Fight Night - October 7, 2017

Emperor's Throne Room

If you are newer to the league and/or blog, I thought I should take a moment and explain how we do our Dueler rankings.  Essentially, we just average out your order of finish, but with a twist.  If you finish in first place, we subtract one point from your finish.  For instance if you have a fourth place finish in your first Duel and a first place finish in your second Duel, your dueler average would be "2" (4+1-1/2) instead of "2.5" (4+1/2).  We have that rule in place to incentivize winning the game instead of playing for ranking.  Over the course of the league folks can forget what the ultimate goal is - to be the last Dueler standing!

You can tell a lot about a Dueler
by their pre-game picture pose...

The other factor we bring into play is a handicap bonus for operating with a bottom ranked character.  The theory is that you are at a disadvantage if your character stinks.  So after every Duel we recalculate the character rankings, and if you have ever played with a character who is in the bottom three, we subtract one point for each instance.  So using the example above, if you finished fourth and first, and one of those characters was in the bottom three, we would add five, subtract one for winning and another for the handicap, and divide by the two Duels played.  That would be a "1.5" average. 

I bring all of this up because, after yesterday's Fight Night, the tenth and ninth place characters (Darth Maul and Count Dooku) tied for the last spot in handicap points.  It's a major pain to recalculate a change in character handicap points, especially knowing they won't be tied again after the next Duel.  So I kept Maul in the bottom three and didn't award handicap points to Dooku.  You may commence carrying pitchforks and torches on behalf of Dooku now.

Nobody puts Obi in the corner

Anyway, enough boring ranking talk.  Let's get to the Duel!  Ben H., playing in his second Duel, got the number one chair and picked the Emperor's Throne Room for the battle.  Unfortunately, he also picked Han Solo.  Woof.  Everyone else grabbed their character and we were off to the races.

Nathan's Obi-Wan Kenobi became an early target of the dark side and he lost both of his Clone Troopers very early.  That's when Ian's Count Dooku moved in.  He Force Pushed Obi into a dark side kill box at the back of the board!  But Nathan wasn't going down without a fight.  He used his Force Control attack and created a path for his escape while also boxing out the big-bads on the dark side.  He then used Force Quickness to get the heck out of Dodge.

While this completely ruined Dooku's plan it did leave Ben's Chewbacca exposed to attacks.  Despite holding his Bowcaster he couldn't use it because they killed the Wookie before he had the chance.  I'm going to fast forward through the painstaking "dark side by committee" play to the part where Andrew's Jango killed Ben's Han.  Ben didn't play poorly, he just got unlucky with character and placement.

Despite his boss escape, Nathan's Obi-Wan continued to receive damage and he misplayed his last turn by not using two of his big attack cards.  The dark side didn't miss a beat and Ian's Dooku finally tasted misery by eliminating Obi in eleventh.  What had been a stand up, knock down fight between the six dark and six light side characters was now a 6 on 4 route.

That's Chris' evil Darth Maul smile

Kat, playing with Mace Windu, decided to flip the script.  She attacked Austin's Yoda!  The light side alliance was now officially kaput.  They traded blows and Force Lifts but Austin was really unlucky in his Yoda cards, lacking several of his big defenses and the Force Pushes.  He was out in tenth.

Rob, playing with Luke Skywalker, and Chris, playing with Darth Maul, were seated next to each other and constantly trying to convince the other to switch sides.  Now was there chance to work together!  Sensing he was at the bottom of the dark side alliance, or perhaps just beaten down by Rob's incessant talking, he pulled a big move when he attacked JD's Boba!  Rob followed suite by Children of the Forcing over to the Fett to kill JD in ninth.  But instead of staying near Luke, Maul used his Athletic Surge movement to stand by Dooku, Joel's Vader, and Jonathan's Emperor.  They were not happy to lose Boba and began attacking Maul.  But Ian's Dooku was already damaged and Chris used a couple of desperation attacks to set up a kill for Curtis' Anakin, who was stuck hiding in the corner for most of the game. 

hehehe...look at Ian and JD venting in the background...

