The tides have turned at Riptide.
Two of the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players in the world, Leonardo "MKLeo" Perez and Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey, met at the grand finals at Riptide, a major held in Ohio. Just a few weeks ago, MKLeo and Tweek had an insane finals at Smash Summit 3 where Tweek beat MKLeo with Diddy Kong 3-0.
At the time, it seemed like MKLeo had no answer to Tweek's unexpected pick. Despite crushing the loser's bracket to get to the finals, MKLeo couldn't keep up with Tweek on the all-but-forgotten chimp. But this time, MKLeo reclaimed his spot as the top Ultimate player in the world with a 3-1 victory.
MKLeo and Tweek meet at finals again at Riptide Smash Ultimate tournament
Over 1,000 Smash players signed up for Riptide, the community clearly excited at the return of in-person events. A lot of Smash players don't consider online tournaments to be a legit show of skills and have been waiting to see the pros in action offline to determine who is currently the best.
This time around, it was Tweek who had to climb through loser's to make it to MKLeo in the finals. Tweek even faced Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez, a talented Smash player that Melee God Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma left off his top six Ultimate player list. A victory against the Pyra & Mythra player proved Tweek to be the better player, although this is the second time Sparg0 finished top three at a major.
At first, it seemed like Tweek was also going to easily beat MKLeo once again. He took an early victory the first round, making commentators predict another sweep with Diddy Kong despite MKLeo using Byleth instead of Pyra & Mythra this time around. But MKLeo came back with a win of his own, putting the score at 1-1.
The third match was another close one, with both players chipping away at each other. MKLeo showed off his crazy off-stage play, patiently waiting on the ledge and maintaining control. While Tweek showed some tricky banana play, MKLeo's nerve-wracking play low off the stage kept him far ahead. The score became 2-1 in MKLeo's favor, with commentators saying the top player was ramping up — and wasn't going to stop.
To everyone's surprise, Tweek changed to Sephiroth. Tweek previously said he was confident in solely playing Diddy Kong, so commentators wondered if he was breaking due to MKLeo's incredible skills. This matchup didn't seem too hot for Tweek and MKLeo quickly took stocks off of the one-winged antagonist. Sephiroth's lag after each move seemed to be a huge disadvantage against MKLeo's Byleth. In the end, MKLeo three-stocked Tweek, reclaiming his throne.
Commentators called MKLeo the "GOAT" of Ultimate, which is so far an undisputed claim. With that victory, cemented himself as the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player of all time.
With LAN events just returning, it seems that many pros are rusty, leaving Tweek as the only threat to the iconic Ultimate pro. The rivalry will no doubt continue at Low Tide City in October, with fans hoping to see the two heavyweights in the finals.
According to PGStats, MKLeo is now 7 for 13 in best-of-five sets after going down 0-2. That's a 54% win-rate. Pro players like Tyler "Marss" Martins congratulated MKLeo on the impressive return to form.
Melee also had a fun tournament at Riptide. Cody "iBDW" Schwab won his first national, even beating big names like Hungrybox, who came in third. The humble player thanked everyone for their support. Zain and Armada congratulated the passionate player on Twitter.
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Esports writer and editor with a passion for creating unique content for the gaming community.
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