Stage 1 VCT competition is coming to a close soon, but that didn't stop the rest of the world from making new headlines. Here's what you might have missed this past week.

This week's edition covers news from March 19 - March 25.

• Read more: News Almost Missed March 18

Roster Changes

• Former Polaris Polaris Inactive Shockah caydia Zoe Servais Katarina Starlight lunah members Shockah , Zoe "caydia" Servais, and coach soup have joined Man I Love Fwogs Man I Love Fwogs Inactive Esmé Esme Phillips dnos dip alpine Tyler Reid .
• / Former Soniqs Soniqs Inactive head coach Reid "x0tek" Johnson has revealed that he is in search of new opportunities as an unrestricted free agent.
• Wave Esports Wave Esports Inactive SimonD4rk Alexandr Skovbel Click Haydem Ali Saiz Daniel Ruiz have parted ways with Povilas "roxie" Krivelis and Okko "Feeqn" Pajari. Additionally, COO Ludwig "Luuu" Kainz has revealed that their remaining members and staff — Murat "murii" Korkmaz, Vladislav "Bgg" Boev, Yiğithan "DeepMans" Kesici, and coaches Dimitar "Itopata" Staev and Sam "Forrest" Forrest — are allowed to explore opportunities with other teams before the beginning of the next season of VRL competition.
• / Denniz "denzo" Özden and Hubert "KnightVoice" Lorenc have both revealed that they are searching for new opportunities while still under contract with SPARX ESPORTS SPARX ESPORTS Inactive Karma Luka Tropsek Nikoluk Niko Lukosch SPMAK Markus Talliniemi IkE Jan Hendrik Vollmer .
• / Alliance Alliance Inactive have parted ways with James "BanKs" Banks.
• / David "Fizzy" Figueiredo has revealed that his contract with Team BDS Team BDS Inactive bramz Bayram Ben Redjeb has expired and that he is in search of new opportunities.
• / Umberto "mass3R" Artuso has revealed that he is no longer a part of DSYRE DSYRE Europe Rank #4 caydeN Yari Olmi Tag Alessandro Voci wackie Rikardo Birjukov waddle Wadir Taraki .
• / Guild GC Guild GC Inactive Xaline Laure Mateos have said goodbye to Sophia "Kim" Benfakir.
• / Zehradieux has revealed that his contract with London Esports London Esports Inactive Radski Conrad Micheal Raduchowski Dev0 Corey Brame RobbieBk Robbie Boerkamp Kicks Kimmie Laasner has expired and he is in search of new opportunities as a coach.
• / Tobias "ShadoW" Flodström has been benched from Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #8 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso , marking the first roster change the organization has made since late November.
• / Rix.GG Lightning Rix.GG Lightning Inactive head coach Tommi "Toma" Lehtinen has been released from the organization. Toma has not expressed a desire to coach a new team immediately, and has instead opted to focus his efforts on finishing his master's degree.
• / Richard "rCk" Kanerva has revealed that he his time with Geekay Esports Geekay Esports MENA Rank #6 has come to a close, and that he is looking for new opportunities as a free agent.
• / Semyon "purp0" Borchev has joined XPLDZ XPLDZ Inactive as the team's sixth man.
• Papara SuperMassive Female Papara SuperMassive Female Inactive Julis Açelya Özgen schnellÆ Ayşe Ergül have added Yağmur "rainssa" Şahin to their team as a sixth player.
• Galatasaray Esports Galatasaray Esports Europe Rank #37 Padisah Onur Dönmez PhuRME Yagiz Efe Baygut Docent Kadri Vatandaş Touven Can Eryıldız JrayN Ferhat Yılmaz have parted ways with Göksel "gosaydam" Saydam.
• Özkan "p0wa77" Arslantürk has revealed that he has been allowed to explore opportunities outside of FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #7 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban .
• Fire Flux Fierce Fire Flux Fierce Inactive jduh Ceyda Kondu Lateu Hilal Yaşar rayka Zeynep Kalkan Liyan Jiex Şura Yıldırım are down to three active members following Kardelen "Destina" Bağış's announcement that she is in search of new opportunities while still under contract.
• Undead Gaming Fem Undead Gaming Fem Inactive Morita Dae jeyjey sumi minuty have said goodbye to Churraaaa and brought in Hinataa from Optix Fem Optix Fem Inactive may coalZ Uvita Hanna cxta Catalina Casanova .
• Former Meta Gaming Fem Meta Gaming Fem Inactive covas Nathane Queiroz Damiaton Damián Gutiérrez Anqh micaela Micaela Ferreyra Nanu reshi coach Hugo "rew4z" Cáceres has been released from the organization. He has been with Meta Gaming since the beginning of 2021, when he joined the team to coach their CS:GO roster.
• REJECT have unveiled their academy roster, REJECT Academy REJECT Academy Inactive KUROLIA PeroOwO Kozi BRIAN .
• Yu "Machao" Masai has retired from competitive play with DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #7 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen to become a coach for DetonatioN's PUBG mobile team. Additionally, former player Masaru "ZodiaX" Yoneshige, who was released at the beginning of July, has also joined DetonatioN's PUBG mobile team as a coach.
• Sharper Esport Sharper Esport Asia-Pacific Rank #43 niffy Patcharapon Junman Kntz Krit Chaiprasit LBY Eisuke Kuraoka qq Phoomphat Phodjanat Siraww Siraphop Honghirun have bid farewell to Teerasak "PinOcchiOs" Kedaim following the expiration of his contract with the team.
• Action PH Action PH Inactive SyKo Daddie Shunmar Bellita eugeneS Eugene Serrano Narpim Clark Karoll Landrito SecondLove Sovano Alvin Daniel L. Oronce Worship Ian Ga have said goodbye to Matthew "modeskiii" Bautista. This departure leaves the team with three active players.
• / Asteria Asteria Inactive BriTSy Iqra Khan eluwu kxthrs have rounded out their roster with Hanuh .
• Saif "vAgue" Al Ameri has revealed that he is no longer a part of Team Duelist Team Duelist Inactive Toon bucher1 Mohamed Bucheeri aimhunterr Khalid Mohammed INFESTOR Sultan Alawadhi .
• All members of Team Majesty Team Majesty MENA Rank #39 Vamp1r have revealed that they have departed the organization in light of the expiration of their contracts.

