Doublelift officially returns to TSM, replacing Kobbe

Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has officially re-joined TSM and will now be the team’s starting AD carry in the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). This follows rumors from last week regarding TSM and Team Liquid’s potential trade of the seven-time LCS champion. In an official statement, his new team has wished him “the sincerest welcome back.”

Re-joining his former team

In mid-April, rumors arose around Doublelift’s contract and whether he would be traded back to TSM. All things considered, this outcome seemed plausible. Sources at that time told ESPN that Doublelift was going back to TSM, though no official word had been given. Now it’s confirmed that Doublelift will move back to his old team, joining his former teammates. He will be playing alongside his previous partners Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Vincent “Biofrost” Wang.

In an announcement video, Doublelift shared the process of decision-making: “After the bad split that I had on Team Liquid, me and Steve (Arhancet) had a series of conversations, starting in the off-season… how we were planning on fixing the team dynamic, and I was looking forward to basically working with the team and trying to solve the problems.”

Those problems proved complicated, however, and Arhancet ultimately asked whom Doublelift would be interested in playing for if he were to be traded, to which TSM was the answer. Additionally, the player recognized this split was the worst one of his career. He shared a promise to his fans that he will work his hardest in the LCS from now on.

wait, what year is it? welcome back @TLDoublelift

📺: https://t.co/g4IxQAPEae
📰: https://t.co/JsGAhBMC5A pic.twitter.com/djqpB95TOr

— TSM FTX (@TSM) April 26, 2020

Excitement for TSM

Doublelift shared his excitement in the announcement, “I intend to help TSM regain status as a top team, make worlds for the first time in 3 years, and look for the international success we were on the brink of years ago.” As soon as the news was announced, Doublelift began streaming with Bjergsen on Twitch, re-naming himself to “TSM Doublelift.”