Valentine's Duel - February 7, 2025

Narkina-5 Imperial Prison  

Quick question: how many Golden Oreos can you eat in one sitting?  Follow up question: what if some of them in the package are randomly soggy?  Is that an issue?  Final question: when do candy canes expire?  Is February too late to be eating them?  These were some of the many culinary inquiries our Valentine's Duelers faced, as our annual February Duel encouraged the participants to bring a sweet treat to share!  Kudos to those who remembered - and shame on the league organizer for forgetting!!!

Scared Straight: The Narkina-5 Prison Documentary

The Valentine's Duelers gathered in the Narkina-5 Imperial Prison and, I know you're wondering...how soon did Duelers go off program?  The answer: almost immediately!  And it stayed off program for most of the night...except for two crucial rounds late in the game when the last four Duelers standing were too delirious NOT to raise their hands over their heads!  But I'm getting waaaaay ahead of myself...

Nobody can remember the last time this happened, but the six light side and six dark side Duelers were all sitting six-in-a-row at the table, meaning the respective sides could coordinate extremely well together.  The dark side quickly eliminated Caden's Cara Dune, but the light side hatched a bold plan when The Mandalorian played Grappling Line and pulled Rob's Darth Maul into a kill box!  But Rob somehow used his Martial Defense to completely block Mando's Disintegration!  James/Leia and Elliot/Ahsoka whittled down Maul to near death, but in the first flip of the game (and maybe, maybe aided by Rob running his mouth...), Alex G./Bo-Katan didn't lay the final two hits...and instead joined the dark side!  

Prison sucks!

The light side was equal parts nauseated, disgusted, and disgruntled with Alex, while Rob laughed evilly.  This allowed the dark side to concentrate their fire on The Mandalorian!  Darth Maul got the kill shot with one of his many Sith Speeds, and poor Caden went from hero to the sidelines in last!!!  Rob managed a couple of more hits on Ahsoka too, but with zero cards left in his hand, his blaze of glory left him in eleventh.  What a way to go, though!

Elliot was still gob smacked by Alex's betrayal, and couldn't believe the position he found himself in.  The light side was imploding and he was next to go.  Cate's blood lust was satisfied when her Jango Fett used a three point attack to retire Ahsoka in tenth.  It was a sound tactic, Elliot, don't beat yourself up!

Austin, which Dueler got blind-sided?

The light side tried to rally.  Justin/Mace hopped off the safety of his table to rush Alex's table.  He landed a Whirlwind, but didn't use Wisdom to retreat.  The dark side launched a silo at poor Mace, with Alex using an Ariel Assault for the knockout punch.  Way to go down swinging, Justin!

The only two Duelers left in the light side alliance at that point were James/Princess Leia (Green Leia) and Riley/Luke Skywalker (White Leia).  They were sure they were next, especially once Josiah/The Stranger murdered Wicket.  But everyone knows Cate can only contain her urge to obliterate others for so long, and when she couldn't get an angle on the light side she Missile Launched/Rocket Retreated Mark's Moff Gideon!!!  Alliance disfunction at it's finest!  Mark was bewildered, especially when the rest of his alliance followed suit.  To add insult to compounding injuries, Moff Gideon was eliminated by being electrocuted by the floor!  The next Brooks College staff meeting is going to be AWKWARD.

Look at that face - full of Missile Launch glee!

The crazy twists and turns kept coming.  James and Riley got quiet as mice tiptoeing through a room full of sleeping cats when Josiah threw out Ian/Snoke as the next target.  The debate came fast and furious, as Ian moved the negative attention to Alex/Bo-Katan and his hesitancy to shoot the light side remnants.  Nobody had any idea what to expect from Cate, and Josiah decided her killing spree necessitated the end of her night.  In a risky move, his Mae used A New Acolyte to off Jango.  That was probably just as well - Cate had a 3AM alarm set for her rugby trip!  😦

The animosity towards Alex couldn't be ignored at that point.  He had no friends left on the board.  And in a bit of a control-his-own fate move, he chose to stay off the tables and take his kill shot from the electric floor!  The Narkina-5 Prison fried two Duelers on the night!!!

