Doubleheader #2 - August 30, 2019

Emperor's Throne Room

Poor Alex didn't get to bask in the glory of his victory very long.  No sooner was Han's corpse scraped from the Kamino Platform then we sat down for round two. 

As the character envelopes were passed around Curtis (Obi-Wan) and Ryan (Han Solo) discovered they were getting the same characters they had in game one.  We also invited some new blood to the table, as David M. was making his second-ever start and Spencer was playing in his rookie Duel (Noah and Grant headed home from the first match, and I promise they had a much better night's sleep than the rest of us...).  Everyone hoped for the Carbon Freezing Chamber so it would be a faster match and then collectively groaned when it was the Emperor's Throne Room.  That is easily the light side's worst board.

Wake up!  We're only half-way done!

It didn't take long for the light side collapse to commence.  Curtis' Obi-Wan Kenobi flipped right out of the gate, sending David into a hilarious panic.  I can't emphasize this enough - David's running commentary and pep talks is the funniest banter I've ever experienced at a Duel table.  It makes it fun for everybody else...especially as you're approaching midnight...

Rob/Emperor and JD/Vader began their distance attacks, and it was Alex's Anakin who was the early and repeated victim.  Padme got Choked out of the game early.  Ryan's Han Solo flipped as well, but his Chewbacca didn't make it as the remaining light side decimated the Wookie.  Poor Ryan played two games with Han and never fired the Bowcaster.  Alex's Anakin eventually fell out in last after Christopher's Boba hit him with a three-point attack (yes, that's right, Christopher has three career games and two are with Boba!). 

Shout-out to retired amateur Jess for feeding the Duelers!

The back row of light side characters started in-fighting after that.  David's Yoda took a swing at Sam's Mace, while Sam then went after Spencer's Luke for suggesting the dark side alliance attack Mace instead of Luke.  It didn't end well for any of them!  In a brutal (but still funny) move, David Force Pushed Sam to his early demise in eleventh.  After that, Ryan's Han shot Spencer off the board.  That was a rough debut for the rookie, Spencer, come back and play with us again!

Everyone assumed David's Yoda was the next to go, but out of nowhere, Kaleb's Darth Maul unloaded on fellow alliance member JD/Vader.  It was brutal and shocking...and effective.  Curtis followed with attacks and even Rob chipped in (I just threw up in my mouth again...) and Rylie's Count Dooku finished him off.  It was a very sudden departure from the team.

From there, the focus was put back on David's Yoda, but he wasn't going down without a fight.  He danced across the bridges, forcing the Dark Side to move forward and chase him.  Nobody was more determined to kill him than Rylie, and she was finally rewarded for her persistence when she dropped a four-point attack to end his night in eighth.  He was so upset he later needed a Tums.  Or he drank too much Yoda Soda, it's hard to tell the difference.

Thriving vs. Surviving

That left seven Duelers, and the remaining light sabers became acutely aware there were still three shooters on the board.  And it's a shooter's board.  That simply wouldn't do.  Rob explored their options by pot-shotting both Ryan's Han and Christopher's Boba.  Christoper didn't take too kindly too that and Rocket Retreated towards Rob's Emperor.  That's when Curtis/Obi sprung into action.  Using a Force Control, he maneuvered a kill box around Boba while Kaleb's Darth Maul, partnered with Kylie's Dooku, swooped in towards Han.  Lucas' Jango was the only shooter permitted to live at that point.

Curtis made Rob promise he would finish off Boba, who only had four health points and no defense left.  Rob kept his promise...and with his first action eliminated Christopher, who really wanted to put in a final hit on Rylie's Dooku.  But with Rob's second action, he played You Will Die...on Curtis!!!  Obi-Wan was full-health and Rob thought this was the perfect time to get the drop on him. 

A lively final three!

While Curtis dealt with that fallout, Ryan had his own problems.  For the second game in a row Kaleb was trying to eliminate him from the board.  Han had no protection this time, and Rylie put down the kill shot in sixth place.  Curtis, meanwhile, was getting whittled down by Emperor and Jango.  It would be Kaleb's Battle Droid who made the final attack, leaving Curtis in fifth with Obi-Wan for the second time that night.  Not shabby!

