In a conversation with LS – a commentator from the LCK, Doublelift criticized other teams for their lackluster attitude and tendency to give up easily. After Cloud9 completed their championship run in the 2020 LCS Spring Split with an astonishing record of 17 wins and 1 loss, Doublelift believes that C9’s dominant performance stands as an example of the weakness and lack of competitive spirit from the rest of the teams in the LCS.
The Team Liquid AD carry stated that if they were in Korea, Cloud9 would become the “enemy” of the audience, as their matches were always one-sided and never needed a fifth game. Of course, this jest was not meant as a direct attack on the new LCS champions.
Doublelift affirmed that C9’s championship victory was completely deserved, but what frustrates him is that the other teams could have posed more challenges to this team. He shared that, contrary to their ranking results, many LCS teams had previously crushed C9 during scrims.
However, whenever these teams faced Cloud9 in official matches, they adopted a mindset of giving up and almost handed the victory to Zven and his teammates even before the match started.
Using C9 as an example, Doublelift pointed out a factor that keeps LCS as mere fillers in international tournaments. They have never had the concept of a comeback, leading to the situation where if a North American team falls behind in the early game, the result is almost certain to be a significant loss in both gold and kills.
In reality, while Doublelift’s remarks may be hard to hear, they are the most accurate descriptions of the current state of the LCS. The representatives of North American League of Legends generally still present a rather lackluster face. They are not short of stars, but whenever they have to face formidable opponents, it seems like their mindset always computes: “The enemy is strong, losing doesn’t matter.”
Perhaps this tendency to give up easily, along with the nature of the league being compared to a “retirement home” for stars from other regions, has led to a decline in the quality of LCS players. Doublelift himself is not faring much better, after the “achievement” of finishing in 9th/10th place in the 2020 LCS Spring Split and his criticisms of his teammates at Team Liquid, this AD carry is even at risk of being “kicked out” by the former LCS champion during the summer transfer period.