Even legends can be benched. Doublelift’s lack of motivation and poor play through the first few weeks of the LCS culminated in an unfortunate bout of laryngitis.
The illness and the loss of his voice took Doublelift out for week six of the LCS. Edward “Tactical” Ra stood in for him and will remain the starting ADC for Team Liquid against CLG and Immortals, sending Doublelift to the bench. The veteran ADC addressed his recent benching on Twitter last night.
Doublelift apologized to his teammates, mentioning that he had “no motivation” at the beginning of the season. Sickness and being forced to watch from the sidelines gave the ADC his “passion back,” but it seems like Liquid’s decision to start Tactical has already been confirmed.
The 26-year-old veteran will continue “working from now on to regain [his teammates’] trust.”
With Tactical fillin in for Liquid, the roster won both of their games in week six against TSM and Immortals. Tactical had two stellar performances on Miss Fortune and Kalista, respectively, locking in a three-game win streak for Liquid in his debut for the organization.
Liquid are now tied for third with TSM in the LCS standings. While they’re still far away from the undefeated Cloud9, Liquid’s steady upturn in form might come just in time for a playoff run to defend their ridiculous LCS championship streak.
Will it be with Doublelift or Tactical, though? We’ll find out in less than a month when the Spring Split playoffs start on March 28.
