VCT competition in North America has finally kicked off, but that hasn't stopped 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 January 22 - January 28.

• Read more: News Almost Missed January 21

Roster Changes

• YFP Gaming YFP Gaming North America Rank #13 jakee Jake Anderson stellar Brenden McGrath penny Erik Penny thief Brady Dever fiziq Lucas Blow have revealed their full roster for VCT 2022, featuring Tyler "Tkaz" Kazmierczak as their newest addition. Tkaz began playing with YFP at the beginning of the month in the Knights VALORAMPAGE.
• DarkZero Esports DarkZero Esports Inactive have announced their full roster, featuring Jamal "jammyz" Bangash.
• Complexity Complexity Inactive RetrQ Alex Kadan trial Governor Peter No truo Robert Pham jcrueL Joel Cruel agM Michael Abood have completed their roster with Robert "truo" Pham, Sky "scourge" Kages, and Peter "Governor" No.
• Jennifer "refinnej" Le has joined Complexity GX3 Complexity GX3 Inactive clawdia Claudia Che Karra Aara Lee rayse L4CE Lacey Dilworth Jazzyk1ns Jasmine Manankil as their fifth player.
• / Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #21 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le have finalized their roster by adding Diondre "YaBoiDre" Bond, Jeffrey "Reformed" Lu, and Alexander "jawgemo" Mor.
• / SoaR SoaR Inactive epathy Ngawang Chonjor fiziq Lucas Blow v1c Victor Truong Trill Ashley Powell have revealed their full roster, consisting of Victor "v1c" Truong, Ashley "Trill" Powell, Ngawang "epathy" Chonjor, Brenden "stellar" McGrath, Lucas "fiziq" Blow, and coach Benjamin "trainer" Bravo.
• / Alexandre "Phatt" Silva has joined UCAM Esports Club UCAM Esports Club Europe Rank #15 Flickless Karel Maeckelbergh bucher Maximilian Bucher Quick Fabián Pereira YuNo Eloy García Burgueño as their fifth player in place of Mathias "matti" Nielsen, who departed the organization earlier this week.
• / Case Esports Case Esports Inactive have completed their roster by adding Berkant "Wolfen" Joshkun.
• Rix.GG have revealed that they will be parting ways with their Thunder roster.
• / Rix.GG Lightning Rix.GG Lightning Inactive have added Siana "sia" Yoldez Matri as the final member of their roster.
• Mandatory Mandatory Europe Rank #27 CyvOph Clement Millard HyP Damien Souville thebigfiz Julien Auberton AKUMAAAAA Alex Lo Bello Goaster Tony Richard have signed a mix of French players. The team's members include Damien "HyP" Souville, Charles "CREA" Beauvois, Tom "APO" Bonnion, Dylan "hoppY" Aube, Julien "Jbzz" Dupré, and coach Thibaut "menegh" Brognard.
• / Victoria "victoria" Ukasova has joined Guild GC Guild GC Inactive Xaline Laure Mateos as their fifth player.
• One Breath Gaming One Breath Gaming Inactive minse Vladislav Kuzminykh zeddy Nikolai Lapko have added three new players to their roster: Anton "Anoxai" Sobolev, Sergey "Anreit" Krimenitskiy, and Nikolay "stanly" Shulkin.
• Papara SuperMassive Female Papara SuperMassive Female Inactive Julis Açelya Özgen schnellÆ Ayşe Ergül have said goodbye to Reyhan "Sephia" Şimşek.
• Yaren "Nariel" Cirit and Minem "minemosynE" Alkir have become the newest additions to BBL Queens BBL Queens Europe Rank #12 jduh Ceyda Kondu proxima Aslıhan Uslu Wens Gülce Eda Sürmeli alkyia Azra Erin Felipa Zehra Durak .
• ESportsConnected ESportsConnected Inactive TS Yu Tae-seok (유태석) GodDead Kim Sung-sin (김성신) k1Ng Lee Seung-won (이승원) zunba Kim Joon-hyuk (김준혁) Bazzi Park Jun-ki (박준기) have bid farewell to Yoo "Moothie" Seung-Woo (유승우) and welcomed Yu "TS" Tae-seok (유태석) in his place.
• / Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #7 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes JessieVash Jessie Cuyco Wild0reoo Brheyanne Christ Reyes 2ge James Goopio Jremy Jeremy Cabrera have added Jeremy "Jremy" Cabrera and Chong "Fayde" Hoc Wah. Jremy previously played with DR Esports DR Esports Inactive R1N Rabbet Francis Danison Buñag Jremy Jeremy Cabrera PBD , while Fayde had a brief stint on BOOM Esports BOOM Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #2 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani Shiro Hildegard Arnaldo NcSlasher Sheldon Andersen Chandra BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma as an analyst earlier this month.

