MkLeo & Wizzrobe Conquer Smash Ultimate & Melee At Smash'N'Splash 5
By TJ Denzer ·
Smash'N'Splash 5 saw a great deal of amazing Smash Bros play. Wizzrobe conquered a god in Melee while Echo Fox's MKLeo proved himself on a tier of his own in Smash Ultimate.
Smash’N’Splash 5 saw a number of awesome competitions this last weekend in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. At the 'Waterpark Capital of the World', players competed in Splatoon 2, ARMS, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and further tournaments. Even so, it was Super Smash Bros that set the stage on fire during SNS 5 as unsigned player Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett and Echo Fox’s Leonardo “MKLeo” Perez conquered Smash Melee and Ultimate respectively.
Conquering A Stacked Melee Bracket
Over in Melee Singles at Smash’N’Splash 5, Wizzrobe rose to an enormous challenge. His journey to the Grand Finals included notable Smash Melee champion Leffen of Team SoloMid. He took his match against Leffen 3-1 and then went on to take out aMSa of VGBootCamp. The skill he brought to this tournament caught eyes and turned heads, with even Echo Fox Melee God Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman giving major accolade to the unsigned phenom.
YES, so good, @Wizzrobe beat Leffen in Melee 3-1, after beating tweek earlier today. He's new age mew2king. New2king
— FOX | Jason Zimmerman (@MVG_Mew2King) June 2, 2019
In the Grand Finals, he faced Team Liquid’s Melee God Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma. With Wizzrobe’s Captain Falcon against H-Box’s legendary Jigglypuff, it was a tense match to watch. Hungrybox is known for his incredible timing and patience, but Wizzrobe managed to find openings at every turn.
“It’s crazy to see someone out-patience H-box,” the casters Brandon "HMW" Collier and Robert "Wobbles" Wright said of Wizzrobe. “The only person who would have been able to do that before was Armada.”
However, that patience paid off. Wizzrobe put down a Melee God to capture the Grand Finals finish in a way that even had H-box recognizing the force he’d just come up against.
“I haven’t felt that lost in a match in years,” the seasoned veteran claimed. "Melee never fails to surprise."
The entirety of Wizzrobe and Hungrybox’s epic Grand Finals set can be seen below. Wizzrobe may be unsigned now, but with the show he put on at Smash’N’Splash 5, he deserves a place among the pros of the Smash pantheon.
MKLeo’s S+ Tier Ultimate Play
Over on the Ultimate stage, the spotlight belonged unequivocally to Echo Fox's MKLeo. In a past interview with Mew2King on Twin Galaxies, he spoke extremely highly of Leo, calling him “clearly the best” player in Smash Ultimate. At Smash’N’Play 5, we got a proper demonstration of what M2K meant.
With Joker having launched as the latest DLC in Smash Ultimate, the debate has been on as to where he falls in tier lists. If MKLeo had anything to say about it, Joker is a terrifying force to be reckoned with - or was it simply MKLeo who was the force? After landing a rough 33rd place at the Umebura Japan Major 2019, Leo came back to North America with renewed vigor and went on a tear, landing 4th at Get On My Level 2019 and 1st at Momocon. At SNS 5, he brought a powerful Joker strategy and cut his way through competition. Multiple players observed Leo as playing on another level, such as Panda Global’s Brian “Cosmos” Kalu.
Leo definitely figured out something about Ultimate that no one else has
— PG Cosmos (@CosmosZR) June 3, 2019
Casters Hungrybox, Mychal “Trihex” Jefferson of Tempo Storm, and Zak “Coney” Zeeks of Panda Global also noted Leo’s seeming understanding of Joker in a way few others had caught on yet.
“Nobody really utilizes [Joker’s] gun quite like MKLeo does,” they claimed during one of Leo’s matches. “The thing is he breaks the gun with the way he uses it in disadvantaged or advantaged states.”
Indeed, MKLeo seemed to always be five steps ahead of his opponents and it culminated in a dominate 3-0 sweep vs eUnited’s Ezra “Samsora” Morris in the Grand Finals. MKLeo is a player that can be stopped, but the more he learns about the characters he plays with and against in Ultimate, the more exponentially difficult the prospect of stopping him becomes. See for yourself in the dominate Grand Finals Smash Ultimate match he played vs Samsora below.
Smash’N’Splash 5 showed us new levels in both the fresh Ultimate and the classic Melee. Wizzrobe and MKLeo earned their victories with astounding gusto and put on clinics every Smash Bros fan really needs to see.
Even so, there was plenty more to see out of the entire weekends events between Smash Doubles competition, Splatoon 2, and other tournaments. Be sure to check out the full thread of channels that hosted events via the Smash N Splash Twitter channel.