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Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has announced his retirement from professional League of Legends. The North American superstar and TSM’s ADC will be hanging his mouse and keyboard after over a decade of performing on the highest stages. He took to Twitter to announce as he highlighted the struggles he faced, reflects on his long career, and thanked the fans and team for their support.
His announcement came right after TSM’s mid laner, Soren “Bjergen” Bjerg, decided to step down as a player and take up the role of head coach in TSM. In his statement, he said, “I am extremely fortunate to have played professional League for over a decade, literally over a third of my life. To have been able to play alongside truly great players, coaches, and staff, who propelled me to greater levels. To have a huge fanbase who cares about and supports me, many of them so much that they feel my happiness in victories and pan in losses. I feel deeply grateful for the opportunity to make a career out of the one thing in life I have loved above all else.”
He also made comments on how hard work took him to the point he is at today. It reads, “For five years, I practiced 14 hours a day and lost every important match. Then, I finally won my first LCS championship. Today, I have won eight of the last eleven splits. Hard work and determination paid off. I am fully aware of the irony of saying that in my retirement post.”
Doublelift has been playing since the beginning of the competitive League of Legends. He started his career at the Season 1 World Championship with Epik Gamer. His exceptional mechanical skills did not lead to his team’s success in his early days. Starting with Epik Gamers in 2011, he moved from there to Unrestricted Esports, to Team Curse, and finally, Counter Logic Gaming (CLG). Throughout, he never won a single event in either of the teams.
2015 was the start of a different path for his career. After a middling finish with Counter Logic Gaming, they dominated the Summer, ending with a 3-0 sweep over TSM in the finals. That was the start of something great as he went on to win eight of 11 LCS splits with Team Liquid and TSM.
None of these domestic successes led to an international one. Him being on the best teams North America had to offer did not do the trick for him. He never made it out of the Group Stage at the World Championship. His best international result was as a runner up to G2 Esports at MSI 2019. What seems to now be his last international appearance concluded very poorly as TSM became the first number one seed to go 0-6 at Worlds.
Doublelift has always wanted to play with a better support. But, he had already announced his retirement before the team went on to go into contract with SwordArt. Regardless, his departure, coupled with that of Bjergsen, will leave a massive hole for TSM to fill. Both players were exceptional and will surely be missed in the LCS.
Team Liquid, TSM, and LCS also took to Twitter to congratulate him and express their gratitude. LCS said, “Thank you for the outplays. Thank you for the trash talk. Thank you for making the #LCS what it is today. Thank you @TSMDoublelift.”
On a final note, Doublelift expresses his gratitude and talks about plans. He said, “Thank you for watching me grow from a hopeless kid into a successful adult. I will be starting a new chapter of life now, and I’d like your support in that too.” What these “plans” are, no one knows yet.