Twin Sun Slam - June 28, 2026

Death Star

After a family medical emergency forced the original Twin Sun Slam to be postponed until later in June, the rescheduled doubleheader shrank down to a single game...but it was glorious!  We had a hall of famer come back to battle, three new padawans debut, and a first time winner!  On to the recap!!!

They're smiling because they see the Yoda Soda behind the camera.

The Death Star map was chosen for the Twin Sun Slam, and that's a tricky one because it's a different layout each time we play.  Curtis was convinced Mace Windu had the worst starting spot, so naturally that's who he randomly picked to play with.  He tried to defect to the dark side alleyway immediately, but Rob/Saw Gerrera and Sam/Indara weren't having it.  They started picking off his Clone Troopers and dealing him damage for the betrayal.  Hall of Famer Kaleb (maybe playing his last ever 12-way Duel???) used his Fennec I Don't Miss to off Curtis in last...and Curtis was grumpy.

That didn't help the light side too much because they were still down in numbers to the dark.  Sam's Indara is a naturally defensive character, but he had a weird starting hand and lost Torbin almost immediately.  That made him the focal point of the dark side offensive, and Riley/Vader used a Throw Debris to bump him off in eleventh.  He drove down from Dallas for that!

Who has two thumbs and a Wookie minor character?  That guy!

One of the exciting aspects of this game was having Michele join us.  Not only did she bring delicious wookie cookies, she's also the first faculty in residence to Duel!  She did a great job with Han and Chewie, but as folks who've played know, they aren't the best combo to have in the middle of the board when one of your alliance partners flipped.  She fought valiantly but fellow newbie Jeremy/Aurra Sing used an 8-point Czerka Rifle Shot to freeze her in tenth!

Things were pretty desperate at that point for the light side, and not just because Rob was playing Saw Gerrera with his daughter's asthma mask on.  HOFer Kaleb was doing all he could to reek havoc, but his Fennec could only play so many Body Mods to survive.  In an absolutely cruel way to die, Ian/Grand Inquisitor played Interrogation, which requires you to discard two cards or subtract two health points.  Kaleb only had one card...so he had to subtract two health points and died!  Kaleb is moving to Virginia soon, which is going to make it much harder for him to sub in from time to time.  We love you Kaleb!!

Oh, it's beautiful!

The remaining light side was just about obliterated when the inevitable dark side infighting started!  Jeremy/Aurra and James/Krennic had been stuck in a side alley all game.  So Jeremy, in his first Duel, decided to go big and start shooting Caleb's Emperor!  It looked like James was going to join him, but Caleb retaliated by playing You Will Die on Jeremy!  That definitely changed James' mind, and he used Hero of the Empire to off a defenseless Jeremy.  It was a bold move, Jeremy, we loved the intention!

It looked like James was in good position to go very deep, but when he turned his attacks on Zach's Aayla Secura, she used a defense card to flip across open terrain and land next to Krennic!  She used a few Form IIIs (do not count as an action) and a ten-point attack to knock James from full health to near death!  Riley/Vader didn't waste any time and played the mop-up man, eliminating James in seventh.  It was a stunning turn of events for sure.

Lies!  Deception!!!

Did we mention Rob kept quoting Saw Gerrera all game and fake-huffing Rhydo with his daughter's mask?  Because he definitely did.  He and Zach were the last two light side standing, and the dark side was a bit agitated they hadn't stopped Rob's wheezing yet.  But the dark side reunited and concentrated their attacks on Zach's Aayla first.  He fought valiantly, but there was no stopping them, especially when Miles' Darth Maul ran in.  Zach finished sixth in his first Duel.  Well done, Zach!

Meanwhile, Ian's Grand Inquisitor moved to the back row to confront Rob/Saw Gerrera.  Saw was banged up, just like the character, and desperately pled his case to Ian that he and Riley/Vader needed him to take down brothers Caleb/Emperor and Miles/Maul.  Ian just wasn't having it, though, and spent a LOT of cards trying to take down Saw.  It eventually worked, and the table was relieved that the Saw impersonation was finally dead.

These two are always teaming up...

