The Imperial March - March 19, 2016

Geonosis Arena

For the third time in the last five duels, we were back in the Geonosis Arena.  We haven't played in the Throne Room since October, and haven't visited the Kamino Platform since August!  No matter, any board will due when twelve Duelers are ready to descend!

We had some neat milestones in this one, too!  Both Stevie and Tommy became professional Duelers, giving us fifteen folks at professional status.  That's a record number and irrefutable proof that Epic Duels continues to take over campus, one Star Wars geek at a time.  This also marked the debuts of Matt and Jonathan.  Matt played with us at the singles tournament this past summer, while Jonathan is yet another North Village player ready to make his mark.

How did all of these folks do?  There's only one way to find out - read on below!

"Bearathon?  Pft!  More like Duelathon!
Am I right!?!"

The game started in an odd way, in that the table was nearly perfectly divided in seating arrangement between the light side and the dark.  While it looked like the two sides would stay evenly divided, Nathan flipped his Darth Maul to the light side, rocking poor Tommy's Emperor Palpatine in the process.  Tommy, newly professional, was out first.  That is only the second time the Emperor has ever bowed out first.

With the fear of the "You Will Die" card now erased from consideration, the light side stayed aggressive.  Grant dropped two "I Will Not Fight You" cards on Elijah/Vader and Jonathan/Dooku in the same turn.  That's when the board discovered Vader had nearly zero defensive cards, an eerie repeat from the Valentine Duel.  The board showed no mercy and Obi-Wan's clone killed poor Elijah in eleventh place.  When Grant's Luke played "I Will Not Fight You," it also revealed he himself was low on defense.  Rob's Chewbacca pounced on an opportunity, blasting his Bowcaster on Luke, who was eventually killed by JD's Boba Fett.

Chris, sheepishly satisfied after ousting Rob...

Though Rob had declared his loyalty to the remaining light side, Chris' Obi-Wan saw an opportunity to rid himself of the dashing smuggler.  What's that you say?  You want to know if this was Chris' fourth time in a row playing with Master Kenobi?  Why yes, yes it was!  Chris coordinated a concentrated attack on Han, who died when Padme shot him from across the back row.

During all of this drama, Jonathan's Count Dooku managed to survive despite a gaggle of minor characters shooting at him while he recovered from the "I Will Not Fight You" card.  When Stevie moved his Yoda into play, though, Jonathan's night ended in eighth place. This was actually a very strong performance by the rookie Dueler - he survived a string of  bad luck as long any seasoned professional could have.

Not long after this the remaining players suddenly turned on Nathan's Darth Maul, who was a little too physically close for comfort on the light side.  JD's Boba Fett double-wrist cabled him for zero actions on his next turn.  This led to an interesting question from Alex:  can somebody who has been wrist cabled twice and lost both of their actions on their next turn still play a "does not count as an action" card after their dice roll?  Vote in the site's latest poll and tell us what you think!  Boba eventually took down Maul, but not before Nathan stung JD with some healthy damage.

Stevie:  "He's being too capricious!"
Alex:  "I don't even know what that means!"

With six to go it was hard to see where alliances were actually in place.  To prove that fact, Obi-Wan made an unexpected attack on JD, knocking out the bounty hunter in sixth place.  That left five, and that's when things ground to a bit of a halt.  The remaining Duelers jockeyed socially for the best possible alliances rolling forward.  Matt, staying undercover with Jango like a boss in his first ever Duel, finally got caught being too non-committal when Yoda and Curtis' Mace chopped him down in fifth place.  Once again, the sneaky Jango cruised deep into a game.  And kudos to Matt in his first 12-Way pulling out a good finish!

Now there were four Duelers, and two sides were finally established.  Stevie/Yoda and Curtis/Mace were going to have to face off with Chris/Obi-Wan and Alex/Anakin.  Through some deft maneuvering and attacks, Obi and Ani, just like in the movies, worked together to defeat a common foe.  Curtis expired in fourth.  Curtis had a nice rebound after the Valentine Duel, proving Mace is a fine warrior to play with.

You can cut the tension with a knife!

Stevie's Yoda now had a daunting task - beat two Jedi at the same time.  Well...he nearly pulled it off!  Chris and Alex pinned him down behind the fallen columns, but Yoda refused to go down.  It took numerous rounds and scores of defense cards before Stevie finally broke under the pressure.  Stevie is now a professional Dueler, and celebrated that fact with a career-high third place finish. Congrats Stevie!

With Stevie gone, the former allies now had to square off.  Two strong characters, two strong Duelers, each seeking glory.  Chris, a long time veteran who has finished in second place numerous times without a victory; and Alex, the first ever two-time winner, but who hadn't tasted victory since 2014.

Anakin made several strong attacks, but Chris was ready with "Jedi Blocks."  As Ani pulled back to card up, Chris chased in pursuit.  An x-factor in the match-up was Padme, who was still breathing with zero points of health left.  Alex had wisely "Wrath-ed" Yoda's last Clone Trooper earlier in the game to prevent long ranged attacks on Padme.  It would prove to be the difference.  Chris had Anakin on the ropes, but Alex busted out his third "Anger/Calm" combo of the game, allowing for Anakin to dash to the other side of the board while injuring Obi-Wan.  Just as Chris drew two massive attack cards to win the game, Padme took aim from the opposite end of the arena and pierced poor Obi-Wan with a "Precise Shot" to claim victory!!!

Major congratulations are in order for both Alex and Chris, who played marvelously.  Alex becomes the fourth Dueler to win three games, ending his long drought.  And Chris finishes in second place for a record fifth time!  That would sound cruel if it wasn't so stinking impressive!

The final order of finish is:

12.  Tommy/Emperor Palpatine
11.  Elijah/Darth Vader
10.  Grant/Luke Skywalker
9.  Rob/Han Solo
8.  Jonathan/Count Dooku
7.  Nathan/Darth Maul
6.  JD/Boba Fett
5.  Matt/Jango Fett
4.  Curtis/Mace Windu
3.  Stevie/Yoda
2.  Chris/Obi-Wan Kenobi
1.  Alex/Anakin Skywalker (and Padme!)

There were some major shakeups in the rankings.  Darth Vader tumbles to fourth place, with Mace and Anakin moving ahead of him, respectively.  Also, the biggest news...Obi-Wan is no longer a handicapped character, while the Emperor moves into the bottom three to take his place.  This had a significant impact on the Dueler rankings, with Ryan moving back into first place without having played.  Stevie debuts in 10th place while Tommy clocks in for the first time in 12th.

Thanks to everyone who played - what an exciting match!  We only have two Duels left in the school year:  April's "Duel of the Fates" and May's "May the 4th Be With You."  More details coming soon!