Emperor's Throne Room (via Mustafar)
Here we go again!!! Season 11 of our 12-Way Star Wars Epic Duels league launched this week at our annual CL Training Duel. This is an important Duel for us because we introduce padawans to the game for the first time, in hopes of raising them up into professional Duelers. This year's match didn't disappoint - we had EIGHT brand new Duelers play for the first time with many more joining the mailing list. The future looks bright!
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| Nobody has any clue how late they're about to stay up... |
With so many newbies it took a minute to teach the game and pass out the seats and characters, but our new friends figured it out quickly. Folks explored alliances and the bounds of their characters. The first big move of the game was definitely Caden and his Obi-Wan Kenobi. He became an early target and, just as folks were reaching their 10-card hand limit...he played Force Balance, dumping everyone's hands and resetting the action! He didn't win over any new friends that way, as even light side characters joined the dark in knocking him out. Justin's Han Solo put in the kill shot and Caden became the proud owner of the Golden Jar Jar trophy.
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| Josiah, Caden, and Jordyn - welcome rookies! |
With Obi gone it looked like the dark side alliance, which included Jonah's Mace Windu, would roll through the light. But Jonah couldn't resist the siren call to backstab, and Mace Whirlwinded Rob's Dark Troopers! The first time Dueler locked horns with the Godfather of the league! I gotta tell you, I like his moxie. The dark side didn't let that pass without punishment. Spencer's Supreme Leader Snoke used Tied to a String to yank Mace into a dark side kill box. Liam annihilated him in eleventh with Kylo's I Know What I Have to Do (12 point attack!!!). Ouch!
There was a lot of buzzing around the table after that, and the new Duelers weren't afraid to leave their seats to whisper into others' ears. Normally that would put a huge target on yourself...and that's kind of what happened to poor Jordyn! She wanted to move in against Jordann's Darth Vader and said as much to Rob/Moff Gideon and Elliot/Qui-Gon Jinn. But when Elliot's name came up as the next target, he spilled the beans on Jordyn and her Captain Phasma was quickly surrounded and attacked. Liam's Kylo once again offered the death blow with double Force Chokes from Kylo.
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| Was there, or was there not, a Teal alliance? We may never know... |
That left 9 Duelers at the table and we were well into the wee hours of night at that point. Josiah's Fennec Shand took early damage, especially after losing Black Krrsantan. But he slipped off the radar and instead a new Wookie became the target - Han and Chewbacca! Justin had done a good job keeping the pair out of trouble, but the attention soon fell to them. Elliot's Qui-Gon absolutely unloaded on Chewey, leaving Han exposed for a final shot from Connor's Jyn Erso, who was playing a similar game of hiding in the corner and keeping his head down.
The dark side alliance cracked after that. After some nervous haggling at the table, Spencer's Supreme Leader Snoke found himself short on partners. In a cruel twist, his Snoke was caught without defense and Jordann used her Vader's All Too Easy to administer 20 points of auto-kill on Spencer. Spencer was one of just four Duelers at the table with playing experience. The newbies were out for blood!!
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| Happy or delirious? It's hard to tell... |
And then there were seven! In many ways, Liam's Kylo Ren had been the backbone of the dark side alliance. But folks were getting nervous and the alliance started to disintegrate. The center couldn't hold and the fear of Kylo making a deep run took root. He became the new enemy and was pounced on when he was low carded. The final blow came from Jordann's Throw Debris. Liam played Kylo quite well, though!
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| That board is gorgeous. |
That left two sabers (Jordann/Vader and Elliot/Qui-Gon) and four shooters (Rob/Moff Gideon, Connor/Jyn Erson, Josiah/Fennec, and Alex/Cad Bane). Rob didn't like how healthy Vader was or how easy it would be for Jordann to do auto-distance damage. Elliot, meanwhile, wanted Connor's Jyn gone and his alliance with Rob splintered. There was some side-switching going for the next couple of rounds, but eventually, the shooters formed a final four agreement. Elliot's Qui-Gon couldn't hang on longer than Jordann's Vader, and he was sent to bed after Connor's Looks Like a Killer was delivered by Cassian.
It took a long time to eliminate Jordann's Darth Vader, thanks in large part to a Storm Trooper who was jacked on steroids, but she couldn't hold out forever. She left some parting damage on Alex's Cad Bane before settling for fifth place. Alex picked up the Vader trophy with a 3-point attack.
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| Rob being told it was past 3AM. |
The four remaining shooters were quite pleased to make it to the final four together, as they had stuck with each other. Connor/Jyn and Josiah/Fennec survived being early targets, while Rob/Moff Gideon and Alex/Cad Bane had stayed loyal throughout. But someone had to go next, and the pleasantries evaporated when the three rookies named Rob as the next target. It would be hard to describe the next bits if you weren't there, but let's just say Rob used some verbal jujitsu to move the target off himself and onto Connor's Jyn Erso. Connor proved early in the game he had good instincts for Dueling, but Rob managed to rally the others and go after Jyn. Josiah's Fennec played a 4-point attack to finally eliminate Jyn, but kudos to Connor with an amazing fourth place finish in his first Duel.
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| Residential Colleges at their finest. |
Rob put a LOT of pressure on Alex and Josiah since they were dead set on making sure a newbie walked out of this Duel with the CL Training trophy. He wielded cold, hard Dueling logic while dealing hit points, cycling defense cards, and sowing seeds of doubt. His last move was to try and strong arm Josiah into an alliance by making him weaker than Connor, but Alex was loyal to Connor and Rob was out in third! A first time Dueler was going to win!!
It looked like Josiah's Fennec Shand would be an easy target since he was badly damaged, but Josiah was deft in combatting Alex's Cad Bane. In the end, though, he couldn't gain an advantage and Alex used There's No Shame In It to knock out Josiah. Alex G. and Cad Bane were the victors!!! Alex becomes the third Dueler in league history to win their debut Duel - that's rare air!! This also makes it three career wins for Cad Bane, which is quite impressive given how new to the league he is. A big spotlight should be put on Josiah too. How he survived the early light side demise to make it to the final two is incredible. Well done everyone!!!
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| Dueling skills > 9 square in the air skills |
Final order of finish:
12. Caden/Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. Jonah/Mace Windu
10. Jordyn/Captain Phasma
9. Justin/Han Solo
8. Spencer/Supreme Leader Snoke
7. Liam/Kylo Ren
6. Elliot/Qui-Gon Jinn
5. Jordann/Darth Vader
4. Connor/Jyn Erso
3. Rob/Moff Gideon
2. Josiah/Fennec Shand
1. Alex G./Cad Bane
What a great way to start off the year!!! Our next Duel is The Doubleheader - that's right, we're playing two Duels in one day! Rob will send out an official RSVP for that in a couple of weeks, but we're targeting the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (September 1st) at 2PM and 7PM out at Rob's house. More info soon!!!
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