Carbon Freezing Chamber (not that it matters when it's just a test)
Ohhhhhh doctor!!! For the first time in league history, we (unofficially) played with 12 brand new characters!!! This new character test drive was intended to see if the new characters Rob created were league-worthy. The goal is to play the A New Hope Duel in January with all the new characters, and then integrate them into all future Duels, randomly picking six light side and six dark side characters each month. But first...we need to see how they do in action!
This will be a truncated recap, where I'll reveal who played, who they played with, how they died, and a cool card in the new character's deck. Here we go...
12th Place - Duncan
Character - Supreme Leader Snoke
How He Died - Double Blasters from Krennic (Kaleb), which is a cool card, similar to Han's Never Tell Me the Odds, but it does three points of damage instead of two (because he's holding two guns!) Duncan had a lot of fun early, playing some cool cards that scared the crap out of everyone, including...
Cool New Card - Tied To A String. This one stirred some controversy as it enabled Snoke to bring any character on the board adjacent to him for two points of damage. It pairs with Snoke's version of Force Lightning, which he does for three points of damage to an opponent adjacent to him. After using it he can then move that character to any open space on the board!
11th Place - Miguel
Character - Rey
How He Died - Jyn Erso's I Rebel card, an eight point attack that does additional damage to surrounding characters. Miguel had a volatile night as he locked horns with several characters, including Kylo. He was the victim of Snoke's Tied To A String, but used his Backflip to move out of his kill box! His light side allies eventually turned on him.
Cool New Card - The Rise of Skywalker. This is a 12 point defense card that heals up to ten points of damage!
10th Place - David
Character - General Grievous
How He Died - Moff Gideon's Accute Pain, a six-point attack that, if it causes damage, makes the victim discard the next two cards in their draw pile. David had one of the most jaw-dropping moments of the night when he played Reinforcements. Both of his MagnaGuards were dead, but this card allowed both of them to reappear at full health!!! It pairs with Spare Parts, a card that allows Grievous to heal at the expense of his minor character's health points.
Cool New Card - Trophy. David used this 8 point attack but couldn't use the bonus, which allows you to pick up an attack card from your enemy and put it in your hand if you kill them!
9th Place - Rylie
Character - Kylo Ren
How She Died - Cara Dune's Heavy Weapon, a 5 point attack that doesn't count as an action if it does damage. Rylie had a blast, shaking things up and flexing new cards all over the board, all in a desperate attempt to get to bed early for her holiday travel the next morning. One eye-opening moment was when folks realized both Kylo and Rey have Force Dyad cards, that turn 5 attack/5 defense cards into 7's if Rey and Kylo stand next to each other!
Cool New Card - I Know What I Have To Do. This is now the most powerful attack card in the game...12 points!!!
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| Crash Test Dummies |
8th Place - Ryan
Character - Orson Krennic
How He Died - 3 point attack from Moff Gideon. Krennic's troubles came when Wicket the Ewok used a Surprise Attack, which doubles the damage of the target. The board turned on Ryan's Krennic and Elliot's Lando at the same time. He also caused a collective groan when he played Peace and Security, a special that requires opponents (but not Krennic) to discard their hands and draw four new cards.
Cool New Card - Execution. For the first time we saw unique attack cards for non-distinct minor characters. This card is a 4 point attack, and allows the card to be used again by the other Death Trooper if he can attack the same opponent, and the second attack doesn't count as an action!
7th Place - Elliot
Character - Lando Calrissian
How He Died - Moff Gideon's Dark Saber, an 8 point attack and defend card! Elliot was kind of running things on the down-low until Kaleb called him out. One of the big impacts of the game was when he played Lobot's Disarmed, which forces any opponent Lobot can attack to discard two cards of their choosing.
Cool New Card - Evacuation. Lando has three of these 8 point defenses, that allows him to move all adjacent characters to him as well as himself. Lando is the first defense-oriented shooter, and he proved really hard to take down!
