MkLeo departs from T1 after three-year tenure

Esports organization T1 announced Thursday that it has parted ways with professional Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player Leonardo “MkLeo” López Pérez. As a result, the organization no longer fields a Super Smash Bros. roster.

“It’s been a pleasure to be part of this awesome family, sadly, nothing is forever, wish t1 and every staff the best!” MkLeo tweeted shortly after T1’s announcement.

It’s been a pleasure to be part of this awesome family, sadly, nothing is forever, wish t1 and every staff the best!

I am now a free agent…

Business Emails:
[email protected]
[email protected] https://t.co/oC5n4Gnulp

— LG | MkLeo (@Mkleosb) February 23, 2023

Before joining T1, MkLeo was a member of Echo Fox. Though the organization became defunct in November of 2019, MkLeo did not announce his free agency until February of 2020. Within one week, he had joined T1.

T1’s Smash roster previously included Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland, who departed shortly before MkLeo joined, and Jason “ANTi” Bates, who was dropped following sexual misconduct allegations in July of 2020. The organization also previously sponsored Park “Sejun” Se-jun, a Korean Ultimate player who is better-known as a professional Pokémon player.

More about MkLeo and T1

Before his tenure with T1, MkLeo rose to prominence as a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player. He had his breakout as a 14-year-old in 2015 when he defeated Ramin “Mr.R” Delshad, then ranked top five in the world, to win Smash Factor 4 in his home country of Mexico.

MkLeo began to compete internationally in 2016 and was eventually ranked No. 1 on the PGR v5. This made him the only Smash 4 player other than Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios to ever finish first on a global ranking. As a result, MkLeo ended up as No. 3 on the PGR 100, a ranking of the best players in Smash 4’s entire lifespan.

Since the launch of Smash Ultimate, MkLeo has been the undisputed best player in the world every single season. He is single-handedly responsible for making T1 and Echo Fox the top two winningest teams in Ultimate history.

Friendly reminder to any orgs that may be interested in @Mkleosb that Leo single-handedly made Echo Fox the winningest org in Ultimate…then single-handedly beat that and made T1 the winningest org in Ultimate…and no other org has caught up to EF despite disbanding in 2019… https://t.co/QG7nbNqZaM

— Andrew Nestico (@PracticalTAS) February 24, 2023

Even after his weakest season in recent memory, MkLeo still ended last year at the top of the UltRank 2022. His most impressive achievement last season was winning the most stacked Ultimate tournament of all time, the Ludwig Smash Invitational. In the process, he went 6-0 in games against the No. 2 player in the world, Mashita “acola” Hayato.

MkLeo already has a major win under his belt this year, as he became a five-time Genesis champion at Genesis 9 in January. Even without T1, MkLeo will undoubtedly aim to maintain his status as the greatest Ultimate player of all time going forward.