Let the Wookie Win - May 24, 2018

Geonosis Arena

We usually get a preview post before a known 12-Way, but the week got away from me before the first ever Let the Wookie Win Duel, in honor of the new movie in the Star Wars cinematic universe.  That's right, Solo: A Star Wars Story, tells the tale of a young Han Solo and his new sidekick, Chewbacca.  After the Duel many of us made it to the theater.  It's definitely a fun movie, though it's hard to move past the fact you're not watching Harrison Ford in his 20's. 

Because this was a movie Duel the Rey trophy was back up for grabs.  Curtis wasn't happy about that - he only had it since The Last Jedi, a mere six months ago.  The winner will most likely hold onto it until December of 2019...

This might be the first time everyone smiled for the picture.

Because this Duel took place outside of the normal academic year there was concern we wouldn't have enough Duelers in town to play, especially since most of the students were gone.  That turned out to be an unnecessary worry.  If you shine the Duel signal light at the nighttime clouds, the Duelers will come!  Two rookies made their debut for Let the Wookie Win - Courtney, wife of Ben H., and Chase, who will be working in CL&L as a chaplain this fall.  In fact, there were seven former or current chaplains at the table, plus a Dueler who starts seminary in the fall!  There was nothing holy about their play, though...

Nathan, who drove down from the Dallas area to play, picked the number one chair and chose Geonosis Arena for the battleground.  Too bad it wasn't the Carbon Freezing Chamber - that would have been appropriate for the Han Solo movie!  Everyone drew characters and we were ready for play.  Rob got Mace Windu for the second game in a row, and was even wearing purple due to some subconscious connection to the Force.  Grant finally picked a non-shooter (Count Dooku) while JD continued his love affair with Yoda.

Bowcaster:  An Epic Duels Story

The game started with an immediate defection as Rob's Mace Windu retreated to the dark side of the board.  Chase followed suit, moving his Luke and Leia away from the pillars.  The dark side minor characters began shooting at the Nathan/Obi-Wan and JD/Yoda's Clonetroopers and things were looking tough for the remaining Jedi/light side Duelers.

Courtney, controlling Han Solo on the day of his movie debut, decided to rep her character by doing what Han does best - rely on Chewbacca!  She used Wookie Instincts to find the Bowcaster and dropped it on Chase's Princess Leia.  Chase didn't have a defense card and Leia was done!  RAWRRR!!!  (that's was supposed to be a Chewey victory roar).

The dark side kept chipping away at the light side but Chase decided to make his rookie presence known.  He went for a surprise attack on Rob's Mace...and talked trash while announcing his intentions!  Rob was none-to-pleased by the brash padawan, but was even less pleased by the two Justice cards Chase used!  Meanwhile, Nathan, sensing an opportunity to put the finishing shots on Rob, had JD's Yoda Force Push him to the other end of the board to try and attack.  Unfortunately for Nathan, Kaleb's Maul wasn't too keen on Kenobi being that close to him and used an Athletic Surge to eliminate his fellow Hall of Famer.  Poor Nathan drove all the way down only to be treated so rudely!

Chase's Luke was taking damage too as nobody supported him against Rob, so Rob was quite pleased to kill him in eleventh.  You had to admire the rookie's moxie, though.  Elijah, playing with Anakin, tried to roll out from behind the columns and advance on the dark side but he was met with a wall of minor characters.  As lil' Annie kept receiving damage, it was Alex C.'s Darth Vader and a Throw Debris that sent Elijah packing in tenth.  After nearly a year off from playing, it wasn't the finish Elijah wanted.

JD's "why does this keep happening??" face

Courtney's Han and JD's Yoda were securely protected by the Geonosis columns, so the dark side alliance was going to have to move forward to draw them out.  But that same alliance was getting high-carded and not everybody was going to be able to attack Yoda and Han, so something had to give.  Unfortunately for Kaleb's Darth Maul, he became the target.  After some suspicious movement on the board, and discarding a 4-1 attack card, Rob and his banged up Mace Windu lobbied Grant/Dooku, Ben/Boba, and Curtis/Jango to end Kaleb's day.  They agreed to the plan, and after multiple attacks, including a double Whirlwind, Curtis used a Wrist Cable to finish off Kaleb in ninth, his lowest finish ever.  He was a bit salty.

JD, meanwhile, was heavily lobbying Ethan/Emperor and Alex/Vader to flip and join him.  It was an interesting notion, but Ethan ultimately played You Will Die on Yoda, which dumped his Force Rebound and two 15 point defense cards.  Grant/Dooku laid two big hits and Rob's Mace filled in the grave for poor JD/Yoda.  Courtney's Chewbacca was dead by that point, and Curtis moved his Zam in on Han with a Sniper Shot.  That finished Courtney off but a tip of the cap to her for her rookie Duel - seventh place was nothing to sneeze at when playing with the lowest ranked character.

