May The 4th Be With You - May 4, 2025

Rancor Dungeon

My apologies for the delayed recap of our awesome May the 4th Duel!  Playing on Sunday and then jumping into the last week of classes is a bad recipe for blogging productivity!

He's in the niceness HOF too!

Alas, we did Duel on May the 4th...but before the action started, we held a sacred ceremony at the Jedi Temple.  A new Dueler joined the Hall of Fame!  Playing in his last league Duel before moving to North Carolina, Elliot more than earned his spot in the league history books by ranking in the top ten all-time in Duels played, being the first Dueler to win with Bo-Katan Kryze (#foreshadowing!), and winning the 2024 Championship.  We're going to miss all of our departing Duelers, but Elliot certainly holds a special place in all of our hearts! 

May the 4th be with you!

For the last Duel of the academic year we were stuck in the rancor's dungeon!  And Riley B. was gracious enough to stop by and guest star as the rancor!  It wasn't long before the rancor was released, as Kat's (back after a year and a half layoff!) Pyke hoodlum was offed first!  While some folks were focused on attacking the rancor, and the rancor was focused on eating minor characters, Rob's Rey and Finn were creeped out by Justin/Morgan's future zombie night troopers.  The rest of that end of the board, fully carded, took the fight to Morgan herself when the troopers were gone.  HOFer Elliot/Boba Fett used a Kyber Dart for the kill shot!  Poor Justin!!!  He did turn pro though, joining the long line of Duelers whose sixth Duel was also a last place.

But Morgan wasn't the only Dueler bleeding out early.  CJ's Krennic, stuck in the middle of the board and down a minor character thanks to the rancor, took the full force of James' Bowcaster to put her within one health point of death!  She retreated to the control panel and dropped the gate on the rancor, causing ten points of damage.  That enraged the rancor, who crushed Krennic in eleventh.  RAWRRR!!!

The character he was born to play!

Despite a crazy-lucky string of Thick Skin defense cards, the gate crash jacked up the rancor.  The rest of the board realized it was a good time to eliminate the monster from the board.  Jonah's Cara Dune landed the final attack.  Thanks Riley B. for your cameo!

The dungeon is a tough board to navigate because there aren't any easy dividing lines to form sides.  Alex G./Indara found himself on the wrong side of that when a gang of shooters put the target on his Acolyte heroine.  It was once again Elliot's Boba who got the deathblow.  Alex got to leave early to get back to studying after finishing tenth.

Another Dueler caught in the crossfire of bad board position was Riley E.'s Moff Gideon.  Her sister Penny immediately attacked her early in the game, and others joined in on picking on Gideon.  Boba used a Wrist Cable to collect his third major character trophy of the night!

Kat Bane!

James was feeling himself as Han Solo, and in a bold move, began attacking Penny's The Stranger.  In real life that wouldn't end well, but Penny was low carded and not expecting the attacks.  But she moved straight to the source of her problems after that and landed a blow on Han.  That was enough damage to let Rob/Rey use The Last Jedi to finish Solo and the wookie in eighth!

It was about this time in the game Rob realized his melee Rey was surrounded by a LOT of shooters on the board.  Though he had tussled with Josiah's Ahsoka earlier in the game, he made a deal to heal Ahoska if Josiah would attack Jonah's Mandalorian.  The deal was struck and Jonah was in critical health.  ONCE AGAIN Elliot swooped in for the kill shot, using Greedo and a Sudden Arrival to do the deed this time.  Jonah's last Duel of the year netted him a seventh place finish, but he'll be joining eleven others of us for the 12 12-Way in June!

Penny showing James what's up.

Some of the shooters weren't crazy about the Mandalorian being the most recent target, so they returned the focus on Penny's Stranger.  There's nowhere to hide in the dungeon, AND YES AGAIN Elliot took out the trash with a kill shot.  Penny was gone in sixth.

Rob/Rey made his expected social move of the game in the top five.  He tried to rally Elliot/Boba to join himself and Josiah's Ahsoka for a final three, suspecting Grant/Bo-Katan and Kat/Cad Bane were in a tight alliance.  Grant didn't like that kind of talk, so he used the Dark Saber to knock out Josiah in fifth!  But Josiah did turn pro at this Duel.  Congrats, Josiah!

