Doubleheader #2 - August 26, 2023

 

Conveyex Train

There was absolutely no break between the first and second games since it was already 10PM.  Fortunately Curtis and Grant whipped up a second batch of Padawans in a Blanket to fuel us with the snacks we'd need to carry into the night.  That, and the case of Dr. Pepper in the fridge, got our brains re-stimulated...

Loco on the space locomotive...

This game started hilariously when Ian/Captain Phasma New Recruited one of Atticus' Knights of Ren, meaning the minor now belonged to Phasma and not Kylo.  From there alliances began to form with a split roughly between the middle of the train.  Grant D. tried to go big with a Bowcaster right out of the gate too, but Rob's Yoda had a 15 defense card ready for it and yes, you read that right.  Grant got Han again!!!  So funny for 11 of us, so frustrating for Grant...

Bekah's Emperor and Atticus' Kylo, with their exposed spots on the train, were getting banged up early.  Rob had made overtures to Riley B.'s Luke Skywalker to flip earlier in the match, but when Riley tried to kill one of Yoda's Clones to make a path for a Children of the Force escape, Rob got cranky.  He comboed a Force Lift & Push to send Luke to the far end of the board into a kill box.  Elliot/Jyn, Jackson/Mace, Curtis/Snoke, and Riley E./Boba were all willing to take shots and Riley B. got stuck with the Jar Jar after almost winning the Jango in Game 1 of the evening.

Parker's Rey was eager to help save his declining alliance and Backflipped to attack Riley E's Boba after she was blackmailing him with a Thermal if Parker didn't finish off Bekah's Emperor.  (Can I just take a pause real quick and have a dad moment - I'm so proud of my daughter that I got to type that sentence lol...)  Parker ended up overextending himself, however, as he got too deep into the alliance and had little cover from the combined attacks.  Ian used On My Command to park Parker in eleventh.

New strategy: align with the person who drove you.

Bekah was still near death but had fallen back far enough the enemy alliance couldn't reach her.  Fearful she'd start pulling Force Lightning, Meditation, or even You Will Die, Curtis' Snoke eliminated the risk by using Tied to a String.  That was enough to end Bekah's night in tenth.  What a crazy first two games of Bekah's Dueling career - let's hope she comes back out again soon!

Atticus was still pretty fired up with Ian's Phasma kidnapping his minor, and landed hits on her.  He also used a Force Freeze on a Greedo attack that killed one of Rob's Clone Troopers when Kylo moved out of the way!  But Atticus couldn't anticipate his alliance partner Evan/Reva - The Third Sister (making her Duel debut!) flipping on him!  Reeva dropped a five point attack and poor Atticus was done in ninth for the second time that night.

Updated Conveyex board courtesy of our friends on Discord!

Ian's Phasma had retreated deep in his alliance after getting roughed up by Kylo.  That's when Curtis/Snoke realized Ian only had two cards in his hand.  That was easy pickings for Snoke - Phasma was gone in eighth before the rest of the alliance could even help!

Elliot/Jyn, Riley E/Boba, and Rob/Yoda started moving in on Jackson's Mace.  Even though they had all been working together, Jackson was fully carded and that made Mace particularly dangerous.  Curtis wasn't excited by that, though, and went after Riley's Boba instead.  She had hoped nobody would notice how low carded she was, but nobody asks for card counts as frequently as Curtis does.  Riley was thrown into the sarlaac in seventh.

Jackson sizing up his options.

Jackson's Mace looked like he might have been able to avoid being next, but Evan's Reva, fresh off flipping from the enemy alliance, swooped in with multiple attacks, including Grand Ambition, and Jackson was out in the top six, also for the second time that night.  #symmetry  

This game was moving a bit faster than the first, but we were well past midnight.  Somehow Grant's Han was still on the board.  Rob's Yoda made the safe play and started attacking him.  The greatest Dueler/Character combo in league history glided into fifth place.  Well done as always, Grant!

The Cassian tug of war.

There were only four Duelers left, and Rob/Yoda became the consensus target for the other three.  However, Rob pointed out to Curtis his Snoke would almost assuredly be the next target after that.  They eventually decided to partner together to take down Evan/Reva and Elliot/Jyn.  It's not every day you see a 2 v 2 in the final four!  Rob was a bit low carded, and Curtis was initially stuck with a hand full of defense.  Still, they managed to force Elliot to switch his main character status to Cassian and kill Jyn.