The kids who play over in the HRC are fond of calling the Emperor "You Will Die" followed by the Vader "All Too Easy" a "wombo combo."  I don't know how I feel about that corny name, but it doesn't help that I WAS KILLED WITH IT.  That's right, Rob's Luke, who only had one point of damage, got purged by Jonathan and Joel for seventh place.  It was a shocking turn of events and cemented Vader and Emperor as the pair to beat. 

Chris tried to start talking with the other Duelers to alert them to the danger of not attacking this dangerous duo but Andrew's Jango Fett was eager for a trophy, so Maul went out in sixth.  That was kind of ironic because Rob kept mentioning the best Chris could do if he didn't flip was finish sixth.  All roads led to sixth place for Chris.

The final five were Andrew/Jango, Kat/Mace, Curtis/Anakin, Joel/Vader, and Jonathan/Emperor.  The smart play would have been for Anakin, Mace, and Jango to form an alliance to oust Vader and Emperor, but they couldn't mobilize that before Vader and Emperor shocked Andrew's Jango by going after the last remaining shooter.  Andrew finished fifth but that was a career best for him - way to go Andrew!

Jonathan and Joel used their evil persuasion skills to turn Kat's Mace against Curtis' Anakin.  Despite Anakin's pleas to work together, Kat stuck with the dark lords of the Sith.  Kat was a tough negotiator, though, forcing Joel to move in on Anakin with her.  Despite a brief Wrath escape, Vader Wrathed his younger self, sending Curtis out in fourth.

A fitting final two, considering the board...

With three to go Joel and Kat made an agreement to go against Jonathan's Emperor.  Both he and Vader were full health.  Their combined attacks deeply damaged the wrinkled old goon, but not before he dropped a Force Lightning on Mace to end Kat's night in third.  That's her best finish, though, and now she's tied for first in the amateur rankings!  If we had a rookie of the year award Kat would be the leading candidate.  (Note to self, consider implementing a Rookie of the Year...)

...and then there were two!  Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine!  In the Emperor's Throne Room!  It was Return of the Jedi recreated!!!  Joel had positioned himself well for the take down.  He and Mace already roughed up Jonathan, and despite a Meditation, Joel moved in for the kill.  That's Joel's second win of the year, and his second in the last three games he's played.  EN FUEGO!  It also means, at seven victories, Darth Vader has regained sole possession of the lead for character wins.  And a big congrats to Jonathan, too.  He tied a career best second place finish.

Remember, no nails in your residence
hall room!

The final order of finish:

12.  Ben H./Han Solo
11.  Nathan/Obi-Wan Kenobi
10.  Austin/Yoda
9.  JD/Boba Fett
8.  Ian/Count Dooku
7.  Rob/Luke Skywalker
6.  Chris/Darth Maul
5.  Andrew/Jango Fett
4.  Curtis/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Kat/Mace Windu
2.  Jonathan/Emperor Palpatine
1.  Joel/Darth Vader

Thanks to all for a great Duel!  Stay tuned for details and dates for next month's Thanksdueling! match.  It's a cornucopia of death and destruction.

AND ONE MORE THING!  Tune into Monday Night Football tomorrow because the NEW TRAILER FOR THE LAST JEDI WILL DEBUT!!!!!  You KNOW we're going to do a movie premiere Duel.  Oh yes, we will...

Birthday Surprise - October 5, 2017

Carbon Freezing Chamber

We did it!

Ian turned the big 3-0...THIRTY!  And we dropped a surprise Duel right on top of his old, decaying body.  AARP sponsored the match.  We told those pesky kids to get off his lawn.  It was great.

Diagonal shots are always the worst. 

We had two brand spanking new Duelers play for the first time, just to make Ian feel that much older.  Lydia, one of Ian's residents in Heritage, and Ben G., a Martin CL.  And speaking of Martin...that's where we played!  Our normal room in North Village was booked so we made coming over to Martin part of the birthday surprise ruse.  Poor Ian, he never saw it coming.

JD picked the number one chair and he got first crack at the board and characters.  He chose the dreaded Carbon Freezing Chamber.  He also grabbed Boba!  That was nice of him, to take a shooter out of the pick pile right out of the gate.  Everyone else grabbed their characters, introductions were made, and the Dueling commenced.

