Thanksdueling! - November 7, 2015

Geonosis Arena

Cut the turkey and pass the yams - "Thanksdueling!" came early this year!  Let's gobble up another recap with the story below...

Twelve folks gathered, once again, in the newly renovated North Village Community Center to commence with a cornucopia of deceit, treachery, and strategy.  I'm growing more suspicious with every match that Curtis commissioned the former Sushi bar for the specific purpose of Dueling.  And that's why we all love Curtis - he gets it.  Duelers need a home for the Dueling holidays, a place where friends can come to argue, back stab, and treat each other poorly...just like real families on Thanksgiving!

What?

That's not your typical Thanksgiving experience too?

I'm oversharing?  Ok, let's just move on...

Grant made the Cohenour Run
 in less than 12 parsecs

This Duel was special because Nathan and Stephen reached professional status.  It was also the first ever Duel for Leslie and Nate.  Nate played the side game at the CL retreat and Leslie is simply a long time CL&L employee whose resistance to playing the game has eroded over time due to the constant bombardment of Epic Duels propaganda that plagues the department.  In other words, our recruiting tactics continue to work!

Geonosis Arena was the board picked by Nate, who had the #1 chair.  As folks settled in a strange thing had occurred, the seats around the table were nearly perfectly divided between those playing on the light side and those on the dark.  But that didn't stop Grant from implementing the "Cohenour Run," a move made famous last year when Ryan ran his Mace Windu to the dark side of the Geonosis board.  To the chagrin of the light side, Grant had flipped. Tommy moved his Dooku to the same corner, and the sides were set...or so Rob/Jango thought!  Jango fired up his jet pack to the light side corner where he promptly wrist-cabled Ryan's Han Solo and then shot him in the head with his Rocket Retreat.  Stevie's Luke ran behind the columns after Leia made an early exit, leaving Han unprotected.  Zam took two more shots at Han, who was down to one point of health.  And that's when Grant flipped on Rob, assisted by Daniel's Emperor.  Just as it appeared Ryan would die first, Rob was out in twelfth place for the second game in a row!  But he's not bitter!  No way, it's not slowly eating away at his insides, consuming his spirit with rage.  It's just a game.  It's just a game...

"Psst, Nate, I'm going to flip to the light side
and kill you next..."

Ryan went our next when Nathan's Vader wrathed him to death.  Ian made a bold play with his Obi-Wan, including using the Force Balance card.  This moved a number of players around the board, and ended up trapping Nate's Boba Fett within a circle of bounty hunter-hating Jedi.  But the ultimate betrayal was Nathan, who was invited to ditch the now crumbling dark side and join the light.  He made the switch, just as Nate had secured a thermal detonator to throw at the Jedi posse.  Nathan killed Nate right before his turn to roll, sending the rookie out in tenth place.  The Force Balance play left Anakin exposed in the alley behind the columns, though, and Stephen couldn't withstand the barrage of attacks.  The newly professional dueler went out in ninth at the hands of Leslie's Darth Maul.  It should be noted that, by this point in the game, Leslie was clearly enjoying herself and personally committing herself to future duels.  I may or may not be trying to use a Jedi Mind Trick as I type this.

The dark side was down to Leslie/Maul, Grant/Mace, and Daniel/Emperor.  Tommy's Dooku had flipped by this point too.  The light side targeted Maul, and Leslie was gone though she put up a heck of a fight on the way out.  Daniel dropped the "You Will Die" card on Tommy, who ran away to try and card up.  Grant's Mace chased after him, leaving Daniel alone with the gaggle of Jedi.  Needless to say, Daniel finished seventh.

Things got a little chippy as Tommy continued to run away from Grant's Mace.  Stevie, playing with Luke, became consumed with paranoia and convinced himself Tommy wasn't pulling his weight. He vowed to take him out next, even before Mace.  This caused a lot of turmoil within the alliance, and Grant and Tommy continued to attack each other throughout.  But David P., playing with Yoda, seized an opportunity and struck down Tommy in sixth, whose major crime was having the "You Will Die" card played on him.  Ian's Obi-Wan finally ended Grant's night in fifth.