The wolves circle Austin...

Austin/Cad Bane was a loyal dark side alliance member throughout the night, and it was cool he made it to the final five because he took some damage out of the gate.  But Ian/Snoke didn't look too keen to have extra shooters on the board, so he named Austin as his target of interest.  Austin tried to shake his hand several times to indicate no hard feelings (this is a classic "you had to be there" moment...).  Nobody would rescue Cad Bane, but Austin finished a career-best fifth place.  Nicely done!

Rather than work together as the last two dominant dark side members, Josiah and Ian declared war on each other!  James, who had recently played The Stranger last semester, knew full well Josiah's character was a handful.  He and Riley joined Ian...but it took a LONG time for them to finally oust Josiah.  I'm talking poorly played Tied To A Strings, I Will Not Fight You's...the works!  But Josiah couldn't hold out forever, and James landed the final blow.  There's a reason The Stranger is the top ranked character in the league right now - well done Josiah!

How did these two make it to the final three???

This may not be fully appreciated by those who weren't at the Duel, but it was nothing short of a miracle James/Leia and Riley/Luke went from a seemingly 8th and 7th place finish to the top three.  They worked extremely well together, but the reality was James' Princess Leia had up to 16 points of automatic damage in her deck, and Riley and Ian were roughed up on their damage indicator cards, so they chose to partner against James.  The problem was 8 of those points of auto damage come from Leia's I Know defense cards, so neither wanted to go forward with a frontal assault.

Ian managed to use some Force Lightnings and Riley's minor Leia kept shooting major Leia (yes, it was trippy), but James smartly killed the minors, forcing the issue by making Ian and Riley stand adjacent to Leia.  Ian felt Riley wasn't doing enough, so he ended up turning on Riley, heavily damaging Luke.  It was a controversial move as Riley professed she was still with him.  But the attack allowed James to finish Riley/Luke in third.  Riley had the best hat at the table, though.

The final two was James/Leia and Ian/Snoke!  Both were badly damaged and searching for their automatic damage cards (Covert Operation for Leia, Force Lightning for Snoke).  Ian had some uncharacteristic mistakes throughout the night, but the worst one was when he lost count of Leia's I Know defense cards.  She has two of those - the ones that do four points of damage to whoever attacks - but Ian thought one was already in James' discard pile.  As it turns out, he pulled the second one from his draw pile.  Ian healed enough to take four points from one of them, but his jaw dropped when he attacked a second time only to get four MORE points of auto damage and lose the game!  That's right - James won his first career Duel.  Way to go!!!!  That's another Dueling trophy for the Teal trophy case.  This also marks Princess Leia's second career win.

Final order of finish:

12.  Caden/The Mandalorian

11.  Rob/Darth Maul

10.  Elliot/Ahsoka

9.  Justin/Mace Windu

8.  Mark/Moff Gideon

7.  Cate/Jango Fett

6.  Alex G./Bo-Katan

5.  Austin/Cad Bane

4.  Josiah/The Stranger

3.  Riley E./Luke Skywalker

2.  Ian/Snoke

1.  James/Princess Leia

It's always fun when a Duel produces a first-time winner!  James becomes the 41st Dueler in league history to win a Duel!

Due to the basketball schedule and Spring Break, the March Duel - THE IMPERIAL MARCH - will be played the weekend of March 22nd/23rd.  We'll have to wait for the tournament bracket to figure out which night Baylor plays (stay above the bubble, Bears!!!).  So that means we'll go silent for a few weeks.  

Until then...PEW PEW!

Preview: Valentine's Duel - February 7, 2025

Nothing warms the heart like true love...of STAR WARS EPIC DUELS!  February is upon us, and that means it's time for our 11th Valentine's Duel in league history!  Star Wars cupids will aim their Kyber Darts at the hearts of Duelers ready to take down a win in the dreaded Narkina-5 prison board.  If you're not familiar with the Andor series on Disney+, the floor can electrocute you if you aren't "on program."  If you're standing on one of the work benches that's fine!  But if you're not...it's quite shocking!  Just like true romance should be!!

HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DUEL:

2024 - Elliot won with Bo-Katan Kryze on the Kamino Platform

2023 - Miguel won with Boba Fett in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2022 - Rob won with Rey in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2021 - Curtis won with Orson Krennic in the Eravana Cargo Hold

2020 - Rob won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2019 - Ben won with Darth Vader in the Emperor's Throne Room

2018 - Ryan won with Darth Vader in the Emperor's Throne Room

2017 - Ian won with Darth Maul on the Kamino Platform

2016 - Grant won with Han Solo in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2015 - Rob won with Darth Vader on the Kamino Platform

MEET THE DUELERS:

The best part of the Valentine's Duel preview is you get to see which Star Wars Valentine's Day card each Dueler is passing out this year.  As best as we can remember, these cards haven't been used in previous previews!  You gotta keep it fresh!

Alex G:

Austin:

Cat:

Elliot:

Ian:

James:

Josiah:

Julia:

Justin:

Mark:

Michael:

Rob:

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

Do you want to see which characters are playing?  Sure - here you go!

This one will be action packed - there are some STRONG characters showing up for a long stretch in the Narkina pen!  Good luck to all, and feel free to come join us Friday, 7PM, in the North Village Fine Arts Studio!

PEW PEW!

A New Hope - January 18, 2025

 

Arvala-7

Hope springs eternal in the hearts of all Duelers!  So what better way to start a new year with...A New Hope!  That's right, our annual January Duel went down in the twisty canyons of Arvala-7.  We had a big wait list for this one - Duelers were trying to complete their New Year's resolutions to win all the 12-Way Duels in 2025!  But only one would pull it off...and who was that?  Read the recap below to find out!

Happy New Year's!

There were a lot of folks at the table who hadn't played the Arvala-7 board before, and they immediately noticed how segregated the light and dark sides were from each other.  That being said, nobody wanted to defect to the other side, so each team began plotting on how to gain the upper hand.  Recent birthday boy Austin, playing for the first time since the last A New Hope, got bold and moved his Han to the side to attack and kill Sam's New Order Trooper.  But his rust showed when he didn't retreat afterwards.  The dark side pounced, and by the time Austin could escape he was down to four points of health.  That so happens to be the exact damage a DarthVader Throw Debris delivers...and Rob killed Austin in last!    Woof!

The light side stayed strong, though Han and Chewie were some of the precious few shooters their team had.  The dark side continued picking off other minors.  This next portion of the game took a looooooong time to play.  Like, several hours, but there was a lot of action.  The dark side was determined to kill James' Torbin before he used Barash Vow to plug a main passageway.  It turned comical as Torbin stayed alive while desperately searching for the card.  The dark side finally got him, though, and Indara fell soon after thanks to Curtis' General Grievous making a bold attack.  If there was a silver lining it was James turning pro - congrats James!

A Teal divided cannot stand...

Alex G. had pulled off a couple of slick attacks with Ahsoka, but Rob made sure the rest of his team knew it appeared Alex was hurting for defense cards.  The dark side smelled the blood in the water and combined their efforts on him.  A Vader Wrath was the last blow as the unofficial rookie of the year in 2024 was gone in tenth place.

The light side was collapsing and that's when the defections commenced.  Jordyn/Luke turned first, attacking Elliot's Qui-Gon, who got messed over by Curtis' General Grievous earlier in the game.  But Elliot and Josiah/Sol had tangled with Mark/Dooku and Eric/Boba to positive effect.  It looked like one of those dark side characters would be next, but a shocking Force Push of Sol from Dooku put Josiah in a kill box and he was cooked after that.  It was ninth place for Josiah, but it was fun having him back for the first time since CL Training!

