Leffen defeats SonicFox to win 2XKO DreamHack Atlanta 2025

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 03/11/2025

Legendary Smash Bros Melee player William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte won the recent 2XKO tournament at DreamHack Atlanta.

To win the event, he defeated another fighting-game community (FGC) icon in eight-time EVO champion Dominique ‘SonicFox’ McLean.

It’s early days for the League of Legends-based fighter as 2XKO recently entered early access.

But Leffen and SonixFox have already established themselves at the top of the game’s growing competitive/esports scene.

This $5,000 (£3.8k) tournament was a preview of what’s to come as Leffen won one of the early tournaments of Riot Games’ 2v2 platform fighter.

How Leffen won the 2XKO DreamHack Atlanta 2025 tournament

Both Leffen and SonicFox breezed through the early stages of the tournament and dominated the Top 8.

The Upper Bracket saw the two FGC titans clash in a preview of the final, which saw Leffen come out on top 3-1.

SonicFox then recovered well, defeating Jo’siah ‘Hikari’ Miller in the Lower Bracket Final to set up a rematch with Leffen in the Grand Finals.

The finals saw some incredible moments, including this absurd 4HP comeback from SonicFox to win 3-1 and force a Grand Final Reset.

But in the rematch, it was Leffen who came out on top in a tight 3-2 victory to win the tournament and $2k (£1.5k) in prize money.

The DreamHack Atlanta event was part of Riot Games’ First Impact program for 2XKO.

This is a way for the publisher to boost early 2XKO esports events by supporting 22 community-led tournaments this year.

The First Impact program included EVO France, Europe’s first 2XKO event, at which SonicFox placed third.

Will Leffen and SonixFox commit to 2XKO?

It’s an exciting time, potentially a golden era, for fighting game players with so many new games coming out.

As well as 2XKO, the FGC also has Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Invincible VS, and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game to look forward to.

SonicFox has EVO titles in Mortal Kombat, Injustice, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Skullgirls.

He’s accomplished in many games and is clearly good at 2XKO too, but is also looking forward to Marvel Tokon.

But for now, SonicFox appears to be very locked in to improving in 2XKO and is already going back to the drawing board:

“The biggest thing I’m hoping for is an update on when the next balance changes for 2XKO are.

“I’m a bit nervous to commit to anything NEW that’s also giga top tier without worrying about it getting removed.”

“I’m excited to go home and study more 2XKO though! My next study is Duos.

“I think there are certain team combinations that are ONLY broken as a DUO, and I wish to explore that with someone who can keep up with me.”

Similarly, Leffen has shown to be proficient in multiple titles, with one EVO title apiece in Smash Bros Melee and Guilty Gear Strive.

He says he’s fully committed to improving in 2XKO:

“Absolutely insane finals, had so much fun. Ggs to Sonic and everyone else. DH Atlanta champ!!

“Just won in 2XKO and all I wanna do is keep playing to keep getting better so I can play to my potential. Been since Melee since I felt this hunger…”

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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