguably the best Fox player in the world at edgeguarding, which heavily contributes to his success in the Fox ditto and several other matchups.

While Leffen is well-rounded, he undoubtedly focuses on mental fortitude and adaptation more than technical play. Leffen 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 from losing positions, even from 0-2 deficits. Despite this, he still puts in the work to lab certain matchups or situations that give him trouble, showing his solid work ethic; he's even known to lab other miscellaneous characters solely to push the metagame forward. Along with Armada, he practices with Snowy for the Jigglypuff matchup and has flown him out to events such as Summit in order to prepare for facing Hungrybox in bracket.

Prior to his establishment as a top 5 player, Leffen had noticeable trouble against punish-heavy players. Despite his strong fundamentals, he struggled if his opponent could overwhelm him technically, leading to losses against Silent Wolf, Westballz, and Javi, among others. He also could not defeat Mew2King for a long time, even after he had upset the rest of the Five Gods, because of that aforementioned weakness. Leffen was also noted to be fairly poor at the Samus matchup, having, at one point, losing records with HugS and Duck, both of whom are considered far below his skill level. He has also lost three times to Plup in solo Samus sets. However, he has since overcome these weaknesses and no longer drops sets as frequently to these types of players, most notably not having lost to solo Samus since 2018.

Rankings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

SSBMRank/MPGR

Ranking	Time period	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
SSBMRank 2013	January 2013 - December 2013	14th
Summer 2014 SSBMRank	January 2014 - July 2014	6th
SSBMRank 2014	January 2014 - December 2014	6th
Summer 2015 SSBMRank	January 2015 - July 2015	2nd
SSBMRank 2015	January 2015 - December 2015	3rd
SSBMRank 2016	January 2016 - December 2016	5th
Summer 2017 SSBMRank	December 2016 - June 2017	5th
SSBMRank 2017	December 2016 - December 2017	6th
Summer 2018 MPGR	December 2017 - July 2018	4th
MPGR 2018	December 2017 - December 2018	3rd
Summer 2019 MPGR	December 2018 - July 2019	4th
MPGR 2019	December 2018 - December 2019	2nd
MPGR Summer 2022	March 2022 - July 2022	5th
SSBMRank 2022	March 2022 - December 2022	7th