The Torbin Terminators

The 2024 Champion Elliot was bobbing and weaving throughout the night with his Qui-Gon and Jar Jar.  His main arch nemesis was Mark/Dooku.  Mark was on the ropes when Sam, using Captain Phasma, relieved Mark of his last Super Battle Droid with a New Recruit special.  Mark was crestfallen and finally fell to a Prophecy from Elliot.  Mark finished in eighth, but his shiny BRC water bottle was a welcome upgrade at the table!

Sam used Phasma's brand new Super Battle Droid to lay a one point death shot on Qui-Gon, which is always a little frustrating when you go out like that.  But Elliot took it in stride...a sign of a recent champion for sure!  

The end of the light side alliance.

The final six standing were the dark side alliance, which included Jordyn's Luke by that point.  Though there were several hours of play with no deaths, the dam broke quickly from eleventh place to seventh.  Nobody was sure how to proceed.  Caden excused himself from the table for a moment, and that's when the rest of the group put the target on him.  He's not the first person to fall victim to the call of nature, and he won't be the last!  His Beckett, who was terrorized by Qui-Gon for most of the game, was stuck in an unintentional kill box.  Rob's Vader landed the final two blows.  Caden played well with a short card hand all night, this kid has a future in the league!

Eric's Boba Fett rode shotgun most of the night with Mark's Count Dooku, but as a result, he was fairly banged up.  He was loyal to the alliance through and through, but as the weakest character left he was the next target.  Jordyn/Luke handed him his walking papers in fifth.  Eric has played twice and finished fifth twice.  Those are very good performances!

The ethics sub-committee of the Jedi Council will be 
meeting this week to discuss the new trend of desecrating
destroyed characters...

Rob/Vader and Curtis/Grievous had a secret agreement to eliminate the shooters from the board, and their plan was working with Beckett and Boba gone.  But Curtis was hiding in a corner behind his double-resurrected Magna Guards when Sam/Captain Phasma made mention that he didn't think anybody but Grievous wins if Curtis made it to the top three.  Sam had a point - General Grievous was the most powerful character still in the game and Curtis is an expert Dueler.  Rob made the painful decision to side with Jordyn and Sam against Curtis.  He used Your Skills Are Not Complete and a Choke to expose Grievous and Sam and Jordyn took it from there.  The kill shot was a Justice from Luke Skywalker.  Curtis played outstanding.

And then there were three!  Rob/Vader and Sam/Captain Phasma were both full health and each had a minor character left...until Captain Phasma took Rob's Storm Trooper with another New Recruit!  In an ironic twist of fate, Vader was forced to kill his former Trooper for his own protection.  Curse you, Phasma!

Jordyn committing Dueling blasphemy.

Sam and Rob were both lobbying hard for Jordyn to join them against the other.  She waffled for a couple of rounds before boldly moving in against Rob's Vader.  She was low carded, though, and so Rob countered with two attacks.  The second card was All Too Easy...and Jordyn couldn't defend!  Luke Skywalker was killed instantly!  Still, kudos to Jordyn who is proving to be a formidable amateur. 

That left a Captain Phasma vs. Darth Vader finale.  Arvala is a shooter's board, and Sam was loaded with Phasma's best cards.  Rob, meanwhile, was pulling a lot of Storm Trooper cards after his redeal.  Rob did have the luck advantage with dice rolls, though.  He was able to stay away from Phasma as his rolls were big while Sam's were small.  They kept running in circles and Vader was able to start healing and using Wraths and Throw Debris (deb-riss).  After a few rounds Vader was definitely wounded but found his last two Throw Debris on consecutive turns to pull out the win!!!  The winningest character in league history combined with the winningest Dueler in league history to take down the trophy!  It was nearly ten years (Valentine's Duel, 2015) since Rob last won with Vader, but once a decade is still nice!

Congrats to Sam too, who played a heck of a game and just ran into some bad luck.  Let's hope his second place doesn't negatively impact his relational pursuits...

