Duel of the Fates - April 18, 2020

Geonosis Arena

Here we go again, Duelers!

Everyone is still stuck in quarantine, so we played the sixth annual Duel of the Fates match online, like we did last month.  God bless Zoom for making all of this possible!

We also had fun with one of the Zoom features, the ability to alter your background.  For those who had computers of the less ancient variety, you could create a backdrop of your character.  Otherwise, you were stuck renaming yourself with a clever character related twist.

My daughter Riley drew the board before the evening started, and we got Geonosis.  Folks were once again thankful to avoid the Emperor's Throne Room.

They're smiling now...

Ben H. was a last minute sub, coming in as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he made a huge impact in his first turn.  He moved up next to Diego's Mace Windu and attacked with a Force Control.  That rearranged the board by putting Diego in a kill box and squishing the rest of the light side together, minus Sam's Yoda, behind the pillars.  Kaleb's Luke Skywalker sought safety on the dark side too, but all he heard were crickets in return.

Ben H. wasn't done - he then used a Jedi Attack to retreat all the way to the last row of the dark side.  Poor Diego!  To make matters worse, Diego didn't have a defense card in his first four cards.  It was Lucas' Zam Wessell who landed the kill shot with a three point attack.  For just the fourth time in league history Mace Windu finished last.

Diego with a good sense of humor about his demise.

With Yoda left exposed, Grant's Emperor Palpatine decided to rock Sam's world with the You Will Die Card.  Rob moved his Count Dooku all the way to the back line to Force Push Sam into a kill box deep in dark side territory.  With a naked hand there was little he could do.  It was a one point attack from Christopher's Storm Trooper that killed the diminutive Jedi in eleventh.  Brutal!

Hand it to Ben P., he wasn't going down without a fight.  He Wrathed over to Rob's Dooku to take a swing.  They tussled but the dark side advanced on him faster than he anticipated.  Cut off from retreat, it was Ben H. who sent him packing with his second Jedi Attack of the night.  His card luck was outstanding.  Give Ben P. some love, though, this marked his sixth Duel, meaning he's now professional.  Congrats Ben!!!

Kaleb was desperately trying to improve his situation, and he even landed a sneak attack on Christopher's Vader with Leia, but his last alliance member betrayed him when Elliot's Han and Chewbacca attacked Luke.  Lucas used a controversial Rocket Retreat attack on Christopher's Vader to fly over and finish Kaleb in ninth with a four point attack.

Kaleb's sense of humor was on point

With eight Duelers left Ben H. tried to paint Alex's Maul as the next victim.  The rest of the Dark Side was reluctant to go there, so in an attempt to appease them, he turned against Rob's Dooku, who was now nestled behind the columns with Han and Jango.  This made Rob/Dooku and Lucas/Jango cranky, so they focused their efforts against Obi.  Ben H. had a trick up his sleeve, though.  He played Force Balance, making everyone drop their hand and draw three new cards.  As his never-ending luck would have it, he got a Force Control as one of his three and played it on Dooku.

The realignment of the board ended up working against him, though.  Alex hadn't forgotten the original target Ben placed on him and he finished him off with a four point attack.  That left seven.  Elliot's Han had saved Rob's Dooku earlier, so Rob had intentionally not attacked him.  But he could tell the rest of the dark side wanted the smuggler dead, so he used two Super Battle Droid attacks to end his night in seventh.  That's a career best finish for Elliot, though!

Light saber on in the brain

With six to go Lucas Fired Up the Jet Pack back to the dark side to try and prove, once and for all, he was still loyal.  But with six to go...somebody had to go next, and that ended up being Lucas when Ryan's Boba stung him with his Deadly Aim attack.  And then there were five!

Obi's Force Balance had left Rob's Dooku weak carded, and he saw Alex's Maul creeping towards him behind the columns.  Dooku rolled out on his move, and landed near Ryan's Boba.  For his first action, he drew a Taunt, and hoping to keep the attention off his wounded Dooku, he played it on Boba.  As it turned out...Boba drew two Thermal Detonators on the redraw!  He promptly used them on Rob, much to his amusement, and the Count was done in fifth place.

This left a final four of Ryan/Boba, Christopher/Vader, Alex/Maul, and Grant/Emperor.  This was pretty much the core alliance for the entire game, so the end politics was fun to watch.

Ryan was the first to break the ice, and suggested Alex's fully healthy Darth Maul seemed to be the most dangerous character left.  The others reluctantly agreed, and committed to whittling him down.  Beside's Grant's Emperor, though, they weren't getting many attacks in.  Grant used three Force Lightnings to severely damage the horned Sith.  But that also managed to move the target to himself, as he was the last character left with full health.

Ryan pointed this out, and did a combo of Deadly Aim and Kyber Dart.  Grant wasn't expecting that level of attack and, shockingly, died in fourth.  It was good to see Grant back in the top four, though, after a minor slump as of late.

With three to go Christopher and Ryan made a shaky alliance to try and finish off Alex's Maul.  Christopher wasn't using distance attacks, though, preferring to use his Storm Troopers while Ryan's Boba feigned attempts at lining up shots he couldn't make due to Maul hiding behind the columns.  Boba finally got too close and suffered a near fatal attack from Maul.  Ryan knew he couldn't attack Maul after that, or Alex would use Blinding Surge to kill him.  In desperation he attacked Christopher.  Vader was forced to use a Throw Debris on Ryan.  That's two top five finishes with Boba for Ryan in the last two games - well done!

