Thanksdueling! - November 8, 2025

Arvala-7

There was a quiet air around the board as we awaited Thanksdueling! to begin.  Perhaps tensions were high, knowing this was the last chance to qualify for the 2025 Championship.  Perhaps folks were nervous about which character they were going to pick.  Or perhaps the Duelers knew mom and dad were going to fight and wake the baby!!!

Grogu, is that you??

It's hard to believe it had been over a year since the married duo of Joe and Michaela had graced the table with their chaotic energy (ok - to be fair - it's Joe's chaotic energy, lol...), but they were back with their new padawan in tow!  And just as you would expect, Joe was fighting every urge to immediately attack his better half and mother to his first born!  Curtis/Fennec and Jonah/Obi convinced him to hold court with the light side, though, enabling the good guys to outmaneuver the "chill corner" and use a Force Control to pull Justin/Count Dooku into a light side kill box!  Justin countered by Force Pushing Joe's Saesee Tiin back to the dark side!!

Meanwhile, Nayshaun/Cad Bane made his own big play, turning against Eric/Moff Gideon and hoping Junior/Jod Na Nawood would join him.  It was all a whirlwind, especially when Junior didn't immediately follow suit.  But when the dust settled, it was poor Eric who was gone first, as Rob's Sabine Wren rushed through an alleyway to hit him with a Mandalorian Warrior attack.  Justin fell next, and give him credit - he tipped his hat to the light side for their tactics!  Jonah landed the parting shot.

The "chill corner" seems to be anything but...

Though the dark side was in tough shape, they still had Joe trapped...until James/Darth Maul turned on his alliance partner, Jordyn/Emperor!!!  Jordyn had just dumped Michaela/Sol's hand with You Will Die, making the betrayal that much more bitter.  Junior/Jod Na finally found his nerve too, landing the final blow on poor Jordyn.  She was gone in tenth, but this did mark her turn to the professional ranks.  Congrats, Jordyn!!!

Things were very topsy-turvy after that, as sides were in flux all over the board.  James took advantage and returned his focus to Joe's Saesee Tiin.  Joe chose not to defend an Athletic Surge, and that was all James needed to park the new dad in ninth.

James the big, bad, Sith.

It was Rob/Ahsoka's turn and Nayshaun was making it clear he wanted Maul off the board.  But he wasn't going to be able to immediately help in that pursuit.  Junior liked that idea too, but pressured Rob by turning one of the timers on him!  That made Rob very cranky, so he used both Jar'kai attacks on Jod Na Nawood!  Junior ran away...right into the blade of Jonah's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Junior was done in eighth and hopefully learned a lesson or two in just his third career Duel.

With Jod Na Nawood eliminated the focus returned to Darth Maul.  Curtis used Black Krystalmeth Krrsantan to start hits on Maul.  But when James didn't defend the second attack...Curtis used CANNONBLAST for eleven points of damage!!!  Maul was blown off the board with a smoking hole through his sternum!!!

Sneaky Shooters

That left six Duelers in the game, and it slowly turned into the three shooters (Ally/Lando, Curtis/Fennec, Nayshaun/Cad) versus the three blades (Rob/Ahsoka, Jonah/Obi, Michaela/Sol).  Michaela was still reeling from the You Will Die and the clock striking 10PM, and decided to use every card as she got them.  That left her under-carded for Ally's Lobot attacks.  She was mercifully eliminated in sixth.  But not by her husband!  So, you know...improvements!

At this point we should give a shoutout to Nayshaun, who could easily have been the first Dueler out after his coup against Moff Gideon didn't go as planned.  But his luck finally ran out in the final five.  Sabine and Obi were done with him, and Sabine got the final blaster round.  Nayshaun has certainly impressed this semester - he'll turn pro early next year!

Curtis' favorite board.

And then there were four!  Curtis and Ally both had their minors still in the game, meaning they had four shooters against Jonah and Rob's blades on a shooter's board.  That put Jonah and Rob in a tough spot.  They made the call to concentrated on taking out Black Krrsantan, knowing Curtis would continue to use him to retreat behind the single space passageways around the center of the board.  It took a lot of maneuvering, but they pinned Lando and Fennec in a corner and got Fennec down to her last two points of health.  That's when Rob proposed a crazy deal!  If Ally/Lando would finish off Curtis/Fennec, Rob would go after Jonah/Obi!

That was a little too out of the blue for Ally, so she passed.  Rob was using that as a bit of a red herring anyway, hoping to save shots on Curtis, but went after him anyway.  Jonah took more damage than he anticipated, so he played the tried and true Force Balance, dropping all cards.  Curtis some how top-decked his two 7-point attacks against Rob!!!  Rob went from full health to half dead.  He luckily pulled an additional attack card to finally knock out Curtis in fourth, though.

Epic Drooler!!!

Rob went from likely first place to the most vulnerable in the blink of an eye.  To save his backside, he told Ally he would join her against Jonah's Obi-Wan.  Jonah was aghast, but he was so far away he started healing up Obi-Wan to a point where Obi-Wan really was the primary threat again.  Rob recovered to a degree he could be helpful again, so he joined Ally in taking down Obi-Wan.  Jonah fought valiantly but finally succumbed to his wounds in third place.

The nuance of the next hour of Dueling is hard to describe in this recap, but Ally turned the tide of near certain death to flip the tables on Rob.  Everyone knows how hard Lando is to beat one on one, let alone on Arvala, but Rob got her to within two points of dying.  On his reshuffle, he top-decked his 8 point attack (I Am No Jedi).  He felty guilty as he played it, assuming he had just won.  But Ally had just drawn Evacuation - completely blocking it!  She spent the next dozen or so rounds slowly recovering while whittling down Rob's health and cards.  The absolute backbreaker was when she played Hello, What Have We Here?  She was able to discard BOTH of Rob's I Choose To Live defense cards!!!  A few turns later, she attacked and Rob couldn't defend...Ally won her first career Duel in just her fourth game played!!!  JUST IN TIME TO QUALIFY FOR THE 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  Way to go, Ally!

The final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Moff Gideon

11.  Justin/Count Dooku

10.  Jordyn/Emperor Palpatine

9.  Joe/Saeasee Tiin

8.  Junior/Jod Na Nawood

7.  James/Darth Maul

6.  Michaela/Sol

5.  Nayshaun/Cad Bane

4.  Curtis/Fennec Shand

3.  Jonah/Obi-Wan Kenobi

2.  Rob/Ahsoka Tano

1.  Ally/Lando Calrissian

We'll have more info coming soon on the December Duel - the 2025 Championship!  Those spots are reserved for the best and the brightest from the past year - stay tuned.  Congrats again to Ally on her first career win!!!