Results

• Ghost Gaming Ghost Gaming Inactive koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio NiSMO Marc-Andre Tayar aproto Alex Protopapas brawk Brock Somerhalder johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid defeated Complexity Complexity Inactive RetrQ Alex Kadan trial Governor Peter No truo Robert Pham jcrueL Joel Cruel agM Michael Abood in the grand finals of the March edition of the Knights Monthly Gauntlet to claim first place in the event.
• Andbox Andbox Inactive oderus Chad Miller mummAy Anthony DiPaolo Lear Dayton Akau Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor vice Daniel Kim — now NYFU NYFU Inactive oderus Chad Miller YaBoiDre Diondre Bond ShoT_UP Andrew Orlowski neptune Jason Tran JSUNG Jason Sung — took first place in the SMU X QOR Cup by defeating Teal Seam Teal Seam Inactive renz Austin Dickman furbsa Hunter Mcmillan Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor d1msumboi Erik Almhjell Cade3k Cade Warren in the grand finals.
• / KRÜ BLAZE KRÜ BLAZE Latin America South Rank #3 dods Caue Fernandes conir Constanza Reyes romily Romina Alvarez micaela Micaela Ferreyra biazik Beatriz Begnossi won the LATAM South bracket of the second Game Changers LATAM Open event without dropping a map. Their tournament run culminated in a grand finals win over Undead Gaming Fem Undead Gaming Fem Inactive Morita Dae jeyjey sumi minuty .

Matches to Watch

• In the fourth season of The Esports Club Gauntlet, Enigma Gaming Enigma Gaming Inactive Divine Yeoh Chun Ting FREY Ingram Tan STYRON Tidus Goh Xan artn Ayrton Soh have secured their spot in the grand finals by defeating True Rippers True Rippers Asia-Pacific Rank #99 Ri0 Atharv Ahire Marcai BatmaN R0meo WAT Lewis Watson RvK Rishi Vijayakumar in the upper bracket finals. True Rippers currently await the victor of the Team Snakes Team Snakes Asia-Pacific Rank #21 Bloody Zain Talha soulM8 Muhammad Usman KHG dem0n shanee gothchild / Reckoning Esports Reckoning Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #44 123 aplycs Aqil Azfar Mojo Thong Tao Jian Deadly10 Saksham Aurangabadkar Garv ghostxD match taking place this weekend.

Other News

• A 32 team Valorant LAN is being held by Nerdstreet from April 15 - April 17 in Philadelphia as a part of the organization's 2022 Summer Championship circuit.
• Andbox Andbox Inactive oderus Chad Miller mummAy Anthony DiPaolo Lear Dayton Akau Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor vice Daniel Kim have rebranded to NYFU NYFU Inactive oderus Chad Miller YaBoiDre Diondre Bond ShoT_UP Andrew Orlowski neptune Jason Tran JSUNG Jason Sung , aligning their team name and branding with their Overwatch League and Call of Duty League teams, named the New York Excelsior and New York Subliners respectively.
• According to a report from George Geddes, FaZe Clan FaZe Clan Inactive POISED Kevin Ngo mummAy Anthony DiPaolo TiGG Tanner Spanu BABYBAY Andrej Francisty supamen Phat Le are looking to acquire Phat "supamen" Le from Rise Rise Inactive . The previously reported purchase of the Rise roster by an unnamed organization that would keep the Rise roster together has not been completed, however.
• / Matthew "WARDELL" Yu and Derrek "Derrek" Ha have been approached by 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #8 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk as potential candidates to join the squad, according to a March 23 report from George Geddes.
• / A recent report from Jakub "frs" Czapran has revealed that Daniel "mertz" Mertz has been benched from Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius .
• According to a report from Dot Esports, Russian players that have qualified for Masters: Reykjavik may be unable to compete at the event, as Iceland — the host country of the event — has banned travel from Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, a potential solution exists in players getting a connecting flight to Iceland from Serbia, as they are a country that has not closed their airspaces to Russian aircraft unlike many other European countries. An official announcement will be made by Riot on Monday, March 28 about the situation, according to the report.
• Riot have issued a penalty for Murillo "murizzz" Tuchtenhagen for "inappropriate conduct" during one of Keyd Stars' matches. murizzz later explained that the conduct in question was him leaving his computer to go to the bathroom during a match.