Duel of the Fates - April 16, 2016

Carbon Freezing Chamber

For the love of....!  We can't stop picking Geonosis and the Carbon Freezing Chamber!  Kamino hasn't come into play since August, and the Emperor's Throne Room has been dormant since October.  Who wants to play so many matches on the toughest board in the game???

Despite our inability to diversify playing surfaces, the Duel of the Fates had to proceed.  Serving as the penultimate game of the 2015-16 season, eleven ranked Duelers sat at the table with a lone noob...that's right, Blake made his debut in the most dangerous way possible.  Would he stand a chance...?  Read on to find out!

The match started, as so many do in the Freezing Chamber, with Luke and Vader deciding who to side with.  Ryan/Vader convinced Stevie/Luke not to start slugging.  Stevie not only agreed, but he defected to the dark side!

Selfie-Stick Fail

Stevie also drew first blood when he fired on Rob's Padme.  It wasn't long before she was dead and the light side was at a serious disadvantage.  That bad streak continued with poor JD.  Controlling Yoda, everyone's favorite Jedi, he suffered the brutal long distance attacks of Ryan/Vader's "Throw Debris" along with Nathan/Emperor's "Force Lightning."  The unceasing toil resulted in JD going out first, unable to defend a single damage point.

Meanwhile, Stevie's Luke was having trouble retreating to the back line of the dark side.  As a result, Leia died quickly and Ian's Chewbacca bowcasted Luke on an undefended shot, meaning Stevie's night was done as well.

God Bless the Whirlwind

Fast forward two hours, and the light side was bleeding out.  They realized something drastic needed to happen.  That's when Grant/Mace and Daniel/Obi did something AWESOME.  Obi-Wan used the attack card that can move every character up to three spaces, and he arranged as many dark side characters as he could directly adjacent to Mace Windu.  Grant's turn was next, and he dropped the "Whirlwind."  He killed FIVE minor characters with one swing, which was all kinds of hilarious.

A few rounds later the dark side was still strongest.  Once again the light plotted a major move.  This time Rob's Anakin wrathed in and put five points of damage on Chris/Darth Maul.  Daniel once again moved everyone three spaces, dragging Maul into a circle surrounded by Anakin, Maul, Obi-Wan and Han Solo.  The light side thought it could take out Maul, but Chris played his 10-defense card on Maul's Battlemind and suddenly things were in jeopardy.  Sensing the doom, Ian, in classic Ian fashion, flipped!  It was brutal after that.  Maul Sith-speeded Grant's Mace into tenth place.  Alex/Dooku force pushed Obi-Wan into the back corner of the dark side and Ryan/Vader put the finishing blow on Daniel for ninth.

Anakin:  "TOP OF THE WORLD, MA!!!"

Somehow Rob/Anakin missed the first wave of dark side retribution, so he chased down Ian's Han Solo in a vain attempt at revenge.  During that time the dark side alliance started to turn on itself.  Dooku started cracking Boba Fett/Curtis upside the head, sending the Fett flying away in wounded anger.  That's also when Chris/Maul mouthed to Rob to go after Nathan/Emperor.  Rob started running his mouth and Nathan shut him up by force lightning him into eighth place.  Maul finished off Curtis too, leaving six to go.  Ian's Han met his maker in the form of Count Dooku, as Alex sent him to the rails.  That left a final five of Alex/Dooku, Nathan/Emperor, Ryan/Vader, Chris/Maul, and...what?  Blake/Jango?  The little rookie that could???  Amazing!

Chris finally carried out his threat of attack against the Emperor by rallying the others to take out the ol' wrinkled Sith Lord.  Nathan lasted for a while, but couldn't avoid a fifth place spot.  With four to go the dark side alliance started sizing each other up.  That's when Alex/Dooku recognized Vader was his biggest threat and commenced a coordinated attack against Ryan.  It was Jango that put the final shot on Vader and Ryan came to rest in fourth.

Alex staring down his final two threats.

Once again Alex and Chris were deep into the game, just like the Imperial March last month.  The two worked well together, but Alex had to cut bait with his trusted partner and got Blake/Jango to join in on the attack.  It was Alex's last remaining Super Battle Droid that blased Maul to his third place finish.  Chris is on a nice run as of late, finishing second and then third place.

The big story of the night was rookie Dueler Blake trying to win his debut Duel, something that hasn't happened since Curtis did it in 2014, and Alex trying to become the third Dueler to ever win back to back matches.  Blake was nimble and Alex was rolling terribly so the end result was certainly contested.  But Blake had used his two "four defense" cards as attacks earlier in the game, leaving him vulnerable to a final "Taunting" attack from Dooku.  Blake nearly did the impossible, but Alex brought home his second win in a row and his fourth overall, tied with Grant for second on the all-time list!

