2021 may be coming to a close, but that didn't stop the rest of the Valorant world from creating new headlines. Here's what you might have missed this past week.

This week's edition covers news from December 25 - December 31.

• Read more: News Almost Missed December 24

Roster Changes

• ex-Serenity Black ex-Serenity Black Inactive sae Bruce Nguyen Aiko James Sandberg JoBa Joseph Barker Add3r Jack Hayashi Nick Nicholas Sahawneh has officially disbanded.
• Former Knights Academy Knights Academy Inactive player Marco "Awkua" Li has revealed he is in search of a new team.
• "maryna" has left XSET Female XSET Female Inactive Petra Petra Stoker kr4sylya Anastasia Khlobystina zAAz Zainab Turkie mimi Michaela Lintrup juliano Julia Kiran , leaving the team one player short of a full roster.
• / TSM X TSM X Inactive athxna Mirna Noureldin mle Emily Peters dodonut Karnthida Chaisrakeo bungee April Haight Ellie Elena Garland head coach Addison "zecK" Gorzeck has departed the team.
• / Blahst has joined VIRTUOSO VIRTUOSO Inactive King Aiden King Eley Zach Stauffer DBK Dylan Bazic-Kulangiev Blahst Nathan Brand snxper Louis Lama as their fifth player.
• Isabeli "isaa" Esser has announced her exit from Before Before Inactive .
• Juanes "sickLy" Valencia has revealed that he is exploring new opportunities outside of INFINITY INFINITY Inactive ligasa Rodrigo Castillo MatiS Matias Salgado bnj Benjamin Rabinovich in 2022 while still under contract with the organization.
• / Daniel "Closer" Ataco has joined Six Karma Six Karma Latin America North Rank #9 theory Daniel Esteban Albadan Cardozo GeneralSteak Mephisto vandals Crz P4ND4 as their fifth player.
• 9z Team 9z Team Inactive deigara Gonzalo Funes Tuli Giulliano Pozo Massone rubkkoide Facundo Chavez mizu Gabriel Gonzalez david David Olivares have announced the departure of Diego "byrf" Cazanga.
• FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #5 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj have bid farewell to coach Songchai "Tongrak" Payang.
• Alter Ego Alter Ego Asia-Pacific Rank #8 Nakya Alehandro Fabian Simanjorang Cud Thomas Alfiantino ray4c Rayvaldo Chandra ValdyN Rivaldy Nafian gotten Davin coach Andi "Sleepy" Andana Bangsawan has revealed that he is in search of a new team following the expiration of his contract with the organization in January 2022.
• Team Big BAAM Team Big BAAM Asia-Pacific Rank #86 P1nA Nguyễn Nam nTK Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt BMV Bùi Minh Vũ Nhatthong2k Nguyễn Nhất Thống Somethai Trần Lê Huy Khiêm have bid farewell to Dương "moefcute" Phúc Hiếu and added Nhatthong2k from FEARUS FEARUS Inactive Real8 Vũ Ngọc Đức Hiếu Ko0 Nguyễn Công Minh shouta Phạm Quang Thắng MaTryXs Matthis Metharam in his place.
• REJECT REJECT Japan Rank #12 JaXe BNN take IceBear have announced former ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori player Takemori "takej" Shogo as their sixth player.
• ZETA DIVISION have launched their academy team and announced their first two members: Hiroki "hiroronn" Yanai and coach Kakeru "Vorz" Ikarashi.
• BABABEAST has departed NASR Esports NASR Esports MENA Rank #5 sibeastw0w Anton Govorukhin xenon Vladimir Lobov vakk Vakaris Bebravičius .
• All players of Piercer Esports Piercer Esports Inactive Nartzie Elyes Zoghlami have departed the team following the expiration of their contracts. However, coach Adrian "CupOfVice" Parra will remain with the team going into 2022.

