[LJL] The past is not the future presented. Five things looking forward into the LJL season!
As an avid LJL viewer, it is always exciting to watch the development of the Japanese region. The region has always met with high expectations, the high expectations that an East-Asian country would expect.
Following the footsteps of bigger regions such as China and South-Korea, or even Vietnam and the SEA-region. Japan wants to chase those regions, and be on the same footsteps as them. The past is not the future presented. Japan will succeed by doing small and big steps during their way.
In this article you will read about five thoughts. From the smallest to the biggest thoughts about the LJL! As always, thank you for reading my article.
1. A new chapter for Burning Core; Roki retires, Eugeo will make his LJL debut. Will he live up?
After five years of competitive play, Roki decided to hang up the shoes and say goodbye to the LJL. Roki has been with Burning Core for the majority of his career with some great performances. Now with Roki leaving the Burning Core squad, the replacement didn’t surprise anyones minds as Eugeo filled in Roki’s shoes.
What do we know about Eugeo? Eugeo (also formerly known as: ときれろろ or タオちゃん) is an 18 years old mid-laner who previously was an trainee for Sengoku Gaming, before getting released by the team. He then participated in the LJL scouting grounds, which he was impressive enough to be picked up by Burning Core. Little is more known, but we have to see in the upcoming split!
2. Will Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks recover after a horrible spring split?
Last place in the spring split is what the SoftBank Hanks would need to forget. A stacked roster including Tussle and Ramune failed to meet expectations. Following into this season, it was announced that Ramune would be sitting in the substitution position, while Dasher will swap back from top to mid lane. Following the vacant position of Dasher in the top lane, Arumik will fill in the void.
The benching of Ramune comes as a big surprise. Whereas he looked really solid on DetonatioN FocusMe, he couldn’t deliver the same impact on SoftBank Hawks. Nevertheless, Dasher used to be a mid laner with good performances in the LJL and perhaps that is the direction that the SoftBank Hawks need in order to aim for higher spots!
3. Covid-19, how will it affect the LJL coming into the split?
As I’m typing currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is still ongoing in the world. Whilist Japan not that much affected as other countries, it still has regulations that directly affect the LJL. The first one being that the LJL will be played online, instead of played in the Yoshimoto Mugendai Hall. Throughout the split, the Covid-19 situation will be checked if it will be safe to play in the venue. Lets all hope that our players can participate in the venue soon!
The second issue would be player rosters. Sadly, not every player can currently compete in the LJL. Rosters for Rascal Jester and AXIZ are not complete, as multiple South Korean players cannot join their teams yet. On Rascal Jesters side, we will have Pink and Nagi instead of Ninja and viviD and on AXIZ we will have Uinyan on bot (!) instead of Hide. Natsume will play on the spot of Uinyan. With the first few games being a false start for some teams, it could be detrimental for not making play-offs as every game counts big.
4. DetonatioN FocusMe; the kings of LJL, will we see a new winner in summer?
We saw how dominant DetonatioN FocusMe can be, but we also saw that there is vunerability and weak spots for the line-up of the Japanese reigning champion. DFM always has the expectation to be the first placed team in the LJL, although Sengoku Gaming and V3 Esports are willing to prove otherwise. How likely is it that we will have a different champion than in the spring season?
To answer your question: It is possible, but not likely. Even though both Sengoku Gaming and V3 Esports made it difficult for DFM, it almost looked like DFM were on a different gas pedal when it came down to the finals. How do you dismantle DFM? Well that is also a difficult question to answer. The only possible way to shut down DFM is through severe jungle pressure, although much easier said than done with the great laners of DFM that can back up their jungler. We should see if one of the LJL teams could dismantle DFM in the upcoming season.
5. Closer and closer to the international stage, how will LJL do at worlds?
I’ve always wanted to see how much potential an LJL team could have if they were on the highest stage of level at worlds. I felt that LJL teams were always closing the gap to their international rivals, however there was always one step missing from making the next step. My most memorable international moment would be MSI 2019, where only one win against Vega Squadron was needed to advance into the next rounds of MSI. It was painful at the time.
But how will LJL do at worlds? As previous results may have been noted, I think the LJL has a great chance of succeeding and having an successfull tournament. If all fares well, maybe with a bit of luck, things could go really well. The LJL as a whole has been growing rapidly, even more so than previous years. A qualification spot would be the approval note for the LJL that the region has been successfull in their approach and I wish that is going to be the case!
Are you interested in the upcoming season? Tune into the next LJL match!
Interested in the LJL? Come and watch the next LJL broadcast either on the official Japanese broadcast or the English broadcast!
On the 13th of June, the LJL will return for the start of the LJL Summer Split. Starting on 6AM CEST, AXIZ will play against Crest Gaming Act. Make sure to watch the game!
Join our LJL English Discord to discuss and learn even more about the LJL!
I hope you had a wonderful read about The past is not the future presented. Five things looking forward into the LJL season! And on every Thursday. I will post an new article which features various things about the LJL. So stay tuned!
