Valentine's Duel - February 7, 2026

Death Star

What a night of firsts!  We saw the "official" league debut of the Death Star board, a 70-tile 3-D printout of Death Star-themed pieces that are randomly placed each time we play on it, meaning we'll never see the same configuration twice.  IG-88 and Commander Cody made their first character appearances, while Tatum and Kevin K. made played in their first career Duels too!  But it was also a night of 35ths...more on that below!

11 hearts breaking on Valentine's Day...

The evening got off to a late start thanks to I2E parking issues and having to set up the Death Star board, but once the dice started rolling, it was on!  Ian/Dr. Evazan recognized Justin/Captain Rex was fairly exposed to distance attacks from Ian's side of the action.  They immediately started attacking Rex!  Justin eventually Secured the Perimeter to escape, but it was short lived when Jillian's Jod Na Nawood sent him home in last!!!  Poor Justin - that's two 12th place finishes in a row.  :(

Hard start for Rex and IG-88

Meanwhile, on an isolated corner of the board, David/IG-88 and rookie Dueler Tatum/Saesee Tiin started mixing it up.  Even though this was just Tatum's first Duel, she caught the blood lust for attacking!  David was getting peppered by the other side of the board too.  In a final act of defiance, he blew up IG-88 and hit surrounding characters with his Security Protocols.  It wasn't the night David wanted and it was a rough start to league play for IG-88, but they'll both surely be back again soon...

Kevin wonders what he got himself into...

The self-destruct move from IG-88 left Tatum in really rough shape.  She tried to join forces with Ian and James/Beckett's alliance.  They were all for it but Kevin/Kylo Ren and Rob/Kit Fisto did not appreciate the perceived defection.  Kevin went in for some big hits, but he accidently left himself exposed to laser fire from the opposite alliance.  Nayshaun's Storm Trooper (Grand Inquisitor) sent Kevin home in tenth.  Welcome to the league though, Kevin!

Tatum's Saesee Tiin couldn't hold out much longer after that.  The board was too clogged for her to run to safety.  Riley used Commander Cody to blast her into ninth place.  Playing in a Duel was on Tatum's Baylor bucket list.  Let's hope playing a second match is on there too!

Kicking the bucket.

Ian/Evazan, Nayshaun/Grand Inquisitor, Jillian/Jod Na, and James/Beckett were running things at that point, especially after convincing Junior/Luminara not to defect.  But with such a strong pack of shooters, Rob/Kit Fisto made overtures to Nayshaun and Junior to flip sides and stick to a melee alliance.  James and Ian were pretty annoyed when they eventually did!  Kit Fisto and Grand Inquisitor managed to damage and Push Tobias Beckett With A Smile to the opposite corner, where Michael's Baze was ready with some Staccato Lightning.  James survived the first round of attacks and hit a Double Blasters, but Baze shot him with the Lightning again and James bowed out in eighth.

The script was flipped.

The majority alliance became the minority, but Jillian and Ian were fairly well protected on the Death Star map and the only way to get to them was through a bottleneck.  Riley, piloting the new Commander Cody, finally played the most anticipated card of the evening:  AT-RT!  That's right, Cody removed his minor characters to climb into the first vehicle in league history.  The excitement was short lived, however, when Dr. Evazan wisely destroyed it before it could destroy him.  Riley retreated and tried to heal for a couple of rounds, but Ponda Boba hit a cross-map shot to send the 2025 Champion home in seventh place.

The AT-RT towers over the board!

Ian and Jillian were now running out of options.  Jod Na Nawood pulled off a well-timed Pirate Charm, but Junior/Luminara and then Rob/Kit Fisto charged in.  Junior got the elimination with a 3-point attack.  Jillian/Jod Na was gone in sixth.

Rob/Kit Fisto and Michael/Chirrut & Baze both assumed Ian's Dr. Evazan was the next target.  But after Jillian was gone, Junior and Nayshaun stood up and had a whispering sidebar, without including Rob or Michael.  It was painfully obvious those two were plotting how to make the final two.  Rob and Michael didn't appreciate that at all, and Ian was more than happy to join forces with them!  Kit Fisto and Dr. Evazan went from game-long enemies to alliance partners, attacking Junior's Luminara Unduli.  Meanwhile, Michael started taking potshots on Nayshaun's Grand Inquisitor, who had been carding up for several rounds.  Everyone was beyond nervous with the number of 5/1 base cards he had already discarded.

Congrats to Nayshaun for turning pro!

Junior tried to retreat to the Grand Inquisitor's side of the board, but Chirrut pulled off the Blind Lightbow attack to eradicate Luminara!  Junior went from visions of top two to a fifth place finish.  That good finish helped him hold onto #1 in the amateur rankings.

