With Dallas LAN 2025 in the rearview and GOTN Season 1 on the horizon, there’s been plenty of noise around who’s up, who’s down, and who’s still clinging to relevance. One notable absence from Dallas was Panther—a name that sparks equal parts fear, frustration, and daily #cod2-discussion spams over the years. Now freshly signed to Plus Forward, we caught up with him to talk shotguns, expectations, and whatever remains of his legacy. Beware, I did not edit, redact, or modify any remarks. Parental guidance is advised. He’s a father now, which just means his bad takes have generational consequences.

Q: “Salutations, John. You were the only relevant player missing from the last LAN—assuming you’re still relevant. How did it feel watching from the sidelines, and what did you make of the tournament in Dallas?”

A: “It hurt for sure to see all these losers, I mean gamers, living out my favorite childhood memory of being dropped off at the local LAN center by my wonderful Mommy and dominating the cod2 field. I was pissed off about it but in all honesty, the LAN was a great success. Kudos to all the organizers and attendees for making it a fun watch from my couch back in Philly. I am excited about future LAN events, and I know that with the current admin group, they will continue to improve.

In terms of the results, I will say I was not surprised that Bricked up won. They have 2 of the 3 biggest losers in the community on their team (myLo and 1shot). These guys literally played 500+ EUROPEAN Bo3s ON ANTILAG !!200 PING!! with the other loser (woody). It is honestly embarrassing, and with that much practice (and losing) vs the best of the best, it is no wonder they ascended to greatness. All 3 of them were role players back in 2021 (first cod2 comeback stint) and now they are easily top 5 players in the game. Was all that time being a loser worth it? I guess. Congrats to my buddies (especially Dougie and Mark). Also, a quick shoutout to x6 for their second-place finish. I was there since the beginning, and I watched those boys GRIND and put in all the hours of hard work perfecting their strats and chemistry. It was a pleasure watching them succeed. Now they are a bunch of losers, and I can’t wait to shit on them.”

JANITORZ BLOW.

Q: “You’ve now been recruited to Plus Forward, who had a pretty decent result at the last LAN finishing in third place. Do you think you’ll elevate them, or just drag them down with you? And with your new shotgun role, do you see it as a game-changer for the team, or just another questionable life decision?”

A: “I appreciate the opportunity that the Plus forward boys have granted me, and I plan on working hard to help ELEVATE them to not only another top 3 LAN performance, but a LAN championship. Shotgunning is pretty shitty so far ngl. It seems to be my bad luck that we switched to EU shotgun (watered down shotgun) right when I started using it. To make matters worse, we are forced to play on the bolt heavy anti-lag version (watered down cod2), so everyone is just holding hard angles waiting for me to turn the corner with my poop cannon and shooting a foot behind me and killing me. Trash. I do enjoy controlling the smokes though and as the team IGL it will make calling strats and adjustments easier. These guys are putting their faith in me to plan, create, and execute game plans for each map, and I take that commitment very seriously.”

Q: “All jokes aside, no one questions your credentials—except maybe how much you were carried throughout your career. In your short stint with Plus Forward, could you say this is the most skilled team you’ve been a part of?”

A: “Way too early to say, we had a bunch of amazing GOTEM squads (with the best being paNther, doug, myLo, brett, & Gl4d) and I am not going to include anything before 2021 because the game was completely different back then. The Plus forward guys are great, and I am excited to play with them. I think the most impressive thing about them is the fact that they barely practiced any maps before LAN and finished top 3. If that’s not a true testament to their skill level, I don’t know what is.”

Q: “I know this is a redundant question for you, but what are your expectations for the upcoming GOTN Season 1 and the next LAN? Do you think the team will need time to adapt, or are you expecting to hit the ground running?”

A: “After watching x6 prepare these last couple months and seeing how hard they work, it motivates me to follow the same path with Plus forward. We will be taking a nabore-esque approach to the game and as the kids would say we will be “nerding it out” these next several months to make sure we are ready. We are excited about the league, and we will try to win it, but the LAN is everything. I fully expect us to be one of, if not the most prepared team at the event. The path to greatness is not linear. We will have our ups and downs just like any other team, but in the end, I believe we will be the best team in game and winners of CoD2LAN2.”

Q: “Last but not least, any final words for your fans, your haters, or maybe even your daughter, who might be reading this in the history books one day?”

A: “You guys are all a bunch of (slurs). Love you Stevie.”

Whether he ends up as the missing piece or just another name in the credits, Panther’s next chapter is already underway. Debatable if he is truly a fan favourite, but undeniably equal parts entertaining and annoying. GOTN Season 1 and the next LAN will tell us if the old dog still has teeth—or if it’s truly time to start telling bedtime stories.

Stay tuned.