In honor of GOTN starting it’s week one today, we only had one choice. We talked to community favorite, cod2 star, and trackmania legend Trump, to get his background and thoughts on the upcoming season. Enjoy the longer read.

Q: Mr Trumpis, tell us about your gaming background.

A: My Dad got me into PC gaming when I was just a toddler. We’re talking Pajama Sam, Putt Putt Travels Through Time – the games only real ones know. He collected and played all the old CoD games, Wolfenstein, Serious Sam, Duke Nukem, even flight sims. I was too young to dabble with CoD.l, so I stumbled upon a racing game called Trackmania. I played the shit out of that game through multiple iterations, competed at a high level, and in ‘08 I trained with a lot of team USA members for ESWC. Once I was old enough I picked up CoD and never looked back. CoD4 was my first true love, and got the opportunity as a last minute fill in to play with Team Nemesis (shoutout Harold and Billy) at the Ignite 1 LAN in 2011. Still a teenager, I left ready to grow and continue to compete. Once Battalion came around, I was as dedicated as ever and played from beta until its demise – including 2 Philly lans and 1 Huntington Beach lan. This gave me the opportunity I was always striving for, and got to meet and play these LANs with long term homies who are still hanging around, Tox and Brisk. (Shoutout Africa). Once that died, I found myself picking up CoD2 in ‘21 16 years after its release. The show goes on.

Q: You’ve been a part of UP since the OG 2021 revival. Tell us how the team came together originally.

A: The original rendition of UP wasn’t even UP at all – some may remember the blasphemous squad that was George Lopez #1 – myself, caseman, Tox, Thomas, and energeh. What an absolute travesty. That team lasted probably one cup, and both energeh and Thomas dipped. Tox, case, and I decided to keep the team around. Shellshock came into the picture after he and case played battalion together. Final piece was ethix, cod legend who also had some history with case (for better or worse). I think the name Unknown Players was a pretty random thought, and it just stuck. Crazy to think of where we started to where we are now.

Q: The team has had many familiar community faces over the years including names like shell, tox and zyk. Now you’ve added nova for the interim to replace the legend ethix. How does this iteration of the team compare to some of those past?

A: Our play-style has certainly changed over the years with different rosters. Tox added an extremely beneficial piece as an agile SMG player, who would push through gaps and find himself behind the enemy all the time. Since his departure, we’ve been a rifle heavy team with nightmare, sixxer, and ethix. The beauty of all three of those studs is they are actually all versatile, and can use pretty much everything. I’d say that our main focus moving forward is adding that versatility and increasing the pace of play. We will certainly miss ethix, but a veteran like nova could make a splash. He’s got an incredible mind for the game and his presence and experience has already been helping us improve communication and teamwork. Hes still got it, and the rust is going to fall right off.

Q: One story of yours that makes me laugh is you attending LAN at age 14 with your father and him chatting it up with OG Joueflux. How was that entire experience?

A: Man, that was a time. Since I was so young, the only reason I could had even showed up was it was thankfully in Chicago and my dad was more than happy to be there. It was a surreal experience for us both. My pops couldn’t believe how many French Canadians 1) played cod4 and 2) were even willing to show up. He had atleast a 45 min conversation with Joueflux, which was hilarious. Ultimately, we didn’t play the best as a team, but met some pretty cool dudes like Harold and Billy in the process. It was awesome to see Harold in Texas last month after 14 years. After that tourney, I knew I wanted to find and play a game that would give other opportunities to attend once I was older and could throw some cold ones back with the boys.

Q: UP came into LAN as a solid middling seed, with the potential to do damage if the chance arose. How would you rate the LAN performance?

A: If I had to put a letter grade on it, I’d say as a team, it was a C+. Nothing extraordinary, but on the higher end of average. We beat the teams we needed to beat without worry, beat a comparable team in High Noon pretty easily, but struggled mightily against both x6 and Bricked Up. There were certainly some highlights and some lowlights, and I’d say the teams overall reaction was disappointment. Shoutout Sixxer, though, he put on an absolute masterclass while doing his best JDM impression. A true fragger.

Q: Okay, call of duty is cool, but who’s the best UP golfer?

A: This is probably going to make the guy with goatee pretty upset, but I have to go with Sixxer. The man is just as smooth in the server as he is on the golf course. Doesn’t even need a glove or real golf shoes to beat us. All that said, we can’t sleep on caseman, as he’s put in a ton of work and easily the biggest hitter of the crew (he’s been 330+ on drives). Nightmare is new to the game but he’s handsome and athletic as hell so I expect him to be a force as he continues to play. However, your boy just got his new clubs in today.. and I’m coming for that ass. Rankings: Sixxer, Case, Trump, Nightmare / Ethix / Nova (I don’t think he plays but we’re gonna convince him)

Q: Many know that I have a soft spot in my heart for UP due to two of my former teammates caseman and sixxer, and then of course yourself as the community legend. How is it playing with those guys in the good (and bad) times?

A: Truthfully speaking, we are mostly all homies – in and out of the server. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t laugh and meme and vibe together pretty well. There are definitely times where we struggle in gel in game, and there is sometimes mixed opinions on some of the calls and strats that are put in play. This is normal. We’re working through different opinions and trying to expand out of a singular IGL role, due to the basic fact there is a ton of cod2 skill and knowledge on this team. The mental side is traditionally what gets us in trouble at times (cough cough, mostly me, cough) but we’re continuing to work through these things.

Q: Give me a top 10 cod2 community vibes list.

A: This is a tough one.. it’d be extremely difficult to narrow this down to 10 people. Based on the LAN alone, there’s a ton of chill, vibey people in this community. I had a blast with essentially everyone, and that’s a part of the tournament I’ll always hold close. I will say this though.. there needs to be special shoutout to cruizer, loose, and the Disciples of Martyr boys axzn and donut. They left it all out there (including leaving it at Tight Ends) and that was fantastic. Thanks cruizer for the white claws!

Q: Obviously losing ethix for an undisclosed amount of time is a big deal. You guys probably know better than us how long that might be. What are your expectations going into GOTN season 1?

A: Losing ethix is certainly tough. The guy is a natural born fragger, and has competed at the top level since the vcod days. He’s taking some away from the game, but he will still pop in discord and hang from time to time. We will move forward as if he will be completely unavailable for season 1. Will he be back? Not sure. Will he eventually jump to another team? Only time will tell, but there will never be any hard feelings. He is and always will be a homie. Woo pig.

Q: Can we expect UP at LAN2 in some form?

A: 99.9% – we’re as hungry as ever, and there’s a ton of unfinished business (and unfinished beers to drink). My fingers are crossed for an August, October, or November LAN – because if it’s in September, I’d be unavailable, and would be heartbroken. Please admins, do your boy a solid. The Doug and Trump casting show needs to go on.

Q: Why does baseball suck? What do you plan to do about the planes?

A: Baseball does not suck, americas game.
RE: planes, fear not – if you die, its most likely going to be in a ball of fire going somewhere on vacation. you will die a happy man

The beat does indeed go off.