Leffen

Leffen
William Peter Hjelte

Leffen facing off against Joseph "Mang0" Marquez in winners semi's of Apex 2015
Status Active
Born (1994-10-16) 16 October 1994
Hometown Stockholm
Nationality Swedish
Current team Team SoloMid, Red Bull
Games Super Smash Bros. Melee
Project M
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Career prize money $79,488.55[1]
Championships B.E.A.S.T 5
Get On My Level 2016, HTC Throwdown
CEO 2015
FC Smash 15XR: Return
WTFox
Super Smash Con
Don't Park on the Grass
Nickname(s) L3ff3n
Leffen
Professional career
2016-present Red Bull
2015-present Team SoloMid

William Peter Hjelte (born 16 October 1994), better known as Leffen, is a Swedish professional gamer who competes in Super Smash Bros. Melee. A Fox main, he is considered one of the top six players in the world, along with Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney.[2] After beating Zimmerman at Apex 2015, Hjelte became the only player to have beaten each of the aforementioned players — known as the "Five Gods" — in a tournament set. He was also the first person outside the "Five Gods" to win a major tournament since 2010 when he did so in 2015.[3] Hjelte was ranked sixth in the world in 2014, third in 2015 and fifth in 2016.[4] He is sponsored by Team SoloMid and Red Bull.

Career

Hjelte started playing Super Smash Bros. in 2009, when he was introduced to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He initially started as a Yoshi and Falco player before switching to Fox.[5] Leffen feels that he made the gradual switch from Falco to Fox because he views Falco as requiring more discipline and Fox being more suited to his play style.[5]

He placed 9th in the Swedish national tournament B.E.A.S.T 2 within his first year of playing Melee.[6] Throughout 2014 Leffen began placing highly in tournaments and defeating the top five Melee players regularly. Prior to EVO 2014, Joe Cribari of Nintendo Enthusiast listed Leffen among the three "underdogs" with the greatest chance to win the tournament.[7] He finished 9-12th at EVO 2014.

In VGBootCamp's Apex 2015 Salty Suite, Hjelte defeated Kashan "Chillin" Khan in a first-to-five set without dropping a single game.[8] Because of this, Hjelte has the "rights" to use Fox's default color.[9][10] Joseph "Mango" Marquez subsequently challenged Hjelte to a US$1,000 money match if they were to face-off in the Apex Singles bracket. Hjelte would in turn beat Mango when they played in Winners' Semifinals.[10] After defeating Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman at Apex 2015 in singles bracket, Hjelte has taken at least one set off each of the "five gods" of Melee. Hjelte ultimately finished third in Apex 2015 Melee singles.[11]

On 9 March, Hjelte was signed by Team SoloMid as its first player on their Super Smash Bros. division, as well as their first fighting game player.[12] In the aftermath of his Apex 2015, Leffen is now viewed as being on par with the Melee gods.[5] The melee community often debates Leffen's exact title with regards to the Melee gods. Some say that due to his ability to beat all of the gods he is officially considered one of the gods, while others state that the term Melee God refers to players who were dominant for a period of time from 2008-2014 and that Leffen instead fits the title of Godslayer better. It is due to this division in the melee community that most analysts and commentators refer to the Melee Gods and Leffen as the Big Six, with Leffen being the person who officially ended the era of the gods. At CEO 2015 in Orlando, Florida, Leffen won his first American major, defeating Armada. He placed 5th at EVO 2015 later that year, despite being a favorite to win. He was upset by Panda Gaming's Justin "Plup" McGrath who played Samus.[13] Melee it on Me ranked Leffen as the 2nd best player in the world in their summer 2015 mid-season rankings.[14] Leffen was barred from entering the United States just before The Big House 5 tournament because he was travelling on a Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and employed by US-based Team SoloMid.[15]

On 16 February 2016 Leffen became sponsored by Red Bull as an official Red Bull Athlete.[16]

On 29 April 2016 Leffen announced that his Form I-129 petition to obtain a visa had been denied by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.[17] On 4 May 2016 it was initially announced that Team SoloMid was able to secure a P1 Visa for Leffen so he can be able to attend US-based tournaments throughout July which includes EVO 2016. TSM is working on extending this visa for the long term. [18] However, 14 July Leffen announced that he had run into additional delays in the visa approval process and would miss EVO.[19] Finally, on 3 October, Leffen's visa was approved, allowing him to compete in US-based tournaments again, in time for The Big House 6, a year after his deportation.[20]

