LCS Spring Split Week Six: Team Liquid step up to overcome Doublelift absence

We’re getting closer to playoffs, and the only constants are Cloud 9 in first place and CLG in last.  

The major story for week 6 is Team Liquid’s first 2-0 of the split, and with a substitute AD Carry while Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng is sick with laryngitis.  

We will discuss this below as well as the current standings after the sixth week.  

Team Liquid against the odds

The luck on the side of Team Liquid seemed to fall even further with the news Doublelift wouldn’t be playing for week six.  

Edward “Tactical” Ra stepped in for Doublelift and the worries were there, given all the excuses discussed in my recap for Week 5. Some analysts and casters had this thought on their minds as well.

Doublelift has some pretty big shoes for anyone to fill, and the rookie had never been on the main stage before, previously having been on some amateur teams before joining Team Liquid’s Academy roster in December of 2019.  

But Tactical came to play, and he helped give Liquid their first 2-0 of the split with a deathless weekend. 

That’s not to say he was the carry. Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong’s Sett has also done a nice job and the player seems to do a great job on the champ. Nikolaj “Jensen” Jensen also dominated on his Zoe, and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen did decently on Gragas and Sejuani. The entire team completely stepped up and performed really well. 

Not only that, but they dominated each of their games. In their game against TSM, they won with 13 kills to 1. In their game against 100 Thieves, they won with 9 kills to zero. You read that right; this is the Team Liquid that have won their last four splits. This is the Team Liquid that we’ve been waiting for.  

While it seems Doublelift is feeling better, according to Steve Arhancet, Tactical will playing again for the roster and they will decide week-to-week who will play on the main stage. 

Doublelift himself has also spoke about the decision, stating he’s been benched due to motivation issues.  

Taking to Twitter, Doublelift wrote: "I'm benched because I had no motivation until very recently. Being sick and unable to compete gave me my passion back, but too late. 

"I'm sorry towards every one of my teammates and I'll be working from now on to regain their trust."

LCS Standings

The standings for LCS Spring after week six (Picture: LCS) 

With playoffs around the corner, the teams tied for 6th place will need to work hard to break away from the pack and secure their place. With Team Liquid’s 2-0 week, they’ve jumped up from tying for 6th, to tying for 3rd.  

Cloud 9 has far and away clinched their spot at playoffs, and CLG will unfortunately not be able to make it with how things are looking right now. 

As we continue to move closer to the end of the split, the standings will certainly change, and teams like Flyquest and Immortals may even stick to the same spots, whereas the other teams will certainly move around the board. We’ll continue to keep track.  

Be sure to catch more weekly recaps here on GINX TV and check out Week 7 of the LCS Spring Split beginning 7th March, at 22:00 GMT (13:00 CET / 02:00 PST). You can catch it on YouTube and Twitch.