That left four to go, and as predicted, Rob and Kaleb petitioned Lucas and Rylie to join them in destroying the other.  Lucas and Rylie decided Kaleb's Maul was the bigger threat, but my goodness, he put up a fight, even finding one more Athletic Surge.  He managed to put damage on all three enemies before taking a two-point attack from the Royal Guard.

I didn't take enough pics, so
feast your eyes on the ultimate
Baylor football jersey.

With three to go, Rob seemed like the logical target for Lucas/Jango and Rylie/Dooku.  But Rylie was in rougher shape than Jango, and Rob suggested Jango and Zam both still being on the board was too much for either of them to handle.  Rob thought Rylie should at least kill Zam to even things up.  Lucas didn't like that idea at all, and Rob promised to use every distance attack he had on Jango, and just like that it was Jango vs. Emperor and Dooku.  Give Lucas credit, he started wrecking shop!  Rob was either pulling Force Lightnings or Royal Guard cards, he couldn't find defense.  Meanwhile, Lucas used Rocket Launch on Dooku to bring Rylie one point away from death.  Rob had one last Force Lightning before having to reshuffle his deck, and he used it on Jango...bringing him to one point of health too!  Rylie and Lucas charged at each other but it was Lucas who would get the kill shot.

And then there were two!

Rob acknowledged to Lucas that his Emperor was getting obnoxiously lucky on finding the Force Lightnings.  Lucas didn't fully realize Rob had zero defense cards in his hand.  But before he could figure it out, Rob drew a card off his new deck for his first action...FORCE LIGHTNING.  AGAIN!  He played it for the second action and won the game!  He's the first Dueler to win with the Emperor twice.  And let's give it up for Rylie and Lucas, playing in just their second game but looking like seasoned professionals.  The future is now!!!  This also marks the Emperor's third win of the calendar year and second victory in the past three Duels.  He must be ramping up his profile for Episode IX!

The final order of finish:

12.  Alex/Anakin Skywalker
11.  Sam/Mace Windu
10.  Spencer/Luke Skywalker
9.  JD/Darth Vader
8.  David M./Yoda
7.  Christopher/Boba Fett
6.  Ryan/Han Solo
5.  Curtis/Obi-Wan Kenobi
4.  Kaleb/Darth Maul
3.  Rylie/Count Dooku
2.  Lucas/Jango Fett
1.  Rob/Emperor Palpatine

Our next Duel is the FALL BRAWL - looks like we'll probably play that on September 21st.  Mark that on your calendar now, the official invite will go out in a couple of weeks.

We're off to a great start this year - all the new Duelers are playing GREAT - keep it up everyone!!!

Doubleheader #1 - August 30, 2019

Kamino Platform

We don't often play on Friday at 6PM, but when the college football season kicks off on Saturday night, you make adjustments!  And you also make adjustments when one of the Duelers is in the drive-thru at Dairy Queen because they thought the game started at 6:30!  *cough, Kaleb, cough*

No worries, it gave the rest of us time to stuff our faces with tie-fighter ties, kernel detonators, wookie cookies, and the nectar of the Dueling gods...YODA SODA!

JD is mad Kaleb didn't bring him a burger too.

As bad luck would have it, Kaleb also got the #1 chair while he was ordering french fries, so we allowed Noah to make the board pick (Kamino) and Kaleb's character, which turned out to be Mace.  I won't lie, there was discussion about swapping Windu out for a shooter.

We eventually had all 12 at the table and were ready to roll.  Fairly early in the match Lucas, playing his first ever Duel, took his Darth Maul and flipped to the light side of the board.  That was a tough blow for the remaining dark side, especially as the Jedi's agreed to make a full court press and invade bad guy territory.  Rob, playing with Boba, got the sense he would be the target so he made a desperation play by Rocket Retreating to the back row of the light side.  JD/Anakin and Noah/Luke did not hide the fact they weren't fully excited by it.  Rylie, subbing for Riley (confusing much?), also didn't take too kindly to another flip and unloaded two Force Lightnings on Boba.  Once Kaleb's Mace was fully loaded he killed Rob in last, who walked away from the table and drowned his sorrow in Yoda Soda.