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament	Date	1v1 Placement	2v2 Placement	Partner	Earnings
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
Beauty	April 15th-17th, 2011	3rd	5th	AJP
Tampora 2	April 29th-May 1st, 2011	2nd	3rd	AJP	$195
Beauty 2	May 2nd-5th, 2011	2nd	2nd	AJP
GENESIS 2	July 15th-17th, 2011	17th	13th	AJP
B.E.A.S.T II	August 10th-14th, 2011	4th	5th	AJP	$86.24
Tampora 3	November 25th-27th, 2011	4th	3rd	Zoler	$6.67
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	$369
King Funk's Castle II: Måske	October 4th-7th, 2012	3rd	2nd	Ice
hf.lan 4	December 1st-2nd, 2012	2nd	3rd	NMW	$188.12
Apex 2013	January 11th-13th, 2013	17th	5th	Ice
EVO 2013	July 12th-14th, 2013	9th	5th	Ice
CFST: WarZone 2	September 1st, 2013	7th	2nd	MattDotZeb
hf.lan 6	December 14th-15th, 2013	2nd	1st	Ice	$220.02
Apex 2014	January 17th-19th, 2014	4th	9th	Dr. PeePee	$628
B.E.A.S.T 4	February 12th-16th, 2014	1st	2nd	Ice	$1,239.03
Republic of Fighters 3	May 17th-18th, 2014	1st	2nd	Fuzzyness	$1,314
MLG Anaheim 2014	June 20th-22nd, 2014	5th	5th	Hax	$1,000
EVO 2014	July 11th-13th, 2014	9th	3rd	Ice
COMEBACK I	August 1st-3rd, 2014	2nd	1st	Beat	$156.66
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	$855
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	$138
B.E.A.S.T 5	January 9th-11th, 2015	1st	2nd	Ice	$2,971
Paragon Orlando 2015	January 17th-18th, 2015	3rd	3rd	MacD	$542
Apex 2015	January 30th-February 1st, 2015	3rd	3rd	Ice	$2,711
Cannes Winter Clash	February 27th-March 1st, 2015	1st	—	—	$407.86
NeoNebulous 7	March 28th, 2015	1st	1st	G$
Beauty 10	April 2nd-6th, 2015	2nd	2nd	Professor Pro	$173
I'm Not Yelling!	April 11th-12th, 2015	3rd	1st	MacD	$593
MVG Sandstorm	April 18th-19th, 2015	5th	1st	MacD	$173
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	$737.27
CEO 2015	June 26th-28th, 2015	1st	2nd	Hungrybox	$4,698
FC Smash 15XR: Return	July 4th-5th, 2015	1st	—	—	$852
WTFox	July 10th-11th, 2015	1st	2nd	Mango	$1,525
EVO 2015	July 17th-19th, 2015	5th	—	—	$373
Super Smash Con 2015	August 6th-9th, 2015	1st	1st	MacD	$5,749
Heir II the Throne	August 14th-16th, 2015	5th	2nd	Ice
PAX Prime 2015	August 28th-30th, 2015	2nd	1st	MacD	$875
Paragon Los Angeles 2015	September 5th-6th, 2015	5th	—	—	$373
HTC Throwdown	September 19th, 2015	1st	2nd	MacD	$5,648
The Call of Ragnarok	September 26th-27th, 2015	1st	—	—
Eclipse	November 14th-15th, 2015	2nd	2nd	Ice	$1,973
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	$1,047.77
Webhallen Fridhemsplan 3/5	March 5th, 2016	1st	—	—
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	—	—	$311.22
Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo	April 29th-May 1st, 2016	7th	2nd	Hungrybox	$120
Battle of BC	May 14th, 2016	1st	—	—	$989
Get On My Level 2016	May 20th-22nd, 2016	1st	3rd	Hungrybox	$3,078
Headstomper '16	June 4th-5th, 2016	1st	–	–
DreamHack Summer 2016	June 18th-21st, 2016	1st	—	—	$4,700
Stockholm 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	$123
The Big House 6	October 7th-9th, 2016	17th	—	—
Stockholm Monthly 10/4	October 4th, 2016	1st	—	—
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	$432
DreamHack Winter 2016	November 24th-27th, 2016	3rd	—	—	$3,000
UGC Smash Open	December 2nd-4th, 2016	4th	2nd	Ice	$1,241
Don't Park on the Grass	December 17th-18th, 2016	1st	2nd	Ice	$2,960
GENESIS 4	January 20th-22nd, 2017	5th	2nd	Ice	$511
LanETS 2017	February 11th-12th, 2017	1st	1st	KirbyKaze
B.E.A.S.T 7	February 17th-19th, 2017	2nd	2nd	Ice	$1,003.92
Smash Summit Spring 2017	March 2nd-5th, 2017	3rd	2nd	Ice	$6,430
Full Bloom 3	March 25th, 2017	9th	5th	Ice
Capital of Smash 2	April 8th, 2017	1st	—	—
DreamHack Austin 2017	April 28th-30th, 2017	7th	—	—	$300
Royal Flush	May 12th-14th, 2017	5th	2nd	Ice	$415
