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!!!