Daniel could have left two hours ago when this
picture was taken.  

That left a final four of Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Darth Vader.  That's kind of an awesome final four, don't you think?  Stevie played "I Will Not Fight You" cards on both Ian and Nathan when he realized he was next to go.  It was a valiant effort, but not enough to survive Darth Vader's deathblow.  With three to go Ian/Obi-Wan and Nathan/Vader made the difficult decision to align with each other and go after Yoda, who was still pretty strong at that point.  David P. put on a clinic of why Yoda is so awesome in this game, but even he couldn't withstand the constant barrage.  Vader maintained his health as Obi and Yoda were bleeding out.  As they were both near death, Nathan made an awesome combo attack.  With one swing of his red light saber Yoda was finally out in third, and with a "Throw Debris" card on the same turn, Obi was done as well.  Nathan reached professional dueler status in the best way possible - by winning his first ever Epic Duel!!! Congrats Nathan!  He really played well.  His early flip was the biggest move of the game, and Nathan got the kill shot on SEVEN main characters.  That's right, it was Vader doing all the dirty work in this Duel.  And of course, that increases Darth Vader's lead in character victories to five.  Obi-Wan is next closest at three.  Congrats to Ian and David P. too, who both played very strong games.

Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Rob - Jango
11.  Ryan - Han
10.  Nate - Boba
9.  Stephen - Anakin
8.  Leslie - Maul
7.  Daniel - Emperor
6.  Tommy - Dooku
5.  Grant - Mace
4.  Stevie - Luke
3.  David P. - Yoda
2.  Ian - Obi-Wan
1.  Nathan - Vader

And now... the exciting news!  As is customary, December is our annual Championship Match.  Instead of being an open invite, the Championship Match is reserved for the top 12 ranked duelers.  It's the toughest, most competitive Duel of the year - our version of the Super Bowl.  You can check the rankings on the Duelers tab near the top of the page.  I'll send out official invites and work on a date for the Championship in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime...thank you everyone for your continued interest in Epic Duels!!!  And congrats once again to Nathan on a big win!

Preview: Thanksdueling! - November 7, 2015

Well friends, I was worried we weren't going to get 12 for tonight's Duel, but alas, we've reached the necessary amount of Duelers to partake in the madness!  Some of our regulars had family obligations this weekend, so we'll get to see a couple of rookies make their debut at our annual Thanksdueling!

HISTORY:  Alex became the first ever two-time champion in 12-way Duels history when his favorite character, Boba Fett, survived the Geonosis Arena last year.

LINEUP:  

Daniel - He needs a good finish at this Duel to guarantee his spot in the 2015 Championship match next month.

David P. - He's playing his second career match and first since the CL Retreat in August.

Grant - He's coming off back to back third place finishes with Anakin Skywalker.

Ian - His successful ouster of Rob in 12th place last match came at the expense of his own worst ever finish in tenth.

Leslie - That's right folks, the K-not hall director is making her 12-way Duel debut!

Nate - He was supposed to make his rookie debut last month, but better late than never.

Nathan - After this match Nathan will be at professional Dueler status, which should secure him a spot for the 2015 Championship.

Rob - He was forced to do a lot of soul searching after his first ever last place finish.  Did he like what he found?

Ryan - He regained the top dueler ranking last month and has four top four finishes in his last four Duels.

Stephen - He goes to professional status too at this duel, and wants to improve upon his back to back sixth place finishes.

Stevie - He has played twice and finished seventh twice.  Can he move into a top half finish?

Tommy - His role in this Duel will be a game time decision.  If he's out, Sakina will jump into his spot.

JAR JAR AND OBI-WAN PREDICT THE WINNERS:

It's time for everyone's least favorite blog segment:
Jar Jar and Obi-Wan predict the winners!!!

Ok Jar Jar, who do you like winning tonight's Duel?

Meesa da winner with this turkey costume!

You don't even have a character in the game!!!  *sigh*  Obi-Wan, lemme guess...

I will win Thanksdueling, the Duelers should pick me.
I have the high ground.

And on that note...see you all tonight at Thanksdueling!