Why did Valorant's El Diablo yay exit Cloud9's promising VCT roster?

Following a period of wild speculation, VCT partner Cloud9 has announced its decision to remove Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker from its professional Valorant roster. This comes only a couple of weeks after Cloud9’s disappointing exit from the ongoing LOCK//IN 2023 after losing against DRX, a notable Pacific team.

As announced by Cloud9, the organization began planning some roster changes right after the team was eliminated from LOCK//IN. The roster developments are to ensure that the team is prepared for the upcoming VCT Americas League, which is scheduled to start on March 26, 2023.

As one of the best Valorant players on the scene, yay was among the most sought-after athletes during the VCT off-season. Amidst the immensely hyped roster mania last year, Cloud9 scooped Whiteaker out of the pool of free agents and announced a promising overall roster for VCT 2023.

Considering yay’s achievements so far, Cloud9’s decision to part ways with him is definitely absurd. However, the organization shared a reason for its decision.

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Cloud9’s CEO and head coach explain why Valorant star yay has officially parted ways with their VCT roster

In a viral announcement video, Cloud9’s CEO Jack Etienne and head coach Matthew Elmore spoke about yay’s departure and offered an explanation to fans who have been confused about the situation. The player is now a free agent as Cloud9 takes a step back and works to mitigate the team’s persistent "role issues."

Etienne said:

“The reality is, considering the players that are on this team and the cost of the roster, we all had very high expectations of how we would do and we weren’t meeting those expectations. And because these role issues weren’t getting cleared up, after working on this for some time, we decided it’s probably best to mutually part ways and let yay figure out what’s the best team for him to be on, while we sort out these issues without him.”

Meanwhile, Elmore highlighted yay’s immense talent and mentioned that the decision to remove him might not be good for the roster in the short term. However, it is important for the organization to clear up the existing issues and focus on the roster’s future. He said:

“We might have to take a step back a little bit, before we can actually take steps forward. It’s gonna hurt not having someone as talented as yay. But I believe that we are making the right choices and decisions to go down that line to build something special. Obviously, with everything going on, unfortunately, yay will not be moving forward with us in this journey into the first split.”

While yay posted a tweet regarding his departure from Cloud9’s roster, he later deleted it for unknown reasons.

yay's deleted tweet (Image via Twitter/@yay)

Cloud9 signed yay in September 2022, when multiple newly announced partners were looking for players to fill their Valorant rosters ahead of VCT 2023.

Etienne also shared:

“We were super excited because he is and was the best player in Valorant at that point of time. So, you don’t pass up an opportunity like that and the fact that he wants to join us was super exciting.”

According to Elmore, yay's exit from Cloud9's Valorant division was not due to a 'personality issue' as he was able to gel with his teammates pretty well.

Based on the looks and sounds of the situation, Cloud9's existing problems with player roles tore yay apart from the roster. Elmore said:

“My goal is obviously always to move things forward. We are trying to find the right fit and may even be making more changes to the team in the future.”

With yay's exit, Cloud9's Valorant roster now features Nathan “leaf” Orf, Erick “Xeppaa” Bach, Anthony “vanity” Malaspina, and Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro. The organization is currently hosting player trials to replace yay ahead of the upcoming International League split.