Twin Sun Slam #2 - June 3, 2023

 

Kamino Platform

Game #2 started a bit later than intended thanks to the length of the first Duel and the dramatic ending of Episode III that was playing in the Loser's Lounge during dinner.  But once the burgers were consumed and a fresh vat of Yoda Soda was poured, we were ready for the dark side Duel!

Everyone grumbled when Ian, who had won the first match of the day, once again got the first pick!  The complaints only grew louder when he selected Darth Maul!!  Here's how the draft went down:

1.  Ian picked Maul

2.  Isaiah picked Dooku

3.  Grant D. picked Gideon

4.  Rob picked Captain Phasma

5.  Kat picked Vader

6.  Michael picked Grievous

7.  Riley B. picked Snoke

8.  Curtis picked Krennic

9.  Chris K. picked Palpatine

10.  Grant H. picked Cad Bane (!!!)

11.  Caleb picked Boba

12.  Riley E. picked Kylo

Not picked:  Jango and Beckett

Don't get comfortable, Caleb...

When everyone had placed their characters on the Kamino Platform...history was made in the first round of play.  It's not an official record, but Caleb, big brother to Miles and padawan of Curtis, had his Boba Fett attacked by Ian's Maul right out of the gate!  Sith Speed, a 4-point attack, and Athletic Surge killed the rookie in less than 5 minutes of game play!!!  It was the fastest (most brutal?) elimination ever seen!  It was so mean, which is to say, so like Darth Maul.  BRUTAL!!!

As you could imagine Curtis was quite ticked to see his progeny destroyed that fast, so he took out his anger by destroying the Super Battle Droids of Isaiah's Count Dooku.  But a series of minor characters from the other end of the board started whittling Krennic down, which enabled Riley E.'s Knight of Ren to come out of hiding behind Jango's ship (can you believe nobody picked Jango on Jango's board?) and strike him down in eleventh.  Not a great day of Dueling for Clan Curtis!

School's in session and Chris is teaching!

It was great to have retired Dueler Chris K. play with us in game 2!  He's soon to depart to visit the studios where they shot the original Star Wars, and though he wasn't pleased to see all the new characters, he had no problem schooling newer Duelers on the ways of Emperor Palpatine.  Riley B. used Snoke's Tied To A String and Force Lightning to send Chris/Emperor to a kill box on the other side of the board.  Folks got nervous when Chris didn't look at all fazed.  On his turn he used Royal Command and You Will Die to go right back to his hiding spot behind the ship while dumping Riley B.'s hand!!!  *insert laughing Emperor GIF*  The side Riley B. tried to defect to turned on him after that catastrophic sequence and Riley was out in tenth.

Ian's early aggression against Boba, combined with a dust-up against Riley E.'s Kylo Ren, had him retreat deep towards his alliance but banged up and low carded.  He slowly realized he was in trouble, and Grant D.'s Dark Trooper proved it when a Concussive Punch put the game one winner down in ninth.

The Dark Troopers weren't done, though.  On that same turn they managed to kidnap Chris' Emperor and bring him into a kill box.  That's where Isaiah's Dooku used a 5-point attack to end the Emperor's reign.

The end of the table that was having the most fun.

We were quickly down to seven Duelers (we should have played Kamino first!).  Grant H. hilariously was playing with Cad Bane AGAIN, but not having as much fun as he had hoped.  He was pinned in the back corner with both Michael/Grievous and Riley E./Kylo bearing down on him.  He was desperate to find Rocket Boots but his card luck wasn't there for him.  When he was down to two health points Kat's Vader Wrathed him into seventh place.  Grant H. still reserves the right to play with Cad Bane at all future Duels, though.

Riley E.'s Kylo Ren was the last character standing from her end of the board.  She tussled with numerous folks throughout, but her luck was finally running out.  Grant D.'s Moff Gideon used Astute Panic to end Ben Solo's night in sixth.

Isaiah dictating the flow!