Just as Rob had tried to warn Ian, the brothers joined together and got to work on Riley's Vader.  It didn't take long before Miles' Darth Maul whittled her down and out in fourth.  The last time Riley played with Vader she won the 2025 Championship, and then she finished fourth.  She does well with her favorite character!

Ian tried to convince Miles/Maul that he needed his Grand Inquisitor to help take down big brother Caleb's Emperor Palpatine.  But Miles stayed loyal to Caleb and that went in on the Grand Inquisitor.  Miles used an Athletic Surge and Ian, playing his first Duel since becoming a father, was out in third.  Way to go, baby-daddy!  (That was weird...)

Cain vs. Abel

With Caleb and Miles in the final two, their father Curtis was suddenly in a much better mood!  This also meant the league would see its 45th unique Dueler win a game.  It looked like Caleb/Emperor had the early advantage, but Miles fought tough, even after enduring a You Will Die.  He had nerves of steel as he refused to runaway on his last points of health.  He drew an Athletic Surge...that Caleb couldn't defend!!!  Miles won with Maul!!!!  What a dramatic finish!  Caleb gave his little brother a big hug and Curtis said he would be happy to finish 12th each time if one of his sons won.  (I may have made that last part up).  The soon-to-be high school sophomore won in just his fourth career Duel, and it also marked the third family in league history to have a parent-child combo winners.  

We should also point out Darth Maul moves back into a tie with Darth Vader for most career character victories at 18 apiece.  That's quite a number!  

Congrats, Miles!

That's the last 12-way Duel until we kick off season 13 at CL Training in August.  BUT - we still have the singles tournament on July 26 coming up!  We'll need 32 Duelers to make that happen and, in a league first, we're using all the new league characters alongside the original 12!!!  Pay attention to your email and the insta page for that sign-up, it's coming soon!

Thanks everyone for 12 great years of Dueling - and here's to 12 more!!  PEW PEW!

Final order of finish:

12.  Curtis/Mace

11.  Sam/Indara

10.  Michele/Han

9.  Kaleb/Fennec

8.  Jeremy/Aurra

7.  James/Krennic

6.  Zach/Aayla

5.  Rob/Saw

4.  Riley/Vader

3.  Ian/Inquisitor

2.  Caleb/Emperor

1.  Miles/Maul

12x12-Way Duel Weekend Episode X: Book of No Regrets (4PM)

 Ewok Village

This was easily the most sentimental Duel of the weekend - Episode X was the "knows how to play them" Duel, where each Dueler was paired with a character their known for over the years.  And we saved one of the very best boards for it too - Ewok Village!

This game got started very late because of the last one, but it also marked the most exciting finish of the weekend.  Both Riley/Vader and Ian/Maul got down to their last point of health, but Ian pulled it off for his SIXTH WIN WITH DARTH MAUL WHICH IS SOOOO GROSS!!!

Episode 10 - "knows how to play them" Duel.

Duel of the Fates - April 4, 2025

Kamino Platform

Have you ever listened to "Duel of the Fates", on repeat, for five-plus hours?  If so, did it melt your brain?  Were your nerves shot?  Or did you fall into a sort of Stockholm-syndrome scenario and decide you're going to keep listening to it the next day, like Sam said he would do last night?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is a good chance you have played in a DUEL OF THE FATES match before!

Rob hadn't pushed play yet on Duel of the Fates

Things got feisty right out of the gate when Rob's Boba Fett decided to attack Ian/Darth Maul's Battle Droid and Rocket Retreat to flip to the light side!  But the dark side countered by accepting Eric/Ahoska into their midst!  Unfortunately, the dark side didn't close up their ranks well, and that left Eric exposed to multiple diagonal shots.  Grant's Fennec Shand moved in to make the final kill shot, and poor Eric, who had the worst starting spot on Kamino, was quickly out in last.

Grant's bravery was rewarded with evil justice by the dark side.  James/Moff Gideon kidnapped Fennec into a dark side kill box!  Grant nearly survived in time to use a movement card to escape, especially with some well-timed Body Mods, but Curtis moved in his Kelnacca (Possessed) to deliver a five-point death blow.  That wasn't the evening Grant had planned, that's for sure.