The final order of finish:

12.  Yoda/JD
11.  Luke Skywalker/Stevie
10.  Mace Windu/Grant
9.  Obi-Wan Kenobi/Daniel
8.  Anakin Skywalker/Rob
7.  Boba Fett/Curtis
6.  Han Solo/Ian
5.  Emperor Palpatine/Nathan
4.  Darth Vader/Ryan
3.  Darth Maul/Chris
2.  Jango Fett/Blake
1.  Count Dooku/Alex

Congrats to all on a great Duel!  The final Duel of the season will be our "May the Fourth Be With You" match.  Details and reservation information coming soon!

Preview: Duel of the Fates - April 16, 2016

Hopefully all of the rain we're scheduled to get this weekend doesn't wash out our battle!  It's April so that means it's time for... DUEL OF THE FATES!

HISTORY:  Last year Curtis and Ryan outlasted a strong third place showing from Ian, and it was ultimately Curtis/Obi-Wan who won the day!  Ryan's second place with Luke was (and still is) a character best finish.

LINEUP:

Alex - nobody is feeling better than Alex right now, who won a spectacular match at last month's Imperial March.

Blake - we've got a rookie debut for Blake!  Can he survive against eleven professionally ranked Duelers?

Chris - with a record five second place finishes...will this finally be his first career victory?

Curtis - he put together a nice showing at the Imperial March, guiding Mace to a fourth place finish and moving Windu into second place on the Character rankings.

Daniel - after a brief hiatus he's back in the fold and looking to improve his 13th place Dueler ranking.

Grant - his long streak of top five finishes got extinguished in March, but can he and Rob avoid another early conflict?  That's their recent trend...

Ian - few things come between Ian and a Duel.  One of those things is the San Antonio Spurs.  At least they won when he skipped the March Duel!

JD - the warrior monk hopes to do better than his middle-of-the-pack finish with Boba Fett last month.

Nathan - he learned the danger of being perceived as an excellent Dueler and controlling the fearsome Darth Maul during the Imperial March.

Rob - he thought he was a hot shot by ousting Grant in tenth last month...only to die next in ninth.  D'oh!

Ryan - leave it to Ryan to move back into the number one Dueler ranking without even playing - the character shift in handicap points helped his average.

Stevie - a career best finish (third) at the Imperial March helps prove Stevie is a lethal Dueler when he keeps his emotions in  check.

JAR JAR AND OBI-WAN PREDICT THE WINNERS:

"Meesa likin' da Throwback Thursdays!!!  Itsa me an Obi!!!"

Hah!  Obi-Wan, nice rat tail!  Who you got winning this thing?

"*Jar Jar, I told you not to... *sigh*
Because of that, I will win the Duel of the Fates.
I won it in Episode I and will win it again."

Good point, Obi-Wan.

We'll see you all Saturday at 8PM in the North Village Community Center!

Card Appreciation Vol. 5

CARD:  Dark Side Drain

WHAT IT DOES:  Vampire-esque Healing

WHY IT'S AWESOME:  No character in 12-Way Duels history has more victories than the dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.  He is an intimidating, evil, bad mamma-jamma.  Vader benefits from having the highest health point total in the game.  It takes FOREVER to knock him out, hence the reason he's only finished last once.  Ever.  But Vader's dirty little secret is that he has little to no defensive cards.  Often his five-point attack cards are used as defense, even though the number in blue is a measly one point.  That's where the Drain cards come in.  The only thing better than knocking somebody down is gaining health while you're doing it.  With two of these in his deck, Vader can compensate a bit for the attacks he's forced to absorb.

BEST USED:  The attack value is only three points, and the health recovered only equals the damage inflicted, so it's best to pick weak targets to ensure maximum gain.  Clone Troopers and Battle Droids are the perfect recipients.  Not only are they lowly defenders, they're often the biggest nuisance Vader has to deal with in a Duel.  Make sure to use them while these minor characters are still alive in the game.  They're perfect for a finishing blow too, especially if a defender is low carded (like Darth Maul after he's spent a series of Sith Speeds).

WORST USED:  Playing these on big defenders, or any major character really, can be a tactical mistake.  If Vader saddles up to you and lays down an attack card, the defender will almost always assume it's one of his five-point attacks and will defend accordingly.  That often means the Dark Side Drain is a swing and a miss.  Stick to minor characters or Fetts to move your damage indicator in the right direction.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Darth Vader is loaded with a lot of fun Special cards, so don't overlook these critically important healing attacks.  They could be the difference between victory and defeat.

What do you think of Dark Side Drain?  Share your opinion in the comments below!