In a surprising move after their Valorant Champions Tour LOCK//IN run, North American esports organization Cloud9 released Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker from their VALORANT roster.
An update on the Cloud9 VALORANT roster pic.twitter.com/DFVmZm3Cav
— Cloud9 VALORANT (@C9VAL) March 1, 2023
In a recent video announcement, Cloud9’s founder and CEO Jack Etienne and VALORANT head coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore explained their decision to let go of the most sought after free agent this past offseason. They revealed that, although Yay was settling in fine with the roster, they wanted to focus on the future and build a roster without last year’s best player in the world.
Yay’s tenure in Cloud9 has been short ever since his signing with the team. He only competed in two tournaments with Cloud9: finishing second at Red Bull Home Ground #3 and defeating Paper Rex in LOCK//IN 2023 before exiting the tournament with their defeat at the hands of DRX.
— yay (@yay) March 1, 2023
As of this article’s writing, Yay has yet to officially release a statement on his release but has replied to his former OpTic Gaming teammate Austin “crashies” Roberts with the “if I speak I am in big trouble” Jose Mourinho meme, implying that the move has more things happening than it meets the eye.
With Yay gone, Cloud9 is left with five players in the roster:
- Anthony “vanity” Malaspina
- Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
- Nathan “leaf” Orf
- Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
- Mateja “qpert” Mijovic
