Ewok Village
We got the first Duel done in under 4 hours - yay us! After a brief break to stuff our faces with Tacos and set up the new board, we were ready. For game 2 we were in Ewok Village, probably the prettiest board we play on and a lasting testament to the design stylings of Ryan. We miss you Ryan!
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| Nine of these fools decided to play twice! |
Ewok Village is a tricky board because of its odd design and starting points. It doesn't favor the typical 6v6 pattern. Nonetheless, early in the game it looked like the dark side would try to stay united. However, Ian's Lobot was on the big bridge and positioned himself to Disarm four cards each from JD's Kylo Ren and Karson's Darth Vader! Not long after Karson saw the light and flipped sides. JD, still glowing from his game 1 victory but now threatened with a last place finish, attacked Vader. He played his 12 attack - I Know What I Have To Do - on Karson...who didn't defend!!! OUCH!!!
Meanwhile, Grant D.'s Jyn/Cassian, Kat's lil' Leia, Evan's Mando, and Lando were peppering the dark side with shots and they weren't coping with it well. Elliot's Jango Rocket Retreated to stand by Grant H.'s Moff Gideon...who promptly attacked him! Jango didn't last long, and Elliot ended a frustrating day in last place.
JD had run down to the bridge, hoping to curry favor with the light side as he was bleeding health points. That's when Rylie's Dark Trooper threw not one but TWO grenades!!! Those did a lot of damage, but it hurt an already wounded Kylo the most. Evan's Cara Dune used Heavy Weapon to knock him out in 11th. It's always tough to win the first game of a Doubleheader, the target is immediately on you!
Rylie's use of the Grenades was slick, but she had taken damage from two Camouflage attacks from Rob's Big Leia. The rest of the bridge shooters whittled her down, and Big Leia got the kill shot, allowing Rylie to play her farming game for the rest of the night.
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| Feed Maul or Else |
Ben's Darth Maul started the game in the back corner, and by this point he was fully carded and ready for revenge on Karson for flipping. He used an Athletic Surge to kill a Storm Trooper and move in on Vader. Karson never recovered from the Kylo 12 attack, and Maul deep-sixed him in 9th place.
Kat's Luke and Leia were fully carded on the other end of the board, and she took the opportunity to fire a shot at Ian's Lando, who was near Maul and Grant H.'s Gideon. Ian used a defense card that allowed him to switch places with another Dueler, and he was going to do it on Kat's Luke when Ben mentioned he'd prefer Rob's Leia. This was probably because Wicket the Ewok had used Whirling Rocks to put 4 points of damage on Maul, which was hilarious no matter how grumpy Ben was about it. Ian agreed and Rob went from great standing within his alliance to alone against Maul and Gideon. Maul and Leia did battle, with Leia using an I Know defense and Covert Operation to put auto damage on Maul. Grant H. decided, however, to kill Ben instead of Rob, so Maul was gone in 8th.
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| Rising Phoenix nesting in the trees. |
Ian was really grumpy Rob had survived, so he started going after Leia with renewed purpose. He couldn't get the kill shot, though. Rob assured the rest of the light side his only purpose in the game was to take down Lando, but Kat couldn't pass up the easy kill, so Rob came to a halt in 7th.
Evan, playing the Mandalorian, kind of took over the game at this point. He played the brutal Disintegration on an unsuspecting Grant H., and just like the card implies, Gideon disappeared in sixth! That's a career best finish for both the character and Grant, though!
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| When you get the character of the guy on your shirt. |
Ian/Lando tried very hard to align with anyone who would take him, but it was fairly obvious he was unwanted. It would be Mando again rising to the occasion (get it!?!?) with Rising Phoenix. While flying among the treetops he attacked Lando and then played Whistling Birds on everyone else...and that's how Lando died! A beskar spike to the head. Brutal!
This brought things to the final four. It looked like the team would go after Curtis' Anakin, who had been laying low for most of the game. However, he was fairly isolated from the others, and he managed to put damage on Evan's Mando. In a surprising move, Kat's lil' Leia killed The Mandalorian in 4th! What a great run for Evan, though. He finished tied for 5th in the first game and in 4th for his second.
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| Three-way tension. |
With three to go it looked like Grant's Jyn and Kat's Luke would work together to knock out Curtis' Anakin. However, Curtis got into Kat's head by commenting on how healthy Jyn and Cassian were and how hard it would be to defend against two shooters. There was a lot of chaotic attacks between the three of them. Eventually, though, Grant and Kat were pretty banged up while Anakin was still on his first row of health. Rather than work together, though, Kat went for a bold strategy. She eliminated Jyn with a Justice and then dropped I Will Not Fight You. Curtis had the health advantage but Kat was banking on luck of the draw. They ran around the board quite a bit, but a patient Curtis somehow pulled out the victory!!! It was a notable victory for several reasons, too. Not only did Curtis become the second Dueler in league history with double-digit wins, but he also became the first person to win with all six original light side characters!!! And it was his 4th win in his last SIX games!!!! That's insane! Let's tip our caps to Kat too - her second place finish with Luke was a career best finish!
The final order of finish:
12. Elliot/Jango Fett
11. JD M./Kylo Ren
10. Rylie/Orson Krennic
9. Karson/Darth Vader
8. Ben/Darth Maul
7. Rob/Princess Leia
6. Grant H./Moff Gideon
5. Ian/Lando Calrissian
4. Evan/The Mandalorian
3. Grant D./Jyn Erso
2. Kat/Luke Skywalker
1. Curtis/Anakin Skywalker
That was a great night of Dueling! And there were only 2 tacos left from an order of 50! Next month's Duel - THE FALL BRAWL - will likely take place on September 18th. More info to come!
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