J Team book their place in the second round of the LMS playoffs

The first round of the LMS playoffs has come to a close, paving the way for the Spring Split’s conclusion—and J Team took first blood.

J Team, formerly known as the Taipei Assassins, were the season two world champions. The team survived an early scare from Machi Esports this morning to win the series 3-1.

Machi completely dominated the first game against J Team, securing every dragon and Baron to help them take the game after a drawn-out 44-minute match.

This would be the only dominant display for Machi throughout the evening, however, as J Team looked to capitalize on their previous macro game and team fighting mistakes, improving substantially with their communication to punish Machi on the rebound in game two.

Machi were still able to contest huge objectives throughout the series, picking up a few valuable fire and earth dragons to keep them in the running.

J Team answered by picking up their own valuable targets, such as low-tier dragons and the all-important Baron buff, to close out games two, three, and four—giving Machi little hope for a comeback.

J Team will now face ahq e-Sports Club on April 22 in the second round of the LMS Spring Playoffs. The winner of that match will proceed to face Flash Wolves on April 23 in the final.

The winner of the Playoff Tournament will represent the LMS region at the Mid-Season Invitational, held in Brazil on April 28.