Results

• Built By Gamers Academy Built By Gamers Academy Inactive BlackHeart Hasan Hammad monSi Ludovic Lefebvre khanartist Nabil Khan FireBallOps Cameron Tomaselli won the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship Open 11 by defeating The Mafia The Mafia Inactive Jerk Justin Milani dynamic d1msumboi Erik Almhjell in the grand finals.
• Akrew Akrew Inactive gucc107 Andrew Gutnichenko Neon Austin Hedge Paincakes Jake Hass jovahnii Jovanni Miramontes ZachaREEE Zachary Lombardo took first place in the December edition of the Knights Monthly Gauntlet without dropping a map. Their victory culminated in a win over ex-FLICKBAITERS ex-FLICKBAITERS Inactive Rustun Rustun Lusk Nurfed James McFadden Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm in the grand finals.
• Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #38 patrickWHO Mark Musni UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov kellyS Kelly Sedillo Papi Federico Evangelista emerged as the victors of the LogitechG x Loco Invitational, defeating Todak Todak Asia-Pacific Rank #51 fishball Muhammad Nabil Shazwan toggle Darwish Hakim kye Hazim Salihuddin aduka Muhammad Arsyad Sazali kael Tarmizi Rusli in the grand finals.
• Team RA'AD Team RA'AD MENA Rank #3 Shalaby Mohamed Shalaby Shniider Yousef Osama chrollo Omar Hussein Depyro Nour Sherif SkaNoodles Yousef Mohamed Yassien Yassien Ahmed defeated wafflemakers wafflemakers Inactive in the grand finals of the Valorant Reflex Tournament EP02 to claim first place.

Matches to Watch

• / NASR Esports NASR Esports MENA Rank #5 sibeastw0w Anton Govorukhin xenon Vladimir Lobov vakk Vakaris Bebravičius and Team RA'AD Team RA'AD MENA Rank #3 Shalaby Mohamed Shalaby Shniider Yousef Osama chrollo Omar Hussein Depyro Nour Sherif SkaNoodles Yousef Mohamed Yassien Yassien Ahmed will meet in the grand finals of the ESTAZ Valorant Elite League in a clash between MENA's best on Tuesday, January 4.

Other News & Rumors

• Andbox Andbox Inactive oderus Chad Miller mummAy Anthony DiPaolo Lear Dayton Akau Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor vice Daniel Kim are set to add Jonard "Jonaaa6" Penaflor, Dayton "Lear" Akau, and Chad "oderus" Miller, according to a December 31 report from Max "purest" Katz.
• In more North American roster news, Max Katz and George Geddes have reported that Harrison "psalm" Chang has been dropped from The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch after less than under two months with the organization.
• According to a December 29 report from Upcomer, EXCEL EXCEL Inactive Moe40 Muhammad Hariff chiwa Egor Stepanyuk paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski Foxie Tyler Lowton ALIVE Gilad Hakim are set to complete their roster with Oscar "ozzy" Scott, Patryk "paTiTek" Fabrowski, Dragan "elllement" Milanović, and Egor "chiwa" Stepanyuk.
• KRÜ Esports are looking to assemble a Game Changers roster, according to a December 27 report from ValorantZONE. According to the report, Paula "bstrdd" Naguil, Romina "romily" Alvarez, and Keila "kalita" Nava have been named as players who have been sought after by KRÜ. However, bstrdd is reportedly going to join Team Liquid, who will be entering the Brazilian scene for the first time by signing the former Gamelanders Purple Gamelanders Purple Inactive roster.
• Soniqs Soniqs Inactive are set to remove Iyengaran "iyen" Raju and Kyran "dizzyLife" Crombie, according to reports from Max Katz and George Geddes. Additionally, Ethan "Crunchy" Laker's future with the team was noted as "uncertain". Should the trio depart the organization, Bob "Bob" Tran will be the only remaining member from the ex-EXO Clan ex-EXO Clan Inactive Crunchy Ethan Laker iyen Iyengaran Raju Bob Bob Tran dizzyLife Kyran Crombie pl1xx Christopher Li roster that eventually became Soniqs.
• Joe Ziegler, the game director for Valorant, has departed the game's development team to start "something new". He will be replaced by Andy Ho, a senior director of games at Riot.