Arvala-7
What. A. Night! The Yoda Soda was flowing, the Duel of the Fates was blaring from the NV Classroom speakers, the dirt was palpable on the Arvala-7 board, and two new characters made their debut in the league's first all-shooter Duel! It was just about perfect. On to the recap!
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| Hello there! |
Tensions were high when the music started and everyone realized they were in the middle of a 12-person shootout. Karson's Krennec wanted to make sure Rob's Fennec wasn't going to turn on him, and scared to tussle with him, Rob agreed to target Corona's Princess Leia after Ian whispered he would follow. That's when Black Krrsantan played his first card in league history...and it happened to be his best! A Cannon Blast put 11 points of total damage on Leia, which sent Corona reeling. Evan's Han Solo used Gambler's Luck to kill poor Corona in 12th. But this marked his sixth Duel, so he's now professionally ranked. Congrats, Corona!
CJ, playing her first Duel as a last minute backup, became the youngest Dueler in league history. She didn't waste the opportunity to start attacking Chewbacca with Moff Gideon. But she was stuck in the middle of the board, and multiple folks started tagging her, including JD's Lando and Lobot. Backed into a corner, CJ flipped the table by playing It Means More To Me, which discarded most of Lando's defense! Ian seized that opportunity and played Disintegration with his Mandalorian. Grant H., dressed in full Obi-Wan Kenobi garb, got the kill shot on poor JD, who departed quickly after in 11th.
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| CJ is not impressed. |
CJ's sister Riley had spearheaded the charge to get rid of Moff Gideon, but in a strategic blunder, she got caught empty handed. Literally! The rest of the board pounced on her inability to defend, and it would be CJ who got revenge on her big sis by punching her ticket for 10th place. Rumor has it she delighted in sharing that story with their mother this morning...
About this time Rob caught wind that Karson/Krennec and Kat/Boba Fett were throwing his name around, and Karson confessed it was Kat's idea. The tide started to turn against Boba, but she Rocket Retreated to the same corner as Rob's Fennec, hoping to force a ceasefire. But Rob used Throwing Blade, which pinned Boba to her space and the rest of that side of the board went after her, including a Bowcaster. Grant's Cad Bane once again got the kill shot, and Kat was stuck in 9th.
The attention of the board turned back to CJ at this point, who fought valiantly considering how targeted she was at the start of the game. But Karson used a Hero of the Empire on a defenseless Moff Gideon to end her night in 8th.
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| Who's next? |
It was getting dicey as the board thinned. Karson found himself without partners and taking hits, but he did pull of his Peace and Security to buy time. Kevin's Jango Fett finally eliminated him in 7th with his Rocket Retreat. With six Duelers left, it was hard to know where to go next. Ian voiced that he was concerned with Juan's Jyn Erso, who was fully carded and hadn't used many attacks. He was also concerned of a NV CL alliance. He was able to convince Grant/Cad and Evan/Han to follow suit. Juan couldn't hold out, and stop me if you read this already, but Cad got the kill shot!
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| Pew Pew Pew! |
That left five Duelers, and Kevin tried to rally the board against Cad Bane. Ian/Mando and Grant/Cad decided to target Kevin's Jango instead, while Rob's Black Krrsantan used Dismemberment to put Chewbacca near death. Kevin made some great arguments, but Ian was pot-committed to stick with Grant, so it would be The Mandalorian taking down Jango Fett in 5th, which just seemed weird in the context of the rich history of Mandalore...
And then there were four! Rob's Fennec tried to convince Ian's Mando they should team against Cad Bane, but Ian was still bound and determined to work with Grant. Rob held out the best he could, including a second Dismemberment against Cara Dune, but he finally fell in 4th after a blast from The Mandalorian.
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| Stone Cold Killers |
Mando and Cad agreed it was time for Evan's Han to exit stage left. Give credit to Evan, who smartly ran and hid, especially after Chewbacca perished. He managed to lay quite a bit of damage on The Mandalorian, though, before finally dying in 3rd when - you guessed it! - Cad Bane delivered the fatal wound.
Ian was a bit banged up, but used The Child to heal. But he took that damage back and then some when Grant used Fire Gauntlet and Stun Gauntlet. Despite a second Rising Phoenix, Grant had smartly hid some of Cad's trickier cards while pretending he was only getting minor Pyke cards from his redraw. With an epic combo of There's No Shame In It and Faster Than You, Grant won his first career Duel and Cad Bane won the first game he ever played. Both were huge!!! And congrats to Ian, who piloted The Mandalorian to that character's best-ever finish.
The final order of finish:
12. Corona/Princess Leia
11. JD M./Lando Calrissian
10. Riley/Tobias Beckett
9. Kat/Boba Fett
8. CJ/Moff Gideon
7. Karson/Orson Krennec
6. Juan/Jyn Erso
5. Kevin/Jango Fett
4. Rob/Fennec Shand
3. Evan/Han Solo
2. Ian/The Mandalorian
1. Grant H./Cad Bane
We're just about at the end of the year! The final Duel before summer is May the 4th Be With You, which we usually play on May the 4th (duh), but that is a Wednesday while classes are still in session, so stay tuned to see if we actually play that a day or two later.
The first all-shooter Duel was awesome, congrats again to Grant H.!!!
