KJ to their opponents at the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup: “Taking so much time off is a mistake, and we’re coming for you!”
LGD Gaming support player Mateusz “KJ” Santos Jungles Diniz spoke in an interview at the 2026 Esports World Cup about the team’s mid laner, discussed the reason for the emergence of new players in South America, and addressed his opponents in the tournament.
About TaiLung
He was and continues to be a beast.
[Question: “How did you find him?”]
At first, we weren’t even sure if he was any good. We needed to change our roster, so we talked to people and heard that he was strong—he has a high rank, even though he plays on a toaster with a 300 ping from Peru. So we wondered what would happen if he were in good conditions. We gave it a try, and he turned out to be very strong and an excellent teammate.
On the reason for the emergence of young players in South America
I don’t know much about it. It seems to me that Dota is popular in those countries [referring to countries where new professional players are emerging. — Ed.]. For some reason, they enjoy the game, and the necessary opportunities are falling into place for them. For example, in Brazil, internet cafes are practically nonexistent, but in Peru, they’re very popular. People go there, get access to good computers, and in that case, why play League of Legends when there’s Dota 2? So in Peru, it’s tied to the culture. As for Southeast Asia and Russia, I’m not really familiar with those regions.
On our performance at the 2026 Esports World Cup
I know our team put in more effort than anyone else leading up to the tournament. We hadn’t stopped playing since the previous tournament, because we still had qualifiers for The International there. Basically, since the last tournament, where we took second place, we only took three or four days off, while other teams rested for weeks. Taking that much time off is a mistake, and we’re right behind you!
LGD Gaming finished the group stage of the 2026 Esports World Cup in Dota 2 in third place in Group D with a 5-5 map record. In the elimination stage, the South American team will face MOUZ in a single-elimination match on July 14 at 2:00 p.m. Moscow time.
