Doublelift

Yiliang "Peter" Peng (Chinese: 彭亦亮[2]; pinyin: Péng Yìliàng), better known by his in-game name Doublelift, is an American professional League of Legends player who is the AD carry for Team SoloMid. He previously played for Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid.

For the sleight-of-hand card magic maneuver, see Double lift.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Peng.

Doublelift
Yiliang "Peter" Peng
Personal information
Born	(1993-07-19) 19 July 1993
Hometown	Mission Viejo, California
Nationality	American
Career information
Status	Active
League	League of Legends Championship Series
Current team	Team SoloMid
Games	League of Legends
Career prize money	$174,782.03 as of August 2018[1]
Career history
2011	Counter Logic Gaming
2011	Epik Gamer
2011	unRestricted/Team Curse
2011–2015	CLG Prime/Counter Logic Gaming
2015–2017	Team SoloMid
2017	Team Liquid (loan)
2017–2020	Team Liquid
2020–present	Team SoloMid
Career highlights and awards
7× NA LCS champion Rift Rivals 2017
Honors League of Legends LoL Invitational Runner-up 2012 South Korea Intel Extreme Masters Runner-up 2014 Cologne Mid-Season Invitational Runner-up 2019 Vietnam

Career

Peng comes from California, and started playing console games before jumping to PC titles such as DotA, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of Newerth before eventually moving to League of Legends.[3] In an interview with Machinima in 2013, Peng said his relationship with his parents was strained over his dream of being a professional esports player. "I would always struggle with my parents... we would just argue over everything, especially games. When I wanted to play they thought it was just a complete waste of time. It got worse and worse over the years."[4] Peng first entered professional League of Legends when he gained the attention of George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis, founder of Counter Logic Gaming (CLG), who recruited him as a substitute Support player. Shortly after, Peng left CLG to become the starter Support for Epik Gamer. He later joined UnRestricted as the starting AD Carry. The team was acquired by Team Curse later that year.

Peng's first major tournament was DreamHack Summer 2011, the Riot Season 1 Championship. Hosted in Sweden, he needed his parents' permission to go, but at the time his beginning esports career was a secret to his parents. "They wouldn't let me go... They were like 'You're going to die if you go to Sweden for Dreamhack'. " He was ultimately allowed to go after Doublelift's older brother helped convince their parents.[4]

Peng was timid and socially awkward around his teammates. "I was really awkward and really introverted at the time. I was just that typical Asian guy who does nothing but play games. When I finally met my team I was like 'hi' and that was like the only thing I said. I said nothing after that. I was just a presence with them but I didn't interact with them very much."[4] In a Reddit AMA, Peng said he owed it to Epik Gamer for giving him the opportunity to begin his career. "Without Epik Gamer, I would have never made it into the pro scene most likely."[5]

When Peng returned home, he said his parents were not proud of his accomplishment at Dreamhack. "They wanted me to go to college." Tensions grew between him and his parents over his choice of career, until in 2011 his parents told him to leave the house. He did, taking his prize money from Dreamhack and his computer.[4] Peng wrote about the event on Reddit in a thread titled "Hi I'm Doublelift, formerly of team [Epik Gamer], and today I became homeless."[6] With no college degree or family to return to, he decided to go all-in on his professional gaming career. Peng began earning money for writing educational League of Legends content for Team Curse. "I pretty much made half the guides for that site... I was just super happy and I could finally pay rent that month." [4]

2012

CLG prime would attend the 2012 MLG Fall Championship in Dallas on November 2 through 4th. In the first round they faced the Korean powerhouse NaJin Sword, where they were routed in two lopsided matches. Falling to the losers bracket, CLG Prime would sweep Curse Gaming in round one, and then pick up a close 2-1 series against another NA team Dignitas. They faced their sister team CLG EU in Round 3 and lost 2-1 and were eliminated from the tournament. CLG Prime finished in 4th with $2,000 in winnings.[7]

2013

On February 27, 2013, CLG participated in the Riot Season 3 North American League Championship Series Spring Split.[8]

2015

CLG and Peng were fined on January 6, 2015 after being found guilty of poaching ZionSpartan. CLG was fined $2,000 while Peng was fined $2,500. Furthermore, CLG was restricted from fielding ZionSpartan as a player or coach for the first week of the 2015 LCS Spring Split.[9]

