Bren Esports To Miss Valorant Berlin Masters

An unexpected exit from a top contender.

Riot Games confirmed the non-participation of the first-seeded Southeast Asian team Brian Esports through their official Twitter account. The Philippines-based organization will miss the second international LAN tournament after failing to secure a visa due to strict COVID-19 regulations in the country. Additionally, Riot also announced various changes to the match format for Group D, Bren Esports' former group, following the team's unavailability to participate.

An update on Bren Esports and #VALORANTMasters Berlin: pic.twitter.com/4WwfNNQfdb

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) September 3, 2021

With the departure of Bren Esports, Riot Games have made quite a few changes to the game format for Group D. All of the remaining three teams in the Group D, G2 Esports, Sentinels, and F4Q will now face each other in a round-robin format. The top two teams emerging from the round-robin format will represent the group in the Quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the other groups in the tournament will proceed according to the initial style and will remain unaffected.

Apart from the format changes, Riot Games will reward Bren Esports for their past performance in the VCT qualifiers. Firstly, the team will receive a total of 175 VCT points. They'll also receive equivalent suitable prize money for qualifying for Valorant Berlin Masters.

Valorant Berlin Masters will kick start from September 10 and follow all the COVID-19 protocols laid by the German government. To ensure the safety of the players, Riot Games have decided not to host any live audience for the tournament. Fans can catch all the live-action on the official Valorant Twitch Channel or Valorant Champions Tour YouTube Channel.

Featured image via ONE Esports.