Though Rob had promised final two with Curtis, he was down to six cards and four of those were Clone Troopers.  He had one Clone left, barely, as it was down to its last health point.  In a Hail Mary play, he started shooting Curtis' Snoke, much to Curtis' chagrin.  Elliot and Evan welcomed it, but Curtis Force Lightninged Evan in fourth...which was HIS second fourth of the night!

I'll spare you all the details, but Curtis and Rob lobbied AT LENGTH with Elliot to side with one of them against the other.  Those sides changed a couple of times, but eventually Elliot and Rob partnered to take down Snoke after Cassian played Looks Like a Killer.  Elliot had a nearly impossible task of winning with his normally designated minor character.  He played his heart out but Rob's Yoda was able to attack Cassian into the fatal damage range of a Force Push.  Elliot got second place and Rob, for the first time in league history, finally won with Yoda!  He's now won with 11 of the 12 original characters in the game.  The win also makes Yoda the sixth character with double digit wins.

Yoda Soda for the Yoda victor!

The final order of finish:

12.  Riley B./Luke Skywalker

11.  Parker/Rey

10.  Bekah/Emperor Palpatine

9.  Atticus/Kylo Ren

8.  Ian/Captain Phasma

7.  Riley E./Boba Fett

6.  Jackson/Mace Windu

5.  Grant D./Han Solo (!!!!!!!)

4.  Evan/Reva - The Third Sister

3.  Curtis/Supreme Leader Snoke

2.  Elliot/Jyn Cassian

1.  Rob/Yoda

Well...by 2AM...we were all done!  Thanks to everyone who played!  Our September Duel, The Fall Brawl, will take place later September.  More details coming soon on that one.

Good night!!!

Doubleheader #1 - August 26, 2023

 

Narkina 4 Imperial Prison

It's one of the best days of the year - Doubleheader day!!!  We get to play two Duels in one evening.  That's all kinds of special.  But that also makes for a looooooooooong night.  So the first game needs to be a fast-moving board.  Like the Narkina 5 prison board...that'll go fast, right!?  Right?  Guys...why is nobody looking me in the eye...?

First game at Rob's new house!

Spoiler alert.  This game took about 5 hours.  It was what it was.

Here's a fun fact.  Rob has played The Mandalorian three times - including this game! - and all three times he's had Whistling Birds in his first four cards.  The first two times he played it as his first action of the game.  This time he waited a whole round before he couldn't contain himself.  He let them rain down all over the board, and basically divided the players into two teams: those who got hit, and those who didn't.  From there everyone was scrambling to get into position to jump onto the work benches so their characters wouldn't catch damage if somebody wasn't "on program."

With everyone on tables the pace became grueling.  Ian's Jango wasn't afraid to stay off the table.  He also used his Zam to open up big damage on Alex A.'s Qui-Gon.  Others focused fire on Grant D.'s Grievous guards and Parker's Pyke Syndicate.  Parker was ultimately betrayed by his own alliance when Jackson's Lando used the Battle of Tanaab Maneuvers card to hand Parker his temporary Golden Jar Jar in last place.  But that also meant Parker got to be the new prison warden!!!

Jackson visualizing Riley B.'s advice.

While Parker's Cad was gone Rob's Mando used a combo Rising Phoenix and Grappling Hook to pull poor Elliot's Count Dooku until a kill box with Riley E/Anakin and Ian/Jango.  But it would be Bekah's Night Owl - both Bekah and her character Bo-Katan were making their Dueling debut! - who would land the kill shot.  Elliot sensed it was going to be a long time before game 2, so he wisely chose to leave the Jedi Temple and clear his head for a few hours.

Alex A. got betrayed by his alliance in his rookie Duel at CL Training, but this time around, his alliance was crumbling around him.  Jar Jar did manage to pull off the Oopsa Bombbad card, but that only enraged an entire table against him.  Atticus' Obi-Wan Kenobi ran to Qui-Gon's table to eliminate him in tenth.  Alex could have left to go back to campus for his hall program...but he stuck around to watch the finish!  That would prove to be a punishing decision.