Grant plotting a path forward...

And then there were four!  Elliot decided to stick with Rob, at least at this stage, partnering up against Kat and Grant.  They decided to concentrate their efforts on Kat's Cad Bane.  Despite her fancy Rocket Boots, she couldn't hold out forever.  Kat was done in fourth, but that was a great performance after her prolonged absence from play.  Let's hope we'll see more of her this fall!

Elliot came to his senses at the final three, especially after Rob used the eight points of healing from the Rise of Skywalker.  Boba and Bo-Katan joined Mandalorian forces against Rey.  Rob hung tough for several rounds, but the rancor dungeon is nearly impossible to survive with its lack of raised terrain when facing two shooters at once.  Rob concentrated his attacks on Boba, hoping Elliot would partner with him if he was sufficiently banged up.  But when he used Scavenger Scum to put the heal card back in his hand, Elliot shocked Rob with a Thermal Detonator!  It was adios for Rob after that - he was out in third.

One last Duel together!

That left a final two of a slightly wounded Elliot/Boba Fett and Grant/Bo-Katan.  Rob had peaked at Grant's deck earlier and knew he was loaded with defense cards.  Elliot fought valiantly and they each landed hits, but Bo-Katan proved relentless and an Arial Assault eliminated Elliot in second.  Grant won his tenth career Duel!!!  PEW PEW!!!  He becomes the fourth Dueler in league history to reach double digits in wins.  Well done Grant!  And congrats to Elliot, who wrapped up his league tenure with a second place finish and a killed character graveyard that was enormous.  Elliot is flying back to Texas for the 12 12-way in June, so we still have a dozen more times to enjoy is presence at the table.

Grant wins the Golden Obi!

Final Order of Finish:

12.  Justin/Morgan Elsbeth

11.  CJ/Orson Krennic

10.  Alex G./Indara

9.  Riley E./Moff Gideon

8.  James/Han Solo

7.  Jonah/The Mandalorian

6.  Penny/The Stranger

5.  Josiah/Ahsoka Tano

4.  Kat/Cad Bane

3.  Rob/Rey

2.  Elliot/Boba Fett

1.  Grant/Bo-Katan Kryze

Thanks for an awesome year Dueling, everyone!!!  We aren't playing the June Twin Sun Slam this summer since we're doing the 12 12-way.  Save the date for the last Sunday of July - we'll be playing the Singles Tournament!  We need 32 Duelers to make that work - more details to come.  Until then...

May the Force be with you.  Always.

Preview: May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2025

 

What a school year, folks!  The 24-25 academic calendar is winding down, but not before we celebrate the high-holy day of the Dueling year...May the 4th!!!  It's a bittersweet day as we know this also signals the end of some Dueling careers, as folks graduate or move on from the friendly confines of CL&L.  But alas, their accomplishments have been written into the stars above...as well as in a fairly obscure blog on the internet...

The other big news to share is that we are officially kicking of the TWELFTH year of league Dueling with our first-ever 12 12-Way Weekend!  This June, 12 current and past veterans of the league are locking themselves into an Airbnb in the middle of Texas for our 3.5 days to play 12 Duels in a row.  You'll be able to keep track of that madness this summer via the blog and the insta account!  One thing is for sure - lives will be permanently changed after that...hopefully for the better?!

HISTORY OF MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU:

2024 - Ian won with Orson Krennic on Arvala-7

2023 - JD M. won with Orson Krennic in the Narkina 5 Imperial Prison

2022 - Rob won with Kylo Ren on the Conveyex Train

2021 - Kaleb won with Jango Fett in the Trash Compactor

2020 - Ryan won with Han Solo on the Kamino Platform

2019 - Riley won with Emperor Palpatine in the Emperor's Throne Room

2018 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

2017 - JD N. won with Yoda in the Emperor's Throne Room

2016 - Chris K . won with Jango Fett in the Emperor's Throne Room

2015 - Rob won with Jango Fett in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

MEET THE DUELERS:

Alex G. - if last month's Duel of the Fates felt weird, that might be because Alex wasn't there!  It was the only Duel of the academic year he missed.  He starts a new streak with May the 4th.

