Round 8 Set 1: 7th Heaven vs Rascal Jester 2-1

Despite 7th Heaven being so low in the standings compared to Rascal Jester, you’d think that it’s still winter with the amount of back and forth snowballs going on in this best of three. Each game was a complete shutout after the mid-game, but the most important thing to take away from this set is that 7th Heaven’s Awaker has finally risen from his slumber all season. The man known as the best Japanese jungler in the LJL for the last two weeks has really been showing why he was called that last year. On top of that, Evi looks primed to take the crown of the best top laner in Japan and it shows more in his Round 9 games.

Round 8 Set 2: Rampage vs BlackEye 2-1

Before people start comparing BlackEye’s first ever match win in the LJL to the throws displayed by Dignitas in the NA LCS in Week 8, take a step back and breathe. Dropping a game to BlackEye (and even going to a pretty even third game for the first 25 minutes) is pretty alarming, but this Rampage roster is not the same that we’ve seen decimate the other LJL teams.

After Round 7 concluded, Rampage announced that both Tussle and Dara, the Korean Jungler and Support respectively, would be returning to CTU for “personal reasons”. It almost feels like you're a kid again playing the Rampage arcade game but being dragged home to do homework instead. Despite the fact that Roki is an incredibly talented midlaner, the 2nd place team in the LJL was just gutted as two key players have temporarily left for home and Paz is to move from the top lane into the jungle to make way for their new toplaner Aotaka.

Tussle and Dara are supposedly only back at CTU for student reasons, but the team hopes that they’ll be able to come back in time for playoffs. Paz is not an aggressive jungler and Aotaka is extremely lacking as a top laner - and the vision lost between the former Korean Jungle and Support duo is severely lacking with the Rampage lineup.

Round 8 Set 3: Detonation FocusMe vs Unsold Stuff Gaming 2-0

Something that doesn’t get mentioned as much is that when Rift Herald is taken, it’s rarely ever contested. It’s just kind of taken, especially in Europe where it’s heavily favored, it doesn’t actually get contested. In the LPL, however ,contesting the Rift Herald has become more common. That said, USG vs DFM is the first real contest over the Rift Herald and it goes so poorly for USG that I would say that their Rift Herald and Baron contesting in this set is equally as bad if not worse than the old Dignitas legends of throwing in that region of the map. USG is looking way weaker than their usual level of play, especially with DFM playing with a substitute AD Carry this entire set.

Round 9 Set 1: Rampage vs 7th Heaven

While Tussle and Dara are still hopefully going to return to the team, it’s more than likely to say that had they participated in Round 9, this set wouldn’t have been as one-sided as it was for the rising 7th Heaven team. Even though Rampage had a harder time against BlackEye, it was 7th Heaven who brought this team to its knees and executed them with two back-to-back perfect kill games. It wasn’t perfect through map control as they lost a few towers, but not a single member of 7th Heaven died in this BO3. A lot of the credit can go to Evi’s Tahm Kench. Evi is without a doubt the best Tahm Kench player in Japan and maybe one of the best in the world; solo killing Aotaka’s Poppy and Fiora in this set shows how comfortable he is on this champion.

His performance was reminiscent of how he played in week 1 where Tahm Kench was an incredibly prominent pick. That said, he’s got a monstrous win rate in solo queue on both his main and smurf for Tahm Kench, and it’s just a ridiculous question of “why would you not ban it against Evi?”. So Evi reaching his peak this season along with the rise of Awaker puts 7th Heaven on the danger list for the other teams of the LJL -- be on the lookout for them.

Round 9, Set 2: Unsold Stuff Gaming vs Rascal Jester 2-0

Throughout the LJL reports over the last few months, there’s been a lot of praise for USG’s growth over the weeks. They either win hard or through a shaky mid-game with clutch plays by CLOCKDAY. This time, however, Rascal Jester performed above their usual skill level and gave USG a run for the hills -- after a horrifically sloppy towerdive, Rascal Jester threw the game, and the rest of the set looked like easy pickings for USG.

Rascal Jester’s situation this split has been strange and interesting with the lineup changing for the last four rounds. Their Korean players - GalB, HW4NG, and Corn - have all been out of the main lineup for a month, possibly for visa reasons. RJ was never that strong a team, but the change made them even worse, resulting in the predicted descent in standings. Unless their original lineup forms up again, there’s very little hope for the RJ lineup this split. CLOCKDAY’s performance albeit shaky the last two weeks hopefully shouldn’t pose a problem moving forward.

Round 9, Set 3: Detonation FocusMe vs Team BlackEye 2-0

At this point of the LJL, it’s pretty difficult to write up anything interesting or enthusiastic about a matchup between the top team in Japan against the bottom team who’s never won a set. But I guess what’s really interesting is the changes BlackEye continues to make to their roster. They’ve switched their jungler, their AD carry, their support, and now they’ve switched their midlaner three times and maybe a fourth time. From Ryavka to Alps to Mugoon in the midlane, they’ve officially picked up Mueki, the former 7th Heaven AD, into their official roster as listed on the Japanese lolesports website. If he starts on the roster he’ll be playing in the midlane. Even though they’re still getting stomped in these games the direction of the team is overall fascinating, and maybe BlackEye can pull themselves together for next split if they make it back in.