Valentine's Duel - February 2, 2018

The Emperor's Throne Room

With our propensity for making up excuses to throw in extra Duels on top of our monthly battles, I'm surprised it didn't occur to us to make this the "Groundhog's Day" Duel and find an additional date in February to make war.  That's an opportunity lost.  Try harder, Duelers!

There was a real synergy around the number "one" for the Valentine's Duel.  Kaleb, our number ONE ranked Dueler, picked the number ONE chair, picked the number ONE ranked character (Jango), and won the dice role to go FIRST.  Unfortunately, nobody really likes playing with Jango, especially if you're stuck playing him two games in a row like Kaleb.  He wasn't the only one repeating with a character.  JD got Yoda for the second game in a row and Grant, playing for the first time since the 2017 Championship, got Boba Fett, for the second consecutive time.

A lot of shenanigans going on here... 

Kaleb also picked the Emperor's Throne Room, which hadn't been used since Fight Night back in October.  This is the same setting as the dramatic climax in Return of the Jedi, and let's just say a similar scene would end up playing out... #forshadowing

As most Duels of late have started, the early action was focused on getting a flip from one side or another.  The dark side was making offers to Toby/Han, Ethan/Luke, and Alex/Obi, but they were slow to accept.  It was impolite, really.  It got ruder when Chewbacca threw a Battle Droid down the energy shaft.  That forced Rob's Count Dooku to use a Taunting.  With the Wookie wounded (alliteration!), Grant's Boba Fett dropped his Kyber Dart and all of a sudden Han was feeling lonely.  Meanwhile, Ryan's Vader and Ian's Emperor picked out a target to be on the receiving end of their long distance attacks.  The winner?  JD's Yoda!  He wasn't as amused as the master and apprentice were.

Wookie of the Year

Ethan's Luke could feel the tide turning against the light side so he took a quick shot at Curtis' Mace Windu before Children of the Forcing his way to dark side territory.  That was enough incentive for Toby's Han, now wounded and without his Wookie (alliteration 2.0!), to flip too.  He took on more damage when Nathan's Padme blasted him for defecting.

The dark side minor characters began pouring shots on the light side, but the remaining Jedi were slow to improve their lot.  They were taking on damage and not in position to respond.  Ethan arranged to smuggle his table-mate Alex (Obi) over to the dark side too but that set off warning bells for the original alliance.  Rob rallied his teammates to take out Ethan's Skywalker twins before they could start using I Will Not Fight You's.  Ian/Emperor, Kaleb/Jango, and Ben/Maul came through, and in a stunning turn of events, Ethan was out in last.  On the bright side, his wife loves the Jar Jar trophy.

Nathan's Padme got Choked out by Ryan's Vader, so his Anakin crept up to chase Toby's Han.  But Rob's Dooku moved forward to Force Push him into a kill box of Emperor, Vader, and Boba.  The final blow came from Zam's Sniper Shot and Nathan was dunzo.  JD was still bleeding out in his starting corner before Ian put him out of his misery with a little Force Lightning.  That makes two straight tenth place finishes with Yoda for JD.  It was funny the first time but now it's just sad.

SUDDEN ARRIVAL!

The next two targets were Curtis/Mace and Alex/Obi.  On his way to dispatch Mace, though, Rob's Dooku dropped Taunting #2 on a mangled Han Solo, and Toby had to bow out in ninth.  Toby is only one Duel away from going professional, but for the love of Pete, he needs to pick a character with a better starting position one of these days!  It's hard to outmaneuver bad luck.

The rest of the dark side alliance crushed Alex's Obi in eighth and Rob worked his way over to Curtis to finish off Mace.  But Curtis did drop both Whirlwinds before he became dust in the wind in seventh place.  That left Rob as the weakest on the dark side health-wise.

All six light side characters were dead, so the infighting was up next.  Rob suggested Kaleb's Jango was a good candidate to send packing...right after Jango had finished his turn.  Ouch.  Jango got diced within two points of his life before striking back and Rocket Retreating.  But he landed near Dooku and Rob dropped him in sixth place.  After a number of months ranked as the top Dueler, Kaleb's sixth place finish guaranteed he would no longer reign.

