During the group stage of the World Championship of League of Legends, the American teams did not perform well in 2022. All NA teams were eliminated from the Worlds and had no chance for the title. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng had to repeatedly think about their embarrassing moment in 2020 during the games.
Who are Doublelift and Bjergsen?
- Bjergsen and Doublelift played together for TSM in Season 10 (2020).
- Both players were already known for their brilliance in their lanes. Bjergsen was considered the best player in North America on the Midlane, and Doublelift on the ADC role.
- In 2022, Bjergsen is back in the professional league, this time for Team Liquid and can occasionally be seen in Doublelift’s streams.
- Both players temporarily retired from professional play after the “embarrassing” match.
MeinMMO tells you the story behind the “9-Man-Sleep.” Here you can watch the game:
When watching the game, it becomes clear that TSM was not in a good position. They stood with 0-4 in the group stage. Therefore, the Worlds were already over for them. However, the ambition of professional players to prove themselves should not be underestimated.
You can see how Spica on Lilia attempts everything to win the game. He jumps in and catches all 5 opponents with the Q ability “Blooming Burst.” He can then use Lilia’s ultimate ability “Gentleman’s Lullaby” to lull the opponents to sleep. This causes the players to be immobilized for 2 seconds.
However, the TSM players do nothing. They run to the Midlane and kill minions. Bjergsen and Doublelift explain what exactly went wrong.
If you can’t get enough of the earworm, we have the Worlds Anthem for you here:
The game goes down in history as “9-Man-Sleep”
What do the players say about it? Doublelift and Bjergsen blame each other. “I don’t want to say it’s your fault, but …”, says Bjergsen. Doublelift replies that his Lucian still had Flash left to do something at that moment.
Doublelift, however, also blames himself for his own gameplay. If he hadn’t messed up his ultimate ability and could have used his Flash offensively, it would have been a sure Pentakill.
However, both players agree that the entire team was too afraid to take the initiative. While the opponents were all gathered, they were hidden in Senna’s cloud. Someone from the team should have taken the initiative and made a move to allow vision on the opponents.
This situation could not be utilized to TSM’s advantage at that time, which led to them losing the game. They exited the Worlds with 0-6 and left a lasting impression on many fans.
Why do the players still think about it? This year’s World Championship also does not present the Americans in a good light. It happened several times in games that they did not take their chances and therefore did not make it past the group stage.
The American teams finished 1-5 at the Worlds, showed some nice moments, but could not convince with their performance. The professional players and viewers felt transported back to the year 2020. “Joseph Ramirez” writes: “0-6 is my all-time favorite moment” (via YouTube).
Doublelift says in the video that he had to think about TSM’s situation in 2020 again and again during the Worlds 2022.
A viewer agrees. “pepega clapper” says: “It sounds like a conversation from war veterans about their trauma.” The failed game still seems to be a topic for (ex-)professional players.
If you want to read more news about the Worlds 2022, you can find something exciting here: LoL: One of the best players in the world is eliminated from the Worlds after an epic battle