The final order of finish:

12.  Austin/Han

11.  James/Indara

10.  Alex G./Ahsoka

9.  Josiah/Sol

8.  Mark/Dooku

7.  Elliot/Qui-Gon

6.  Caden/Beckett  

5.  Eric/Boba

4.  Curtis/Grievous

3.  Jordyn/Luke

2.  Sam/Phasma

1.  Rob/Vader

That was a long Duel but expertly played by all!  Folks better bring their "A" game in 2025 - it's tough sledding in the league this year.  Save the date for our February match - Valentine's Duel - which we think we'll play on Friday, February 7th at 7PM.

Until then...PEW PEW!

Preview: A New Hope - January 18, 2025

Of all our monthly Duel monikers, "A New Hope" sure feels most appropriate for the time of year!  (Well, except maybe The Imperial March.  Or May the 4th Be With You...or Thanksdueling?  Gosh, we capture the changing of the seasons well in our 12-way league...)  We've got new calendars, a new semester, it's the first month of the year, and in our heart of hearts, "hope" that this will be the year we become league champion!  Just ask Elliot - our 2024 champ - he just proved it's possible!  Somebody has to win it...why not YOU!?

We're kicking off 2025 on the Arvala-7 board, one of the coolest boards in the league.  Whoever wins this one will already have a seat at the table for the December championship.  Why dilly-dally, get it knocked off your to-do list early!

HISTORY OF THE A NEW HOPE DUEL:

2024 - Ian won with Darth Maul in the Trash Compactor

2023 - Michael won with General Grievous in Ewok Village

2022 - Duncan won with Emperor Palpatine in the Geonosis Arena

2021 - Rob won with Lando Calrissian on Arvala-7

2020 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in the Emperor's Throne Room

2019 - Joel won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2018 - Ethan won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform

2017 - Nathan won with Mace Windu in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2016 - JD won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2015 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

What better way to meet the A New Hope Duelers than to hear their New Year's resolutions!

Austin - This is Austin's first Duel since... *checks notes* ...LAST January?!  His New Year's resolution is to play more than once a calendar year!

Caden - In North Village's recent past, they were known as the hub of Epic Duels in the department.  They even have a board in their game closet!  Caden's resolution is...revive Epic Duels in Heritage!

Curtis - This one is pretty obvious.  One of the leagues all-time and most decorated players hasn't won in three and a half years!  His resolution is to finally get back in the win column!

Elliot - Nobody ended 2024 better than Elliot!  He took down the Championship in December (with Cad Bane!), and he has a semester left before he departs to a new galaxy.  His 2025 resolution is to pad his stats with good finishes!

Eric - He debuted at Fight Night last October, and had an impressive fifth place finish in his first Duel.  Eric's resolution is to reach professional status (six Duels played) in 2025!

James - He turns professional at the January Duel, and he'd love to celebrate that fact with a win.  James' resolution is to add hardware to the Teal trophy case!

Jordann - She has five straight top-five finishes and quietly moved into second place in the Dueler rankings after the Championship.  But she graduates soon!  Her resolution is to finally win a Duel!

Jordyn - Jordyn notched two Duels in the Fall, and her humor and strategic approach are both appreciated at the table.  Her resolution is to qualify for the 2025 Championship!

Josiah - After a jaw-dropping second place debut at CL Training in August, we didn't see Josiah again.  But he's back at the table this month!  His resolution is to play more Duels with us in 2025!

Mark - He played a couple of Duels with us in the Fall semester, and that included a nifty fourth place finish at Fight Night.  His resolution is to buy a Stanley, or an Owala, or anything to replace that crusty emergency room plastic bottle he keeps using!

Rob - He's still somewhat bewildered by his fourth place finish at the Championship after an early "I Will Not Fight You" on his Darth Maul.  But there's only one missing accomplishment on Rob's Dueling resume...  His resolution is to win the 2025 Singles Tournament!

Sam - There's a lot of pride among the Teal sect of Duelers.  But Sam has yet to win a match.  His 2025 resolution is to be the best Dueler in Teal Residential College!

Here we go again!  Happy New Year all!!  Feel free to come by the Fine Arts Studio at 7PM this Saturday to catch the carnage!  PEW PEW!