CJ - the youngest Dueler/substitute in the league turned professional at the Imperial March.  Now she's bringing her special brand of terror and intimidation to May the 4th!

Elliot - Elliot is one of the dozen brave souls playing the 12 12-way weekend in June, committing to flying back to Texas to play!  But alas...this is Elliot's last Duel in league play!  😭 He and Natalie are moving out east to start their post-Baylor lives.  I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING!!!  He debuted at the 2020 Valentine's Duel and leaves the league in the top ten of career games played.  LEGEND.

Grant - speaking of people foolish enough to play the 12 12-way weekend...  Grant's first game of 2025 was last month's Duel of the Fates, where he got ousted in eleventh place.  But that also means his streak of never having finished last is still in tact!

James - it's been an up and down 2025 for James, who finished 11th at A New Hope but rebounded with a win at the Valentine's Duel.  Last month he finished 7th, which means he's due for a bounce back into the top 5...right?!

Jonah - this is likely Jonah's last Duel in league play too, but he and Sam committed to the final two spots for the 12 12-way weekend in June, so this is far from his last game!  He had a respectable 6th place finish at last month's Duel of the Fates.

Josiah - professional Dueler alert!!!  May the 4th Be With You marks Josiah's sixth Duel, meaning he's joining the professional ranks.  Congrats on this milestone, Josiah!!

Justin - professional Dueler alert 2.0!!!  May the 4th Be With You also marks Justin's sixth career Duel.  He's going pro too!!!

Kat - rub your eyes all you want, they aren't deceiving you!  After a year and a half off (last playing in the 2023 Championship), Kat has emerged from hibernation to remind the league what a Dueling RHD can do!  Let's go!!!

Penny - you know we were having troubles hitting numbers when Rob has to con his daughter Penny into playing, but don't sleep on this part-time Dueler.  She has two career wins!

Riley E. - many know May the 4th Be With You also serves as birthday eve for Riley!  She turns 17 on Revenge of the 5th!  The golden Obi statue would make for a great birthday present.

Rob - if you haven't heard much from Rob lately, he's been sequestered in his Dueling lab, working on 12 BRAND NEW CHARACTERS for the 12 12-way in June!  Don't worry - these new characters will be added to the rotation after they debut in June!  But it's top secret until then...

***BONUS DUELER!*** Riley B. - since we're playing the rancor dungeon...we need a rancor!  Riley B. is stepping in to devour all of our minor characters - you've been warned!!!

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

No Luke Skywalker in the rancor dungeon???  That just seems wrong!

One quick note - we play at 1:30PM on Sunday, but we're moving to the North Village classroom, in the office building directly across from the Fine Arts Studio.  Swing on by to celebrate!

Duel of the Fates - April 4, 2025

Kamino Platform

Have you ever listened to "Duel of the Fates", on repeat, for five-plus hours?  If so, did it melt your brain?  Were your nerves shot?  Or did you fall into a sort of Stockholm-syndrome scenario and decide you're going to keep listening to it the next day, like Sam said he would do last night?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is a good chance you have played in a DUEL OF THE FATES match before!

Rob hadn't pushed play yet on Duel of the Fates

Things got feisty right out of the gate when Rob's Boba Fett decided to attack Ian/Darth Maul's Battle Droid and Rocket Retreat to flip to the light side!  But the dark side countered by accepting Eric/Ahoska into their midst!  Unfortunately, the dark side didn't close up their ranks well, and that left Eric exposed to multiple diagonal shots.  Grant's Fennec Shand moved in to make the final kill shot, and poor Eric, who had the worst starting spot on Kamino, was quickly out in last.

Grant's bravery was rewarded with evil justice by the dark side.  James/Moff Gideon kidnapped Fennec into a dark side kill box!  Grant nearly survived in time to use a movement card to escape, especially with some well-timed Body Mods, but Curtis moved in his Kelnacca (Possessed) to deliver a five-point death blow.  That wasn't the evening Grant had planned, that's for sure.

Put respect on Jar Jar's name!

