Bleed Esports announce its VCT Pacific League arrival with some style.
The rumours were true - Bleed Esports have officially signed Jacob "yay" Whiteaker to a two-year deal that will see the North American star bring his talents and expertise to the VCT Pacific League for the 2024 season. This was Bleed's second roster change of the off-season after Javier "Egoist." Chua made the move from X10 Esports just a few days prior.
While yay may not be the first player to switch from NA to Southeast Asia, he will be the biggest name yet given his high-profile status during his time with Team Envy, which became OpTic Gaming soon after. This included a first-place finish at the Stage 1 Masters - Reykjavík as well as coming in second at VCT Champions 2022.
He will make his debut in the coming months, starting with VCT Kick-Off, a two-week tournament for each international league to determine who will compete at Masters Madrid. In regards to the move, yay spoke of why he made the move to Singapore. It was the unique style and gameplay of Asia and China that first intrigued him and was something he wanted to experience first-hand to develop his own game.
He also spoke about the financial drama within North America like The Guard and how it dropped its entire roster after winning Ascension. This also includes Evil Geniuses, who are currently in contractual disputes with its recent championship-winning side. He also mentioned his time with Bleed thus far:
The environment here is more wholesome, which is really cool. It sometimes got a bit toxic with some of my past teams, maybe too serious, with lots of drama. But here at Bleed, everyone is super friendly, really, really nice people.
Yay was first rumoured to be playing in the Pacific League after he was allegedly duo-queueing with his now teammate, Derrick "Deryeon" Yee. This was spotted on Rex Regum Qoen's Saibani "fl1pzjder" Rahmad's Twitch livestream. While yay was playing under the IGN "zommy", fans of the NA star have pointed out the same crosshair usage as well as aiming style that made it obvious.
Bleed will compete in the VCT Pacific League for the next two seasons after the team won the Ascension Pacific trophy a few months ago. This will also allow yay to put his skills to the test against some of the Pacific's best and brightest, which of course includes the reigning champions Paper Rex as well as teams like DRX and ZETA Division to name a few.
Yay last competed with Disguised in the North American Challengers League where the team went on a 0-7 run to eventually get relegated. He was also with Cloud9 earlier in the season, who had a second-round exit at VCT LOCK//IN before they kicked him off the roster due to "role issues."
Bleed Esports Roster:
Deryeon
Cong “crazyguy” Anh Ngo
Nutchapon “sScary” Matarat
Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker
