Naboo Reactor Pit
Sometimes in this glorious league of ours, the stars align and we get beautiful, poetic, and historic endings. This is a major spoiler alert - in the Naboo Reactor Pit, we literally had an Episode I ending! To the recap!
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| They're smiling now... |
This Duel marked the first time we got to play the Naboo Reactor Pit live and in person. The previous two Duels on this board were in the online dark-ages. For some reason we let Miguel control the remote to change the lights of the laser walls, and he promptly tried to start a discotheque. He finally settled down, put up the red walls, and we were off!
For the first time in quite a few Duels, nobody played a card until everybody was loaded with ten. Evan went first, so he was the first to have to play a card, and he took a potshot with a Dark Trooper (Evan had Gideon back to back games!) at Corona's Padme. Rob seized that opportunity and his Snoke Force Lightning-ed Gideon into a kill box on the other end of the board! The others pounced on poor Evan, and Duncan's Mando used Disintegration to shockingly kill him in last.
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| This board is beautiful. |
The Naboo Reactor Pit is a hard board to navigate natural geographic alliances. As such, it was hard for Duelers to figure out who they were actually working with. JD got caught on unsure footing when he sent his Greedo a few spots over to start attacking. That united a group of Duelers against him, so he Rocket Retreated to the narrow end of the board. Unfortunately, Miguel's Jango soon joined him on the same end, and was determined to take him out. A wounded Boba flew back towards Kat's Maul, who was chomping at the bit to unload. JD was donezo in eleventh. Prior to that, though, he and Corona introduced a league-first: speaking at the table in another language! The Spanish speakers elicited nervous laughter as most of us were scared about what they were actually saying.
Rob's Snoke was still stuck in the middle of the corridor, and he caught whispers of a Corona/Anakin, Rico/Yoda, and Miguel/Jango kill box. So with the invitation of Kevin's Qui-Gon Jinn, Rob used Tied to a String and pulled Yoda into a separate kill box, the same group who dispatched Gideon! Rico defended to the best of his ability, but it was no match for so many angles of attack. Curtis' Jyn Erso knocked him out, and Rico was free to drown his sorrows in the 12-pack of Dr. Pepper he generously provided.
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| Can you spot the sleeping teenager? |
Grant H.'s General Grievous was stuck in a tough starting spot, and got caught in the mix with minor attacks throughout the night. His on again/off again relationship with Maul didn't help either. It would be a Rocket Retreat from Miguel, who was bouncing around all over the board with Jango, that continued Grant's hard luck streak with a ninth place finish.
With eight Duelers to go, the loose alliance in the pit half of the board were giving the silent head nods to target Riley's Luke Skywalker next. It was Rob's turn, but he was the only one directly adjacent to her. He was unsure how to proceed, but reluctantly killed Leia to prove his allegiance. Sure enough, the laser walls went up, and Snoke was stuck with a JUSTICE seeking Luke. Snoke took five points of damage, and then Riley dropped an I Will Not Fight You for good measure. When the walls opened Corona and Miguel allowed Snoke to retreat to the back line. Riley wasn't as fortunate, and got picked off by Duncan's Mandalorian for an eighth place finish.
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| Kat surveys the field. |
From here it was pretty obvious Duncan/Mando and Curtis/Jyn were working together, and Kat was happy to join along. Kevin's Qui-Gon, though, was secretly trying to plan his divorce from that duo. While he waited for the right opportunity, Duncan pulled the move he's famous for with The Mandalorian, the daring Rising Phoenix/Grappling Line combo. He used it to pull Corona's Anakin into a kill box. Corona lasted a bit longer than expected, but he finally got offed in seventh when he escaped but got caught in the same laser room as Mando. The kill shot? WHISTLING BIRDS. Brutal!
While this was going down Rob used Force Lightning to bounce Miguel's Jango down to Qui-Gon's side of the board, where they could both start attacking Curtis' Jyn. Curtis was none too pleased by that turn of events, but Kevin stayed mostly committed to it. Curtis managed to switch his main character status to Cassian and peel off. He used the newly minor Jyn to off Jango in sixth place.
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| The attrition continues... |
That left five Duelers, and Rob/Snoke, Kevin/Qui-Gon, and Kat/Maul finally agreed they should work together to eliminate the remaining shooters. At that point Maul was close to Cassian, and Curtis didn't have much health or defense left. Kat used an Athletic Surge to knock out Jyn. Two strong finishes with Jyn by Curtis, though, has sent her rocketing up the character rankings. Nice job, Curtis.
Duncan was without partners at this point, but still proved dangerous. He landed a second Disintegration on Rob's Snoke, which badly wounded the already gnarly looking Sith puppet. Snoke got the last laugh, though, and used a 4-point attack to retire Duncan in fourth place.
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| Are you kidding me??? |
Kat was in great position in the final three. Both Kevin and Rob were badly wounded. Rob hoped Kevin would partner with him as a result, but he chose to stay loyal to Kat. Rob thought he was going to pull off some theatrics, though. He had sneakily got Snoke down to one health point left, hoping he could use his I Cannot Be Beaten defense card to regenerate his Guards and keep playing. But Kevin, who still had Jar Jar on the board, used Accident Prone to kill him. Argh!!!
In the final two Kat had the early advantage, but Kevin pulled out There's Always a Bigger Fish to even their hands. In the end, though, Maul proved too overwhelming, AND JUST LIKE IN EPISODE I, DATH MAUL KILLED QUI-GON JINN IN THE NABOO REACTOR PIT!!! Hilarious!!!
Let's give a big hand to Kat, who during Women's History Month, becomes the first female Dueler to win multiple Duels!!! And she won playing mostly as a lone wolf, which was equally impressive in a 12-Way Duel. Let's also tip our hats to Kevin, who turned pro and finished in a career-best second place.
The final order of finish:
11. JD M./Boba Fett
10. Rico/Yoda
9. Grant H./General Grievous
8. Riley/Luke Skywalker
7. Corona/Anakin Skywalker
6. Miguel/Jango Fett
5. Curtis/Jyn Erso Cassian Andor
4. Duncan/The Mandalorian
3. Rob/Supreme Leader Snoke
2. Kevin/Qui-Gon Jinn
1. Kat/Darth Maul
