Iso’s abilities in VALORANT aren’t just unique for a duelist; they’re one-of-a-kind for tactical shooters, especially his interdimensional 1v1 ultimate. It’s a Gulag-like experience that nobody could’ve predicted—unless you’re one caster and Plat Chat podcast member.
Brennan “Bren” Hook started throwing up ideas for future agents loosely since VALORANT’s release, but one he introduced over two years ago was the idea of an ultimate that forces a 1v1, like the Gulag in Warzone. His fellow casters and podcasters ridiculed him for the idea, which came back around multiple times over this over-two-year stretch, simply known as “the Gulag idea.” As it turns out, he was as accurate as could be, considering how long before the agent’s release he started to brainstorm the concept.
Luckily enough, instead of having to skim through hours of footage, one Plat Chat and Bren fan made a video of each time he referenced that gulag idea before Iso’s release. Starting in May 2021, during the Plat Chat Couch watch party for the original Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavík, he spitballed an idea to his friends during the match between Fnatic and Version1. Known as “Bren’s batshit suggestion,” he specifically states: “what if his ultimate pulls the nearest enemy into a pocket dimension, and you have to compete in a 1v1 aim duel, and the winner gets a speed boost and damage boost.”
It’s not totally accurate to what the final product was, but for a random thought, he totally nailed the interdimensional teleport into a 1v1. As the years went by and the idea cooked in this British man’s brain, he kept bringing it up, with other Plat Chat VALORANT podcaster Wyatt River mentioning “every time there’s a new update, you speculate that it’s the gulag,” back in September 2021.
From Plat Chat’s couch co-stream of Champions 2021, to a podcast over a year later in October 2022, the Gulag idea kept popping up. It changed from a possible AimLabs-like competition to a true 1v1, weapons only, no utility. It snowballed so much that Bren even thought Harbor could have a version of the Gulag, where a water bubble would create a playing field for a potential 1v1. He ended up being completely wrong, but only for a limited time.
Bren said he mentioned the concept one more time to some Riot developers when having drinks with them, and according to the caster, they quieted down and drunk more when the topic was brought up. Unsure whether he stumbled onto a company secret or just was socially ostracizing some Riot devs, time moved on, until October 2023 and Iso’s reveal.
Bren turned out to be the niche version of Nostradamus that nobody but clout demons want to be: the Nostradamus of VALORANT agents.
To keep it short and simple, Bren was right, and way earlier than anyone else was. He might not get royalties for the idea, but he will eventually cast someone using the ultimate that he knew would exist in the game ages before anyone else did.