Kamino enemies but Narkina allies.

Grant D.'s General Grievous seemingly respawned his guards 17 times in the game, making it hard to kill Grievous as nobody was willing to venture a walk across the board, especially since Grant/Grievous and Jackson/Lando had no interest in going "on program."  Atticus started taking damage from fellow Duelers as well as the floor of the board!  And it would actually be the prison itself that got the last of Obi-Wan's health points.  Curse these iron bars!!!

That left eight Duelers to go, and Bekah had tried to avoid conflict for most of the game but now she turned into the target.  She pulled off some neat combos with the new Bo-Katan deck, but she ran out of partners and space on the board.  Riley E.'s Anakin ended Bekah's first Duel in eighth.  I think we only lightly scarred her, so that's a good sign she'll be back for more!

The white squares are death!

Grant's Grievous became the next target, and he was finally running out of defense cards and minor characters.  Ian's Jango, who had taken some damage by this point, went for his auto-damage Wrist Cable to prevent Grant from pulling any other tricks from his sleeves.  Wait, Grievous doesn't wear shirts, he has no sleeves...  Nonetheless, Grant crashed in seventh.

Jackson deserves a special shout-out.  In just his second career Duel he was deftly playing Lando.  But once Riley E.'s Anakin moved across the board again to land hits, Lando's time was limited.  Once again Ian's Jango used a wrist cable to park Jackson in the top six.

Ian abusing wrist cables.

Somehow we were past 9PM at this point.  Good grief!  Riley E./Anakin used a Wrath-in-good-faith on Riley B.'s Storm Trooper to join both him and Evan's Moff Gideon on one table, directly across from Ian/Jango and Rob/Mando.  Experience Duelers know the "final five" is when alliance shifts are formalized, and after the dust had settled, Ian chose to move against Evan's Gideon.  Rob, however, hopped off the table to use Amban Shock against Riley B.'s Vader!  Long story short, it was quite hectic.

When the dust settled Evan's Moff Gideon managed to get the drop on Riley E.'s Anakin.  She had sustained prison floor damage when she led charges against Lando and Grievous.  The high school sophomore was ejected in fifth.

Like a Moff to the flame.

This recap has done a poor job highlighting all the good things Riley B.'s Vader had accomplished throughout the game.  With four Duelers left he was still at full health, and the the three remaining shooters put the target on him.  Evan was on the same table, and he needed to be, because he finally used the Darksaber!  That was a big blow to Riley B., but he had revenge on his mind.  Sensing Evan was low on defense, Riley chose to attack.  Evan chose not to defend.  You know what happened next:

ALL TOO EASY!!!!!!!!

In one card Riley B. crushed 20 attack points on poor Evan's Moff Gideon!!!  Evan was shockingly gone in fourth place.

Ian's Jango and Riley B.'s Vader were both in rough shape health-wise.  Rob's Mando had good health, but he was running into an unbelievably bad redraw with his cards.  He had nine in his hand, and eight of them were the deceased Cara Dunne.  Rob got Ian to promise him they'd work together to get Vader, but Ian immediately betrayed him!  With nothing but useless minor cards, Mando was soon eliminated by a Zam Sniper Shot.

Ian was dangerously close to a Wrath/Debris auto-death, but Vader didn't have them back in his hand yet.  When Jango got him down to two health points it would be, YET AGAIN, a third kill via Wrist Cable!  Ian was the winner...five hours after we started good lord...  Big congrats to Riley B. too, who had a career-best finish.

Using Jango to win the Jango trophy!

The final order of finish:

12.  Parker/Cad Bane

11.  Elliot/Count Dooku

10.  Alex A./Qui-Gon Jinn

9.  Attius/Obi-Wan Kenobi

8.  Bekah/Bo-Katan Kryze

7.  Grant D./General Grievous

6.  Jackson/Lando Calrissian

5.  Riley E./Anakin Skywalker

4.  Evan/Moff Gideon

3.  Rob/The Mandalorian

2.  Riley B./Darth Vader

1.  Ian/Jango Fett!

And this wasn't the last Duel of the night...

Preview: The Doubleheader - August 26, 2023

 

Season 10 kicked off in fine form with the CL Training Duel, where we had a gaggle of non-professional Duelers descend on the Emperor's Throne Room and test their Force abilities.  Now that the halls are open, it's time to celebrate with TWO Duels in the same night!