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| Anybody know how to produce these 3-D? |
6th Place - Chris K.
Character - Jyn Erso
How He Died - The Mandalorian's 6 point attack, called This Is The Way. Chris had to fight and scrape his way through the game, especially after his minor, Cassian Andor, died early. But Jyn had a few tricks up her sleeve, including Stardust, a defense card that allowed her to change the attack card used against her!
Cool New Card - Trust Goes Both Ways. This special card provides another league-first: it allows Jyn and Cassian to switch who the main character is! If Jyn is hurting but Cassian is healthy, they can flip!
5th Place - Grant
Character - The Mandalorian
How He Died - a 4 point attack from Moff Gideon. Perhaps no other character had as an exciting array of unique cards than Grant, including his 10 point Disintegration (which you have to sacrifice your next three draw cards to play) and Rising Phoenix, a special that allows Mando to fly in the air for the duration of his turn.
Cool New Card - Whistling Birds. Oh yes, the series-favorite weapon inflicts two points of damage on up to 12 different characters! But, BUT, it can only be used ONCE per game, so choose wisely!
4th Place - Natalie
Character - Qui-Gon Jinn
How She Died - a 4 point attack from Leia. Hand it to Natalie, neither of her characters were shooters and that's all she was surrounded by. Her use of Jar Jar throughout the night was humorous but effective, especially when she played Humble Servant, a card that doesn't count as an action but allows for three actions on a turn!
Cool New Card - There's Always A Bigger Fish. This special is pretty cool, and she used it brilliantly against Leia earlier in the game. Qui-Gon picks an opponent with more cards in their hand, draws cards until they have the same amount, and then the opponent has to discard by choice the same number of cards in return! Ouch!
3rd Place - Kaleb
Character - Tobias Beckett
How He Died - Leia's Camouflage attack, good for 6 points and the victim can't attack them back on their next turn. Kaleb really channeled his inner-scoundrel and had a blast playing Beckett, especially his 6 point defense called One Step Ahead. It allows Beckett to pull back the card and replace it with another defense card if he wants to adjust after seeing the attack card. The final two Duelers found that VERY frustrating!
Cool New Card - Kaleb didn't get a chance to play many of Val's cards, and the one he had hoped for but couldn't is called It's Been A Ride, Babe! This special card is a 5 point self-destruct, injuring Val and all characters adjacent to her! BOOM!
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| Look at these new damage indicators! |
2nd Place - Riley
Character - Moff Gideon
How She Died - Covert Operation, an auto-4 points of damage special from Leia. Riley, or the "Tiny Titan of Terror" as Kaleb dubbed her, took a lot of hits early but partnered with Beckett to make an unexpected deep run, all the way to second place. She got jacked up when Leia played her two best defense cards, I Know, which does no damage to Leia but 4 to the attacker!
Cool New Card - The Dark Troopers were dead before she could use it, but they have a new card called Kidnapped, which allows a Dark Trooper to move itself and a character adjacent to it to any two empty spaces on the board!
1st Place - Ethan
Character - Princess Leia
How He Won - Our old Dueling friend Ethan won by laying low, taking distance shots, and using Speeder Chase cards to move all over the board! One of the chief complaints about the original 12 characters is that there were no female leads, and here in our first test with the new characters we see women heroes of the rebellion are just as capable as the fellas! Ethan played great.
Cool New Card - Wicket died before he could use it, but Whirling Rocks allows 4 points of damage to any character if you roll the dice and DON'T get a 2-all, otherwise, that two points of damage to Wicket!
It was a lot of fun playing with the new characters! I would like to do another test Duel on the afternoon of December 30th, 1PM. Let Rob know if you can play in that one! He's going to tweak the cards based on feedback and what we saw in this first test drive. Speaking of...
...if you would like to see all the new character cards, let Rob know! He'll forward you the PDFs. He would love any feedback or suggestions you have before they go into permanent rotation!
These are exciting times!!! Thanks for being part of the insanity!
