Doublelift, former No.1 ADC in NA, shares ADC with Tactical

Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng will be reevaluated by Team Liquid, making him share the spot with former Academy ADC, Edward “Tactical” Ra.

Rikara is being brought in to play Academy so both DL and Tactical can both focus on LCS. Tactical will start this weekend, but we’ll continue to evaluate week to week.

— Steve Arhancet (@LiQuiD112) March 4, 2020

Many speculated Doublelift was not participating in the League of Legends Championship Series due to continued illness. But he has since recovered and is not competing due to his level of play being unacceptable. Steve Arhancet, the owner of TL, spoke more on the subject.

Rikara is being brought in to play Academy so both DL and Tactical can both focus on LCS. Tactical will start this weekend, but we’ll continue to evaluate week to week.

— Steve Arhancet (@LiQuiD112) March 4, 2020

Doublelift spoke out about the roster move, admitting his own fault, in the latest episode of TL’s docuseries: SQUAD. He confessed a lack of motivation after winning in North America as much as he already has.

“There’s no point in being sad. I should just be a better player,” Doublelift stated on camera.

Moving forward, Doubelift must compete to earn back his starting position in the LCS. Being a highly skilled player with an extensive pedigree, it should be of no issue if he performs at his expected level. The rest is up to Team Liquid and how they wish to handle disciplinary actions.

Tactical, Doublelift’s current replacement, had his LCS debut last week. He and TL took their first 2-0 weekend in 2020, something not yet accomplished while Doublelift was still on the roster. TL’s decision to swap has found some correlation between his play and Team Liquid’s overall performance.

During his time on Team SoloMid, Doublelift went through a similar occurrence of motivational drought. TSM proved, at the time, to be North America’s most dominant team in the LCS. But Doublelift eventually grew unmotivated and took a leave of absence. Jason “WildTurtle” Tran filled in as TSM’s ADC. With WildTurtle on the roster, TSM won the 2017 Spring Championship. Eventually, Doublelift returned and they were able to take the Summer Championship, making it to Worlds. But like the current TL, Doublelift, and TSM failed to accomplish anything significant on an international stage. Many fans attribute 2016 and 2017 TSM’s international failures with their roster volatility. Despite winning multiple successive regional championships, Team Liquid is on a similar path.

In the past couple of years, TL surpassed TSM as the most dominant team in LCS history. But winning that much builds an expectation of success. Failure to reach that expectation is not only stressful for the fans, but also for the players. Doublelift holds a tendency to become unmotivated, in spite of his recurring regional successes. While this habit is not ideal for the success of North American competition, any worker can experience the same burnout. Professional players under massive amounts of pressure are capable of the very same failures.

Written by Devon Huge