LCS veteran Doublelift shuts down notion age impacts performance: “Who cares?”

LCS veteran Doublelift shut down the widely-held belief that age impacts the performance of LoL pros in an interview as he celebrated his 30th birthday during the LCS Summer Split. 

Doublelift celebrated his 30th birthday on July 19, right as 100 Thieves played Dignitas during the LCS Summer Split. This makes him not one of the oldest players still active not only in the LCS, but in all the major esports leagues. 

On that day, Doublelift and 100 Thieves won the match. With the win, the LCS got to celebrate one of its most tenured players. 

And in an interview with Korizon Esports’ Ashley Kang, Doublelift was asked about how turning 30 may impact his performance, to which he quickly shut down any notion that age would affect his play. 

“I think it’s funny honestly,” he said about turning 30 while still playing at the top level. “If you lose to me it’s kind of embarrassing you know, and it’s almost like I get this pass now because if I do something good they’re like ‘wow that’s a good play for a 30-year-old’, but if I make a bad play they’re like ‘he’s just old’.

“I think people’s expectations of me went down because of the age, it’s kinda nice,” Doublelift joked about the topic. However, he does feel that his mechanical skill hasn’t degraded with age.

“I don’t really feel like my reaction time or mechanics have gotten any worse,” but he suggested it will at some point in time, perhaps when he is closer to 40.

When asked if he was a special case in that his mechanics haven’t degraded since his start in 2011 and the fact he is still able to stay at the highest level, he explained, “I don’t want to say that I’m special because I think that Ruler, when he’s 30, he’s still going to have crazy mechanics. I think Faker will always have great, amazing, mechanics. So I don’t think it matters until maybe you’re like close to 40.” 

He further explained why mechanical skill and reaction time do not particularly matter in League of Legends: “Even if your reaction time goes down by like 10%, who cares?”

“How many reaction time tests are there in League? Malphite flash ulting you? There’s one. Cleanse? There’s two. Maybe like stopwatch on something really fast, there’s three.”

He further added, “Even if I had way slower reaction times, if I’m anticipating mentally in my brain and I’m ready to react to it, I’m just going to react to it. It doesn’t matter if I’m 40, 50, or 60.”

However, Doubelift went on to outline one way in which age could have an impact on performance, highlighting commitments outside of the game itself. Priorities in life may change as players mature, leaving a smaller window in which to improve at League, he explained.

This interview was conducted earlier last week, days before Doublelift was hospitalized due to internal bleeding. We’ll be sure to update you here as further details emerge on his condition.