Geonosis Arena (Hoth)
Without spoiling the ending of the 2023 Duel of the Fates, I will share we went past 1AM in the morning before it was all said and done. That means, conservatively speaking, we listened to the "Duel of the Fates" score over 90 times. NINETY TIMES. There was a new tactic for Duel of the Fates this year, though. Several Duelers conditioned themselves by listening to it on repeat the week leading up to the game. If you ever wondered if Duelers are crazy...yes. Yes they are.
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| Who will still be smiling 90 Duel of the Fates from now? |
Geonosis via Hoth was the board for the evening, and it's historically known as a tough environment for the light side which gets clustered behind the columns/snow drifts. It didn't help in this game that the dark side was loaded with shooters. It took Ian/Lando all of one turn to turn and run to the dark side and things started falling apart. JD/Mace tried to plug the lane while Parker/Obi-Wan and Duncan/Padme tried to defend against the open side of the board.
Parker spent a lot of time trying to court Grant H./Kylo to flip to their side, and Grant spent an equal amount of time pretending to consider it with no intention of doing so. This culminated in him manipulating Obi's Force Control placements. It was at least an hour and a half before the first Dueler fell, and in that time Ian's Lando got double Whirlwinded by JD's Mace thanks in part to a major communication gaff between Ian and Riley B./Emperor. The dam finally broke when Duncan's Anakin Wrathed to the dark side, hoping to jump ship and delay a last place finish. Alas, after Obi's Force Control, Anakin was the only viable candidate for a lot of dark side players and Duncan, for the first time in 27 Duels, finished last after Bella/Cad Bane used There's No Shame In It.
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| Sometimes all you can do is hang your head... |
The light side was happy to see their delayed traitor go first, but they had a ton of problems left to deal with. Rob's Boba Fett landed a Thermal Detonator that further deteriorated their defenses and Parker's Obi was exposed. He became the common target for the dark side, and it would be Julia's Moff Gideon who popped Parker's bubble in eleventh. Parker's bad luck streak is still in play.
That left a final light side trio of Riley E./Qui-Gon, Michael/Fennec, and JD/Mace. JD was in relatively good shape, but Riley had lost Jar Jar and Fennec was without Black Krrsantan. Julia pulled off a really slick move when she sent a Dark Trooper into enemy lines and Kidnapped JD's Mace into a dark side kill box. It has been a minute since we've seen one, but a "wombo-combo" got played! That's the league term for when Emperor (Riley B.) plays You Will Die and Vader (Miguel) plays All Too Easy. Poor JD was eliminated in tenth.
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| The doomed three amigos |
Michael's Fennec was the next endangered Dueler. In a salty bit of marital revenge, his real life partner Julia/Moff Gideon landed the kill shot and Michael was left to play with the exercise ball that has mysteriously been in the Fine Arts Studio all year. Riley E.'s Qui-Gon played scrappy, but her infamous There's Always A Bigger Fish never materialized and it was Julia/Moff once again handing out walking papers. Riley was out in eighth.
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| It took Ian 80 career Duels to finally wear Star Wars garb. |
You have to hand it to the dark side alliance - they stuck together until the enemy was completely eliminated. But every experienced Dueler knows what that means: who's next??? Julia had just completed her turn, and Rob/Boba were up next. He wasn't crazy about targeting Emperor/Vader/Kylo, but he also didn't want to lose the chance to put the target on someone either, so he attacked Julia's Moff Gideon, who was in the middle of the board and in easy attack range of other players. This caused a bit of a storm at the table!
Rob had Rocket Retreated into a corner by Ian's Lando, who was still bleeding all over the place from the double Whirlwinds. Ian had been cool with Julia/Moff, so he wasn't too happy. Julia immediately lobbied the board to go after Rob's Boba, but when Riley B.'s Emperor Palpatine followed Rob's lead, he too became a Moff Gideon target.
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| Characters froze while Duelers debated. |
The board turned chaotic. Lando attacked Boba. Vader attacked Emperor. Cad Bane took pot shots. But it would be Grant's Kylo Ren who set the course for the rest of the evening. He flipped next to Moff Gideon and used a combo of I Know What I Have To Do (complete with impersonating the line!) and a 5 point attack to off Julia/Moff in seventh place. Just after that a badly injured Emperor fell to Miguel's Storm Trooper attack in sixth. With that sudden change in board dynamics, Rob and Ian commenced in an immediate ceasefire.
