Yay wants to return to VCT in 2024 no matter what

One of the biggest stars we’ve seen on the VALORANT competitive scene since its launch, Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker, is ready to return to Tier 1 for the 2024 VCT season. In addition, on Sean Gares and Rod “Slasher” Breslau’s podcast from August 2, it was mentioned that yay is willing to change his role to return to the top competitive level.

As we note, yay is doing everything he can to get the attention of a Tier 1 team so that he can return to the VCT for next season. This is unsurprising, considering that the 2023 season for yay was a complete disaster, as he failed to win a single official match in the VALORANT Challengers League in NA with Disguised.

Yay wants to return to Tier 1 for the VCT 2024

According to Sean Gares and Slasher, yay, he would be willing to change his role in the game to get a contract with some Tier 1 team in the VCT for 2024.

In the podcast, Slasher mentions that yay wants to return to the top competitive level of VALORANT and that he is willing to do anything. In addition, yay could change his role to sentinel or starter if any team requests it.

Likewise, this possible role change will not be something new for yay, as the world’s best VALORANT player of 2022 has recently played different roles. Likewise, it is worth noting that yay was always known for playing with Jett, but he was also one of the best Chamber in the world, especially when playing for OpTic Gaming in 2022.

However, going from it (sentinel) to being a starter can be very different since the agents’ skills are very different, and he must play much more aggressively.

At this point, everything seems to indicate that yay could play with Fade, Breach, KAY/O, or Sova for his possible new role of Initiator. In the VALORANT competitive scene, we have seen very few players make this role change, as they are different, and the adaptation period is a bit long. However, yay’s skills and experience may make this feasible.

About yay

So far, if we look at yay’s stats in the VALORANT competitive scene, we can see that he has little experience playing as an initiator and sentinel. However, it is worth noting that yay selects Chamber or Jett in 75% of the games he plays.

On the other hand, besides Chamber or Jett, Sage is his third favorite agent. However, we can also observe that yay has a good ACS playing with Sova and Breach (201 and 206, respectively), so these are decent scores.

As we mentioned, yay’s level of play decreased noticeably in this season if we compare it to 2022. Playing for Disguised, he could not win a match in VALORANT’s NA Level 2 competitive scene in NA. Also, let’s remember that yay comes from being the best player of 2022, so it’s somewhat inexplicable and surprising.

Likewise, it is also fair to say that everything has to do with the synergy that did not exist in Disguised since, when yay was playing for OpTic Gaming, they were a powerhouse in every way and, of course, yay adapted perfectly.

Now, yay is looking for a new home in VCT Tier 1 for 2024 and is even willing to play for the minimum salary to return to the top tier.

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