How chopper is building his CSGO reputation as the leader of Spirit\u2019s young guns Helena Kristiansson\/ESL Gaming via ESPATAt the age of 25, Leonid \u2018chopper\u2019 Vishnyakov is thriving as the in-game leader of Team Spirit, the youngest squad in attendance at the IEM Rio Major. For everything that he has accomplished in his career, chopper is still trying to carve his name in the CS:GO scene. He was rarely mentioned in the same breath as Nikolay \u2018mir\u2019 Bityukov during their time together on Vega Squadron, the vibrant Russian team that built its reputation as an upset specialist between 2016 and 2018. Despite often being in positions that allowed him to stand out, it was his teammate who frequently captured the spotlight. Several years later, chopper, 25, is enjoying the best period of his career as the leader of a young, talented Spirit team that earlier in 2022 came close to a Major final. Yet you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would mention his name if asked about the best Russian in-game leaders right now. \u201cWhen I was younger I thought about it a little bit,\u201d chopper told Dexerto, through a translator, when asked about the perceived lack of recognition. \u201cBecause of pride, a little bit out of envy. But the more I played, the more I understood that everything is deserved.\u201d It was in the summer of 2019, six months after joining Team Spirit, that chopper transitioned to the in-game leader role upon suggestion from his then coach, Nikolay \u2018Certus\u2019 Poluyanov. He had tried calling the shots before, while on Vega Squadron, but the role did not feel natural to him at the time. The experience lasted only a couple of weeks, and for a while, being a captain was the last thing on his mind. chopper counts former Vega Squadron teammate Dmitriy \u2018jR\u2019 Chervak, Astralis\u2019 Lukas \u2018gla1ve\u2019 Rossander, Certus and his current coach, Sergey \u2018hally\u2019 Shavaev, among his biggest influences as an in-game leader. OG\u2019s Nemanja \u2018nexa\u2019 Isakovi\u0107 was the type of captain he tried to emulate earlier in his career, but as he transitioned to a more aggressive type of IGL, he began following players like Vladislav \u2018nafany\u2019 Gorshkov, Kirill \u2018Boombl4\u2019 Mikhailov, and Andrei \u2018arT\u2019 Piovezan instead. chopper is also fascinated by Denis \u2018electroNic\u2019 Sharipov, who recently took over NAVI\u2019s reins. \u201cHis individual level and the way he thinks the game are top notch.\u201d One curious aspect of chopper\u2019s current success is how close it came to not happening. After over two years of middling results, he found himself cut from Spirit\u2019s team as part of a teardown-style rebuild that aimed to give the project a new direction, based on young talent. But in the end, despite negotiating with a number of candidates for the vacant skipper position, Spirit opted to give chopper another shot. That decision paid quick dividends as he led the team to a surprising semi-final run at PGL Major Antwerp. Even without the support of hally, who was suspended shortly before the event due to encountering the spectator bug in a competition, Spirit played with a maturity beyond their years (their average age of 20.7 years was the lowest of the tournament), beating teams like Astralis, FURIA, and Heroic before being stopped in their tracks by FaZe, the eventual champions. The results in Antwerp came as an invaluable boost to the players, who weeks earlier had relocated to Serbia because of the war in Ukraine. They had built a strong bond through having to figure out together how to adapt to a new reality, away from family and friends, and worked tirelessly towards a common goal. \u201cI was a bit surprised,\u201d chopper said about the Major run. \u201cBut at the same time, it was a combination of several factors. Hard circumstances unite people. We worked a lot, we all lived and breathed CS. \u201cThe other thing is that NAVI and FaZe were obviously the favorites to win the Major and were ready to play. But some of the other teams didn\u2019t come as prepared or they had some issues. They weren\u2019t in their best shape for the Major. \u201cOn the other hand, our players were on the rise. And we didn\u2019t have our coach with us. At a first glance, it\u2019s a bad thing. But it united us more. When the games were starting we\u2019d say, \u2018For hally!\u2019 It was like us against the world. During the playoffs, we felt we were ready to win the tournament. We just believed in it so much.\u201d Replacing degster Shortly after returning from the Major, Spirit were brought back to earth by star player Abdul \u2018degster\u2019 Gasanov\u2019s request to seek a move elsewhere. The Russian AWPer had grown tired of living abroad and wished to join a team that could allow him to stay in Russia. degster is widely regarded as one of the best AWPers in the world, someone who could turn \u201ca bunch of top 10 teams\u201d into Major contenders next year, journalist and analyst Duncan \u2018Thorin\u2019 Shields recently said. Still, chopper said that it was \u201ca relief of sorts\u201d when degster decided to leave. Regardless of his immense talent, degster had allegedly become so distant from the rest of the squad that it started having a negative impact on the team \u2014 a problem that became even more pronounced after the Major. \u201cIf we\u2019re thinking about the team composition, losing Abdul was a big blow because he is a big-game player,\u201d chopper said. \u201cHe\u2019s quite experienced, he can make a difference on the server and take over games. \u201cBut outside of the server, it was a relief of sorts. Abdul was behaving like a superstar without fulfilling the duties of a superstar. The job of a superstar is to help the team to improve, but he did not do that because he was sort of a hermit. The four of us talked a lot and communicated a lot, while Abdul was on his own all the time. \u201cThat became more apparent after the Major because he thought of himself as someone who was better than some of his teammates, which is obviously not productive. Outside of the server, it was a relief.