We need a Lando expansion character and deck.

Then there were six Duelers left:  Rob/Mace, Ethan/Emperor, Curtis/Jango, Grant/Dooku, Alex/Vader, and Ben/Boba.  All the main characters were basically still at full health with the exception of Rob's Mace, who was still licking his wounds from Chase's double Justice attack.  Ethan made the claim Mace should die next, but Rob countered by saying this was the perfect time to attack the Emperor.  Everyone else seemed to have a different opinion too because an odd round of attacks commenced with no clear cut target.  Alex's Vader choked out Curtis' Zam.  Ben's Boba threw a double Thermal Detonator on Vader and Emperor after Grant Force Pushed them together.  Curtis didn't roll a big enough number to kill both of them with his Flamethrower, so he had to settle with his second Wrist Cable kill of the afternoon on Ethan's Emperor.

Unbeknownst to Rob, Grant and Ben did a silent head nod towards Mace and Curtis attacked.  But when he Rocket Retreated away Dooku and Boba attacked Jango!  Ben used his Kyber Dart and Curtis was suddenly gone in fifth place.

Second Dueler to ever win six games!

Ben then tried to attack Alex/Vader and Grant/Dooku at the same time with Greedo, which only served to paint a target on his jet pack for the two dark lords of the Sith.  They started to whittle him down and Alex, who was just a couple of points from death, smoked the Fett with an All Too Easy!  Ben's average continues to shrink but he's still looking for that first career victory.

Grant dispatched Alex in third very soon after that, and his fully healthy Count Dooku started to chase Rob's Mace around the columns.  Rob fought hard and got some hits in, but Dooku was too strong and Mace's defense cards disappeared as the Taunts rained down.  With just one health point left, Grant dropped a Force Push to seal the victory. 

Congrats Grant!!!  He becomes the second Dueler in league history to reach six wins.  It also marks the fifth win for Count Dooku.  We also want to give a final thank you to Kaleb, Ethan, and Nathan, as this was their last ever Duel...at least for now!  #cliffhanger  The final order of finish:

12. Nathan/Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. Chase/Luke Skywalker
10. Elijah/Anakin Skywalker
9.  Kaleb/Darth Maul
8.  JD/Yoda
7.  Courtney/Han Solo
6.  Ethan/Emperor Palpatine
5.  Curtis/Jango Fett
4.  Ben H./Boba Fett
3.  Alex C./Darth Vader
2.  Rob/Mace Windu
1.  Grant/Count Dooku

This was the last 12-Way Duel until the CL Training match in August...which kicks off our FIFTH season of Dueling!  YEAR FIVE - WE'RE STARTING A YEAR FIVE!!!  Also, the Singles Tournament is coming up in July - more details on that insanity soon.  Thanks to everyone who has made these past four years so fun.  Go see Solo!

May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2018

The 2018 Hall of Fame Dueler Class

Emperor's Throne Room

The greatest day of the year for any Star Wars fan is May the 4th.  It also marks the end of our normal Dueling season.  As such, we use this date in Dueler history to honor those special Duelers who are graduating, leaving Waco, moving on, heading out, etc.  And by special we mean those who have left a lasting impact on the league and in our hearts.  Our smoldering, light saber-stabbed hearts.  Before the May the 4th Be With You Duel we inducted three new members into the Dueler Hall of Fame:

Kaleb Loomis - Kaleb graduates from Truett this month and leaves this Duels league as one of the top ranked Duelers of all time.  In fact, he debuted as a professional at the top of the rankings!  He's a winner of two Duels and has never finished below eighth place, which is sick!

Nathan Gibbs - Nathan graduates from Baylor this month with four career victories.  One of those includes the 2015 Championship.  He was also the second Dueler to ever win back to back Duels.  He was the consummate smooth operator on the board.

Stephen Buley - Stephen also graduates this month, and he takes with him a distinguished honor.  No student played more games than Stephen.  He also has two career victories.  And let's not forget Stephen was the first, and only one of two Duelers, to have ever won with Emperor Palpatine.

It was a rainy afternoon in Duels land...

It's always sad to see Duelers depart, especially distinguished warriors like these three.  Let's hope they find their way back to the Duels table at some point in the future!

As for the game itself, we had two new Duelers as well as a Dueler going pro!  Madelynn, aka Mad Dog, and Scott debuted in their first ever game.  And Kat was playing her sixth Duel, so she's a professional now.  Congrats Kat!!!

