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LCS: Doublelift Bashed NA’s Mindset So Here’s 5 Ways Teams Can Fix It

By Josh Tyler

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 26: --- during 2020 LCS Spring Split at the LCS Arena on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 26: --- during 2020 LCS Spring Split at the LCS Arena on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games) /
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Doublelift, Team Liquid, LCS, League of Legends.
League of Legends. Photo Courtesy of Riot Games. /

North American culture and attitude have come under fire in a recent co-stream discussion between LS and Doublelift. Here are five ways LCS teams and managers can improve that mindset in their players.

I’ll be honest, I’m kind of pissed. After an entire offseason of teams and players bemoaning how unprepared NA was for the international stage and vows from LCS teams, players, and managers that things would be different in 2020, it seems like we’re right back to where we were a year ago. This was confirmed on an LCS co-stream by Liquid ADC Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng and then again by Cloud9 players Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer in their descriptions of NA players, coaches, and teams attitudes in and towards their practices.

Among the new charges levied at North American League of Legends players are the accusations that teams canceled scrims against the new LCS champions, Cloud9, because they were afraid of getting beaten too badly. Zven and Nisqy also added more context, saying that teams were constantly late to scrims, “trolled” champ select, requested remakes after losing early fights, and remade drafts to gain information about certain team’s draft priorities.

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Ironically, though, Doublelift was among those players who were criticized earlier in the Spring Split for not taking it seriously, with Doublelift himself admitting he didn’t care about the Spring Split because it held no implications for Worlds. There was also the instance of a majority of LCS players voting to cancel the rest of the split after the initial COVID-19 outbreak, which sparked backlash and accusations that NA players are too entitled.

This is all after an offseason of LCS teams, managers, players, and coaches vowing to do better. Yet we are still stuck in this terrible NA mentality despite all the investment into the Academy scene from LCS teams and Riot, infrastructure investment, and moves to invigorate the North American scene.

Obviously, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will be a functional NA professional scene. However, given that we have seen no progress and maybe even regression, with some arguing that the average quality of LCS got worse than last year, I propose it’s time to remove the carrot and start using the stick. If LCS teams want to improve and be taken seriously at Worlds (not you, Cloud9, you’re fine for now), here are five things they should do.

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