The first big action of the night was Curtis' Darth Vader dropping two Chokes on Jonathan's Padme.  Brutal!  Jonathan Wrathed Greedo with his Anakin in return, and Chris' Leia advanced and started shooting the dark side but it looked like the light side alliance was in early trouble...until Rob's Jango flipped!  Worried that Ian would die early on his birthday Duel, just like Curtis did on his (#neverforgetwhatryandid), Rob was determined to change the tide.  He used his Rocket Retreat and Assassination cards on Daniel's Count Dooku and relocated to the other end of the board.

Kerri's Yoda next played an Insight card on Lydia's Emperor and dumped her You Will Die Card!  But that wasn't enough to stop the dark side of the board from converging on an exposed Anakin.  Ben G. got his first career kill when his Maul took out Jonathan for 12th place.  Rob forgot to bring the Jar Jar trophy and Jonathan was glad that he did.

Classic Kerri and JD faces.

Chris' Leia died soon after that but he moved his Luke Skywalker towards the dark side nonetheless.  He took some damage but dropped two Justice cards on Ben G.'s Darth Maul!  The dark side was stunned, the light side laughed, and Ben took it all in stride.  Alex's Han Solo dropped a long distance attack to put Ben out in eleventh.  It was a tough break for a rookie Dueler, but hopefully Ben will be back again in the future!

Rob continued to ride Daniel's Count Dooku like a donkey, using Rocket Retreat, Wrist Cables, and Fire Up The Jet Pack against him.  He even took a moment in the middle of all that to publicly call for his son, Boba/JD, to defect with him.  But it was a sniper shot from Zam that finally ended Daniel's night in tenth.  With nine left to go Chris' Luke stunned the board by playing an I Will Not Fight You on Toby's Obi-Wan!  Though Toby was loyal to the light side his alliance partners felt like he needed to be doing more to pull his weight.  The light side agreed to go after Toby/Obi (that rhymes!) and Toby was stuck with his back against the wall.  That's when he dropped a Force Control and rearranged the board, a dangerous thing to do in the Carbon Freezing Chamber.

Han/Alex picked up another kill after Ian's Mace helped whittle down Toby in ninth.  But the rearranged board proved to be dire for Rob's Jango.  No longer hidden behind Chewbacca and Yoda, Curtis' Vader and Lydia's Emperor moved in on the Fett and killed him in eighth.  That was Jango's first finish out of the top five in almost a year, which is insane.

You can see the new gray hairs sprouting on Ian's head...

Curtis begged for his life to no avail, and he knew the writing was on the wall.  Ian's Mace clobbered him for seventh.  The rest of the board then turned their attention to Lydia's Emperor Palpatine.  Lydia hung tough, even Meditating twice, but she eventually succumbed to her wounds in sixth place.  That was a heck of a debut for Lydia, though.  Well done!

With the Emperor out we were left with five Duelers:  Kerri/Yoda, Chris/Luke, Ian/Mace, JD/Boba, and Alex/Han.  JD's Boba had spent his big attacks on the Emperor and Ian saw an opportunity to get rid of the bounty hunter.  It was then that JD's dark secret was revealed - of the eight cards he was holding...they were all Greedo!  And Greedo had been dead a long time!!  Mace took quick care of him after that.

Down to four, Chris made another unorthodox play by dropping I Will Not Fight You on Alex's Han...but Han didn't have any attack cards above 1!  He didn't drop anything!  Baby Skywalker was doomed and suffered the indignity of dying at the hands of Kerri's Clone Trooper.  Still, not a bad first appearance since last spring for Chris!

Ian can't read Alex's poker face.

And then there were three...  It became clear that Kerri's Yoda was the target.  Ian slyly carded up as he danced around the Chamber, trying to get into position to double whirlwind both Yoda and Han.  Alex stayed out of reach, though, and despite Yoda Force Lifting Mace Windu twice, Ian finally burned a Whirlwind to end Kerri's night in third.  That's the second game in a row for Kerri with a third place finish with Yoda!  She's moved into second place on the amateur rankings list.