The Doubleheader will be played out at Rob's new Jedi Temple, and he's excited to show off the new digs.  He's also hoping the bacta tank (his swimming pool) will be ready for occupants, but that darn Texas heat may be boiling it too much.  We'll wait and see!

But the biggest news of the Doubleheader is...TWO NEW CHARACTERS!!!  While one is a fan favorite the other...well, not so much!  Here they are:

We've got light side character Bo-Katan Kryze with her Nite Owls, and dark side character Reva the Third Sister with a pair of Purge Troopers.  Each of them pull off a trick or two we've never seen in the league before!  Perhaps one of them can score a victory in their match...?

HISTORY OF THE DOUBLEHEADER:

2022 Game #1 - Rob won with Count Dooku in the Trash Compactor

2022 Game #2 - Riley E. won with Darth Vader in the Naboo Reactor Pit

2021 Game #1 - JD M. won with General Grievous in the Trash Compactor

2021 Game #2 - Curtis won with Anakin Skywalker in the Ewok Village

2020 Game #1 - Stephen won with Darth Vader in the Geonosis Arena

2020 Game #2 - Ben won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform

2019 Game #1 - Alex C. and Yoda won on the Kamino Platform
2019 Game #2 - Rob and Emperor Palpatine won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2018 Game #1 - Alex C. and Darth Vader won in the Emperor's Throne Room
2018 Game #2 - Joel and Darth Maul won on the Kamino Platform

2017 Game #1 - Rob and Jango Fett won on the Kamino Platform
2017 Game #2 - Nathan and Jango Fett won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2016 Game #1 - Grant and Count Dooku won on the Kamino Platform
2016 Game #2 - Stephen and Jango Fett won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2015 Game #1 - Ryan and Jango Fett won in the Geonosis Arena
2015 Game #2 - Grant and Yoda won in the Emperor's Throne Room

2014 Game #1 - Alex R. and Darth Maul won on the Kamino Platform
2014 Game #2 - Curtis and Yoda won in the Geonisis Arena

MEET THE DUELERS:

Alex - Game 1 - Alex learned a hard lesson at the CL Training Duel, when his alliance partners left him hanging without protection.  He can't wait to unload the Golden Jar Jar.

Atticus - Game 1 and 2 - Who would have thought an innocuous rock to the helmet would unlock such compulsion in Atticus at CL Training?

Bekah - Game 1 and 2 - NEW DUELER ALERT!!!  Welcome to the table, Bekah!  Word of advice:  trust no one.

Curtis - Game 2 - For some reason Curtis is riding around in a canoe in the afternoon and will miss the first game.  A canoe in this weather???  He'll be Ackbar-red from the sun...

Elliot - Game 1 and 2 - Elliot was SO CLOSE to his first career victory at CL Training.  It took a historically unlucky redraw to dash his hopes.  Hang in there, Elliot!

Evan - Game 1 and 2 - Rob tried to rush Evan off into retirement, forgetting he's still working for Curtis in facilities.  Rob apologizes to the reigning Duels Champion!

Grant D - Game 1 and 2 - into the Duel having experienced a terrible draw in the Singles Tournament.  He hopes for better luck in the Doubleheader.  Maybe GAMBLER'S LUCK...

Ian - Game 1 and 2 - Ian plans on bringing his bathing suit, but not telling anybody he's bringing his bathing suit out of fear it will subliminally indicate he's fine dying early.  That's the kind of thinking that wins Duels.

Jackson - Game 1 and 2 - He played a great game in his first 12-way Duel at CL Training, finishing a respectable seventh with Leia.  He'd love to get further at the Doubleheader.

Parker - Game 1 and 2 - we owe a big thanks to Parker for stepping in and filling our last spot!  He would love to finally make a deep run in one of the games.

Riley B - Game 1 and 2 - the word on the street is that not only is Riley running an underground Duels league, but now he's mass-producing and painting miniature droids.  Duels fever is no joke.

Riley E - Game 1 and 2 - Riley would love to defend her Boba Fett trophy at the Doubleheader, or steal her dad's Jango.

