Cloud9 Valorant coach says yay will still be “dominant” despite Chamber nerfs
Lance Skundrich/Riot Gamesyay was by far the top player of the year and demanded attention from multiple teams this offseason.
With nerfs coming to Chamber in the most recent patch of Valorant, some in the community have speculated that pro players that use the agent regularly, such as Cloud9’s Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker, will fall off in 2023. Cloud9 head coach Matthew ‘mCe’ Elmore told Dexerto that yay’s potential demise is overexaggerated.
yay is considered by many to be one of the best players in the world. The North American star ran over international competition on OpTic Gaming in 2022, winning VCT Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík and placing top three at the other two international events the team attended.
But with the changes to yay’s most played agent in 2022, Chamber, some have speculated that the Cloud9 star and other Chamber mains will take a nosedive in terms of performance in 2023. However, according to Cloud9 head coach mCe, yay won’t be hit by the changes as much as some people think.
“The Chamber changes will hurt, but I think he’s going to be just fine,” mCe said in an interview with Dexerto at Red Bull Home Ground media day. “He’s still going to be a very dominant player, and his potential is incredibly high.”
yay won’t lose Valorant star status because of Chamber nerf
mCe also pointed to yay’s statistics before Chamber entered pro play in 2022. At VCT Stage 3 Masters Berlin, the North American player was statistically the best at the tournament with top numbers in kills/deaths ratio, average damage per round, and kills per round, according to VLR.gg, while solely playing Jett.
“I think people forget how good yay was,” mCe said.
One aspect of the Chamber nerfs that might impact Yay the most, according to mCe, is how many times he can access the agent’s ultimate and earn a free sniper rifle. With players now picking Chamber less, they won’t be able to have a powerful weapon every few rounds in addition to the Operator.
“That’s a huge difference in terms of the economy,” the Cloud9 head coach said. “You could just win eco rounds so easily with the Chamber OP before, so it’s going to affect a lot of players.”
Overall, if Chamber players do see a dip in form or statistics due to the agent’s nerf, or if they have to pick different agents entirelly, yay will still be as talented as he always was, according to mCe.
“He’s a higher IQ player than some of the other Chamber people. I don’t think he’s going to struggle nearly as much as others. You know, people who’ve been stereotypical Chamber mains,” mCe said.
yay will make his first appearance for Cloud9 on December 9 at Red Bull Home Ground 3, in Manchester. Cloud9 are in Group A alongside Team Vitality, FOKUS and KRÜ Esports.
