by Cloud9 and star Valorant player Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker have reportedly parted ways by mutual consent.
The involved parties agreed to sign a release that terminated the contract binding yay to the organization. Max “purest” Katz first released the information online via Twitter.
Dot Esports published a report a few days after purest’s tweet, confirming that yay was leaving the North American team. Although neither party has said anything to confirm or refute the news, yay took out the organization’s branding from his social media bio.
Although it is not clear if the player is joking, yay wrote that he was signed to Moist Esports on his Twitter bio. Due to his reputation as one of the best players in Valorant, Moist Esports, which recently entered the Valorant scene, would likely love to have him on board.
Yay started his career in Valorant in September 2020 after signing with Andbox, and by August 2021, he had moved to Envy. The team’s roster secured a second-place finish at VCT Masters Berlin 2021 and a top 12 at Valorant Champions 2021.
After Envy and OpTic Gaming merged, the entire roster became a part of the latter team. The squad won two VCT Masters Reykjavik events in 2022 and reached top-three finishes in the Masters Copenhagen and Champions. Their performance made them one of the best Valorant squads in the history of VCT.
Yay and the rest of the team had to leave OpTic after the VCT partnership system was announced last year, leading the player to Cloud9 in October 2022. He signed on to the team with Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro and head coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore. The kinds of players on the lineup branded Cloud9 a super team and heightened the expectation surrounding them.
The NA organization had a great start during the VCT LOCK//IN, securing a 2-0 win over Paper Rex; however, they were knocked out by Korean lineup DRX. Yay was the only player that reached a net-positive kill differential on the team during the game with DRX. He was with Cloud9 for just five months.
VCT squads interested in shaking up their rosters can do so during the mid-season transfer window. This starts after the conclusion of the VCT LOCK//IN and will likely be when organizations try to sign yay.
Cloud9 are expected to begin plans for finding a new player to fill yay’s spot next week. The organization did not have any planned roster changes at the time of publication. With yay gone, the current lineup includes Nathan “leaf” Orf, Anthony “vanity” Malaspina, Erick “Xeppaa” Bach, and Zellsis.
Former OpTic Gaming star Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen is reportedly one of the likely candidates for the trial. The player is one of few gamers without a buyout due to his release from OpTic. Marved has not played professional VALORANT since 2022.
Cloud9 are the first major organization to make changes to their Valorant roster this year, doing so before the conclusion of the first international event of the season. They are one of the five NA squads slated to participate in the VCT Americas region international league, which will kick off on March 26.