Rob - Game 1 and 2 - Rob would love to defend his Jango Fett trophy at the Doubleheader, or steal his daughter's Boba.

GUESS THE EPIC DUELS CARD VIA EMOJIS:

After nine years...I'm tapped out on funny predictions of the winners.  We're going with something new.  Guess the Epic Duels card via emojis!  Ok, good luck, the answer will be at the end of the post:

👋💣💥💀

Ok, that's all for now!  We're playing in the Narkina Prison board at 5 and the Conveyex Train at 8.  The Yoda Soda and bad blood will be flowing!!!

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Emojis answer:  Thermal Detonator

CL Training Duel - August 7, 2023

 

Emperor's Throne Room (via Mustafar)

I can't believe this is true, but we're off and running with our TENTH season of 12-Way Duels!!!  How in the world did we get to ten years of Dueling???

One thing is for sure, to keep the league alive for ten seasons, you need new recruits!  CL Training has historically been the introductory Duel for many folks who went on to become Hall of Fame Duelers.  So it was especially exciting when this year's CL Training Duel featured eight folks playing a 12-way Duel for the very first time, with only three Duelers who ranked as professionals, and only two who had ever won a Duel before!   

Look at these padawans!

Once Rob had explained the rules, the Duelers had drawn characters, and everyone had shuffled their cards, we were off!  Cole got excited early when his Jyn Erso started taking on Austin's Armorer.  Rob/Luke Skywalker and Elliot/Fennec Shand tried to calm their light side alliance down, explaining to the newer Duelers that if we started infighting the dark side opponents on the other end of the board would find us easy targets.

Cooler heads started to prevail, and the light side, made up of almost entirely shooting characters, concentrated their fire power on the dark side of the board.  Even Jackson's Ewok, Wicket, got into the action when he threw Whirling Rocks at Atticus' Darth Vader for four points of damage!  The dark side, however, were worried about the two Wookies on the board.  The first significant loss of the game came when Elliot's minor character, Black Krrsantan,  got eliminated before he could even use Cannon Blast.

That was a big blow for the light side, but several dark side characters got caught taking major damage when they advanced forward to attack the light.  That included Michael's Moff Gideon.  When he retreated, he blocked an escape lane for his alliance mate Alex/General Grievous.  With nowhere to escape the light side shooters took advantage and Elliot's Fennec Shand eliminated Alex in 12th!  If you're new to Star Wars Epic Duels, you might be amused to learn whoever finishes last gets the "Golden Jar Jar" trophy until the next game.  Here is Alex humbly accepting it:

The light side was feeling pretty good that they suddenly had a numbers advantage against the dark, but that's a dangerous feeling because dark side Duelers are always so tricky!  Riley B.'s Orson Krennec looked like he was exposed and would be the next Dueler dying, but he managed to pull his guards in front of his main character with a special defense card and then he played Peace and Security, which forces all opponents to discard their hand and draw four new cards.  That devastated Rob's Luke Skywalker, who had just advanced with a fist full of attacks.  The dark side sensed his vulnerability and, before too long, poor Rob was out in eleventh after a Wrath from Atticus' Darth Vader.

The remaining Duelers hunker down...

Despite Jordann's Beckett and Michael's Moff Gideon being forced to hide on the back row due to severe injuries, the dark side still managed to turn the tide of the game.  Austin's Armorer became the next focal point of attack, and after a couple of misplays he found himself cardless when Isaiah's Supreme Leader Snoke moved in with a 5-point attack to off Austin in tenth place.

Atticus, who had been fixated on killing Jackson's Ewok after those rocks to the helmet, got caught moving too far forward in his lust for revenge.  That's when Rafael's Chewbacca unloaded a Bowcaster on Vader!  Atticus learned the hard way it's not wise to mess with a Wookie!  He was done in ninth place.

At this point it should be noted Michael had done an outstanding job at the social component of the Duel as he continually had alliance members moving their characters in front of Moff Gideon, who was still badly injured.  But Michael supported them in return by playing The Great Purge on Cole's Jyn Erso.  That let him pick three of Cole's cards to dump while at the same time adding three cards for Gideon.  It was an absolute backbreaker for Jyn, and eventually Michael's last Dark Trooper shot Cole off the board in eighth.

Rafael declares himself a free agent!