It's been a minute since we've had two Duelers offed in under an hour!  But that also meant it was still a 5v5 scenario.  A lot of minor characters were eliminated by both sides, but things ground to a halt when the dark side made sure they weren't bunched for a potential Thermal Detonator from Rob's Boba Fett.  Without a lot of options, Rob tried a high-risk move in the league - the double flip!  He Thermaled a cluster of light side characters in his alliance, and then Rocket Retreated back to the dark side!

In the ensuing chaos, Sam/Mace aligned with Ian's Maul and began attacking the light side too.  Josiah's Anakin took the brunt of that betrayal, and his Anakin was soon eliminated in tenth, but not before he Wrathed over to put a final shot on Rob's Boba!

The only living being in the room unaffected
by the "Duel of the Fates" on repeat...

Michael's Qui-Gon Jinn and Jonah's Bo-Katan were now essentially free agents.  Jonah managed to escape to the back of the board but Qui-Gon got surrounded.  He held on for a couple of rounds, but he eventually got down to his last health point, and was unceremoniously dumped in ninth by a one-point blaster attack from Sam's Clone Trooper.  Gross!

Rob tried to play the prodigal's son when he jumped back to the dark side, but Curtis' MOTHER Koril was uninterested in that reunion, despite Rob's pleas.  He led the charge against Boba, though it was Rob's arch-nemesis Jordann/General Grievous who made the final attack.  Rob was gone in eighth.

Who's next?

Folks assumed Jonah's Bo-Katan would be the next target, but he was on the far end of the board.  Ian/Maul and Sam/Mace started making their way down there, but Ian got nervous about what happened next.  He demanded a secondary target be the focus of the other Duelers on the board, and he surprisingly named James' Moff Gideon!  The dark side alliance was now fractured, but the others obliged.  Curtis/Koril tried to eliminate him with The Thread, but in a super cool move, James used Light Armor to deflect the damage to his minor!  Alas, the next attack landed, and Moff Gideon was eliminated in seventh.

Star Wars sportswear 

Jonah made strong pitches to go against other, stronger characters still on the board, but his reasoning fell on deaf ears.  That might have been because everyone's ears were bleeding from Duel of the Fates on repeat.  Regardless, Bo-Katan chose to go down swinging!  She stabbed Ian's Maul with the Vibroblade, doing six points of damage, but Maul used Blinding Surge to rebound points of damage back to Jonah, ending his night in sixth.  Sam swore those cards were just made-up words.

Tell me if you've heard this before...Curtis became the target with five Duelers left!  People were pretty freaked out by Koril's Vanishing powers, and both of Curtis' characters were at full health.  Though he did manage to disappear for a round, he couldn't escape his fate.  Ian/Maul used a run of Maul attacks and Curtis donned his fifth place title once again.

Final Four weekend?

And then there were four!  Ian/Maul was definitely calling the shots, with Sam/Mace more or less riding shotgun.  Jordann/Grievous grew concerned about Maul, but even Caden/Beckett was worried about General Grievous.  Though it seemed the three Duelers who had never won before could have eliminated Ian, the odd person out became Jordann!  The number one Dueler in the league played strong all night, but nobody can withstand a three-person attack.  Sam used a big Battlemind to knock Grievous out in fourth.

Things got even more frenzied with three left.  There were a lot of proposals for 2 against 1, multiple handshakes, Double Blasters, and so forth.  When the dust settled, Ian gave his (final) word to Caden, and chopped Sam/Mace down in third!  That's right, Sam was betrayed by his favorite Dueler.  He has the text chain to prove it.

Oh Caden...

When Caden had used an Improvise a couple of actions earlier, it was all but guaranteed Tobias Beckett was going to win back to back Duels.  Caden was full health while Ian was near death.  In fact, Caden got Maul down to his last two points of health.  All he needed was a final attack card to finish him off.  There were 13 cards left in his deck.  No problem, right Caden?

Caden?  Why are you still drawing cards?  Caden, no seriously, stop drawing cards and finish off Ian.  What is happening Caden???

