chopper: "When we meet with NAVI, we both play horribly in many situations"

Spirit recovered from a mistake-filled regulation on Dust2 to come out on top of the NAVI derby this time around.

After coming out on the losing end against Natus Vincere in the group stage, Spirit took their revenge in the second consecutive semi-final victory in the derby on the Spodek stage.

Following the match, HLTV spoke to Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov about the chaotic Dust2 affair, in which NAVI recovered several disadvantageous rounds to get ahead, before Spirit closed it down in overtime.

The in-game leader admitted the team was "close to tilt" in the aftermath of some frustrating moments, but said Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov was crucial in getting Spirit back on the horse, not only because of the AWPer's clutch that salvaged the game at 10-12.

chopper also spoke about the upcoming grand final against Vitality, a relatively rare matchup for Spirit when compared to most of the other elite teams.

This interview was originally conducted with the help of a live translator and later translated from Russian by HLTV staff.

Talk me through this finish on Dust2. It felt like you threw away a lot of advantages throughout the first half especially, it could have been a more convincing half and victory. Can you tell me about how you recovered from that at the end?

We approached the game knowing that we and NAVI would both make a lot of mistakes, this matchup is like a derby for both sides. So we knew we had to make sure lost rounds would not have a big impact on us; they were the best team last year, and we are the best team right now.

When two close teams meet, there are always a lot of clutch and frustrating moments, it's normal. We were close to tilt, but our coach… and Dima sh1ro, even when we were losing, was saying 'Guys, it's all ok. Unlucky here, I did this wrong. Sorry, we will win, let's not give up'. And we tried to keep that belief that we will win if we don't give up.

You postured aggressively in key rounds, I think 12-10 was one of those rounds where you pushed up middle and then again in overtime in upper dark. Was that a gameplan ahead of the time knowing that this would work against NAVI?

Inside the game, we understand you cannot do simple plays against them because they are well structured, they do everything on timings, throw grenades, and punish you for playing simple things.

I came to B one round and asked [zont1x] 'throw a deep moly and then flash, we will break their split or B execute'. The same in the middle, when OT started and even before that our coach said 'let's try to break their game plan, we didn't even try. They will not expect it because they think they are in control'. So that's what happened.

You lost to them in the group stage for the first time in a while. What were learnings from that matchup going into today?

Our main takeaway was that when we meet, we both play horribly in many situations. That happens because we both are afraid to make mistakes because every player in the server can win the round on their own. We watched the demos, we could win last game, but we made a lot of mistakes in micro situations.

Our takeaway from today? Try to give them fewer chances to latch onto games. Also try to communicate more in micro situations because in the first game, we played with more freedom and thought we could make plays alone, but today we played more compact and structured.

Tell me about tomorrow. Vitality is not a matchup we see often, you've played the other top teams more than them. Do you see that as an advantage for either side?

I think no one will have an advantage in this game. They have a new lineup, and only started gaining form. They've already hit a good level this tournament, shut down opponents easily, especially on their map picks. They know how we play because we are a consistent team, so they must be watching our demos and preparing.

About the game? I think it will be a close one. Players like ropz, ZywOo, apEX have a lot of stage experience and they know how to play best-of-fives on big stages, I think they've never lost a bo5 final in CS2. It will be a close one, only game will show who should win.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025
09/02/2025	Vitality 17:00 Spirit	Match