chopper thanks Vega Squadron and Team Spirit after exit

Russian player Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov thanked Vega Squadron and Team Spirit for helping him develop in professional CS:GO and CS2, Cybersport.ru reported on Nov. 7. He made the comments to HLTV.org.

chopper said he spent most of his Counter-Strike career in those two organizations. For him they became much more than his teams, he said, because he gave them ten years.

What he said about each organization

He thanked Vega Squadron for helping with his first steps in esports. The organization opened new opportunities for him and gave him a push to keep growing, he said.

At Team Spirit, chopper said, he established himself as a player and grew both professionally and in the media. He added that it was also where he reached the main achievements of his career.

The people at Team Spirit

He singled out Nikolai “Certus” and Sergei “hally”. Certus trusted him with the captain’s role, and with hally, he said, he learned to win.

Working at Team Spirit also let him see the scale of the whole organization from the inside, chopper said. Behind the scenes, he said, a huge team of professionals works, each person with their own area of responsibility. He learned a lot from them.

Message to fans

chopper also thanked the fans, saying their support was a vital part of his path in moments of triumph and in periods when things did not go to plan. He ended with thanks for being there and said he would see them on streams.

Background

chopper had been listed as inactive at Team Spirit since December 2025 and officially left the club on Nov. 6, Cybersport.ru reported. Shortly before the announcement, he said he no longer planned to return to the professional CS scene. For almost a year he has streamed actively, covered tournaments as a community caster and taken part in various media activities, according to the outlet.