\u201d To replace degster, Spirit signed Ukrainian rookie Igor \u2018w0nderful\u2019 Zhdanov, bringing the average age of the squad further down, to 20.5 years. The young AWPer still looks very raw, but chopper is excited with what he has seen from the player In the short time he has been with the team. [Editor\u2019s note: The interview was conducted before Team Spirit announced that they were investigating match-fixing allegations involving w0nderful.] \u201cHe\u2019s really young but he has the ability to turn the round on its head and to take initiative in the game. Even though he wasn\u2019t like that at the start, maybe because he was a bit shy, he is now taking responsibility. Sometimes, he will call for someone to play for him or to flash for him, for example. \u201cHe has \u2018the young skill\u2019. This means that there are some situations that young players like him, players of the generation, will play differently from players from the older generations. He will be one of the best with time.\u201d Still an underdog Spirit qualified for the IEM Rio Major almost unscathed, only dropping a game to Sprout. Of the four teams that they defeated en route to a Legends spot, three \u2014 GamerLegion, Bad News Eagles and Cloud9 \u2014 also made it to Rio, which speaks to the difficulty of the task they had. There weren\u2019t any pushovers. Weeks later, the team came out on top of the Flow FiReLEAGUE 2022 Global Finals, held at Camp Nou, the stadium of Spanish football club Barcelona. It was a small tournament that lacked the luster that large-scale international events can be counted on to provide, but it was still an important moment for a Spirit team that is trying to find its place among the game\u2019s greats. Heading into the Major, they are ranked 13th in the world, eight places down from their peak ranking of fifth after Antwerp. It will be hard for Spirit to repeat what they accomplished in Belgium. They have lost their best player, and the surprise factor is gone. At the same time, the field is much more stacked than it was a few months ago, with a number of teams, rather than just FaZe and NAVI, looking capable of mounting a serious title challenge in Rio. Looking back, does chopper think that Antwerp was his best chance to win a Major? \u201cA hundred percent no,\u201d he said with assurance. \u201cThe current roster is very young. If we play with the same dedication and stay united, more will come. For sure.\u201d Spirit are once again the youngest team at the Major, with chopper the elder statesman in the squad. He is five years older than the next-oldest player, Pavel \u2018s1ren\u2019 Ogloblin, who just turned 20. Still, chopper doesn\u2019t see himself as a father figure. \u201cEveryone in the team is equal,\u201d he said. \u201cOur team dynamic is not like that. hally is the main guy. I have a lot of responsibility because I\u2019m the caller, but that does not mean that I\u2019m superior to the other players. \u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure working with young players. As I said about w0nderful, they have a slightly different logic inside the game. And it\u2019s cool to exchange opinions and learn something new. Unlike some of the old players, the young ones are more open to my opinions. They are willing to adapt and so I am. Together, we are always coming to conclusions together. And that was not always the case with some of the older players.\u201d IEM Rio will be much tougher than Antwerp, but chopper still believes that his team can once again fly under the radar and reach the playoffs. \u201cIn many situations, we will be the underdogs, and we feel comfortable in that position because the pressure will be on the opponent,\u201d he said. The Brazilian Major will be more than just the chance for Spirit to prove that the Antwerp run was no fluke; it will also offer chopper the opportunity to continue to cement his reputation in the scene. \u201cMany Russian in-game leaders have better results than me,\u201d he said. \u201cnafany, Boombl4, and Jame all have the results to back up their claim. I don\u2019t have as many great results. I need to prove that I deserve it and win more. \u201cAfter Antwerp, many people praised me in private messages. The more I accomplish, the more that will happen. It\u2019s only natural.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How chopper is building his CSGO reputation as the leader of Spirit\u2019s young guns Helena Kristiansson\/ESL Gaming via ESPATAt the age of 25, Leonid \u2018chopper\u2019 Vishnyakov is thriving as the in-game leader of Team Spirit, the youngest squad in attendance at the IEM Rio Major. For everything that he has accomplished in his career, chopper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}