It’s finally happened. The fight of the century.
Ever since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate dropped, there has been heat between Team SoloMid’s Leffen and Salem. Both were top players in their games (Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, respectively) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was looking like the battleground where the two would finally face off.
But why is there such beef between the two players? Why is this match so much more hype than the standard bracket match? And who won the showdown when it finally happened?
We’ve got the answers for you right here.
The Beef Is Born
The story begins, oddly enough, with SonicFox. SonicFox, the master of traditional fighters, was toying around with who to main in Ultimate, and made a comment of how Snake sucked as a character. Salem came in to correct him, and that’s where Leffen chimed in with a “Snake suuuuucks” comment.
This is where things spiraled out of control. Rather than having a somewhat civil conversation, Salem took the opportunity to attack not just Leffen, but the entire Melee community. It only got worse when Salem released a Twitlonger titled “Years of Research”, continuing to attack popular Melee figures and claiming that the Melee community wasn’t part of the broader Smash community.
And, well, if you know Leffen, you know he’s not going to take that sitting down. He went on many Twitter rants about Salem’s approach and character, and even directly replied to the Twitlonger calling Salem a “pathetic asshole.”
It seemed like it was only a matter of time until they got to play in bracket, and unfortunately, it took much longer than it should.
So Close, Yet So Far
They were seeded to play at a few select tournaments throughout 2019, but one player or the other would get knocked out before they were projected to play, which led many to think the fated match would never happen. Indeed, if Leffen decided to switch his focus back to Melee or any other fighting game that piqued his interest, his skill in Ultimate might wane enough to the point that he would stop entering tournaments entirely.
But Leffen made it clear that he would be competing at Super Smash Con 2019, which would also be the first major tournament to feature the new character Hero, who has drawn concerns from the community for being unbelievably powerful and full of RNG elements that are frowned upon in a competitive setting. And who else would happen to take a liking to Hero than Salem?
Super Smash Con rolled around and finally, both players would meet in bracket. And on August 10th, one of the most historic beefs would finally have a match to settle it.
Leffen Vs. Salem
This set can’t be described in words; it has to be seen through to the end. It’s one of the closest, most intense sets played in Ultimate, and you can feel the tension between both players. Leffen uses his classic pick Pokemon Trainer, while Salem uses Snake and Hero; the character that sparked this whole feud, and the character that noticeably triggers Leffen.
Enjoy this historic match.
Here’s hoping to more showdowns between these two!
