As the competitive Melee scene has developed over time, it has grown into something more than just a collection of people playing video games. Each player has become a unique character, and their interactions create an intriguing story. All of these “characters” have their own backstory, and each of their stories need to be told. When one thinks about the grand tale of Melee, the five “gods” might be the first to pop into their heads. But perhaps one of the most unique personalities in the community, and the subject of this article, is the outlier of the Top 6: Leffen. In a gaming scene filled with heroes, Leffen is considered one of the few villains. But exactly what about Leffen earned him this villainous image? Let’s take a look at how Leffen made his way to the top and how his image was formed along the way.
Leffen playing as Yoshi against Paju’s Falco in a 2011 money match.
Not So Humble Beginnings
Leffen began to play Melee competitively around 2009, with his first notable tournament appearance being at STIIG in July of 2010. He started out as a Yoshi main, later switching to Falco and eventually Fox. His reason for dropping Yoshi is that he considered the character too gimmicky, and he wanted his victories to be based off of his own skill rather than his opponent’s unfamiliarity with the match-up. While he only entered two tournaments in 2010, both brought impressive results for him; he got 4th in doubles at STIIG and 7th in both singles and doubles at SKN2 (teaming with AJP at both events). However, his first true major tournament appearance came the next year at B.E.A.S.T. With competitors such as Armada, Ice, Amsah, and numerous other European greats in attendance, Leffen earned an exceptional 9th place finish, defeating MasterTK, Jadde, and Nizro along the way. In July of that same year, he would travel overseas for his first major tournament in the United States, Genesis 2. Now competing against many of North America’s finest, Leffen achieved a noteworthy 17th place, beating Dart on loser’s side of Top 32 before being eliminated by S2J. Leffen was coming to be regarded as a formidable opponent, with several high placings at lower-level tournaments and a few decent placings at larger-scale events. No doubt this was further strengthened by a strong 4th place finish at B.E.A.S.T. 2 in August of 2011. Leffen was convinced that he could one day be the best in the world, and going into 2012, it was obvious that he had a lot of potential. However, with a disappointing 33rd place finish at Apex 2012, his only American supermajor of that year, it seemed his play still wasn’t ready for high rankings in the United States. His most dominant performances were bound to lie back home in Europe. Little did he know, his local tournament scene would soon be ripped away from him.
A humorous image of Leffen used on his Liquipedia player page, in reference to his 2013 “evidence.zip” scandal.
Evidence.zip
Early on in his career, Leffen acquired a reputation as somewhat of a jerk. He was arrogant, rude, and he had no problem demeaning those whom he considered less skilled than himself. He was especially hated on the Smashboards, where his remarks were considered downright insulting. Regardless, he still seemed to have a strong year of Melee ahead of him, starting off with a 17th place finish at Apex 2013. With improved performances overseas, one could only assume that his performance in Europe would be at its peak. Unfortunately for Leffen, he never really got the chance to find out. On February 9, 2013, Armada posted a thread to the Smashboards titled “Leffen is banned!” In it, Armada listed numerous reasons as to why Leffen was toxic to the Melee community, including claims that he had insulted people for their disabilities, and in general speaking out against his disrespectfulness. All of the evidence confirming Leffen’s heinous acts towards the community was linked in a file titled “evidence.zip.” As a result of Leffen’s unruly conduct, a group of smashers including Hax, Cactuar, Android, Beat, and many others (some of whom remained anonymous) decided it was in the community’s best interest to ban Leffen from all Swedish tournaments.
While Leffen published a formal apology on March 21, the ban would not be lifted until January 24, 2014. As a result, Leffen missed nearly a year of local competition. His tournament participation drastically dropped in 2013 as a result, with his only major placings after the ban being 9th at Evo 2013 and 2nd at a French tournament, hf.lan 6. Despite limited tournament participation, there’s no denying that all of his rankings were still impressive. As a result, he was still ranked 14th best in the world on the 2013 MIOM SSBM Rank. But Leffen, still seeking to be the best, would not be satisfied with 14th. As his ban was lifted at the beginning of 2014, Leffen would embark on his mission to become a truly top player. And the best way to reach the top would be to target the five greatest at the game.
Artwork of Leffen by Tom “Moxie2D” Skender, commemorating Leffen’s triumph over (at the time) four of the five gods.
Hit List
Leffen’s “reign of terror” began before his Swedish tournament ban had even been lifted at Apex 2014. There, he upset his first victim among the gods, Hungrybox, in Winner’s Quarters. He would go on to finish 4th at this tournament, boasting victories over DoH, Scar, Axe, and Colbol. Shortly after this, Leffen returned to Sweden for his first major in his home country since being banned: B.E.A.S.T. 4. Leffen proved that he intended to wreak havoc on his homeland; B.E.A.S.T. 4 became Leffen’s first 1st place finish at a major, and with that came a victory over his second victim, Armada, along with set wins against Mayhem, Fuzzyness, Android, Over, and Ice, among others. Next up was PPMD whom Leffen would defeat in pools at MLG Anaheim. Ironically enough, PPMD would later eliminate Leffen in the championship bracket, causing Leffen to finish in a still respectable 5th place. In the meantime, Leffen continued to achieve high tournament placings, such as 9th at Evo 2014 (with wins against OkamiBW and S2J) and 3rd at The Big House 4 (with wins against Duck, Shroomed, Hungrybox, and Armada). By the end of 2014, Leffen had accomplished tournament victories over three out of the five gods and had risen to 6th in the world on that year’s MIOM SSBM Rank. He had positioned himself just outside of the threshold of the gods. His goal for 2015 would be to break that barrier.