For the first eight weeks of the spring split, CLG were never lower in the standings than tied for second place. At the end they lost a second-place tie breaker to Cloud9 and so ended up in third place in the regular season. Ultimately, CLG lost to Team Liquid in the quarterfinals and ended the split tied for fifth place with Gravity Gaming.[10]

Peng was benched during the Summer LCS due to an injury incurred from playing basketball.[11]

In August Peng helped CLG win their first ever LCS Split playoff title.[12] The victory also qualified them for the 2015 League of Legends World Championship. At Worlds CLG failed to make the bracket and finished 12/13th. On October 31, CLG informed Peng that they were not going to re-sign him. Immediately after CLG released a statement,[13] Team SoloMid announced that Peng would be joining as their new AD Carry, replacing long tenured AD Carry WildTurtle.[14]

2017

Before the start of the 2017 season, Team SoloMid announced that Peng would be taking a hiatus from professional League of Legends during the spring split, saying "it's time for a small break." While he would remain contracted to the team, he would be streaming full-time until his return to professional play in the summer when, according to Team SoloMid owner Andy Dinh, he would have to compete with his replacement to return to the starting roster.[15] In the past, Peng has spoken out about the never-ending competitive schedule for professional League of Legends. After representing North America in the All-Star 2013 in Shanghai, Peng said in a Reddit AMA "I'm just tired of playing all day every day, and I want a goddamn break but it's not possible to get one."[16] In a Reddit AMA in 2014, Peng said "Most people who look at pros think that we live the dream life when in reality you either practice 16 hours a day or lose and end up frustrated. Sometimes you practice 16 hours a day and still end up losing."[5] One month later, Team SoloMid announced that WildTurtle would be Peng's replacement for the 2017 spring split.[17] In an interview, teammate Bjergsen agreed with Dinh's initial announcement that Peng would need to compete with his replacement, saying "I want WildTurtle to succeed and I wasn't just sitting around waiting for Peter because I wanted someone who was committed, and like I said I was disappointed and I felt he wasn't very committed. I didn't feel like he should just have the luxury of going out and making a lot of money [streaming] and returning to the team... No matter how good of a friend they are to me, if someone decides he's just going to take six months off and he thinks he's can just reenter the team, that's just not okay with me because I think everyone has to earn their spot."[18]

More than halfway through the spring season and threatened by relegation, Team Liquid announced that Peng would temporarily be joining the team and would be released back to Team SoloMid at the end of the spring split,[19] sparking controversy due to concerns of a conflict of interest when Peng inevitably competed against Team SoloMid while signed to Team Liquid. Team Liquid owner Steve Arhancet responded that Riot Games approved the trade after the team demonstrated that no other player in that role would be suitable for the team.[20]

2018

Before the start of the 2018 NA LCS season, Team SoloMid announced they would be parting ways with Peng, citing a desire for a stronger shot-caller in the bottom lane.[21] On the same day, Team Liquid announced Peng would be returning along with his ex-Counter Logic Gaming teammates Xmithie and Pobelter.[22] The team finished 4th place in the Spring Split regular season, securing a spot in the playoffs with a 12-8 record behind his former team TSM.[23] Team Liquid defeated Cloud9 3-0 in the quarterfinals and Echo Fox 3-1 in the semifinals to make it to the Team Liquid's first ever final.[24]

A week before the final, Peng learned that his mother Wei Ping Shen was killed and his father Guojon Peng seriously injured after his older brother Yihong Peng allegedly stabbed them in their family home in San Juan Capistrano California. Peng posted on Twitlonger "I'm still processing this news and joining up with my dad and little brother to make sure they're ok and the proper arrangements are being made. I'll likely be quiet on social media while I work through this. I hope you all understand and support me as you always have in the past."[25] In an interview with Machinima in 2013, Peng had said his older brother was his biggest influence on his life and career, and that he had regrets with his falling out with his parents and wished to make amends in the future, but with his busy career "right now I can't do that, I'm too busy."[4] Despite the pressure faced during this event, Steve Arhancet, owner and co-CEO of Team Liquid, announced that Doublelift would not be taking time off and was determined to play in the final as planned.[26] In the final, Team Liquid convincingly defeated 100 Thieves 3-0 and won its first league championship.[27]

In the summer split 2018, Doublelift and Team Liquid picked up where they left off in spring. A tightly contested regular season saw Team Liquid come out with the number one seed by only a single game over Cloud9, qualifying them for a bye in the first round and a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals. Matched up against 100 Thieves, Doublelift and Team liquid cruised to a 3-1 series victory to move on to a spot in the finals against Cloud9. On the eve of the NA LCS finals, Doublelift was awarded a long-awaited NA LCS MVP for the summer split. This was his first MVP award.[28] Team Liquid easily defeated Cloud9 3-0 in the finals to capture back to back North American LCS titles and looked towards a strong showing at Worlds 2018.[29] However, they were eliminated in the group stage by KT Rolster and Edward Gaming.

