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Cloud9 Valorant and their star player Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker are reportedly all set to part ways ahead of the Americas League of the 2023 season of VCT. This move was being speculated on social media like Twitter and Reddit for the last couple of days after C9 was knocked out of LOCK//IN by DRX.
These conversations spiked when yay removed Cloud9 affiliations from his Twitter bio. At the time of writing this article, he even added "Professional VALORANT player for @MoistEsports" to his bio. It's still unclear if he has actually joined the newly signed NA VCL team or if it is merely a practical joke.
yay joined the Cloud9 Valorant roster in October 2022 as part of the organization's partnership with Riot Games. Prior to this, he played for the OpTic Gaming squad that placed second in VCT Champions 2022.
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While the reason for his departure from Cloud9 is currently unknown, sources indicate that it was a mutual decision between yay and the organization.
What lies ahead for yay and C9 Valorant in VCT 2023?
The move is unlikely to be due to any performance issues on yay's part. In the two official matches played by Cloud9 in this VCT season, yay had a respectable middle-of-the-table finish against Paper Rex in the first match and was the only player to finish with a positive K/D in the second match-up against DRX. Given yay's consistent ranking as one of the best players in the world, it seems premature to make such a drastic move early in the season.
Despite his alleged departure from Cloud9's Valorant roster, yay's reputation as one of the best players in the game remains intact. As a result, many teams in the Americas League will be eager to bring him onto their rosters ahead of the start of the VCT 2023 International Leagues. However, given the limited time before the league begins on March 26, 2023, it is unlikely that yay will find a spot on a franchised team immediately.
Most teams in the Americas League have already established rosters and built up a level of synergy, so adding a new player like yay would mean starting over from scratch. Therefore, it may take some time before yay finds a suitable team to join.
Cloud9 has already begun to look for a replacement for yay, with several players currently undergoing trials for the position. One of the players trying out for the role is yay's former OpTic Gaming teammate, Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen.
However, it remains to be seen how Marved will fit into the Cloud9 environment as he primarily played as a Controller for OpTic Gaming, with some flexibility to play as an Initiator. The Cloud9 Valorant roster already has players in these roles, with Anthony "vanity" Malaspina as the team's Controller and Erick "Xeppaa" Bach as the main Initiator. It will be interesting to see how Cloud9 will shuffle roles and adapt to the addition of Marved to their lineup.
The decision to part ways with yay this early into the 2023 VCT season has come as a surprise to many, and it remains to be seen how Cloud9's Valorant roster will perform without him. Fans and analysts will be closely following the team's performance in upcoming matches to see how they adapt to the changes and how they fare against opponents.
