The last time North American League of Legends star Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng entered Summoner’s Rift in the LCS was back in 2020 on TSM. While he led TSM to another domestic title after a three-year drought, his final competitive year was overshadowed by their disastrous 0-6 record at Worlds 2020.
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“So, can I still compete? Yeah, but there’s an asterisk there.”
After Doublelift transitioned from pro to streamer in 2020, he has still been a fixture of the North American stream be it as part of podcasts or co-streaming the LCS. In the most recent episode of the Trash Talk podcast he admitted that he still has the “urge to compete”.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more decorated player in the North American scene with eight domestic titles, plenty of MVP awards and All-Pro First Team appearances. But despite his will to compete, Doublelift has also been realistic in his prospects should he decide to return.
Instead of his famed “Everyone else is trash”-approach, he would look towards emulating Bjergsen’s stance after the midlaner’s recent return to active competitive play on Team Liquid.
Where would Doublelift go in the LCS?
But there is of course a caveat to Doublelift’s willingness to come back to competitive play and that is which team could he realistically join? The current top teams in the LCS all seem committed to their ADC carries (especially Team Liquid and Cloud 9 have both imported Botlaners to great effect) and it is unlikely that Doublelift would agree to joining a team that is not challenging for the title and international appearances.
A prime example of a prominent team that could need the return of Doublelift would be TSM, which has had a nightmare of a season so far, but there might just be too many burned bridges for that to happen. It is also not the first time Doublelift has prominently stated the wish to return to the LCS, so far, we will keep you updated if the North American legend will actually return to competitive play.
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