In the context of Team Liquid facing a severe crisis as they sit in the lower half of the LCS Spring 2020 standings, the fact that rookie Tactical replaced Doublelift in the starting lineup last week has further worried fans about a “domino effect” for the reigning North American champions.
According to initial reports, Doublelift’s benching was due to health issues, specifically laryngitis. However, Doublelift recently admitted that the primary reason for his sitting on the bench was a loss of motivation to compete. His heartfelt words raised concerns among fans about his intention to retire. Nevertheless, Doublelift quickly quelled those worries by affirming that he would soon regain his spirit and return to compete for a starting position.
“I’ve been benched because until recently, I had no motivation at all. Health issues and not being able to compete made it hard for me to get excited again, but it was too late. I want to apologize to everyone, my teammates. I will try to earn their trust back.”
Thus, fans can temporarily rest easy knowing that Doublelift still has an interest in competing. However, given his current health and mental state, it remains uncertain whether the number one star of North American League of Legends can regain his peak performance.
Despite being the king of North America with a plethora of regional championship titles, he has been rather unfortunate in the World Championship. In five appearances at the biggest event in professional League of Legends, Doublelift has been eliminated in the group stage all five times. Even in the recent 2019 Worlds, he and Team Liquid entered the tournament as MSI runners-up and with a strong, promising lineup, but ultimately, the North American marksman still could not escape the cruel curse of fate.
Perhaps the shock of being eliminated in the group stage of the recent Worlds is also a reason why Doublelift feels disheartened and no longer eager to try hard for professional titles. Hopefully, he will soon overcome this “psychological burden” and return to the top-tier arena.