How Leffen beat Hungrybox at Get On My Level 2016

By Daniel “Tafokints” Lee

Over the past year, Smash pro Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma has improved dramatically in both his fundamentals and results. In the first half of 2016, he won PAX Arena, Battle of the Five Gods, Pound 2016, and EGLX. But one of his biggest challengers, William “Leffen” Hjelte, could only watch from the sidelines, unable to attend any U.S. event due to visa issues and failing to advance far in the EGLX bracket. Though Leffen defeated Hungrybox in two sets at HTC Throwdown, that was seven months ago. In the FGC, that might as well be years.

But the tide turned at Get On My Level 2016. By defeating Adam “Armada” Lindgren, Leffen set himself on a winner’s final collision course with Hungrybox. And to everyone’s surprise, Leffen won, taking down Hungrybox’s improved Jigglypuff despite the half-year hiatus.

So how did he do it? Let’s break it down.

The Set Summary

Table 1: Aggregate Set Data between Leffen and Hungrybox at Get On My Level 2016

The winners finals set was incredibly close. Leffen dealt 1,887 total damage and Hungrybox was not too far behind with 1,828. They both lived to roughly 100 percent on every stock and Leffen took only one more stock than Hungrybox.

The set could have gone either way. Both players made several mistakes, and if a few plays went differently, Hungrybox could have taken it. Regardless, Leffen has been out of practice and it’s impressive that he was able to take a set against the current best player in the United States. What did Leffen do right where so many other Foxes have failed?

Leffen’s lasers

Leffen’s core strength is his ability to switch between playing passively and aggressively. Along with his deep knowledge of Melee, he carries a general understanding of fundamentals from playing other fighting games such as Street Fighter and King of Fighters.

But the hallmark of Leffen’s gameplay is his incredible use of lasers.

Lasers have an inherent trade-off: you can rack up free damage, but you lose control of the stage. Many Foxes use lasers to force other characters to approach. While lasers only deal 2-3 percent in damage, Leffen knows how to maximize the damage while maintaining stage control.

In this particular set, Leffen dealt 398 in laser damage, which is devastating, considering that Jigglypuff can die as early as 60-70 percent on certain stages. In comparison, other Foxes deal 100-250 in laser damage against Hungrybox in five game sets.

Table 2: Leffen’s Laser Damage by Game Against Hungrybox

Bait and Up-Smash

The lasers present an interesting conundrum in the Fox-Jigglypuff matchup. If the Fox lasers too often, the Jigglypuff player can encroach on the Fox’s space and earn free hits while Fox is cornered. If the Jigglypuff player plays too aggressively as a response to lasers, the Fox can counter-poke with aerials and Up-Smashes.

Lasers also make large horizontal stages, such as Dreamland, a risky pick for Hungrybox. Although Hungrybox won their match on Dreamland, Leffen racked up over 100 damage in lasers and held a tremendous two stock lead before throwing away the match.

Kill power

One of the difference makers is Leffen’s ability to find early kills. His throws into Up-Airs were incredibly clean even at slightly higher percents. It’s debatable whether Hungrybox could have SDI’d (Smash Directional Influence) Leffen’s Up-Airs, but Leffen positioned himself very deep into Hungrybox’s Jigglypuff, making the Up-Air incredibly difficult to SDI.

Other Foxes tend to struggle when the Up-Throw into Up-Air combo isn’t available due to Jigglypuff’s floatiness, but Leffen still found ways to kill with an incredible use of Fox’s Up-Smash. Leffen has the uncanny ability to catch Hungrybox’s shorthops with Up-Smashes, whereas other Foxes tend to get antsy with more predictable Up-Smash attempts that Hungrybox punishes. Leffen did get caught a few times with bad Up-Smashes, but generally found success.

Table 3: Leffen’s Kill Set-Ups

Leffen was able to kill Hungrybox quickly with a combination of Up-Airs and Up-Smashes. Although the sample size is small, Leffen kills Hungrybox more quickly than Mango and Armada. Part of this is due to their different philosophies. Armada is content with holding center stage and taking low risks against Hungrybox. Mango tends to kill at higher percentages because his Up-Throw into Up-Airs aren’t as clean as Leffen’s. Leffen’s sub-100% average is crucial, and 10 out of 18 kills were done at under 100%.

Table 4: Average Kill % against Hbox

Solid mechanics

Even disregarding his Up-Throw into Up-Airs, Leffen’s overall technical ability really stands out. He’s not going to “wow” people in a way that Weston “Westballz” Dennis or Aziz “Hax” Al-Yami does with their multi-shines; rather, Leffen’s strengths come from his practical and clean movement. He’s not flashy, but try to name other Foxes who can drift while double-lasering, execute invincible ledge dashes consistently, or land spaced tilts as well as Leffen. It’s the consistent technical mechanics that allow for Leffen to land important hits and combos while remaining safe.

Hungrybox’s strengths

I should also point out Hungrybox’s improvements, which are often spoken about in a broad sense, but never specifically.

His neutral game has always been solid and he knows how to edge-guard combo off of a stray hit incredibly well, but he’s taken it to a new level in 2016. For the most part, he didn’t add anything revolutionary, instead improving marginally in every aspect in his game.

In particular, his grab punishes have become more lethal. Normally, an Up-Throw can lead to a direct rest if the opponent doesn’t DI (directional influence) the throw, but top level players can react to the grab to prevent the rest. However, if he doesn’t get the direct rest setup, Hungrybox can extend the combo to rack up damage, create another rest setup, or start an edge-guard.

If the opponent does manage to DI, Hungrybox can pound away and setup another potential rest. Leffen felt the wrath of this setup in the final stock of game two.

Hungrybox is also aware when the rest cannot be applied for a direct kill. Instead, he will add a couple of hits into a regrab or into an off-stage edge-guard setup. Needless to say, Hungrybox is one of the scariest players off the grab. His ability to find kills at all percentages makes it important for Foxes to avoid getting grabbed at all costs.

For the most part, Hungrybox played decently, but missed some crucial edge-guards and combos that cost him the set. He did manage to come back and make opportunities out of small openings, but we’ve seen better from Hungrybox in 2016.

Conclusions

Along with the early kills and lasers, Leffen simply does the little things better than most other Foxes.

Leffen’s tournament win at Get On My Level highlighted his strengths beautifully. He’s a phenomenal player that can play at any pace. He can play aggressively and he can play defensively when needed. His laser game is by far the best in the world, and his ability to find Up-Smashes is something that more Foxes should aim to mimic.

But as seen in game two (where he threw a full two stock lead on Dreamland), he still has issues with arrogance and can lose focus when he falls behind. Hungrybox was a few plays aways from winning another title. Leffen’s win at GOML 2016 wasn’t a blowout victory.

However, his game is incredibly solid, and considering how little he’s played this year, I expect it to only get better. He can easily win a couple of the larger majors if he plays at the same level that he did last weekend. Smash pros should be on alert.

Daniel Lee is on Twitter @tafokints.