Carbon Freezing Chamber
We did it.
We played a 100 Duels.
100!!!
In honor of the 100th Duel in league history, we gathered a dozen of the all-time greats to ring in the era of triple-digits. We even had three Duelers from the first Duel - CL Training back in 2014 - playing in the game! That's enough exposition, though...let's hear how it went down!
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| Look at that gallery of all-stars! |
We were fittingly stuck in the Carbon Freezing Chamber for this bad boy, and as veterans know, Carbon comes down to what happens to Vader (Ian) and Luke (Ben H.) at the start of the game. Grant's Count Dooku went first, though, and he wasted no time by laying an attack on Luke with his Super Battle Droid!
The game split dead even at the start, with the six light and six dark side characters staying loyal to each other. Joel's minor character, Greedo, was the first character to bite the dust. Soon after, Curtis' Mace Windu charged in with a Whirlwind and then a Wisdom to retreat backwards. Just as it looked like Joel's Boba would be the first to die, he struck a deal with the light side, promising to flip! Rob was next, and he and Ian tried to convince Joel to stay. Rob was low-carded after Ben's banged-up Luke Skywalker played I Will Not Fight You on him, but his Emperor still had You Will Die. Instead of using it on Joel, he dropped it on Kaleb's Han Solo, who had Chewbacca leading the light side charge with a possible Bowcaster in his hand. In the end, it didn't matter...Joel betrayed his alliance! He threw a Thermal and attacked Emperor with a Kyber Dart. With Rob bleeding out, JD's Obi-Wan clone finished the league founder off in last place.
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| Rob played in 100 Duels and all he has to show for it is this lousy Palpatine t-shirt. |
The crazy thing about Joel attacking his own side was that he didn't use a Rocket Retreat to peace out. Vengeance was dished cold when Ian's Vader and Stephen's Darth Maul eliminated him in eleventh place.
With ten Duelers left and only four dark side characters, it was open season for the light side. Their minors started peppering the remaining bad guys with distance shots. Stephen got tempted by the light side to betray his alliance to further himself in the game, so he reluctantly dropped hits on an understanding Grant/Dooku. But it would be JD who made a really big splash. His Obi-Wan pulled off a feat that hadn't been seen in quite a few Duels. He killed two main characters in one turn! First he used a Jedi Attack to kill Ian's boxed-in Vader, and the movement from that allowed him to rush Grant's Dooku, who succumbed to a four point death in ninth place!
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| Ian with nowhere to run. |
There were just eight Duelers left, and Ryan's Jango, who had been flirting with Alex R.'s Anakin all game, made good on his promise to shake things up. He used a Rocket Retreat to stand next to Ben's Luke, and then fired a Missile Launch at point-blank range. That was more than Ben could handle, and he was dead in eighth. Considering how badly he was hounded by the dark side at the start of the game, that was actually a great finish.
With seven to go, something happened that hadn't occurred since 2016. I am speaking, of course, of Alex R. shaking things up in crazy and radical ways! (And now that we mention it, I'm pretty sure Alex set a record for longest time between Duels, at just under five years!) Alex R.'s Anakin called out Alex C.'s Yoda for being silent and hanging back, and tried to cause a lot of chaos while doing so. What was even crazier was that it was Alex C.'s turn! He hoped to rally folks against Yoda, but Alex R. was stunned when Curtis' Mace Windu attacked him instead of Yoda! Alex R. was highly annoyed when others joined in, cursing the formulaic play. Kaleb's Han got the final shot on Alex R., and the Dueling legend bowed out in seventh.
That left six folks vying for the title of the Centurion, and the board almost unanimously decided Ryan's Jango's services were no longer needed. He was cranky, but Stephen chopped him up for a sixth place finish.
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| You could cut the tension with a knife. |
The final five began jockeying for position, and I'll be honest, there was a long boring streak in here I don't have a lot of memory of because I was texting with a lot of dead Duelers, but, here's what I remember. Alex C.'s Yoda, who survived Alex R.'s uprising, made it known he wasn't too keen on Stephen's Maul sticking around. In a bit of a surprise, JD agreed. JD and Stephen had partnered, but that alliance was now at an end. We should note Stephen was playing with us from ITALY, as in EUROPE, and had to message us most of the night because it was 4 in the morning there and he didn't want to wake up his wife. But he turned his mic back on and made whisper pleas to no avail. They ganged up on him and Kaleb reluctantly put him down in fifth with a Never Tell Me The Odds.
At the final four, everyone was still in strong health, but JD thought it was time to go after Alex's Yoda. Alex responded by double-Force Pushing him for six points of damage! It loosely turned into a doubles match, as Alex/Yoda and Kaleb/Han loosely worked with each other against Curtis/Mace and JD/Obi. JD was starting to wrack up the damage, though. Kaleb begged him to take a step back and see what was happening - three of them were getting weaker while Curtis' Mace was still in great shape. JD was determined he and Curtis were faithful, and in a bit of a surprise, he ran down to Kaleb's end of the board and dispatched him with a Jedi Attack. Kaleb was none-too-pleased.
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| Gotta get those arms loose for the WHIRLWINDS! |
JD retreated down to Curtis' Mace, assuming they were still good. But with only a couple of health points left, Curtis decided he no longer needed his fellow Jedi, and JD was disheartened to learn he would finish in third place instead of second. Alex C. played nimbly with a banged-up Yoda, but because his Clone was still alive, he couldn't heal. Curtis played patiently, and after a couple of charges, he finally ended the night by Whirlwinding Alex for the win!!!
For now on, we shall call Curtis by his new name: THE CENTURION!!!
The Final Order of Finish:
12. Rob/Emperor
11. Joel/Boba
10. Ian/Vader
9. Grant/Dooku
8. Ben H./Luke
7. Alex R./Anakin
6. Ryan/Jango
5. Stephen/Maul
4. Kaleb/Han
3. JD/Obi-Wan
2. Alex C./Yoda
1. Curtis/Mace
Just look at that list...84 of the leagues 100 wins are represented!!! What a night. We'll do it again at 200...
In April we're back to our normal Dueling schedule - Duel of the Fates will likely be on April 10th - stay tuned for more details!
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