The event of 2025. The crown jewel. GOTN LAN 2 is just days away, with 13 teams coming to Columbus, Ohio for Call of Duty 2’s 20th anniversary tournament, competing for North America’s trophy & cold hard cash. Group A features two teams with promising recent online results looking to build upon their LAN1 performances. It also features two long-standing teams hoping to leverage their chemistry and time together, and finally two brand new teams. Now, with the release of groups Tuesday, we take a closer look at what to expect:

High Seeds

Janitorz

harry, hostage, nytrix, jay, gl4d

The cleaning crew come into LAN2 boasting a slew of results. With a core of harry, hostage and nytrix that has withstood the test of time, they have amassed a plethora of cup wins over the last few years, but had an especially strong 2025. Possibly more importantly, they took down GOTN season 1 which featured an amazing 16 North American teams. You name it, they have won it, and it’s the reason they earned themselves a top seed. The only disappointment you’d say for this group would be the LAN1 result, 4th, which they are hungry to improve upon. Jay and Gl4d joined this roster after LAN1 and have helped produce consistently good results.

The boys are feeling good, we’re riding a high and the roster has a lotta chemistry and fun together. I know expectations are high for us, but we will just stick to our game and what we’ve done for months leading up. Everyone will say it’s win or bust for this roster, but for us it’s been a hell of a journey. Really looking forward to hosting and putting on a show at a sick event and venue.

I’m looking forward to all matches personally. Just trying to take in LAN as much as possible as I feel like I personally missed some of that at the first LAN. Then meeting with old homies together again is always awesome. -harry

Plus Forward

shell, zack, kosmo, brisk, panther

The w pressers (or lack thereof) come in to LAN in a little bit of a slump. Despite that, there is no doubting the talent of this roster. The core 3 of shell, kosmo and zack come into LAN2 with a revamped roster, looking to make a big splash. The team most recently placed second in GOTN Season 1, losing to groupmates Janitorz in the finals. They’ve had huge highs, and will look to improve upon their LAN1 3rd place finish in Columbus, Ohio. Brisk and panther complete this stacked roster.

Well, we were feeling great coming out of our 2nd place finish in league, but besides some success in those dumb KOTH tournaments (Fuck Zyk), we have really been struggling. We can only attribute this sudden drop in dominance to our wonky work schedules (we barely play with our starting 5) and many teams putting in that extra work to improve their chances and prepare for the event.

With that being said tho, we are NOT beta bitches. We are going to enter this LAN with the mindset of any given Sunday and we know for a fact that not only do we have the talent to win the LAN, we have the ability to win it decisively. Carrying that mindset into the group play portion of the event, we expect to win our group. We are going into every match knowing that these teams have dangerous players who have the potential to give us fits and could play spoiler, so we will be ready and focused from the start. It’s going to be fun and I cannot wait. I’m personally looking forward to our group matches with UP and GOONs. The latter of the two has my dear friend cruizer on it and there’s going to be some friendly banter and bragging rights leading up to that match. And we all know my history with Caseman (he sucks but he did beat me at a b44 lan with my own teammate, Shell nonetheless. So I think our group has the potential to be very exciting for the spectators and super competitive for the players. It should be a lot of fun. Stay tuned.

The FOMO for LAN 1 was real as most people know (I could only watch from twitch) and it sucked not being there. I cannot believe LAN 2 is just a week away. The excitement is growing with each and every passing day leading up to this event. Our team is definitely in the win or bust mentality. We are prepared to win, we have the players to win, and we expect to win. Win or bust. That’s it -panther

Mid Seeds

Goons

1200, athn, zexi, justsam, cru!zer

The roster that we missed having at LAN1 will make their debut at LAN2. This team keeps their core 4 that they’ve had for the whole year, and add veteran cru!zer at the shotgun position. The goons may be community favorites, but they are also a talented roster that has what it takes to make a run. They’ve already taken maps in officials over top teams like Janitorz & x6 – and they are hoping that this is the tournament where it all comes together.

The boys are feeling locked in heading into LAN. We’ve been putting in a ton of work with scrims, VOD review, and tightening up our comms, and I think people are going to be surprised by how far we’ve come. The five of us have been grinding nonstop, and it’s really starting to show.

