There have been many theories drawn up by the competitive League of Legends community around the possible reasons why Team Liquid parted ways with superstar ADC Doublelift this past week.
But coach Dodo posted a TwitLonger last night in an effort to make some things clear, especially after Doublelift released a new vlog detailing the issues that popped up throughout the season.
Dodo addressed Doublelift’s claim that he was never given any of the feedback that his teammates had made about his behavior and mindset. The 31-year-old coach said this was far from the truth. He said the coaches spoke to him about his bad attitude and lack of motivation before and during the split, but these issues weren’t getting fixed until Doublelift got sick and was benched.
“There have been multiple times where we talked with Peter one-on-one and gave him feedback on his motivation issues, and expressing his lack of motivation to his teammates,” Dodo said. “[We also talked with him about] his bad attitude towards practice, lack of respect towards coach’s feedback, lack of effort put into practice, and many other issues that were causing relationship problems with his teammates and staff.”
As for Doublelift’s benching, Dodo said the team was never on the same page strategically and it led to “many arguments and stubbornness that halted [their] improvement as a team.” When Doublelift got sick and Tactical was subbed in, Liquid’s teamplay and communication felt much smoother, according to Dodo.
Dodo also said Liquid offered to split scrim time between the two ADCs to decide who would start. Doublelift refused this offer and said to choose one player to move forward with in practice. The coaches ultimately chose to try out Tactical.
After Liquid’s loss against CLG in March, however, the coaches gave Doublelift a day of scrims, which he positively responded to. He also apologized for his mistakes and his behavior over the past few weeks.
Now, Doublelift will try to pull back the pieces of everything he’s lost over the past split with TSM, while Liquid will attempt to rebuild after the departure of one of the best players on their roster. A fresh slate for both parties could be what’s needed for them to find success this summer.
The 2020 LCS Summer Split is set to begin on June 13.
