Doublelift explains why NA LoL is “really weak” after Worlds 2019 exit

Superstar Yiliang ‘ League of Legends competitive scene after Team Liquid got eliminated from Worlds 2019.

In an interview with Travis Gafford, Doublelift reflected about the things that “went wrong” during their time in Group D at Berlin. After noting the unique meta that evolved in their particular group, the Team Liquid ADC saw bigger problems indicative of his team’s early exit.

Worlds 2019 was another iteration of the tournament where all North American representatives didn’t make it out to the group stage, but it seems like the signs were in the stars for the TL pro.

Team Liquid Eliminated from Worlds

After their knockout defeat in groups, Doublelift said how “nothing that [they were] doing was working” in their international games. Since TL was the clear-cut top team in the region, their failure at Worlds could also speak to a larger problem.

“I think it just says our region is really weak,” Doublelift said. “It says a lot that I struggle really hard internationally but then domestically there’s no competition.”

(Timestamp at 3:14 for Mobile viewers)

To be sure, DL wasn’t blaming NA for the lack of international success for the TL side. Instead it was an observation of how far behind the region is as a whole.

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While there’s a lot of starpower in NA, and a deep class of up-and-coming players in the academy system, something just isn’t “clicking” when it comes to these global events.

The NA All-Star has been surrounded by top players throughout his career, but is still having trouble getting out of groups at Worlds.

Noting that “there aren’t very many [NA] teams that can challenge” Team Liquid in their region, DL sees how elite players and teams’ styles from his home region seem to go by the wayside against the world’s best.

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“There are so many good players in our region, there are so many good ideas, and all these things that are going well,” he says. “But it’s just not clicking.”

He said that when TL arrives at international events, they are “speedrunning a lot of learning” as opposed to the other teams that “did the work beforehand.”

The 26-year-old has been to seven Worlds competitions dating back from the inaugural tournament. During his time with Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid, the ADC couldn’t break out of the group stage on the Worlds stage.

But it’s not without hope. According to Doublelift, the intense fandom and resources within NA can be “enticing” for teams to foster strong rosters which will hopefully translate to a more successful region in the future.