The answer may surprise you
Doublelift has a lot of experience under his belt, but streaming fell a bit short. In a statement in a TSM: Legends video he states “Being a pro is a lot more taxing on your time… Where like if you’re a streamer I could have easily been at 20k or 30k viewers and been happy.” This basically means that streaming is a lot less stressful. However, this doesn’t mean that Doublelift enjoys streaming more than pro playing.
Doublelift’s opinion on streaming as opposed to pro playing can be summed up in one sentence about pro playing: “Sometimes it feels like shit but most of the time it feels really good, so that’s why I like being a pro a lot more.” During streaming, Doublelift “felt like a part of his life was missing” and after leaving streaming, he didn’t really miss it in any way.
You would think Doublelift would have a lot of community connection to make up, seeing as he’s one of the most well known ADCs in the region. But when it comes down to it, his entire mentality was and still is professional play. Many of Doublelift’s viewers were fans of his from his career in the LCS, so I’m sure they’ll be glad regardless of his streaming or pro playing. Note: Removed the old paragraph I had here as I thought it was completely obsolete. This rewording is much better in my opinion.
Bjergsen also made a statement about Doublelift in the same video, complimenting him on his quickness to adapt and noting that TSM’s players all knew him, so he integrated back into the team well. Also to note is that Doublelift had a few “solo queue” moments, likely because he had not been in the competitive scene recently and had instead been streaming. After TSM’s slump at Rift Rivals, Doublelift joining the team for the split’s finals and Worlds will be quite an event.