Other games

Hjelte has competed in fighting games including Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and The King of Fighters XIII. In an interview with EventHubs prior to Apex 2015, he suggested he might play Guilty Gear Xrd on his Twitch stream after Apex 2015 concluded.[21]

Personal life

Hjelte is Korean-Swedish, his father was adopted from South Korea and his mother is Swedish.[22] Despite this, Hjelte says his family does not regularly follow Korean cultural traditions.[22]

Leffen has stated his goal is not to just be the best Super Smash Bros player, but the best fighting game player.[23]

Controversy

Leffen is a controversial figure in the Super Smash Bros. community, where he has been called a "villain" due to acts of bad sportsmanship, including insults targeting other players and online forum posts inciting drama.[2][24][25] He was banned from attending tournaments in Sweden and from SmashBoards for much of 2013 because of these reasons.[2] The accusations against Leffen were contained in a Zip file called "evidence.zip".[26]

Notable tournament placings

Melee

Tournament[27]Date1v1 Placement2v2 PlacementPartner
B.E.A.S.T 7–9 January 20119th13thAJP
GENESIS 2 15–17 July 201117th13thAJP
B.E.A.S.T II 10–14 August 20114th5thAJP
Apex 2012 6–8 January 201233rd25thZoler
Epita Smash Arena 5 20–23 April 20125th2ndFuzzyness
Smashers' Reunion: Melee Grande 13–15 July 20123rd2ndDr. PeePee
King Funk's Castle II: Måske 4–7 October 20123rd2ndIce
Apex 2013 11–13 January 201317th5thIce
EVO 2013 12–14 July 20139th5thIce
Apex 2014 17–19 January 20144th9thDr. PeePee
B.E.A.S.T 4 12–16 February 20141st2ndIce
Republic of Fighters 3 17–18 May 20141st2ndFuzzyness
MLG Anaheim 2014 20–22 June 20145th5thHax
EVO 2014 11–13 July 20149th3rdIce
COMEBACK I 1–3 August 20142nd1stBeat
Hit & Stun Tournament 2 6–7 September 20143rd2ndIce
The Big House 4 4–5 October 20143rd3rdHax
DrommeLAN 4.0 7–9 November 20142nd2ndIce
B.E.A.S.T 5 9–11 January 20151st2ndIce
Paragon 2015 17–18 January 20153rd3rdMacD
Apex 201530 January – 1 February 20153rd3rdIce
I'm Not Yelling 11–12 April 20153rd1stMacD
Press Start 9–10 May 20159th2ndMacD
CEO 2015 26–28 June 20151st2ndHungryBox
FC Smash 15XR: Return 4–5 July 20151st——
WTFox 10–11 July 20151st2ndMango
EVO 2015 17–19 July 20155th——
Super Smash Con 6–9 August 20151st1stMacD
PAX Prime 2015 28–30 August 20152nd1stMacD
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 5–6 September 20155th——
HTC Throwdown 20159 September 20151st——
Eclipse 14–15 November 20152nd2ndIce
DreamHack Winter 2015 26–28 November 20159th5thIce
The Come Up 2016 23 April 20161st——
Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo 29 April – 1 May 20167th2ndHungrybox
Get On My Level 2016 20–22 May 20161st3rdHungrybox
DreamHack Summer 2016 18–19 June 20161st——
The Big House 6 7–9 October 201617th——
Smash Summit 3 3–6 November 20169th3rdMafia
UGC Open 2-4 December 2016 4th[28] 2nd[29] Ice[29]
Don't Park on the Grass 17-18 December 20161st4thIce
GENESIS 4 20-22 January 2017 5th 2nd Ice

Project M

TournamentDate1v1 Placement2v2 PlacementPartner
King Funk's Castle II: Måske 4–7 October 20122nd1stFuzzyness
Apex 2014 17–19 January 20149th——
B.E.A.S.T 4 12–16 February 20143rd——
COMEBACK I 1–3 August 20142nd——
Hit & Stun Tournament 2 6–7 September 20142nd——
The Big House 4 4–5 October 201433rd——
DrommeLAN 4.0 7–9 November 20142nd——
B.E.A.S.T 5 9–11 January 20154th——