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| Big players pulling big moves! |
Grant's eyes were definitely getting bigger as he could see a possible win coming, but the rest of the board was getting mighty anxious about such a powerful character still being in the game. They began to dart eyes with each other to lock in on the next move. A bit earlier in the game Grant had accidentally tipped of he had Redemption, which allowed him to heal an opposing character up to 6 points of health. Believing Rob/Boba were still with him, he bestowed that benefit once he had to use it. But in the cruelest moment of the night, Rob took the healing and then attacked Boba on his next turn! Those damn Fetts! Grant was justifiably seething, and got more upset when Miguel/Vader joined the three shooters in taking out Kylo Ren in fifth place.
Initially it looked like the relatively healthy Miguel/Vader and Bella/Cad Bane would stick together to hunt down the mangled Boba and Lando. But Bella slowly realized she'd need help to win against a dark lord of the Sith. Miguel couldn't block all three at the same time, and it would be Greedo (somehow still alive!) who would use a 2 point attack to add Vader to the funeral pyre in fourth. (And you can bet Grant gave him a good "I told you so!" afterwards)
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| Final three stress! |
Ian and Rob, who will need couples counseling in the near future, were bonded to work together against Bella's Cad Bane due to her relative strength and their obvious battle damage. They managed to land a couple of blows, but Ian was starting to heal while Rob's Boba couldn't because Greedo was still hanging tough after surviving a Vader Choke. Rob made a desperate move to further his game. He used Greedo's Desperate Shot to kill his minor character and make Lando the target with help from Bella. Boba was down to his last three health points, so Ian/Lando rolled towards him. But Rob shocked him with double Wrist Cables to do four points of damage, leaving Ian with no actions on his next turn. Bella landed shots too, and Ian was on the verge of elimination. What was worse, he knew Rob had a Thermal Detonator, so he was too weak to go after Rob himself. Bella finally decided to end Lando's night (early morning really) despite Ian's desperate protestations that she was doomed to fall to Boba.
Bella had the definite health advantage, but Rob stood on the far side of the board, out of attack range, and dropping Greedo cards to stay out of Faster Than You auto-damage. Bella finally got a big roll and headed down the back alley of the board. Rob was puzzled by this, knowing it left her vulnerable for attack. He used a Thermal Detonator and Kyber Dart to put her within two points of dying. But when it was Bella's turn she kept charging! As she landed next to Boba she shocked Rob (literally!) with the Stun Gauntlet and an attack. Rob could barely move anywhere because they were on the open terrain side of the board. He took more damage and was down to his last point of health. He could either attack twice with a 3 and 4 point attack, or he could draw first knowing he was almost guaranteed either a Thermal, Wrist Cable, or Rocket Retreat. Assuming she still had a Rocket Boots, he drew a card and got the Rocket Retreat. Rob was relieved to know he could fly behind the columns to buy more time, but his jaw dropped when she couldn't defend it and was out in second! Holy cow, that was a crazy finish!!! In just her third Duel Bella took Cad to second place and near victory, with Boba having zero health left. Great job Bella! As for Rob, that son of a gun just won back to back Duels (26 total) and his first ever Duel of the Fates. This also marked Boba Fett's tenth career win, placing him in fifth all-time on the character listings.
Final order of finish:
12. Duncan/Anakin
11. Parker/Obi
10. JD M./Mace
9. Michael B./Fennec
8. Riley E./Qui-Gon
7. Julia/Moff Gideon
6. Riley B./Emperor
5. Grant H./Kylo (who also made Rob laugh so hard when he hit himself in the ribs, mimicking Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens)
4. Miguel/Vader
3. Ian/Lando
2. Bella/Cad
1. Rob/Boba
We're down to our last Duel of the 22-23 school year! We're still debating the actual date and time for May the 4th Be With You, but right now we're leaning towards the evening of May 4th, directly after the Golden Bears. Stay tuned...