Alex's Han and Chewbacca began their dance with Ian's Mace.  Their pot shots rained down while Mace slowly advanced, careful to stay high carded.  Alex managed to launch his second Bowcaster of the night, which definitely impacted Mace's health points.  He fought valiantly but Ian's expertise and strength of character were just too much.  As they both were on the bottom row of their health points Ian was able to drop a final attack on Alex, killing Han for the victory!  The birthday boy won!!!  Congrats to Ian, who picked up his fourth career victory.  That also marks Mace's fifth win, which ties him for second place on the character rankings.  And a big shout out to Alex too!  His second place finish with a shooter on the scariest board in the game was masterful.

Here's your final order of finish:

12.  Jonathan/Anakin Skywalker
11.  Ben G./Darth Maul
10.  Daniel/Count Dooku
9.  Toby/Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  Rob/Jango Fett
7.  Curtis/Darth Vader
6.  Lydia/Emperor Palpatine
5.  JD/Boba Fett
4.  Chris/Luke Skywalker
3.  Kerri/Yoda
2.  Alex C./Han Solo
1.  Ian/Mace Windu

And tomorrow we do it all again!  Fight Night - Saturday, 8PM.  Come on by and watch!!!

Preview: Fight Night - October 7, 2017

Get your dukes up, everybody, it's time for the fourth annual Fight Night!  Every October twelve folks strap on their gloves and step into the ring, but only one ever emerges victorious.  Who will it be this time!?  First, let's take a look at who finished triumphant in the past...

HISTORY:

2016 - Stephen won with Emperor Palpatine
2015 - Curtis won with Han Solo
2014 - Grant won with Darth Vader

MEET THE DUELERS:

As is our tradition, since October is the month of Halloween, we'll introduce each Dueler with a proper costume!

Andrew - This already marks Andrew's fourth Duel, but he's yet to finish higher than ninth place.  Until he does better, he should dress as...a Storm Trooper.

Austin - The last three times Austin has played he's been Han Solo!  Why break the streak now?  He should come as...Han Solo.

Ben - He logged his first Duel last month and had a respectable finish with Yoda, but this new Dueler still has a lot to learn.  But he shares a name with a famous Jedi!  So his Halloween costume should be Padawan Kenobi.

Chris - Look what the womp rat dragged in!  Chris hasn't Dueled since Curtis' birthday doubleheaders back in April, but he's still a lethal veteran.  For that reason his perfect costume is...Count Dooku.

Curtis - He hasn't logged a win since the 2016 Championship, but Curtis' last three Duels have all ended in the top five.  That consistent supporting role makes for a good...Wedge Antilles.

Ian - After an epic betrayal of JD at the CL Training Duel, Ian is finally returning to the battlefield.  Does he have a comeuppance in his future?  His character is...Lando Calrissian.

JD - JD comes into this Duel with four top four finishes in his last five Duels!  That kind of dominance reminds me of the...Empire!  JD should be Darth Vader.

Joel - He followed up his victory at CL Training with a more than respectable third place finish at the Fall Brawl.  Can he maintain his rate of success?  His costume is...Luke Skywalker.

Jonathan - Over Jonathan's last four Duels he's finished in sixth or seventh place.  That's consistent but not the result he ultimately wants.  He wants domination...so his character is Emperor Palpatine!

Kat - She made her debut at the Doubleheader and she came to play!  Now in her third Duel she already has the reputation as a force to be reckoned with.  Her Halloween costume should be Jyn Erso.

Nathan - Nathan comes into this Duel with three top five finishes in his last five Duels, including a first place at the Doubleheader with Jango.  He's never afraid to switch sides in a Duel, so his perfect character is...Jango Fett.

Rob - After winning the first doubleheader game Rob is finished in tenth and eighth place.  He's hoping to turn around that trend, especially after losing his first place ranking.  His best costume is...Salacious Crumb.

PEZ VADER PREDICTS THE WINNER:

"Perhaps I can find new candies to motivate them?"

Pez Vader feels confident with a Mace Windu pick...interesting.  He got the Fall Brawl guess right, though, so who are we to question his methods?

Pez Vader's prediction record:  1-2

Well, we'll find out soon enough who will emerge victorious!  Saturday, 8PM, the dust will settle...stay tuned for the results!