The pressure mounts...

Despite being outnumbered, the dark side had the advantage of being protected by Jango's ship, and they decided to hang tough.  Both Chewbacca and Padme fell to their tactics, much to the chagrin of Ryan and JD.  But after a prolonged attack (we were over an hour into the game) Noah's Leia finally shot Christopher's Dooku into eleventh place.  Eleventh doesn't look good on paper but Christopher really hung tough in his sophomore debut.

With Dooku off the board the Jedi could poor into Grant/Vader and Rylie/Emperor's secret hideout.  JD was quite aggressive when he Wrathed in, and it resulted in some unanticipated damage on himself.  But it was an attack from Alex/Yoda's Clone Trooper which killed the Emperor in tenth.  It wasn't the night Rylie was hoping for, but things would look up for her when she got to take Grant's chair in the second Duel!  #foreshadowing

Alex maneuvered his Yoda to join JD, and used one of his big attacks to eliminate Grant's Vader.  Give Grant credit, he tried to split the majority alliance a number of times, but nobody took the bait this time around.  The rookie with all the funny quips, Sam/Jango, was the last person standing from the dark side.  He was out of options so Yoda took down Jango too.

Lucas might be new but he wasn't born yesterday.

This led to the biggest turning point in the game.  Kaleb/Mace suggested going after Ryan's Han, and Ryan threw out JD's name as an alternative.  That caused a lot of back and forth on what to do next.  Ultimately, it became clear Kaleb/Mace and Noah/Luke were going to stick together, while Ryan/Han and Curtis/Obi were tight, as was Lucas' Darth Maul to a lesser extent.  JD decided to hitch his wagon to Kaleb while Alex was more overtly neutral.  I don't remember all the details (I was spending half my time watching Solo in the Loser's Lounge) but I know Curtis used a Force Control and JD's Anakin was worse for the wear.  He made a mental blunder when, with no cards in his hand, he automatically drew two cards for his action but missed out on using Calm to retreat and get five more cards.  Ryan's Han, who was slowly healing after near death, shot him out in seventh.  Kaleb's Mace crashed out after that in sixth.

"How about we run around the ship and REALLY drag this out?"

That death caused the dam to break.  And thank God because we were well past our 9:30 start time for game two at that point!  Curtis had recently used a Force Balance while he stalked Kaleb around the board.  Unfortunately for him, he was unaware he left himself exposed for a Leia attack by Noah, and that left Obi in fifth place.

With four to go it looked like it was Han and Maul vs. Yoda and Luke.  Lucas knew he was near the end of his useful cards, so he did the brave thing and went in for a few attacks.  Alex's Yoda rewarded him with an attack, and Lucas used Blinding Surge to return some hit points while simultaneously dying.  That's a great finish in a rookie Duel!  Ryan used Gambler's Luck on Noah's Luke to send them into third.  How about Noah, though?  He's only played in two Duels and he's finished in third place BOTH times!

Trophy defended!

It was now past 10PM and it was quickly apparent Yoda and Han were going to play ring-around-the-rosey.  That's not a critique - it's what Ryan's Han had to do - but the rest of us wanted the darn thing to end so we could start the next Duel!  Ryan finally rolled a couple of small numbers and Alex rolled big to finally catch up to everyone's favorite smuggler.  He unloaded two 6-point attacks and eventually back to back Force Pushes to bring home the win!  This marked Alex's third victor, and the third time he's one the first game of a doubleheader night!  In fact, he successfully defended his Jango Fett trophy, only the second Dueler to ever do that!  And let's make sure Ryan gets some credit for being one point away from death, only to turn it around and heal all the way back to zero.  It was an amazing second place finish.

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob/Boba Fett
11.  Christopher/Count Dooku
10.  Rylie/Emperor Palpatine
9.  Grant/Darth Vader
8.  Sam/Jango Fett
7.  JD/Anakin
6.  Kaleb/Mace Windu
5.  Curtis/Obi-Wan Kenobi
4.  Lucas/Darth Maul
3.  Noah/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ryan/Han Solo
1.  Alex C./Yoda

But this was only the FIRST game of the night...on to game TWO!!!

