Valentine's Duel - February 6, 2016

Carbon Freezing Chamber

This was a historic Duel for multiple reasons, so let's jump into it!

For the third time in six matches we were back in the Carbon Freezing Chamber.  There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  It's the perfect kill box!  So the 12 Duelers, which included super-subs Elysa and Austin, loaded up on sugar (and Valentine cards from JD) and took their seats.  And not the comfy, stuffed seats we're used too.  We had to sit on the smaller, harder, wooden chairs because our table was too small because a group of international students may or may not have stolen our larger table for their program.  But I digress...

This Duel began with one of the most insane starts I've ever seen.  JD, controlling Anakin and Padme, was loaded up on Padme cards right out of the gate.  So he swung her out to the side alley and put a quick nine points of damage on poor David's Boba Fett!  There was an audible gasp and visual grimace as folks realized there was already significant blood in the water.

"Copeland, welcome back!
Enjoy the complimentary Precise Shot!"

And it didn't stop there!  Many folks began the game with their most powerful cards in their starting hand.  Grant's Chewbacca took a couple of steps forward and lined up rookie Dueler Austin in his sights.  You know what was next...BOWCASTER!  And Austin didn't defend...because he couldn't!  He had ten cards in his hand but NONE of them had a single defensive point.  It was all specials, storm trooper cards, and attack cards without a blue number.  Brutal!  David, not wanting to be the first Dueler to die, unloaded on Vader to send Austin to the sidelines in twelfth place.  I mentioned at the start of this entry it was a historic night - in the nearly 50 12-Way Duels I've seen, Darth Vader had never finished in last place...until now!  And please don't blame Austin, he was a rookie but in no way could have prevented what happened.  That is one of the most unlucky shuffle jobs I've ever seen.  A true Valentine's Day Massacre.

David rocket-retreated to the light side of the board, where Daniel's Jango had already done the same thing.  But Rob/Mace thought that was one too many Fetts, and knocked out the crippled Boba in eleventh.

"Psst, Julio...I just died."

By this point Curtis/Maul, Elysa/Emperor, and Julio/Dooku were huddled on the dark side of the board with a line of droids and guards protecting their main characters.  It looked grim as the light side alliance was chipping away at their human shield.  Elysa introduced some chaos, though, when she played the "You Will Die" card on Ryan's Luke Skywalker, right after she hit him with a round of Force Lightning.  Out of nowhere Grant/Han, Daniel/Jango, and Ian/Yoda descended upon the exposed Jedi.  A stunned Ryan was gone in tenth, mockingly killed by Ian's clone trooper, leaving Rob/Mace and Stevie/Obi-Wan wondering what the heck was going on with their supposed light side alliance.

Curtis, sleeping on the job.

The attention shifted back to the dark side of the board, where Curtis realized it was time for Custer's last stand.  He rallied Elysa and Julio to join him as they charged the front ranks of the light side.  Around this same time Stevie, who had been virtually incognito the entire game with Obi-Wan, went three kinds of crazy and attacked everyone in his reach, including moving everyone on the board up to three spaces.  Elysa fell away in ninth during the shakeup at the hands of Chewey/Grant.  Curtis' Darth Maul was the next to go, having never found his bank of Sith Speed cards in his deck.

Julio, controlling Count Dooku, Force Pushed both Ian/Yoda and Rob/Mace into the corner where Stevie's Obi-Wan was hiding.  It took a few rounds, but they eventually eliminated Stevie in seventh place with Yoda getting the death stroke.  Ian played aggressively all night with Yoda, a style you don't usually associate with the defensive wizard.
At this point it was down to six Duelers.  Julio seemed to be the obvious target, as the lone remaining dark side figure, but Rob/Mace sensed an opportunity.  He shocked Daniel/Jango by moving into attack position.  Daniel declined to defend the first strike, which happened to be a nine-point Battlemind!  Jaw agape, he was hit with a second Battlemind and went from full health to out of the game within two cards.  The cupcakes he brought, though, were both delicious and visually stunning.  Well done, Daniel!

As Ian admires his trophies,
Grant hatches a plan...

With five to go JD/Anakin finally put poor Julio out of his misery, but it was a great turnaround for the padawan after his disastrous last place finish at the Fall Brawl.  That left a final four of Rob/Mace, JD/Ani, Ian/Yoda, and Grant/Han. JD got the jump on Grant by Wrathing Chewbacca, and it soon became apparent JD and Rob were up against Ian and Grant.  Anakin, though, was pretty banged up.  Rob had the chance to double-Whirlwind both Ian and JD, but opted to use a Wisdom card to keep JD safe from the four points of automatic damage.  It didn't matter, though, because Yoda finished him in fourth.  JD had Anakin in back to back games, going from first to fourth.  Not too shabby!

