May the 4th Be With You - May 4th, 2017

Emperor's Throne Room

It's hard to believe, but our third season of 12-Way Epic Duels has come to a close.  And this match was a particularly cool milestone, as it marked the fortieth Duel in league history.

That's right.  We've played 40 games.

And we've had 63 unique individuals play at least one Duel in that span, with 22 of them reaching professional status.

Personally, I want to thank each and every one of you for the time, commitment, passion, and nerdiness you've contributed.  You can't play 12-Way Duels without a team of folks willing to go all-in on the goofiness...and for that, I thank you!

Shout-Outs to the maintenance crew peeping our Duel.

Rob inadvertently picked the number one chair, so he had Stevie in the #12 seat select the board and Rob's character.  Although we were back, once again, in the Emperor's Throne Room, Rob finally received a non-Emperor character for the first time in 4 Duels, landing...Han Solo.  Maybe the Emperor isn't so bad?  Dueling rookie Delacy got stuck with Boba Fett, a dangerous but vulnerable character and perhaps not the ideal pick for one's first Duel.

As with most of the past few Duels, things started pretty close to dark/light side lines.  But it was Stephen, subbing for Ian, who was the first to flip, Taunting Ethan's Darth Maul on his way to moving Dooku to the "good" side.  Curtis began using Luke's I Will Not Fight You's from the back row and all of a sudden the dark side was hurting.  Stevie, operating Darth Vader, sensed something was up with Ethan and feared he was about to back stab his own teammates to avoid a last place finish.  Stevie convinced Delacy to shoot Ethan into 12th place.  Though the board had a big reaction, it turns out Stevie's hunch was right.  Ethan had planned on flipping!

Sakina, using the Emperor, was flabbergasted Stevie would attack a fellow Sith, so she took break from raining down terror on Rob's Han Solo and took a shot at Vader.  Not long after Stephen's Super Battle Droid ended Stevie's night in 11th place.

Jonathan digs Force Control

The rest of the light side alliance began to converge on the rapidly shrinking dark side.  Nathan's Mace Windu put a finishing blow on Delacy's Boba Fett.  The light side had tried to get Delacy to flip earlier in the match, but she stuck to her original alliance, which is to be commended.  That left nine to go and poor Sakina with her back against the wall.  Kaleb Wrathed in with Anakin at that point and eliminated the Emperor in ninth place.

With eight to go and Kaleb/Anakin and Stephen/Dooku were stuck in front of the rest of the players remaining.  Daniel seized this opportunity to flip his Jango Fett next to his tablemate, JD/Yoda.  Jango got the final shot in on Stephen's Dooku, who was so pivotal to the light side at first but so easily disposable after the fact.  But Jango wasn't done!  Daniel kicked the next player off the board.  Kaleb tried to convince folks Anakin could be an asset but nobody else was having it.

After this the core alliance of six was at a crossroads.  Who was next to fall?  Jonathan was playing a solid game with a solid character, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  But that was a dangerous combination, so the internal splintering commenced.  Jonathan absorbed a flurry of attacks and eventually fell to the onslaught.  That left a final five of Rob/Han, Nathan/Mace, JD/Yoda, Curtis/Luke, and Daniel/Jango.

How tight is this table alliance of three?

Nathan decided to charge in on Curtis/Luke, who had played another I Will Not Fight You on Obi-Wan, but Curtis talked him out of it.  That was enough of a signal to Rob, though, to finally make a move in the game.  Thanks to Sakina's initial badgering in the the game, Rob was low-carded until late in the game.  Chewbacca dropped a Bowcaster and Nathan's Mace Windu came back around to delivering the final kill shot on Curtis.

That left four to go, and it looked like JD was comfortable working with Nathan to the end.  Rob tried to get Daniel to follow him and keep their shooter alliance strong, but Daniel missed the non-verbal signals and, before you know it, Mace Windu launched attacks against poor Jango/Daniel.  Daniel couldn't fend off Nathan and, just like Episode II, Mace killed Jango in a key moment of battle.

