chopper: "Many top CIS teams invited me and I always denied thinking I should do something myself"

The Russian leader talked about making it to the Major playoffs, the pressure of expectations, and his journey to becoming a respected captain.

Spirit have been on the ascendancy ever since promoting the academy duo of Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia in July 2023, and entered the top 15 in the world rankings in December after their BetBoom Dacha win.

While the youngsters on the team got most of the plaudits, Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's stock as an IGL increased during this time, too, and the 27-year-old is now seen as one of the best callers in the world.

Since the BLAST Spring Groups, where Spirit played without two of their members, the Russian squad has won IEM Katowice and 16 out of their last 17 matches and has now qualified for the Major playoffs after a win over Natus Vincere in the 2-0 bracket.

After the victory, chopper sat down with HLTV to talk about Spirit's expectations in Copenhagen, his transition to the IGL role, and his long journey to the top of the scene.

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Editor's note: Questions were asked via a translator, and chopper's answers were translated by Russian-speaking HLTV staff.

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I’m here with chopper. First Major since Rio, and you’re back in the Playoffs.

It feels superb. I’m happy and proud of everyone on the team: coach, psychologist, manager, content makers… Everyone did such a great job, and I’m super happy for the guys.

I want to ask you about your famous tweet: “I’m not giving up before I win the Major”. Is this the Major?

I don’t know, I already forgot about that tweet. The goal for me and the team is playing game by game. I don’t think anyone is thinking about winning the event or the result in general. For us, it’s already a great joy to make it through to the playoffs and play on a big stage.

What’s that like trying to shield yourself from the pressure? Because you’re a lot of people’s favorites. How are you putting that out of your mind?

I think we’re a young team and we think a lot about many things, and it protects us from these thoughts. Because we don’t think about our potential result, whether we favorites or not. We just try to play our game and enjoy playing with each other. Everyone likes the collective that was made by the Spirit organization now, from players to all the staff, everyone just likes each others’ company and working together. So I think it makes no difference if we’re favorites or not, we just feel ourselves as the guys who just need to practice and get better.

It’s hard now because we hold you guys to a such standard. You’ve got 3-0, but a few shaky moments on Nuke. How do you feel about your team’s level right now? Is it at 100%?

I think because we’re a young team and we haven’t gone through some situations yet as a team at big events. There are moments when we can lose our game and start thinking about the wrong things. This is why Nuke was hard. We lost a lot of clutches, 4-5, it feels like there is an endless count of them. We created a lot of entries and lost them. But it’s a big bonus that the guys who work with the roster know the approach to each player and can turn the people back on after such a map.

I wanted to ask as well about zont1x specifically because he’s this kind of third star who’s really stepping up. When you interview him, he’s so determined, calm, and critical - for his first Major, what it’s like having a player like that?

It’s great to play with such a player. He’s mature in the game beyond his years. Myroslav is a particular kind of person… He seems to be older than he actually is. And he’s quite a rare type of person which I didn’t encounter much. You need to learn to play with such player, but when you do, you understand that he’s incredible. So we all learn to soften the edges with each other. And, at this event, he shows the game at a very high level, but I think he can be even better.

And one on donk as well. It’s hard to think of new things to ask. But what is it like with donk? He seems really focused on the game, he’s screaming when you win, he’s really dialed in in the game. What’s the progression been like? Are you holding him to a different standard now?

At Katowice, which was a big event for our team, there was a lot of talk from all sides. And even we discussed this in our team, I remember Konstantin asking me in a vlog on our YouTube channel: what do I think about Danya, why is he screaming less. I think he’s growing as a person and starts to understand better when it’s needed and pay more attention to his game. I think with experience he becomes more mature and understands that he doesn’t need to scream every single time. He screams better now, he does it in the right moments, and I’m happy about his growth.

About your career as well. A long one, a storied one, a big development. Did you ever think you would be here back at the Vega Squadron days? Champion of IEM Katowice, Major playoffs again. Did you ever think you would be here?

Not sure. Many top CIS teams invited me and I always denied thinking I should do something myself. Probably I was afraid more would be asked of me. But I always had confidence that the team should be above all, no matter what your role, IGL, coach, or whoever. If you have one idea, any team can win. And I always wanted to find those who would make this one idea, and I’m very happy that we have it now. I don’t know what we will achieve, but playing here with everyone is very nice. We’ll see about the future.

But did you think you would achieve so much?

I’ve always known that I had some sort of talent. I didn’t think I had a talent as a captain because it was a big path. It was very hard growing as a captain, many doubts from all sides. Certus helped me a lot, he taught me to be the captain, and now the same does hally. I always believed and do still believe that I can achieve something, that everything will be okay, and that I will be able to make it. But the time just wasn’t right probably.