2019

Fresh out of a group stage exit at Worlds 2018, Team Liquid announced the signing of Jensen and former world champion CoreJJ to the midlane and support positions respectively. With their newly revamped roster, Team Liquid finished 14-4 on the 2019 Spring Split advancing to the Spring finals to face Doublelift's former team TSM. Team Liquid dropped the first two games of the series, and on the brink of elimination, Liquid picked up three straight wins to beat TSM in the best of 5 series, thus earning Doublelift his 6th championship and 3rd straight title win. Despite coming off of a strong performance in the Spring playoffs, Team Liquid struggled initially in the group stage of MSI 2019, but with a strong finish to the group stage they secured a 4th place seeding in the playoffs. This marked the first time Doublelift making it out of groups stage at an international tournament. In a surprising upset, the 4th seeded Team Liquid defeated the defending world champions, Invictus Gaming, in a four game series. Team Liquid advanced to the finals to face G2 Esports, where they were ultimately defeated in a 3-0 sweep.

After a disappointing finish to MSI 2019, Liquid started out the 2019 LCS Summer Split with a poor 2-2 start, tying them for 4th place. However, they regained their footing and managed to take sole ownership of first place in a few short weeks. They once again finished atop the LCS with a 14-4 record. In the summer playoffs, Liquid beat Clutch Gaming in a close five games series to secure their place at Worlds 2019. They advanced to the summer finals where they met the second seeded Cloud9. It was a tightly contested series with Liquid winning the first game of the series, but dropping games 2 and 3 to Cloud9. Liquid managed to turn the tables and win games 4 and 5 to secure their 4th straight LCS trophy and Doublelift his 7th championship overall. This victory made Doublelift the player with the most titles in NA LCS history. At Worlds 2019 Liquid had a lackluster 3-3 performance which led to them once again being eliminated in the group stage.

2020

With their premature exit from Worlds, Liquid parted ways with their jungler, Xmithie and signed former Fnatic Jungler, Broxah. Prior to the start of the spring 2020 split, Broxah had visa issues preventing him from joining them for the start of the spring season. Team Liquid performed very poorly, a far cry from their domination of the years prior. Midway through the split, Doublelift was benched in favor of Team Liquid Academy ADC Tactical. According Doublelift, this decision stemmed from his apparent lack of motivation to begin the 2020 spring split. Doublelift publicly apologized to his teammates for his attitude, and promised to work harder to return to the LCS stage. Doublelift returned to the starting lineup the following week, but ultimately Liquid finished the split in 9th place and did not make 2020 Spring Playoffs. Doublelift and Team Liquid's failure to qualify for playoffs marked the first time in LCS history that the reigning champion not qualify for the following split's playoffs.

With a disappointing finish to Spring 2020, Team Liquid traded Doublelift to Team SoloMid for the 2020 Summer Split.

Personal life

Peng was born on July 19, 1993, and grew up in Mission Viejo, California.[30] He has a younger and an older brother. In April 2018, his mother was killed and his father injured after an altercation outside of their family's home.[31][32][33]

Peng is close friends with eSports journalist Travis Gafford. In an interview with Team Dignitas, Gafford said they first met when Peng posted on Reddit that he was homeless and Gafford offered for him to live on his couch until he had money to pay rent.[34] Peng said "Travis really helped me grow up as a person because when I'm playing games and focusing on my job you don't have basic social skills or an understanding of the world. When I go outside I'm like 'how much money am I supposed to spend on food? How do I do my taxes? How do I get a bank account?' I didn't have a credit card, all I had was my wallet with cash and a PayPal account. He helped me set up a bank account, he helped me set up my life."[4]