Around this same time Rob's Han Solo decided to live up to his reputation and "shoot first."  He began attacking both Yoda and Mace, flipping multiple times in a single turn around the board.  That strategy quickly turned into begging for whoever was nearest him on the board to not attack so he could continue shooting whichever one was furthest away.  The insanity paid off as JD took up one of the multiple offers and decided he liked Yoda's chances against everyone's favorite smuggler better than Master Windu's.  Rob stayed far enough away from Nathan before JD destroyed Mace to make it to the final two against Han Solo.

Despite playing his heart out, Rob's injured and brittle Han Solo was no match for JD's Yoda, especially as JD played so masterfully and strategically.  JD dropped a Forcelift on Chewbacca and began chasing Rob around the board.  He eventually caught up to him and scored on the win on a Force Push death against Han!  Congrats JD!  This is his first win since November when he also won with Yoda!  Your final finish...

12.  Ethan/Darth Maul
11.  Stevie/Darth Vader
10  Delacy/Boba Fett
9.  Sakina/Emperor Palpatine
8.  Stephen/Count Dooku
7.  Kaleb/Anakin
6.  Jonathan/Obi-Wan Kenobi
5.  Curtis/Luke Skywalker
4.  Daniel/Jango
3.  Nathan/Mace Windu
2. Rob/Han Solo
1.  JD/Yoda

Thanks again to everyone who played this year!  Later this summer we'll play the Single's Tournament so stay tuned for that.  Otherwise...we'll see you again in August at the CL Training Duel!

Preview: May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2017

So we've come to the end of the road.  That's right, our academic year is ending, and so is our Duels season.

But we have one last shot at glory!  One last grasp for fame!  One last opportunity to be gutted as you fall short of victory!

May the 4th Be With You is our annual matinee Duel - an afternoon battle before the long siesta of summer.  12 will gather post-lunch and pre-dinner to win the new Obi-Wan trophy, which is as elegant as it is deadly.  (What does that even mean...?)

HISTORY:

2015 - Rob finished first (with Jango) while his wife Jess finished second after they thwarted the Dark Side alliance.  Pew pew!

2016 - JD came to the Duel in a full-on Darth Vader costume and actually drew Darth Vader but Chris was the big winner...again with Jango!

MEET THE DUELERS:

Curtis - he's still seething after his rough doubleheader experience at his Birthday Surprise Duels, and won't be happy to learn Ryan isn't playing.

Daniel - he's only played once this semester, a seventh place finish with Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Duel of the Fates.

Delacy - we have a rookie Dueler alert!  Delacy is making her Epic Duels debut Thursday afternoon and hopes to make a lasting impression.

Ethan - the amateur Dueler had a rough introduction to the game, finishing in eleventh place at the Imperial March match.  He's hoping for more in his second Duel.

Ian - he had arguably the best night at the Birthday doubleheader, finishing fourth and third with Darth Maul and Jango Fett.

JD - the big question is...will the Darth Vader costume make a reappearance?  He had a good and bad finish at the Birthday Surprise.

Jonathan - he finally drew a Jedi again at the first game of the birthday doubleheader, but could only guide Yoda to a seventh place finish.

Kaleb - nobody has a bigger target than Kaleb, his win with Boba at game two of the doubleheader (Boba's first in 2.5 years!) gave him two victories in four career Duels!

Nathan - his fifth place finish in game two at the Birthday Surprise gave Nathan three top five finishes in his last four Duels.

Rob - he might break down and cry if he picks the Emperor again, having played him in the last FOUR games, including a first and last place finish at the Birthday Surprise Duels.

Sakina - her second place finish with Mace Windu at the first game of the Birthday Surprise tied her career best finish.

Stevie - this is likely Stevie's last career Duel, and he hopes to go out a winner.  He finished in fifth place with Boba Fett at his last Duel (Imperial March).

MAGNETIC LEGO ADMIRAL ACKBAR PREDICTS THE WINNER:

"May the Force be with us."

Check it out!  JD isn't the only one who likes to dress up as Duel characters.  Ackbar put on his Jango costume!  That's a good pick, Jango has won every May the 4th Duel.

Magnetic Lego Admiral Ackbar's Prediction Record:  2-9

All are welcome to come and watch the chaos and carnage - it'll be a good one!