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!!!

12x12-Way Weekend Episode II: Attack on our Tailbones - June 19, 2025 (4PM)

Arvala-7

This was a long Duel as Arvala-7 often is.  The light and dark basically held true and by the end of the match Ian was triumphant!  He finished second and first in his first two Duels of the weekend!!!

Episode 2 - randomized characters and starting positions.

 

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!

May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2024

Arvala-7

I hope you don't have a sweet tooth, because this game was SALTY!  So much fear which led to anger, anger which led to hate, hate which led to...YOU KNOW THE REST!  Let's recap the shooter's Duel, PEW PEW!

May the 4th Be With Them

This post is a couple of days late, so apologies if not all of the details are remembered.  The author of this post was on a lot of cold medicine, which his fellow Duelers learned means he can't keep his inside thoughts from becoming outside thoughts!

The front of this Duel was tediously slow as the dark and light wanted to remain united, and just as the action was picking up, Ian/Krennic played Peace and Security, dumping everyone's hands and leading to even more card drawing.  The first blood in the water was Isaiah's Jango Fett.  He was roughed up when Josh S.'s Lobot and Riley B.'s Jyn Erso came barging in.  Rob's Boba Fett chose to defect to the light side with a Rocket Retreat, though he refused to use it on Isaiah, since it was his last Duel.  That didn't stop Riley B., though!  Jyn took down Jango, and poor Isaiah was gone in last!!!  The league will miss him for sure - it's hard to think of a Dueler more well-loved than Isaiah.

Riley B./Jyn's bloodlust led him into the dark side territory, but he was woefully unprepared to defend himself once Jango was dead.  Ian/Krennic, Riley E./Moff Gideon, and Grant D./Cad Bane concentrated their efforts on the Rogue One hero.  A brutal There's No Shame In It 7-point attack from Cad Bane smoked Riley B./Jyn into eleventh.  Riley graduates this week too, but he took a job locally so I'm sure we'll see him at the table again in the future.

Mando and Lando in trouble.

The light side still had the numbers advantage, thanks in part to Bekah/Beckett defecting to their side after Ian/Krennic's opening Grenade earlier, but Rob/Boba decided to go for the rare double-defection.  Hopped up on Benadryl, he told the rest of the board they should focus on the three strongest characters in the game:  Elliot/Princess Leia, Jordann/The Mandalorian, and Josh/Land Calrissian.  He put his money where his mouth is when he used a combo Deadly Aim and Rocket Retreat to end Jordann's night early in tenth!

You could see the smoke coming out of Elliot's ears after the momentum shifted.  He made many compelling arguments but folks weren't eager to see Leia go deep.  Spencer/Bo-Katan used Aerial Assault to make the finishing shot - Elliot was out in ninth.  There were early rumblings about a chaplain alliance, but they ended up being the first four gone!!!

Alex A. lending a hand?

Josh, playing in his first Duel, found himself as the last standing shooter Rob had called out earlier.  He made some nifty moves, but couldn't withstand the coalition working against him.  Riley E.'s Moff Gideon was near death, and was twice about to be eliminated by Spencer's Bo-Katan before pledging to weaken others on the board if her life was spared.  Instead, Spencer's Night Owl offed Lando.  Not a bad first Duel, Josh!

Sweet 16 Eve

There were only six Duelers left, and Alex had been staying under the radar quite nicely with Han and Chewy.  He used the It's Not Wise Wookie toss to finally put Riley E. out of her misery in seventh.  The birthday girl was gone (Cinco de Riley!), and that's when Ian put the target on Han.  Krennic finished what he started with a 4-point shot.  It was the end of the road for Alex, but that sixth place finish marked a personal best!

With only five to go, Rob's Boba Fett was loaded, and spent an attack on Grant's Cad Bane.  He thought Grant and Ian/Krennic were a solid alliance, so he proposed a trio of himself, Spencer/Bo-Katan, and Bekah/Beckett work together.  But Bekah wouldn't even look Rob in the eye and Spencer kept trying to court Ian instead, who steadfastly refused to commit to anything past Boba biting the dust.  Rob kinda lost his mind since the Benadryl was wearing off, and the rest of the Duelers zapped him in fifth.

"I think Rob might have been right..."

Spencer's Quixotic attempt to court Ian came to a crashing thud once Boba was gone.  The three remaining Duelers all turned against his Bo-Katan.  Grant's Cad Bane got the last shot.  Spencer drowned his sorrows in Cane's, which is a tasty way to die.