Pay no attention to the unnamed Dueler holding the
Duel of the Fates trophy on Alex's phone pic.

Everyone watching the Duel assumed Christopher was saving his two Throw Debris for his final confrontation with Alex's wounded Maul.  What we didn't know, though, was Vader lost the first Debris on the Force Balance and, in a terrible bout of deck luck, had yet to retrieve it again.  Alex could sense the weakness and moved in to attack.  Hand it to Christopher, he played his last Wrath and attacked twice, but Alex was prepared and finally killed Vader to secure the win!!!

That's Alex's sixth victory, improving his first place standing in the league, and moving him less than a percentage point behind the all-time leader in career win percentage!  That's incredible!  This was also career win number ten for Maul, who is now the second character in league history with double-digit victories.  There's no doubt he's been the hottest character in the league over the past year.  Let's also tip our caps to Christopher, who finished a career best second place!  A little better card luck and he might have been able to pull of his first win.  He'll get there one day!

Final order of finish:

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

We have two Duels coming up in May to finish out our Dueling season.  The first is our traditional May the 4th Be With You Duel, which, naturally, occurs on May 4th.  But, we have a special Birthday Duel the very next day.  Riley, the youngest winner in league history, was born on May 5th, aka Cinco de Riley, aka, Revenge of the 5th!  And it's also her TWELFTH BIRTHDAY.  You know what must be done - we're having a 12-Way for the 12 year old's birthday.  Those invites will go out soon, look out for the email.

Thanks everyone, that was a solid night of Dueling!  If you want to see how the final three played out, enjoy this video!

Preview: Duel of the Fates - April 18, 2020

We're into month two of the shelter in place order, which means we're back online for another Duel!

This time, though, we have audio requirements to overcome.  For you see, every April is Duel of the Fates, and every Duel of the Fates we play the Episode One theme music of the same name.

All night.

On repeat.

Until somebody wins and brings our misery to a merciful conclusion.

But how do we do that this year?  Require everybody to play it in their respective abodes?  Will that echo terribly over Zoom?  Will people be sufficiently annoyed by it if it plays softly from a lone computer?  The mental torture is half the fun!

Let's be honest.  At this moment in history, if that's our biggest problem, we're doing just fine.

HISTORY OF DUEL OF THE FATES:

2019 - Kaleb won with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Emperor's Throne Room
2018 - Ian won with Count Dooku in the Emperor's Throne Room
2017 - Kaleb won with Darth Vader in the Geonosis Arena
2016 - Alex R. won with Count Dooku in the Carbon Freezing Chamber
2015 - Curtis won with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

In order to get copies of decks to players in advance of the game, we've once again already drawn for seats and characters.  Let's take a look!

Chair 1 - Elliot w/ Han Solo.  Poor Elliot, after two rough finishes in his first two career Duels, he's now saddled with Han Solo.  At least he gets to go first!

Chair 2 - Rob w/ Count Dooku.  Rob nearly three-peated the Imperial March trophy last month, finishing just short in second place.  But he's scared to death of Duel of the Fates...he's finished last the past two years!

Chair 3 - Ryan w/ Boba Fett.  It's deja vu all over again.  Ryan piloted Boba Fett to a respectful fifth place finish at the Imperial March.  Now he's stuck with the Fett again.  Let's hope he saved his bright pink playing deck...

Chair 4 - Grant w/ Emperor Palpatine.  Grant's looking for his first top six finish since last summer's Twin Sun Slam.  It's an uncharacteristic streak for one of the leagues most respected Duelers.

Chair 5 - Troy w/ Obi-Wan Kenobi.  What a treat!  The 2019 Singles Tournament Champion is back at the table.  During his last appearance he was dressed as General Grievous to boot.  We'll see what Buley's old padawan has up his sleeve.

Chair 6 - Sam w/ Yoda.  With the shelter in place in effect, busy grad student Sam has time to play with us again!  This marks his fifth Duel, one short of professional status.  It's great to have him back.

Chair 7 - Christopher w/ Darth Vader.  Don't look now, but Christopher just scored the same character he took to a career-best finish of third place at the 2019 Championship.  You've been warned!

Chair 8 - Ben P. w/ Anakin Skywalker  New professional Dueler alert!!!  This marks Ben's sixth career Duel.  He's turning pro!  This is also his first match since his rough last place finish at the CL Retreat back in August.

Chair 9 - Kaleb w/ Luke Skywalker.  The bearded one just broke the Jedi oath and got engaged this month.  Congrats Kaleb!!!  Now he must turn his bride-to-be to the dark side and get her to a future Duel...

Chair 10 - Alex C. w/ Darth Maul.  He's just happy he didn't get a Fett!  After four straight Duels with a Fett, and five of his last games, he has a character that's the polar opposite.  And it keeps his streak of dark side characters intact at eight Duels.

Chair 11 - Lucas w/ Jango Fett.  "That Portuguese Guy" was cruising to a top six finish until Darth Vader flipped at the Imperial March.  Now he has a character with a rocket retreat to keep his options open.

Chair 12 - Diego w/ Mace Windu.  The league's second ranked amateur Dueler is back in action after an impressive rookie appearance in fifth place at the Rise of Skywalker movie Duel.

BB-8 PREDICTS THE WINNER:

It was a swing and a miss with BB-8's Imperial March prediction.  Time for him to fire up the x-wing and take another stab at it!




BB-8 is 2-8 with picks this year.  We'll see how he does...

That's all for now!  Let me know if you'd like to be invited to watch the Duel on Zoom!