Mad Dog picked the number one chair and chose the Emperor's Throne Room for the battlefield.  She also picked Boba Fett, much to the relief of others.  Grant got Jango Fett again!  The preview jinx worked!  Joel also picked up Darth Vader for the second straight match, and he had to be happy to have the character he won with at the Birthday Surprise.

I'm in your chair, Palpatine!!!

At the start of the game the dark side began to attack Stephen's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Grant's Jango landed a wicked Missle Launch to put Stephen in danger of going out first in his last ever Duel.  But Obi wasn't going out like that.  He found his Force Control and totally disrupted the dark side, all while retreating behind the safety of Chewbacca.  Stephen moved characters up to three spaces each, and managed to pull Kat's Count Dooku down to the light side.  After suffering numerous attacks, it was Daniel's Chewey who marched over and Wookie Tossed Kat into last place!  Poor Kat, that wasn't the way she wanted to reach the professional ranks.

Stephen's Obi was still in trouble.  As it looked like the dark side would soon swarm him and Daniel's Han Solo, a defection occurred!  Mad Dog felt the urge to defect, so she tossed a Thermal Detonator into the heart of the dark side shooter's nest.  But instead of Rocket Retreating, she Kyber Darted Grant's Zam, killing the minor character.  The dark side was outraged and focused on the defector.  Alex C.'s Darth Maul rolled in and dropped many a "does not count as an action" attacks and Mad Dog got sent to the pound in eleventh place.

That's a Bowcaster smile if I've ever seen one.

It looked like the light side would crush the dark at that point, but the bad guys weren't going down without a fight.  Joel's Darth Vader Trew Debris at Obi to end Stephen's game, and probably career, in tenth.  It wasn't the ending he was looking for, but he was scrappy and fought hard until the end.  After Alex's attack on Boba he was low carded, and the light side shooters took advantage.  They kept peppering him with shots until Daniel's Chewbacca dropped the scariest attack card in the game - the Bowcaster!  Alex finished in ninth with a gaping hole in his chest.  With Chewey in position to smoke Maul it left Han exposed to more attacks.  The remaining dark side characters made him pay.  Once he was two points of health away from dying, Joel's Vader used Wrath to kill him in eighth.  Yolo Solo.

Nothing amateur about their play.

The light side shooters started moving into the dark side territory, and Rob's Mace, Scott's Luke, and Luke's Anakin followed in behind them.  They started racking up hits on Grant/Jango and Joel/Vader.  Eventually Joel broke from the pressure as Leia's 2-point attack ended his bid to win back to back games with Lord Vader.

Ian's Yoda was down on the dark side of the board now too, while Luke/Anakin and Scott/Luke hung back in case Grant's Jango Fett Rocket Retreated away.  As it turned out, Grant was stuck with a bunch of useless Zam cards and wasn't able to defend when Yoda cracked him with a Force Strike.  Grant was gone in sixth and left wondering why he keeps getting stuck with shooters.  That left a final five of Luke/Anakin, Rob/Mace, Curtis/Emperor, Scott/Luke, and Ian/Yoda.

Final two selfie

Curtis was left as the last dark side member standing, and desperately tried to align himself with any willing partner.  But the remaining light side stayed true to their alliance and commenced attacks on the Emperor.  It was Scott's Princess Leia who hit him with two Latent Force Abilities to send Curtis into fifth place.

And then there were four.  The decision on what to do next wasn't so clear.  Scott and Luke wanted to attack Ian's Yoda, while Rob was more interested in Luke's Anakain Skywalker, especially because Padme was still alive and he feared Luke had been stockpiling shooter cards.  Scott and Rob seemed to be good with each other as Rob went after Luke and Scott went after Ian.  Ian ended up assisting Rob in eliminating Anakin.  In fact, it was Yoda's last remaining clone that put the final nail in the coffin.  Luke was out in fourth, but it was a great showing for the amateur Dueler!

Rob assumed he was solid with Ian's Yoda, but Ian was open to working with Scott's Luke Skywalker.  That was mostly because Yoda's health points were low enough for a double Whirlwind from Mace to kill him.  So Rob offered to spend one of the Whirlwinds on Scott to solidify their standing with each other.  Ian still wasn't a 100% on board but Scott was damaged enough to end his first career Duel in third place.  Congrats Scott - that's quite the debut!

