Chopper confirms retirement after decade leading Vega Squadron and Spirit

Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov has confirmed his retirement from competitive Counter-Strike, ending a playing career of more than ten years, HLTV reports.

The 29-year-old Russian in-game leader told HLTV in a statement that he had decided not to return to active play.

Chopper first drew attention as part of Vega Squadron, the team that eliminated Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-2 on Cache at the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Main Qualifier. That result marked the first time the long-standing NIP core had missed out on a Major.

Over his career he appeared at 40 notable LAN events, 11 of them Majors, according to HLTV's figures.

He joined Team Spirit in 2019 and went on to lift nine trophies with the organisation, including the Perfect World Shanghai Major, IEM Katowice 2024 and IEM Cologne 2025, alongside several BLAST titles and a PGL event.

In his statement, chopper said: "I spent most of my competitive Counter-Strike career in two organizations: Vega Squadron and Team Spirit." He added that both became "much more than just the teams I played for, since I spent 10 years there."

He thanked Vega Squadron for giving him his start in esports, saying the organisation "opened up new opportunities for me and gave me the momentum to continue growing."

On his time at Spirit, chopper said he had established himself as a player and improved his professional and media skills there, and credited the achievement of his career's "major milestones" to that period.

He singled out Nikolay "Certus" for entrusting him with the in-game leader role, and Sergey "hally", saying: "we learned to win together."

Chopper also reflected on working within a larger organisation, saying Spirit's backend involved "a large team of professionals, each of them has their own area of responsibility," and that he had learned from colleagues he described as having "become an extremely important part of my life."

His individual form had been recognised in recent seasons: chopper was a finalist for IGL of the Year in 2024, and HLTV notes he missed out on that distinction in 2025 by just one point.

Spirit benched chopper at the end of 2025. Since then he has moved into streaming and community broadcasting work rather than active competition.

Spirit released a tribute video on Friday thanking chopper for his contributions to the organisation, according to HLTV.

Closing his statement, chopper thanked the fans who followed his career. "All these years, your support has been a vital part of my journey, both during moments of triumph and during times when things didn't go our way," he said, adding: "Thank you for being there for us, and see you on the streams!"