chopper: "Changes are unlikely before and after Shanghai"

Spirit's in-game leader spoke at length about their IEM Cologne debacle and what they're doing to get back on their feet after the tough start to the season.

To say the start of the second season has not gone according to plan for Spirit would be an understatement. Fresh off a victory at BLAST Premier Spring Final, Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and company entered the new season as the No. 1 team, but their form disappeared in a puff of smoke as they bombed out of the Esports World Cup and IEM Cologne after the break.

The latter exit was a particular cause for concern, as Spirit only won eight rounds over three out of the four map losses they suffered against The MongolZ and G2 in Germany, and produced some early calls for changes in the team.

Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov all but ruled out the possibility of roster changes in the near future in an interview with HLTV, going as far as to say they are "unlikely to happen both before and after Shanghai, no matter what happens."

While participating in media obligations for BetBoom Dacha Belgrade he delved in-depth into the reasons behind Spirit's horrendous Cologne exit, touching on issues with the team's atmosphere as well as his leadership as he took responsibility for their disappearance.

You can read the full interview below, in which chopper also spoke about Spirit's consecutive losses to the new G2, Valve's decision to ban Snap Tap and remove jump-throw binds, and the upcoming campaign at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade:

---

This interview was conducted in Russian and later translated by Russian-speaking HLTV staff.

---

I want to start with IEM Cologne, an extremely unfortunate result for your team. What went wrong?

In Cologne, we were a little disunited as a team. We had issues that we didn't solve before the event; it started after the break. And in Cologne, all of those small issues with relations or with the game showed and hit the team hard. After the tournament, we tried to solve everything, and we'll see how it will go at this event.

You said that there were issues regarding the game and relations between the players. What do you think was the key factor?

As for me, the greater factor was that I, as a captain, couldn't put the team in a lighter vibe so the players would be relaxed. I was thinking more about the game, not the atmosphere in the team. I think it was the biggest problem for me at the event.

You lost to Mongolz in the opening match and to G2 in the elimination game. Which loss hit you harder?

Both losses were hard to take. I'd say the second one was more of a knockout for us. In the first game we were at least playing, even though we had difficulties, but in the second game we didn't even join the server as a team. So it was a knockout game for us.

You lost to G2 in Cologne and at the Esports World Cup. How do you explain losing to them twice? Is it their stronger new roster, or was it more about your form?

I think there are several different factors. Firstly, I can say that they have a strong roster for sure, their players are in their peak form. They're charged, they have a light mood, no problems, and everything is well. They're still not winning events, but it's much easier for them to play now with malbsMd and Snax than with HooXi and nexa, it's 100%.

As for us, there are also different factors. At EWC, we won the first map, lost Mirage, and not sure what the third map was… But there we had certain issues due to which we lost. I believe they were in good form, but we also played the third map terribly. We fought there, at least. Yes, we lost the first map disastrously, fought on Nuke, and on map three, what happened happened.

In Cologne, we didn't even start playing from map one. In Riyadh, you can break down the game and talk about rounds and mechanical mistakes. If you watch the Cologne game, there's nothing to analyze. Spirit was absent from the server.

After the win in Katowice, and overall considering the high ceiling that the team has shown, you can often hear people talking about changes in the roster. To put it straight, are changes in the team possible before Shanghai? Or do you rule out such a possibility?

I think changes in Spirit are unlikely to happen both before and after Shanghai. You always need to give it an adequate look. We have a very young team. The backbone of the team, in my view, is the IGL, AWP, and the star player. And this core has been playing together for only half a year, it's so little. Also, some players are young. So I think that changes are unlikely after Shanghai, no matter what happens, because most players here haven't reached their peak form.

And you need to look at the season: We won Katowice, then we reached playoffs everywhere with this young roster, and before the break we won a big event. It means that it wasn't like we entered Katowice and thanks to donk or peeker's advantage won the event. No, we won another event four months later. The team is putting in work and fixing the mistakes.

Yes, we have a tough period right now, after the break we couldn't gain form, we had issues with the atmosphere within the team. But I think with proper work from everyone - and we're working a lot on this - everything will be fine, so it's unlikely for any changes to happen.

Do I understand it right that you look at your performance as if the glass is half full and not half empty? In a sense that you're happy with how your young team has shown itself and what events you won, but if something doesn't work, it's still within your expectations. Do you talk through the issue of expectations with the team? That you probably need to have a more realistic outlook?

