Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov has retired from playing professional Counter-Strike. The former Team Spirit captain confirmed the decision directly to HLTV on November 7. Spirit had already moved him to the bench at the end of 2025.
From Vega Squadron to the Shanghai Major
Before joining Spirit in 2019, chopper helped Vega Squadron beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 16–2 on Cache in qualifying for the 2017 ELEAGUE Major. With Spirit he went on to win the Perfect World Shanghai Major in 2024. His other titles included IEM Katowice in 2024 and IEM Cologne in 2025.
A farewell to playing, with streams still ahead
In his statement, chopper credited Nikolay “Certus” Poluyanov with entrusting him with in-game leadership and thanked the teammates, staff and supporters who followed him. He has worked as a streamer and community caster since leaving the starting lineup, and signed off by telling fans he would see them on stream.
For the wider game’s activity, ActivePlayer tracks Counter-Strike 2 players on Steam. Those figures measure people playing the game, separately from the audience watching a tournament.
Watch Team Spirit’s farewell to chopper.
