For a while, VALORANT players have discussed how having the same Agent on both teams can be explained through lore; and the Mirror Universe Theory is what was settled on.
The cinematic, which you can see below, shows Agents fighting to disarm the Spike. It comes to light that they're fighting mirrored Agents, later confirming a Mirror Universe; before revealing that Brimstone and Viper have known about this but haven't come clean with the rest of the team.
In a thread by Cynprel, who was able to preview DUALITY and talk to the Narrative Team, multiple things have come to light.
The Mirrorverse was confirmed, which is shown in the cinematic. It also was confirmed that the Spike was created by Mirrored Killjoy, and it is the Mirrored Earth that is attacking. In-game, Attackers play as Mirrored Agents.
It is worth noting that Skye has a voice line which talks about the opponents being "like us, but different". In the DUELIST cinematic, Jett's name and other texts were written backwards; mirrored just like the universe she came from. In a similar way, "Phoenix" is shown on the DUALITY title screen, mirrored on either side of the screen.
The Mirrored Universe has always been set up in the lore, but it is only recently starting to come into action.
Five Agents wield flashes in VALORANT, and Riot are hoping to balance it as we go into Episode 3; starting with nerfs to Breach and Skye.
