[x5.Crescendo]

Behind the Username is an interview series where I ask some questions of regular players I meet in and around SC2SEA and our tournaments.

Today I have a chat with a man whose voice we all know from SEAcrafts and Friday Fun Nights: Alex 'Metalcore' Townley, a candidate for 'someone who needs to appear in our Who's Who'.

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As the obligatory first question: how long have you been playing Starcraft 2, and have you always played Terran?

I was introduced to Sc2 a long time ago, must of been around mid of WOL. At the time I was stuck in gold and played 2's with my mate who introduced me to the game, when my mate quit I quit also and didn't come back till the end of WOL. Since then I started back up I have been playing ever since. I have always played Terran.


How did you decide upon your username?

Well, its been my staple go to username for a long time now. Around high school I really got into the heavier side of metal and all the metalcore bands of the time like killswitch engage, all that remains and so on and one day when I was stumped for a username, I just chucked in the genre of the music I was listening to and bam, stuck with it ever since.


I've heard rumours that your mech play has been improving a lot recently. Do you look to particular mech players for inspiration when it comes to picking builds?

To be honest, I haven't actually been learning mech from anyone for quite some time. I don't watch player streams or learn certain timings or builds. I have just developed my own style and have been refining it based on my own experiences on ladder. I do try and avoid playing turtle like and have been trying to play more and more aggressive and hit timings with my playstyle. Something a lot easier said than done


Are you looking forward to drop harass with already-sieged tanks in Legacy of the Void?

Indeed. It seems like it will be a very interesting change and will add so much micro potential to terran styles that use mech. I'm not sure it's something I will incorporate into my own style but then again it will be something I feel that will be very map dependant with its use


Describe your playstyle in ten words or less.

tanks, tanks, more tanks and late game


Tanks for that =D You entered the WCS qualifiers and beat the Malaysian protoss HeaVeNxG before falling to Kingk0ng and Cabracan. How did you find the experience overall, and did you make any special preparations for the event?

I thought it was a fun experience overall, I just signed up and hoped for zerg with no practice at all. I got a tvp first up but was lucky enough to vs someone my own level and managed to mech it happen. My wish for zerg was granted in the next match but got one of the few zergs left in SEA that are still in the realm of impossibility of me beating and my TvT is abysmal so my series against cabracan was a one sided affair. Maybe the time the next one comes around ill be better rounded in all my match ups and may be able to make stronger run


A lot of us, whether in tournaments or on ladder, have games which stick in our memory as being more fun or entertaining than others. Do you have a war story or favourite match you'd like to brag about?

I actually had a TvP match today in a team league I participate in which was quite weird. I opened my normal TvP build with wm and hellion drops to harass but unluckily for me I was going up against proxy tempest and with cannons at base, my harass got nothing done. some how I managed to actually defend against proxy tempest without any bio units being made and transition into mech and outplay my opponent in the late game. Other than that haven't got to many notable games to brag about other than taking games of good zergs like yours, law and crimson this year alone.


That sounds like it was an intense game. Nicely done! With all the games you've played, on ladder and in tournaments, who would you consider your greatest rival at the present time?

hmm, I haven't vsed the same opponent enough to have a rival just yet. However I am aiming to make a name for myself as a TvZ killer and even though I may only be a diamond, I'm looking at getting good enough to be a serious opponent for any zerg player to go up against in any tournament.


As a zerg player myself, I am weeping on the inside. Mech legitimately scares me. However, putting my ZvMech anxieties aside, you mentioned a team league a moment ago. Would you tell us more about that?

I play in the Chobo Team League (CTL). Its a pro league format online league for bronze - diamond which is mainly NA based but includes players from EU and SEA. I used to run a team for it (which actually made back to back finals and won one of the seasons) but due to internal issues and joining Dynsl the clan disbanded but I still play in it in my mates clan Gun's & Roaches. There is some legitimately tough competition there and is a good place for me practice in a competitive setting. I am known over in CTL as the mech king and every zergs worse nightmare as I have a very strong record in my tvz there I def recommend CTL to any bronze - diamond players looking for a fun and incredibly well run team league to play in
http://choboteamleague.enjin.com


That sounds like something we need advertised more often! Moving from questions about playing the game, and on to the subject of casting SC2 - I've enjoyed your casts since the first time I watched SeaCraft Weekly and Friday Fun Night streams. When did you first start casting, and how did you start up?

I actually started casting over at the CTL. I would cast from replays some of the weeks matches and eventually I moved on over to sc2sea for more casting opportunities. I started a little bit before seacraft was a thing so I'm coming up to a year casting atm. I started casting events like ffn and any small events that were available for casting. When seacraft weekly started up I jumped at the opportunity and once I established myself as a regular caster in sc2sea I started opting to cast larger events like qual's and weekend events like masters cups. Basically, I just jumped into it and have gone from there. Once I was commited to casting, I ordered me a blue yeti mic and got my internet upgraded so I had a stronger upload speed (which has helped my personal stream when I do stream as well ) and have been working on improving and getting better and bigger ever since


From a technical aspect, what is your set up? What kind of equipment and programs do you rely on when casting and streaming? You mentioned the Blue Yeti microphone. Any other kit you find helpful?

