Twin Sun Slam - June 13, 2020

Kamino Platform

Zoom fatigue, busy schedules, and tough times in the world hurt us in a real way as, for our third summer in a row, we attempted to host the doubleheader Twin Sun Slam duels.  In the past, Rob has everyone out to his house for burgers and Yoda Soda and a fun night of Dueling.

We just couldn't do that with COVID-19 still out there.

But, we got enough folks interested to play online for at least one game instead of two, and you know what they say.  One Duel is better than no Duels!

To help fill the player ranks we dipped into the retired ranks and, lo and behold, look who came back to play!  Chris K., who played in the very first Duel in league history!  And we also got Stephen to jump in too!  The Hall of Famer married former Dueler Heidi this past December, so it was good see him (and her over his shoulder) logging on from Florida.  Stephen currently serves our country in the Navy, so we thank him for his service too.

As with previous online Duels, chair order, characters, and board were determined ahead of time.  Kamino was the battle ground, and we were off and running!

Your starting 12!

Right out of the gate the light side applied the Kamino-press philosophy by moving towards the dark side.  The dark side countered by starting shoot them, and they focused their attacks on Chris' Han Solo.  He was taking early damage and it didn't look good for the light, but that's when Stephen's Dooku flipped to the light side!  Ryan's Obi-Wan seized that momentum by playing a Force Balance on Ben's Zam Wessell, killing the minor character and pulling Jango into a kill box while pinning Grant's Maul, Riley's Emperor, and Rylie's Boba deep in their own territory.  The light side made quick work of Ben and he had the dubious honor of twelfth place.

You can see why Jango didn't stand a chance.

The light side Clone Troopers and Chewbacca continued their distance attacks against the trapped dark side characters.  Rylie, hoping to change her luck, launched a big attack and Rocket Retreat on alliance partner Elliot!  She flew over to Rob's Yoda and Stephen's Dooku.  Unfortunately for Boba...Yoda and Dooku were fully carded with nobody to attack.  They pummeled her down to one point of health.  Both agreed to stop if she would attack Grant's Maul with her Greedo, who was still on the dark side of the board.  But the rest of the light side got nervous she might eventually chuck a Thermal Detonator at them, so Ryan's Obi picked her off in eleventh place.  The rough finish knocked her out of second place in the Dueler rankings.

That left the trio of Grant/Maul, Riley/Emperor, and Elliot/Vader as the last ones standing on their end of the platform.  Curiously, Emperor and Vader weren't launching many of their distance attacks.  Grant bravely sacrificed his own Maul to help buy the other two time.  Chewbacca eventually eliminated him in tenth, but with a four point attack instead of the Bowcaster everybody knew he was holding.  That would prove pivotal later in the game...  #foreshadowing

The main recipient of Maul's attacks before expiring was Troy's Mace Windu.  Mace bravely rescued Chris' Han by plugging a hole in the light side offensive.  But because he was damaged, Rob saw an opportunity to thin the heard.  He moved to Mace and played a combo Force Lift/Push and sent poor Troy hurtling to an alliance kill box.  Kaleb's Leia eliminated him in ninth place, with significant damage being added by his old CL, Stephen.

The Bowcaster Debate

With eight Duelers left, the light side refocused their efforts to get Vader and Emperor.  Ian's Anakin made a push into the hiding place behind Jango's ship.  He eventually eliminated Elliot's Darth Vader with an 8-point Anger.  Though it wasn't the finish he hoped for, Elliot did become an official Dueling professional with this match.  Congrats Elliot!  He debuts as the 13th ranked Dueler in the league.

Riley's Emperor was the next target.  She strategically saved her two Meditation cards to counter the effects of her damage, but a Latent Force Ability from Kaleb's Leia eliminated her before she could play it.  That was good for a seventh place finish for the league's youngest Dueler.

Obi flexing.

And then there were six!  Rob was the first to go, which also meant he would help set the table for the end game.  He was about to Insight Han to get rid of the Bowcaster, but Chris made a proposition.  He offered to fire it anybody Yoda wanted.  This intrigued Rob, and they put the target on Kaleb's Luke, who was closest for attack.  But Chewbacca only rolled a three instead of a four, and that led to chaos within the rest of the alliance.  It got back to Kaleb, and Rob said he would follow Luke's lead.  Kaleb played I Will Not Fight You on Stephen, and Rob's Yoda later attacked and Force Pushed him towards Chewbacca, who Bowcasted him to his death.  Nothing's changed in this league, Stephen!

That brought it to five.  The heat started being directed towards Rob's Yoda, but first, the remaining blades wanted Han and Chewy off the board.  It was Ryan's Obi-Wan who made the final attack, and Chris was done in fifth.  That's an awesome finish for Han on the Kamino Platform, which is typically an early death guarantee.

