SendouQ Season 9 Finale Recap
Article originally posted at: https://www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/sendouq-season-9-finale-recap
SendouQ Season 9 Finale Recap
On Saturday, November 29, 2025, Sendou.ink held the ninth iteration of its Splatoon 3 community top cut tournament, the SendouQ Season 9 Finale. Only the top 12 ranked teams per SendouQ season are invited to participate. Season 9 covered September through November, 2025.
The Group Stage is a Play All 5, Best of 5, where the two best teams per group advance to the single-elimination Top Cut for the Best of 5 Semifinals, with Grand Finals being a Best of 7. The tournament is Splat Zones-only, and the reward? A $500 prize pot!
The stream was run by Inkling Performance Labs (IPL); Group Stage was commentated by Kyon and Rockit, and Nine and Fufu were on cast for Top Cut.
These twelve teams, ranked by SendouQ points, qualified for the Season 9 Finale:
- PxG
- ezmd
- Iridescent
- Moonlight
- Viva La Vida
- tchecks play
- BlankZ
- Paris Saint-Glufus
- Halcyon
- ANTS
- Hypernova
- Zipcat
As the event progressed from the Group Stage to Top Cut, we were given a reminder of IPL’s next Splatoon 3 tournament major, SuperJump 7, which takes place next weekend (December 6 and 7). Broadcasting Esports Every Play (BEEP) had a commercial looking for volunteers; interested parties can volunteer at broadcastbeep.com/help. For a bit of trivia, Nine shared that Grey (PxG) has become the third player in Splatoon history to reach 5000XP in ranked solo play. This achievement follows PxG teammate Soulja–who was the second to do so–and Melon, the first player ever to accomplish the feat.
Top Cut
PxG, Moonlight, ezmd, and tchecks play were the four teams who advanced to Top Cut after earning the highest scores in the Group Stage:
Honorable mentions go to Hypernova and Viva La Vida, who took home 3rd place bronze in each of their respective groups, and tied for 5th place overall in the Finale.
Semifinals Set 1: PxG vs. ezmd (3-1)
The Semifinals rounds of Top Cut were still a Bo5 format and each map would be on Splat Zones. The first set was between PxG, the #1 seed and winner of Group A, and ezmd, the 3rd seed and runner-up from Group B.
Game one went to the double-zone Um’ami Ruins. PxG and ezmd sparred over the zones for about 30 seconds; PxG won the neutral fight and claimed both zones first. They wouldn’t have them for long, as ezmd used a Booyah Bomb to secure one zone and provide cover to sweep the second zone. In this push, they snagged the lead, which they held for about 40 seconds, until PxG brought out their Crab Tank and took down three of ezmd’s players, allowing them to retake. The Crab Tank felt ever-present–and will continue to feel that way throughout the rest of Top Cut–and led PxG to their first win: a knockout, at 2:38 left on the clock.
Game two went to Brinewater Springs, where it was ezmd’s turn to spam specials. With their double Booyah Bomb composition, PxG struggled to keep enough paint down to keep the zone. The Booyah Bombs menaced PxG, from capping the zone with the tiniest sliver of coverage, to kickstarting a wipeout. PxG was able to stop ezmd’s zone at 18 after Gos took a wide flank route to pincer ezmd. Ezmd was not done just yet–Kiki’s S-BLAST ‘91 found a triple on PxG and stopped their zone at 2 remaining. PxG later got a wipeout on ezmd, and a Crab Tank ensured PxG’s next victory, a close 98-82.
Ezmd took the zone at Barnacle & Dime quickly, after PxG found themselves down two players–just as quick, it was suddenly ezmd down two, and with both teams halved, PxG came out with the zone in their hands. However, by the end of the first minute, ezmd was the one who had the zone back, without having lost the lead. Before another minute could pass, ezmd’s tight-knit defense led to their own knockout victory, with just over three minutes remaining.
Humpback Pump Track was next–the zone was contested heavily in the first minute; it took ezmd three tries to claim it from PxG, and after succeeding, they took the lead. Around the three-minute mark, the lead shifted after ezmd diverted excess resources to remove Gos from their base. A Booyah Bomb gave ezmd the zone back, but PxG took down three players to return it in short order. The game continued back-and-forth; by the clock’s end, ezmd had the zone and were working toward overtaking PxG. They got close, but were ultimately overwhelmed in overtime, resulting in PxG’s next victory, 88-86, and saw them advance to Grand Finals.
Semifinals Set 2: Moonlight vs. tchecks play (3-1)
On the other size of the Semifinals was Moonlight, the Group B winner and seed #2, versus tchecks play, the Group A runner-up and seed #4. After this set, the stream would move onto Grand Finals!
Unfortunately, the IPL stream had technical difficulties between the end of the previous set, which cut through the first game between Moonlight and tchecks play.