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS

TournamentDate1v1 placement2v2 placementPartner
DrommeLAN 4.0 7–9 November 20141st——

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

TournamentDate1v1 placement2v2 placementPartner
B.E.A.S.T 5 9–11 January 20153rd——

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

TournamentDatePlacement
Republic of Fighters 319 May 20147th

Ultra Street Fighter IV

TournamentDatePlacement
The Call of Ragnarok 25–26 September 201513th

References

  1. ↑ "Leffen - William Hjelte - Smash Player Profile :: e-Sports Earnings". esportsearnings.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  2. 1 2 3 Hernandez, Patricia (2 February 2015). "One Of The Best Smash Bros. Matches In History Went Down Last Night". Kotaku. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ultimate SSBM Rank". 25 November 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Lee, Daniel (18 December 2014). "Melee It On Me - SSBM Rank 2014 (6)". Melee It On Me. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Womack, Barrett (24 March 2015). "Friendlies: TSM Leffen, Smash's Loveable Villain". Red Bull. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Juggleguy (3 January 2012). "Melee in 2011: Year in Review". SmashBoards. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Cribari, Joe (10 July 2014). "Who Will Be Crowned Greatest Smash Player Alive at EVO 2014? "5 Gods" vs "3 Underdogs"". Nintendo Enthusiast. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  8. ↑ VGBC's Salty Suite - Chillindude (Fox) Vs. Liquid Chillin (Fox) SSBM - Super Smash Bros. Melee (YouTube) (Livestream). VGBootCamp. 4 February 2015. Event occurs at 4:37. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Guerrero, John "Velociraptor" (1 February 2015). "Leffen and Chillin settle their Super Smash grudge in one of the most disrespectful first to five sets ever". EventHubs. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  10. 1 2 "$1,000 and America's pride on the line as Mango plays Leffen in winners semi finals at Apex 2015".
  11. ↑ Martin, Michael (2 February 2015). "Apex 2015 Fighting Game Tournament Roundup". IGN. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Walker, Ian "Iantothemax". "Team SoloMid Signs William "Leffen" Hjelte". Shoryuken. Shoryuken. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  13. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (20 July 2015). "Evo 2015: 12 great fights you shouldn't miss". Polygon. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  14. ↑ Demers, Matt (1 October 2015). "Leffen denied entry to USA for Smash tournament". TheScore eSports. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Demers, Matt (1 October 2015). "Leffen denied entry to USA for Smash tournament". Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  16. ↑ Womack, Barrett (16 February 2016). "How Leffen Will Take Over the World". Red Bull eSports.
  17. ↑ Tamburroby, Paul (29 April 2016). "ESPORTS PLAYER DENIED VISA AS “SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE IS NOT A LEGITIMATE SPORT”". CraveOnline. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  18. ↑ "Leffen Visa Update". Team SoloMid. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "Leffen to miss Evo, will not play or stream Melee until visa issues are resolved". 14 July 2016.
  20. ↑ "Leffen's Visa Approved". Shoyruken. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  21. ↑ Taylor, Nicholas "MajinTenshinhan" (29 January 2015). "4 of the 5 Smash gods fell to his confidence and lack of fear - Leffen talks Apex, Smash 4, his mindset, Guilty Gear Xrd and more". EventHubs.
  22. 1 2 Shin, Jung (2 November 2014). "Interview with Leffen, Part 1". GGNOREAD. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  23. ↑ Hjelte, William. "Meet TSM Leffen". Youtube. Retrieved 24 April 2015. Event occurs at 3:09
  24. ↑ Patricia Hernandez (24 April 2015). "Meet the 'Villain' of Super Smash Bros.". Kotaku blog. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  25. ↑ Lee, Daniel (27 January 2015). "Evidence.zip". Melee It On Me. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  26. ↑ Khan, Imad (10 March 2015). "Team SoloMid enters Smash Bros with Leffen pickup". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  27. ↑ "Melee". SmashBoards. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  28. ↑ "UGC Smash Open". smash.gg. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  29. 1 2 "UGC Smash Open". smash.gg. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
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