Sitting down and covering Alex Brown’s drafting for a place in the Top 8 was an honor. I have never seen so much talent on this side of the world, with the exception of Scott Hunstad. Alex’s preference is to draft Squadron. He knows that Faces of Evil is very powerful, but he thinks it is overdrafted and would only make his deck weaker. His own order of decks to draft is Squadron Supreme, Faces of Evil, Kang, and then Avengers.

Pack One

Speed Demon, Second Chance Speedster and Whizzer were Alex’s options in the first pack. It looked like a choice between all the Squadron cards and Speed Demon. He took Speed Demon in the end. It looked like he might be drafting Faces, but it couldn’t be said for certain yet.

Windstorm, Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, Atomic Powerhouse, and another Speed Demon popped up in the second pack. Alex quickly took the Windstorm without thought, and it would seem that off-curve was going to be the deck of the day.

Since Dallas Riordan, Mayoral Aide was the only Thunderbolts character in the next pack, he took a moment think about his pick. There was also a Kang, Earth Mesozoic-24 in the pack. That’s what he took; it could have been that Kang was underdrafted and he wanted to keep his options open.

Justice like Lightning and Kang, Master of Time showed up in the next pack. It was a hard decision, but it looked like Alex might switch into Kang. He didn’t want to signal to the left that he wasn’t playing Kang, and so he took it.

Skymax and Kang, Immortus arrived in the fifth pack; he took Skymax. Alex now had three teams, and was keeping his options very open. Nighthawk, Kyle Richmond, another Squadron character, was his sixth pick. Another Kang, Master of Time was Alex’s seventh pick.

Whizzer and Airskimmer were the only two cards even worth thinking about in pack eight, and Alex took the character. 1-drops are important in this format, and Thermite was a fine pick in pack nine. Kang, Kang Cobra was an easy tenth pick, although Alex did have to think about Behavior Modification Device.

The Time Keepers was another easy choice from pack eleven, as there were no other decent cards in that pack. Third to last pick 8-drop Kang was a sure sign that Alex was the only Kang drafter. The last card he picked up was Peace in Our Time.

Pack Two

Going into the second round of packs, it appeared that Alex needed more Plot Twists. Alex opened a very uninteresting first pack, and so he took the only obvious choice in Eldritch Power. As he was trying to cement his commitment Kang, he took Kang, Ultimate Kang out of the second pack. Kang, Rama Tut and Macrobots were the Kang choices in pack three, with no good blue in sight, so Rama Tut was taken. Again, 1-drops are very important, and Ape X was taken over Albert Gaines in pack four—a very interesting choice indeed.
This next pack was very good for Alex; it offered him a choice between Arcanna, Blue Eagle, and another Ultimate Kang. The lady won Alex over. Another Kang Cobra was Alex’s next pick.

Airskimmer was taken over Moonglow in the seventh pack, as it would be the first equipment for Alex. It also goes well with Ape X. Funnily enough, another Ape X was Alex’s next pick. There was dejà vu in the ninth pack, as Airskimmer was taken over a flurry of 5- and 6-drops. Hibernaculum, Hyperion, Mark Milton, a third copy of Ultimate Kang, a second copy of The Time Keepers, and a second copy of Peace in Our Time rounded out Alex’s picks.

Looking over his draft during the review period, it seemed that Alex had only two decent offensive pumps, and that he should probably look to take more. He also had no 2-drops at this point, and needed to fill that out somehow.

Pack Three

Windstorm, Eldritch Power, and Shrink were three cards Alex wanted out of the first pack, but he could only take one and chose Shrink. This was a good choice, as Shrink is a very good card against players playing Faces.

The only choices in the second pack were Kang, Lord of Limbo and A Day Unlike Any Other, and the big guy got the nod.

Alex picked the up cards in the next pack one by one. His choices were between Call to Arms and Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace. He had no 2-drops, so he took Songbird in about 0.00113 seconds. A Day Unlike Any Other was a team-up that Alex really wanted, so he took it from the next pack. At this point, Alex had ten cards from which to pick up combat pumps and 2-drops.

There was no luck in the fifth pack, as the choices were between Kang, Lord of Limbo and Kang, Master of Time. The latter was taken. The choices in the next pack were between Moonglow and Lady Lark. Moonglow was taken, as she can get Alex’s team-up. Alex’s seventh pick was a beauty! Kang, Kang Kong was in the pack, and it was windmill slammed into Alex’s pile. Another 2-drop dropped into Alex’s lap in the form of Tom Thumb, and again in the next pack in the form of Foxfire.

Thunderball—a hate draft, no less—Scarlet Witch, Mistress of Chaos Magic, Kang’s Guards, Hank Pym ◊ Ant Man, and Vermin rounded off Alex’s last picks.

Comments from Alex:

“I left some of the plot twists because I think they would come back—and things like Kang, Ultimate Kang came back? I mean, that is insane. Pack one had a lot of Squadron, and I thought I could get back into it, but that didn’t happen.”

There was some regret from Alex that he did not take any of the Insect Swarms, as they are the only way besides some of the uncommons to deal with Alex’s hidden Kangs. It is also a fine way of returning stunned Kangs for powerups.

“By the looks of it, it doesn’t look like everyone else’s decks are that good, so I think I have a decent deck. I think it is a 2-1 deck. I can’t go 3-0, as it isn’t that good, but I only need a 2-1 record to make the Top 8.”