his is the story of Doublelift, one of the best ADC’s in the League. Every League player has heard of Doublelift. He is one of the most efficient ADC’s that has ever played the game. But there are some people that do not know how he made it. This is his life journey and the obstacles he had to pass in order to make it. It would be normal to assume that he had the easy way, a Korean guy that knew his way into video games and somehow managed to climb to where he is now. But the story is much different.
Early beginnings- The story of Doublelift
Peng Yiliang, also known as Doublelift, was born in California in a family that was not so keen on video games. This has been Doublelifts’ biggest problem because he was always held back by his parents whenever he expressed his sincere passion for gaming. His parents thought that there is no future in the gaming world, and he just has to give up and focus on something more “real”.
Nevertheless, Doublelift has started his early career in 2011 by going to Sweden to play in his first pro tournament. He was part of EpikGamer, and they won the 4th place which brought the team a price tag of $7.000. Those were his first earnings as a pro player, and he would not get permission from his parents if it were not for his older brother!
The situation with his parents has hit the “ceiling” when he came back from the tournament, as they were not merely happy with his accomplishment. After a serious back-and-forth fight, they told him to leave the house if he wants to chase his “dream”. He did, packing his things and his computer and he announced on Reddit that from today he is homeless. He started writing novels and educational content for League of Legends to earn some money.
CLG
The biggest positive turn in Doubelifts’ life would be the signing from HotShotGG, who was a founder of the Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) team that competed professionally in League. His first role was a backing support, most familiar by his Blitz hooks. But he felt like he could “fly” higher, which is why he left the backing support role and went to be a first-choice support in EpikGaming, where he won the 4th place on the tournament in 2011 that took place in Sweden.
After short stints in unRestricted eSports and Team Curse, Doublelift came back in CLG in 2011. Although he did not see much success with CLG, he became famous by his flashy plays, his decision making and his KDA which was impressive for a player of that caliber. In 2012, CLG won the 4th place at the 2012 MLG Fall Championship, earning $2500. After that, their success has diminished, and it only came to the playoff appearance in 2014 and securing a spot in LCS. Doublelift left CLG in 2015 for a much bigger NA stage.
TSM
The legendary NA team, especially its founder Reginald, has signed Doublelift in 2015. With Doublelift, TSM has completely shined and although the first season was a bit rough with 9-9 record, after pairing the new support Vincent “Biofrost” Wang, the TSM has managed to go 17-1 in the summer split, with Doublelift earning the First-Team All-Pro Honors for his performance. TSM has also faced CLG in the summer split finals right after he joined TSM, but they have fallen short 3-2 and missed an opportunity for the Mid-Season Invitational.
However, in 2017 TSM has announced that Doublelift will be on a short personal break during the spring split. Doublelift has continued his streaming, but he was replaced by WildTurtle, also a prolific ADC player. The problems kept piling and it seemed like Doublelift did not enjoy his spot in TSM. The most vocal about Doublelift work ethic was Bjergsen, as he said that Doublelift needs to earn his place in the team and not expect to be playing just because of “old-glory”.
In 2018, Doublelift has officially left TSM for another NA team, known as Team Liquid. He had a temporal deal with them back in 2017 while still being signed by TSM, but the official signing by TL went in 2018, with the team bringing back his old CLG teammates Xmithie and Pobelter.
Team Liquid and the death of his parents
Doublelift had amazing start with the new team, securing a spot right behind TSM with a record of 12 wins and 8 losses. Team Liquid has made it to the NA finals in 2018 with the victories over C9 and Echo Fox gaming. But nothing could prepare Doublelift for the news he was about to hear a week before the finals.
His brother allegedly stabbed his mother to death and seriously injured his father. Although his brother was his biggest influence, and his parents were his biggest obstacle, he said that he was sorry that he could not make it work with them and he wishes he could turn back time and focus on improving their relationship.
In the summer of 2018, Team Liquid went on a tear to secure the first spot right above C9. They faced C9 in the finals and Team Liquid cruised for a 3-0 victory to claim the title of NA champions. Unfortunately, they had the group exit in 2018 worlds.
In 2019, TL had some new signings such as Jensen on the mid-lane and CoreJJ in the support lane. With these new signings, TL had a score of 14-4, as they faced TSM in the Spring splits finals where TL won 3-2 against TSM, earning them another NA championship. TL has also won the summer splits, secured a spot in the 2019 worlds where they got eliminated with going 3-3 and finishing third in the group.
2020 and Doublelifts’ final pro activities
Team Liquid was performing poorly in 2020, due to the inactivity of the new jungler Broxah (visa issues) combined with the bad games that Doublelift had. Due to these bad games, Doublelift was benched and TL Tactical has claimed his role. After claiming his place 1 week after, Doublelift and Team Liquid did not manage to secure a spot in the split’s playoffs and they missed the worlds too, which brought the decision for TL to trade Doublelift back to TSM.
Doublelift and TSM won the 2020 NA championship even though their championship road started a little shaky. After replacing Biofrost with another support from the academy, Treatz, the Team managed to go 12-6 and face FlyQuest in the finals. They won 3-2 and that secured Doublelifts’ 8th championship.
However, the worlds performance was very poor as TSM went 0-6 as Doublelift has decided to retire at the end on the 2020. Later on, in 2021 TSM has announced that Doublelift would be returning to their organization as a full-time streamer and content creator, something he works to this day still! His high MMR, as well as his excellent mechanical skills are so good that his Twitch followers are asking themselves: Is this guy scripting or he is THAT good?
