Introduction
Leonardo Lopez Perez (born January 20, 2001), also known by his gamertag MkLeo, is a Mexican professional Super Smash Bros. player. He is widely considered the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player in the world, being ranked first by the e-sports brand Panda Global; he was formerly ranked 1st in the world for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U after ZeRo's retirement. His main character in Ultimate is Joker while his main characters in Wii U were Cloud Strife and Marth. He is also known for winning EVO 2019, the largest Smash Bros. tournament (by number of entrants) of all time.
Life and career
2001-2018: Early life and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
MkLeo won his first Smash Bros. Tournament at the age of 8 when he won Super Smash Bros. Brawl at Anime Expo Mexico TNT 2009He initially rose to prominence in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U after defeating Ramin "Mr.R" Delshad at Smash Factor 4, right after Delshad had finished 2nd at Evo 2015. He would attend his first international tournament at Get on My Level 2016 in Canada where he finished in 5th place, losing to Elliot "Ally" Carroza and Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios. MkLeo's first tournament in the United States was KTAR XIX where he finished 3rd losing to ZeRo and Saleem "Salem" Young.
At 2GGT:ZeRo Saga, MkLeo would be sent to losers bracket early by James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson. He came back to win the tournament from losers bracket however, defeating Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby, Jason "ANTi" Bates, Ally, ZeRo, VoiD, and Larry "Larry Lurr" Holland along the way. He would be signed by Echo Fox shortly after that on January 4th, 2017
At Genesis 4, MkLeo again finished in 1st place, defeating Matt "Elegant" Fizpatrick, Rei, "Komorikiri" Furukuwa, Mr.R, and Ally along the way. However his next major tournament appearances at Frostbite 2017 and 2GGC:Civil War would result in disappointing 13th and 65th place finishes respectively. At CEO 2017 he would lose to Larry Lurr but rally in losers bracket defeating Dabuz, Salem, Kengo "KEN" Suzuki, Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada, and Larry Lurr before falling to ZeRo in Grand Finals, finishing in 2nd place. At Evo 2017 MkLeo would have another disappointing 65th place finish losing to Corey "False" Shin and Antony "MuteAce" Hoo.
GameTyrant Expo 2017 would find MkLeo regain his form. Although he lost to Elegant in Winner's Finals he would defeat ZeRo in Loser's Finals (his first victory against him since 2GGT: ZeRo Saga) and double eliminate Elegant to claim 1st place. He would follow this up with another 1st place finish at the 2GG Championship defeating ZeRo to earn $20,000, the largest ever prize for a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament.
2018 saw MkLeo poised to take the #1 spot on the PGR left open due to ZeRo's retirement. He would start the year off with another 1st place finish at Genesis 5, defeating Dabuz, Salem, and Tamim "Mistake" Omary en route to the title. He would then go on to win Evo Japan 2018 defeating Yuta "Abadango " Kawamura to take 1st. He would also be one of the invited players at the Super Smash Bros Invitational for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018 finishing 2nd out of 8 entrants behind ZeRo. At 2GG: Hyrule Saga MkLeo would finish 7th getting upset by King Dedede player "ZAKI" in winners and by Bayonetta player Zack "CaptainZack" Lauth in losers. In the final tournament of the season at CEO 2018, MkLeo would solidify his #1 ranking by defeating Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey in Grand Finals to claim 1st place.
MkLeo was unable to attend Evo 2018 due to Chickenpox but was able to attend Super Smash Con 2018 shortly thereafter, where he defeated Ezra "Samsora" Morris to claim another 1st place finish. His final Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was Shine 2018 where he would be upset by Sonic the Hedgehog player Jude "Jakal" Harris and Tweek to finish in 5th place. The PGR 100, which listed the Top 100 Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players from its release until the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate placed MkLeo in 3rd behind ZeRo in 1st and Nairo in 2nd.
2018-:Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Genesis 6, one of the first major Ultimate tournaments, saw MkLeo finish in 1st, despite losing to Samsora in Winner's Bracket, he would defeat Paris "Light" Ramirez, Dabuz, Samsora, and VoiD to capture his 3rd Genesis title. At the next major tournament, Frostbite 2019, MkLeo would defeat David "UtopianRay" Estrada, Nairo, and Robert "Myran" Herrin to face off against Tweek, who double eliminated MkLeo to win the tournament. MkLeo would then go on to win Smash Ultimate Summit before under-performing at Pound 2019 and 2GG:Prime Saga finishing 7th at both of them.
After finishing 33rd at Umebura Japan 2019, MkLeo would start to regain his consistency. He finished 4th at Get on My Level 2019, and 1st at MomoCon 2019, Smash 'N' Splash 5, and CEO 2019 en route to being ranked 1st in the World on the first Ultimate PGR. He would go on to lose Smash Factor 8 in his home country of Mexico to Tyler "Marss" Martins. The next weekend saw the largest Smash Bros. tournament of all time (by number of entrants) in Evo 2019. MkLeo would be sent to losers bracket early by Takuto "Kameme" Ono but would go on to have a long losers run defeating Enrique "Maister" Hernandez Solís, Andrew "ScAtt" Huntley, Abadango, Sota "Zackray" Okada, Ishiguro "Raito" Tetsuya, Samsora, and William "Glutonny" Belaid to qualify for Grand Finals against Tweek. Though Tweek would take the first two games, MkLeo would go on to take the next six to get 1st place and win $21,204 (the largest ever prize for a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament). The next weekend would see MkLeo win the 2nd largest Smash Bros. tournament of all time, where he defeated Samsora in Grand Finals to win Super Smash Con 2019. In October, he became one of 16 players to join Smash Ultimate Summit 2 along with players such as Samsora, Tweek, Nairo, Dabuz, and VoiD. He got 1st place in this event as well.