Facebook: Bren EsportsFollowing rumors of Bren Esports’ absence from the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3 Masters in Berlin, Riot Games has officially revealed that Southeast Asian organization Bren Esports will be unable to attend the international event. The roster has now left Bren, and joined Team Secret.
One week out from Valorant’s second international event, Masters: Berlin, Riot are scrambling to get everything in place to make it as smooth as possible for the attending teams, but first seed team Bren from the SEA region will have to miss out. The organization stormed through the competition during the SEA playoffs, but unfortunately, are forced to miss out due to travel restrictions tightening in the Philippines. As restrictions have gotten more strict in the region, Riot said they explored multiple avenues to find a solution for them to attend Berlin, according to an official announcement. https://twitter.com/ValorantEsports/status/1433801709772541959?s=20 As per Riot’s official communication, the global mobility team that handles travel for organizations went as far as to try and coordinate with the Philippine and German governments to make arrangements but, unfortunately, a deadline has now passed that makes it impossible for Bren to attend.
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Riot is planning on going ahead with a 15-team tournament with Group D, where Bren have would be placed, changing to a double round-robin instead of the double-elimination, GSL style format that the other groups face. The top two teams from Group D will still advance to the next stage. On September 8, Bren Esports confirmed they had left the org. “The team has decided to explore and review other possible opportunities, a decision that we respect and wish them all the best in their competitive careers,” the organization said in a statement. 
Ex-Bren joins Secret On September 9, the roster joined Team Secret. https://twitter.com/teamsecret/status/1435902401895034889 Luckily for the other groups, they will not be impacted by the change, with everything still going ahead as planned for them. Masters Berlin is still going ahead as normal and is set to kick off on September 10 with KRU Esports vs Zeta Division as the opening game for the tournament.