The final three saw Bekah/Beckett and Grant/Cad Bane join forces against Ian's Orson Krennic.  Ian played his movements masterfully, though, running around the large rock structure in the center of the board.  That, combined with Bekah's atrocious dice luck, left Grant dueling Ian by himself.  Ian used another Peace and Security to weaken them both and used a deadly Hero of the Empire to stop Grant in third.  He was so close to being the first Dueler to ever win three Duels in a row!!!

This board is so pretty!!!

Bekah's Tobias Beckett was fully loaded, but Ian was in a beautiful rhythm with Krennic.  They danced around the board but Bekah was quickly on the ropes.  After a short chase Krennic fired off a winning shot - Ian won the game!!!  This is his second win of 2024.  Amazingly, Krennic defended his May the 4th Be With You title too, as he won last year!  I can't remember the last time a character repeated...

"Oh, it's beautiful!"

Final order of finish:

12.  Isaiah/Jango Fett

11.  Riley B./Jyn Erso

10.  Jordann/The Mandalorian

9.  Elliot/Princess Leia

8.  Josh S./Lando Calrissian

7.  Riley E./Moff Gideon

6.  Alex A./Han Solo

5.  Rob/Boba Fett

4.  Spencer/Bo-Katan Kryze

3.  Grant D/Cad Bane

2.  Bekah/Tobias Beckett

1.  Ian/Orson Krennic

Congrats again to Ian.  That concludes our 23-24 season of Epic Dueling!!!  Rob will host the Twin Sun Slam doubleheader sometime in June, he'll pick a date once the fog of sickness has cleared his head.  Isaiah and Riley B. - we love you!  Thanks for all the memories!!!

May the Force be with you.  Always.

The Imperial March - March 25, 2003

 

Arvala-7

Let's just acknowledge something up front.  How has it taken this league NINE years to put our game boards on a lazy Susan?  We tried it for the first time at this month's Imperial March, and it was divine!!!  Thank the maker!!!  We'll be using that for now on with all of the non-electrical boards.  So smooth, so spinny, like a Mace Windu whirlwind...

"Smile if you plan to eat baby Yoda fruit snacks!"

In what may have been the first time in league history, the game started with almost all 12 Duelers drawing up to their maximum of ten cards in their hands.  It would be Kaleb, drawing last, who got things started by having his Han Solo attack Riley's Royal Guard after swearing they were good.  Kaleb initiated that shot because he thought that was the direction the rest of his light side alliance was taking.  Things when completely off the rails when Julia's Finn and Kevin's green (Yoda) Clone Troopers instead attacked Jocelyn's Obi-Wan Kenobi!

The light side in-fighting galvanized the dark side to stick together.  Rob's Supreme Leader Snoke played Tied To A String on Grant H.'s Mace Windu, pulling him into a dark side kill box.  Meanwhile, Jocelyn's Obi and Rylie's Mandalorian decided to hit back at Rey and Yoda!  The first to fall was poor Julia, as her Rey had very little defense in her hand.  Despite the last place finish, Julia did turn pro!  Congrats Julia!  It only took ten years!

Jocelyn shushing non-alliance partners was hilarious!

Jocelyn took down Julia using a Force Control, and she couldn't believe she got to rearrange the entire board as a result.  Kevin's Yoda didn't fair too well in the new configuration as he found himself in a kill box.  But it would be Grant's Mace Windu who got cut down next.  Grant never had much of a chance as Rob/Snoke, Kat/Grievous, Curtis/Maul, and Evan/Boba all took shots.  Maul's Athletic Surge was the deathblow and Grant was eliminated in eleventh.  Meanwhile, Kevin managed to put a couple of enemies in Force Lifts before Kaleb's Chewbacca, who somehow retreated with Han to the back corner of the board, used a combo Wookie Instincts and Bowcaster to obliterate Yoda/Kevin in tenth.  It burns!

We were less than an hour into the game, and three Duelers were already eliminated!  The carnage continued when the dark side got full-carded again.  Michael, whose Jango had yet to play a card against anyone else, threw out Evan's Boba as the next target.  That was good enough for Rob/Snoke and Kat/Grievous to go in on too.  Evan was loyal to his side, but his side wasn't loyal to him and the '22 Champ fell into a metaphorical Sarlacc pit in ninth place.

An alliance forming...

