May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2020

Kamino Platform

Last year's May the 4th Duel was momentous in that it featured one of the most memorable wins in league history.  Riley, at ten years and 364 days old, shocked the world when her Emperor, about to be destroyed by Ben's Dooku, pulled out a second You Will Die and rode to a win.  It was insane and joyful and maybe the only time the other eleven Duelers didn't mind losing.

This year's May the 4th?

...not so much!

It always starts so innocently...

Right out of the gate, Ryan, using Han and Chewy, targeted lil' Riley's Darth Maul.  He Wookie Tossed her to the edge of the light side alliance, and then Elliot's Yoda further pushed her back to get decimated by the Jedi.  But Rob, whose dad anger was raging, rolled in and Force Pushed her back to the dark side, and then Gave Orders to hide again behind his Super Battle Droids.

The dark side was certainly roughed up at that point, but the scales were balanced again...until Nathan's Jango killed Riley's Maul and then Rocket Retreated to the light side!  Riley, the defending champ, was eliminated first!  The day before her 12th birthday!  May God have mercy on all of our souls...

...but make sure you have a power cord. 

The dark side got cranky after that and tried their best to retaliate.  It wasn't easy.  Rob's Dooku got shot up by Ryan's Han Solo.  That was largely assisted by Christopher's Luke Skywalker, who played his second I Will Not Fight You of the game.  That's when Diego went for the Hail Mary and played his You Will Die on Nathan's Jango, who had betrayed them.  The play worked.  The light side was bottle-necked and fully carded, so they turned on their new teammate.  It was Kaleb's Greedo, though, using a Desperate Shot, that put him down in eleventh!  What is it with Kaleb and Greedo???

Obi looks on.

After that, though, the light side pushed forward to eliminate the light side.  Rob and Kaleb tried to find cracks in the alliance but couldn't get a toehold.  That's when Rob did something so, so dirty.  His Dooku Force Pushed Troy's Darth Vader!  Poor Troy did nothing wrong, but he landed in a light side kill box with very little defense.  It didn't take long for them erase him in tenth.

From there Diego/Emperor, Rob/Dooku, and Kaleb/Boba were huddled behind Jango's ship.  And that was also when Rachel's internet connection went out because her computer ran out of power.  She literally dialed in a Force Control attack that left Diego exposed.  Rylie used her Padme's Shot on the Run and Diego was done in ninth.

The logistical issue with Rachel being out of the loop proved a nightmare.  Just as Kaleb and Rob convinced Elliot to Force Push Ben's Mace back to their corner, Rachel dialed in one last time and laid a hit on Boba before stopping.  We eventually decided to remove her Obi from the game.  As penalty for the "did not finish" we're going to mark her in last place.  You gotta be in it to win it!

LONESTAR!

Rob and Kaleb got their hits in on Ben's Mace, but Mace survived and Whirlwinded Dooku, leaving Rob in eighth.  Kaleb's Boba had Rocket Retreated to the other end of the board, right into the arms of Christopher's Luke and Rylie's Anakin.  They made short work of him, and with that, there were five left!

Ben/Mace and Rylie/Anakin were a little put-off by Elliot's previous Force Push, so the attacks started in on his Yoda.  Elliot went behind the ship to hide, but an unrelenting volley of shots finally landed him in fifth place.  Congrats to Elliot, though - that was his best finish!

That left four Duelers, and in a bit of a surprise move, Rylie's Anakin went after Christopher's Luke.  Ben and Ryan didn't mind the move and started to help.  But Christopher was playing brilliantly as Luke and managed to, at different points, drop a Justice on both Anakin and Han as well as playing another I Will Not Fight You on Mace.  He finally clipped Rylie with a four point attack and she finished in fourth.

Evil will always win, because "good" is dumb!

Christopher's expertise couldn't withstand a two-point attack, though.  While he locked horns with Ryan's Han, Ben's mangled Mace rolled up and put a big hit first on Luke, and then he Whirlwinded them both.  That knocked Christopher our, but he played arguably the best game at the table that night.  Great job Christopher!

The final two were quite interesting.  Ryan had healed up but was hurting from the Justice.  Meanwhile, Ben couldn't heal because he still had a Clone Trooper on the board.  Ryan played Heroic Retreat, knocking Mace within three points of death.  Han also ran away.  Ben figured he had one shot left.  So he used a Wisdom and Masterful Fighting, hoping for the knockout.  Ryan just survived it, and that's when he played the two cards he held onto for the entire night - both NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!

Ryan won with Han on Kamino!!!

Your final order of finish, edited to reflect the rankings after the Rachel logoff:

12.  Rachel/Obi-Wan Kenobi*
12. 11.  Riley/Darth Maul
11. 10.  Nathan/Jango Fett
10. 9.  Troy/Darth Vader
9. 8.  Diego/Emperor Palpatine
8. 7.  Rob/Count Dooku
7.  Rachel/Obi-Wan Kenobi*
6.  Kaleb/Boba Fett
5.  Elliot/Yoda
4.  Rylie/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Christopher/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ben H./Mace Windu
1.  Ryan/Han Solo

Congrats again to Ryan - any win with Han is special, but especially on that board.  I need to check the stats, but Ryan might be the first person to win with all three shooters!

Stats won't be updated until after the Birthday Duel...which is later tonight!