Twin Sun Slam #1 - June 16, 2018

Carbon Freezing Chamber

For the first time in league history we held a cookout before a night of Dueling.  It was so nice!  Rob tended the grill, slinging burgers while everyone who attended brought supplies and food to further the festivities.  Some brought chips, others side dishes, a couple of folks brought two-liters of carbonated liquid energy.  It was all great!  All except the dessert a person who shall remain nameless (**cough cough HEIDI cough cough**) brought:

In his own home Rob had to deal with this!!!  I give this anonymous Dueler credit (she's not anonymous, it was definitely HEIDI), that was a record for the fastest somebody tried to turn the table against Rob.  Even his own kids were eating these tasty treats...

The big story of the night, besides the cupcakes, was the debut of a rookie Dueler...ten year old Riley!  We had a late cancellation and Riley, already wearing her Rey costume from The Last Jedi, was all too eager to join the fray.  After dinner the Duelers took their seats and picked the Carbon Freezing Chamber to do battle.

Samuel, playing his first Duel in over a year, took his Obi-Wan Kenobi over to the dark side of the board for an early flip.  Riley, navigating Mace Windu, threw the table into further confusion by attacking Ben's Anakin Skywalker immediately after!  Chaos ensued after that as Riley stalked Padme and other members of the light side also moved towards the dark.  That left Riley/Mace, Stephen/Yoda, and Rob/Han Solo all by their lonesome.  Chris threw a Thermal Detonator to destroy the last of Mace's Clones, who were also protecting Han.  A Kyber Dart and Desperate Shot later sent Mr. Cupcake, Rob, out in last.  Curse you, cupcakes!!!

Not the first, and certainly won't be
the last, Duels-inspired marriage
counseling session...

Ben had no choice after that but to attack Riley's Mace since she was hell-bent on chasing him.  Still, killing a kid in eleventh place does weird things to your psyche.  Stephen tried desperately to join Jonathan's Luke as they pursued Samuel and his back-stabbing Obi-Wan across the chamber.  But Alex's Zam Wessel saw an opportunity to eliminate Yoda from the game and did just that.  Stephen was stuck in tenth.

The Duel was flying by at this point, but with nine Duelers still in play, alliances and enemies weren't fully formed.  Bartering and strategery was fluid, and somehow Heidi found herself on the outs with her Darth Maul.  Kaleb's Darth Vader eliminated her in ninth. 

What happened next was one of the more amusing moments in recent Duel history.  Courtney, playing with Emperor Palpatine, decided to attack Ben's Mace.  If you don't know Courtney and Ben, they happen to be married.  Courtney was playing to win, and Ben was aghast at the move.  First he was attacked by a ten-year old, and then his own wife plunged a light saber into his heart. 

Jonathan had tried to align wit others for most of the game, specifically to put down Samuel's Obi-Wan, who was still alive and kicking.  But with Ben now dead his allies were running short and Kaleb once again took out the trash by putting Skywalker on the curb.  That made it six to go, at which point Kaleb turned his attention to Obi.  In a bit of an overkill, he used All Too Easy to eliminate Samuel in sixth. 

Chris had been maneuvering his wounded Boba Fett around the confined Chamber for quite some time, but it was his alliance partner, Grant, who stabbed him in the back with a vicious Taunting card from Count Dooku.  Grant and Dooku won the last Duel and it looked like that might happen again as now there were only four Duelers left.  But Courtney was still crushing it with Palpatine and, at the perfect moment, she hit him with the You Will Die!  Now card-less, the vultures started circling and Alex's Zam sniped him for the kill.

And then there were three!  It looked like the obvious play would be for Courtney/Emperor and Alex/Jango to team up against Kaleb's Vader, who was the healthiest character left on the board.  But Kaleb managed to talk Alex over to his side and their combined efforts stunned Courtney in a third place finish.  Still, that was an incredible effort in just her second Duel!

The final battle between Vader and Jango was...wait for it...EPIC!  They traded shots back and forth before Vader charged to make a point-blank final attack.  Alex barely survived, and had to make the hard choice between retreating or going for the kill.  He went aggressive...and it worked!  Vader's defense cards were maxed and Alex, playing his sixth career game to turn professional, won his first Duel!!!  A big shout out to to Kaleb, too, who showed again why he's so dangerous with Darth Vader.

The final order of finish:

12.  Rob/Han Solo
11.  Riley/Mace Windu
10.  Stephen/Yoda
9.  Heidi/Darth Maul
8.  Ben/Anakin Skywalker
7.  Jonathan/Luke Skywalker
6.  Samuel/Obi-Wan Kenobi
5.  Chris/Boba Fett
4.  Grant/Count Dooku
3.  Courtney/Emperor Palpatine
2.  Kaleb/Darth Vader
1.  Alex/Jango Fett

But that's not all - read the next post for game two!