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Yay wins the Best Esports Athlete at The Game Awards 2022

Rohan

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Valorant

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#THE GAME AWARDS 2022#YAY
Yay wins the Best Esports Athlete at The Game Awards 2022 cover image

Yay wins the title of the best esports athelte at The Game Awards 2022

Former OpTic Gaming duelist, Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker won the Best Esports Athlete of the year award at The Game Awards. 

There were five nominees in the Best Esports Athlete category. Yay won the category over other big names including Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-Hoon, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-Hyeok, Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen and Oleksandr ‘S1mple’ Kostyliev. Yay was the only professional Valorant player in the list of nominees.

Yay! A year of dominance 

Nicknamed the ‘El diablo’ for his impressive performances throughout the past year, Yay has been one of the best players in the Valorant esports scene. Best known for his Chamber gameplay, Yay would often turn the tide of a round on its head helping OpTic get crucial round victories.

OpTic Gaming finished won VCT Masters Reykjavik earlier this year. They also finished 3rd at VCT Masters Copenhagen and ended their season with a runners-up at VCT Champions Instanbul. The North American org lost to LOUD in the Grand Finals but Yay continued to dominate. His victory as the best esports athlete at The Game Awards is not surprising.

OpTic Yay: “The thing with FNS as a leader is doesn’t complain about his problems or health. Despite his own personal struggles, he’s able to rally the team and lead by example” preview image
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OpTic Yay: “The thing with FNS as a leader is doesn’t complain about his problems or health. Despite his own personal struggles, he’s able to rally the team and lead by example”

He talks about the team’s surprise Brimstone + Icebox pick against XSET.

Rohan

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The Post-OpTic yay 

Yay won the title of the best esports athlete at The Game Awards. Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker of OpTic Gaming appears onstage with the VALORANT Masters Finals trophy in hand on April 24, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Yay won the title of the best esports athlete at The Game Awards. Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker of OpTic Gaming appears onstage with the VALORANT Masters Finals trophy in hand on April 24, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

OpTic Gaming failed to secure a franchise spot in Riot Games Valorant. The upcoming season will start with a VCT kickoff eventi in Brazil next year. The event will see all 30 teams participating in the Lock in tournament.

After OpTic failed to secure franchising, yay was without doubt one of the most sought after players on the market. After several weeks of suspense, the former Counter-Strike player revealed he was joining Cloud9.

Here’s the full Cloud9 Valorant roster:

  • Nathan "leaf" Orf
  • Erick "Xeppaa" Bach
  • Anthony "vanity" Malaspina
  • Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro
  • Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker

While Yay is known best for his Chamber gameplay, Riot recently brough significant nerfs to Chamber in Valorant patch 5.12. It will be interesting to see how yay adapts to these changes. Riot also introduced Harbor a water-manipulating India-based agent. 

Cloud9 will participate in the Red Bull Home Grounds #3 tournament that kicks offo on December 9. The Valorant off-season event features a $100,000 prize pool and features top tier teams including Cloud9. 100Thieves, Vitality and more.