Put respect on Jar Jar's name!

It's been a minute since we've had two Duelers offed in under an hour!  But that also meant it was still a 5v5 scenario.  A lot of minor characters were eliminated by both sides, but things ground to a halt when the dark side made sure they weren't bunched for a potential Thermal Detonator from Rob's Boba Fett.  Without a lot of options, Rob tried a high-risk move in the league - the double flip!  He Thermaled a cluster of light side characters in his alliance, and then Rocket Retreated back to the dark side!

In the ensuing chaos, Sam/Mace aligned with Ian's Maul and began attacking the light side too.  Josiah's Anakin took the brunt of that betrayal, and his Anakin was soon eliminated in tenth, but not before he Wrathed over to put a final shot on Rob's Boba!

The only living being in the room unaffected
by the "Duel of the Fates" on repeat...

Michael's Qui-Gon Jinn and Jonah's Bo-Katan were now essentially free agents.  Jonah managed to escape to the back of the board but Qui-Gon got surrounded.  He held on for a couple of rounds, but he eventually got down to his last health point, and was unceremoniously dumped in ninth by a one-point blaster attack from Sam's Clone Trooper.  Gross!

Rob tried to play the prodigal's son when he jumped back to the dark side, but Curtis' MOTHER Koril was uninterested in that reunion, despite Rob's pleas.  He led the charge against Boba, though it was Rob's arch-nemesis Jordann/General Grievous who made the final attack.  Rob was gone in eighth.

Who's next?

Folks assumed Jonah's Bo-Katan would be the next target, but he was on the far end of the board.  Ian/Maul and Sam/Mace started making their way down there, but Ian got nervous about what happened next.  He demanded a secondary target be the focus of the other Duelers on the board, and he surprisingly named James' Moff Gideon!  The dark side alliance was now fractured, but the others obliged.  Curtis/Koril tried to eliminate him with The Thread, but in a super cool move, James used Light Armor to deflect the damage to his minor!  Alas, the next attack landed, and Moff Gideon was eliminated in seventh.

Star Wars sportswear 

Jonah made strong pitches to go against other, stronger characters still on the board, but his reasoning fell on deaf ears.  That might have been because everyone's ears were bleeding from Duel of the Fates on repeat.  Regardless, Bo-Katan chose to go down swinging!  She stabbed Ian's Maul with the Vibroblade, doing six points of damage, but Maul used Blinding Surge to rebound points of damage back to Jonah, ending his night in sixth.  Sam swore those cards were just made-up words.

Tell me if you've heard this before...Curtis became the target with five Duelers left!  People were pretty freaked out by Koril's Vanishing powers, and both of Curtis' characters were at full health.  Though he did manage to disappear for a round, he couldn't escape his fate.  Ian/Maul used a run of Maul attacks and Curtis donned his fifth place title once again.

Final Four weekend?

And then there were four!  Ian/Maul was definitely calling the shots, with Sam/Mace more or less riding shotgun.  Jordann/Grievous grew concerned about Maul, but even Caden/Beckett was worried about General Grievous.  Though it seemed the three Duelers who had never won before could have eliminated Ian, the odd person out became Jordann!  The number one Dueler in the league played strong all night, but nobody can withstand a three-person attack.  Sam used a big Battlemind to knock Grievous out in fourth.

Things got even more frenzied with three left.  There were a lot of proposals for 2 against 1, multiple handshakes, Double Blasters, and so forth.  When the dust settled, Ian gave his (final) word to Caden, and chopped Sam/Mace down in third!  That's right, Sam was betrayed by his favorite Dueler.  He has the text chain to prove it.

Oh Caden...

When Caden had used an Improvise a couple of actions earlier, it was all but guaranteed Tobias Beckett was going to win back to back Duels.  Caden was full health while Ian was near death.  In fact, Caden got Maul down to his last two points of health.  All he needed was a final attack card to finish him off.  There were 13 cards left in his deck.  No problem, right Caden?

Caden?  Why are you still drawing cards?  Caden, no seriously, stop drawing cards and finish off Ian.  What is happening Caden???