Results

• Built By Gamers Academy Built By Gamers Academy Inactive BlackHeart Hasan Hammad monSi Ludovic Lefebvre khanartist Nabil Khan FireBallOps Cameron Tomaselli defeated ex-FLICKBAITERS ex-FLICKBAITERS Inactive Rustun Rustun Lusk Nurfed James McFadden Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm (now Oxygen Academy Oxygen Academy Inactive Rustun Rustun Lusk Verno Andrew Maust Welshy Liam Newhouse ) in the grand finals of the NSG Winter Championship open 15. That first place win brought them into third place in the Winter Championship standings.
• FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #5 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj took first place in the Zotac Cup following a grand finals win over Kingsmen Kingsmen Inactive 1van Kok Mun Hong Justa Ooi Zhen Loong .
• XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #30 b3ta Puwadon Jaisuekul Siraww Siraphop Honghirun bnwgiggs won the FPSThailand Tournament by defeating Sharper Esport Sharper Esport Asia-Pacific Rank #44 niffy Patcharapon Junman Kntz Krit Chaiprasit LBY Eisuke Kuraoka qq Phoomphat Phodjanat Siraww Siraphop Honghirun in the grand finals.

Matches to Watch

• Beginning on Monday, January 31, Game Changers EMEA: Series I competition will begin. The round of 32 will take place on Monday, with a multitude of matches in the lower bracket, upper bracket round of 16, and quarterfinals taking place.
• The first Indian qualifier in the Conquerors Championship is set to conclude this weekend. So far, 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 , True Rippers True Rippers Asia-Pacific Rank #97 Ri0 Atharv Ahire Marcai BatmaN R0meo WAT Lewis Watson RvK Rishi Vijayakumar , and Velocity Gaming Velocity Gaming Asia-Pacific Rank #18 Hotsauz Yousef Imad El-Yousef tesseract Jon Michael Piga Yukxx Yukee Lampa choosie Matthew Lorenzo Te Dignified have all advanced to the semifinals. The fourth team to join the trio in the semifinals matches will be decided in the Enigma Gaming Enigma Gaming Inactive Divine Yeoh Chun Ting FREY Ingram Tan STYRON Tidus Goh Xan artn Ayrton Soh / Team 69 Team 69 Asia-Pacific Rank #142 Rucifix Ravin Vadhera Akdemon luc1d Rage Suyash Mittal FNooB RuDyy Rudransh Singh match tomorrow, January 29.
• Mustang Gaming Mustang Gaming Inactive kn1fed SAABO K1leaN SomebodyY Mounir Ajib and MLC Esports MLC Esports Inactive MenT Nisuh are set to clash in the grand finals of the Valorant MA-SERIES this weekend.

Other News

• Dot Esports reporter George Geddes has updated his story on the sale of the Rise Rise Inactive roster to an unnamed party. The deal to sell the Rise roster is still ongoing, but the players will still play under Rise during the ongoing VCT North American stage.
• The official VLR DACH Twitter account has revealed that loord and malik of Atfinest Atfinest Inactive lacky 幸福祥和感极乐 TRILLETTO Alexander Hamböck ApaCe Phil Hoffelner BENSXN have been found guilty of cheating. Atfinest has been disqualified from competition and the players punished will not be able to compete in official Riot tournaments for 36 months.
• According to a report from Bo "BoDork" Hoogland, German esports organization MOUZ are eyeing a roster consisting of Felix "al0rante" Brandl, James "Kryptix" Affleck, Amine "Amilwa" Saidi, Laurent "memset" Werly, and Joseph "Luzuh" Loose.
• Riot have issued a competitive ruling for Ian "Chrysania" Chin Yu Zhe for boosting accounts for profit. Chrysania will be banned from competition for four months as a result of this ruling.
• Tất "NomSenpai" Cẩm Khôn has been banned from competition for a year for cheating, according to a post on the Vietnamese Valorant esports Facebook page. His team, I Cee Jay Too I Cee Jay Too Inactive P4wN Nguyen Nam Khanh NomSenpai Tất Cẩm Khôn me0beo , has also been disqualified from competing in Stage 1 Challengers: Vietnam as a result of this ruling.