Team Olive

The All-Star Lineup

Team Olive stands as the premier team poised to lead competitive Splatoon 2. They are also the most dominant team so far, having only taken a loss to Rising Moon and Creme Fresh in the first Splatoon 2 tournament, SCL 42. Their most impressive victory was in G7 just two weeks ago, where they went undefeated.

They have rapidly adopted the current mid-range meta. Nikey has forgone his role as the sniper ace for an aggressive supporting weapon, N-Zap ’85. In fact, nearly every single game features Nikey and Sorin on N-Zap ‘85 and Tri-Slosher respectively, ensuring that the team will have a constant stream of Ink Armor to support them in their fights [EDIT: Sorin will unfortunately not be playing at this event, with Sendou taking his place].

Fuzzy has also proven to be a frightful force on his own, playing the role of the frontline Tentatek Splattershot. The longer matches go on, the better he plays, adapting to his opponents’ movements across the map to obtain a staggeringly large amount of kills. Rounding out the team’s strength is DUDE’s flexibility. The Splattershot Pro is his usual go-to weapon providing vision with Point Sensors and turf control with Ink Storm. However, he has no fear in changing things up to suit his teams’ needs, taking on the roles of Sloshers, Blasters, and even Squelchers.

G7 Grand Finals — Team Olive vs Extermination

Ever since they missed their chance to go to E3, they have been fighting since then to become the strongest in the world. With their current streak, they are looking good as they make their way to the summit of competitive Splatoon 2.

Twitter

Rising Moon

Forever Kings of France

In terms of attendance and consistency, Rising Moon has it in spades with nine Top Three finishes - six of which are tournament victories. They stand as the strongest French squad and quite possible the strongest in the world save for a few matchups that they seem to stumble on.

The strength of this team has overwhelmed the entirety of the European scene, most notably taking first in the ESL Go4Splatoon finals, a large European series, where afterwards they would go to E3 2017 as the European representatives. They are coming into this event with the most tournaments attended and the most tournament wins. And now they’re looking to add InkStorm+ to their trophy closet.

G7 Losers Semifinals — Rising Moon vs Deadbeat

The key to a lot of Rising Moon victories lies in enabling Erza, their star frontliner. He becomes a monster on the battlefield, boasting both Enperry Dualies and Tentatek Splattershot. Paired with him is Ceybau, who complements his aggression with turf control with either N-Zap ’85, Splattershot Jr., or Octobrush. The frontline becomes a tidal wave of ink, overwhelming anyone that dares to approach them without the safety blanket of Ink Armor. [EDIT: I have been told Ceybau only played N-Zap and Jr. due to deleting his original save file. He currently mains Tri-Slosher and Octobrush].

Charger player Andy and flex binx support this aggressive duo by playing very defensively to ensure that the frontline is constantly in fighting shape. They are also very strong objective-based players, often the ones making key movements to gain the points advantage for their team.

One issue facing Rising Moon are some shaky matchups. While they have conquered the majority of the French scene, other European teams have given them problems. The most significant of these rivals are Team Olive and Extermination, who both currently hold positive win records against them. For Rising Moon to take the trophy home in InkStorm+, they will have to shore up their strategies to account for Team Olive’s strength and Extermination’s stubbornness.

Twitter

Extermination

The German Wunderkinds

Extermination was a team that came seemingly out of nowhere to take the Splatoon 1 scene by storm. In Splatoon 2, it’s harder to gauge their success as they have only competed in G7 to date. But they competed hard. They defeated both SetToDestroyX and Rising Moon in close matches while losing only to Team Olive through the entire event. From their performance, their potential can be gleaned.

For one, their lineup depends a lot on Kagutso’s ability to overwhelm the frontline with clutch Blaster plays. While the Luna Blaster has received nerfs towards ink efficiency, it can be played virtually the same way as in Splatoon 1, allowing Kagu to continue his reign of Blaster terror. Supporting Kagu’s efforts is BANANA, a Splatling player who has admittedly played more N-Zap these days to give his team Ink Armor. However, in some matchups BANANA takes hold of the Mini Splatling to let loose fury across the map.

G7 Winners Finals — Extermination vs Team Olive

Rounding out the team is their Charger player Echo and Savage, who will most likely be taking command of the Tentatek to give the team a strong frontline [EDIT: I have been told that Echo also mains the Tri-Slosher]. Other than this, not much is known about Extermination’s chances. But if their previous run in Splatoon says anything, they have the potential to take the tournament by storm.

Twitter

Silver Sanction | Saikai

The Silver Lining in the Storm

If you wanted me to pick the Dark Horse of this tournament, I would nominate Saikai. This young upstart of a team are coming into InkStorm+ with a near-perfect tournament record, losing only to Synergy just yesterday. Backed by eSports organization Silver Sanction, they are looking to make a big impression on the scene.

Saikai’s lineup is the scrappiest of the teams mentioned here. Weapon choices for the players remain relatively static: Shak on Splattershot, Chip on Octobrush, ZigZag on N-Zap, and Brandon on Slosher. With this lineup, Saikai plays a very all-in aggressive style that has worked nearly every time so far. With Shak and Brandon switching up variants of the weapons they use, they’re able to overwhelm the enemy with a wide array of Special weapons.

FridayFunday Grand Finals — Saikai vs Synergy

Pointing to a specific player who performs exceptionally well in their role is hard as they are constantly rotating positions around the map. Most of their coordinated efforts do revolve around Chip and Shak finding initial pickoffs, allowing the team to quickly snowball. They seek to win all their fights and quickly take control of the map upon victory. This controlled chaos gives Saikai command of the objective at nearly every moment.

At this point it can be odd to sound hesitant about their chances in InkStorm+ with records over top teams like Synergy, SetToDestroyX, and Hanran. But they will need to prove their prowess against the teams mentioned above, as they currently have no record against them. Furthermore, if opposing teams are able to beat their aggression, then much of Saikai’s control is lost. This became evident as Synergy matched them with a four-man aggressive lineup of their own and won.

Many eyes will be on this team during the event, and they will be sure to please.

Twitter