That made it four Duelers to go, and Rob implored Ryan's Obi to stick with his Yoda since they were the two strongest characters left and Anakin and Luke would surely stick together if they killed the pint-sized Jedi master.  Ryan wasn't feeling it, though, so they all started attacking Yoda.  Rob was cranky, but ultimately enjoyed getting to play with his favorite character for only the third time in 89 Duels.  Yoda held them off longer than expected, but Ryan's Obi stabbed him into fourth place.

Sure enough, Ian's Anakin and Kaleb's Luke combined to take on Obi, and they each had their minor character to help.  But Ryan put on quite the display as he deftly held his own against both of them.  In fact, with the threat of playing his Force Balance, he kept Luke and Ani on tilt for a good number of rounds.  Ian's Anakin got a little too ambitious, though, and Ryan was able to eliminate Ian in third place.  For the record, Ian is now ok with playing Duels online.

How appropriate - Luke wins the Twin Suns!

Though Ryan got the drop on Anakin, he was mortally wounded and in trouble with the Luke and Leia twins.  He tried to hold on but it was a combo attack from the siblings that finished Obi-Wan in second.  Ryan has continued his recent string of strong finishes and nearly pulled off an incredible 2 vs. 1 win.

That means all the praise and accolades go to Kaleb!  He becomes just the fourth Dueler to win with Luke Skywalker, and he kept Leia alive the whole time too.  This marks Kaleb's fifth career victory.  Well done to our late add - he wasn't even supposed to Duel this game!

Final order of finish:

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

Well...this is probably our last Dueling action until the CL Training Duel in August.  We normally play the Singles Tournament in July, but with COVID-19, we can't safely pull that off this summer.  We'll try and do that later in the year but I'm not sure it will actually happen.  That's a huge bummer.

BUT!  This August, we start season SEVEN of the league!  SEVEN!!!  Until then...may the force be with you.

Always.

Preview: The Twin Sun Slam - June 13, 2020

The summer of covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across the world.  We're forced to hold this year's Twin Sun Slam, usually a doubleheader cookout at Rob's house, online.  And because I'm not stuffing people's faces with hamburgers and "Kill Rob First" cupcakes, folks weren't quite as interested in playing two games.

So, for the first time in Twin Sun Slam history, we'll only have one slam.  A solo slam.  Wait...a HAN solo slam??!?!?!

Woof.  My Star Wars puns are only getting worse, friends...  Let's check out Twin Sun Slam history!

HISTORY:

2019 Game #1 - JD won with Boba Fett in the Geonosis Arena
2019 Game #2 - Joel won with Jango Fett on the Kamino Platform

2018 Game #1 - Alex C. won with Jango Fett in the Carbon Freezing Chamber
2018 Game #2 - Grant won with Han Solo (#3) in the Geonosis Arena

MEET THE DUELERS:

Oh boy...dust off the cobwebs, because we drug out a few retired professionals for this one!

Chair #1 - Rylie w/ Boba Fett.  Our most recent winner and first time winner (May's Birthday Duel), Rylie is riding quite a streak, with two fourths and that first place in her last three battles.

Chair #2 - Troy w/ Mace Windu.  May was a rough month for Troy, who got tagged with a ninth and tenth place finish.  He's hoping to right the ship in this, his fifth career Duel.

Chair #3 - Riley w/ Emperor Palpatine.  The birthday girl celebrated her 12th birthday with a third place finish, and now she has the character she won with at last year's May the 4th.

Chair #4 - Jess w/ Jango Fett.  You can tell how desperate we were for players this go-round because Jess is playing for the first time in over five years (the 2015 May the 4th Duel).

Chair #5 - Elliot w/ Darth Vader.  Let's get a slow clap going - this is Elliot's sixth Duel, he's going pro!  And he's also coming off a career-best finish in second place at the b-day Duel.

Chair #6 - Rob w/ Yoda.  In eighty-eight previous Duels in league history, of which Rob has played in all eighty-eight, he's only gotten Yoda twice.  His favorite character.  He's crying right now.

Chair #7 - Chris K. w/ Han Solo.  Look what the cat dragged in!  Chris K. came out of retirement for this bad boy, and he was rewarded with Han freakin' Solo.  Welcome back...?

Chair #8 - Stephen w/ Count Dooku.  OMG, the golden oldies keep coming!  Hall of Famer and recently wed Stephen is playing with us all the way from Florida!  This Duel is so 2017...

Chair #9 - Ryan w/ Obi-Wan Kenobi.  I didn't make a big enough deal about it at the time, but when Ryan won May the 4th with Boba Fett, he became the first Dueler to win with all three shooters!

Chair #10 - Ian w/ Anakin Skywalker.  We twisted his arm long and hard, and Ian finally agreed to try a Duel online.  Let's see how one of the most calculating Duelers in the league fairs...

Chair #11 - Grant w/ Darth Maul.  Grant's top-six finish with Luke, in the Carbon Freezing chamber last month, starting 12th, was a master class in Dueling skill.  Let's see how he does in chair eleven!

Chair #12 - Ben H. w/ Luke Skywalker.  Only three Duelers in league history have won with Luke Skywalker, and Ben is one of them!  Can he be the first to do it twice?