Valorant star yay takes temporary break from VCT due to health problems

Valorant superstar Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker is taking a temporary break from VCT due to health-related reasons, as announced by BLEED Esports. 

“After concluding the first split, yay has decided to take a temporary break for health reasons before coming back to competing,” BLEED announced on their X (formerly Twitter) account. 

“We fully support his decision to prioritize his wellness and we’re all excited for more yay once he’s back in the zone. Till then, rest up yay!”

yay had a rough start to 2024 with BLEED, being eliminated from VCT Pacific Kickoff after losing both of their games and only being able to pick up one win against DFM during the regular season in Pacific Stage 1. 

This meant El Diablo has missed both Masters events for 2024, and going into VCT Pacific Stage 2 in June, he is taking a step back from VCT as a whole. 

During Kickoff, yay revealed that in his elimination match against Global Esports, he said his vision went “blurry” during the game which affected his performance in the match. It’s unknown at this time if his reasons for stepping away temporarily are related.

As yay steps down from BLEED, the team will need to replace him for Stage 2, however, they are yet to announce his replacement. 

Yay made his name in VCT during his time with the ENVY/OpTic Gaming core, making multiple international LAN Grand Finals with a Masters trophy in the cabinet. 

During 2023, yay was signed to Cloud9, but was unexpectedly dropped, eventually playing for DSG in NA Challengers but that run ended disastrously for the team. He went on to move to Pacific in 2024 to play for BLEED. 

BLEED’s first match in VCT Pacific Stage 2 will be on June 15 against Team Secret.