Team Liquid has been the dominant force in North American League of Legends for some time now, but its iconic ADC Yilliang ‘Doublelift’ Peng says he hates being “the favourite” and “the villain” in the LCS and envies those with less pressure and exposure on them.
Speaking in an LCS roundtable alongside fellow NA players William ‘Meteos’ Hartman of 100 Thieves, Zaqueri ‘Aphroomo’ Black of Dignitas, and Greyson ‘Goldenglue’ Gilmer of Golden Guardians, Doublelift opened up about suffering from the success of Team Liquid, who have won four consecutive LCS splits.
When asked by interviewer James ‘Dash’ Patterson how – and if – Team Liquid could be stopped in the upcoming split, Doublelift began to voice his frustrations at constantly being the team to beat. “I hate being the favourite actually,” he admits. “I really hate being the ‘overconfident favourite’. I hate the expectation being that we win, like I’d always rather be the underdog. In a way, I kinda envy all the other teams in the LCS because I hate being the villain, and I think now my team is the villain. No one wants to see us win again, it’s boring.
He then reflected on his early career at Counter Logic Gaming and reminisced about having the LCS fan base on your side. “It feels bad that you’re trying to accomplish something that no one wants. Like when I was on CLG, everyone wanted to see us win. That was like, cool. So yeah, it’s a little sad now like everyone wants to take me down.”
Team Liquid enters the 2020 LCS Spring Split as firm favourites after retaining the majority of last season’s roster, with the only addition being former Fnatic jungler Mads ‘Broxah’ Brock-Pedersen who made the switch from Europe to NA in the off season.
If Team Liquid can repeat what they did in 2018 and 2019 and win both splits, they will equal Team SoloMid’s record of six LCS titles.
