This is due to Riot Games and the Philippines-based team not managing to secure travel visas for the players
Sad news for Southeast Asia fans of VALORANT. The champion of the VCT Challengers 3 for SEA, Bren Esports will not be participating at Masters Berlin. This is due to the team not able to secure the necessary travel visas to Germany from their home country of the Philippines.
In a statement that Riot Games shared on Twitter:
Ahead of Masters Berlin, Riot Games worked to secure the required travel permissions for every qualified team. Unfortunately, with tightening travel restrictions around the world due to changing COVID-10 development, we are unable to secure the necessary travel visas for Bren Esports, the number one seeded team from Southeast Asia.
As a result of this decision, the format of the tournament will be modified and Group D, where Bren Esports wereplaced, will pivot to a double round robin, with the top two teams advancing to the elimination stage.
There will be no penalty for Bren Esports, as Riot will be awarding the 175 VCT points and the associated prize money to the team for qualifying to Masters Berlin.
The reaction of the community was sympathetic to the team. Bren Esports also released a statement, stating:
The support from the community since #VCT SEA Stage 3 has been nothing but overwhelming. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who believed and took time to join the #Brenlin and #BringBrenToBerlin movements. You guys are the best!
Meanwhile, Paper Rex, the other Southeast Asia team that also qualified for Masters Berlin tweeted support for Bren Esports:
They will be the sole Southeast Asia representative to Berlin.
Even as Bren Esports misses Masters Berlin, they are still not out of the running for Champions, as there is still the Last Chance Qualifiers that will be happening after Masters Berlin ends. At the same time, Bren Esports are still at the top of the VALORANT teams ranking in Southeast Asia, behind X10 Esports, with Paper Rex takes up the third place.
