CSGO: Who are the five players behind Team Spirit?

Who are the five CSGO players behind Team Spirit, a Russian team that is experiencing a meteoric rise to the top of the CSGO?

After the team victory at the Dreamhack Open in January and its surprising ascent to the IEM Katowice 2021 semifinals, Team Spirit is the talk of the CSGO community. So who are these five relatively unknown players that run through their opposition at record speed?

Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov

The captain of the team is the 24 year old Leonid “chopper” of Vishnyakov. Chopper has been active on the Russian scene since 2013, playing on a variety of lesser known lineups. He made his first breakthrough in 2016 when he joined the Vega Squadron. He reached the New Legends stage with the team in two consecutive majors.

After more than two years with the Vega Squadron, he decided to part with the Russian organization in the beginning of 2019. He found a new challenge for the Team Spirit, helping to create a successful roster.

Nikolay “mir” Bityukov – Team Spirit

As the star player of the lineup, Nikolay “mir” Bityukov played a key role in the recent success of the team. The Russian is the most established player in the lineup, having played with the chopper on the Vega Squadron before joining Gambit Esports. When the Gambit lineup collapsed in the summer of 2019, all of its players were taken to the bench and mir was transferred to Spirit.

The 25 year old entry fragrance is a consistent star performer for Team Spirit. His KDA ratio is barely below 1, and he has a habit of showing his best performance against highly rated teams. Mir is one of the few pro players to use the M4A1-S as his CT rifle. Although the gun is generally considered to be the weakest of the two M4 options, mir clearly shows that it can be made to work.

Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev – Team Spirit

As the longest standing player on the roster, Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev was the only constant player on Team Spirit. sdy, also known as “somedieyoung”, has represented the organization since the beginning of 2018. 

Since then, he’s been growing alongside the team, resulting in a recent Dreamhack Open victory and a great IEM Katowice run.Sdy is a stabilizing factor both inside and outside the server. The consistency that some of his teammates might miss is the strong suit of sdy.

Boris “magixx” Vorobiev – Team Spirit

Boris “magixx” Vorobiev is the newest hot prospect forged in the Faceit Pro League. The online hub has a reputation for giving young and talented players the opportunity to shine and test their skills against the best in the game. Magixx joined the hub a little over a year ago and won its monthly competition in June 2020.

In the summer of 2019, the 17 year old signed his first professional contract. Initially, he joined ESPADA, a team that has a strong relationship with Team Spirit. After spending a month with the squad, he was transferred to Team Spirit.

Abdul “degster” Gasanov

One of the brightest young talents in CSGO, Abdul “degster” Gasanov has gone from playing in the lower parts of Russia to being considered the next major AWPer in just two months. The 19 year old is still on loan from ESPADA, but Team Spirit is expected to make the deal permanent in the coming weeks.

Coach Nikolay “certus” Poluyanov said that while Degster was a good contributor, he still had a lot to learn and a lot of mistakes that required to be ironed out.

Degster is a complete training machine. He claims to begin his day with four hours of deathmatch followed by team training and several FPL games to close the day.