‘El Diablo’ talks about his nickname and Envy’s chances of going to Berlin

August 12, 2021

by Mitch Reames

With just one day over at VALORANT’s Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs, the final qualifier for North American teams before Masters: Berlin, two teams have qualified. Sentinels and 100 Thieves likely started practicing German Wednesday evening.

Sentinels were the favorite to qualify, but their semifinal matchup against Envy sure didn’t come easy. As one of the most consistent teams across VCT, Envy’s story is that they constantly finish top four but can’t seem to break through for that one defining victory.

Now in the lower bracket after a loss to Sentinels, that story is threatening to repeat once again. But this time, Envy have a new weapon: El Diablo.

Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker joined Envy just a week before this tournament after earning the devilish nickname on Andbox. El Diablo is already a well-known moniker in the community, but it’s a name only recently attached to the young duelist.

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In the open qualifiers of Stage 3 Challengers 2, El Diablo and Andbox had an intense match against TSM. IThe stakes were high as a loss would effectively end each team’s VCT journey and any shot at qualifying not only for Masters: Berlin but for VALORANT Champions. After splitting the first two maps, Icebox went the distance. The final score was 20-18 with TSM winning. Yay had 40 kills on that map.

“[The name El Diablo] was a meme between the TSM, Envy and some of the NRG guys,” yay said after the first day of Challengers Playoffs. “As time went on, they’ve been saying it more and more. It started right after we lost to TSM when I was on Andbox. That’s when it really started taking off and everyone started saying it. It became a meme and just spread everywhere.”

With Andbox eliminated after that game, the meme may have quieted down. Once yay jumped over to Envy in time for Challengers Playoffs, suddenly El Diablo was going to make his appearance on the big stage playing with one of the favorites to make Berlin. First up, TSM.

“I feel like everyone has all the info in the world because of that game. When a game goes on that long, you throw everything and the kitchen sink at it,” said James “Hazed” Cobb, TSM’s IGL after the first-round loss to Envy. “Yay, in particular, had an advantage playing against us because he was in that game. He felt what we were doing. Watching and playing are two totally different things, so I think that helped them. Now is that the reason they won? No, I don’t think so. We messed up and played poorly.”

TSM and Envy went back-and-forth but El Diablo won the rematch in the first round of the upper bracket to set up the semifinal loss to Sentinels. For TSM, the team will now need to defeat Rise, XSET and potentially Envy to get to Berlin.

Envy, meanwhile, will need only two wins to become the third team headed to Germany. It won’t be an easy task, but Envy are confident, both in the team and in their newest player.

“[Yay] actually has the Diablo confidence like the devil himself,” laughed Austin “crashies” Roberts, yay’s new teammate on Envy. “He’s just so confident in his ability and he knows what he is capable of. He brings confidence to the table, and he also brings a lot of ideas as well which helps FNS.”

For yay, Challengers Playoffs represents a tough task. He has had less than a week’s worth of practice with the new squad and is playing solely against great competition. But if he was feeling the pressure, he certainly didn’t show it. On both maps against Sentinels he led Envy in ACS, including a momentum swinging ace on Icebox.

“There are obviously some situations that are more intense, but for the most part, yeah, I’m pretty chill,” yay said. “In the past, I had some issues with confidence and nerves, but for me right now, it’s just another day.”

This interview came about 30 minutes after Envy lost the second map to Sentinels. After back-to-back flawless rounds from Envy, they came back to make the score 12-11 in favor of Sentinels to threaten overtime. That round went into an all-out, 5v5 shootout on the site which Sentinels just barely won. With Berlin on the line, it was the kind of moment that could cause even the most experienced veteran’s heart to skip a handful of beats.

“I think emotions in general can be a hindrance to performance,” yay said. “I think if you’re too positive and too hyped up, you can overextend or take too many risks. With negativity, you won’t take enough risks or you’ll just hide, you won’t take initiative. To maintain maximum performance you need to have a balance.”

That’s the kind of mindset that shows why other top players have given him the nickname El Diablo. Even playing in a tight game on a new roster against the best team in the world with huge stakes didn’t seem to faze him much. But for Envy -- and for yay -- close losses just aren’t enough.

“Anything other than Berlin, even though we are in the lower bracket, is a disappointment,” crashies said. “We’re definitely going to be seeing Sentinels again in the grand final. To be honest, we should blow through both of the teams that we play next.”

Now Envy await the winner of LG-FaZe. Both teams were swept by XSET and 100 Thieves, respectively, in the upper bracket. If they win that, the next matchup will be against Rise, TSM or XSET with a spot in Berlin on the line.

“I would love [to take the El Diablo name to Berlin], everyone watching and cheering you on, that would be amazing,” yay said. “That’s why I joined Envy in the first place. My goal is to play VALORANT on the international stage. I want to compete against the world’s best. I want to push myself more.”

Lead photo credit: DreamHack