Smash 'N' Splash 3	June 2nd-4th, 2017	2nd	—	—	$2,696
DreamHack Summer 2017	June 17th-18th, 2017	2nd	—	—	$2,000
Smash @ Power 9 #39	July 6th, 2017	1st	—	—
GENESIS: RED	July 9th, 2017	—	1st	Ice
EVO 2017	July 14th-16th, 2017	9th	—	—
FUSE	July 16th, 2017	—	7th	Ice
Get On My Level 2017	July 30th, 2017	1st	1st	Ice	$1,820
Super Smash Con 2017	August 10th-13th, 2017	9th	—	—	$54
Heir 4	August 17th-21st, 2017	1st	—	—	$2,450
Shine 2017	August 25th-27th, 2017	5th	3rd	Ice
Uppsala Weekly 9/18	September 18th, 2017	1st	—	—
GameTyrant Expo 2017	September 29th-October 1st, 2017	13th	—	—	$300
The Big House 7	October 6th-8th, 2017	3rd	—	—	$1,826.40
Canada Cup 2017	October 28th-30th, 2017	2nd	1st	Mew2King
Smash Summit 5	November 2nd-5th, 2017	3rd	1st	Armada	$10,469.75
DreamHack Winter 2017	December 2nd-3rd, 2017	3rd	—	—	$1,000
Valhalla	January 4th-8th, 2018	1st	—	—
GENESIS 5	January 19th-21st, 2018	3rd	—	—	$1,225
Phoenix Blue	February 22nd-24th, 2018	2nd	—	—
The Mango	March 18th, 2018	13th	—	—
Full Bloom 4	March 24th-25th, 2018	3rd	—	—	$651
Ventus	April 14th, 2018	1st	1st	Beat	$118
Flatiron 3	April 21st, 2018	1st	—	—
Smash Summit 6	May 3rd-6th, 2018	5th	1st	Armada	$990.45
King of Nordic: Super Smash Bros. Melee @ Birdie	May 10th-13th, 2018	1st	1st	Beat
Smash 'N' Splash 4	June 1st-3rd, 2018	3rd	—	—	$2,136
Low Tier City 6	July 27th-29th, 2018	2nd	—	—
EVO 2018	August 3rd-5th, 2018	1st	—	—	$8,118
Super Smash Con 2018	August 10th-13th, 2018	65th (DQ)	—	—
Heir 5	August 17th-19th, 2018	1st	—	—
The Big House 8	October 5th-7th, 2018	5th	—	—	$516
Red Bull EWKND	November 1st-3rd, 2018	1st	—	—	$269.29
The Mang0: Homecoming	November 10th-11th, 2018	1st	—	—	$1,750
Smash Summit 7	November 15th-18th, 2018	2nd	5th	Mango	$8,927
DreamHack Winter 2018	December 1st-2nd, 2018	1st	—	—	$2,700
GENESIS 6	February 1st-3rd, 2019	129th (DQ)	—	—
Get On My Level 2019	May 17th-19th, 2019	3rd	—	—	$702.04
Smash 'N' Splash 5	May 31st-June 2nd, 2019	3rd	—	—
Smash Summit 8	June 13th-16th, 2019	3rd	—	—	$3,472
Super Smash Con 2019	August 8th-11th, 2019	1st	—	—	$3,838
Shine 2019	August 23rd-25th, 2019	5th	—	—	$330
The Big House 9	October 4th-6th, 2019	3rd	—	—	$1,090
Valhalla III	January 9th-13th, 2020	1st	—	—
GENESIS 7	January 24th-26th, 2020	5th	—	—	$118
Smash Summit 9	February 13th-16th, 2020	9th	—	—	$1,387
Battle of the Armada - Melee Edition 2	August 15th, 2020	1st	—	—	$355
Poilon Arena 3	November 12th, 2020	1st	—	—
Smash Summit 10 Online Europe	November 19th-22nd, 2020	1st	—	—	$1,200
Schweeklies #4	January 14th, 2021	1st	—	—
Valhalla Online	January 30th-31st, 2021	2nd	—	—
Eurat.gg Melee Series #1	February 6th, 2021	3rd	—	—	$120
Saturday Night LEVO #6 Europe	February 13th, 2021	1st	—	—
The Upset	February 27th-28th, 2021	1st	—	—	$132
Saturday Night LEVO #9 Europe	March 13th, 2021	1st	—	—
Poilon Colosseum	May 8th-9th, 2021	1st	—	—	$973
SWT: Europe Melee Regional Finals	October 23rd-24th, 2021	1st	—	—	$1,600
Smash Summit 12	December 9th-12th, 2021	5th	—	—
Pound 2022	April 22nd-24th, 2022	5th	—	—
Smash Summit 13	May 12th-15th, 2022	9th	—	—
Battle of BC 4	June 10th-12th, 2022	1st	—	—
The Big House 10	October 7th-9th, 2022	17th	—	—
DreamHack Rotterdam 2022	October 14th-16th, 2022	1st	—	—	$1,350.28
Ludwig Smash Invitational	October 21st-23rd, 2022	3rd	—	—	$5,250
Smash Summit 14	November 3rd-6th, 2022	7th	—	—	$1,593
Mainstage 2022	December 2nd-4th, 2022	5th	—	—
Scuffed World Tour	December 18th, 2022	5th	—	—
GENESIS 9	January 20th-22nd, 2023	7th	—	—	$375.90
Smash @ SPACE 2	February 28th, 2023	1st	—	—
The Coinbox #61	May 16th, 2023	7th	—	—	$150
Battle of BC 5	May 19th-21st, 2023	5th	—	—	$306
Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5	July 7th-9th, 2023	1st / 16	—	—	$15,001

