Competitive:Leagues Under the Ink

Leagues Under the Ink (LUTI), also known as SPLUTI, is a competitive Splatoon league.

History
A competitive Splatoon league was initially suggested by S&F tournament organizer Scarth on November 10th, 2015.

Leagues Under the Ink was formally announced on January 9th, 2016, being supported by online Splatoon communities such as SquidBoards. The league's first season began on January 31st of that same year with 130 teams in three major divisions. The first season officially ended on April 9th, 2016.

Format
For Season 1, teams were split into three divisions. The SquidForce Division featured the sixteen highest ranking teams, the Inkline Division featured other ranked teams, and the Zink Division primarily consisted of new formed teams or teams that weren't previously ranked.

During the regular season, teams played in round-robin groups of eight with other teams in the same division. One match is played per week per team, consisting of a best-of-nine set with fixed map and mode setups. Some matches are broadcast on Leagues Under the Ink's official Twitch channel.

Season 1
The first season ran for seven weeks, starting on January 31st, 2016 and ending on March 21st, 2016.

After the end of the 7th week, double-elimination playoffs were held for each individual division. The playoffs for the Inkline and Zink divisions were simultaneously held on April 2nd, 2016, while the SquidForce division had their playoffs a week after on April 9th, 2016, officially ending the first season of the league.

Plans for a Season 2 are already in the works, with the biggest change being the introduction of a 4th division, the Forge Division, which will replace the SquidForce division as the highest ranking division in the league. Currently, only the top 4 teams of the SquidForce Division playoffs are set to automatically qualify and move up to the Forge Division.