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!
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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!