It was now three characters against Nayshaun's Grand Inquisitor.  Rob and Ian were set up well to lure Nayshaun into a kill zone, but Michael - who was down to just Chirrut - got caught away from his teammates.  Though he fought valiantly, there was just no way to withstand the Inquisitor's onslaught.  Michael was out in fourth place, but that's an outstanding effort for having double minor characters.

Enemies to Besties: the Rob and Ian Story.

The layout of the Death Star board meant Nayshaun could only access Rob and Ian through one pathway.  Ian began shooting him with Dr. Evazan at long distances while Rob's Kit Fisto moved forward to entice the Grand Inquisitor to fall for their trap.  Ian weakened Nayshaun's defenses, which allowed Rob's Kit Fisto to move in for the attack.  They were able to put the Grand Inquisitor on ice in third place with a Push With A Smile.  A big congrats is owed to Nayshaun, though!  He turned professional in this match and is now ranked fourth in the professional Dueler standings!

Ian had told Rob earlier he probably couldn't defeat him in the final two, but he kept his word anyway to stick with him to the final two.  It was a funny turn of events as they had locked horns for most of the night.  Ian's prediction ran true, Dr. Evazan couldn't muster attacks big enough to damage Kit Fisto.  Rob used a final Push With A Smile to win his 35th career Duel!  That is obnoxious.  This also marked Kit Fisto's first career win in just his third game played.  

Pushing with a smile!

Final order of finish:

12.  Justin/Captain Rex

11.  David/IG-88

10.  Kevin/Kylo Ren

9.  Tatum/Saesee Tiin

8.  James/Tobias Beckett

7.  Riley/Commander Cody

6.  Jillian/Jod Na Nawood

5.  Junior/Luminara Unduli

4.  Michael/Chirrut & Baze

3.  Nashaun/Grand Inquisitor

2.  Ian/Dr. Evazan

1.  Rob/Kit Fisto

Thanks again to everyone who came out to play!  And thanks to the random strangers who gave us leftover Shorty's Pizza.  Next month's Imperial March will have to wait until after Spring Break.  March 20th is the likely date, so that pencil that in until it's confirmed.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.  PEW PEW!

Preview: Valentine's Duel - February 6, 2026

There's nothing like cupid's bowcaster to spread the love of Dueling in the month of February!  We are ready for the 12th annual Valentine's Duel this Friday at 8PM in the North Village Fine Arts Studio.  Is there anything more romantic to hear than when your opponent whispers, "I choose not to defend"???  If that doesn't make your heart pitter-patter, I don't know what does.

We have something else to celebrate at this Duel - the debut of TWO MORE new characters!  That's right, Commander Cody & the 212th Clones, as well as Empire Strikes Back bounty hunters IG-88 & Dengar, make their first appearance this month.  Head to the "new characters" tab above to get a sneak preview of their cards!

That brings the league total of characters up to 68!  But more importantly, it also means we now have 64 major-minor decks to use for this summer's singles tournament!  So those 64 characters will only have TWO entries in the tournament!  There's no telling which character will come out on top!!!

The other big news for this Duel is it's the official league debut of the Death Star board!  We used it at the 12x12-way Duel this summer, but this magnificently printed 3-D board has 70 individual tiles that are randomly place on our grid, meaning we'll never play the same layout twice!  A big shoutout to Hall of Famer Ryan for once again blessing our league with his brilliance!

HISTORY OF THE VALENTINE'S DUEL:

2025 - James won with Princess Leia in the Narkina 5 Prison Complex

2024 - Elliot won with Bo-Katan Kryze on the Kamino Platform

2023 - Miguel won with Boba Fett in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2022 - Rob won with Rey in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2021 - Curtis won with Orson Krennic in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2020 - Rob won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2019 - Ben won with Darth Vader in the Emperor's Throne Room

2018 - Ryan won with Darth Vader in the Emperor's Throne Room

2017 - Ian won with Darth Maul on the Kamino Platform

2016 - Grant won with Han Solo in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2015 - Rob won with Darth Vader on the Kamino Platform

MEET THE DUELERS:

This is the best preview post every year, because instead of rambling on about the Duelers, we simply post the Valentine's Day card they're passing out to their friends this year.  Act surprised when they give you one!  (And shout out to CL Tatum and new Teal RHD Kevin, who are both making their Dueling debut this Friday!)

...and remember, Rob finds 12 new Star Wars Valentine Cards every year for this post!!!

