Thanksdueling! - November 14, 2020

 

Rancor Dungeon

Not unlike after a Thanksgiving meal, when you push back from the table and start to question your gluttonous behavior, twelve gathered and braved a different kind of feast...the Rancor Dungeon!  

We continued our streak of new boards, this time playing the basement of Jabba's Palace, but in a league-first, we had a 13th character...the Rancor!

Release the Kraken!

We had a not-so-mysterious Dueler lined up to play the Rancor...Riley!  The youngest winner in league history was more than excited to play the mindless killing machine.  We hid the identities of the other Duelers and chatter to eliminate any possible bias.  She had one directive - cause as much chaos and destruction as possible.  

Of course, for the Rancor to be released, a character on the board had to be killed first.  And just like the preview post predicted, it was Ian's Luke Skywalker who opened the gate!  He destroyed one of Troy's Battle Droids to release the Rancor, and she made her presence known by immediately attacking and killing the other Battle Droid and then playing Sheer Terror, which discarded several valuable draw cards of the 12 Duelers.  

Those nervous "we're fighting a Rancor???" smiles...

But just as the Rancor entered the fray, Miguel, using Boba Fett, asked Stephen/Obi and Rob/Emperor if they wanted to join him in taking out Ryan's Anakin.  That was a bold declaration for a weaker character with Padme's gun pointed at him.  It would come back to haunt Miguel because Ryan and Rob unleashed attacks on him to nearly kill him.

Meanwhile...there was still a Rancor on the loose!  After playing the Bone Crusher card (every player has one less action), the Rancor took a Big Swing and sent Lucas' Mace Windu flying across the board.  But the rest of the Duelers started peppering the Rancor with distance attacks, including a Sniper Shot from Kaleb's Zam.  As the characters backed up, the Rancor couldn't help but move out of its caged area, putting itself at risk for getting crushed by the gate.  Sure enough, Troy's Darth Maul rushed past and destroyed the gate control panel, crushing and killing the Rancor!  Give Riley credit, she took down four minor characters before exiting the game, and giggled the entire time.

Miguel's Boba was bleeding out, and Stephen's Clone Trooper showed no mercy by shooting the Fett out in 12th place.  After that, Rob/Emperor, Stephen/Obi, and Ryan/Anakin formed up near each other, inadvertently signaling to the rest of the board they were together.  Ian's Luke wasted no time calling it out and rallying the other Duelers, including Kevin's Count Dooku.  Rob scrambled by playing You Will Die on Kaleb's Jango, hoping to put some blood in the water to distract them.  Sure enough, the mega-alliance decided they didn't need the other Fett and he was done in eleventh after Lucas' Mace finished him off.

How did Stephen save himself???

Kevin, literally playing next to Stephen from his home in Florida, Force Pushed his houseguest into the alliance kill box.  But Obi-Wan went next and, using two Force Controls, somehow wiggled out of danger while creating the biggest mess of characters anyone can remember in a long time.  That led to poor Kevin's Dooku becoming the next target, falling to Troy's Darth Maul in tenth.

From there Ian once again led the charge, putting the focus back on Ryan/Anakin and Rob/Emperor.  Ryan and Rob tried desperately to form a new alliance against Curtis/Yoda, Grant/Han, and Ian/Luke.  The rest of the board wasn't having it, though, and Duncan Threw Debris to finish off Ryan in ninth.

It got a little testy after that.  Troy's Maul was making his way across the board to attack Rob's Emperor, but Ian got nervous about Troy's intentions and called on everyone to go after Maul next.  Troy was incensed as the others betrayed him.  It would Duncan again with the kill shot, this time using a Wrath.

First time a Dueler played from a moving vehicle.

Rob was next to go, but before falling, he knocked Ian's Luke down to one point of health.  Surely somebody would finish him off immediately after, right?  Right!?!?!?  Wrong!  Ian stayed around for a LONG time after, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

With six to go, nobody was quite sure who to go after next, until Grant reluctantly pointed at the fully healthy Yoda who had been reluctant to do much damage against Troy's Maul.  The rest of the board eventually came around to that line of thinking.  The big damage came from Chewbacca's Bowcaster, which Yoda didn't defend!  It was brutal.  Stephen's Obi finished it and Curtis was out in sixth.

