Emperor's Throne Room (via Mustafar)
Though the campus was quiet due to Fall Break, there were still the deafening sounds of light sabers clashing and blasters blasting in the North Village Classroom on Saturday night! PEW PEW PEW!!! Fight Night featured the debut of two new Duelers as well as a couple of historic firsts in the league. Onto the recap!
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| Thank the maker - finally, a round table! |
Fight Night technically took place in the Emperor's Throne Room, but we used the 3-D Mustafar edition (we miss you Ryan!). Out of the gate the light and dark sides of the board tried to tempt the other into a flip, and though each side maintained the status quo through the first two rounds, it would be Kat's Rey who made the first shocking turn as she took a shot on Rob's Yoda on her way to defecting.
Not long after that Evan deployed his Dark Trooper next to Corona's Anakin Skywalker and Kidnapped him deep inside a dark side kill box. Brutal! Corona tried to hold out, but it would be a Force Lightning from Grant H.'s Supreme Leader Snoke that would sadly end Corona's night in last place. He had to lug the Golden Jar Jar all the way back to East Village.
The light side was in chaos by that point. Rob's Yoda tried to hold the line, but newbie Kevin, playing with Mace Windu, started shooting the little green Jedi! The ultimate betrayal would come from Rob's daughter, Riley, who joined in on the mutiny with her Han Solo. Rylie's Jango Fett landed the kill shot, and Rob was out early.
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| Miguel heralds Duncan's doom |
With ten Duelers to go Peach's Jyn Erso was the next target for the mega-alliance. She fought valiantly in her first Duel, but with no partners left and all of her good defense stuck at the bottom of her draw pile, she couldn't hold out long. It would be Riley's Chewbacca, using a Wookie Toss, that would send her to the rails in tenth.
It was at this point of the game Miguel, playing with Darth Maul and bound and determined to get his first career top-six finish, called open season on Duncan's Count Dooku. Duncan got cranky while Miguel was incredulous. Duncan tried to talk his way out of it but others in the alliance jumped in too, and it would be Grant's Guard that delivered the death blow. The defending Fight Night champion was out too soon!
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| The Force trying to exert his will. |
It was about this point in the game where Miguel let it be known he was good with Evan's Moff Gideon and Grant's Supreme Leader Snoke. The other five Duelers did not like the sound of that three-person alliance, forcing all three to back track from the declaration and start attacking each other. Evan's Gideon, a key contributor to the early alliance, all of a sudden found himself with no partners. Curtis' Kylo Ren moved in for the kill, using his Laser Cross-Guard. Poor Evan was stuck in eighth.
Gideon inflicted major damage on Grant's Snoke before bowing out of the game, so he was ripe for the offing when Miguel excitedly rolled in to eliminate him in seventh place. I don't recall a time seeing somebody so excited to finish in the top six of a Duel before, but it marked a personal best for Miguel, and he was overjoyed! Unfortunately for him, he was low carded and low health. Curtis' Kylo was in the neighborhood, and he reluctantly capped him in sixth. Miguel was still happy.
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| Liquid-hot MAGMA |
That made it five to go, and that's when Kat went into boss-mode. As soon as Curtis' turn ended, she put the target on him. Rey and Kylo drama!!! So on brand. Kevin/Mace, Rylie/Jango, and Riley/Han had no issue with that. Kylo dropped some hits here and there, but he eventually fell to a lowly Mace Clone Trooper attack. Still, that fifth place finish for Curtis marked a career-best finish for Kylo! Curtis is playing so well right now an off-night still lands him in the top five!
And then there were four! We had Kevin the rookie...and three women who said, out loud, it would be pretty cool to have the first-ever all-female top three! And that's what they set out to do! Though Kevin had a lot of cards in his hand, it turned out they weren't the right combination to last long. He did manage to inflict damage on Han before Rylie's Zam ended his first Duel in fourth place. Congrats Kevin, that's a heck of a debut! You would never have known it was his first game with us.
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| History! |
So, for the first time in league history, we had women in the top three spots! Riley and Rylie were both banged up, and so was Kat, but she used her Rise of Skywalker heal card. It was a good thing, too, because Riley's Chewbacca hit her with the second Bowcaster on the night! Even though Riley and Rylie were both shooters, they ended up working against each other in hopes of gaining favor with Kat's Rey. Riley's Han would fall first, after Rey hit her with a four point attack. And after a brief chase around the board, Rylie's Jango was out in second...Kat won her first career Duel!!! Congrats Kat!!! And this also marked Rey's first win in the league! That means the combined Palpatine win record is...
What a great night of Dueling! And guess what? It took just over three hours to play, start to finish! AS IT SHOULD BE! *hint hint*
Let's see that final order of finish:
12. Corona/Anakin
11. Rob/Yoda
10. Peach/Jyn
9. Duncan/Dooku
8. Evan/Moff Gideon
7. Grant/Snoke
6. MIGUEL/DARTH MAUL
5. Curtis/Kylo
4. Kevin/Mace
3. Riley/Han
2. Rylie/Jango
1. Kat/Rey
Thanks everyone for a historic night! Next month is November, and that means... THANKSDUELING! Right now we're looking at Saturday, November 6th, but we'll wait and see what the game time is for Baylor football at TCU before confirming. This will also be the last chance to qualify for the 2021 Championship Duel in December! Any Dueler who won in 2021 gets an automatic bid, and we'll fill the last chairs based on professional rankings. Until then...may the force be with you. Always.
