chopper on Overpass at IEM Cologne: “shiro, donk, zont1x… It’s really easy to play with them because they understand this map”

Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov has had a long journey to the top. His stint in the Team Spirit lineup began over six years ago, and he has led countless iterations of the roster as IGL since. However, since donk arrived on the scene, his Team Spirit teams have been contenders for all the top trophies, with an IEM Katowice and Major win already under his belt.

Now, chopper and Team Spirit are set to take to the LANXESS Arena in the Semi-Finals of IEM Cologne 2025. It’s a first for the organization, as they seek to claim another of Counter-Strike’s greatest prizes. We spoke to chopper prior to the Playoffs of IEM Cologne – you can find our full interview below:

chopper on zweih, Spirit’s improvements, and Anubis

Daniel Morris: Spirit had a tough time towards the end of last season. What did you guys work on over the break to make sure things felt better coming into Cologne?

Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov: We have a change in our roster. We bring zweih to the team instead of magixx and… a lot of practice, a lot of stuff in CS to play better than last season, and that’s it.

Daniel: I noticed you brought Overpass back into your map pool. Were you happy to see it come back for Anubis?

chopper: Yes, of course, because we have good players like sh1ro, donk, zont1x, now zweih. It’s really easy to play with them because they understand this map and it’s nice to change Anubis because I don’t like it. It’s a bad map for me.

Daniel: We’re obviously playing with the new CT economy changes. How do you feel about the new CT economy?

chopper: It looks good. It’s one of the best changes now because if you have more money, if you do a lot of kills. You don’t need now, a lot of saves, to have a good economy. I like this.

Daniel: You come into Cologne with zweih in the lineup. How is he fitting in?

chopper: Ok. We want a really good fit in our team and really like to play with him with new life, new blood. Young prospect with good mechanical skills, good communication, it’s really nice to play with him.

Daniel: So next you’ll face the winner of The MongolZ vs. NAVI. Is there a team you would prefer to face and why?

chopper: It doesn’t matter to play NAVI or MongolZ or Vitality or MOUZ next stage. You want to play off? Let’s play. Let’s see them all.