That left five Duelers, and Kevin finally kicked Stephen out of his house, meaning he had to play from his phone in the car (don't worry, his wife was driving).  His Obi, though, became the next target, led by Lucas' Mace Windu.  Obi fought valiantly, but he ran out of defense before Mace Whirlwinded him into fifth.

Final Three Chaos

At this point in the game it really looked like Grant's Han Solo was going to bring it home but, after Wookie Tossing Ian's still-weak Luke, Ian rolled a five, bringing him in range of Han.  He got an evil grin and moved in to hit him with the Justice - ten points!  Duncan's Vader got the last shot, and Grant was gone.  He almost became the first Dueler in league history to win four times with one character!

That left a final three of Mace/Lucas, Vader/Duncan, and Luke/Ian.  Lucas was in a strong position, but as Ian continued to heal up, the balance shifted.  They couldn't agree to team with each other against Duncan, and damaged each other in the process.  Ultimately it was Luke who got the final hit on Mace, and Lucas was done in third.  He played a great game, though, especially after getting smacked early by the Rancor!

That left the same final two from last month's Fight Night - Ian and Duncan!  Master and apprentice!  Jedi and Padawan!  Both were only at half health, and Duncan combo-ed a Throw Debris and Wrath to bring Ian within two points of death.  Ian responded by charging Vader and unleashing his second Justice.  He followed up with a four point attack, which left Vader within two of dying too!  But Duncan had one last Wrath, and he used it to win his second Duel in a row!!!  No amateur Dueler has EVER won back to back, and it was the first back to back win since Ben H. two years ago (Thanksdueling! and the 2018 Championship).  Duncan might be the chosen one Qui-Gon Jinn was speaking of!!!  Congrats Duncan!!!  And let's not forget Ian, who finished second two games in a row and somehow got this second place despite only having a point of health for a good portion of it!

Hand it over, Alex!

Here's the final order of finish again:

12.  Miguel/Boba Fett

11.  Kaleb/Jango Fett

10.  Kevin/Count Dooku

9.  Ryan/Anakin Skywalker

8.  Troy/Darth Maul

7.  Rob/Emperor Palpatine

6.  Curtis/Yoda

5.  Stephen/Obi-Wan Kenobi

4.  Grant/Han Solo

3.  Lucas/Mace Windu

2.  Ian/Luke Skywalker

1.  Duncan/Darth Vader

My goodness - what a night!!!

The new Rancor's Dungeon board is a definite keeper, it sure was fun to have that fantastic beast mixing things up for us.

So December brings us...THE 2020 CHAMPIONSHIP DUEL!!!  This is the biggest Duel of the year.  It's our SUPER BOWL of Dueling.  The top 12 ranked Duelers and winners from 2020 are invited to play and capture the Darth Vader trophy, the best trophy there is.  We'll have more information on that soon!  Also, keep an eye on your email in December...there's a rumor Rob is working on something big...

Preview: Thanksdueling! - November 14th, 2020

 

My goodness, here we go again!  November is the second to last month of the year, and the last month for Dueling before the 2020 Championship in December!  But let's not get ahead of ourselves!  Thanksdueling! provides an opportunity for us to reflect and appreciate all that this glorious board game provides us, like trust issues, ulcers, late nights, and sweet gold spray-painted trophies!

With COVID forcing us to stay online, the league has stayed committed to sprucing up the normal routines and adding a little more chaos.  Once again we're playing on a new board - the Rancor Dungeon!  And what good is a rancor dungeon without...a RANCOR!  That's right, for the first time in 12-Way Duel League history, we'll have a 13th "character" on the board, in the form of a mighty monster created just for this occasion.  Check out the map and Rancor below:

You might notice right away this is the smallest, tightest board we've ever had - it's even smaller than the Carbon Freezing Chamber.  You're welcome!  You might also notice the Rancor takes up four spaces at time.  The blue horizontal line is the dungeon door.  When the first character dies - minor or major - the door is open and the Rancor can start wreaking havoc!  For the Rancor to move, he must have an empty four-square space to occupy.  Opposing characters, however, will be able to run through/under him!  Just like Luke Skywalker ran under his legs in Return of the Jedi, so can you.  