To start 2015, Leffen would continue his streak of dominance in Sweden at B.E.A.S.T. 5. There he achieved 1st place, conquering Mango in Winner’s Semis (leaving Mew2King as the only god he had yet to defeat), and earning victories against Eagle, Rocky, Zgetto, and Armada along the way. Throughout the year, Leffen continued his dominating performance with rankings including 3rd at both Paragon Orlando (where he beat Wizzrobe, MacD, and Axe) and Apex 2015 (where he beat aMSa, Mew2King, and Mango). Apex 2015 also brought with it a notorious Salty Suite match between Leffen and Chillindude, one of the longest standing Melee veterans. It seems Chillin didn’t appreciate Leffen’s attitude and wanted to teach him to “respect his elders.” Naturally, Chillin got 5-0’d by Leffen and, as per the conditions of the bet, lost the rights to use Fox’s default costume in tournament. When asked what he had to say immediately after his embarrassing loss, Chillin simply responded with “My B” (this would become a meme amongst fans of Leffen and Smash fans in general).
Around this time, Leffen received a sponsorship from Team Solo Mid. Many notable eSports teams such as Cloud 9, Team Liquid, and Evil Geniuses had begun to sponsor top Melee players like Mango, Hungrybox, and PPMD, respectively in mid-2014. Leffen’s new sponsorship proved how the eSports community was beginning to acknowledge him as truly one of the best in the game. While there were also some lackluster placings sprinkled throughout the first half of 2015, like 9th at Press Start where he was upset by SFAT in Winner’s Quarters and eliminated by Mango, Leffen remained unfazed. CEO 2015 marked not only his first ever 1st place finish at an American major, but the beginning of a streak of three consecutive 1st place finishes, his other two tournament victories being at FC Smash 15XR: Return (where he became the first person to ever four-stock Armada in tournament bracket) and WTFox.
Evo 2015 (which would become the Melee tourney with the greatest number of entrants to date) was right around the corner, and many considered Leffen a top pick to perform well, and possibly even take it all. However, Leffen was met with a somewhat disappointing 5th place, being eliminated by Plup, famously losing to Plup’s Samus. You’ll find that Leffen has a bit of trouble with the Samus match-up. Regardless, Leffen continued pushing his way to the top, and at his very next tournament, Super Smash Con, Leffen won 1st place and defeated Mew2King in two best of 5 sets, meanwhile achieving victories against DJ Nintendo, Cactuar, Nintendude, and Westballz. With all of that, he cemented his status as “the godslayer”, defeating each of the five gods in tournament sets and winning multiple US majors.
Leffen laughing as he prepares to crush Chillindude at the Apex 2015 Salty Suite. Photo Credits @tempusrob
Deportation
Despite Leffen’s recent surge to the top, the remainder of 2015 would hold its fair share of troubles for him. Following Super Smash Con, he would return to Europe for Heir II the Throne, making it somewhat of a sandbag tourney. Leffen tested his luck with secondaries such as Marth, Falco, and even Yoshi, achieving a mediocre fifth place, losing to Android and Eikelmann (both players Leffen would have been expected to beat had he gone Fox). While PAX Prime brought Leffen an impressive 2nd place, this included being 6-0’d by Mew2King in Grand Finals. Paragon Los Angeles brought a respectable, yet still underwhelming, 5th place for Leffen. As before, Leffen worked to overcome these lower placings, and went on to get 1st at HTC Throwdown in September of 2015, taking out the likes of S2J, Frootloop, Silent Wolf, and Hungrybox in the process. Unfortunately, this would be Leffen’s final major tournament in the United States for 2015.
Around this time, Leffen began to experience visa issues which resulted in him being sent back to Sweden while flying in to attend a U.S. tournament. Team Solo Mid got lawyers on the job trying to fix these problems, but in the meantime Leffen was unable to attend The Big House 5, Smash Summit, and Genesis 3. As of the time of this article being written, these visa issues have still yet to be resolved. With the MIOM SSBM Rank around the corner for the end of the year, a case could easily be made for Leffen being 2nd or 3rd in the world. In fact, with a clear ability to defeat other top players like Hungrybox, Armada, and Mango, a case could even be made for Leffen being #1 in the world. If he was to snag that 1st place ranking, he would have to prove himself in Europe for the end of the year. And he seemed to prove himself quite convincingly, earning 1st at The Call of the Ragnarok (where he also placed 13th playing Ultra Street Fighter IV), defeating Android and Kriz; and 2nd at Eclipse, defeating Flikkflakk, Android, Plup, and Axe.