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	—	—

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Tournament	Date	1v1 placement	2v2 placement	Partner
Valhalla II	January 3rd-7th 2019	7th	—	—
GENESIS 6	February 1st-3rd, 2019	17th	—	—
Ultimate Nimbus	March 3rd, 2019	9th	—	—
Smash Ultimate Summit	March 8th-10th, 2019	9th	—	—
2GG: Prime Saga	April 13th-14th, 2019	49th	—	—
Mega Smash Mondays 185	April 15th, 2019	13th	—	—
Pound 2019	April 19th-21st, 2019	13th	—	—
Get On My Level 2019	May 17th-19th, 2019	257th (DQ)	—	—
Super Smash Con 2019	August 8th-11th, 2019	17th	—	—
Shine 2019	August 23rd-25th, 2019	33rd	—	—
Mainstage	September 20th-22nd, 2019	17th	—	—
Smash Ultimate Summit 2	October 24th-27th, 2019	9th	—	—
DreamHack Winter 2019	November 29th-December 2nd, 2019	1st	—	—

Controversy

Despite being considered one of the best professional smashers in Melee, Leffen has led a controversial career as a Smasher, primarily due to a history of aggressive and rude behaviour towards other competitors, on- and offline.

Ban from European tournaments & Evidence.zip

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: A summary of Leffen's defences could be useful to add balance to this section

On 9th February 2013, Leffen was banned from Swedish Smash tournaments following extensive evidence of abuse towards various players in the scene. Alongside the ban, Armada provided a large "Evidence.zip" featuring three documents; one 54-page Word document archiving numerous SmashBoards posts, one 14-page document of Swedish forum posts, and a miscellaneous archive compiled by Mike Haggar including SmashBoards and SmashFinland posts.

At the time, the official reasoning behind banning Leffen was the following;

1. Demoralising comments towards newer players, demotivating them and thus hindering scene growth.
2. Libel against numerous players, accusing them of stealing, lying, and even taking drugs, to destroy their image.
3. Ableism against those with disabilities, diseases, etc.
4. Spreading personal information.
5. Extremely poor sportsmanship, including demeaning teammates in Doubles.
6. Causing a spike in drama since joining the scene.
7. Freezing people out of conversations through ignoring them, standing in front of them in conversation, and talking over them when doing so; the person this was done against was notably disturbed by this behaviour. Made fun of this individual's hearing disabilities.
8. Sabotaging people's Smashfests and trips through manipulation.

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.

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.

Unban

On January 24th, 2014, it was announced by Armada that the Swedish ban on Leffen was no longer in place [1]. Despite the ban, Leffen remained a relatively controversial figure in the community, especially on social media sites such as Reddit and Twitter, due to his vitriolic comments. Evidence.zip remained notorious in the community, notably being mentioned in Chillindude829's infamous "Respect Your Elders" diss track, released in 2015.

