The Tragedy of Valorant's Lost Superstar

yay was the greatest Valorant player in the world. The best player in the world, a beloved personality, and a Masters champion.

But almost as quickly as he rose to the top, yay hit rock bottom. Kicked from a top team, forced down into the lower leagues, and even out of his own region.

The god of Valorant has fallen - and it feels like it’s almost impossible for anyone to rise to take his place.

Thumbnail by: Emmanuel Adarkwah

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

[prefontaine]

The way Tenz was able to frag out on Omen lately is a good example of what Yay needs to grow into. You can't be the aggressive hyper-carry forever. No one can stay at the top of their game forever. Eventually you have to rely on more than reaction speed & audacity. Intelligent play & good team synergy is key for when you're not just full-blown out-aiming everyone.

[user]

He isn’t bad on Jett nor is he a bad player . He just needs an igl who knows how to set him up as well saadhak did to aspas and FNS did to him.

[SunWuKonG_Shen]

If Yay wants to reach OPTIC Yay level again, either Riot buffs Chamber to Meta again or Yay adapts the current meta and have a wide agent pool

[the_monarch]

13:39 you can tell they already had most of the video recorded but they added this part in because BLEED flopped out of groups

[Neecha]

C9 in 2023: We lost our first 2 games. kick a player.
C9 in 2024: We lost our first 2 games. kick a player.

[emilianorosario]

i just think that yay's entire story is a testament to what truly matters in VALORANT: flexibility. pro players cant expect to stay at the top doing the same thing over and over again, playing the same agents and sticking to one meta. we've seen this in FNATIC and NAVI losing an elimination game to two of the lowest rated teams in EU, and Tenz having to expand his agent pool in order to be at the top again. The players and the teams that are CONSISTENTLY at the top are the ones that ADAPT. This is why the best players in the world arent ppl like yay or demon1, they're ppl like Forsaken, Chronicle, and Saadhak. On top of having good mechanics, they're the ones who have truly learned the game the most, so they can shift across different metas very easily.

Also... its a team game. You can only go so far with a star player carrying the team.

[waylee]

i feel like could be in a tenz situation wherein he's put in a spot that wont make him showcase his full potential but once the right pieces arrive he'll dominate again

[yuyu]

This video as a yay fan hurts me. Sucks to see him like this after his year in 2022. We still believe in the yay comeback 🙏🙏

[xfrankenstein]

yay was one of the best mechanically gifted players and probably still is. bro had amazing crosshair placement and flicks. people just fixate on his chamber gameplay when what made yay yay was his skills themselves. man fragged out on sage on his optic days but was amazing on jett too.
chamber was just so busted that you needed to use him and he just played chamber the best. the only issue is he needs a team structured around him to shine the most, just like most other duelist players. given the correct opportunity im sure he can takeover once again.

[jaredchacon]

Man that optic loud rivalry was incredible man

[vitthalkudav]

much credit goes to fns for utilizing yay's potential and making a team structured around yay. also optic started playing chamber earlier than other teams so yay became more confident on it. but sadly he stayed in the past and didnt make any changes to his playstyle or got into a team which was better fit for him. just think about it, the last match yay won was lock in against prx the only match he played in franchise. he was just not ready for the change valorant is going through and yay either needs time like tenz to get comfortable on other roles or he should have an entire team made around him (supporting his jett or chamber) where the later is just not plausible.

[EpiCNN]

the stax wave against c9 is still one of the greatest moments ever

[batatanna]

If anything we've learnt so far. The fate of all valorant stars is to fade away into a controller.

[lOldia]

VALORANT superstars = being the best for a year.

[vinayurs]

Sad man hope he gets his redemption arc soon

[harinivasanc]

Man, he still is my favourite player. What a humble guy with incredible talent.
I hope he comes back stronger and becomes the yay we know from optic.
El !!

[jackalpwn]

Well, this was literally a question on my mind, thank you for the video!

[ancaagn]

It’s brutal to see yay unable to widen his agent pool when the similarly mechanically gifted demon1 plays random controllers at the same level. He needs to either be more flexible or bring his jett back to the highest level. But that would still need him to be a good Raze as a primary duelist. Things are different now. Even IGLs need to frag; and they often do.

[shoking]

He is my favorite player since i watch the KRU vs OPTC and i still cheering for him. Watching him in DSG. The team didn't work he wasn't playing well and now with Bleed the coach isn't helpful but i still hope that he will be on top again. Maybe not the same as it was with OpTic but he will raise to the top again.

[bhargavgandavarapu]

He will be remembered as El Diablo himself