In what can only be described as the worst deck luck in the history of the league, 12 of the final 13 cards in Caden's deck were Val cards - his destroyed minor character!!!  Ian was even rolling terribly, giving Caden extra time to find ANY card to finish Maul off.  BUT THEY WEREN'T THERE!!!  BRUTAL!!!!  Ian finally reached Tobias Beckett and played two Athletic Surges - all Caden had were 10 Val cards to defend!  IAN WON WITH DARTH MAUL IN THE ZANIEST COME FROM BEHIND WIN in recent memory.  My goodness!!!  That win also marked Ian's FIFTH victory with Darth Maul!!!  That's the most wins ever for a Dueler with a single character in this league!  

They kinda look like twins...?

Final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Ahsoka

11.  Grant/Fennec

10.  Josiah/Anakin

9.  Michael/Qui-Gon

8.  Rob/Boba Fett

7.  James/Moff Gideon

6.  Jonah/Bo-Katan

5.  Curtis/Mother Koril

4.  Jordann/Grievous

3.  Sam/Mace

2.  Caden/Beckett

1.  Ian/Darth freakin' Maul!  FIVE TIMES!

I still can't get over how crazy that ending was!  Congrats to Ian - truly remarkable.

Our last Duel of the academic year (!!!) will likely go down on Sunday afternoon at 2PM...on May 4th!  That's right - we always try our best to play the MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU Duel on the actual day.  If you know this will be your last Duel in the league because you're graduating, etc., let me know now and I'll save you a seat!

Preview: Duel of the Fates - April 4, 2025

Well here we are, enjoying the first week of April.  The days are pleasant, the flowers are blooming, the vibes are good...what could possibly ruin this springtime bliss?

DUEL OF THE FATES!!!!  Or, more specifically, listening to the climactic track "Duel of the Fates" over 100 times in one sitting while playing the ever-stressful Star Wars Epic Duels!!!  The annual April Duel is sure to test the nerves and crack the psyche or our dozen Duelers...all to win the ugliest trophy in the league - the Darth Maul head!  #totallyworthit

What's even scarier than that is it's the second to last Duel of the academic year!  Time is running out to make a Dueling memory!  Speaking of which...(gratuitous plug incoming)...we have two spots open for our planned 12 12-way weekend in June.  June 19-22 we're playing 12 Duels in a row.  We'll have a mixture of character combos, all 12 league boards will be used, one Duel will feature 12 brand new characters for the league...and maybe a few other tricks up our sleeves!  The cost is $250 - that gets us a nice Airbnb to lock ourselves into for three nights/four days, plus all the food you'll need to grind out Duels from morning to midnight.  If that cost is too steep but you might be able to meet us halfway, etc., reach out to Rob - we'd love to have you play!

HISTORY OF DUEL OF THE FATES:

2024 - Grant D. won with Kylo Ren in Ewok Village

2023 - Rob won with Boba Fett in the Geonosis Arena

2022 - Grant H. won with Cad Bane on Arvala-7

2021 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in Ewok Village

2020 - Alex C. won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2019 - Kaleb won with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Emperor's Throne Room

2018 - Ian won with Count Dooku in the Emperor's Throne Room

2017 - Kaleb won with Darth Vader in the Geonosis Arena

2016 - Alex R. won with Count Dooku in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2015 - Curtis won with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

So who is insane enough to listen to "Duel of the Fates" on repeat for 4+ hours?  Here's who!

Caden - Caden has played four times with us, but has only ever finished sixth or twelfth.  That's a weird pattern!  He'd love to crack that code on the Kamino Platform.

Curtis - He finally got the monkey off of his back!  Curtis took home the Imperial March Duel trophy last month as his Tobias Beckett survived the Conveyex Train board!  It was his first win in 3.5 years.

Eric - Speaking of weird patterns...over Eric's first two career games, he finished fifth both times.  Then he finished in tenth place last month.  What's 5+5?  TEN!!!  What does this mean for Eric?  Absolutely nothing!

Grant - Grant is making his 2025 debut at Duel of the Fates after calling in sick last month.  April was his best month in 2024 - he won two Duels, back to back!  Can he defend the Maul trophy...?

Ian - Ian took last month off to bask in March Madness games...but man, the bracket this year is chalk!  If there's one Dueler who can tune out "Duel of the Fates" on repeat, it's Ian!

