Retired League of Legends pro-turned-star streamer Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has this weekend revealed he came within touching distance of another return to the LCS with Team Liquid, a team he represented twice between 2017 and 2020—but plans were cut short by the team’s general manager Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok.
While co-streaming the LCS Spring Split on March 9, Doublelift discussed his aspirations to form a hit squad at Team Liquid and how he believed his plotted third return to competitive League was halted by Dodo. What followed over the next few days included private DM leaks, accusations of lying, and one pissed-off fanbase looking for answers.
Here’s what happened between Doublelift and Dodo in the lead-up to 2024’s LCS season.
Doublelift’s “Exodia” dream for LCS 2024
Doublelift announced his second retirement from competitive League after playing out the 2023 LCS season with 100 Thieves, stating that outside of a Worlds win he felt like he had accomplished everything he set out to achieve in League pro play. However, plans were still in motion during the offseason at Team Liquid, who planned to take on the world’s best with an “Exodia” squad—and they wanted Doublelift back in.
It was who made up this squad that was key for Doublelift, who said that between LCS salaries and the drop in League viewership for the top NA league as a whole, he only planned to “give it my 100 percent” if the right lineup was pulled together.
Doublelift said TL chief executive Steve Arhancet reached out to him in September 2023, asking the bot laner who he’d want to compete alongside. Among the names, Doublelift was keen on one player who quickly became a necessity to the cause: Canadian mid laner Jojopyun.
Jojopyun was up for grabs after Evil Geniuses’ exit from the LCS, and Doublelift was excited about a potential return to competitive League with the 19-year-old Canadian. Doublelift got in contact with manager Dodo, who would speak to Jojopyun regarding his availability for the 2024 season. It’s here, Doublelift says, where talks stalled.
A turn for the worse: Dodo or Doublelift, but not both
In his March 9 stream, Doublelift suggested Dodo spoke to Jojopyun but never brought up the bot laner at all. After Jojopyun asked whether Doublelift would be part of the project, Dodo reportedly declared: “If Doublelift joins the team I’m going to have to quit my job or they will have to fire me.”
Doublelift went on to say it never seemed like Arhancet and Dodo were on the same page during offseason talks, despite Dodo later claiming otherwise. Doublelift believes issues between him and Dodo stemmed from their time in 2020 when Liquid parted ways with the bot laner after an underwhelming season where Doublelift famously revealed he was unmotivated.
The bot laner continued, stating Jojopyun’s agent was in contact with Doublelift and had repeatedly reached out to Dodo and Liquid as the 2024 League season approached, but no response was ever received. With limited time before the season began and nothing from the Liquid camp, Jojopyun went with an offer from Cloud9 instead.
Dodo privately apologized to Doublelift for his comments in November 2023, saying to the bot laner that certain conversations were “definitely not professional” and Dodo acted in such a way “to convince Jojo at that moment.”
Dodo’s March 9 response, fans send death threats
After Doublelift’s March 9 stream and comments went viral, Dodo issued a public statement via the Team Liquid Discord server on the matter, saying he was “disappointed that Doublelift decided to share wrong information.”
“Steve and I work together all off-season, and we are very transparent with each other through the process,” Dodo said, adding that he was in conversations with Jojopyun as far back as September 2023 and that there were multiple iterations of rosters Liquid were interested in. Dodo said that Jojopyun specifically desired to play alongside bot laner Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol, which led the Canadian mid laner to C9, ending any chance of Doublelift joining TL; this was the League star’s main caveat of his return from retiring.
Doublelift swiftly denied many of Dodo’s comments in the statement. “Would you say that the only way somebody would be on the team is if they fired me first if you respected them as a player and a friend?” he said, citing Dodo’s private DM to him in November.
It’s here where communication about the matter was put on ice, with both parties retreating from public discussion—at least for the time being. Dodo revealed on the evening of March 10 via X (formerly Twitter) that he had received death threats over the news.
With Jojopyun locked in at Cloud9, Doublelift’s return to competitive League is now very unlikely unless the formation of another LCS superteam convinces him otherwise. As for Dodo and Liquid, the 2024 squad scraped a top-four finish during the regular season and will open its playoff account against top-seed FlyQuest later this week.
Published: Mar 10, 2024 11:43 pm