Kamino Platform
On a cool winter's night (uh...53 degrees) twelve Duelers gathered to express their love...of destruction and mayhem! That's right, the third annual Valentine's Duel was a friendly reminder that amorous attitudes are nothing compared to the dark side of EPIC DUELING!
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| The calm before the Kamino storm... |
JD was running a touch late so we let Ian do the honors of picking the board. The battleground? Kamino Platform! We hadn't played there since Thanksdueling, and the soft rain of Jango's crash pad added to the romantic setting of the Valentine's Duel. I feel like I just made things weird. Anyway... This was the rookie debut of Hailey! She got Mace in her first ever character pick. Grant got Jango, and he hadn't picked him since...ever! It's funny to think somebody with as much logged game time as Grant can still play with somebody he's never used before.
The game commenced, and for the second Duel in a row, Grant made the first big move. He used his Zam Wessel to move in and attack Joel's Obi-Wan Kenobi. The light side responded by killing Zam soon after, but the blood was in the water for poor Obi. JD's Yoda attacked him in order to flip to the dark side. Despite repelling numerous attacks, it was Ryan's Super Battle Droid that made the first kill of the night. Joel played in his fifth Duel, though, so knowing his next match will bring him to professional status might be of small comfort after a disappointing finish.
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| Luke and Mace in trouble |
The next death came completely out of the blue. Jonathan's Han Solo had defected to the dark side almost immediately after the game started. But Ian's Darth Maul was full carded and thirsting for blood! Poor Jonathan never saw it coming - Maul mauled him in eleventh place. Jonathan's unlucky streak in picking characters continues. At this point it was obvious Kaleb/Luke, Curtis/Ani, and Hailey/Mace were in a heap of trouble. Despite successfully damaging JD's treacherous Yoda, they were hurting. But Curtis attacked Luke and then defected to the dark side alliance! After that Ryan's Dooku swooped in and Force Pushed Hailey deep into a dark side kill box. But Ryan's alliance became nervous, knowing Mace had yet to unleash the Whirlwinds. Rob's Boba shot and Rocket Retreated out of the threat, but thankfully, Dalton's Palpatine used Force Lightning to end Hailey's rookie debut in tenth.
With three down the large dark side alliance was too big to maintain the status quo. In the ensuing chaos Grant/Jango did more damage to JD's Yoda. But it was Ian, once again fully loaded with attack cards, who turned the tables on his new partner, Curtis/Anakin. He unfurled a slew of attacks, and Rob's Boba put the finishing hit on the exposed Anakin. That made it a ninth place ending for Curtis, who had Admiral Ackbar's predicted character to win. Oh well. While all of this was going on Kaleb's Luke Skywalker was hilariously still alive. You have to hand it to Kaleb, he was trying his best and keeping his head down in his second ever Duel. But his time finally expired when Dalton's Royal Guard shot him from across the board. That left seven to go, Yoda and ALL SIX dark side characters. Ian was loyal to JD, but the rest of the alliance was no longer comfortable having the diminutive green Jedi walking among the living. That's when Stevie's Darth Vader, who was full bar health and still had both Storm Troopers, Wrathed and Threw Debris at JD to end his night in seventh. And that made for another amazing accomplishment. For the first time in league history (I think), the final six characters were all from the dark side! You see something new in every Duel you play!
The final six stared at each other around the table...and nobody knew quite what to do. The dark side had stayed strong but it was time to start devouring their own. It happened to be Rob/Boba's turn, so he attacked Stevie's Vader in hopes that the rest of the board would follow suite. He was wrong! Stevie compelled the rest of the group to go after Boba, and Ian/Maul and Dalton/Emperor followed suit. Ryan/Dooku and Grant/Jango loosely defended him, but Rob was shockingly out next in sixth.
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| Dalton at the crossroads |
That made it five to go, and the board started to turn against Ryan's Dooku, who was in great health and still had both Super Battledroids alive. Grant shot him and Rocket Retreated to behind his ship, where Maul, Vader, and Emperor were lurking. They rewarded Jango's loyalty, at Ian's suggestion, with an attack! That's right, Darth Maul claimed another victim. Amazingly, Grant finished fifth, which also happens to be his exact average career finish. #consistency
In the meantime, Ryan's Dooku made an expert move by pinning his three remaining foes behind Slave One with his droids. That forced Dalton into a gut wrenching decision - who would he betray? The spectators were sure he would play "You Will Die" on Maul so that Stevie could use his "All Too Easy" on Ian...but Dalton attacked Stevie! Ian didn't immediately have Dalton's back but he didn't defend Vader either. Stevie was hurting from some of the attacks Greedo and Dooku had caused, and before long, the Emperor killed Vader. You have to hand it to Stevie, though. He played in awesome game!
With three to go Ryan's Dooku converged. Again, the crowd expected Dalton to play "You Will Die" on Maul, but he stayed loyal to Ian and used it on Dooku! At that point, everyone assumed Ian would back-stab Dalton...but he didn't! He went after Ryan, who finished in third place, his best results since the Doubleheaders. With two to go Dalton was in trouble - Maul wasn't damaged enough to give him much hope. Emperor is a sneaky and tricky character, but his attack values are limited. Ian chased the Emperor around the board several times before Dalton's luck ran out. Just as he picked up "You Will Die" again, Maul used his patented "Does Not Count As An Action" cards in succession, killing Dalton in second and giving Ian his third career victory and Darth Maul's first win since 2014! That's a long time! And Dalton completed his fifth career Duel, meaning he goes professional next time. His other amazing feat? In five career Duels he's improved his final finish each time he's played!
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| To the victor goes the spoils! |
The final order of finish:
12. Joel/Obi
11. Jonathan/Han Solo
10. Hailey/Mace
9. Curtis/Anakin
8. Kaleb/Luke
7. JD/Yoda
6. Rob/Boba
5. Grant/Jango
4. Stevie/Vader
3. Ryan/Dooku
2. Dalton/Emperor
1. Ian/Maul
Thanks to everyone who played - it was a good Duel! We'll be back next month for...THE IMPERIAL MARCH!
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