LOS ANGELES --- Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng pulled off the biggest upset in League of Legends history when his Team Liquid ousted reigning world champions Invictus Gaming from the Mid-Season Invitational during the tournament's semifinals in Taipei, Taiwan, last month. It was the greatest moment and victory for the North American region on the international stage of the world's largest esport. Doublelift, the greatest North American player in the game's long history, finally had a signature series internationally to add to his resume.
He won't look back on the match fondly, though.
Sitting in the press box of the LCS Arena two weeks removed from the win over Invictus Gaming, Doublelift is back home for the start of a new LCS season, and he's not happy. While the win over iG was a moment to remember for the rest of his life, what came next was bitter. G2 Esports of Europe, two days following TL's win over the world champions, ran through Team Liquid in the quickest international final in League of Legends history, sending the North Americans home not knowing what hit them on their 13-hour plane ride back to Los Angeles.
Doublelift told me in an interview following his team's opening win of the LCS summer split over Team SoloMid that it didn't matter if they had beaten iG. They had a golden opportunity to win a championship, and they let it slip away.
It was the perfect storm. Doublelift admitted TL didn't play their best, G2 were at their peak and could simply play more champions and more styles than Liquid could at the time of the final. TL were outclassed, and as a result Doublelift relented from his trash talk, instead tipping his hat to his new rival in the bottom lane, G2's AD carry and former mid Luka "Perkz" Perković.
"Perkz played better than me today," said Doublelift at the post-final news conference in Taipei. "It sucks."
After TL lost their second game of the weekend, a shocking defeat to Echo Fox in a game they led most of the way, Perkz took to social media to call out his cross-Atlantic adversary. In his message, he said he was watching Doublelift play a champion in Xayah that Perkz piloted well at MSI -- and begged him to improve.
In Asia during the tournament, Doublelift faced a harsh realization. In North America, even against players who have won world titles in the past and have reached the summit, he and bottom lane partner Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in were unmatched. Internationally, they weren't as invincible, and in the finals versus G2, Perkz and Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle pushed the pace. The style of play that worked in North America felt antiquated compared to the pace set by G2 and the other world-class teams at MSI.
At every step in Doublelift's career there seems to be a new hurdle to replace the one he just cleared. Before he won a domestic title, the joke was that he had a perpetually empty trophy case. After becoming the winningest player in North America and taking domestic title after title, the narrative shifted to his impotence on the international stage, never having made it out of a group stage.
At MSI, it seemed like Doublelift had finally garnered the universal respect that he sought for so many years. He beat the best team in the world as Team Liquid halted the start of a dynasty in front of millions watching at home. And yet, two days later, there he was, sitting at a news conference, shellshocked, his team beaten in record time and thousands of people on social media touting the next anchor to sink his legacy.
Bittersweet as the end result was, Doublelift hopes that it can be a catalyst for success going into the world championship. He doesn't necessarily look ahead -- prioritizing international events over domestic ones -- he simply doesn't go into a season seeing a trophy as his ultimate goal, especially since beginning his streak of domestic victories. Every LCS season, he has the same mindset: be the best player on Summoner's Rift, and the rest will follow.
This summer split might be the most important domestic season of Doublelift's career. He has only four months to prepare himself for the world championships in Europe. MSI taught him what to expect outside of the LCS Arena. To wash away the taste of what happened against G2, Team Liquid will have to turn the loss in Taipei into a learning experience.
If they do, maybe Doublelift, Team Liquid and North America can clear that final, elusive hurdle.
If not, Doublelift will be back in the same press box in 2020, probably still in a Team Liquid jersey and probably another domestic title under his belt, counting down the days until the next international competition.