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