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!!!

2025 Championship - December 6, 2025

Carbon Freezing Chamber via Dagobah

Oh.  My.  GOODNESS!!!  The 2025 Championship will go down in league history as one of the most memorable Duels we've ever battled - and also historic!!!  There was high drama throughout, crazy tactics, and maybe most remarkable of all...the whole thing was done by 9:30PM!!!  That duel was MAYBE two hours and fifteen minutes.  It was all glorious and head-spinning for sure.

Smile if you intend to win the '25 Championship!

The hallmark of the Championship blog recaps is that each Dueler poses with the card that eliminated them.  So let's jump into it!!!

12th Place

Dueler:  Caden

Character:  Princess Leia

Card That Killed Him:  Force Lightning

Why He Died:  The most consequential move of the game was Josiah's Rey deciding to betray the light side by attacking it and Backflipping to the dark side!  Caden was his punching bag for that move, and the Emperor (Grant) made the kill shot.  BRUTAL.

11th Place

Dueler:  Ally

Character:  Mace Windu

Card That Killed Her:  Throw Debris

Why She Died:  By the time Rey flipped (literally!) and the light side realized Jillian's Clone Commandos were never on their side, they were doomed.  Ally's Mace fought valiantly but she couldn't withstand the whole dark side.  On the bright side, she turns professional at her next Duel!

10th Place

Dueler:  James

Character:  Lando Calrissian

Card That Killed Him:  Tobias Beckett 4-1

Why He Died:  His fellow light side alliance tried so hard to protect him with their minors, but they were overwhelmed.  James did set up the craziest play of the game (keep reading!) when he switched places with Curtis' Tarkin.  But Michael's Tobias Beckett eliminated his new neighbor in tenth.

9th Place

Dueler:  Josiah

Character:  Rey

Card That Killed Him:  All Too Easy

Why He Died:  ...the wombo-combo!!!  It's been many Duels since we've seen the Emperor (Grant) play You Will Die and Darth Vader (Riley) hit that victim with All Too Easy!  A.T.E. is a 20 point attack if it goes undefended...and poor Josiah had no cards with which to defend!!!  INSANE!

8th Place

Dueler:  Jordyn

Character:  Bo-Katan Kryze

Card That Killed Her:  You May Fire When Ready

Why She Died:  The craziest moment of the night came courtesy of Curts' Grand Moff Tarkin, who after being attacked by The Stranger (Justin) played BOTH Y.M.F.W.R.s against EVERY CHARACTER STILL ON THE BOARD!!!  The second card splattered poor Jordyn/Bo-Katan.

7th Place

Dueler:  Curtis

Character:  Grand Moff Tarkin

Card That Killed Him:  The Stranger 5-1

Why He Died: ...because he attacked every character on the board twice, killing six of them!!!  That was the biggest killing spree in league history since Kaleb's infamous Trash Compactor victory.  Credit Justin, though, who finished what he started by killing the giddy-with-bloodlust Curtis.

6th Place

Dueler:  Jillian

Character:  Clone Commandos

Card That Killed Her:  her own Magnetic Thermal Detonator!!!

Why She Died:  to paraphrase Frank Sinatara...she did it her way!!  Jillian's Clone Commandos really got jacked up by the Tarkin attacks, and she quickly lost two of her three after that.  Facing certain death, she decided to go out with a bang - LITERALLY - by blowing herself up while damaging others!

5th Place

Dueler:  Justin

Character:  The Stranger

Card That Killed Him:  It's Been A Ride, Babe

Why He Died:  In the final five it looked like Justin was secure in his alliance, but that's when Grant's Emperor put the target on The Stranger!  Rob's Maul was shocked but started the barrage.  It would be Michael's Val, though, who proved most disruptive when she got to both of them and blew them up!

4th Place

Dueler:  Michael

Character:  Tobias Beckett

Card That Killed Him:  Darth Vader 5-1

Why He Died:  On a board filled with big blades, Michael deftly navigated the wily Beckett.  But the Tarkin attacks damaged him for sure, and when he locked horns with Grant's Emperor Palpatine, he was cooked.  Riley put the kill shot on her table neighbor.

3rd Place

Dueler:  Grant

Character:  Emperor Palpatine

Card That Killed Him:  Darth Vader 4-2

Why He Died:  It was apparent the whole night the only two Duelers who knew what was going on were Grant and Riley.  But as he moved against Rob/Maul, Rob begged Riley to use him against the Emperor.  They both attacked him, but Vader got the character trophy.

2nd Place

Dueler:  Rob

Character:  Darth Maul

Card That Killed Him:  Wrath 

Why He Died:  Rob was playing from the back of his heels all night, but using a Blinding Surge against Val without killing her and her subsequent suicide bomb doomed his fate.  He barely eked ahead of Grant's Emperor...only to face his own daughter, who used double Wraths to take him down!

1st Place

Dueler:  Riley

Character:  Darth Vader

How She Won:  By being king/queen of the dark side!!!

What an incredible week for Riley!  Not only was she accepted to Baylor (!!!), but she won her third career Duel and THE 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  She is also the first woman to win a Championship!!!  What a time for the league - our last three Duel winners are all female - incredible!  This also moved Darth Vader ahead of Darth Maul for the all-time wins leader on the character side.

Final Order of Finish:

12 - Caden/Princess Leia

11 - Ally/Mace Windu

10 - James/Lando Calrissian

9 - Josiah/Rey

8 - Jordyn/Bo-Katan Kryze

7 - Curtis/Grand Moff Tarkin

6 - Jillian/Clone Commandos

5 - Justin/The Stranger

4 - Michael/Tobias Beckett

3 - Grant/Emperor Palpatine

2 - Rob/Darth Maul

1 - Riley/Darth Vader

I'm not kidding - that was a LEGENDARY Duel!  It was one for the ages for sure.  Thanks to all who played - and for a great 2025!!!  We've got some big things planned for 2026...including the debut of four NEW characters at January's A New Hope Duel.  That will be the weekend after we get back for CL Training.  Until then...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  Pew Pew!!!