diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
index 26658580b..2c018b1e7 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
@@ -3,11 +3,8 @@
   include_vars: "../files/{{ ci_job_name }}.yml"
 
 - name: Start vms for CI job
-  vars:
-    tvars:
-      kubespray_groups: "{{ item }}"
   kubernetes.core.k8s:
-    definition: "{{ lookup('template', 'vm.yml.j2', template_vars=tvars) }}"
+    definition: "{{ lookup('template', 'vm.yml.j2', template_vars=item) }}"
   loop: "{{ scenarios[mode | d('default')] }}"
 
 - name: Wait for vms to have IP addresses
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2 b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
index 920944963..8b5367dd9 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ metadata:
   namespace: {{ pod_namespace }}
   annotations:
     kubespray.com/ci.template-path: "tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2"
-    ansible_groups: "{{ kubespray_groups | join(',') }}"
+    ansible_groups: "{{ node_groups | join(',') }}"
     # This does not use a dns prefix because dots are hard to escape with map(attribute=) in Jinja
   labels:
     kubevirt.io/os: {{ cloud_image }}
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
index 8eb9c7dbe..6a34bb1a8 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
@@ -2,31 +2,31 @@
 # This is a list of nodes with groups for each scenario/cluster layouts
 scenarios:
   separate:
-    - ['kube_control_plane']
-    - ['kube_node']
-    - ['etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node']
+    - node_groups: ['etcd']
   ha:
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'etcd']
   default:
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_node']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node']
   all-in-one:
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'kube_node']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'kube_node']
   ha-recover:
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
-    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'etcd']
   ha-recover-noquorum:
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
-    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
-    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'etcd']
   node-etcd-client:
-    - ['kube_node', 'kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
-    - ['kube_node']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - node_groups: ['kube_node']
 
 # Get pod metadata / CI vars from environment