Doublelift is sticking with TSM, contract extends through 2021

TSM seems very confident in their decision to purchase Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s contract from Team Liquid. 

Doublelift’s new team has extended his contract through November 16, 2021, according to the Riot Games Global Contract Database. The database was last updated on April 29, 2020, bringing some changes to the listings, Doublelift’s contract extension included. 

After Team Liquid failed to make it to the LCS’ Spring Split playoffs, Doublelift’s contract was put up for trade. In a candid vlog on the topic, Doublelift admitted his poor attitude and lack of motivation had led to him feeling unwanted by his teammates. Even when Team Liquid’s owner, Steve Arhancet, supported him staying with the team in the Summer Split, the star AD carry felt that his teammates and coaches hadn’t forgiven him for his prior attitude and the resulting issues it caused.

“The whole situation felt unfair to me. I felt I was forcing myself back into a team that didn’t want to play with me. Do I want to spend the rest of the year like my job is always on the line and I’m constantly being haunted by my mistake?” Doublelift said. 

That led to Doublelift deciding to leave Team Liquid and join TSM, where he will play alongside star mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg. This was a duo that worked very well in the past, which is most likely why TSM has a lot of confidence in Doublelift going into the Summer Split. 

One concern could be Doublelift learning to play with jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Harnett and top laner Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik. But DL is no stranger to playing with new teammates. He’s proven to be an adaptable player, but only when he believes in his teammates and only when he feels supported by his coaches. He has previously seen success after swapping teams, both in moving from Counter Logic Gaming to TSM, and from TSM to Team Liquid.

Team Liquid’s coach, Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok, has come forward to state that the team supported Doublelift with individual meetings. 

“There is no world where we would let these things go unaddressed. These issues were not getting fixed even after the conversations we had with Peter, until Peter became sick and was benched,” Dodo said. 

From Doublelift’s perspective, he wasn’t welcomed on the team anymore and felt that he was being silenced. Conversly, Dodo claimed that Doublelift had been wanting to step back from his heavy communication style. 

It will be interesting to see if Doublelift takes on a shotcalling role on TSM or if he steps back and leaves that to his teammates.