Rob and Ian were bleeding out, so Rob desperately tried to get Ian to flip on Grant.  Han had slowly recovered health and was holding onto a big hand.  Ian wasn't having it, though, even as Grant began positioning himself for the final kills.  The final sequence was as beautiful as it was deadly.  Mace and Yoda were standing side by side, with Ian's clone troopers shielding them to a degree from Han. Grant, using the Heroic Retreat card (in a way I have never seen and certainly didn't mention in the recent Card Appreciation post), killed a clone trooper and used the five bonus spaces of movement to run towards Mace and Yoda instead of away.  With both of them now in Han's attack range and having only one or zero health points apiece, Grant made history by SIMULTANEOUSLY killing two characters at the same time...and for the win no less!!!

Congrats to Grant, who is now in sole possession of second place in career victories with four, and two of those wins are with Han Solo...in the Carbon Freezing Chamber!  Han moved into a tie for second place in wins as well, now with three.

Obviously he's never seen a Duel before.

The final order of finish was:

12.  Austin/Darth Vader
11.  David/Boba Fett
10.  Ryan/Luke Skywalker
9.  Elysa/Emperor Palpatine
8.  Curtis/Darth Maul
7.  Stevie/Obi-Wan Kenobi
6.  Daniel/Jango Fett
5.  Julio/Count Dooku
4.  JD/Anakin Skywalker
T2.  Rob/Mace Windu
T2.  Ian/Yoda
1.  Grant/Han Solo

Stay tuned for more details related to next month's Duel:

THE IMPERIAL MARCH!

Preview: Valentine's Duel - February 6, 2016

Love is in the air, friends...love is in the air!

HISTORY:  Last year's Valentine's Duel was more chaotic than normal, with Simeon's Obi-Wan betraying the light side to cause all kinds of frenzy on the board.  It finally came down to Grant's Luke and Rob's Vader versus Kristin's Yoda...and Rob was the last one standing.

LINEUP:  In honor of the most romantic Duel of the year (what does that even mean???), our lineup preview will feature what each Dueler loves most in this game...

Curtis - he loves...the top three!  He's finished first, second, and third in his last three Duels.

Daniel - he loves...Jedi!  He hasn't finished below fifth place in over a year when playing with a Jedi.

David C. - he loves...time off!  He's only played once since November of 2014.  His last game, the 2015 Fight Night, was a respectable fifth place finish.

Grant - he loves...the top five!  He's finished in the top five over his last six Duels, a truly impressive feat.

Ian - he loves...the character handicap!  Ian is tied for the career lead in bonus points for playing with bottom-three rated characters.

JD - he loves...the original Skywalker!  His two career wins have come from the same person: Anakin and Vader.

Julio - he loves...second chances!  Julio had a rough go of it back in the Fall Brawl, he'll try to rebound in his second-ever game.

Rob - he loves...Darth Vader!  In 21 career Duels he's played with Vader 7 times, an incredible 33% average that includes his last two Duels.  Get a room you two!

Ryan - he loves...the top of the Dueler rankings!  Come rain or shine, Ryan is firmly planted atop the Dueler rankings with an impressive 4.0 average over 17 Duels.

Sakina - she loves...the dark side!  Four of the last five characters she's played with have been from the dark side.  Also, watch your back if you bring the cupcakes...

Stevie - he loves...the pursuit of victory!  You would be hard pressed to find a winless Dueler who wants to finish first more than Stevie...will this be his first triumph?

Tommy - he loves...reaching professional dueler status!  That's right folks, Tommy (who might be as tall as a Wookie) is playing in his sixth Duel this Saturday, meaning he's going pro.  Congrats Tommy!

One of these twelve will find true love and the other eleven will be heartbroken.  Who will be the victor?  Let's check with our experts...

JAR JAR AND OBI-WAN PICK THE WINNERS:

"Woses are wed, lightsabers blue,
weesa gonna pick, who win da duelz!"

Jar Jar recites poetry.  Great.  A new low for the blog.  And did you two steal the Valentine's card my kids made for my wife???

"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any
spousal entanglements."

You and me both, Obi.  I don't even want to ask...but...who you got winning this thing?

"I will win the Valentine's Duel, because I have the high ground.
In this case, the 'high ground' is a metaphor for love, and because
I love and am loved, I will win the Duel.  The Duelers should pick me."

That's funny Obi, because I hate you so much right now...we'll see you all on Saturday!