Wisper on TaiLung’s suspension from The International 2026: “I’m really sorry about what happened to him.”
LGD Gaming offlaner Adrian “Wisper” Céspedes Dobles spoke on the La Sopa podcast about playing with a substitute at The International 2026 and shared his thoughts on Santiago Gustavo “TaiLung” Olivoso Agüero.
On the search for a replacement for TaiLung
Well, overall, it all happened very quickly. I think we had about two days left before the tournament, before heading to the hotel. So we had about a day and a half to pick a mid laner. No, no, we actually had three days—sorry. We had three days, so we spent about a day thinking about who to take for mid. We tried out one Chinese mid-laner, whom I think everyone has already mentioned—Somnus. We tested to see if he’d work out with us, but we had a lot of language problems because he didn’t speak English very well. So it was really hard to put a team together, and everyone was thinking, “Man, who should we invite?” Because there were almost no suitable options.
[In that case, can you tell us which other mid laners you tried playing with? You said there were like three of them.]
No, no—we only tried out Somnus, and then Topson joined right away. We considered a few players, but when I mentioned some names, kaffs laughed a little. For example, I mentioned Chris Luck. I didn’t know what kind of shape he was in at the time, so it was really hard to tell. I suggested him in the spirit of, “Damn, maybe we should give him one last chance?” So he could have his swan song. But in the end, the team immediately said, “No, no, we’d rather just die.”
On playing with a substitute
The only thing I don’t like about playing with players who have such long careers behind them or who used to be really good is that everyone grovels to them, you know? It’s the same thing with everyone, absolutely the same thing. Topson came in, and it went something like this: “Oh, kaffs was right by his side all day, sucking up to him,” and you can feel it, you know? In-game, everyone’s like, “We need to control the runes for Topson.” Stuff like that, you know? I mean, literally playing in a way that’s all about sucking up to him.
On the team’s feelings after TaiLung was suspended from participating in The International 2026
The whole team felt… Well, not the whole team, because I didn’t feel that way. But I think KJ and Yuma especially did. Actually, KJ in particular. It seems to me he was really happy that he was able to get rid of him somehow or do what ultimately happened to him, you know? I think he, in particular, felt a great sense of satisfaction.
As for me, I felt really bad about it because, at the end of the day, he’s still a kid, you know? To me, he’s still… He’s 17, and for the entire time I was in HEROIC, he was right there with me. We literally did everything together. If we wanted to talk shit about someone behind their back, we’d step aside and talk about them, you know? Even if someone played like shit or something like that, you know? That’s why we had a really good relationship. We still keep in touch even now, you know?
And I’m really sorry about what happened to him. I hope he can somehow file an appeal or something like that, so that, I don’t know, maybe they’ll reduce his penalty or do something else, you know? Because I have no idea.
Earlier, ESIC announced the temporary suspension of Santiago Gustavo “TaiLung” Olivos Agüero from participating in tournaments pending an investigation into suspected match-fixing, emphasizing that the suspension is temporary and does not constitute an admission of guilt on the player’s part.
Photo — Valve.
