Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez won Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Singles at Frostbite 2020 in Detroit, Michigan on Feb. 23. This event continued MkLeo’s streak of reaching Grand Finals at every tournament he has entered since GOML in May 2019.
MkLeo dropped into the losers bracket incredibly early, suffering a shocking 0-3 loss to Pedro “Prodigy” Alonso. However, MkLeo proved himself capable of pulling off one of the greatest losers run in Smash Ultimate to date. He started by defeating Saleem “Salem” Young, Rasheen “Dark Wizzy” Rose, Ezra Samsora Morris, and Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada. It took all of these wins just for MkLeo to qualify for top 8.
MkLeo stayed resilient throughout top 8, beating Sota “Zackray” Okada 3-2 and Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby 3-0. He reached Grand Finals after winning another pair of five-game sets over Takuma “Tea” Hirooka and Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey.
In Grand Finals, MkLeo faced fellow Mexican competitor Enrique “Maister” Hernández Solís. This was a good draw for MkLeo, considering Maister has never taken a set from him. MkLeo maintained his dominant record against Maister at Frostbite 2020, beating him 6-0 between both sets of Grand Finals. MkLeo even brought out Byleth, Smash Ultimate‘s newest DLC fighter, for the final game of Grand Finals.
Notable appearances in top 8
Maister placed 2nd at Frostbite 2020, marking his best performance at a supermajor to date. To reach top 16, he had to beat the likes of Tomoki “kept” Ikeda, Matt “MattyG” Ganshirt, and Dark Wizzy. Maister then defeated Toriano “Toast” Warren, Dabuz, and Tweek before falling to MkLeo in Grand Finals.
Carrington “Wrath” Osborne scored a plethora of wins on his path to 5th place. Impressively, he earned 3-0 victories over William “Glutonny” Belaid, Yutaro “Paseriman” Nagumo, MattyG, and Toast. In addition, Wrath won a five-game set against Takuto “Kameme” Ono. All the while, Wrath only dropped sets to 4th-place finisher Tea.
Though he boasts a steady string of strong performances, one could view Frostbite 2020 as the breakout tournament for Toast. He defeated Raffi “Raffi-X” Azar, Kameme, Samsora, and Paris “Light” Ramirez en route to 7th place. Notably, Toast has not placed lower than 17th at any of the major tournaments he has attended this year.
Other results from Frostbite 2020
Despite being in the Fall 2019 PGRU‘s top 30, Yuta “Nietono” Uejima was seeded quite low at Frostbite 2020. However, Nietono proved any naysayers wrong with his impressive run to 9th place. Along the way, he defeated Brian “Cosmos” Kalu, Seisuke “Kome” Komeda, and Prodigy.
Paseriman has been on a tear this season. Before this tournament, he already boasted placements like 1st at Sumabato SP 11 and 4th at EVO Japan 2020. He once again proved his skill at this event, placing 9th at his first American Smash Ultimate major. Along the way, he beat Andrew “ScAtt” Huntley, Justin “Roxas” Rodriguez, and Tyler “Marss” Martins without dropping any games.
MattyG’s run to 13th at Frostbite 2020 was perhaps his best performance yet in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He reached top 32 by defeating Jestise “MVD” Negron, Nicholas “Ned” Dovel, and Ishiguro “Raito” Tetsuya. MattyG also defeated Grayson Ramos and Prodigy. Notably, Grayson had a solid run himself before falling to MattyG for 25th place. Grayson took sets off of Eric “Mr. E” Weber, Gakuto “Gackt” Ito, and Jonathan “JW” Woldu.
