Birthday Surprise #2 - April 22, 2017

"Don't worry, Boba.  I got this."

Carbon Freezing Chamber

Despite going MUCH longer than it should have, the first Duel finished around 10PM and once again we gathered around Rob's kitchen table, not to break bread, but to break bones.  We had a change of personnel as the night shift joined those still conscious enough to play round two.  Either folks were getting loopy from being too tired or somebody spiked the Yoda Soda.

So...tired...

Kaleb got chair number one, while Rob was seated in #12, meaning he would get the last character left.  Curtis thought it would be fun for everyone to open their characters all at once.  And he was right, it was fun!  Until Rob realized he was playing with Emperor Palpatine for the FOURTH GAME IN A ROW, having already won with him that night and now stuck towards the front of jealous Sith Lords hungry for their own glory!

As it turns out, though it was thoroughly considered by JD/Dooku and Ryan/Maul, they let the wrinkled old man live.  I'm going to fast forward this recap by two hours...because everyone was still alive and somehow very little had happened.  Until Kaleb/Boba Fett betrayed his alliance, that is!  After Grant, who was wounded early, used a Force Control, the main Sith baddies were stuck in the back two rows.  On Kaleb's turn, he stepped forward two spaces, turned around, and chucked the THERMAL DETONATOR!  He then Rocket Retreated off Curtis/Darth Vader's face and chaos ensued.

WHIRLWIND!!!

Leia was dead at that point so Chris/Luke Skywalker requested Liz/Yoda Force Push him into the wounded pile of dark side characters.  While he originally intended to drop a Justice on Curtis the birthday boy, guaranteeing a last place finish, his guilt overwhelmed him and he turned it on Emperor/Rob, who somehow died first despite playing two hours before expiring.  This is the second time Rob has been first and last with the same character, but the first time to do it on the same day!

While Chris was merciful, Ryan was merciless!  Turning on his own alliance, he dropped an Athletic Surge on poor Curtis -  he was pretty grumpy to finish in eleventh place at his own special double header.  Ryan just giggled as he dropped a load of attacks on Grant's Obi-Wan.

Luke (the Dueler, not the character)/Mace decided to further rock the boat by Whirlwinding his own alliance, which was all kinds of awesome, and then Wisdoming down to the other end of the board.  But when he arrived, he eventually took down JD's Count Dooku!  He also got the drop on Joel's Han Solo, who spent the whole night looking for a Bowcaster buried at the bottom of his deck.

Grant, how many cards do you have?

With eight Duelers left, something bizarre began to happen.  A lightly regarded minor character, perhaps the most teased character in our game, decided to flip his switch to boss mode and take this game over.  I'm not talking about a Storm Trooper or any of the Clones,  Heck, I'm not even talking about droids.

I'M TALKING ABOUT GREEDO!  AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW DANGEROUS GREEDO IS YOU BETTER ASK SOMEBODY!!!

With Luke's Mace running wild and slicing everyone in sight, Greedo capped off a laser and sent Master Windu home in eighth.  Ryan/Darth Maul, who was somehow still alive and scaring people with his defensive rebound card, finally caught the wrong end of a light saber, this time provided by Nathan's Anakin Skywalker, who was flying so far below the radar he was tunneling underground to get places.

That left six Duelers:  Liz/Yoda, Kaleb/Boba Greedo, Grant/Obi-Wan, Nathan/Ani, Chris/Luke, and Ian/Jango.  Grant's Obi-Wan was bleeding pretty badly the entire game, but as the final six were tentative with how to proceed, he took the target off himself and placed it on an unsuspecting Liz/Yoda.  Despite her protests and warnings about Obi-Wan being the bigger threat, they went after her instead.  Luke Skywalker got the final hit on her, but not before Liz played a Force Lift and a Force Rebound on him.  Liz finished the night twice as good as she started it.

Now at five Duelers remaining, the group was once again passive about who to attack, so maestro Grant conducted his hit squad orchestra, this time on Nathan's Anakin.  Nathan begged the group to get Obi-Wan first, but Kaleb's big green bad boy, GREEDO, zapped him for the kill.

Chris, right as he realizes he's getting done dirty.

So...that left four!  And yet again...Grant kept the attention off himself!  This time it was Kaleb, nervous about Chris/Luke's I Will Not Fight You Cards, suggesting the young Skywalker should go next.  Ian/Jango, who survived the dark side collapse, obliged by shooting Luke and handing Chris fourth place.  That was a nice rebound after the first match.

Ian presented the logical argument to Kaleb that the Fetts should combine their powers to take care of the wounded but healing Obi-Wan Kenobi.  BUT GREEDO DOESN'T RECOGNIZE LOGIC!  Not when he's firing cold lasers at warm bodies!  Jango managed some damage on Obi but it was our boy GREEDO who sent Boba's ol' man down in third place!

This looked like a colossal blunder on Kaleb's part, because despite saving all of his best Boba attacks for this final two showdown, Grant played Obi's Force Balance, forcing both Duelers to discard their entire hands and draw three new cards!  Goodbye, Kyber Dart,  Goodbye, Desperate Shot.  Hello Obi-Wan's penchant for stalking bounty hunters!

But if you haven't realized it by now...GREEDO WILL NOT BE DENIED!  I had the privilege of seeing the three cards Kaleb drew: Greedo 4/1 attack, Greedo 3/1 attack, Boba 3/1 attack.  It was the moment of truth for Kaleb - go for the deathblow now and risk exposing Boba, or retreat and hope for Thermals, etc.  That's when the spirit of GREEDO descended upon Kaleb and said, "Kaleb, I've gotten you this far.  Let me take it home."  Kaleb agreed, GREEDO attacked twice, and Obi-Wan died.

GREEDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to Kaleb, who won his second duel in just his fourth match, that's unprecedented in our league!!!  And congrats (technically) to Boba Fett!  He won his third match but his first since the December 2014 Championship!

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob/Emperor
11.  Curtis/Vader - I mean, that was so ruthless Ryan!
10.  JD/Dooku
9.  Joel/Han Solo
8.  Luke/Mace Windu
7.  Ryan/Darth Maul
6.  Liz/Yoda
5.  Nathan/Anakin
4.  Chris/Luke Skywalker
3.  Ian/Jango
2.  Grant/Obi-Wan
1.  Kaleb/Boba

Stay tuned for the invite to our LAST Duel of the season.  That's right - May the 4th Be With You.  That will be on May 4th (duh) at 1PM - that's a Thursday afternoon, FYI.  Block it off now, invites go out next week.

Thanks to everyone who came together to honor our good friend Curtis!!!