My set up is quite simple. I have a basic HD webcam which was like 20$, my blue yeti mic, which is my best quality item and a dual monitor set up. Having a 2nd monitor to keep an eye on things like chat and the stream details (like dropped frames for example) is very handy indeed. I used xsplit when I started out but I swapped over to obs since its free and pretty much just as good. I must say, I didn't know it when I got my PC but having a good water cooler in the cpu has been the key thing that has enabled me to stream. I only have an I5 but with enough overclocking I have managed to make sure my pc can handle streaming up to 720p with no probs.


I've already asked for a war story from games you've played - but if you had to pick 1-3 favourite games from your career as a caster, which games would you pick and why? (Bonus geek cred if you can provide VODs from your cast for me to link to)

This one is easy for me . I run a bonus incentive in SEACraft weekly. If there is a game that I felt was epic or just pure awesomeness, I add in a extra 15$ bonus prize and upload that game to youtube. My favourite game by far is Pig vs Spear on Nimbus which saw a massive hour long match play out where spear opened bio but swapped into mech half way through the game due to pig building SH against his bio forces. Other games of note are Pig vs Solar which was an increadable zvz series and Kingk0ng vs Blysk in one of the weirdest but more enjoyable series as well. You can check all those out and more over at my youtube channel where I upload matches that are just to epic to be forgotten. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...YGMr2K8gocLGiL


The game between [iG] XY and [ETL] Swarmstika in that playlist was also fantastic - I was lucky to catch it live on your stream. I hear Shane still has PTSD over those nukes =D On to recent events, you joined the new organisation Dynasty eSports. How did that come to happen, and how are you finding life as part of DynSL? Any funny stories to share?

Well, I was contacted by Ice back in December about it, and at the time I was a bit hesitant about joining. I didn't want to join a team that ended up like Acension/revolt. So I told him to get back to me at a later date about it. Ice managed to convince me in the end as he seems really onto it and i'm confident the team will be stable and has potential. So far its been really good over in Dynsl, all the guys are good natured and are willing to help out, already got a new build for tvt which has been working out well for me since joining and it gives you that extra bit of motivation to play knowing you are competing with your fellow team mates to be the best and lead the team in results No real funny stories of note just yet to share, but I'm currently on break and not at uni so I haven't been living a student life. I'm sure once I'm back at uni there will be a few nights I jump on Skype under the influence of something and make a fool of myself :P


Is there a particular moment in your overall SC2 career, as a gamer and/or caster which you consider particularly important or formative for who you are as a player and person now?

Well as a caster its a passion project and its something I will continue to do esp now that I have really got myself involved with the sea community and I enjoy casting all the events we have. I have actually been recognised by complete randoms on ladder as "that caster from SEA" recently so its real awesome to see I am getting exposure and making a name for myself so it def keeps me motivated.

As a gamer the turning point for me was when I beat rival in a bo1 in a tournament. That game was what made me think, "oh shit, I can actually go toe to toe with some of the top players here"

Since then I have been focusing on my tvz since it's my match up that I enjoy the most and understand the best and been working on trying to up my level to the point where I am a legitimate threat to any zergs, the other match ups just elude me so they can come in time


For a bit of fun, a double whammy:
1: if there was anyone in the world you could challenge to a Best of Five match, who would it be, and why?
2: if there were any two players you could cast, involving any players past and present, who would you have play in the match and what kind of game would you hope for?

1: Hmm that's a toss up for me atm. I really want to have another shot at X5 Yours and Vivid. They are both strong zerg players who are very good against mech and i feel i can take them with just a little bit more improvement so would love a rematch against them in the near future.
2: Oh man, I would love to cast something like Taeja vs life. I have casted life when he played in a seacraft weekly once and life is just one of the more awesome zergs players of all time imo. Taeja was the first pro player i started following and watching as his play style was just so good, he would win games that he shouldn't and even when terran was down in all tournaments, taeja could always find results in the summer time. So a rematch of Life and Taeja in the summer would be epic. honourable mentions would be players like forgg and maru cos I love me TvX and those players have a unique style that would make for awesome games regardless who they vs


Finally, feel free to self-promote and drop some links here if you want folks to follow you on the various social media sites

You can follow me over on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetalcoreSC2 and my stream http://www.twitch.tv/metalcore1993 where I cast non related seacraft events and stream from time to time


And of course your youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/MetalCoreSC2

Thank you for your time today, Metalcore, it was a pleasure!

I look forward to more of your casting


No problems man. Have a good one

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Thank you again to Metalcore for spending the time to make this interview happen. A top bloke who makes it possible for SEAcraft Weeklies and Friday Fun Nights to get an entertaining caster's touch. It's nice to be able to link friends to a stream and say 'One of these guys playing is the one who r3kt me in the first round.'

Hopefully we'll have Metalcore added to SC2Sea's Who's Who list in time!

GLHF!

Quick Comments

billbill:

Metal to the core but he plays dubstep on stream. lies, it's MetalCore because his love for mech