That's a good question, because what happened in Cologne is that we had wrong expectations of ourselves. I don't know about the guys and can't speak for them, but I had expectations that we're a super team, we won two events, we're tier 1, tier S, and we need to reach the semi-finals at minimum. And I believe those thoughts of mine hurt the team. I'm supposed to have an understanding that we are a young team… And I do have it. I remembered it the entire season when we were working together. But after the break, I didn't manage to find these questions within myself. But now the team helps me and I look at it with a more clear view.

So yes, we need to look at everything that happened as the glass is half full. We're a super young team. And donk's showing in Katowice was not his last performance, he will show an even better one. We have one of the best snipers and two great anchors. If we were not in form at that moment, we just need to step up, believe in each other, and everything will be well. Because we work a lot, spend a lot of time with each other, and it will have an impact.

I presume hally has a significant weight in these conversations you mentioned. But who else is involved?

Actually, a lot of people work with our team. Our coach, psychologist, and manager can always share their opinion. Our CEO also works with us, he also helps us sometimes. Team Spirit are doing everything, and I thank them for that. They help us with all sorts of issues: visas, travel, apartments, and so on. A lot of people work with our roster, and we just need to appreciate what people do around us and show a good game.

Speaking again of hally, can you tell us why he was absent during BLAST Groups?

hally had an illness, which is why he couldn't attend. But during BLAST he tried to help, he stayed in touch. But after that he got better and came to work with us at Cologne.

Your team received an invite to IEM Rio but decided to skip the event. Can you tell us what went into that decision?

We have people who are responsible for all of our travel, these are our manager, coach, and CEO. Honestly, I'm not very involved in this, but the guys said that we would have a lot of events, and they didn't want us to get burned out before the Major. For the first time, this team is playing so many LAN events in a row - not just online, but on LAN.

We had EWC, a week off, BLAST groups, five days later we had Cologne. We dropped out early, which is why we had a bigger break, but after that we're having one week at BetBoom Dacha, straight after that we're going to EPL, a week off, then we might have EPL playoffs, depending on the results. Straight after EPL there will be BLAST. The events go one after another, without a break. And to go to Rio, you need to spend two days on travel, you can't play praccs really.

I'm expressing my opinion, not sure what came into the guys' decision, but I think it makes sense if we don't want to get exhausted and burned out and show the best we can at the events we will be playing.

Valve recently updated the game, removing Snap Tap and jump throws. What do you think of this change and how was it taken by your team?

Snap Tap didn't really affect us because we only got Snap Tap keyboards after Cologne. We looked around, everyone was using them. Some got really boosted by it, some did not, but it's not the point. We actually decided to give those keyboards a try, to practice them a bit. And we were playing with them for four or five days, everything is awesome, we really got into it. Cool feature! Boom, it got disabled. Damn, but we only got it… But whatever.

Half of the team tried and I did like it, but it doesn't make a lot of difference for us, we didn't get used to it a lot. But I personally enjoyed it a lot. I tried it and was like, damn, Snap Tap is great! My player model is super nimble! When they removed it, I was like, how to play again? My model is slow again… But I only played three or four days, I don't think it will be significant.

Read more

Valve take stance against Snap Tap-like features, remove jump-throw binds

Regarding jump throw and run throw, it's quite surprising. My opinion is that if it comes down to pressing two or three buttons, and it depends on your skill, it's cool. Teams will indeed start to think about getting some grenade nerd to throw some of these nades, because not everyone will be able to do it. It will require more skill than just pointing and throwing.

On the other hand, I don't mind jump throw. It's convenient, you don't need to practice anything, you just point and throw. So I'm fine with both ways, it's not crucial. The most important is for Valve to make up their mind on the matter. If they want it to be banned forever, then let it be like that from now on so people could train it. Give people time to show who's great at nades, and who's going to be failing them.

But now most of the community doesn't like it being removed. Now there are RMR qualifiers, and half of the teams are struggling with grenades. Then just return them ASAP, in two or three days. But I just want stability, so we, as players, know if we wouldn't be playing without these binds for long, or we would be able to go back since most don't like it being removed.

BetBoom Dacha. Last time you lost to MOUZ, this time you and them are also the main favorites. What do you expect from this event, and how important is it for you to perform well here?

I just don't expect anything from this event. The most important thing for us at this event is to join the server and enjoy playing with each other. No matter the preparation, whether opponents know how we play or not, we just have to show what we're capable of. Because the last two events there were plenty of moments where we simply didn't show how we're able to play. Not only we didn't show our best, we didn't even show our normal level.

For me it's important to just play CS and enjoy the game with each other. Neither maximum nor minimum, just normal. What place we finish doesn't matter. Everyone understands within the team that if we play our normal game, and just enjoy the game, we can win this tournament.