Doublelift says LCS playoff double elimination saved his career

A recent loss to Golden Guardians has Team SoloMid bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng reflecting on his performance and receiving another shot in the 2020 LCS Summer Split playoffs. 

TSM players and fans were feeling down after a devastating 0-3 loss to Golden Guardians in the first round of the summer split playoffs. TSM followed up the series with a convincing 3-0 victory against Dignitas, but the team was still reeling from being unexpectedly swept in the playoffs’ opening round. 

In a recent interview with Travis Gafford, Doublelift addressed the loss to Golden Guardians and acknowledged that he played one of the worst series of his professional career. The bot lane was a weak point for TSM vs Golden Guardians, with a total of 16 deaths spread over the three games played. 

“I think I kept a pretty level head the whole time. I think I just played one of the worst series of my life,” Doublelift said in the interview. 

Is the double-elimination format good for the LCS?

While TSM lost its first playoff series, the team is still able to make a run through the lower bracket. The lower bracket was added to the 2020 LCS Spring Split and has been a safety net for teams having a bad day. The lower bracket has also made it possible for the highest-seeded teams to cruise through to the finals if they play well. 

Doublelift mentioned in his interview that the double-elimination format potentially saved his career, given that the team would already have been eliminated from playoff contention if they had played the playoff old format. An exit this early in the playoffs would have been a major disappointment for a TSM organization that has been struggling to achieve results in recent years. 

In the summer split, another new feature has been added to the playoffs format. Now eight teams can qualify for the playoffs, leaving just two teams out. The change has received a lot of criticism from the community for rewarding some of the worst teams in the league. 

The biggest frustration seems to be the fact that seventh and eighth seeds will now have a chance in the playoffs, even though they will have to go all the way through the lower bracket. Fans have been complaining that the teams are now rewarded even though they went through the regular split with bad records. 

Even though Dignitas and 100 Thieves got a shot at playoffs, they have already proven themselves unworthy. Both teams lost 0-3 to their opponents without much chance of winning. It’s still unknown if Riot will continue with this new LCS playoff format, but the recent results have left much to be desired. 

Despite the shaky playoffs performance, TSM is still considered a contender for the LCS title and a spot at the 2020 World Championship.