Doublelift's Career Retrospective + Current Team Solomid Conflict of Interest

Prolific AD Carry player Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng is seen by many as on of North America's best homegrown players. From leading the charge in getting Counter Logic Gaming their first title back in the 2015 Summer Split, Doublelift had some humble beginnings.

Seen as an integral part of CLG's dominance, Doublelift started receiving offers from some other organizations in the league. It wasn't until the following fall that he got an offer to join one of North America's greatest dynasties: Team Solomid, and accepted. A shocking roster move indeed, as Doublelift's name was synonymous with the CLG brand.

Doublelift went on to decimate the competition with TSM, going on to nab the org's 4th title in dominate fashion. If you recall in my previous blog, I briefly touched upon Team Solomid's commanding 2016 summer split where they garnered a 17-1 record in the regular season. That split was Doublelift's first time playing on stage with his new teammates, and coming from a string of victorious moments on CLG, he proved himself on Team Solomid in spades.

pictured above: Team Solomid wins 2016 Summer Split at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canda.

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Unfortunately, Doublelift's time at Team Solomid came to a halt after he was dropped from the roster in November of 2017. In typical Doublelift fasion, he lambasted his former organization once he found a new home at Team Liquid.

As touched upon in my previous blog, the new Team Liquid roster of 2017 with Doublelift and veterans like Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen, Jeong "Impact" Eon-yeong, and Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in proved to be the most dominant the region had ever seen. Setting a current record of being the only org. to win four titles in a row, as well as being the 2nd North American team to make it to the Mid-Season Invitational Finals, one of the two major international tournaments in the entire scene.

Although the squad lost in frankly embarrassing fashion against European powerhouse G2 Esports, the North American fans stood proud as we toppled former World Champions Invictus Gaming in the semi-finals to reach G2.

With four titles and an MSI finals appearance, you would expect Doublelift to stick it out with his newfound titans no matter the hardships, but that's not what happened. Cut to the 2020 Spring Split, where Doublelift found himself benched for most of the season due to lack of motivation and inability to learn the new champions.

Despite conquering the North American region and then some with Team Liquid, Doublelift wanted out after falling 9th - just shy of being the worst team in the region. In a move that blindsided many fans, Doublelift rejoined his former organization TSM this past April, just in time for the incoming split.

This is where the apparent conflict of interest comes into play, and the implications as to how business is conducted over at the Team Solomid organization.

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pictured above: current TSM AD Carry Yilliang "Doublelift" Peng (left) and current president of TSM Leena Xu (right).

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This acquisition of Doublelift would be spicy enough, with him being traded back to the team where he had won titles in years past, from a rival team who he also played a key role in. However, it hardly ends there. The bigger issue here is the conflict of interest between TSM and Doublelift that existed prior, and its implications moving forward.

It's well known in the sphere of League of Legends esports that Doublelift - the golden child of the North American LCS, was dating (and still is) the president of TSM Leena, while he was on Team Liquid. This was already, put simply, awkward as Leena had previously dated Andy "Reginald" Dinh - the founder of Team Solomid before she had dated Doublelift.

Leena's previous partner being Reginald was fine, no conflict of interest would stem from that situation. The conflict of interest came from Doublelift's stint on Team Liquid, when he was dating the president of another competing organization. It's in Leena's best interest for her boyfriend to do well and succeed on one team, while it is also in her best interest for her own team to do well. However, both cannot always exist simultaneously.

Likewise, it's a conflict of interest for Doublelift. In his professional life, he wants Team Liquid to win - it's his team, it's how he makes his living, etc. In contrast, in his personal life, he may want his partner's team to do well. He may see the trials and tribulations that Leena goes through, and the hard work she has put in forming that TSM roster, wanting her to succeed.

You can see how this can quickly become a zero-sum game for both parties involved.

By definition, you have clashing interests as you are partners in real life, but rivals in your professional lives. Specifically, you can have interests which cause you to compromise the competitive integrity of the game. You could potentially be giving away draft secrets through passing conversation, or even just hinting based on something you said.

Since they were both in TSM previously, presumably they have spoken in a more loose manner than they would professionally - so it's likely hard for both of them to catch themselves if they were to say something that would stymie competitive integrity.

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It's hard to say what the future will hold for Team Solomid, who has now faced mass scrutiny from the community because of the blatant conflict of interest.

Certainly, Doublelift rejoining TSM makes for wonderful story-lines in the North American LCS, and the grudge match between Team Liquid and Team Solomid on June 13th will be one to watch.