Astini Speaks Out Against Matchfixing in South America Following TaiLung's Ban

Filipe "Astini" Ribeiro has been on a personal crusade against cheats in Dota 2 for quite some time, and after Santiago "TaiLung" Agüero Gustavo was banned from PGL events, his efforts expanded to address the endemic match-fixing trend in both South and North America.

Let's look back at what Astini has said about these issues throughout 2026, his point of view on TaiLung's ban, and how fans reacted to the tweets where he shared his thoughts.

SA Teams Cheating on the EWC 2026 Qualifiers

The first major move Astini made against cheaters came during the Esports World Cup 2026 Regional Qualifiers. According to him, teams were cheating, and he requested that organizers create a private tournament Discord server, which was eventually put in place to help ensure competitive integrity.

Despite eventually qualifying, Astini still lamented that his friend Héctor "K1" Rodríguez was not as fortunate and ended up being disadvantaged by the hackers' activities.

“He just thought he wouldn’t get caught”

Shortly after the announcement of TaiLung's ban, Astini gave an interview to Esports Insider and shared his point of view on the issue of match-fixing in Dota 2's South and North American scenes.

He mentioned that match-fixing has become a trend and even something of a meme in Peru, to the point where he said:

“The biggest streamers in Peru were banned for matchfixing. They know what happens. They just think they won’t be caught and that the risk-reward ratio pays off.”

According to Astini, Santiago wasn't simply a naive teenager who found himself in a bad situation; he knew what he was getting into and did it anyway.

Aui_2000 is another prominent name in the professional Dota scene who also spoke about the impressions he previously had of TaiLung. At the time, he believed some of TaiLung's actions were intentional, and apparently his tweet also prompted Astini to take a deeper look into his match history, where he allegedly found evidence of probable win trading.

According to Astini, "Seems like he also did a lot of win trading to get to Top 100." Even so, he also acknowledged that TaiLung is a genuinely skilled player and probably climbed to Rank 1 on his own merit.

Peruvians Are Cheating and Matchifixing in NA as Well

Going back to Astini's interview, he also argued that new talent cannot reach the Closed Qualifiers in North America because the Open Qualifiers are infested with Peruvian teams allegedly using cheats to qualify, only to later match-fix games in the Closed Qualifiers.

“Cheating is also a huge problem not only in SA, but also in NA. Sure, NA is a dead region for 99 reasons, but one of the biggest ones is that there are a lot of Peruvians using cheats in Open Qualifiers to go to Closed Qualifiers, then match-fix there, so, new talent in NA will never go past Open Qualifiers if they meet the wrong Peruvian team on their path.”

North America may already have lost promising teams before they even had a chance to establish themselves, with some players potentially abandoning the dream of becoming professionals after repeatedly running into teams suspected of cheating or match-fixing.

Second Wave: "Fans" Defending Matchfixers

After making his point and giving his interview, Astini initially intended to leave the subject behind. However, another issue compelled him to speak out once again, this time through a long and detailed tweet.

According to Astini, there is an entire community in Peru that glorifies match-fixers and, by extension, blames and harasses players who become associated in any way with cases such as TaiLung's permanent ban.

He points out that ongoing investigations usually result in provisional suspensions, as seen in PlayTime's case. Therefore, in his view, the fact that PGL permanently banned TaiLung suggests the organizer possesses conclusive evidence supporting its decision.

As expected, some Peruvian fans accused Astini of favoring Brazilian players and hating Peruvian players, attempting to frame the discussion around nationality rather than the accusations themselves, similarly to what happened when Parker was removed from HEROIC.

It is also important to point out that some people defending those accused of match-fixing ended up blaming both LGD Gaming for informing PGL and Astini himself for publicly addressing the issue instead of supporting other Peruvian players who still have the opportunity to become stars of a new generation, such as Máximo "Wits" Orozco Alza, they chose to take the matter personally. 

Closing Thoughts

On top of the urgent need to deal with cheaters and match-fixers, Peru also appears to have a localized problem involving so-called fans who defend these actions and continuously attempt to portray those accused of cheating as victims of the people enforcing the rules.

I have no say in how professional Dota will deal with these issues going forward, but seeing both of the year's most anticipated events affected by cheating and match-fixing should be met with strong action from either Valve, tournament organizers, or preferably both.

If you want to stay informed about the next chapter of this ongoing drama in professional Dota, The International 2026, and the upcoming roster shuffle, remember to check the news section on the Strafe website!

READ MORE: The International 2026 Day 2 Recap: China Makes A Comeback

Featured Image Source: Twitter (@AstiniDota)