Lol veteran Doublelift to join 100 Thieves for LCS 2023
According to a report by Brieuc “LEC Wooloo” Seeger, commonly known as LEC Wooloo, League of Legends veteran Yiliang “Peter” Peng, better known as Doublelift, will return for the 2023 season of the League Championship Series (LCS). Doublelift will join 100 Thieves and become the team’s primary ADC.
The star player is an eight-time LCS Champion. He has played for CLG, TSM and Team Liquid, with almost ten years of experience as an LoL professional player. In 2018, Doublelift left TSM to join Eugene “Pobelter” Park and Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero at Team Liquid.
Peng retired in November 2020 and returned to TSM as a content creator and streamer in March 2021. He did not last for a year and left in November 2021 because of many disagreements with owner Andy “Reginald” Dinh.
Doublelift shares his reasons for leaving TSM
In a Twitch stream, Doublelift said he hated TSM mainly because of its owner. Peng said the owner had too much ego and called him cringy. He added that he was angry that Reginald had rejected Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chiehwho, who had expressed interest in playing with Peng in 2021. The team chose a relatively inexperienced ADC, Lawrence “Lost” Hui, over SwordArt.
“If I was on TSM last split, there’s no doubt in my mind we would have made Worlds,” Doublelift said.
Reginald responded to Doublelift, saying it was discouraging to work with a player who was unsure if he wanted to retire or continue playing.
“Therefore, all of our staff and players collectively decided to commit to Lost. After a long negotiation process, we subsequently were able to secure SwordArt,” Reginald explained.
The owner said Doublelift was also wrong in believing he had been replaced due to Reginald’s decision.
“In reality the decision is made collectively by the players and staff he works with day to day,” Reginald said.
Bjergsen to join 100 Thieves
On November 19, Woolo also said that star midlaner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg would join 100 Thieves next year. Bjergsen is widely considered the best midlaner in North America and has played alongside Doublelift in the 2020 championship.
With the addition of Bjergsen and Doublelift, many believe 100 Thieves will be a superteam. However, Doublelift has not played professionally for two years, and there was a high chance that he would not be at his best in the 2023 season.
100 Thieves has not released any statement about the 2023 LCS season. However, the team reportedly plans to promote rookie support Alan “Busio” Cwalina. Doublelift has played with numerous rookie players throughout his career. In 2016, he worked with Vincent “Biofrost” Wang on TSM and became one of the top bottom-lane duos.
100 Thieves also reportedly bought AD carry William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen from the MAD Lions. The Swedish player will likely not join the main with the coming of Doublelift.
UNF0RGIVEN will be forced to play for the academy team next year, but the AD carry will be a backup for the team if Doublelift flounders due to his long hiatus.
Although 100 Thieves is getting great talents, general manager Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith recently left the team after coaching for three seasons. He said that his decision was due to disagreements with the team’s management.
“It was clear that the shared vision of the kind of League of Legends program we wanted to build together in 2019 no longer fit the goals and aspirations of 100T for 2023. Ultimately, this meant supporting our LCS team through Worlds and then going our separate ways,” PapaSmithy said.
