Failure can become routine, it will never be disappointing. In the face of Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, this was rarely as evident as after his retirement at the League of Legends World Cup 2018.
Even in the eighth year of his career, he again failed to prove himself internationally. In his sixth participation he had flown again before the knockout round from the tournament. It seems like an insurmountable hurdle in his career. At the World Cup in Europe, the 26-year-old wants to finally skip it.
It will be easy again: With the South Korean team Damwon Gaming and the reigning world champion Invictus Gaming from China, his team Team Liquid has caught two strong group opponents. After two wins from three games, they are at the same time at the World Cup preliminary round in Berlin with two teams at the head of Group C, the team ahq from Taiwan is clearly behind. On the last day of the group stage on Sunday (starting at 2 pm / stream: Twitch), all teams of one group will compete against each other again for a second leg. Then it will be decided if "Doublelift" finally makes the leap.
"The fans look at the games and expect me to fail again," said "Doublelift" the SPIEGEL after the opening victory at this year's World Cup against Damwon Gaming. "I do not even think that it would not work, because I have great faith in my abilities and the skills of my team."
North America's superstar
Team Liquid is the great hope of the North American League LCS to finally win a world title. But even for a final participation, it had not been enough. A flaw that makes the LCS number four behind the other major League of Legends regions of Korea, China and Europe.
"Doublelift" has been playing in the LCS since 2011, is her most successful professional and biggest star. As a mechanically talented player he made a name and Counter Logic Gaming to one of the top teams in the league. In 2015, "Doublelift" caused a scandal when, after internal disputes, he switched to the big rival Team Solo Mid and in a video discarded his old jersey in the trash. Although he also collected titles there after the renewed withdrawal in the preliminary round at the 2017 World Cup, however, he was tacitly replaced. He learned of his dismissal in a post on the Reddit platform.
Riot Games
Two superstars in a team: "Doublelift" with Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg (middle) in the TSM jersey
"I will destroy you this year," he announced to his old team in an interview with e-sports journalist Travis Gafford afterwards. "I want to destroy the heritage of TSM and make sure that they regret this decision." His mission was successful: since he joined Team Liquid, he dominated the league with his new employer, TSM missed the World Cup twice in a row.
"Revenge is my engine," he told SPIEGEL about his drive to get motivated again after sporting defeats. But he has suffered far worse setbacks.
Always on
Peng's entire career was accompanied by private tragedies. His parents rejected his passion for video games. Only with the support of his brother Yihong he was able to persuade her to let him travel to the first League of Legends World Cup in Sweden in 2011.
The disappointment of his parents over their son's poor performance led to the scandal and discussion of whether he should pursue his gaming career - and finally to his expulsion from the parental home. Peng stood in the street, looking for a new home on Reddit. He came under journalist Gafford. Peng later said that he had helped him to mature in human and to build an independent life.
In the video: "Doublelift" about the failure
Riot Games
Years later, in April 2018, his parents were victims of a knife attack. It was a week before the final of the first round in the North American league. His father survived seriously injured, his mother died. The culprit was Yiliang's brother Yihong. "Doublelift" nevertheless denied the final and took the title. Later, in an interview with Gafford, he said it was obvious to him that he still wanted to play.
"I will show it to you all next year"
For "Doublelift" continuing is the central theme. And recent successes can give him quite the courage to finally be able to boast on the international stage.
At the Mid Season Invitational in May, the dress rehearsal for the World Cup, he not only survived the group stage of an international tournament, Team Liquid made it to the finals and lost there only against the European team G2. The biggest surprise was "Doublelift" and his team, however, succeeded in the semifinals when they defeated Invictus Gaming on their first international appearance since the World Cup triumph. On Sunday in Berlin, both teams face each other in the final group match.
If "Doublelift" fail again, he will try again next year. He is like a modern Sisyphus. But how did Albert Camus say? "The fight against the summit can fill a human heart and we must imagine Sisyphus as a happy person."
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