That left five Duelers:  Ian/Emperor, Ryan/Vader, Ben/Maul, Grant/Boba, and Rob/Dooku.  Rob was half dead thanks to Mace, so Ian declared Dooku should be next.  Rob was none-too-pleased by that turn of events, especially as Ben threatened to roll in with Darth Maul with ten cards in his hand.  But Rob gave one of his infamous stump speeches and helped Ben see the light - Maul would most likely die next, so why not take out Boba and hope to flip Ryan's Vader against Ian's Emperor?  Grant and Ian seethed as Ben agreed to take down the last Fett.  An undefended Athletic Surge ended Grant's night in fifth place.

With four to go Ian came out swinging.  His Royal Guard dropped a big hit on Dooku and then he played You Will Die on Ben's Maul.  Ben chose not to retreat as he drew two new cards before Ryan's Vader rolled in with his probable All Too Easy attack.

And that's when the most controversial moment in league history, at least since David P's 14 hold-cards at the 2015 CL Retreat, occurred.  And I happened to catch it on video:

 
If you couldn't tell, on Ryan's second attack, his Vader did indeed drop the All Too Easy on Ben's Darth Maul.  If it's not blocked it counts for 20 points of damage.  But Ben countered with his Blinding Surge, which has a defense value of zero while damaging the attacker with three points.  And that's when a 20 minute debate commenced.  Did Ben technically block the attack?  What's the difference between block and defend?  Is there one?  What's the meaning of life?  All of these questions were pondered.  We even called JD and Curtis on the phone after they had already left to get their opinions on the matter.  Naturally, they each took a different side.

Ultimately, it was decided that the 20 points of damage would not count, and would only go for three.  Rob promised to convene the Jedi Council to discuss the matter more before the next Duel.  I want to thank Ryan and Ian for being so gracious about the ruling, as it clearly was to their disadvantage (and even Rob's too, since he would have finished one spot higher). 

It was suddenly quiet after Rob died.

Ben survived the first barrage and desperately tried to card up.   Meanwhile, Rob kept dragging his bloody Dooku carcass around the Throne Room, trying to dodge shots from FOUR minor characters.  That's right, I forgot to mention that unusual fact.  Both Emperor and Vader had both of their minor characters alive and kicking.  Ian was hellbent on getting the kill shot on Rob after the way he ran his mouth, and sure enough, a weak 3 point shot from his guard killed him in fourth.

Ian's Emperor had picked up some damage, and curiously, Ben still refused to fall back.  His bravado was rewarded when he drew and played TWO Athletic Surges.  In fact, the second attack knocked Ian within one point of dying!  Ryan stayed true to Ian, though, and Threw Debris at Ben to finally kill him (or kill him again depending on how you feel about All Too Easy/Blinding Surge...).  That's a big congrats to Ben, though, who finished a career-best third place in his sixth Duel...which means he's reached professional status.  Way to go Ben!

This has to be the prettiest damage
indicator card at the end of a game
in league history!

Ian immediately used Meditation, hoping he could heal enough to repeat as the victor of the Anakin Valentine trophy.  But Ryan was well prepared for the final moment.  He had beautifully saved his last Wrath and Throw Debris, which is what he used to kill Ian in second and win his third career Duel!  That was a huge win for Ryan, who ended the longest drought in League history between victories.  It was his first win in two and a half years!  And by the end of the match there was only one point of damage showing on any of his characters thanks to a couple of Force Drains.  It was just about a flawless victory, and mimicked the end of Return of the Jedi to boot.  Truly impressive.

Don't sleep on Darth Vader, either!  He now retakes the lead for career character victories with eight.  He's also slowly creeping towards Jango Fett's top ranking.

Thanks to everyone who played!  I promise we'll review that card ruling in the coming weeks.  Next month is my favorite titled Duel - THE IMPERIAL MARCH!  We'll probably wait until after spring break to schedule it, so enjoy this little siesta between matches.

The final order of finish:

12.  Ethan/Luke Skywalker
11.  Nathan/Anakin Skywalker
10.  JD/Yoda
9.  Toby/Han Solo
8.  Alex C./Obi-Wan Kenobi
7.  Curtis/Mace Windu
6.  Kaleb/Jango Fett
5.  Grant/Boba Fett
4.  Rob/Count Dooku
3.  Ben/Darth Maul
2.  Ian/Emperor Palpatine
1.  Ryan/Darth Vader