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Smash Bros champion MkLeo signs with T1

MkLeo will be joining fellow Super Smash Bros player ANTi on the T1 esports roster as T1 aims to expand its North American presence.

TJ Denzer

February 26, 2020 6:35 PM

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Leonardo "MkLeo" Perez is a household name in Super Smash Bros competition. He was also on the market following the collapse of Echo Fox, but it would appear that free agent status is short-lived. In an effort to boost their North American presence, South Korean esports organization T1 (formerly SK Telecom T1) has officially signed MkLeo to the organization where he will create content and represent T1 in tournaments going forward.

T1 announced the signing of MkLeo on the organization’s Twitter account on February 26, 2020, quickly confirmed by MkLeo himself. Leo joins fellow player Jason "ANTi" Bates as both North American and Smash representatives of the T1 organization, which has been known for its League of Legends team featuring Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. Leo’s big pickup by T1 follows his exit from Echo Fox following the disbanding of the latter organization in 2019. Fellow Echo Fox star Dominique “SonicFox” McLean also announced their formal exit from the Echo Fox brand earlier today, though they have only teased an announcement for what’s next in their career coming soon as of this writing.

It's no Joke-r. T1 is officially welcoming @Mkleosb to our Smash roster!
We’re proud to strengthen our North American presence and continue our winning legacy with this superstar on our side! #T1WIN #T1Fighting pic.twitter.com/GdaZFPWXbs

— T1 (@T1) February 27, 2020

MkLeo is the player to beat in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. He just is. Where he had always been a force of nature in the game before, his adaptation to the Joker character from Persona 5 has led to tournament win after tournament win, as recently as the Smash Ultimate major Frostbite 2020 where he handily defeated Enrique “Maister” Hernandez’s stellar Mr. Game & Watch, even busting out new Smash Ultimate character Byleth in the last round as he sealed the deal.

Leo is arguably making a name for himself as a comeback king as well with both his Frostbite 2020 and Evo 2019 appearances resulting in him fighting his way through to the Grand Finals from losers side (most Smash tournaments are double elimination, meaning losing once puts one in losers side and losing twice means elimination from the tournament), not to mention performing incredible reverse sweeps from being down 2-0 in losses versus opponents like Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey at Evo 2019.

Any organization would be lucky to have MkLeo on their roster at this point. T1 is lucky to have him and we’re certain we’ll continue to see more wins added to Leo’s name as he begins to carry the T1 mantle this year.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.