SoftBank Hawks Gaming is coming into this series as the third seed in the LJL in what is really probably a two-team race in most opinions. However, if there is a team that can make some noise against the top two, it’s SHG. Rascal Jester has had an OK split so far relative to the rest of the LJL, but that’s not saying much. They finished with an 8-13 record, a whole 7 games behind SHG, but still enough for them to secure the fourth seed.
From a team standpoint SHG is better overall, and while RJ will probably fight hard, it’s unlikely they will be able to push this series past four games. The summer split between these two went 2-1 in SHG’s favor, with RJ only winning the very first meeting all the way back in June. That was both teams’ first game of the split. Not only is the game different than back then, but so are the teams, so we don’t put much stock in that win. RJ would need to channel their inner Cloud9 to screw up this pick, and we don’t see that happening.
Pick: SHG -1.5 (-175)
