SplatStats Season 2 Final Report
Part 1: General Information, Leaderboards, and Regional Rankings
Season 2 for competitive Splatoon 2 overall was quieter than the previous months, but it had its burst of outstanding moments that prove the vitality of the burgeoning scene. Entrants for Tier 1 Western events have been rapidly growing and are on par with Japanese event entrants. The number of new teams in the late Young Ink series has continued to grow, with teams making a powerful debut as they rise through the ranks.
The gap between Western and Japanese strength is slowly closing as well, although the latter continues to demonstrate its dominance in the game. With recent changes in Japanese legislation regarding the legitimacy of Esports and advances in the overall structure of the Japanese Splatoon scene, prepare to see Japan grow even stronger. We are seeing a rise, however, in Western teams venturing out of their comfort zones, looking to compete with the best. In the future, expect more cross-regional showdowns to occur as players from around the world work to improve themselves.
But for now, we are here to celebrate the successes of teams that have competed in the last three months. Through effort and grit they have made their names known through close sets and enthralling comebacks. Now, with the new year fully in view, a bright future awaits the squids and kids of the scene.
I am proud to present the Final Report for Season 2.
Table of Contents
- Part 1 — General Statistics, Leaderboards, and Regional Rankings
- Part 2— Top 50
- Part 3— Final Words and Season 3
General Information
If you would like to know the methodology of creating the Final Report, please read this document here. If you have any questions about the process or what you see here, please let us know!
Season 2 Tournament Statistics
You can view the full list of Tournaments here.
You can view the full Leaderboard rankings here.
Regional Ratings
You can view the full Regional Ratings here.
France
The French scene has been very quiet in terms of tournament activity, but it belies a sudden change. The retiring of Rising Moon has created a power vacuum, and the rest of the scene is scrambling to take their place. Top candidate for the spot is El Firmament, who has ranked highly in many of France’s tournaments and leagues and have extremely strong matchups with the rest of the region. Other teams such as Silver Hawks and Squidding Good, both rising teams from the last season, are also looking to make their mark.
However, stopping them in their tracks is Alliance Rogue, a pickup squad consisting of some top tier French talent including Sorin and Erza (of Team Olive), Grey (of Ethereal), and Kronos (of Sorrow/TakeOver!). The team was formed to allow players from non-French squads to play in French events. Thus, it is no surprise that they are steadily gaining dominance in lieu of Rising Moon’s absence, culminating in representing the entire country in the upcoming ESL European Championships.
It’s not all over for the members of Rising Moon. Squids United was formed as a temporary crew to rebuild the strength Rising Moon once held, so expect a comeback from them in the coming season.
Japan
Japan, as usual, is a very hard region to analyze. The region is defined by the pickup nature of its teams and very volatile placements due to how large and competitive the region is. Despite this, the scene is undergoing a few changes. For one, pickup teams have been more and more often playing with the same consistent core of 2–3 players, allowing easier tracking of the scene. But more importantly, out of this melange of pickups and semi-pickups, true global threats have emerged.
Libalent Calamari and GG BoyZ lead the way as the premier sponsored teams, the latter being supported by OpenRec, Japan’s leading streaming platform. Other powerhouse teams such as NForce, Haranbanjou, Yuyuudo and TCP Gekkou have also been steadily rising to the top. Such teams are now being featured in the recent DAIOU league, where weekly the best of the best battle against each other. More such centralized competitive events are planned for the future.
A possible cause for this trend may be Japan’s overall changes in Esports legislation. Recently, licenses for professional gaming are now possible to attain. While not yet official for Nintendo games, Splatoon is in the spotlight. With the consecutive successes of Nintendo-sponsored Koshien events, more companies are now looking to invest in Splatoon teams and events. That dream of a marquee Splatoon stadium event featured in the Nintendo Switch reveal trailer may happen in the coming year.
International
Top teams of the western scene have been going through some tumultuous times. Along with Rising Moon’s absence, Extermination underwent some drastic roster changes as well with most of their active roster leaving to form a new team, Sorrow. Unfortunately, this newly formed team would end up disbanding after a fantastic performance at the end of the season.
Another top team would begin to make large waves in the scene. Ethereal, a team with respectable finishes in the first Season, began to take names as 2018 rolled around, including Team Olive, Saikai, and Kraken Paradise. They have become the most rapidly improved Splatoon team in the scene thus far.
North American Splatoon, in the meanwhile, is seeing a rise in mid-tier teams and players. Teams such as BEt, Fully Torqued (now disbanded), Translucent, and Saffron Rice have joined the pantheon of NA teams who regularly compete in the many weeklies, and have come out with great results.
However, despite a rise in talent, the Western scene still is encountering issues facing its eastern counterpart. Japanese teams continue to dominate global events such as Inkergalactic and Platinum Cup. There is a silver lining with both STDx and Ethereal holding out their own against top Japanese teams, the former taking 5th at the 3rd WFB cup and the latter just barely finishing out at 4th in Platinum Cup 3 in a close set against Libalent Calamari. The goal now for these teams will be to break their way completely into the Japanese events and cause an upset in general.
Global Ratings
The Global Ratings are based solely on Glicko2 matchup performance. This data was determined by treating the time period of every tournament in the past three months as a single time period and rated via Glicko2.
You can view the full Global Ratings here.
Before we move onto the Top 50, here is a quick guide to help understand the statistics used.
