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!
No comments:
Post a Comment