James - This marks James' first game since winning with Princess Leia at the February Valentine's Duel!  It's official - James has fallen in love with winning 12-way Duels.

Jonah - Jonah got jacked up on the Conveyex Train at last month's Duel, where his Stranger finished in dead last as the board unexpectedly united against him, unprovoked.  It's payback time for Jonah!

Jordann - TOP RANKED DUELER ALERT!!!  Despite another heart-breaking third place finish on her resume last month, Jordann did manage to displace Rob as the top ranked Dueler in the league right now!

Josiah - The Imperial March was rough for Josiah too.  His Captain Phasma, just by starting position on a congested board, got dumped in eleventh by being stuck in an unavoidable kill box.  He'll take a rebound performance at Duel of the Fates.

Michael - Look who's back at the table!  Dueling pro Michael, soon to be a new father this summer, is back in action.  He last played at the 2024 Championship...where he finished in second place!

Rob - Seriously.  We only need two more Duelers for the 12x12 in June!!!  This is a once in a lifetime event.  You'll tell your Dueling grand kids all about it!!!  Sign up ASAP with Rob!!!

Sam - This is Sam's first Duel back since finishing in second place at the January A New Hope match!  He'd love to join his fellow Teal CLs as a Dueler with a trophy in their trophy case.

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

We play at 7PM in the North Village Fine Arts Studio!  Feel free to swing on by and make your ears bleed with Duel of the Fates on repeat!!!

 

The Imperial March - March 22, 2024

Conveyex Train

Sometimes in this league, things are so serendipitous it makes you believe in a higher power...like THE FORCE!  Sacrilege and pending lightning strikes aside, what if I were to tell you the last two characters standing in The Imperial March were also the two big characters from the scene in the movie that the playing board was based on???   Read on for the details!

All aboard the choo-choo train!

Eric (Chirrut & Baze) became the early target with his double-minor combo of Rogue One rebels, and that included Elliot using his tow cable to jump back onto their speeder to commence attacks.  But Eric was one with the Force and the Force was with him, so the attention, almost out of nowhere, shifted to Jonah's The Stranger on the other end of the board.  Riley B/Jyn Erso, Riley E/Han Solo, and CJ/Darth Maul managed to avoid a huge infight and direct their collective ire against poor Jonah.  The Stranger was the top ranked character heading into the Duel, and folks were clearly uninterested in keeping him around.  Even Jonah's Teal bestie Alex/Reva was forced to join in.  It would be CJ's Maul who got the glory of eliminating The Stranger, and Jonah got the glory of holding the Golden Jar Jar.  Brutal!

By this point a lot of folks were fully carded on a crowded board.  Despite some early mistrust Josiah/Captain Phasma and Rob/Mace Windu had stood next to each other peacefully.  But Josiah was in an unintentional kill box and the Duelers sitting after Rob and before Josiah's turn started to give Mace the "let's destroy Phasma" vibes.  Poor Josiah couldn't defend that many enemies.  Jordann/ General Grievous landed the eleventh place blow with Make Them Suffer.  Why is Grievous so mean???

That's the "why did I get Han?" face.

With Phasma gone Chirrut and Baze became the next target.  Chirrut died first and Baze was surrounded with nowhere to run and plenty of people gunning for him.  But Eric was insistent that Elliot's Obi-Wan Kenobi make the final kill shot, and Elliot was happy to oblige.  Eric was gone in tenth.

Elliot ended up using a Force Control, and ended up surrounding Cate's Bo-Katan Kryze, who had made threats of attack to nearly everyone on the board, and everyone on the board basically agreed she should go next.  Cate's blood lust is famous at this point, as her "never have ten cards in your hand" philosophy keeps the game moving.  But the Conveyex was moving too and needed to offboard more characters.  Two attacks from Rob/Mace Windu's Clone Trooper finished the job in ninth.

The Maul-CJ partnership is as terrifying as it is hilarious.

One of the key moments of the game kicked in after Bo-Katan was eliminated.  Jordann/Grievous and Alex/Reva locked horns in a fated battle in the middle of the board.  Nobody but those two knew it was a foregone conclusion they would tangle, and that's just what happened.  The unintentional consequence was that it tipped the scales in the favor of the shooting characters.  CJ was actually next to go, after using two Blinding Surges on defense made her week.  Reva offed her in eighth with Grand Ambition.

