yay reveals his pick for world’s best Valorant player

Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker gave his opinion on the current best Valorant player in the world in a recent live stream.

The best Valorant player in the world has been a hot topic thanks to the rise of Fnatic and the fall of some of the best teams from 2022.

After Valorant Champions 2022, many would have said LOUD’s Erick ‘aspas’ Santos held the title thanks to his light’s out Jett play and Grand Final performance. Others may have shouted out the then-FunPlus Phoenix player Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin or his teammate Andrey ‘Shao’ Kiprsky for their consistent performances at the international level.

yay, who was at one time considered the defacto best Valorant player in the world, has also fallen out of the conversation due to his absence from tier-one competition.

yay reveals his pick for best Valorant player in the world

The former Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming player was asked about his thoughts on the current best Valorant player in the world in a recent live stream, and he shouted out Fnatic’s Leo “Leo” Jannesson.

“I would have to say Leo right now,” yay said. “I wish I could play Fnatic, man. I really wish I could.”

yay has never played against Fnatic in his Valorant career, but he has matched up against Leo. At VCT Masters Copenhagen, yay and OpTic lost to Leo and Guild Esports 2-0 in the group stage. Leo would go on to leave the tournament early in the playoff stage while yay placed in the top three with OpTic.

Leo has two international tournament trophies to his name on Fnatic and has been one of the squad’s most consistent players as an Initiator. He ranked in the top 3 statistically in VLR rating and Kills/ Deaths ratio at VCT LOCK//IN and VCT Masters Tokyo.

He was also crowned the MVP of VCT LOCK//IN by VLR.

While he usually stays at the back of the pack and isn’t known for flashy entry plays like his teammate Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev, Leo has still managed to stand out in the star-studded lineup. Leo hardly ever misses a shot when competing and has put together many multi-kill rounds for his team at international tournaments.

The EMEA team is set to compete at Valorant Champions 2023 in August to go for its third trophy of the year.