Nobody was having more fun at the table than Rafael.  After his Han/Chewey had blown a hole straight through Vader, Rafael got that Dueling blood lust!  With Riley/Krennec and Michael/Gideon whispering in his ear to start shooting his own light side alliance, Rafael suddenly declared himself an independent contractor.  What was bad news for everyone else was Rafael had the Bowcaster back in his hand.  He couldn't resist using it again on poor Jackson's Princess Leia, who couldn't withstand the 11 points of fury.  Jackson was gone in seventh.

Elliot/Fennec, who had tried to keep the light side together, was obviously cranky.  But hope emerged when a dark side Dueler made an unexpected attack!  Jordann, whose Beckett was deeply wounded by one of Jackson's defense cards, had been permitted to heal and card up behind her enemy alliance.  In that time she pulled both Double Blaster cards, which deal 3 points of damage each to anyone she can attack.  So Jordann rolled up on Michael/Moff Gideon and Riley/Krennec and put six points of damage on each of them!  That was enough to kill Michael in sixth, but don't let that middle-of-the-order finish diminish the fantastic night Michael had orchestrating his survival in the game.  Bravo!

Jordann just flipped the whole game!

Jordann assumed she was next after that betrayal, but to her surprise, it actually prompted Isaiah's Supreme Leader Snoke to go after the badly injured Riley's Krennec.  Before that could go down, however, Elliot had unfinished business with Rafael's Han Solo.  He used Fennec's I Don't Miss to zap Rafael/Han into fifth place.  

After that Riley was hard-pressed to find help against Isaiah's Snoke.  Jordann actually came to Isaiah's aid when she used a Trust No One attack on Riley, and Krennec bowed out in fourth place.  Poor Riley!  The undisputed general of the dark side was blindsided by his alliance, but it was a very strong Duel for Riley.

And then there were three!  Jordann's Beckett was still in rough shape.  Elliot's Fennec was at full health but, unbeknownst to the other two Duelers, he had ten minor character cards in his hand!  In what had to be one of the worst reshuffles in league history, Elliot had nothing that could help his Fennec despite holding 10 cards.  Isaiah realized he was going to have to eliminate both shooters all by himself, so he used two Force Lightnings on Jordann to eliminate her in third.  Well done, Jordann, what an amazing debut!

That left Isaiah/Snoke and Elliot/Fennec.  Elliot tried desperately to stay away from Snoke and his last Guard, but with so many BK cards in his hand his options were limited.  Isaiah, who had taken significant damage, managed to land the death blow and put Elliot out in second.  In just his third career Duel, Isaiah won!!!

Who knew Snoke could smile that big?

Congrats to Isaiah!  That win also marked the second victory for Supreme Leader Snoke.  Elliot was so close to his first career win - it's coming soon, Elliot!  Let's review that final order of finish:

12.  Alex A./General Grievous

11.  Rob/Luke Skywalker

10.  Austin E./The Armorer

9.  Atticus/Darth Vader

8.  Cole/Jyn Erso

7.  Jackson/Princess Leia

6.  Michael/Moff Gideon

5.  Rafael/Han Solo

4.  Riley B./Orson Krennec

3.  Jordann/Tobias Beckett

2.  Elliot/Fennec Shand

1.  Isaiah/Supreme Leader Snoke

Mark you calendars for Saturday, August 26, as that is the likely date for the Doubleheader!  That's right, we play two duels in one evening!  Rob has everyone out to his house and feeds you Star Wars snacks all night, including his galaxy famous YODA SODA.  The official invite email will come out soon.

We're off and running in season ten...PEW PEW!!!

2023 Singles Tournament - July 30, 2023

 

Yikes!  I'm a week late, but here is your glorious (and very brief) recap of the 2023 Singles Tournament!  Pictured above are the 32 brave souls who each got four chances to traverse a field 128 entries to become the last person standing.  After a great day of Dueling it would be...KALEB AND OBI-WAN KENOBI who came out victorious!!!

Way to make the drive worth it, Kaleb!  We've never had the same person win the Singles tournament twice, which is just the absolute coolest little bit of trivia.  It just goes to show it's anybody's game!  Props to Brannon too, who took two characters into the Final Four!  Click below the page break to see the final brackets and a bunch of fun pictures from the day...