In what can only be described as the worst deck luck in the history of the league, 12 of the final 13 cards in Caden's deck were Val cards - his destroyed minor character!!!  Ian was even rolling terribly, giving Caden extra time to find ANY card to finish Maul off.  BUT THEY WEREN'T THERE!!!  BRUTAL!!!!  Ian finally reached Tobias Beckett and played two Athletic Surges - all Caden had were 10 Val cards to defend!  IAN WON WITH DARTH MAUL IN THE ZANIEST COME FROM BEHIND WIN in recent memory.  My goodness!!!  That win also marked Ian's FIFTH victory with Darth Maul!!!  That's the most wins ever for a Dueler with a single character in this league!  

They kinda look like twins...?

Final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Ahsoka

11.  Grant/Fennec

10.  Josiah/Anakin

9.  Michael/Qui-Gon

8.  Rob/Boba Fett

7.  James/Moff Gideon

6.  Jonah/Bo-Katan

5.  Curtis/Mother Koril

4.  Jordann/Grievous

3.  Sam/Mace

2.  Caden/Beckett

1.  Ian/Darth freakin' Maul!  FIVE TIMES!

I still can't get over how crazy that ending was!  Congrats to Ian - truly remarkable.

Our last Duel of the academic year (!!!) will likely go down on Sunday afternoon at 2PM...on May 4th!  That's right - we always try our best to play the MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU Duel on the actual day.  If you know this will be your last Duel in the league because you're graduating, etc., let me know now and I'll save you a seat!

Doubleheader #2 - September 1, 2024

Trash Compactor

Thank the maker, the first half of the Doubleheader ended on time, allowing for game 2 to start on time too!  We had a few folks cycle out from the matinee and new blood to replace them in the nightcap.  The Trash Compactor was the board for this one, so wall deaths and dianoga chaos was on the menu!

The Teal guys before the sugar hit their bloodstream...

The Trash Compactor is a densely populated board, and the bevy of newer Duelers weren't concerned about a traditional light vs. dark approach.  That was aided in part by Riley, playing the debut of double minor characters Chirut and Baze from Rogue One.  She moved to the middle of the board to attack Kiera's Lobot, but became a target on both sides of the board.  Kiera, playing her first Duel, made a huge move by sending Lobot to the middle of the board and using Disarmed, which dumped cards from a lot of folks, including 4(!) for Ian's The Stranger.  

Not long after, there was a coup on the dark side.  Elliot/Reva and Alex G./Darth Maul turned on James' Emperor Palpatine!  James took major damage but paid Elliot back by using You Will Die on him!  That sent Elliot scurrying to a far corner to hide.  Unfortunately for James, though, that left the Emperor exposed to light side attacks, and it would be Jonah's Mandalorian who did the final damage.  James was first out.

Why so serious??

Riley's shenanigan's with the fallen heroes of Rogue One became the next point of focus.  She couldn't find a safe space on the board.  Connor, the first Dueler to ever use Sol from The Acolyte, dropped a Noble Intentions on Riley and she was a goner.  But in other news, she was cast in her school play, so it was still a good day!

The erratic play and energy of the board continued as, with just one death away from the closing of the walls in the trash compactor, a new victim needed to be named.  Atticus, turning pro after playing five games last year, was having fun with Paz and The Armorer, but he was surprised to find himself in a kill box.  Ian/The Stranger and Michael/Morgan Elsbeth were the ringleaders, and it would be an attack from Morgan that sent the new professional home in tenth!

Connor in the lab, working on sick beats...

Atticus' death meant the walls of the trash compactor moved forward...but Kiera's Lando Calrissian was stuck on the back row!  She was one turn away from being able to move to safety, but the surprise offing of The Armorer meant the board ousted in her ninth!  It's a brutal way to go, but Kiera showed a lot of promise in her first Duel, we'll look for her to rebound next time!

There was a lot less room in the trash compactor after that, and the dianoga, the vicious creature that looks to do two points of damage each round of play, was starting to rack up the hit points too.  Jonah's Mandalorian was caught low carded and was soon surrounded.  This time it would be Connor's minor character, the padawan Jecki, who used Loyal Pupil to bump Mando into eighth.

Why is the dianoga so mean??