Things started to slow down a bit at this point.  Some highlights included Kaleb's Han Solo getting an unexpected diagonal shot on Curtis' Maul and Rylie's Mandalorian using Whistling Birds on all of Curtis and Rob's characters.  The dark side, needing a target, turned on Michael's Jango Fett, but Michael escaped to the light side with a Rocket Retreat.  Once the target looked to be moving to Jocelyn's Obi Wan, Michael came back to the dark side, being promised safe passage by his former team.  However, in a cruel bit of bad luck, Rob didn't roll an "all" to move in towards Mando and Obi.  With a loaded hand, he decided to use two Cruelest Strokes on Jango and Michael was grounded in eighth.

The most entertaining Dueler of the night was Jocelyn by far - her external processing of the death and carnage had us all laughing ("Sorry 'bout the Clones"), but there was no denying Obi-Wan was a scary character to keep around.  Rob used a Force Connection on Riley's Emperor and Jocelyn's Obi, allowing them to see each other's hands.  Riley got spooked by all of the 12 defense cards, so she played You Will Die on Jocelyn.  As Obi began to take attacks from everyone around her, Kat did something never seen before by General Grievous - she successfully used A Fine Addition, killing Obi and picking up a 7 attack card for her own hand!!!

Rising Phoenix!

Half the Duelers were eliminated, but five more needed to fall before the chaos was over.  More than a few folks were uneasy with Curtis' Darth Maul.  Riley used a couple of Force Lightnings to whittle him down.  But a fully loaded Mandalorian finally took to the sky with Rising Phoenix, where Rylie used Disintegration to off Maul in sixth!

Don't get snuff'd.

Though that move was cool, Rylie landed right back in her corner, and the rest of the board got worried about what else she had in her hand.  Rob/Snoke, Kat/Grievous, and Riley/Emperor started hitting her, but Kaleb's Han and Chewy were still loyal, and Chewbacca blasted Snoke with his second Bowcaster of the game.  That forced Rob's injured Supreme Leader to retreat.  Unfortunately for Rylie she eventually was taken out in fifth by Snoke.  It was a great game for our retired Dueler - we sure appreciated she and Kaleb joining us from Dallas!

Kaleb knew he was on an island at that point, but his fully healthy Wookie had Han well protected in the corner.  The Snoke/Grievous/Emperor trio couldn't figure out how to isolate Han until Rob used a Force Lightning on Chewbacca, sending him to the other side of the board.  Han and Kaleb were out of luck, and Kat's General Grievous landed the death blow.  Still, Kaleb can't be mad about being snuff'd in fourth place with Han Solo and a bad starting location!

Final three!

And then there were three!  Riley and Rob's characters had some damage, while Kat's General Grievous was remarkably unscathed.  Kat was hoping to defend her trophy from last year's Imperial March, but Rob and Riley knew they needed to team up to even the odds.  That's just what they did.  Grievous was soon taking damage, and his MagnaGuards were off the board.  Kat did a good job of keeping Grievous moving, and she eventually isolated Riley's Emperor.  Just as she was about to inflict further damage, Riley cut a deal!  They agreed to work together against Rob's Snoke, who had been slowly healing as he chased Kat around the board.

Rob was able to move Snoke into position to attack either Kat or Riley for an elimination.  Just as he was moving in to eliminate Grievous, Kat reminded him of the threat Emperor remained.  That's when Rob realized Riley likely had You Will Die back in her hand, so he formally partnered with Kat, his ally for most of the game, and attacked the Emperor instead.  Riley was badly injured, and Kat successfully played a SECOND A Fine Edition to kill Riley and pick up one of Emperor's attack cards!

Rob was loaded with defense cards - including two Such Spunks!, which cause damage to those who attack.  He used his last Force Lightning to pin Grievous behind Snoke.  Rob had to draw a couple of turns, but he eventually found a four point attack to end Kat's near-repeat in second place.  Kat and Riley played an incredible game, but Rob took home career win #25!  It was also Snoke's first career victory.

The final order of finish:

12.  Julia/Rey

11.  Grant H./Mace

10.  Kevin/Yoda

9.  Evan/Boba

8.  Michael/Jango

7.  Jocelyn/Obi

6.  Curtis/Maul

5.  Rylie/Mando

4.  Kaleb/Han

3.  Riley/Emperor

2.  Kat/Grievous

1.  Rob/Snoke

There's just two Duels left on the school year.  We're tentatively scheduling April's Duel, DUEL OF THE FATES, for Saturday, April 15, at 7PM.  Rob will send out more info on that next month.  And don't forget, we play the nerve-wrecking Duel of the Fates score on repeat for the entire duration of the match.  The stress is terrible and wonderful.  See you then!

