Rancor Dungeon
My apologies for the delayed recap of our awesome May the 4th Duel! Playing on Sunday and then jumping into the last week of classes is a bad recipe for blogging productivity!
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| He's in the niceness HOF too! |
Alas, we did Duel on May the 4th...but before the action started, we held a sacred ceremony at the Jedi Temple. A new Dueler joined the Hall of Fame! Playing in his last league Duel before moving to North Carolina, Elliot more than earned his spot in the league history books by ranking in the top ten all-time in Duels played, being the first Dueler to win with Bo-Katan Kryze (#foreshadowing!), and winning the 2024 Championship. We're going to miss all of our departing Duelers, but Elliot certainly holds a special place in all of our hearts!
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| May the 4th be with you! |
For the last Duel of the academic year we were stuck in the rancor's dungeon! And Riley B. was gracious enough to stop by and guest star as the rancor! It wasn't long before the rancor was released, as Kat's (back after a year and a half layoff!) Pyke hoodlum was offed first! While some folks were focused on attacking the rancor, and the rancor was focused on eating minor characters, Rob's Rey and Finn were creeped out by Justin/Morgan's future zombie night troopers. The rest of that end of the board, fully carded, took the fight to Morgan herself when the troopers were gone. HOFer Elliot/Boba Fett used a Kyber Dart for the kill shot! Poor Justin!!! He did turn pro though, joining the long line of Duelers whose sixth Duel was also a last place.
But Morgan wasn't the only Dueler bleeding out early. CJ's Krennic, stuck in the middle of the board and down a minor character thanks to the rancor, took the full force of James' Bowcaster to put her within one health point of death! She retreated to the control panel and dropped the gate on the rancor, causing ten points of damage. That enraged the rancor, who crushed Krennic in eleventh. RAWRRR!!!
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| The character he was born to play! |
Despite a crazy-lucky string of Thick Skin defense cards, the gate crash jacked up the rancor. The rest of the board realized it was a good time to eliminate the monster from the board. Jonah's Cara Dune landed the final attack. Thanks Riley B. for your cameo!
The dungeon is a tough board to navigate because there aren't any easy dividing lines to form sides. Alex G./Indara found himself on the wrong side of that when a gang of shooters put the target on his Acolyte heroine. It was once again Elliot's Boba who got the deathblow. Alex got to leave early to get back to studying after finishing tenth.
Another Dueler caught in the crossfire of bad board position was Riley E.'s Moff Gideon. Her sister Penny immediately attacked her early in the game, and others joined in on picking on Gideon. Boba used a Wrist Cable to collect his third major character trophy of the night!
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| Kat Bane! |
James was feeling himself as Han Solo, and in a bold move, began attacking Penny's The Stranger. In real life that wouldn't end well, but Penny was low carded and not expecting the attacks. But she moved straight to the source of her problems after that and landed a blow on Han. That was enough damage to let Rob/Rey use The Last Jedi to finish Solo and the wookie in eighth!
It was about this time in the game Rob realized his melee Rey was surrounded by a LOT of shooters on the board. Though he had tussled with Josiah's Ahsoka earlier in the game, he made a deal to heal Ahoska if Josiah would attack Jonah's Mandalorian. The deal was struck and Jonah was in critical health. ONCE AGAIN Elliot swooped in for the kill shot, using Greedo and a Sudden Arrival to do the deed this time. Jonah's last Duel of the year netted him a seventh place finish, but he'll be joining eleven others of us for the 12 12-Way in June!
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| Penny showing James what's up. |
Some of the shooters weren't crazy about the Mandalorian being the most recent target, so they returned the focus on Penny's Stranger. There's nowhere to hide in the dungeon, AND YES AGAIN Elliot took out the trash with a kill shot. Penny was gone in sixth.
Rob/Rey made his expected social move of the game in the top five. He tried to rally Elliot/Boba to join himself and Josiah's Ahsoka for a final three, suspecting Grant/Bo-Katan and Kat/Cad Bane were in a tight alliance. Grant didn't like that kind of talk, so he used the Dark Saber to knock out Josiah in fifth! But Josiah did turn pro at this Duel. Congrats, Josiah!
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| Grant plotting a path forward... |
And then there were four! Elliot decided to stick with Rob, at least at this stage, partnering up against Kat and Grant. They decided to concentrate their efforts on Kat's Cad Bane. Despite her fancy Rocket Boots, she couldn't hold out forever. Kat was done in fourth, but that was a great performance after her prolonged absence from play. Let's hope we'll see more of her this fall!
Elliot came to his senses at the final three, especially after Rob used the eight points of healing from the Rise of Skywalker. Boba and Bo-Katan joined Mandalorian forces against Rey. Rob hung tough for several rounds, but the rancor dungeon is nearly impossible to survive with its lack of raised terrain when facing two shooters at once. Rob concentrated his attacks on Boba, hoping Elliot would partner with him if he was sufficiently banged up. But when he used Scavenger Scum to put the heal card back in his hand, Elliot shocked Rob with a Thermal Detonator! It was adios for Rob after that - he was out in third.
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| One last Duel together! |
That left a final two of a slightly wounded Elliot/Boba Fett and Grant/Bo-Katan. Rob had peaked at Grant's deck earlier and knew he was loaded with defense cards. Elliot fought valiantly and they each landed hits, but Bo-Katan proved relentless and an Arial Assault eliminated Elliot in second. Grant won his tenth career Duel!!! PEW PEW!!! He becomes the fourth Dueler in league history to reach double digits in wins. Well done Grant! And congrats to Elliot, who wrapped up his league tenure with a second place finish and a killed character graveyard that was enormous. Elliot is flying back to Texas for the 12 12-way in June, so we still have a dozen more times to enjoy is presence at the table.
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| Grant wins the Golden Obi! |
Final Order of Finish:
12. Justin/Morgan Elsbeth
11. CJ/Orson Krennic
10. Alex G./Indara
9. Riley E./Moff Gideon
8. James/Han Solo
7. Jonah/The Mandalorian
6. Penny/The Stranger
5. Josiah/Ahsoka Tano
4. Kat/Cad Bane
3. Rob/Rey
2. Elliot/Boba Fett
1. Grant/Bo-Katan Kryze
Thanks for an awesome year Dueling, everyone!!! We aren't playing the June Twin Sun Slam this summer since we're doing the 12 12-way. Save the date for the last Sunday of July - we'll be playing the Singles Tournament! We need 32 Duelers to make that work - more details to come. Until then...
May the Force be with you. Always.
