After signing Jaccob "yay"
Whiteaker nearly eight months ago,
BLEED
BLEED
Inactive
have announced that the North American import has decided to take a temporary break for health reasons.
The American superstar's rise to fame began back in 2021, when he joined the former
Envy
Envy
Inactive
Marved
Jimmy Nguyen
Victor
Victor Wong
crashies
Austin Roberts
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
core on their journey to the top, which began with a runner-up finish at Masters: Berlin. From there, yay and the rebranded
OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming
Inactive
roster took home the trophy at 2022's Masters: Reykjavik while finishing third and second at Masters: Copenhagen and Champions.
2022 was the year of El Diablo. (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
After a brief stint with
Cloud9
Cloud9
North America
Rank #8
Xeppaa
Erick Bach
v1c
Victor Truong
mitch
Mitch Semago
neT
Michael Bernet
OXY
Francis Hoang
during their stay at LOCK//IN, yay would spend the rest of 2023 competing in NA Challengers with
Disguised
Disguised
Inactive
steel
Joshua Nissan
Genghsta
Amgalan Nemekhbayar
clear
Joseph Allen
Exalt
Drake Branly
nerve
Michael Yerrow
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
before signing with BLEED last September.
BLEED fought tooth and nail through Tier 2 to claim Pacific's 2023 Ascension slot. A flurry of roster changes primed the new team for Pacific Kickoff, where their franchising debut ended in disaster following losses to
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #3
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Meteor
Kim Tae-oh (김태오)
Sylvan
Go Young-sup (고영섭)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
and
Global Esports
Global Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #37
UdoTan
Go Kyung-won (고경원)
Kr1stal
Savva Fedorov
kellyS
Kelly Sedillo
Papi
Federico Evangelista
Deryeon
Derrick Yee
.
Forced to wait for Split 1 before returning, the organization opted to make roster changes in hopes of making a deep run and securing a spot at Masters: Shanghai. Unfortunately, the new team only picked up a single win against
DetonatioN FocusMe
DetonatioN FocusMe
Japan
Rank #3
Meiy
Ibuki Seki
Art
Jinboong
Kim Jin-won (김진원)
Akame
Yu Gwang-hui (유광희)
gyen
and were ultimately barred from playoffs.
yay played a total of eight official matches with BLEED before stepping back. It is currently unknown if the world champion will return in time for Split 2. BLEED have yet to announce his replacement in the meantime.