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!