You might also notice that red dot - that's the dungeon door control panel.  If you have a character standing on that square, and can inflict three points of damage, the dungeon door will crash half way down.  If the Rancor is under it, that's 12 points of damage!  That could be huge, because...it takes 30 hit points to kill the Rancor.  Thirty.  Points.  

We have a mystery Dueler controlling the Rancor, and when the door opens the Rancor starts with 10 cards already in its hands!  That's right - the Rancor has a deck of action cards just like the Duelers.  Let's take a look at some of what he's toting:

These are the cards we're facing, people.  It won't be easy.  And if you think you can negotiate with it, align with it, persuade it to go after others instead of yourself, don't even try it.  It's a mindless beast, meaning it won't even share a video screen on the Zoom call!  The Dueler playing the Rancor has no mercy.  The Rancor can't win the Duel either, it can only make life miserable for the other 12 trying to bring home the trophy.  We've all been warned.

Gobble Gobble!

HISTORY OF THANKSDUELING!:

2019 - Alex C. won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2018 - Ben H. won with Luke Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena
2017 - Rob won with Boba Fett on the Kamino Platform
2016 - JD won with Yoda in the Emperor's Throne Room
2015 - Nathan won with Darth Vader in the Geonosis Arena
2014 - Alex R. won with Boba Fett in the Geonosis Arena

MEET THE DUELERS:

Our normal ritual for the Thanksdueling! preview is to introduce the combatants with a quick quip on what they're thankful for this time of year...

Chair #1 - Kevin with Count Dooku.  Who is Kevin?  Even I don't know!  But he's a friend of Stephen's, and we're thankful he volunteered so we could proceed with the Duel!

Chair #2 - Rob with Emperor Palpatine.  Rob is thankful for the Star Wars Epic Duels wiki page, that provided cool software to create these life-like cards for the Rancor.

Chair #3 - Ryan with Anakin Skywalker.  Ryan is thankful for his second garage!  That's right, Ryan's house has two garages, and the extra one is where he creates our awesome 3D boards.

Chair #4 - Joel with Darth Maul.  Joel is thankful for Zoom!  Usually when a Hall of Famer retires, they're done playing, but COVID has allowed us to invite old friends back to the board.

Chair #5 - Stephen with Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Speaking of retired Hall of Famers!  Stephen is thankful for the August Doubleheader, where he added to his career victory total, which now stands at three.

Chair #6 - Curtis with Yoda.  Curtis is thankful for stress.  The sweet, joyful stress of playing this game and having to account for new variables like a freakin' Rancor!!!  YOU LOVE IT CURTIS.

Chair #7 - GRANT WITH HAN SOLO.  I swear this isn't rigged, but the best ever character/Dueler combo is hear to save us from the Rancor!  NEVER TELL GRANT THE ODDS!!!

Chair #8 - Miguel with Boba Fett.  Miguel is thankful for learning the ropes of this strange world of Dueling.  He's also thankful for the laser walls that saved him from a last place finish last month.

Chair #9 - Lucas with Mace Windu.  Lucas is thankful for his growing experience in the game.  He's tossed some good arguments out lately, he's due for his first win!

Chair #10 - Ian with Luke Skywalker.  What???  Ian is Luke in back to back Duels?  He's thankful for being a true pacifist...bwahahaha.  I couldn't even type that without laughing.  I've got a side bet going he kills the first character to spring the Rancor.

Chair #11 - Kaleb with Jango Fett.  I'm pretty sure Kaleb is NOT thankful for getting saddled with a Fett again.  But he is thankful for his new Survivor podcast - Speaking Llama!

Chair #12 - Duncan with Darth Vader.  I don't even think we can call him an amateur since he just won the third Duel he ever played last month!  Duncan is thankful for that Fight Night trophy!

This is as good a group as any to take on the Rancor.  Who do you think will get the kill shot?

STAR WARS POSTER BOOK PICKS THE WINNER:

I'm telling you something - this poster has magical Force powers.  It was 3-0 before last month, and then the pick for Fight Night finished in second place.  What is happening!?!?!  Ok all-knowing poster book...who wins the Thanksdueling! in the Rancor Dungeon?

Battle Droids?!?  By extension I guess that means Darth Maul.  Is the poster book telling us one of Maul's minor characters has a major role to play on Saturday?  We'll have to wait and see!!!

The action goes down Saturday at 7PM. See you then!!!