Leonardo López Pérez (born January 20, 2001),[1] better known as MkLeo and sometimes Leo, is a Mexican professional Super Smash Bros. player. He is widely considered the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player in the world,[2] and is number one in the Panda Global Rankings for the first and second half of 2019. Prior to the release of Ultimate, he was ranked as the best player in the world at Super Smash Bros. for Wii U for the first half of 2018.
Between Wii U and Ultimate, MkLeo has won approximately 35 major tournaments. These include the Ultimate bracket at Evo 2019, the largest offline tournament by number of entrants in the Smash franchise's history, and the inaugural Smash World Tour in 2021, a year-long worldwide tournament series. From May 2019 until March 2022, MkLeo did not place lower than 2nd at any offline Ultimate events, 35 straight tournaments.
His main character in Wii U was Marth, while Ultimate he has variously used Byleth, Joker, Pyra and Mythra, and Corrin. He is currently sponsored by South Korean esports organization T1.
MkLeo won his first Smash Bros. tournament at the age of eight when he took first place at the Super Smash Bros. Brawl competition at Anime Expo Mexico TNT 2009.[3][4] At 14, he rose to prominence in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U after defeating Ramin "Mr. R" Delshad to win Smash Factor 4, right after Delshad took 2nd place at Evo 2015.[5] He began competing internationally in 2016, culminating with a win at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga in December. At that event, he defeated several of the game's prominent players, including Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, Larry "Larry Lurr" Holland, and James "Void" Makekau-Tyson.[6][7] Following the win at 2GGT, MkLeo was jointly signed by Echo Fox – who signed him and six other fighting game players at the same time to build the largest roster of fighting game players in esports – and Most Valuable Gaming.[7][8]
MkLeo, who was not able to obtain a travel visa to attend Genesis 3 at the start of 2016, announced after his win at 2GGT that he would go on to win Genesis 4, which was to be held the next month.[7] At Genesis 4, he again finished in 1st place, defeating Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce, who had won the Smash tournament at Evo 2016. He was the youngest player to make the top 8 in the tournament series' history. Playing alongside Ally, the pair also won the tournament's doubles competition.[9] MkLeo had mixed results throughout the rest of 2017, with disappointing results including taking 13th place at Frostbite 2017 in February,[10] and 65th place at Evo 2017 in July.[2] However, he won GameTyrant Expo 2017 at the start of October,[11] and took second place at CEO 2017, falling to ZeRo.[12] At the end of the year, MkLeo won the 2GGC Championship, this time defeating ZeRo in the finals, and claimed the tournament's $20,000 first place payout.[13]
In January 2018, ZeRo announced his retirement from professional Smash competition. As ZeRo had long been considered the best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player in the world, this created an opening for MkLeo to seize the top spot.[2][14] He put together a string of impressive performances over the year, including wins at Genesis 5,[15] Evo Japan 2018,[16] CEO 2018,[17] Get On My Level 2018,[18] and SwitchFest 2018.[19] MkLeo was unable to attend Evo 2018 due to Chickenpox,[2] but was able to attend Super Smash Con 2018 shortly thereafter, where he claimed another 1st-place finish.[20] These wins resulted in MkLeo taking the top spot in the final bi-annual Panda Global rankings of Wii U players before the release of Ultimate.[21]