Duel of the Fates - April 9, 2022

 

Arvala-7

What. A. Night!  The Yoda Soda was flowing, the Duel of the Fates was blaring from the NV Classroom speakers, the dirt was palpable on the Arvala-7 board, and two new characters made their debut in the league's first all-shooter Duel!  It was just about perfect.  On to the recap!

Hello there!

Tensions were high when the music started and everyone realized they were in the middle of a 12-person shootout.  Karson's Krennec wanted to make sure Rob's Fennec wasn't going to turn on him, and scared to tussle with him, Rob agreed to target Corona's Princess Leia after Ian whispered he would follow.  That's when Black Krrsantan played his first card in league history...and it happened to be his best!  A Cannon Blast put 11 points of total damage on Leia, which sent Corona reeling.  Evan's Han Solo used Gambler's Luck to kill poor Corona in 12th.  But this marked his sixth Duel, so he's now professionally ranked.  Congrats, Corona!

CJ, playing her first Duel as a last minute backup, became the youngest Dueler in league history.  She didn't waste the opportunity to start attacking Chewbacca with Moff Gideon.  But she was stuck in the middle of the board, and multiple folks started tagging her, including JD's Lando and Lobot.  Backed into a corner, CJ flipped the table by playing It Means More To Me, which discarded most of Lando's defense!  Ian seized that opportunity and played Disintegration with his Mandalorian.  Grant H., dressed in full Obi-Wan Kenobi garb, got the kill shot on poor JD, who departed quickly after in 11th.

CJ is not impressed.

CJ's sister Riley had spearheaded the charge to get rid of Moff Gideon, but in a strategic blunder, she got caught empty handed.  Literally!  The rest of the board pounced on her inability to defend, and it would be CJ who got revenge on her big sis by punching her ticket for 10th place.  Rumor has it she delighted in sharing that story with their mother this morning...

About this time Rob caught wind that Karson/Krennec and Kat/Boba Fett were throwing his name around, and Karson confessed it was Kat's idea.  The tide started to turn against Boba, but she Rocket Retreated to the same corner as Rob's Fennec, hoping to force a ceasefire.  But Rob used Throwing Blade, which pinned Boba to her space and the rest of that side of the board went after her, including a Bowcaster.  Grant's Cad Bane once again got the kill shot, and Kat was stuck in 9th.

The attention of the board turned back to CJ at this point, who fought valiantly considering how targeted she was at the start of the game.  But Karson used a Hero of the Empire on a defenseless Moff Gideon to end her night in 8th.

Who's next?

It was getting dicey as the board thinned.  Karson found himself without partners and taking hits, but he did pull of his Peace and Security to buy time.  Kevin's Jango Fett finally eliminated him in 7th with his Rocket Retreat.  With six Duelers left, it was hard to know where to go next.  Ian voiced that he was concerned with Juan's Jyn Erso, who was fully carded and hadn't used many attacks.  He was also concerned of a NV CL alliance.  He was able to convince Grant/Cad and Evan/Han to follow suit.  Juan couldn't hold out, and stop me if you read this already, but Cad got the kill shot!

Pew Pew Pew!

That left five Duelers, and Kevin tried to rally the board against Cad Bane.  Ian/Mando and Grant/Cad decided to target Kevin's Jango instead, while Rob's Black Krrsantan used Dismemberment to put Chewbacca near death.  Kevin made some great arguments, but Ian was pot-committed to stick with Grant, so it would be The Mandalorian taking down Jango Fett in 5th, which just seemed weird in the context of the rich history of Mandalore...

And then there were four!  Rob's Fennec tried to convince Ian's Mando they should team against Cad Bane, but Ian was still bound and determined to work with Grant.  Rob held out the best he could, including a second Dismemberment against Cara Dune, but he finally fell in 4th after a blast from The Mandalorian.

Stone Cold Killers

Mando and Cad agreed it was time for Evan's Han to exit stage left.  Give credit to Evan, who smartly ran and hid, especially after Chewbacca perished.  He managed to lay quite a bit of damage on The Mandalorian, though, before finally dying in 3rd when - you guessed it! - Cad Bane delivered the fatal wound.