Tournament results

Career Tournament Results
Date	Event	Placing	Team	Record	Opponent(s)
June 18–20, 2011	League of Legends World Championship Season 1	4th	Epik Gamer	12-7	Team SoloMid
April 25, 2012	Champions 2012 Spring	5th-8th	Counter Logic Gaming	0-2	MiG Blaze
February 7 – April 19, 2013	2013 NA LCS Spring Regular Season	4th	Counter Logic Gaming	13-15	N/A
April 26, 2013	2013 NA LCS Spring Playoffs	5th-8th	Counter Logic Gaming	1-2	Team Vulcan
June 12 – August 16, 2013	2013 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	6th	Counter Logic Gaming	13-15	N/A
August 31, 2013	2013 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	5th	Counter Logic Gaming	2-0	Team Curse
January 16–April 6, 2014	2014 NA LCS Spring Regular Season	3rd	Counter Logic Gaming	18-10	N/A
April 26, 2013	2014 NA LCS Spring Playoffs	3rd	Counter Logic Gaming	2-0	Team Curse
May 23–August 3, 2014	2014 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	5th	Counter Logic Gaming	13-15	N/A
August 29, 2014	2014 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	6th	Counter Logic Gaming	1-3	Team Dignitas
January 24 – March 29, 2015	2015 NA LCS Spring Regular Season	3rd	Counter Logic Gaming	12-7	N/A
April 4, 2015	2015 NA LCS Spring Playoffs	5th-6th	Counter Logic Gaming	0-3	Team Liquid
May 30 – July 26, 2015	2015 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	2nd	Counter Logic Gaming	13-6	N/A
August 23, 2015	2015 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	1st	Counter Logic Gaming	3–0	Team SoloMid
October 1–11, 2015	2015 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage	12th/13th	Counter Logic Gaming	2-4	Flash Wolves, KOO Tigers, and paiN Gaming
January 16 – March 20, 2016	2016 NA LCS Spring Regular Season	6th	Team SoloMid	9-9	N/A
April 17, 2016	2016 NA LCS Spring Playoffs	2nd	Team SoloMid	2-3	Counter Logic Gaming
June 3 – July 31, 2016	2016 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	1st	Team SoloMid	17-1	N/A
August 28, 2016	2016 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	1st	Team SoloMid	3-1	Cloud9
September 29 – October 8, 2016	2016 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage	9th-12th	Team SoloMid	3-3	Samsung Galaxy, Royal Never Give Up, and Splyce
July 5, 2017 – July 8, 2017	2017 League of Legends Rift Rivals EU vs. NA	1st	Team SoloMid	8-1	Unicorns of Love
June 2, 2017 – August 6, 2017	2017 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	1st	Team SoloMid	14-4	N/A
September 3, 2017	2017 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	1st	Team SoloMid	3-1	Immortals
October 5 – 15, 2017	2017 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage	9th-11th	Team SoloMid	3-4	Flash Wolves, Team WE, and Misfits Gaming
January 20 – March 18, 2018	2018 NA LCS Spring Regular Season	4th	Team Liquid	12-8	N/A
April 8, 2018	2018 NA LCS Spring Playoffs	1st	Team Liquid	3-0	100 Thieves
May 3 – May 20, 2018	2018 Mid-Season Invitational Group Stage	5th	Team Liquid	4-7	Royal Never Give Up, Kingzone DragonX, Flash Wolves, Fnatic, and EVOS Esports
June 16 – August 20, 2018	2018 NA LCS Summer Regular Season	1st	Team Liquid	12-6	N/A
September 9, 2018	2018 NA LCS Summer Playoffs	1st	Team Liquid	3-0	Cloud9
October 10 – 17, 2018	2018 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage	9th-11th	Team Liquid	3-3	KT Rolster, Edward Gaming, and MAD Team
January 26 – March 24, 2019	2019 LCS Spring Regular Season	1st	Team Liquid	14-4	N/A
April 13, 2019	2019 LCS Spring Playoffs	1st	Team Liquid	3-2	Team SoloMid
May 10 – May 14, 2019	2019 Mid-Season Invitational Group Stage	4th	Team Liquid	4-6	Flash Wolves, G2 Esports, Invictus Gaming, Phong Vũ Buffalo, and SK Telecom T1,
May 17 – May 19, 2019	2019 Mid-Season Invitational Knockout Stage	2nd	Team Liquid	0-3	G2 Esports
June 1 – August 4, 2019	2019 LCS Summer Regular Season	1st	Team Liquid	14-4	N/A
August 26, 2019	2019 LCS Summer Playoffs	1st	Team Liquid	3-2	Cloud9
January 25 – March 29, 2020	2020 LCS Spring Regular Season	9th	Team Liquid	7-11	N/A

