starry_echo
Inkling
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2023
- Messages
- 13
- Switch Friend Code
- SW-0303-8738-0802
Whether you want to get a casual tourney group together or to reach the top levels of play, a lot of the competitive scene is found playing in tournament. Below, I'm compiling a list of extremely good tourneys and organizations to join to continue your competitive journey. (If you don't have a team yet, don't worry - I'll be making a post about finding a team soon!)
Inkling Performance Labs is the BIGGEST tournament organization for Splatoon, built with the work of many dedicated volunteers. Even if you don't want to play in tournaments, their Twitch channel has a phenomenal amount of effort put into streaming tourneys to be as eye-catching, entertaining, and hype as possible.
Low Ink, one of IPL's tourney, is the biggest lower-level tourney in the entire community. Higher-level players are ineligible to participate in it, so it's a lot easier to find teams around your skill level here (think of it like an Arcadian in smash). You'll still find a lot of hard-to-beat teams here, but if you keep up the grind you'll get to their level in no time!
Dapple Productions is the biggest tournament organization for the European region of the world (though NA folks can also join in!). Their tournaments are also really respectable, and are also frequently streamed.
Mulloway Institute of Turfing is another organization, whose prime tournaments are Minnow Cup and Megalodon Cup. These are both one-mode only tournaments, where the mode changes every month. This is a good way to practice if you realize your team is particularly weak on a particular mode!
LUTI, or Leagues Under the Ink, is currently the biggest tournament circuit, where for around 6 weeks you'll play against one team each week (instead of single-day tournaments). These teams are estimated to be around your skill level, based on the tournaments you've both entered and how you've done in them. It is a huge time investment and scheduling each match against teams with different schedules can be awkward, but I think that it can be worth it to get closer with your team. Here's the link to their Discord!
I also want to mention is Little Squid League, which is another skill-capped tournament like Low Ink. It's an extremely good tourney to start out in, because it has a lower skill cap than Low Ink (you'll probably find more S rank players here, sometimes an A rank or two). If that sounds interesting, here's their Discord server.
From The Ink Up is another tournament with a similar skill cap to LSL, which is biweekly!
Overall, I'd suggest trying to play in a combination of tourneys with skill caps and tourneys without skill caps. Tourneys with skill caps (Low Ink, LSL, FTIU) are really good for finding your bearings as a team and finding that there are a lot of other teams that are also just starting out! It can be a big confidence boost to win a tournament set after a really tense back-and-forth, and personally that's where a lot of the joy of playing competitive comes from.
Tourneys without skill caps are a great way to get games in where the opponent punishes a lot more of your in-game mistakes. It gives a lot more data to review in the games, think about why the losses happened, and then start trying to grow from them and create new strategies. Uncapped tourneys also happen more frequently than skill-capped tourneys, so they're good for getting consistent practice outside of scrimmages with other teams. I'd suggest the tourneys that happen almost every Wednesday (such as IPL's Swim or Sink and Dapple Prod's Paddling Pool). Also be on the look out for the infrequent major tournaments, like the Splatoon NA Open,
There are a ton of tourneys and directions to go, and I think the best advice I can give for now is to be patient. There are going to be a lot of losses, especially early on, and how much you're improving can be hard to gauge. Give yourself some breathing room and allow yourself to mess up in games - that's how we grow! Best of luck in your growth as squids!
Inkling Performance Labs is the BIGGEST tournament organization for Splatoon, built with the work of many dedicated volunteers. Even if you don't want to play in tournaments, their Twitch channel has a phenomenal amount of effort put into streaming tourneys to be as eye-catching, entertaining, and hype as possible.
Low Ink, one of IPL's tourney, is the biggest lower-level tourney in the entire community. Higher-level players are ineligible to participate in it, so it's a lot easier to find teams around your skill level here (think of it like an Arcadian in smash). You'll still find a lot of hard-to-beat teams here, but if you keep up the grind you'll get to their level in no time!
Dapple Productions is the biggest tournament organization for the European region of the world (though NA folks can also join in!). Their tournaments are also really respectable, and are also frequently streamed.
Mulloway Institute of Turfing is another organization, whose prime tournaments are Minnow Cup and Megalodon Cup. These are both one-mode only tournaments, where the mode changes every month. This is a good way to practice if you realize your team is particularly weak on a particular mode!
LUTI, or Leagues Under the Ink, is currently the biggest tournament circuit, where for around 6 weeks you'll play against one team each week (instead of single-day tournaments). These teams are estimated to be around your skill level, based on the tournaments you've both entered and how you've done in them. It is a huge time investment and scheduling each match against teams with different schedules can be awkward, but I think that it can be worth it to get closer with your team. Here's the link to their Discord!
I also want to mention is Little Squid League, which is another skill-capped tournament like Low Ink. It's an extremely good tourney to start out in, because it has a lower skill cap than Low Ink (you'll probably find more S rank players here, sometimes an A rank or two). If that sounds interesting, here's their Discord server.
From The Ink Up is another tournament with a similar skill cap to LSL, which is biweekly!
Overall, I'd suggest trying to play in a combination of tourneys with skill caps and tourneys without skill caps. Tourneys with skill caps (Low Ink, LSL, FTIU) are really good for finding your bearings as a team and finding that there are a lot of other teams that are also just starting out! It can be a big confidence boost to win a tournament set after a really tense back-and-forth, and personally that's where a lot of the joy of playing competitive comes from.
Tourneys without skill caps are a great way to get games in where the opponent punishes a lot more of your in-game mistakes. It gives a lot more data to review in the games, think about why the losses happened, and then start trying to grow from them and create new strategies. Uncapped tourneys also happen more frequently than skill-capped tourneys, so they're good for getting consistent practice outside of scrimmages with other teams. I'd suggest the tourneys that happen almost every Wednesday (such as IPL's Swim or Sink and Dapple Prod's Paddling Pool). Also be on the look out for the infrequent major tournaments, like the Splatoon NA Open,
There are a ton of tourneys and directions to go, and I think the best advice I can give for now is to be patient. There are going to be a lot of losses, especially early on, and how much you're improving can be hard to gauge. Give yourself some breathing room and allow yourself to mess up in games - that's how we grow! Best of luck in your growth as squids!
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