Splatoon 2 World Championship 2019

The Splatoon 2 World Championship 2019 was a Splatoon 2 tournament that took place several days before E3 2019.

Qualifiers
One team was chosen to represent each of the four regions at the World Championship through its own regional tournament: Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand.

Japan
GG BoyZ won the fourth Splatoon Koshien tournament and represented Japan in the World Championship for the second consecutive year. All four members who played in the previous year's World Championship came back to defend their title, including Dynamon, who was in this championship for the third consecutive year.

Europe
Alliance Rogue, the French team comprised of members of rival European teams Kraken Paradise and Team Olive, won Paris Games Week to earn the right to represent France in the Splatoon 2 European Championship 2018-2019. There, this team of French all-stars won its group over Overtime of Belgium and NinPlayers of Italy, then defeated Ämpäri Gang of Finland — also consisting of members of Kraken Paradise and Team Olive — and finally dethroned Europe's defending champions, BackSquids of Germany, to win both the championship and the right to represent Europe in the World Championship.

North America
FTWin won the Splatoon 2 North America Inkling Open 2019 after defeating Demise (3-0) and Lowkey (4-3) at PAX East to represent North America in the World Championship. The team was formed by former members of the teams that finished in the top three of the previous year's Splatoon 2 U.S./Canada Inkling Open: Saikai (3rd), TOMO (2nd), and SetToDestroyX (1st), the latter of which competed in the World Championship 2018. Team captain Kyo, former captain of TOMO, played in his second World Championship, having substituted for Ice of SetToDestroyX the previous year.

Australia
Lime Soda won the Splatoon 2 Australasian Open 2019, defeating Morning Sun five games to four in an incredible reverse sweep, and represented Australia and New Zealand in the World Championship.

Round One
Matches were a series of Turf War battles to determine seeding. There were four stages - Manta Maria, Blackbelly Skatepark, Ancho-V Games, and Skipper Pavilion - with a coin flip before each battle determining which team chose the stage.

The battles were as follows:
 * GG BoyZ vs. Lime Soda
 * Alliance Rogue vs. FTWin
 * Match 1 loser (Lime Soda) vs. Match 2 loser (Alliance Rogue)
 * Match 1 winner (GG Boyz) vs. Match 2 winner (FTWin)

Semifinals
The semifinals were a best of five, single-elimination round on Ranked Battle modes.

Both pairs of teams played the same sets of battles. The first match was Number 1 Seed vs. Number 4 Seed, and the second was Number 2 Seed vs. Number 3 seed. The battles were as follows:
 * Game 1: Tower Control on The Reef
 * Game 2: Clam Blitz on Arowana Mall
 * Game 3: Splat Zones on MakoMart
 * Game 4 (if necessary): Rainmaker on Inkblot Art Academy
 * Game 5 (if necessary): Tower Control on Starfish Mainstage

Finals
The finals were a best of seven, single-elimination round on Ranked Battle modes.

The battles were as follows:
 * Game 1: Tower Control on Wahoo World
 * Game 2: Rainmaker on Humpback Pump Track
 * Game 3: Clam Blitz on Snapper Canal
 * Game 4: Splat Zones on Goby Arena
 * Game 5 (if necessary): Splat Zones on Musselforge Fitness
 * Game 6 (if necessary): Rainmaker on Kelp Dome
 * Game 7 (if necessary): Tower Control on Moray Towers

Commentary
Commentary was provided on Nintendo's YouTube channel by NBC Sports Northwest broadcaster Jordan Kent, CNET Senior Editor Ashley Esqueda, and commentators Nine and Mellana.