Rancor Dungeon
Perhaps the most easily overlooked aspect of this year's Fall Brawl was that it marked our return to the North Village fine arts studio as our on-campus Dueling spot. It was the first time since COVID that we had Dueled there, since it was used as a testing center the past couple of years. No place on the face of the earth has hosted more Duels than the fine arts studio, and it was good to be back in the friendly confines!
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| The Baker's Dozen |
We also played in the Rancor Dungeon! This meant one Dueler would be randomly selected to play with the Rancor, and amateur Dueler Riley B. got the lucky honors! Everyone else picked their seat and characters and we were ready to do battle.
It came as a surprise to absolutely no one who has ever Dueled with Miguel before that he couldn't resist killing a character right away to open the dungeon door to let the Rancor out. His Boba Fett chucked a Thermal Detonator into Mace Windu (JD) and Jango Fett (Rob), instantly killing both of Mace's clone troopers and releasing the Rancor!
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| Release the hound! |
Riley made his presence known right away, playing Bone Crusher, which reduced everyone's actions on their next turn to one. He next hurled one of Grievous' (Julia) MagnaGuards across the room to its death.
Meanwhile, infighting broke out across the board. Andrew's Cassian shot Rob's Jango with a brutal 8-point attack, severely injuring the elder Fett. Rob responded by Rocket Retreating to the control panel spot on the board behind the Rancor. Riley's Rancor had advanced to stand under the gate. But instead of pushing the button to hurt the Rancor...Rob drew a card! The board gasped with displeasure as the Rancor moved deeper into the dungeon.
The board finally quieted down a bit and committed to hunting the Rancor. Though Riley made a valiant stand, the poor beast was no match for the unified front the rest of the Duelers presented. Riley was done for the night on a 4-point attack from Ian's Beckett. That won't count against Riley in the rankings, and we thank him for his service in Jabba's Palace.
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| Curtis explaining how weak Rey is... |
Miguel wasn't done being mischievous, though. He threw his second thermal into one side of the board again, but this time, he didn't retreat afterwards. Rob's Jango was down to his last point of health as a result, but on his first action, drew his Missile Launch. He chuckled evilly as he finished Miguel in last place by using it against Boba. Miguel seemed a little too happy to be reunited with the Golden Jar Jar trophy.
Curtis (Rey) was leading a six-person alliance against the rest of the board, and called out Andrew's Jyn Erso to be the next target. This was a bit startling as Andrew thought he was part of that group. Curtis moved Rey in front of Jyn, seemingly trapping her, but Jyn used Jail Break, and in doing so, moved Curtis into a kill box in enemy territory! That end of the board began attacking him, and he eventually had to use Rise of Skywalker to heal back up. Just as it was Parker/Fennec's turn to attack him...he instead used Martial Skills to kill Rob/Jango in eleventh! The weaker alliance was totally confused by the sudden betrayal.
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| Ian trying to lobby alliances with Parker. |
JD's Mace had moved forward to try and eliminate Curtis, but all of a sudden Curtis was still very much alive and Mace was in easy attack range from the dominant alliance. Poor JD got left hung out to dry, and it would be Finn who got the kill shot of Mace in tenth.
Ian/Beckett, Elliot/Snoke, Andrew/Jyn, and kind of Parker/Fennec decided to keep the pressure up against Curtis. It proved to be too much for Curtis, who got stuck loaded with a hand full of Finn cards just as Andrew's Kyber Crystal Luck took him out of the game in eighth. It became Jyn's last hoorah. After the stronger alliance put Cassian in an unnecessarily large kill box, Michael's Han Solo ended Andrew's run in eighth place.
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| Momentum shifting... |
We were down to the last seven Duelers and a smoldering Rancor corpse at this point. Parker's Fennec was the keystone, as both sides continually sent overtures to him to remain true to their respective sides. In that unstable environment Michael's Han Solo suddenly found himself Tied to a String, and placed in a kill box after not being willing to switch sides. Though he survived the original capture with a nice Wookie Toss for the rescue, Duncan/Dooku and Evan/Leia were suddenly willing to switch sides! Supreme Leader Snoke landed the final blow, and Michael peaced-out in seventh.
Julia and her General Grievous went from an early favorite to win the match to suddenly being without any alliance partners. She played Grievous deftly, including regenerating her MagnaGuards, but she could only hold out so long before the piper came piping. Elliot's Snoke once again scored the final hit and Julia bowed out in sixth.
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| Final Four negotiations. |
Now there were only five Duelers: previous dominant alliance members Duncan/Dooku and Evan/Leia, free agent Parker/Fennec, and amazingly, the short-sticked Ian/Beckett and Elliot/Snoke. Evan had been playing so far below the radar I'm not sure everyone even realized he was at the table, but in the final five, the others became keenly aware of him. Duelers misconstrued previous comments about Leia's card strength and started inventing imaginary cards in Evan's hand that would strike them all down in one fell swoop. Poor Evan was the target, and a self-healing Improvise from Ian's Tobias Beckett punched Evan's card in fourth place.
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| A remarkable final three. |
With Evan off the board, Parker made a bit of a social gaff by saying those with minor characters should work against those without. He was trying to put the target on Elliot's Snoke, but Ian was without Val at that point, and he didn't take too kindly to the implication. Parker was just playing his second Duel, and it's hard to remember a more plot-twisting night than what he achieved with Fennec. However, he soon found himself the odd Dueler out, and rested in fourth. Well done, Parker!
And then there were three! Elliot and Ian had been partners the whole evening, but Elliot was concerned about going against a shooter at the end, so he tried to align with Duncan's Dooku. However, that proved disastrous, as Duncan ultimately chose to partner with Ian's Beckett instead. Try as Elliot might, he couldn't get Duncan to join him. Once his Snoke was on his last line of health, he got a final attack in on Duncan's Dooku, who had been mostly healthy prior to that. It included using his Force Lightning to push him to Ian's Beckett. Ian stayed true to his alliance, though, and finished off Elliot in third. Both he and Snoke were so close to their first-ever victory!
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| "The worst" is where the money is. |
The final two was quite interesting, as Dooku was the superior character but Ian's veteran status was surely its own advantage. He and Duncan traded blows, and both characters took their lumps for sure. But Ian used his second Improvise of the night to heal, do major damage to Dooku, and recover cards for his last stand. Duncan didn't know it, but Ian only had one non-Val card left in his hand, a 4-point attack for Beckett. Ian used it and it was enough to finish off Duncan in second! Ian won!!!
This was the first victory for the character of Beckett. The win was also Ian's eleventh, moving him into second place on the all-time list! Ian also moved into second place in the Dueler rankings. Though Duncan didn't get the win, there's no denying he's on a major role right now with high finishes.
Let's check the final order of finish again:
Unofficial 13. Riley B./Rancor
12. Miguel/Boba Fett
11. Rob/Jango Fett
10. JD/Mace Windu
9. Curtis/Rey
8. Andrew/Jyn Erso
7. Michael/Han Solo
6. Julia/General Grievous
5. Evan/Princess Leia
4. Parker/Fennec Shand
3. Elliot/Supreme Leader Snoke
2. Duncan/Count Dooku
1. Ian/Tobias Beckett
Our next Duel is the October FIGHT NIGHT. Based on the Baylor football schedule, it looks like Saturday, October 8th, will be the date. Official confirmation and email for sign-ups should go out next Sunday. Until then...may all your Rancors stay caged.
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