His final test came at the final supermajor of the year, Sweden’s DreamHack Winter. Leffen walked in with confidence, taking to Twitter weeks beforehand saying, “I will win DreamHack.” And with another tournament came another chance for Leffen to be involved in some drama. Inspired by his loss to SFAT at Press Start and spurred on by Twitter beef between the two, Leffen and SFAT participated in a $1000 money match. Leffen 5-1’d SFAT (My B Part 2). A $1,000 money match challenge was also issued to Westballz, scheduled for Genesis 3, but since Leffen was unable to attend this money match has yet to happen. But as much as Leffen loved humiliating players less skilled than himself, his primary focus was the main tournament. His placing here could make or break him on the SSBM Rank. Leffen was unfortunate to play Westballz in Winner’s Quarters in the midst of one of Westballz’ best performances all year. Leffen was sent to loser’s bracket to face possibly the worst person he could have had to face: Duck. Now there’s no doubt that Leffen is an overall better player than Duck. But Duck mains Samus, and as mentioned earlier, Leffen doesn’t handle the Samus match-up well. Leffen finished the tournament at a very underwhelming 9th place. When the 2015 MIOM SSBM Rank rolled around, Leffen was ranked 3rd in the world, barely lower than Hungrybox. There’s no doubt that 3rd is a remarkable achievement, forcing one of the five gods out of the Top 5. But still, it’s certain that Leffen’s sights are set on 1st for 2016.
Leffen struggling against Duck in Loser’s Round 8 of DreamHack Winter.
The Man We Love to Hate
One of the reasons Leffen has become the focus of so much disdain is in part because he is by no means a people-pleaser. Leffen is genuine in all that he says and does, and while his truthfulness isn’t always pleasant to hear, it’s truthfulness nonetheless. Leffen has even said that he likes his image as the villain of Smash. Perhaps it’s all just a character he puts on for our amusement. Or maybe he really is a huge jerk. It’s hard to say. But one can’t deny, he’s made friends in the Smash community, including Armada, who was at one time one of his most outspoken opposers. However, Leffen has made it clear that he hasn’t involved himself in the Smash community just to make friends. He wants to be the best in the world, not only at Melee, but at fighting games in general. And as one of the few people in the world who can truly challenge Armada, it seems becoming the best at Melee isn’t too far off for him. Only 21 years old, Leffen has a lifetime ahead of him to perfect every single game he gets his hands on. So whether you find Leffen in your pool in a Melee tournament or face him unexpectedly in some other fighting game, always heed this rule: be wary of facing Leffen.
Great article! Just thought I’d mention that Leffen beat Mew2King in a Bo5 at Press Start and WTFox before SSC…and it’s pretty commonly accepted that Leffen joined the gods in the Big 6 at Apex 2015, becoming the “godslayer” long before SSC.
I feel like a lot of people like to write off a shitload of what Leffen has said as ‘truthfulness’. You hear this a LOT from politicians who pride themselves on their poor image because ‘if people hate you, you’re doing something right’. They revel in the fact they truly believe they’re saying just the cold hard truth.
Hungrybox tells the truth. Nobody will deny, and people will say this, if you walk up to him at a tourny and he’s concentrating he’ll tell you to walk off. He tells the ‘truth’ when you play him and on Twitter and everywhere else, and people still like him.
There’s telling the truth, and there’s being a rude asshole about everything you do. It’s not hard to see any of the top 5 on twitch. Ask them about a very easy thing; Marths chaingrabbing, and how to do it. Most of them will basically tell you to look it up, some MAY demonstrate it, but they’ll say you need to look it up and practice. Leffen will go off about not spoonfeeding, shit on some stupid viewers for a few minutes, and just fuck off and do whatever he does.
Nobody owes them anything; on the same ticket, they don’t owe us shit either. But they are making a living off of what they do, meaning it almost is their job to have a half decent presentation. You can do it the way any of the other top 10 do it, or you can do it the way Leffen does it. People like worse players than Leffen, and consequently, worse playing and placing smashers make as much or similar amounts to Leffen streaming and so on. That tells you enough, really.
Other than that. Leffen HAS improved on everything, so I can’t lie about that. He’s made strides to stop shittalking on Twitter, he comes out into local streams and jokes around with people (even if people insult him; which they do, and he takes it with very good humour) and generally you hear a lot less about his conduct at tournies. So that’s all very good. I hope he holds on all that, because there’s no reason he can’t do all that and still be just as good as he is at Melee.
Didn’t mean to rag on him and bring up old stuff, but I brought it up in the context of ‘he’s disliked because he says the truth’ which is a garbage cop out for his old behaviour and not at all a reflection of what happened. In the last months though, different story. It’s like Leffen is a different guy. Look forward to seeing him at more tournaments in the US. Overall, I wish Leffen the best. Good luck to him.