The final five would prove to be new Dueler Isaiah's coming out party!  Michael/Grievous and Kat/Vader had put the target on Grant's Gideon, and Rob's Captain Phasma followed suit by making an attack.  But when it came time for Isaiah to join in...he didn't!  He passed on his first round by drawing, and then on his next turn he made it be known he was more worried about Michael's General Grievous.  This caused a lot of unrest on the board.  When Michael's Grievous started moving toward Rob's Phasma, Rob took that as a sign of aggression and used a Let's Make This Hurt on one of Grievous' minor characters.  That further muddied the waters, but eventually, largely by Isaiah's will, Michael became the target and was out in fifth, killed by a Storm Trooper.

With four to go it became quite clear that Isaiah/Dooku and Grant D./Moff Gideon were sticking together, which forced Rob and Kat to align.  They managed to concentrate their efforts on a loaded Dooku, thanks in part to Kat playing Your Skills Are Not Complete on Gideon.  Captain Phasma, playing just her second Duel, finally got to play New Recruit on the last remaining minor character on the board, Kat's Storm Trooper.  But Rob was loaded with minor character cards, and now that FN-216 was on his team, he fired a volley of shots that finally ended the wily Isaiah's night in fourth!  Holy cow we have a great new Dueler in our ranks, folks!

Final three silliness.

Rob and Kat were galvanized to stay together against Moff Gideon.  Rob was in rougher shape than Kat but kept popping shots, and Kat stayed active too.  She eventually knocked out Gideon in third.  Grant played a heck of a game, though.

At the final two it looked like Vader would trounce Captain Phasma, but Vader wasn't pulling great cards and Phasma had a few tricks up her sleeve.  Rob managed to start docking health points on Kat's Vader, but Kat stayed calm and collected, and eventually landed a Dark Side Drain for the win!  Kat becomes the first woman in league history with three wins!!!  Congrats, Kat!  Vader's win increases his league-leading total to 16.  

Like a boss.

With all the new boards in the league, it's nice to be reminded how fun the original four arenas can be!  Kamino was a great battleground for the dark side to do combat.  Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Caleb/Boba

11.  Curtis/Krennic

10.  Riley B./Snoke

9.  Ian/Maul

8.  Chris K./Emperor

7.  Grant H./Cad

6.  Riley E./Kylo

5.  Michael/Grievous

4.  Isaiah/Dooku

3.  Grant D./Gideon

2.  Rob/Phasma

1.  Kat/Vader

Our next 12-way Duel will be in August, when we kick off year ten (!!!) at CL Training.  Before that, though, we have our annual Singles Tournament!  It looks like we'll play that on Sunday, July 30, starting at 2PM.  We need 32 Duelers to sign up!  It's one of the coolest things we do each year, and it uses a very different part of your Dueling brain.  Stay tuned for more info on that, but mark your calendars now!

Congrats again to Kat! 

Twin Sun Slam #1 - June 3, 2023

 

The Trash Compactor

The best part of summer Dueling is it's casual, man!  Like chill out, grill burgers, Whirlwind your friends...you know, laid back!  This year's Twin Sun Slam marked the last two Duels at the Jedi Temple, AKA Rob's house!  His family is moving to a new home in town with a bacta tank in the backyard, so next year's Twin Sun Slam should be even more refreshing!

This will be fast, right y'all?  Y'all....?

We carried forward the same rules we used from last year's Twin Sun Slam.  The first game would be all light side characters and the second would be the dark, and you draft the player you want to play with!  The only hitch is if you draft first you place your character last.  Here's how the draft turned out for game one:

1.  Ian picked Obi-Wan

2.  Riley B. picked Yoda

3.  Riley E. picked Rey

4.  Grant H. picked Fennec

5.  Kat picked Luke

6.  Isaiah picked The Armorer

7.  Rob picked Qui-Gon

8.  Curtis picked The Mandalorian

9.  Grant D. picked Lando

10.  Elliot picked Jyn

11.  Michael picked Mace

12.  Miles O. picked Anakin

Not picked:  Han Solo and Princess Leia.  

Leia not getting picked was a surprise, given her strength, and Grant D. not picking Han was blasphemous but not surprising at all.

Welcome to the big leagues, Miles!