David

Ian

James

Jillian

Junior

Justin

Kevin

Michael

Nayshaun

Riley

Rob

Tatum

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

These are the 12 characters making eyes at each this Valentine's Day!

We *think* this is the first Duel in league history that was a random draw of characters without any of the original 12 that came with the game.  Is that a good or bad development??!!

Come on by the Fine Arts Studio at 8PM to watch the chaos!  Duelers and visitors are encouraged to bring a sweet treat to share!

A New Hope - January 26, 2026

Eravana Cargo Hold

Welcome to 2026!!!  After a restful holiday break, we're back at it!  And for the new year, we brought along four new characters - Jabba the Hutt, Dr. Evazan, Captain Rex, and Luminara Unduli!

Smile if you plan on releasing the rathtars!

As is often the case with the Eravana Cargo Hold board, things went...slowly.  There were a lot of attacks flying but not a lot of characters dying.  For every Homing Missile Rob/Luminara sent to the dark side, Jordyn/AG Pryde healed her team with The Old Wars.  

But the first opportunity for a flip happened when Rob closed a door that trapped Justin's Jabba the Hutt on the light side.  Rather than join a new alliance, he tried to go it alone against Riley/Yord and other light side friends.  Though he lasted several hours, Justin did end up in last with a recently restored Jar Jar trophy (thanks Caden!!!).

Meanwhile, Michael/Anakin and Ian/Luthen were holding the center four squares of the board.  Both of Ian's characters were banged up, though.  Seemingly out of nowhere the dark side decided to eat one of their own:  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde!  That was RUTHLESS considering Jordyn had healed her team twice, keeping them strong.  Poor Jordyn!!!  James' Darth Maul made the kill shot.

Ian and Michael hold center court...

Though the dark side was now down two characters, Alex's Orson Krennic had kinda joined them.  That was enough for Michael to make a bold decision - he Wrathed over to Eric's Chirrut & Baze!  David/Rex, Rob/Luminara, and Eric didn't appreciate that.  They took the next six actions to attack Michael, and Eric finished him off with a little Staccato Lightning!

Mark/Dr. Evazan were running around the board all night, in constant danger but also hard to finish off.  Rob/Luminara became obsessed with eliminating them, spending wayyyy too many cards to do so.  "Oatmeal Face," as Rob rudely began referring to the doctor, finally ran out of cards and Riley/Yord sent him back to Brooks in ninth.

Whose side will they take in Ian vs. Rob???

Rob was bothered all night that Michael and Ian had moved so quickly into the center squares, releasing the rathtars but safe from their damaging pathways.  The top two ranked Duelers in the league officially locked horns, and they threw everything they had at each other, all while trying to convince everyone else to help them.  They both got down to their last few health points, thanks in large part to Luthen's Exit Strategy exploding on Luminara.  The Andor spy won the day, sending the newly created Jedi Luminara and Rob to the showers in eighth.

Ian won the battle but lost the war.  David's 501st Clone Trooper Made His Own Decision by shooting Ian into seventh place.  David was bopping around everywhere, trying to find a new port in the storm.

Cold Storage!!!

That left us with six Duelers to go...and well past midnight.  Rough!  It looked like Alex/Krennic, Grant/Wampa, and James/Maul were going to stick together.  Riley made one final attack run on Maul, and surprisingly for the ill-fated Acolyte Jedi, she did some real damage.  But James looked like a killing machine, determined to spend all of his attacks before reshuffling his deck.  Two Athletic Surges later, Yord had his proverbial neck snapped in sixth.

Somehow Eric and his double-minor duo of Chirrut and Baze were still in the game.  Credit Eric for deftly moving a less-than-desirable deck into the top five.  But as his last character was nearly dead, he chose death by rathtar instead of a fellow Dueler, crawling in front of a closed gate until CJ gobbled him up in fifth.

The alliance that stuck together.

The last remaining new character in the game was David's Captain Rex.  David was doing well, especially considering this was only his third career Duel.  But no matter how many For The Republics he played, it wasn't enough to save Rex from Maul.  It was good night early morning for David.

We should take a moment of pause and admire Grant, who was playing the Wampa for the second time of the Wampa's three career games.  Though he was bummed to pick him, the experience was clearly paying off.  And it was his Viper Droid who shot Maul at third place.  James had a great night, though!

The last few beings left in the Eravana...

And then there were two!  It looked like Grant/Wampa had the health advantage over Alex/Krennic, but Krennic was able to start healing since both of his minors were destroyed.  Grant still had his Viper Droid.  It took nearly an hour of slow but intentional chess play, but turn by turn Alex made Krennic stronger while whittling down the Wampa.  Grant made one last charge with his snow beast, but Alex won the day (seriously, it was almost daytime...) with Hero of the Empire!!!