Looking at our group, we know every matchup’s going to be a battle, but that’s what we want. There are a few teams we’re especially looking forward to playing, and we’re ready to prove ourselves.

We’ve shown flashes online, taking maps off some of the best teams, and now it’s about putting it all together when it matters most. In true Goons fashion, I think we’re going to surprise some people, maybe even pull off a few upsets, and keep our opponents a little nervous not knowing what to expect -1200

Unknown Players

caseman, trump, sixxer, nightmare, nova

Another core that has been together virtually forever joins Group A. They may call themselves Unknown, but everyone knows who they are. This roster made a huge splash late in 2024, and early 2025 right before LAN1. UP made a few really deep runs, and were constantly competing with the best, earning themselves a top 4 seed in Dallas. With ethix stepping back, nova has come into the fold for the last 5 months and the team has continued to grow. We know and love them for their personality, but if they can find their w key, this is another team that can make a deep run.

The boys are buzzing Telly. After a pretty lackluster performance back in Dallas, we left a lot to be desired. That being said, we’ve put in a ton of work into what we believed were the weakest parts of our game, and feel confident that we are going to turn some heads and shake things up heading into Columbus.

Every team in this community has spent the last 8 months working hard to improve and I can clearly see the results just based on recent scrims and cups. It’s also important and pretty cool to note that we have 20+ new players attending LAN2 that weren’t able to make it to LAN1.. Nevertheless, the match I’m most looking forward to? +Forward – hell of a lineup with some old friends (Brian, Shell) and even the bald nurse COD2 legend himself: John ‘Panther’ DiSantis. Hope it’s a dog fight. -trump

We love us some UP. What can y’all do next weekend to make a little run?

And we love you, Telly. This sounds cliche, but confidence is going to be the key to our success. Trust in the work we’ve put in as a team and individual players, and the rounds (and hopefully, wins) will follow.

Surprisingly, the golf clubs won’t be making an appearance from any of us this time around. I certainly would not enjoy carrying them on my trek through Europe the week of. Next time, let’s make it happen – open invitation.. But don’t think you have a chance against us 5. -trump

Up & Coming

Roll The Dice

adept, brutal, timmer, phreak, eric

RTD come into LAN2 with quite possible the best tags in the game. The ex-farmers duo join long time friends and teammates adept and brutal on this roster that boasts plenty of potential. These four team up with eric, who will bring his vast experience and in game knowledge that might just give them the edge over teams that they need to beat to make a run. What’s funny enough about this roster is that they are Group A’s highest earning team of 2025. Yes, you read that right. With Eric’s second place finish at LAN1 with x6 ($234), and timmer’s draft cup win with lizards ($100) – this team has collectively earned $334 (YAY MATH!). With the 3 members of plus forwards 3rd place at LAN1 earning $110 each, or $330 total, that gives Roll The Dice the slight edge. Maybe they should be the top seed of this group.

ERIC RESPONDED WITH A STRING OF EXPLETIVES THAT CANT BE REPEATED POINTED TOWARDS JANITORZ WHEN ASKED FOR AN INTERVIEW

Regicide

wrenches, thomas, carbs, birdman, bcj

Regicide is the newest team of the bunch, and we’ve recently gotten the chance to see them in official matches. They even were able to secure their first victory, over a solid empyrean team in Media Cup 1. Either way, this is a team with an insane amount of fps experience. Sure, cod2 probably wouldn’t be their first choice, but here we are anyway. This is simply not a team that can be overlooked despite the odds. This roster, if they can find their way, have players who are able to take over the game in multiple shooting games. We look forward to seeing what they can do in Columbus.

I think we are cautiously confident. We definitely started late and initially weren’t really going to practice much, but the boys have put in some more and we are improving a ton. We made a couple of role changes and are looking good. Excited to see how the boys play on LAN. I think we will surprise some people and there could be some upsets on the cards.

I think our original goal was always to make it out of groups. Looking at the groups, if you exclude the top two teams, I think our group is stronger from the middle down so it will certainly be a challenge, but the goal stays the same. Obviously look forward to playing panther on lan.

Can we expect a little birdy booth action?

100%, I have been covering most of the online tournaments over the past month and will get on the mic as much as possible. Excited to cast with the boys and bring back the old top tier Battalion duo with Doug. -Birdman