One of the most popular and best players in League of Legends is Yilang “Doublelift” Peng (26). He parted ways with Team Liquid after a weak Spring Split and is now returning to his old team. However, there was actually a lot of drama and trouble with it.
What is the situation? Team Liquid won all 4 titles of the American LCS (League of Legends Championship Series) in 2018 and 2019. The team was considered strong, also due to the deadly bot lane with Doublelift and CoreJJ. But in 2020, nothing came together.
The team finished the Spring Split in second to last place, with 7 wins and 11 losses, setting a negative record. Never before has a champion failed to at least reach the playoffs in the following tournament.
Only one change was made to the team before the season. They traded the jungler Xmithie (28), who was criticized at Worlds, for the younger Broxah (22) from Fnatic. Broxah, however, had issues with his visa and only showed up after the league started.
In total, there were likely major communication problems in the team. Doublelift was reportedly no longer motivated, even being benched for a short time.
As the player revealed in a vlog, he no longer felt confident making calls upon returning to the team because he was afraid of “losing his job again”.
Doublelift returns to TSM, whom he actually wanted to destroy
What has happened now? In the off-season and before the start of the Summer Split, Team SoloMid (TSM) announced that Doublelift would return to them.
In an introductory video, the player explained that there were problems in player dynamics at Team Liquid. He and Liquid CEO Steve Arhancet agreed that a transfer would take place when the right team came calling.
The choice fell on TSM, which surprised many. Because the atmosphere between Doublelift and the team was very tense at the split in 2017.
What is the reason for the dispute? In 2017, TSM parted ways with Doublelift. However, he did not learn about it from a personal conversation, but from a thread on reddit. Subsequently, Doublelift vowed revenge, which he also got several times.
Why is he going back now? In a vlog, the player now revealed why he is returning to TSM specifically, despite the previous drama. There were speculations that it might have to do with the special relationship between him and TSM president Leena Xu, which was seemingly more than just professional. However, Doublelift said:
If Leena weren’t at TSM, would I join TSM? Definitely, yes. I joined because the roster is good, because the organization is super hyped and because of my previous relationships with Bjergsen [mid-laner at TSM and also a part-owner of the organization] and Bio [support at TSM].
I think if you took her [Leena] out of the equation, my decision would be exactly the same.
Can TSM now compete for the championship?
The time with Doublelift is considered one of the most successful for Team SoloMid:
- In 2016, the team finished 2nd in the Spring Playoffs and 1st in the Summer Playoffs.
- In 2017, TSM won both playoffs.
- In both years, they qualified for the Worlds, even if they were eliminated early there.
After the split, the organization reached the playoffs in every split, but only managed a 2nd place in Spring 2019. In the Spring Playoffs 2018 and the Summer Playoffs 2019, they finished both times 5th out of 6.
The Worlds have not been reached since Doublelift’s departure.
Many fans are now hoping for success with the return of the star player. Because even for TSM, the Spring Split went rather average. Doublelift himself is eager, as a tweet shows:
But for that, TSM would have to get past Cloud9. They are currently dominating the 2020 season. In doing so, the team made an unconventional decision and parted ways with the actual star player.