Evidence.zip Testimony Leak

In January 2024, alongside a ban appeal, Hax$ leaked the Evidence.zip testimonies. This was done under the justification of being the only remaining community member still holding them, and seeking to preserve the archive. Out of the nine testimonies, seven were revealed, with two being held back due to their particularly sensitive natures.

Some new facts can be extracted from these testimonies, adding further context to Leffen's original ban from the Swedish Melee scene;

• Leffen was notably insulting in the Melee Back Room, with Strong Bad citing some particularly aggressive posts.
• Hax$ mentions a stream where Leffen, seemingly unprovoked, attacked his character and repeatedly resorted to ad hominems in debate, and subsequently receiving repeated online harassment ever since. He additionally criticises Leffen for the way he handled his ban in 2013, calling a post he made in the Melee It On Me Facebook group manipulative.
• C discusses a road trip where Leffen would deliberately and forcefully rock his seat back against their legs while locked against it, causing severe pain, in addition to a large-scale harassment campaign against them.
• ROFL observes the negative effects Leffen's manipulation had on those around him; previously, he held respect for Leffen, but felt it decline over time as a result of this behaviour.
• Zneffy discusses a time where they received an unprovoked verbal attack from Leffen following a match, followed by a non-apology where he talks down to Zneffy.
• VJ, a tournament host, while never personally having conflicts with Leffen, discusses the reason why they made a personal decision to never allow Leffen in their tournaments, to the point of considering calling the police. In general, he discusses Leffen's elitist behaviour and general dishonesty, on top of his conflicts with other players.

Additionally, a letter to GENESIS 3 was enclosed, which had compiled the testimonies and demanded Leffen be banned from the tournament.

Censorship allegations

In December 2020, Samox released a documentary titled Metagame, compiling the history of the Melee metagame and following up from The Smash Brothers. In this documentary, Evidence.zip is mentioned when discussing Leffen, but was cut from later releases following criticism from Leffen himself. To make up for it, in June 2021, a bonus episode titled "Godslayer" was released, which portrayed Leffen in a more positive light. This move was blasted by Hax$, accusing the Metagame documentary of being "censored" due to manipulation from Leffen, in addition to numerous other allegations against Leffen's character. He evidenced this with the unusual timing of the situation, given Leffen's tweets blasting the Metagame documentary on his end.

In January 2024, Samox released a statement. He notes that the Evidence.zip mentions total 20 seconds, that his portrayal of Leffen was hardly positive, and, most notably, that someone threatened to sue him for the use of the Evidence.zip content. He specifically noted that Leffen wasn't the party who threatened to sue.

Ban from commentary

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.

Opinion on Ultimate

Despite focusing on Ultimate for a year, Leffen has been openly critical about the game, even going as far as to say that playing top-level Ultimate "is just pure fucking torture to me." As a result, he has butted heads with several other Ultimate professionals. Most notably, on September 26th, 2020, he argued with Rickles that streaming Ultimate was painful to him, that he would "rather flip burgers at [sic] mcdonalds if it paid the same amount," and that streaming Ultimate was harder than holding a minimum wage job. This Tweet was met with backlash and mockery from the community: users noted the difficulty of minimum wage jobs especially during the COVID-19 pandemic while several Smashers such as Axe recounted how they hated working at their minimum wage jobs before they went professional. The Tweet eventually caused "Leffen" to trend on Twitter. Leffen would later delete and apologize for his minimum wage Tweet.

Libel allegations

On July 2nd, 2020, amidst a wave of sexual harassment allegations in the community, artist Jisu posted a tweet where she called out ZeRo for showing her hentai and explicit Craigslist ads when she was 15. ZeRo later responded, admitting that he looked at hentai but denied that he had shown it to her, nor would he show it to an entire room of people. He also denied showing her the ads. Following this defense, many people started to target Jisu for "clout-chasing." Leffen however would defend Jisu's claims by claiming that he saw ZeRo show people hentai in public, a statement that was backed up by a screenshot from an anonymous user later sent to Leffen. ZeRo would later confirm this and many other allegations made about him to be true several days later.