We picked the Trash Compactor for the first game because historically it plays fast, which we wanted so we could have plenty of time to grill and eat before the second game started.  Naturally for this league, that completely backfired.  We played well over two hours before the first person died!  The drudgery of that experience has dulled my memory, but the two sides of the board stayed fiercely loyal to each other as they constantly maneuvered to trap an enemy only to see them escape.  Shots were fired across both sides, with the two Riley's gaining the most attention due to their use of Yoda and Rey.  Riley B.'s Yoda would finally go out first after a mortally wounded Miles O./Anakin betrayed his own side to avoid dying last.  Nobody deserves a last place finish after 2+ hours of Dueling, but alas, that was Riley B.'s fate.

Miles, playing in his first-ever Duel, got knocked out next by Grant H.'s Fennec, who used Martial Skills as he flipped to the other side after Riley B.'s death.  Miles' eleventh place finish belies his great Dueling, including a beautiful Double Wrath that offed Jar Jar Binks earlier in the game.  You showed spunk, kid!

Grant always knows when the camera is on him.

With two Duelers dead, everyone started scrambling to the middle of the board to avoid the first level of the closing Trash Compactor walls.  It was right about here that one of the most controversial moments in league history occurred!  Ian, playing as Obi-Wan, had devised a super-sneaky way to kill all but one of the remaining Duelers with a Force Control.  However, he played his search card BEFORE moving his character into position!  It was an honest mistake, and the board broke out into an extended rules debate, centered around intent vs. technicality.  There was no easy resolution, as the league has been both forgiving and sticklers depending on the situation in the past.  In the end we decided to put it to a vote with the remaining Duelers at the table.  And it was decided...Ian couldn't rescind his action!  Ian's integrity was never in question, let it be known, but folks voting against wanted to maintain consistency with past rulings.

When Ian/Obi finally reached the middle with Riley E.'s Rey, the remaining Duelers realized they were going to eliminate Grant's Fennec to close the walls anyway, which would have killed multiple Duelers after a delayed Obi-Wan Force Control.  But Grant is a sly Dueler, and he used Fennec's Interrogation to escape his proximity to Obi and Rey.  This allowed everyone else to move into better spots on the board, but after some more character displacements Curtis' Mandalorian eliminated Fennec in tenth...which triggered the walls that killed Grant D./Lando and Elliot/Jyn at the same time!

Isaiah making a strong rookie debut!

There were only seven Duelers left at this point, and everyone knew the next death would close the walls yet again.  So if you're reading this and weren't there, surely you're thinking, "they killed Ian's Obi-Wan next so he couldn't Force Control again...right?"  Uh, no.  We were all idiots.

Instead, Riley/Rey, Kat/Luke, Isaiah/Armorer, and Curtis/Mando scrambled to the inner four spaces, the only spaces that can't be touched by the walls of the compactor.  That left Rob/Qui-Gon, Ian/Obi, and Michael/Mace on the outside looking in.  Rob became the target of everyone's attack, as nobody wanted him or Qui-Gon around for the endgame.  

It's a trap!

Ian started taking some heat too, and that's when he played Force Balance, which dumped everyone's hand and made them draw three new cards.  You wouldn't believe Ian's luck!  He got both his 6 attack and his last Force Control!  He used that to kill Rob in seventh and move everyone else to the back rows, where they were crushed to death by the walls!!!  Good golly the Trash Compactor is always good for a dramatic ending!

Ian recovers from his gaff to still win the day.

That win gives Ian a dozen for his career, good for second on the all-time rankings.  Well done, Ian!  That was also Obi-Wan's 12th win, which ties him for third among the characters and first among the light side characters!  Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Riley B./Yoda

11.  Miles O./Anakin

10.  Grant H./Fennec

T8.  Grant D./Lando

T8.  Elliot/Jyn

7.  Rob/Qui-Gon

T2.  Michael/Mace

T2.  Riley E./Rey

T2.  Kat/Luke

T2.  Isaiah/Armorer

T2.  Curtis/Mando

1.  Ian/Obi-Wan

That game lasted WAY too long, and Rob hopped outside to the grill to get the burgers going!  Check out the next recap to see how game #2 went!