Qualifier 2 - The Road to Splat World Series

Article Originally Posted At: https://www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/qualifier-2-the-road-to-splat-world-series

Qualifier 2 - The Road to Splat World Series

On Saturday, July 26, 2025, Inkling Performance Labs (IPL) held the final of their three qualifying Competitive Splatoon 3 tournaments. This event, Qualifier 2, followed Qualifier 1 and SuperJump 5, and is the prelude to the Splat World Series tournament in August. Splat World Series is a collaboration between IPL and AREA CUP, bringing together the global Competitive Splatoon 3 scene and giving sixteen teams the opportunity to fight to claim the title as the best in the world.

As qualifying tournaments came and passed, tournament streams increased in numbers, showcasing just how much anticipation and excitement this event has accumulated in the community since its announcement in early June 2025. IPL’s official Qualifier 2 streams surpassed a combined total of 500 live viewers across their YouTube and Twitch main stream and alt stream. This doesn’t include the uncountable number of viewers tuning in on competing player streams or watch parties.

Like Qualifier 1, Qualifier 2 was a single-day, Splat Zones-only tournament that did not have a Grand Finals set. The final qualifying teams were decided from the Winner’s Bracket Finals and Loser’s Bracket Finals. And the result of this packed tournament stream was…

Winner’s Bracket Finals: Fruittella vs. New Meta

Fruittella vs. New Meta, the Sendou.ink forecasted Winner’s Finals, gave viewers both thrills and chills in its 4-game set. Both teams are no stranger to facing off against one another, having also gone head-to-head during Qualifier 1 Loser’s Bracket Semi-Finals. In that event, Fruittella won 2-0 over New Meta to advance and was looking to repeat that same result–but New Meta was going in with all they had.

New Meta took a strong lead in the set with a knockout over Fruittella on Bluefin Depot. Counterpicking to Barnacle & Dime, Fruittella would come back with a knockout of their own, ending the match quickly in just over two and a half minutes. The third match, on Wahoo World, saw an unfortunate stream blackout as soon as New Meta took the Zone at the start, returning with Fruitella holding the Zone with a score of 13 (Fruittella) - 41 (New Meta), and the match would end with those same numbers. Inkblot Art Academy was the final map in this set, and just when it seemed like the match would end early in favor of New Meta, Fruittella came swinging with an incredible push and ended the match on a knockout, leading to Fruittella taking the Winner’s Bracket Finals 3-1.

Qualifier 2 saw these players on Fruittella’s team:

• Punchy
• noraa
• nx
• ringo

Having earned the #7 spot on the West’s Splat World Series roster and sending New Meta to the Loser’s Bracket, Fruittella had an early exit from the tournament to celebrate since no Grand Finals set was planned.

Loser’s Bracket Finals: New Meta vs. last

Having fought seed #1 already, seed #2 New Meta would meet seed #3 Last in the final fight for the eighth slot on the West’s roster for Splat World Series. Seeing plenty of hype moments, it’s fitting that this set also saw the highest number of viewers watching live across all of IPL’s streams.

The set started off slow; Last would win the first match in overtime 58-42 on Flounder Heights, making heavy use of Burst Bombs and Crab Tank to secure their victory. New Meta, counterpicking to Wahoo World again, won with a knockout thanks to an excellent flank and quad wipeout from Isabel!. Another vicious flank leading to a wipeout gave New Meta their second knockout of the set on Barnacle & Dime; Last’s counterpick to Mahi-Mahi Resort to limit the amount of space for New Meta to run around would not be enough to stop one final, definitive New Meta knockout.

New Meta won the Loser’s Bracket Finals 3-1 and their spot at Splat World Series with this team:

• Isabel!
• Lucas
• Storm
• Jaysorawk!

Jaysorawk! is one of two players on the West’s roster to have double-qualified for Splat World Series, playing for New Meta in Qualifier 2 and for Vanguard in SuperJump 5; however, Vanguard ended up passing their ticket to FreeFlow due to team availability. The other player achieving this feat is [K]yo, who also qualified while playing for Milk Duds (Milky Way) at SuperJump 5 and playing for FTWin at Qualifier 1.

Japan’s Final Two Teams

Now that the West’s roster for Splat World Series is complete, Japan’s final roster announcements rounded out everyone playing at the event. The last two teams announced for Japan are…

Final Weapon

• Natyu
• Miiramia
• Tukuyomi
• Azu

Hornet

• Millecrepe
• Kurokuro
• Ributen
• Kametan

Full Splat World Series Roster

As a final recap of all the teams competing, here’s who both sides of the Splat World Series have competing for the title of best in the world:

The West:

• PxG
• Milky Way
• Hypernova
• FreeFlow
• FTWin
• Moonlight
• Fruittella
• New Meta

Japan:

• DragonREX
• Utopia
• Takoyaki Party
• False Dream
• The Invincible Fleet Reimaru
• Samurai Cat
• Final Weapon
• Hornet

Splat World Series Bracket Sneak Peek!

After Qualifier 2 concluded, IPL shared on stream what the preliminary bracket for Splat World Series looks like:

According to the above bracket, Round 1 will see the following teams face off against one another:

• FreeFlow vs. The Invincible Fleet Reimaru
• Milky Way vs. Fruitella
• Takoyaki Party vs. FTWin
• Utopia vs. Final Weapon
• PxG vs. Samurai Cat
• Hypernova vs. New Meta
• False Dream vs. Moonlight

DragonREX will be waiting in the Winner’s Quarter-Finals to face off against the winner of Milky Way and Fruitella’s Round 1 set. As this bracket was released before Hornet’s announcement, they are not included on this tentative infographic.

If you’re looking forward to the climax of the building Splat World Series event, this is when you can watch the live stream–in English or Japanese–and what you can expect to see:

FORMAT: One-day, double-elimination, Splat Zones-only Splatoon 3 tournament

WHEN: Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 5 AM PT / 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 9 PM JT.

WHERE:

• https://www.youtube.com/@splatzonejp (Japanese Stream)
• https://www.youtube.com/@IPLSplatoon (English Stream)
• https://twitch.tv/IPLSplatoon (English Stream)

RULES & MAP POOL: play.iplabs.ink/sws-finals

We’re all looking forward to cheering on our favorites and seeing who comes out as the best in the world on August 2, 2025! This is one moment in Splatoon’s Competitive history that doesn’t want to be missed!

Original Posting Date: July 29, 2025

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