Congrats to Alex, who won his third career Duel and his first since September of 2024.  But this victory was even crazier for Orson Krennic.  Krennic now has five total victories...tying him with Luke Skywalker for twelfth all-time.  This is a big deal because the first few years of the league we only played with the original 12 characters.  Now one of the new decks has caught up to a veteran character!!!

Happy New Year!

Final order of finish:

12.  Justin/Jabba the Hutt

11.  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde

10.  Michael/Anakin Skywalker

9.  Mark/Dr. Evazan

8.  Rob/Luminara Unduli

7.  Ian/Luthen Rael

6.  Riley/Yord Fandar

5.  Eric/Chirrut & Baze

4.  David/Captain Rex

3.  James/Darth Maul

2.  Grant/Wampa

1.  Alex/Orson Krennic

Next month is the Valentine's Duel!  We'll be debuting the newest board in the league - the Death Star!  This thing is GORGOUS!  You won't want to miss it.  It looks like we'll throw down on Friday, February 6th for that one.  Stay tuned for the official invite.

Congrats again, Alex!  That's more hardware for the Teal trophy case!

PEW PEW!

Preview: A New Hope - January 16,2026

 

We are back at it, folks!  I can't believe it's 2026...where does the time go?  This month it will go into the ravenous mouths of our rathtars!  That's right - we're playing the Eravana Cargo Hold board, made famous in Episode VII, when Rey and Finn met Han and Chewie for the first time.  This is the most complex game board we use, so it's quite a challenging way to start the new year!

The other big news, of course, is that we're debuting four new characters!!!  Jabba the Hutt, Captain Rex, Luminara Unduli, and Dr. Evazan will make their first-ever appearances, and each of them bring some new tricks up their sleeves we  haven't seen before.  If you want to check out their decks in advance, head to the "new character" tab above!  (Just a heads up - that page struggles to load on phones, you might need to use a PC/laptop to see them all...)

HISTORY OF A NEW HOPE DUEL:

2025 - Rob won with Darth Vader on Arvala-7

2024 - Ian won with Darth Maul in the Trash Compactor

2023 - Michael won with General Grievous in Ewok Village

2022 - Duncan won with Emperor Palpatine in the Geonosis Arena

2021 - Rob won with Lando Calrissian on Arvala-7

2020 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in the Emperor's Throne Room

2019 - Joel won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2018 - Ethan won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform

2017 - Nathan won with Mace Windu in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2016 - JD won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2015 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

Here are the lovely Duelers throwing down in the A New Hope Duel, and they were kind enough to share their new year's resolutions with us to boot!

Alex G. - Alex's resolution is to get back in the winner's circle!  2025 was a tougher year for him, but he's easily capable of taking home a trophy or two in 2026.

David M. - David's resolution is to turn professional in 2026.  A New Hope is just David's third career Duel.  He's committed to locking in and playing more!

Eric - Eric's promise for 2026...?  His first career win!  He's certainly come close on more than one occasion.  Will January mark win #1??

Grant - Grant's resolution is...playing more Han Solo! staying out of last place!  He still has zero career 12th place finishes, the most impressive streak in league history!

Ian - Ian's resolution is being a better father than Darth Vader!  His first child debuts this March, and don't be surprised if his son is overflowing with midichlorians.

James - James' resolution for 2026 is to keep collecting that hardware!  It's hard to argue he's not the best student Dueler in the league right now.

Jordyn - Jordyn's resolution for this year is to take over the Teal Mafia and add her first trophy to their showcase.  The punniest Dueler in league history is up to the task!

Justin - Justin's resolution is to make sure the HRC wins more trophies this year than any other residential college!  The competition will be fierce...

Mark - You may not realize it, but Mark is currently ranked 4th in the league!  His resume sure could use his first win, though, so that is definitely his resolution for 2026.

Michael - Michael barely qualified for the 2025 Championship, having only played twice last year, but he showed little rust when he finished fourth.  His resolution this year is to log more games!

Riley - Riley became the first woman and first minor to win a league Championship last month!!!  Her resolution is to make the jump to the college rankings this fall - welcome to BU, Riley!

Rob - Rob has just about seen and done it all in this league...except win the singles tournament!  His resolution is to win that this July, with a rumored 64 characters playing in it!!!

MEET THE CHARACTERS

You already know four of the new characters playing, but here's the whole crew trying to avoid rathtars on Friday night:

There you have it everyone!  We play Friday night in the Fine Arts Studio.  All are welcome to come and check it out.  We're starting at 8PM - see you then!  PEW PEW!!!