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Japan Preparing for Round 2 of LJL Playoffs

The LJL playoffs are underway, and the top seeds in the playoffs are preparing for their matches in Round 2 of the playoffs. We go over what happened last week while previewing the upcoming matchups.

After a highly competitive regular season, Round 1 of the LJL playoffs delivered some exciting League of Legends, starting off what is sure to be a great playoff tournament. Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming and FENNEL were both able to find wins last week, moving them along in the bracket to face the top two teams from the regular season, Sengoku Gaming and DetonatioN FocusMe. With a trip to the Mid-Season Invitational on the line, you can expect the best that Japan has to offer in the coming weeks.

Sengoku Gaming vs FENNEL

When: Saturday, April 8th – 5 AM ET

Betting Odds: Sengoku Gaming (-1111) – FENNEL (+567)

Sengoku Gaming looked like a well-oiled machine throughout the regular season finishing 1st in the standings with a 13-1 record. They spent the whole regular season in the top spot of the standings and are hoping to carry that momentum into this match. As the top seed in the playoffs, Sengoku Gaming got to choose their opponent and picked a midtier FENNEL squad with the hopes of having a clean 3-0 match. 

FENNEL is coming into this one after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Burning Core in Round 1 of the playoffs. FENNEL found themselves behind the 8-ball early when Burning Core took the first two games, forcing match point in Game 3. FENNEL recovered and pulled off the reverse sweep winning 3 games straight and pulling out the series. They’ll have to stay poised again this week if they have any chance of taking down Sengoku Gaming. 

DetonatioN FocusMe vs Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming

When: Sunday, April 9th – 5 AM ET

Betting Odds: DetonatioN FocusMe (-294) vs Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming (+209)

DetonatioN FocusMe had a rough start to the season, finding two losses early on in the year. However, they were able to climb to 2nd place in the standings in Week 6, where they held consistent until the end of the year. This is my match of the week as I believe both of these teams are close in skill, and I could easily see either of these teams representing the LJL at MSI. DetonatioN FocusMe hopes that the bye week they received hasn’t created any rust, as their opponents are coming in off of a solid win. 

Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming got a clean 3-0 win over a much weaker opponent in AXIZ. Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming started the season out really well, staying in contention for 1st place throughout the season despite DetonatioN FocusMe passing them in the standings. This is one of the best matchups that Japanese League of Legends has to offer. You won’t want to miss a second of the action. 

Wrap Up

Though the storylines coming into these matches are completely different, all four teams have very real chances of finding a win this week despite what oddsmakers say. FENNEL has proven to be able to stay calm in the face of elimination, Sengoku Gaming has shown nothing but dominance this year, DetonatioN FocusMe showed resilience through the first half of the season, and Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming has proven their ability to stay focused even when things aren’t going there way. Though we don’t know yet who will be LJL Champions, we do know that it will be an exciting fight for the title. You can catch all the action on Twitch and YouTube.