I sat down with the widely known Alex “Uly” Brown to talk about The Avengers, PC Indy, writing for Metagame, his nickname, terrorists, and what he thinks of having such a high rating going into this tournament.

How’s it going, dude?

Really good.

How was PC Indy?

Good, in the end . . .

Myself and many others were glued to the monitor clicking refresh at Metagame.com, tracking your progress. We were really ecstatic when we saw you crawl past the finish line into Day 2. How did you manage to dig yourself out of that hole?

I don’t know; the format wasn’t that good and my deck wasn’t really that good. Second turn Chopping Block can just win games. I have an article on VsParadise.com

You massacred the pros in draft, and according to your tournament report on VsParadise, only a play mistake in Day 2 cost you a perfect record of 9-0 and a maiden PC Top 8. How did you prepare for that huge effort?

Scott Hunstad should take all the credit here. He taught me everything about Green Lantern draft. He found out that you could draft off-curve and draft all the underdrafted cards like Birthing Chamber, Carol Ferris, and Apokoliptian Hospitality. This strategy made cards like Shock Troops and ¡Ole! very playable, and you got those very late in the draft. For Avengers, I did a few drafts, and I knew Faces of Evil was a very good strategy. I just forced it at the PC.

How has The Avengers set compared with others in Sealed Pack play?

I think Avengers is the best set for draft ever, Marvel Knights being a close second. I don’t like Sealed Pack at all, though.

You are one of the newest recruits to write for Metagame.com. How did you score that job?

They were trying to get more people for the site, and there have been many international writer. I heard that from Ben Seck and just emailed Toby Watcher; I sent him something and I got the job.

What about your nickname? How did you get that?

It’s about crossword puzzles.

I have a list of seeds posted, and I have you as the favorite to win the whole thing. Do you think this is warranted?

I think Scott Hunstad should be the favorite. He is much more deserving, as he has so much skill. I don’t even know how my rating is first for Sealed Pack n Oceania. David Redfern is due to do well, as he constantly performs. I expect half of the Top 8 is going to be from Sydney, but a lot of luck has to happen in Sealed Pack to make Day 2.

What about the terrorists threats from abroad?

I think people are overreacting, and I didn’t even know about it. I don’t care, because people around the world say a lot of things, and all they want to do is instill fear into us. We shouldn’t let that happen.