CL Training Duel - August 9, 2016

Geonosis Arena

Oh friends...we were gone too long.  The singles tournament this summer was nice, but there is nothing quite like a 12-way Duel!  No worries though...we are back, baby!!!

The first duel of the 16-17 season took place in Glen Rose, TX, the fourth time we've played there during CL Training.  And just like last year, we had an enormous turnout.  The first 12 open spots quickly filled, but we had enough for ten others to play a side game next to the main event, which amateur Austin won.  That was a nice rebound for Austin, who had the unlucky distinction of being the only Dueler to ever finish last with Darth Vader this past spring.

The league-official Duel featured two brand new players.  Victoria navigated Count Dooku, and Dalton selected Anakin Skywalker.  Four amateurs (Elysa, David, Jonathan and Josh) and six professionals (Rob, JD, Ian, Nathan, Stevie and Stephen) rounded out the combatants.  It was a nice mix of experience and new blood.

Jonathan and Stephen with fans on the rail.

The game started...slowly.  S...L...O...W...L...Y. Elysa was assigned seat #1 and chose Geonosis for the first battleground of the season.  The light side formed a quick alliance out of the gate, but all of their shooters were stuck behind the fallen columns.  Making matters worse, Dalton kept rolling green numbers, meaning he couldn't move Anakin and Padme at the same time, making it hard for the light side to get unclogged.

The dark side took advantage of the logjam.  Jonathan's Boba Fett chucked a Thermal Detonator that wrecked Yoda and Obi-Wan, killing three clone troopers.  Josh's Darth Vader began raining down Throw Debris (which he loved to pronounce "deb-RIS"), Chokes, and Wraths.  After an hour and a half (I told you it was slow) the knot finally loosened.  Victoria's Count Dooku, stuck in her original starting position in the middle of the board, finally died after tussling with Ian's Mace Windu.  Dalton followed soon after, as his alliance betrayed him to further clear the middle of the board.

V-V-Vader and the Fetts

The resulting board alignment was quite humorous.  JD's Maul and Elysa's Emperor had joined the light side, leaving Darth Vader and the two Fetts alone in a corner of the board.  They stayed huddled together for protection and warmth.  The light side eventually converged, and Elysa ousted Boba Fett in tenth place.  Stephen's Obi-Wan was the surprising next exit.  He had made the light side nervous with his frequent conversations with Jonathan's Boba Fett, and was stuck sitting on the side of the table where no other light side characters were.  Elysa dropped the "You Will Die" on him and JD's Maul mopped the floor with him after that.  Meanwhile, Ian's Mace put the finishing blow on Darth Vader.  Give Josh credit, though.  His Vader wrecked Darth Maul, Leia, and a whole mess of Clone Troopers.

That left seven duelers - six of the original light side alliance and Stevie's Jango Fett.  David, controlling Yoda, suggested eliminating Nathan's Han Solo before finishing off Jango.  The rest of the alliance balked and focused their efforts on the little green Jedi when David proceeded with an attack on Han.  It was about this time we discovered David had unintentionally overdrawn above the maximum ten cards in his hand.  We decided to require him to randomly discard back to the appropriate level and he lost some of his big defense.  That allowed Mace to add another trophy to his shelf.

JD pleads his case.

With Yoda gone Jango was next, falling to JD's Darth Maul.  That left a final five of Rob/Luke, Nathan/Han, Elysa/Emperor, JD/Maul, and Ian/Mace.  Folks at the table didn't realize it, but Rob and Nathan were aligned from the beginning of the game.  Luke was full health, and became concerned that Chewbacca was too.  Vader and Yoda had hurt Han, and seeing how injured he was, Rob betrayed his partner by dropping a Justice on Han to finish Nathan in fifth place.  Rob will surely pay for that in the future!

With four to go, game play was interrupted because Elysa had to email her professor before midnight.  During the break JD got up from the table.  That's when Rob and Ian struck a deal - Rob would eliminate JD and Ian would do the same to the Emperor.  As Elysa and JD sat back down, that's what went down.  JD began the attack on the Emperor, and Rob allowed him to do that before hitting him with an attack and using "Children of the Force" to run away.  Elysa eventually bowed out in fourth, which was a personal best finish for her!  With three left, Ian had to decide who he wanted to end the game against.  Despite a compelling argument from JD/Maul, Ian decided he didn't want the double-bladed Sith lord hanging around and JD's start to the season was done in third place.

Victory a la Whirlwind

So that left Rob/Luke, full health but short carded after playing "I Will Not Fight You" on JD...twice.  Ian/Mace, who had killed half the board but was hurting, and his two Clone Troopers were still hanging in there.  Rob retreated behind the columns, figuring that would cut down on the cheap shots from the Clones.  Mace slowly moved in, and Luke welcomed him, even dropping a new Justice card on him.  But Rob slowly realized he had fallen for Ian's trap.  With a Clone Trooper on either end of the columns, Rob suddenly remembered Mace's two best cards:  the WHIRLWINDS!  It was too late, Luke was too damaged to defend their automatic damage and Ian brought home his FIRST VICTORY!!!  Congrats Ian!!!  He played a masterful game - not a single mistake made.  Simply brilliant!

This was Mace's second career victory, and moves him into third place on the character rankings.  Ian takes a jump in the professional rankings too.  Elysa is now one Duel away from reaching professional status, and David only needs two more to gain that same level.  Thanks to everyone for playing, whether you were in the main event or the side game!  Stay tuned for the next Duel...or should I say DUELS.  That's right - the Double Header is up next.  That's two games in one night.  Egads!

Order of Finish:

12. Dooku/Victoria
11. Anakin/Dalton
10. Boba/Jonathan
9.  Obi-Wan/Stephen
8.  Vader/Josh
7.  Yoda/David
6.  Jango/Stevie
5.  Han/Nathan
4.  Emperor/Elysa
3.  Maul/JD
2.  Luke/Rob
1.  Mace/Ian