Alex's penchant for being wishy-washy on his alliances left him no dancing partners after that move, and it would be Jordann who would secure the upper hand as her MagnaGuard pushed Reva to her demise.  Rob was kicking himself for not interjecting earlier, because with Maul and Reva gone the blades were sledding up hill on a shooter's board with plenty of shooters left.  

Fit check - does your shirt match your light saber?

Rob desperately tried to get Jordann and Elliot to stay loyal with each other, but Jordann wouldn't look Rob in the eye and Elliot was experiencing Jedi mind tricks from Riley E/Han and Riley B/Jyn.  Just as Rob was going to but severe damage on an exposed Han Solo, Riley B. used Jyn's Kyber Krystal luck to dump Mace's Wisdoms and a Whirlwind!  Rob was stunned by his sudden turn of fortunes, and was gone soon after charging in against Jyn in a final attempt to try and get even.  It was nutty!

Riley B., who was doing us a big-time solid by subbing for a sick Dueler, was playing a fantastic game as Jyn and Cassian.  But the other Duelers began to fear him and were having a hard time setting up a firm final three.  So Riley B. became the odd Dueler out.  It took quite a bit of work to whittle him down, but Elliot's Obi nailed the final nail in the coffin and Jyn was gone in fifth.

Obi-Gone Kenobi.

The game slowed down quite a bit at this point, which was a bummer because we played pretty quickly at this Duel.  After a lot of haggling, hemming, and hawing, Elliot/Obi became the target.  Curtis flew about as low under the radar as a shooter can this game.  He used a It's Been A Ride Babe! with his Val, which actually didn't kill her but did hurt Obi something fierce.  Elliot would finally go down with a subsequent attack from Val for fourth place.

The biggest move of the game went down next.  Curtis/Beckett and Riley E/Han realized they needed to work together to take oust Jordann's General Grievous.  Riley had already used her Bowcaster earlier in the game (to little effect when Mace blocked all but two points of damage), but had secretly got it again on her reshuffle.  She attacked Jordann twice...but Jordann didn't defend on the second attack...WHICH WAS THE BOWCASTER!!!  ELEVEN POINTS OF DAMAGE!  Jordann was stunned and used a couple of Spare Parts to try and recover, but there was no digging out of that hole.  Curtis used Trust No One to send Jordann out in third.  Her desperate hope to win a Duel before graduating is in jeopardy, but her absolutely stellar finishes this year have actually moved her into the top spot in the Dueler rankings!  Congrats Jordann!

Boom goes the Bowcaster!

And then there were two!!!  And who were the two???  Tobias Beckett and Han Solo...on the Conveyex Train from the Solo movie!!!  How cool was that?!

Curtis definitely had the stronger major, but Riley's Chewbacca was still alive and kicking.  But unfortunately for Riley, so was Val!  And for maybe the first time in league history, Val used It's Been A Ride, Babe! twice in the same game!!!  That was five points of auto-damage to Han, which is too much on an already weak-health character.  Riley managed a final Wookie toss, but Curtis had one last Trust No One that offed Riley in second!  Curtis won with Beckett!!!  On the train!  This broke a three and a half year winless streak for Curtis, to bring his career total to eleven wins.  This was also Beckett's third win.

Final order of finish:

12.  Jonah/The Stranger

11.  Josiah/Captain Phasma

10.  Eric/Chirrut & Baze

9.  Cate/Bo-Katan

8.  CJ/Darth Maul

7.  Alex G./Reva

6.  Rob/Mace Windu

5.  Riley B/Jyn Erso

4.  Elliot/Obi-Wan

3.  Jordann/General Grievous

2.  Riley E/Han Solo

1.  Curtis/Tobias Beckett

That was a great, and relatively quick, night of Dueling!  Next month is DUEL OF THE FATES, our annual April Duel where we listen to "Duel of the Fates" on repeat the entire night.  Pure audio torture.  It's the best.  We're looking at Friday, April 4, for that, but more details are coming.

Until then...congrats again, Curtis!  PEW PEW!