Preview: The Doubleheader - August 30, 2019

Ohhhhhhhhh doctor!  We're back at it, baby!!!

The only thing better than playing a 12-Way Duel is playing TWO 12-Way Duels!  And that's just what we have before us this week.  The rumor floating around the Mos Eisley Cantina is that we play two matches in late August every year to celebrate a certain someone's birthday, but don't believe that for a second.  Dueling isn't about celebrating the individual, it's about a shared joy of destroying eleven others in mutually agreed upon combat!  (Unless we're doing a special Birthday Surprise Duel, in which case, yeah - we're celebrating you!!!)

So here we are - season 6 - which means this will be our sixth annual Doubleheader.  It tastes good, like a finely aged glass of blue milk.  Let's take a stroll down memory lane...

HISTORY:

2018 Game #1 - Alex C. and Darth Vader won in the Emperor's Throne Room
2018 Game #2 - Joel and Darth Maul won on the Kamino Platform

2017 Game #1 - Rob and Jango Fett won on the Kamino Platform
2017 Game #2 - Nathan and Jango Fett won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2016 Game #1 - Grant and Count Dooku won on the Kamino Platform
2016 Game #2 - Stephen and Jango Fett won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2015 Game #1 - Ryan and Jango Fett won in the Geonosis Arena
2015 Game #2 - Grant and Yoda won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2014 Game #1 - Alex R. and Darth Maul won on the Kamino Platform
2014 Game #2 - Curtis and Yoda won in the Geonisis Arena

MEET THE DUELERS:

Christopher (playing games 1 &2) - the rookie Dueler made a big splash at the CL Training Duel a couple of weeks ago, piloting Boba Fett to a respectable 7th place finish.

Curtis (playing games 1&2) - Curtis has a soft spot for the Doubleheader, having won his debut Duel at the first one back in 2014.  That's so long ago!!!

David M. (playing game 2) - The funniest moment of the night at the CL Training Duel this year was David's slow realization that his Han Solo character maybe didn't stack up as well against the light saber wielders.  Pew pew!

Grant (playing games 1&2) - The crafty veteran would love to retake the top Dueler ranking, and he's close in third place.  He's also the only multi-winner in Doubleheader history.

JD (playing games 1&2) - You can call JD "Mr. Salty" after his early exit at the CL Training Duel.  He made some big threats towards other Duelers...will he follow through???

Kaleb (playing games 1&2) - His strategic, winning effort at the CL Training Duel not only netted him career victory #4, but also the top spot in the Dueler rankings.  Not bad!

Lucas (playing games 1&2) - Rookie Dueler alert!!!  We welcome Lucas to the Dueling table and his first steps towards a larger gaming world.

Nathan (playing game 2) - The Hall of Famer is back in the fold, and his last match, Galactic Credits back in May, proved there was no rust when he won the whole shebang.

Noah (playing game 1) - Beginner's luck or hot prospect?  Probably the latter, as Noah debuted at CL Training this year and finished third with Jango Fett in his very first match.  Nice!

Riley (playing game 1) - The youngest Dueler in league history has three top five finishes in her last three games, including her stunning victory at May the 4th Be With You.

Rob (playing game 1&2) - He's still kicking himself for not attacking the Emperor at CL Training.  His fifth place finish there was his best in the past four Duels.

Ryan (playing game 2) - Ryan has only played three times in the 2019 calendar year, but that includes a third place finish with Darth Vader at the May the 4th battle.

Sam (playing game 1) - Another rookie Dueler alert!!!  Sam somehow made it through his undergraduate career at Baylor without playing, but now that he's in grad school, he's wizened up!

Spencer (playing game 1&2) - Yet another rookie Dueler alert!  But don't assume he's an easy target - he was Hall of Famer Joel's padawan, and now he takes his teacher's place.