However, on June 25th 2021, Technicals would make a YouTube video where he challenged a vast majority of Jisu's allegations towards ZeRo. In the same video, Technicals featured a brief section where he interviewed ZeRo about Leffen's allegations. ZeRo stated that he didn't remember any of the events that Leffen claimed to have happened. He would later state in the interview that he felt as if "he was trapped by Leffen into being pressured into admitting the truth" due to all of the allegations against him, and that by apologizing for Leffen and Katie, he would be creating a false agenda that Jisu's story would be correct. Both Leffen and Jisu have yet to respond to Technical's and ZeRo's allegations.

On September 9, 2022, ZeRo would release a video where he accuses Leffen as the biggest instigator during the allegations made against him, as he claimed Leffen lied about a story regarding ZeRo sharing hentai with Leffen and Japanese players when they housed together for Apex 2013, and also accused ZeRo for exchanging hentai with fans without verifying their age. Both the Japanese players and the the fan have since denied Leffen's claim or retracted their statement. ZeRo ultimately accused Leffen for profiting off the drama while tarnishing ZeRo's name in the process.

Trivia

• Leffen was commonly considered a villain in the Smash community due to his reportedly rude behavior and trash-talk. He claimed that he enjoyed his given title due to the community's need of someone to root against, although a controversy existed over whether he should embrace it or not.
  • Leffen has also been compared to Gary Oak from the Pokémon anime due to their similar personality and appearance.
• Leffen is the subject of the two-season Red Bull documentary Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection, which chronicles the time period from his initial ban through his visa issues and his triumph at Get On My Level 2016.
• Leffen's lifetime set count against Mew2King (9-17) is his worst set count against a god (excluding PPMD).
• 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.
• He is the first person to four-stock Armada in bracket, doing it twice at FC Smash 15XR: Return and at Smash 'N' Splash 4.
• Leffen, along with Tafokints and Zomba, holds the title of the most money won in a single money match. He won $1,000 on three different occasions:
  • At Apex 2015, where he defeated Mango in bracket 3-1 after betting on it following his salty suite against Chillin.
  • At DreamHack Winter 2015, where he defeated SFAT in a money match 5-1.
  • At The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0, where he won a bet against Mango as to who would win the loser's quarter-finals match between Lucky and Swedish Delight; Leffen bet on Swedish Delight, who ultimately won the set.
• Leffen is sometimes referred to by his nicknames Yung Leff or Big Leff. Depending on how he plays and if he wins or loses, the adjective used can vary (Humoungous Leff, Massive Leff when winning, Small Leff, Minuscule Leff when losing). He has also been referred to these names by Dragon Ball FighterZ commentators.
• Outside of Smash, Leffen has competed in both Dragon Ball FighterZ and Guilty Gear: Strive events. He is currently the only Smasher who was invited to a non-Smash-related Summit event (DBFZ's Summit of Power), as well as the only player to win an official EVO event for both platform and traditional fighting games (having also won EVO 2023 for Guilty Gear: Strive). He has since retired from Dragon Ball FighterZ, citing Toei’s meddling in tournaments, and Arc System Works's way of patching as the two reasons he does not enjoy the game anymore.
• Leffen is the subject of a popular Twitter parody account known as the Deep Leffen Bot, a natural AI learning model created by a PhD student that is trained on Leffen's tweets, various Smash subreddits, and other "unsavory source materials". The bot is popular in the Smash community for its humorous and creative content output. Although he initially blocked the bot's account on Twitter, Leffen has since come around and praised the bot for its artistic and comedic value.
• Despite being a sandbagging secondary, Leffen's Mewtwo reached the top of the ranked European Project Slippi leaderboards (and taking offline sets locally against top European players) under the alias of MewTwoMan.

External links

• Twitter account
• Twitch channel
• YouTube channel