Once again, the Duelers were one major character death away from the walls closing a second time.  Elliot/Reva and Ian/The Stranger were nervous because they were in danger of getting crushed.  Rob/General Grievous made room for Ian, and Connor's Sol started taking hits from the dark side.  He couldn't last forever, and Michael's Morgan claimed his second kill of the night.  Connor was seventh.

That triggered the walls...where Elliot's Reva was still standing!!  Poor Elliot never fully recovered from the You Will Die, forcing him to hide.  That ultimately left him in the wrong spot as the trash compactor claimed him in sixth place.

The Ian/Michael alliance in full effect.

Suddenly we were down to the final five:  Rob/Grievous, Ian/Stranger, Michael/Morgan, Sam/Luke, and Alex/Maul.  All Duelers not named Rob managed to land their major character in the final protected row of the trash compactor.  It was still going to take two more deaths to close the walls a final time, though.  Ian took charge and put the target on Rob, seeming to confirm he and Michael/Morgan were a tight alliance.  Alex/Maul had maintained good connection with both Rob and Sam, though.  I'll save you all the haggling, but in the end, Ian started taking attacks, and Sam's Luke Skywalker crushed the Acolyte villain with Justice.  Ian was out in fifth.

Alex subtly taking the driver's seat with Darth Maul

Rob's Grievous was still on the outside looking in because Michael resurrected his Night Troopers, and those freaky zombies are hard to kill!  I'll fast forward an hour or so...but after grueling, back and forth trench warfare, Rob's Grievous finally made his way to the inner four squares.  Nobody was going to move off the center with the walls about to close.  In the end, it would be Sam's Luke that eliminated.  He was fourth and the walls closed to the final four squares!  Sam also turned pro thanks to the Doubleheader - congrats Sam!

Grievous was caught in between Alex/Maul and Michael/Morgan.  Rob was low carded fighting his way into the final four squares, but after taking a couple of hits, he used Spider Crawl to move past Michael/Morgan, letting Alex attack Morgan too.  But that vicious dianoga attacked Rob twice, and with those hit points, Michael used his Beskar Spear to pierce Rob into third.  Not a bad day of Dueling for Rob...but there would be no trophies.

No room left!

And then there were two!  Michael was running a clinic on how to use Morgan, while Alex's social game and threat of a Darth Maul whooping to any who opposed him left a compelling final battle.  Alex had an early advantage on attacks, but then Michael resurrected those darn Night Troopers again!  Maul had to methodically chop them down, all while Michael was carding up.  By the time Alex did they tangled again.  Even though Maul got Morgan down to two health points, Michael's hand was still loaded and Alex looked like he was in trouble...until it was time to roll for the dianoga!  In one of the most crushing second place finishes in league history, the DIANOGA dragged Michael's Morgan Elsbeth to a water grave!!!  Alex won his second game in just his third career Duel!!!  Are you kidding?!?  Poor Michael - just a brutal end to a fantastic night of play.  Well done to both Duelers!!

Final order of finish:

12.  James/Emperor

11.  Riley E./Chirut & Baze

10.  Atticus/Armorer

9.  Kiera/Lando

8.  Jonah/Mandalorian

7.  Connor/Sol

6.  Elliot/Reva

5.  Ian/Stranger

4.  Sam/Luke

3.  Rob/Grievous

2.  Michael/Morgan

1.  Alex G./Darth freakin' Maul!

That was a great day of Dueling, people!  Our next Duel is the Fall Brawl, which we're tentatively scheduling for Saturday, September 21st.  Rob will send out more info soon on that one.  Until then...pew pew!!

A New Hope - January 12, 2024

 

Trash Compactor

Remember how the Trash Compactor is supposed to be a fast Duel...?  Well, we broke it.  We broke the compactor.  The Duelers were too good.  The dianoga was too bad at his job of sucking characters into dirty garbage water.  It was three hours before the walls started closing!

Happy New Year!

We're getting ahead of ourselves!  Let's start with the good news.  It's 2024 and the league is still alive and thriving.  We had several younger Duelers at the table, including Spencer, who was making his Dueling debut.  What a way to start the year!