Troy (playing game 1&2) - In one of the most shocking finishes in Duels history, Troy came out of nowhere with the Emperor (!!!) at this summer's Singles Tournament and won it all!  He's hoping to carry that success into 12-Way play.

BB-8 PREDICTS THE WINNER:

Last year's Trey Rey (or "quad" Rey) were terrible, let's hope BB-8 does better!  BB - who you got???



Dooku and Jango?!  No light side picks???  I thought he was more sentimental than that...

That's it, folks, the Yoda Soda will be ready on Friday.  See you then!!!

CL Training Duel - August 12, 2019

Emperor's Throne Room

Believe it or not, this was the SEVENTH annual CL Training Duel.  Seventh!  It also marked the kick-off of our sixth season of 12-Way Duels.  SIXTH!!!

Are you ready for more numbers?  The CL Training Duel is the 75th Duel in league history.  We've reached the 3/4 century mark!  When will this insanity stop?  NOBODY KNOWS!  And that's the beauty of all of this.  It's overgrown all expectations.  It can't be stopped!!!

Photo bombers!

This was also an important Duel because the league saw several veteran Duelers graduate this past spring.  We needed an injection of new blood!  The siren call to play a 12-Way Duel fell on five new ears, which was awesome.  Everyone was a rookie Dueler at some point in their career, and CL Training is the perfect time to dive in.  So, welcome aboard David, Christoper, Ryan, Jordan, and Noah!

Mason drew the #1 chair and picked the Emperor's Throne Room for the battleground  It was a fitting selection given the eventual outcome of the game!  #foreshadowing.  The characters were selected next and the Duelers settled in for a night of destruction and betrayal. 

She will not go quietly into the night!

Things got off to a rocky start for the dark side when the light side shooters started roughing up the front line.  Mason's Dooku flirted with going over to the light side, but instead dropped a couple of Tauntings on David's Chewbacca!  Christopher's Greedo ended up finishing off the Wookie and David's Han was in immediate trouble.

About this same time Ian/Vader and Kaleb/Emperor started distance attacks on JD's Yoda.  He was not tickled by the experience, to say the least.  In an effort to break the cycle of abuse, he attacked Ben P.'s Luke Skywalker and Force Pushed him to a dark side kill box!  Ben P. talked himself out of an immediate death by playing I Will Not Fight You on Katie's Obi-Wan. Katie's hand revealed she had the Force Balance, so Rob's Maul decided to use his hand of attacks to finish off Ben P. before losing his cards.  This marked Ben P.'s fifth Duel - he's one away from going pro!

Sure enough, Katie dumped all hands, which forced everyone to reset and start drawing anew.  As this was occurring Mason didn't think Christopher's Boba Fett was doing anything, so he Force Pushed him to the light side to stir things up.  That made Rob's Maul extra nervous, so he teamed up with Noah's Zam Wessell to eliminate Mason in eleventh. 

Not your average rookies.

Ryan F.'s Mace Windu didn't take too kindly to what JD did to Ben, so he played two attacks but was rudely rebuffed by the Rebound and a Jedi Block.  Alas, Yoda wasn't long for the world as the ranged attacks continued and JD was done in tenth.

From there, the focus turned on Katie's Obi-Wan.  Obi's starting position in the Throne Room is never favorable.  To Katie's credit, she laid a couple of big hits, including a Force Control, but got eliminated by Maul's Athletic Surge for ninth place.  David's Han Solo was next.  It was somewhat miraculous he had lasted that long, and nobody could remember such an entertaining verbal performance by a Dueler, Jordan's testy partnership with him ended after an Anger.

That left seven Duelers, and Ryan and Christopher had formed a partnership at one end of the board while the other five huddled on their half.  They began to advance slowly, but not without Mace and Boba causing some damage, including a Thermal Detonator.  It would be Kaleb's Royal Guard who broke the line, sending Boba to the sidelines with a 5-point attack.  Kudos to Christopher, though, for surviving that early Force Push.  Ryan's Mace had rolled forward and laid one attack on Rob's Maul before switching tactics and shooting at the Emperor.  Rob unloaded all of his Sith Speeds and Ryan got eliminated in sixth.

We're in the end game now.