Ian was a bit banged up, but used The Child to heal.  But he took that damage back and then some when Grant used Fire Gauntlet and Stun Gauntlet.  Despite a second Rising Phoenix, Grant had smartly hid some of Cad's trickier cards while pretending he was only getting minor Pyke cards from his redraw.  With an epic combo of There's No Shame In It and Faster Than You, Grant won his first career Duel and Cad Bane won the first game he ever played.  Both were huge!!!  And congrats to Ian, who piloted The Mandalorian to that character's best-ever finish.

The final order of finish:

12.  Corona/Princess Leia

11.  JD M./Lando Calrissian

10.  Riley/Tobias Beckett

9.  Kat/Boba Fett

8.  CJ/Moff Gideon

7.  Karson/Orson Krennec

6.  Juan/Jyn Erso

5.  Kevin/Jango Fett

4.  Rob/Fennec Shand

3.  Evan/Han Solo

2.  Ian/The Mandalorian

1.  Grant H./Cad Bane

We're just about at the end of the year!  The final Duel before summer is May the 4th Be With You, which we usually play on May the 4th (duh), but that is a Wednesday while classes are still in session, so stay tuned to see if we actually play that a day or two later.

The first all-shooter Duel was awesome, congrats again to Grant H.!!!

A New Hope - January 26, 2021

 

Arvala-7

It was a history-making night on many levels.  The first time in league history officially playing with the new characters, the first time a non-original character would win a Duel, and the longest...Duel...ever...

We picked Arvala-7 because it's nice and spread out and would give the new characters some options, but good gracious, what a disaster.  We've played Arvala-7 twice, the first time clocking in at 8 hours, and the second time...NINE HOURS!!!  Do we need to deep-six this board and never play it again?

The first to ever play with the new characters!

Enjoy the pic above because...Rob forgot to take pictures during the match!  This was just about it.  C'mon Rob, get it together next time.

There wasn't even a kill in the first two hours of the game, but that wasn't because nobody was doing anything.  It was quite the opposite in fact!  One of the most dramatic moments came when Ryan's Moff Gideon had a Dark Trooper Kidnap Grant's Rey and bring him/her back to a dark side kill box!  Grant has NEVER FINISHED IN LAST and it looked like his card was finally going to be pulled...except...Duncan/Mando broke the new cards with a daring move.  He wanted to use a combination of Rising Phoenix (fly around the board during your turn) and Grappling Line (bring somebody to a spot near you).  The wording on the cards were murky, and we even consulted outside sources, and the ruling was made that...it was a legal move!  Snatched from the jaws of death!!!  How does Grant do it???

During that same turn Duncan used Whistling Birds, which ended up killing one of Rylie's Knights of Ren, marking the first minor character death of the new decks.  With Rey disappearing from their grasp, the dark side started to infight, aided by Ben's Jar Jar throwing the Oopsa Bombad and injuring a bunch of them.  Rylie got especially twitchy, fearing they'd go after her Kylo first, so she made a play to take out Elliot's Krennic.  Ryan/Moff Gideon and Kaleb/Beckett joined in, but Elliot and Delaney/Snoke returned fire on Kylo, aided by Ian's rogue MagnaGuard.  In the end it was the MagnaGuard who would send Kylo out in last.  Brutal!

Underestimate at your own risk!

Despite Hannah's Jyn Erso siding with the dark side, Kaleb thought the best path forward was to eat their own, so he and Ryan continued by taking down Elliot's Krennic with Beckett's Trust No One.  The light side stayed strong together (with Ian's General Grievous, who followed Ben's Qui-Gon to that end of the board).  As the light side started to penetrate the dark, Delaney made a deal with Grievous to Force Lightning Moff Gideon to the light side of the board.  Despite Ryan really playing well with Gideon, he wasn't prepared for the true terror before him...WICKET THE EWOK!!!  David's Wicket had already thrown Whirling Rocks at Snoke for four points of damage before he sprung the furball on Gideon.  Ryan chose not to defend, but it was a Surprise Attack!  That resulted in eight points of damage and Gideon was dunzo!

The light side was torn a little bit on how to proceed, largely because Kaleb's Beckett was making some very compelling arguments.  Rob's Lando, though, feared Hannah's Jyn Erso staying on the board, especially after Cassian assassinated poor Jar Jar.  David's Princess Leia agreed, and he would get the final shot on Hannah, who in ninth place, finished outside of the top six for the first time in her career.

Ian's Grievous had been eyeing Leia for the whole game, though, and it was a Make Them Suffer that dumped her hand and led to David dying in eighth.  He played a heck of a game from the back line, though, everyone was impressed.

