Naboo Reactor Pit
The annual October Fight Night is usually a frenzy of politicking and laser swords/blasts, and this year's was no different! Of course, you could really say that about ANY 12-way Duel... But the unpredictable opening and closing of the Naboo Reactor Pit walls definitely added to the tension. And if there's one thing a Duel needs it's more anxiety... *gulp*
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| Why does Grant always get stuck by the laser wall button? |
As has been common the past few times we've played Naboo, the split didn't go light vs. dark so much as hallway vs. the open pit side of the board. That meant new Dueler Josh/Kit Fisto and Emmanuel/Allegiant General Pryde were in the worst starting positions because they were on the front lines of the pit crew. Ian's Chirut did four points of auto-damage on them and the blood was officially in the water for the rest of the Dueling sharks. Rob's Wampa/Viper Droid took out the Sith Troopers and poor Josh was getting hit every which way. Hall of Famer Nathan, back at a 12-way for the first time in a few years, used his Syril to knock out Josh in 12th. We hate doing that to first-time Duelers! But with that starting spot there wasn't much he could do.
Unfortunately for Nathan, his Dedra and Syril took friendly fire from Chirtut too, and the hallway alliance concentrated their fire on the Andor baddies. It would ultimately be Miles D.'s Sabine Wren and a Mandalorian Warrior attack that offed Nathan in eleventh. Let's hope we start seeing Nathan around more at future Duels, though!
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| Walls down! |
Emmanuel's Allegiant General Pryde retreated to the back end of the hallway for many turns, and there was about a two-hour potshot battle between both ends. But as the minor characters started dying (including the Viper Droid's hilarious and intentional trip down to the opposition territory for a Self Destruct), the remaining main characters started swinging. That's how Rob's Wampa managed to put Emmanuel/Pryde in Cold Storage! That means the corpse of Pryde and Emmanuel's tenth place finish became a snack for the Wampa!!
Just as this was happening we finally had our first flip of the game. Eric, once again playing with Migs and Q9-0, dramatically flipped to the pit-side team. His old alliance was furious and Miles D., who did us a huge favor as a last minute sub, was left hanging. His Ahsoka Tano couldn't outlast a double shot of Double Blasters from Kaizer's Tobias Beckett. Miles was gone in ninth!
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| Sam must be so jealous of Jonah... |
Curtis, meanwhile, had mostly been commanding his alliance with Commander Cody, which seems somewhat appropriate. But he chose to hang out on the backline for most of the game, which left him an easy target once his alliance started dying off. Ian's Baze shot Cody down in eighth place.
The last Dueler left standing from the hallway alliance was Jonah's Captain Phasma and yes, Jonah was playing with Captain Phasma for the second month in a row. That seems nearly impossible to do in the era of 68 characters...but never tell Jonah the odds! However, nobody can withstand a 6 vs 1 situation, and it would be Benedict Arnold Eric's Migs Mayfield using a Cycler Rifle to gun Phasma into seventh place.
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| Ian digests Dueler stress like a bowl of grapes in Penland dining. |
The pit alliance did it! And with only one fatality on their own side (Nathan/Dedra)! But that also meant a fresh target needed to be established. The darting eyes at the table drifted towards Junior's Lando Calrissian. Junior was playing a great game, but most folks know Lando is VERY hard to take down in the late stages of a Duel. Junior became the target but, in a surprise move, Ian's Baze took shots at Kaizer's Beckett! Everyone at the table was shocked, and Kaizer couldn't recover. Lobot used Activation to send Kaizer packing in sixth place. Give it up for Kaizer, though. That's three top-six finishes in his first three career Duels!
With five to go Lando only got more intimidating, so the other four attacked poor Junior. Eric's Migs used his Automated Weapon Mount (PEW PEW!) to do two quick attacks for the elimination. This was a great rebound game for Junior, though.
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| Who do we go after next??? |
Eric took a quick bathroom break and Rob used that time to remind people how truly terrifying Migs and Q9-0 were under the control of Eric late in a game. That was the combination that knocked out Rob's Kylo Ren in second place at CL Training! Rob/Wampa and Grant/K-2SO committed to going after Eric while Ian's Baze stayed neutral as he desperately tried to find cards that didn't feature the deceased Chirut. The laser walls kept going up, though, buying Eric more time. In a desperate move, he started attacking Ian! Ian was flustered and returned fire, but he was still short carded. Ian/Baze rested in fourth, but that wasn't too bad for a double-minor deck!
Speaking of double-minor decks...how does Eric keep picking them??!!? Give Eric credit, he knows how to use them! It took Rob and Grant considerable effort to knock them out. But the Wampa got Q9-0 and K-2SO felled Migs and Eric peaced-out in third. He nearly repeated with a second win for the deck!!
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| Running a clinic with K-2SO and Melshi. |
And then there were two!!! Rob had his fully healthy Wampa but a fist full of Viper Droid cards, while Grant had a half-dead K-2SO but a healthy Melshi. Rob thought his only chance at winning was keeping Melshi alive so K-2SO couldn't heal. Each Dueler traded blows, but the tide started to tilt towards Grant, especially with all the attacks Melshi got off on the Wampa. In fact, it would be Melshi, not K-2SO, who got the kill shot on the Wampa!! Rob got second place once again in 2026, and Grant won his eleventh career Duel!!! CONGRATS GRANT!!! He was as cool as the other side of the pillow throughout the game. This was also K-2SO's first career win! Woot woot!
Final order of finish:
12. Josh K./Kit Fisto
11. Nathan/Dedra Meero
10. Emmanuel/AG Pryde
9. Miles D./Ahsoka Tano
8. Curtis/Comm. Cody
7. Jonah/Capt. Phasma
6. Kaizer/Tobias Beckett
5. Junior/Lando Calrissian
4. Ian/Chirut & Baze
3. Eric/Migs & Q9-0
2. Rob/Wampa
1. Grant/K-2SO
Grant's win ALSO means the eleventh unique Dueler in the league has won a Duel in 2026 - we've had no repeat winners!! We've never had that level of parity in the league before. That ALSO means the last chance to secure a seat for the December Championship is at next month's Thanksdueling! Duel! We're tentatively looking at November 14th for that one, so save the date now.
Congrats again, Grant!
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