Noah's Jango, who had previously been aligned with Rob's Maul, took a surprise attack on Maul, which really put Rob on tilt.  Kaleb didn't help when he played You Will Die on Maul.  Rob talked Noah out of continuing to shoot him and redirected the attacks on Jordan.  Well, that made Jordan cranky and he moved in on Maul.  Rob begged and pleaded and tried to paint the target on Kaleb, but Jordan wasn't having it and Rob was out in fifth.

From there Jordan and Noah started taking pot shots at each other while Vader and Emperor slowly advanced.  Pretty quickly Jordan, low carded, fell to a four point attack from Ian's Vader while Noah 's Jango got cornered and eliminated by a two point attack from Emperor.  And then there were two!

I have to say, this final two was one of the most exciting in recent memory.  Ian's Vader was low carded after a second You Will Die and began running away from a pursuing Emperor.  Just as it looked like he could be done for, Vader played Your Skills Are Not Complete and dropped both of Kaleb's Meditations!  The mouse chase reversed as Ian ran after a retreating Emperor.  Kaleb had to draw again, and AGAIN top-decked a You Will Die!  They were both heavily damaged but it would be a final Force Lightning that propelled Kaleb to victory!  That marks his fourth career victory and makes him our new, #1 ranked Dueler.  Congrats Kaleb!

FINAL ORDER OF FINISH:

12.  Ben P. - Luke Skywalker
11.  Mason - Count Dooku
10.  JD - Yoda
9.  Katie - Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  David M. - Han Solo
7.  Christopher - Boba Fett
6.  Ryan F. - Mace Windu
5.  Rob - Darth Maul
4.  Jordan - Anakin Skywalker
3.  Noah - Jango Fett
2.  Ian - Darth Vader
1.  Kaleb - Emperor Palpatine

Stay tuned for details on the DOUBLEHEADER!  August 30 - more info soon!

Who Won the Toughest Duel...Ever?!? UPDATED!!!

Last summer I took a stab at naming the toughest Duel ever, so I thought...why not update that listing?!

I didn't quite maintain the same methodology, but it's pretty close.  I made a combined ranking of the active and retired professionals and put them in order, and assigned a number based on their rankings in that listing.  For instance, Alex C. is the number one Dueler right now so he's 1, JD is ranked 16th so he's 16, etc.  Amateurs with a handicap average less than 6 were assigned "40" and everyone else was assigned a 45.  I then took the average number for all 12 Duelers in each Duel and ordered them from smallest average number to largest.  There was a lot of change from last year, as the 18-19 season proved to be the toughest ever.

To the rankings!

TIED FOR 5th...
May the 4th Be With You - 5/4/19  Riley won with Emperor Palpatine, 12.83 avg Dueler
and
Twin Sun Slam #1 - 6/15/19  Joel won with Jango Fett, 12.83 avg Dueler

That's right, a 10 year old won the 5th hardest Duel in league history.

4th PLACE...
2015 Championship - 12/5/15  Nathan won with Count Dooku, 12.58 avg Dueler

The 2015 Championship has stood the test of time, featuring some of the all-time early greats in league history.  It was Nathan's second victory in a row.

3rd PLACE...
Valentine's Duel - 2/2/18  Ryan won with Darth Vader, 12.17 avg Dueler

Love was in the air as this Duel featured 12 current or would-be professionals.  It was Ryan's first victory in years.

2nd PLACE...
Twin Sun Slam #2 - 6/15/19  JD won with Boba Fett, 11.5 avg Dueler

I don't think we realized it at the time, but the Twin Sun Slam was the toughest doubleheader ever, as they both ranked in the top 5.  And JD won with Boba!

1st PLACE...
2018 Championship - 12/1/2018  Ben H. won with Jango Fett, 8.5 avg Dueler

That's right - the toughest Duel ever was our past Championship match, which Ben won with the top ranked character.  The league keeps getting tougher over time!!!

The 2017 (7th) and 2016 (15th) Championships were both in the top 15.  The worst Duel ever continues to be the first - the 2014 CL Training Duel.  Here's the total list from toughest to easiest: