Red Bull have unveiled the groups for the third edition of Home Ground. The only international LAN of the OFF//SEASON will include three partnered Americas teams: KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro , 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk , and Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago neT Michael Bernet OXY Francis Hoang .
The first round of invites revealed only the three invited EMEA teams — partnered organizations Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak and Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #8 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso , and former VRL DACH champions FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #48 hoody Aaro Peltokangas YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes Mistic James Orfila al0rante Felix Brandl xuss Tselmeg Tsolmon — as well as 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 , who won the Turkish qualifier. BIG BIG Inactive were supposed to participate as winners of the EMEA qualifier but, after dropping their team, Red Bull invited Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius to fill the gap.
The second round of invites revealed the three Americas teams that will be flying in to Manchester. 100 Thieves and Cloud9 will debut Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban and Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker, respectively, while KRÜ's overhauled roster will be on display in the Victoria Warehouse.
Red Bull has drafted the eight teams into two groups, which are:
Group A
- Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago neT Michael Bernet OXY Francis Hoang
- Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #8 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso
- FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #48 hoody Aaro Peltokangas YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes Mistic James Orfila al0rante Felix Brandl xuss Tselmeg Tsolmon
- KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro
Group B
- Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius
- 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
- 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk
- Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak
These two groups will play out the first stage on December 9, in a standard Bo3 format. The best team from each group will move into the semifinals, while the last team will be eliminated. The remaining two teams from each group will then be placed in the quarterfinals — played on Dec. 10 — where Home Ground will pivot to its trademark Home and Away format.
Playoff matches will be Bo5 and each team will pick a Home map. If either team wins both Home maps they are awarded the match win but, if not, the series proceeds as a regular Bo5. The final day of the event, Dec. 11, will see the semifinals and grand final played out.
Cosmetic content drops will be available throughout the tournament, according to an earlier press release. The distribution of the $100,000 USD prize pool has yet to be announced.
Red Bull Home Ground 3 will be the "final act" of the 2022 season and the last international tournament of the year prior to the VCT Kickoff Tournament in February.