Set 1: Rascal Jester vs Rampage 0-2

The last two weeks had to have been an incredible highlight for Rampage having not given up early game leads to weaker teams. Luckily this seems like a more positive growth of the team rather than an unfortunate lucky streak that’s about to end. While Rascal Jester has looked disappointedly weaker against BlackEye, they seem to have returned to form, giving Rampage a more evened out matchup for the early game.

Japan’s love for Nautilus top has yet to subside as the deep sea diver has made his way to international play -- but even with the impressive flanks displayed by RJ’s cogcog, Rampage’s Roki just continues to impress with his teamfighting from game to game this season. Rampage look primed to challenge Detonation FocusMe in the playoffs when they come about, and Rascal Jester looks better off than they did before to keeping their playoff dreams alive.

Set 2: Detonation FocusMe vs 7th Heaven 2-0

Ever since patch 6.2, Rumble has seen competitive play in a lot of the regions, but is mostly seen in the wildcard regions. The energized flame-spitting mech has yet to blaze a trail back to top lane, instead it’s Rumble in the Jungle. While LCK and EU LCS tried to make jungle Rumble work with varying success, it's mostly played elsewhere. Detonation FocusMe specifically has a 100% win rate with Catch commandeering the giant robot. Similar to Zilean being very popular in Japan and seeing varying success in the world, it's now time for Rumble to make a possible similar trend.

Now the series itself reveals the optimism of Japan’s League of Legends esports scene. Now that Japan has its own server so more people can practice on lower ping, every match shows DFM not stomping their opponents entirely for the last few weeks, and the trend continues with 7h. Don’t be mistaken -- DFM is still destroying their opponents in these games but there are more moments early on where teams are starting to test strategies to take down DFM, such as trying to shut down Yutapon. Even middle teams like 7h are able to win early skirmishes and outduel DFM’s laners time to time which is a remarkable improvement from the horrifically one-sided stomps that would occur in these matchups.

Amid all of the improvements though remains one simple truth: Detonation FocusMe is a better team through and through, and they prove it by outmaneuvering these teams in the mid to late game with relative ease and vigor. Every set with DFM raises the tension and potential for the Summer Split to be everything and more than spectators dreamed of when Japan got their own scene.

Set 3: Unsold Stuff Gaming vs BlackEye 2-0

This is the week. The shining rise of BlackEye. No - they don’t win - but but given how disappointingly they’ve played in the last few weeks specifically, it was impressive to see a team like BlackEye run evenly with a team like USG for the first 30 minutes of both games. As mentioned before, it could be the effects of having their own server, but more importantly than honking that horn several times, it shows actual growth in early game decisions for the bottom team of the LJL.

If this were any other region, people seeing USG struggling early on against the bottom team would be considered the team potentially leading towards a slump; however, for this set of games specifically, BlackEye have returned to the “form” they had in the first two or three rounds, where they played teamfights like they had nothing to fear and nothing to lose. It wasn’t smart fighting, it was just completely dedicated to getting the kill, which also made it reckless -- but it worked for them and they’ve finally gotten over their fear and cautionary play. These minor victories are nearly reminiscent of the 2015 roster of TiP as they won skirmishes across the map, but weren’t good at teamfighting but without a star jungler like Rush and an untapped ability for turning leads into wins.

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