Game one was at Barnacle & Dime, where tchecks play took the zone first. Moonlight was able to take it from them after dividing their attention, then got the lead, retaining it through tchecks play deploying a Crab Tank and Booyah Bomb. A Booyah Bomb did secure the zone for tchecks play later in the game, giving them a numbers advantage over their opponent and stopping them at 22. Moonlight retook the zone while Omega was on a five-splat spree, resulting in Moonlight’s first set win, a knockout, with almost two and a half minutes remaining.
Moonlight wasted no time taking the two zones at Undertow Spillway, but tchecks play bounced back to take out two opponents and get the lead. As one expected from the small zones on this map, possession changed frequently. Moonlight took the lead while both teams were down two; a little over a minute later, tchecks play had the lead back, just briefly, before a Booyah Bomb from Moonlight took out two players. Nearing the final minute, Moonlight had the lead for the last time, weaving through a Killer Wail 5.1 and Booyah Bomb, and running into another knockout win, with 57 seconds remaining.
Robo ROM-en was tchecks play’s game, taking the zone just 11 seconds in and snatching it back from Moonlight quicker than they could hold it. Moonlight took a lead briefly, though tchecks play had it once more when the first minute passed. Tody and Alex, on separate occasions, went on a splatting streak on Moonlight, keeping them from holding the zone for long. With just 16 seconds left in the game, tchecks play had themselves their own knockout victory, keeping themselves from a set shutout.
Game four went to Mincemeat Metalworks; even faster than last game, Moonlight claimed the zone eight seconds into the game. The following turn of events happened in quick succession: tchecks play took the lead; Moonlight reclaimed the zone and used two Big Bubblers next to one another to defend it and take the lead; tchecks play, for the second time, deployed a Crab Tank and Booyah Bomb but could not take the zone; tchecks play went down three players. All culminating in Moonlight taking another knockout victory with three minutes to spare, and advancing to Grand Finals.
Grand Finals: PxG vs. Moonlight (4-1)
Grand Finals changed the format slightly, from a Bo5 to a Bo7. The teams have fought well; of the 32 sets played in the tournament so far, an incredible 13 were 3-0 shutouts, 15 being 3-1 sets, and just 4 went to a game 5. It now came down to PxG vs. Moonlight–who gets the gold?
Game one was at Mahi-Mahi Resort, where both teams met over the zone; Moonlight out-painted PxG for the first control, but once both teams went down two players, PxG capitalized to take the zone. They had the lead going into the second minute, bolstered by Volty getting two picks with the Trizooka. Moonlight faced a tough lockout, but managed to get the zone again with help from a Booyah Bomb, stopping PxG at 4. A PxG Crab Tank took the zone–and multiple players–from Moonlight, and the game ended with two minutes to spare, for a PxG knockout.
Teams went to Crableg Capital for game two, where Moonlight once more struggled to get a foothold. PxG took the zone first and staggered Moonlight, keeping them respawning and controlling their movement with expertly-timed specials. The best Moonlight was able to do was neutralize the zone, but with three players down compared to PxG’s two, they were quickly wiped out and PxG took another knockout win, with just over three and a half minutes on the clock.
Game three went to Mincemeat Metalworks. PxG again had the zone first, but Moonlight would get points to their name after taking down all but one player from PxG. PxG’s notorious Crab Tank struck again, retaking the zone before Moonlight could take the lead, leaving the score at a close 40-47. Moonlight, shortly after, was wiped out, and following that, PxG sealed another knockout for themselves before the game got halfway through the clock.
Barnacle & Dime set game four, and Moonlight reversed their luck, opening with the zone and taking down three of PxG’s players, including a Crab Tank. While they were setting up to lock PxG out, the last player who hadn’t been splatted, Gos, ran to flank again; Moonlight was now three down and zoneless. PxG held the lead for a while, up until an Ultra Stamp took two players out, stopping PxG’s zone counter at 7. Moonlight set up a secure defense, which then saw the lead back to them, and so close to a knockout! But PxG, with a Killer Wail 5.1 to add the smallest obstacle in Moonlight’s way, stopped them at 1 tick to go. The victory would go to Moonlight, 99-93.
Flounder Heights was the final stage for the event; before the zones had been capped, the first slice of action we saw was Volty splatting two players with a single swing of the Carbon Roller Deco. This led to PxG getting both zones under control. The rest of the story is a repeat of Crableg Capital: Moonlight was consistently down two or busy respawning to be able to mount a successful push and claim some points. The end result–PxG taking one last knockout to add the SendouQ Season 9 Finale to the team’s list of already-impressive accomplishments!
The star-studded cast who make up PxG’s roster are hardly new to winning a SendouQ Season Finale. Yu_liter (Noah) has won every single SendouQ Season Finale in 2025 (for a total of four); Gos has also won four Season Finales (9, 8, 4, and 2). Grey has won three (seasons 6, 7, and 9). For Volty, this is their first SendouQ win, but they have participated and placed high in multiple.
Following this event, the rest of 2025 holds plenty of potential for the competitive scene. SuperJump 7, a feast of LANs, and the Splatoon 3 North American League Playoffs as far as we know, but there’s plenty of time for more to be announced!
Original Posting Date: December 2, 2025
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