Trophy #4

It looked like, based on health points, Rob's Mace would be able to dominate Ian's Yoda quite quickly, but Yoda proved his mettle by using a Force Lift and a Force Push to start depleting Mace's hand and forced Rob to move Windu away from Ian.   In fact, Rob moved to the further most point away Yoda and his remaining Clone, and it created a stalemate while the Clone prevented Mace from moving but Yoda couldn't move in to attack for fear of dying from the remaining Whirlwind.  This cat and mouse game continued for a good 30 minutes before Yoda retreated far enough away for Rob/Mace to kill the last Clone.  From there they chased each other around the bridges of the Throne Room before Mace finally rolled a four and could move in to use his last Whirlwind and end Ian's afternoon in second place.  Ian put up a heck of a fight with the little green Jedi!  This marked Rob's 12th career victory and his second with Mace Windu, who as a character has now won six times himself.

The final order of finish:

12.  Kat/Count Dooku
11.  Madelynn/Boba Fett
10.  Stephen/Obi-Wan Kenobi
9.  Alex C./Darth Maul
8.  Daniel/Han Solo
7.  Joel/Darth Vader
6.  Grant/Jango Fett
5.  Curtis/Emperor Palpatine
4.  Luke/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Scott/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ian/Yoda
1.  Rob/Mace Windu

Thanks to everyone who played in the 2017-18 season of Epic Duels!  We're going to try and tack on one more Duel the afternoon of May 24th before the movie debut of Han Solo - we're calling it "Let the Wookie Win."  More details to come on that, so stay tuned!  Also, check out the Hall of Fame tab to see the new inductees!

Preview: May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2018

Well, if you're a fan of Star Wars Epic Duels (and why in God's good name would you be reading this blog if you weren't?), Friday is the biggest holiday of the year...

...MAY THE 4th!!!

And like we always do, we'll celebrate with a matinee Duel to acknowledge the end of our Dueling season.  It was a struggle to find 12 Duelers this year!  A convergence of finals, trainings, and other obligations took a lot of our normal Duelers out of play.  But that's the beauty of this Epic Duels league.  If you strike down one Dueler three more appear in their place! 

This Duel is also special because we'll be inducting three new Duelers into the Epic Dueler Hall of Fame.  That ceremony will start at 1:30 right before the Duel.  Bring your Kleenex, Rob is sure to get weepy.

Let's look at the previous May the 4th Duels...

HISTORY:

2017 - JD wins with  Yoda
2016 - Chris wins with Jango Fett
2015 - Rob wins with Jango Fett

MEET THE DUELERS:

Alex C. - he's ending his first year at Baylor with his fourth Duel.  This promising amateur is hoping to at least replicate his October Birthday Surprise finish, when he placed second with Han.

Curtis - Oddly, Curtis has finished in sixth place in three of his last seven Duels.  He'd love to record his second win of 2018, having won A New Hope in January.

Daniel - he's coming off a nice three game stretch where he hasn't finished below sixth place, including a third place finish at The Imperial March.  His recent engagement is impacting his play in a positive way.

Grant - heaven help us if Grant ever gets a force wielding character again!  He's been stuck with a shooter in his last four Duels.  He can't run that streak to five...can he?  #jinx

Ian - everything came up roses for Ian the last time he played.  He finished first with Count Dooku, his favorite character, at the Duel of the Fates.  That makes five career victories.

Joel - everything came up roses for Joel too the last time he played.  He finished first with Darth Vader, his second victory with that character.  That gives the young Dueler three career victories.

Kat - after a break from Dueling, Kat is back!  And this Duel will be her sixth, meaning she's turning professional.  Congrats, Kat!!!

Luke R. - he has two career Duels under his belt, and those include a last place and second place finish.  How will he do this time?  We'll soon find out!

Madelynn - she's about to graduate, but before walking across stage and grabbing that diploma she wanted to cross off the most important item on her Baylor bucket list - play in an Epic Duel.

Rob - two rough finishes in his last two Duels has caused Rob to slide out of first place in the Dueler rankings.  He'll need a strong finish to overtake Kaleb again.

Scott - the husband of Stacey in our central office is doing the league a solid by helping us reach twelve Duelers for the last game of the year.  Thanks, rookie!

Stephen - it hurts to type this, but Stephen, the all-time leader in Duels played by a student, is sitting at the table for his final time before graduation.  We love you Stephen!!!

PEZ VADER PREDICTS THE WINNER:

"You were right.  You were right about me.
Tell your Twizzlers...you were right..."

Oh man - Pez Vader appears to be dying!  But his final vision is that of a win for Jango Fett!  We'll miss you, Pez Vader!

Pez Vader's Prediction Record:  2-9

Folks, please feel free to stop by at 1:30 to honor our newest Hall of Famers.  May the 4th Be With You.  Always.