Doublelift: the birth of a League of Legends superstar! July 19, 1993 - Video

Footage Courtesy: Riot Games, OGN, Team SoloMid, youtube user: doubleliftx

On July 19, 1993 Doublelift, one of League of Legends’ most gifted mechanical players and by far the game’s most talented trash talkers was born.

Doublelift kicked off his professional career with a short stint on CLG and then as Epik Gaming’s starting support, finding early success at the Season 1 World Championship with a fourth-place finish.

However, for all the success and popularity he gained on the Rift, off the Rift, a rocky relationship with his parents had escalated out of control, leaving him homeless at just 18.

With nowhere to turn, Doublelift reached out to the League of Legends community through Reddit.

Travis Gafford, of the popular State of the League podcast and YouTube channel, opened up his doors and took Doublelift into his home.

As Doublelift was forced to make changes in his personal life off the Rift, he also made changes on the Rift. Transitioning from Support to ADC, he returned to CLG in November of 2011.

With mechanical prowess that was nearly unmatched by any other and a propensity for pushing the boundaries in-game and out, Doublelift quickly established himself as one of League of Legends’ greatest stars as CLG’s starting ADC.

While Doublelift himself continued to rise in popularity and esteem, his team on the other hand, struggled to achieve meaningful results.

In the 2015 summer split however, things finally turned around for Doublelift. A compelling regular season performance inspired a historic playoff run and Doublelift, for the first time, raised the NA LCS trophy.

CLG’s domestic success in the split however, was followed up by a severely disappointing World Championship performance. Even though they were drawn into a weak group, CLG failed to make it to the bracket stage and if their fans were let down by their world championship performance, they’d be far more devastated by what came next.

In October 2015, Doublelift moved to the team's longtime rivals, TSM. In one of the biggest offseason roster moves the league had ever seen, CLG’s longest-standing member not only left, but he left to join Team SoloMid. The world was shocked.

Once the dust settled on the move, the TSM hype train began to gain traction. Trumpeted as one of the greatest lineups ever assembled in the NA LCS, TSM were clear favorites to take the split.

Although TSM failed to live up to the hype it generated when the roster first came together, Doublelift and the team finally managed to put things together for the playoffs and they finished second in the spring split.

In the 2016 summer split, a support change saw LCS newcomer Biofrost come into the fray and the TSM duo asserted themselves as the most dominant bot lane duo in NA. Thanks in part to the strong play of their bottom lane, by end of 2016, TSM were crowned as NA LCS champions once again.

Back atop the domestic standings, Doublelift unexpectedly shook things up for a second time in as many years — by taking a competitive hiatus.

The break had some wondering whether we’d ever see one of the League’s greatest players back on stage but Doublelift made his return, first on loan to Team Liquid during the 2017 spring regular season, then to TSM’s active roster for the start of the summer split.

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

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