You would not believe the day she had...

That left seven to go!  Kaleb tried to swing a four-person alliance with him, Delaney/Snoke, Ian/Grievous, and Duncan/Mandalorian.  However, Rob/Lando and Grant/Rey talked Duncan and Ian into staying loyal with them and Ben/Qui-Gon.  Beckett was still in scramble mode, so he offed Snoke in seventh to try and buy himself some more time.  Despite his best efforts, he couldn't turn the tide and it was Grievous who finally bounced him out of the game in sixth.  Delaney played great with Snoke, and watching Kaleb in last-stand mode is always a delight.  He's very convincing!

That made it five to go, and though Grant had lost his nerve and attacked Rob's Lando once earlier in the game, the attention on who to attack fell on one of either Grant/Rey and Duncan/Mando, or Ian's Grievous.  You couldn't blame Grant for sticking with the Mandalorian - he saved his hide from last!  But when he and Duncan agreed to go after Grievous, Duncan didn't fully commit and that caused concern from Grant, which Rob gladly highlighted!  Grant decided to partner with the other three to take down Duncan, who was offed by Rey's The Last Jedi.  But this was Duncan's sixth game, meaning he's turned professional!  And with yet another fantastic finish, he debuts as the top ranked Dueler with a SICK 4.00 average and 33% win percentage!  That is mind-blowing, well done Duncan!

From there Rob's Lando waited to see what Ian/Grievous and Ben/Qui-Gon wanted to do.  They decided Rey was the scariest character left, much to Grant's annoyance after going against his former alliance partner.  It was even worse for him after Lando played Hello What Have We Here to discard Rey's Rise of Skywalker for the second time of the game!!!  Lobot landed the last blow with a four point Activation shot.

Final Two

With three left, Ben/Qui-Gon tried to get Ian to join him against Rob's Lando, but Rob said he was all in on attacking the last Jedi left in the game.  Ian saw Rob prove it with a couple of attacks and they joined together to take down Liam Neeson.  But Ben went into BEAST mode, continually using Jedi Meditation, Chance Cube, and There's Always A Bigger Fish to out-card Lando and Grievous.  It took no less than TWO HOURS for Rob and Ian to finally whittle him down, with Lando's Altered the Deal landing the kill shot.  The 2020 Champion almost pulled off a victory, with his real life minor character in his arms at the end.

And then there were two!  Ian and Rob had both exhausted their hands battling Qui-Gon, so their cat and mouse game began as they traversed Arvala-7.  Twice Rob put big hits on Ian, only to see Spare Parts played and the damage erased.  After almost an hour, Rob caught Ian with low defense and comboed a Battle of Tanaab and Altered Deal to win the game by one attack point!  Ian played outstanding, but inexplicably, he has now finished in second place in the last FOUR GAMES!!!  That's amazing.  And for Rob, he gets to win the first game with the new characters, making Lando the top ranked character in the league.  You know it baby!!!

Your first two-time A New Hope winner!

So...after nine hours...(NINE HOURS!!!)...Ian and Rob were finally able to go to bed.  What a crazy night.

Here's the final order of finish again:

12.  Rylie/Kylo Ren

11.  Elliot/Orson Krennic

10.  Ryan/Moff Gideon

9.  Hannah/Jyn Erso

8.  David T./Princess Leia

7.  Delaney/Supreme Leader Snok

6.  Kaleb/Tobias Beckett

5.  Duncan/The Mandalorian

4.  Grant/Rey

3.  Ben H./Qui-Gon Jinn

2.  Ian/General Grievous

1.  Rob/Lando Calrissian

The Dueler and Character rankings have been updated, and they both look a lot different!

For the Dueler rankings, the handicap points (points that favor you if you play with a bottom-ranked character) have drastically changed since new characters occupy five of the bottom six characters.  You'll notice just about everyone's average took a hit as a result.  Once the new characters have played a few more games we'll see that balance out.

On the Character ranking side, we've now got all 24 listed.  Starting next month, we'll randomly choose six light and six dark from the pool of 24 - any combo of new and old!  

And speaking of next month...it's February, and so that means the VALENTINE'S DUEL!!!  We'll have a date for that soon, stay tuned.  And we'll be debuting yet ANOTHER new board!  This one is the most chaotic yet...the Eravana Cargo Hold from The Force Awakens.  You do NOT want to miss this one...

Until next time...as Lando might say, stay beautiful!