References

1. "Doublelift - Peter Peng - League of Legends Player Profile". e-Sports Earnings. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
2. Li Yishen (李亦伸) (January 10, 2018). "「英雄聯盟」傳奇大師兄(Doublelift：彭亦亮)" (in Chinese). InsideSports. Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
3. "Doublelift's Esportspedia Page". Esportspedia. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
4. Doublelift: The Road to Success. Machinima, Inc. Apr 22, 2013. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
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7. "NAJIN SWORD STOMPS CLG PRIME IN THE FIRST NATCH OF THE MLG FALL CHAMPIONSHIPS". IGN. November 3, 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-12-11. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
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11. LeJacq, Yannick (June 19, 2015). "Basketball Injury Takes Out Top League Of Legends Player". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2015-10-12. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
12. Wynne, Jared (August 24, 2015). "Counter Logic Gaming sweep rivals to win their first LCS title". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
13. "CLG Parts Ways With Doublelift". clgaming.net. October 31, 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
14. Volk, Pete (October 31, 2015). "TSM announces addition of CLG's Doublelift as new AD Carry". SB Nation. Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
15. "TSM Doublelift Announcement". TSM News. Nov 1, 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-12-05. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
16. Peng, Yiliang (May 28, 2013). "Doublelift AMA post-Allstars". Reddit. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
17. Volk, Pete (Dec 7, 2016). "TSM brings back WildTurtle as new AD Carry". Rift Herald. Archived from the original on 2018-03-06. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
18. Shields, Duncan (Apr 29, 2018). 'Reflections' with Bjergsen. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
19. Van Allen, Eric (Mar 10, 2017). "Team Liquid Brings In League Star To Try And Avoid Relegation". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2018-01-23. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
20. Randall, Joe (Mar 9, 2017). "Doublelift's "Loan" To Team Liquid Highlights Potential Collusion Concerns". The Versed. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.
21. "Farewell Doublelift". Official TSM News. Nov 24, 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
22. "Team Liquid Roster Update". Team Liquid. Nov 24, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-02-02. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
23. "NA LCS 2018 Spring Standings Regular Season Bracket". LoL Esports. Archived from the original on 2018-03-26. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
24. Doningan, Wyatt (Mar 31, 2018). "Team Liquid makes Spring Split final with 3-1 win over Echo Fox". ESPN. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
25. Wolf, Jacob (Apr 2, 2018). "Team Liquid AD carry Doublelift's mother killed, father injured in alleged attack by brother". ESPN. Archived from the original on 2018-06-22. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
26. "Doublelift Will Play In NA LCS Finals Despite Family Tragedy". Tilt Report. Apr 4, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
27. Erzberger, Tyler (Apr 10, 2018). "Team Liquid's Doublelift finds glory after tragedy". ESPN. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved Sep 2, 2018.
28. Chang, Brian (Sep 8, 2018). "Doublelift takes home the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split MVP". Dot Esports. Retrieved Sep 8, 2018.
29. "LoL Esports". www.lolesports.com. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
30. Doublelift's Birthday: Talks Crazy C9 Match and Gifts From Fans. CBS Interactive. July 20, 2015. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
31. Wolf, Jacob (April 1, 2018). "Team Liquid AD carry Doublelift's mother killed, father injured in alleged attack by brother". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-02. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
32. Vives, Ruben (March 31, 2018). "Orange County sheriff's deputies arrest man suspected of stabbing his parents, killing one". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2018-04-01. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
33. Boren, Cindy (April 9, 2018). "His brother jailed for killing their mother, Doublelift helps Team Liquid to NA LCS victory". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-05-11. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
34. "Interview with State of the League host, Travis". Team Dignitas. Feb 27, 2012. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved Sep 4, 2018.

External links

• Twitter account

As of this edit, this article uses content from "Doublelift", which is licensed in a way that permits reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, but not under the GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed. As of this edit, this article uses content from "Team Solo Mid", which is licensed in a way that permits reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, but not under the GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed.