The groups and opening matches for the Valorant Champions Tour Masters 3 in Berlin have been revealed in a Riot Japan press release.
The opening matches are:
Group A
- Vision Strikers Vision Strikers Inactive stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Zest Kim Ki-seok (김기석) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) vs Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov
- Papara SuperMassive Papara SuperMassive Europe Rank #35 sterben Emre Demirci skylen Asil Yalçın hiro Emirhan Kat CyderX Caner Demir Celasun Emir Celasun SouhcNi Ibrahim Sağır Izzy Baran Yılmaz vs Acend Acend Europe Rank #10 ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi Br0die Jack Emmott baddyG Kamil Graniczka chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Vuubit Roope Eilola
Group B
- Keyd Stars Keyd Stars Inactive vs Envy Envy Inactive Marved Jimmy Nguyen Victor Victor Wong crashies Austin Roberts FiNESSE Pujan Mehta yay Jaccob Whiteaker
- KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo vs ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #7 Laz Ushida Koji yuran Yushin Hato hiroronn Hiroki Yanai Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe
Group C
- Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin vs Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive
- 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #9 bang Sean Bezerra Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk vs Liberty Liberty Inactive guuih Guilherme Mariano pepa Matheus Colleto duhT Eduardo Teixeira Zanatsu Carlos Eduardo tockers Gabriel Claumann
Group D
- Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #2 TenZ Tyson Ngo Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid Sacy Gustavo Rossi vs G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive
- Inactive vs F4Q F4Q Inactive Hermes Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱) Estrella Park Gun (박건) fiveK Yoo Sung-min (유성민) GOLD Geum Chang-wan (금창완)
In an article later released on the Champions Tour website, it's explained that the seeding format is as such:
Teams were first sorted into four draw pools based on a combination of their respective final placements at the Challenger events and their regional strength.
- Pool 1: NA #1, EMEA #1, KR #1, BR #1
- Pool 2: NA #2, EMEA #2, LATAM #1, SEA #1
- Pool 3: JP #1, BR #2, KR #2, EMEA #3
- Pool 4: NA #3, SEA #2, JP #2, EMEA #4
Next, each team in a pool will be randomly drawn into one of the four groups (Groups A-D). If at any point a team is drawn into a group which already has a team from their region, then they get placed into the next alphabetically sequential group. The only exception to this are teams from EMEA, which as a result of having the most representatives at the tournament, can have two teams drawn into a single group.