Team Liquid will start Edward “Tactical” Ra over star player, Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, in week 7 of the LCS Spring Split.

Doublelift stated on Twitter that the reason for this is because he has been lacking in motivation.

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.
— Yiliang Peng (@TLDoublelift) March 4, 2020

Doublelift was also benched last week due to a case of laryngitis that left him unable to communicate with his teammates.

In his absence, TL went 2-0 in week 6, defeating Team Solo Mid and 100 Thieves. Tactical stepped up and impressed, playing Miss Fortune and Kalista, going deathless in both games with 3/0/5 and 5/0/1 KDA respectively.

The results pulled TL up to 3rd place with a 6-6 record.

With Tactical on the main roster, Richard Samuel “Rikara” Oh has stepped into the vacant ADC position on TL’s academy team.

The League of Legends community responded positively to both TL and Doublelift’s approach.

So.. this happened

– TL is clear that Tactical is starting next week and says their franchise player (Doublelift) is benched
– Doublelift takes responsibility for having no motivation and vows to try harder.

What timeline is this? Both sides are being transparent and fair. #LCS
— Josh Leesman (@RiotJatt) March 4, 2020

This is not the first time a professional League of Legends player has spoken about their mental state.

Last year, Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan shared details about his mental health after retiring from professional play in an exclusive interview with Inven Global.

depression is bad enough to kill people
— EG Bang 배준식 (@Bang) February 13, 2020

His former team mate from SK Telecom T1 and current Evil Geniuses bot laner, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik too, hinted about depression earlier this year which sparked uplifting comments from the community.

Doublelift: ‘I’m benched because I had no motivation’