Once we got the characters assigned and the Dueler order established, we were off and running.  Two very funny and unique things happened at the start of the game.  First, Alex A.'s Wicket was the target of early attacks from the dark side shooters.  With just two health points left on his Ewok, Alex decided to use Whirling Rocks against Ian's Darth Maul...except Alex rolled a "2-all", killing Wicket!!!  I'd like to say we didn't laugh and instead silently mourned our forest friend...but we were definitely laughing.

Second, Jackson pulled off a rare flip/reflip maneuver.  The light side was taking damage and Jackson/Mace thought that would be a good time to join the dark side in the middle of the board.  But a Spencer/Vader - Jordann/Dooku - Bekah/Morgan alliance repelled the advance and the light side took Jackson back!

Is Spencer having fun or is he completely terrified?

A whole lot of Dueling happened before our first death of the night, easily two and a half hours.  But Jordann used Dooku's Force Push to send poor Alex's Leia into a dark side kill box!  Alex did nothing wrong, but still died in last thanks to an Athletic Surge from Ian's Maul.  Alex has had some rough luck at the start of his Dueling career - please come back, Alex!  It gets better!!!

With the dark side having a numbers advantage, they got a bit overconfident.  Spencer was feeling it with Darth Vader, and he plunged forward to attack the light side.  Unfortunately, he left himself a bit exposed and with very little defense in his hand.  A combination of light side hits culminated in Isaiah's Rey using a 4-point attack to oust Spencer in his rookie debut.  11th doesn't sound exciting, but he did great at the table!

Jordann's Dooku moved forward too, determined to damage Isaiah/Rey.  But she got a little too cute with her attack order, using a 1-point attack in her first action only to have her Taunt completely blocked with the second action.  The light side pounced and Jordann was done in tenth after Riley B.'s Cassian shot her.  The walls finally activated too, but nobody was caught underneath them.

Surprise surprise!

Rob/General Grievous slowly realized the Grant D./Lando - Isaiah/Rey combo on the light side was going to be awfully powerful in the end game.  He convinced his remaining dark side allies to focus their hits on Rey.  Rob managed 11 points of damage on Isaiah, including an unblocked A Fine Addition.  Morgan (#witchlady), piloted by Bekah, delivered the final blow and Isaiah was parked in ninth.

Up to this point Riley B./Jyn were having an under the radar game, and Riley had made some pretty sweet moves to set up chaos for the dark side.  But his luck ran out when his damaged Jyn couldn't switch her main character status over to a fully healthy Cassian.  Once again the #Witchlady took out the trash with an enhanced 4-point attack.

I survived Order 66 and all I got was this lousy hat.

Austin E./Bo-Katan was playing a duck-and-move game, trying to stay out of enemy fire after taking some attacks early in the game.  Rob/Grievous and Ian/Maul had a plan to eliminate Austin and then have the walls crush Grant's Lando, but Grant was playing fantastically with the mayor of Cloud City and switched his spot with Rob's Grievous!  This put Grant in the safety of the four middle squares on the board while Rob was now in danger of being crushed by walls, as was Jackson's Mace Windu!

The second biggest play of the night was Ian whittling down Austin's Bo-Katan to her last seven points of health, with only one card left in his hand.  An undefended Athletic Surge would kill three Duelers...and that's what happened!  Austin was gutted in seventh while Rob and Jackson were run over by the walls in a tie for fifth!!

The diabolical Ian devising his plan...

Just like that we were down to four Duelers:  Grant/Lando, Ian/Maul, Bekah/#witchlady, and Elliot/Jango.  With just one more Dueler needing to die to close the walls for a final time, nobody was willing to move off the center four squares.  This was to Grant's advantage, as the other three were working together against him, but he only had to defend himself against Bekah's heavily damaged Morgan.  Ian was stuck in the back of that row, and though he had the ability to use an Athletic Surge to move back to a safe square before the walls closed a final time, he somehow convinced Bekah and Elliot to move off the center squares so his Maul could advance on Grant's Lando.

And they agreed to the move!!!

The dianoga, asleep for practically the whole game, finally woke up and did two points of damage on Bekah's Morgan.  Elliot was initially devastated, thinking Morgan had died and his Jango would be caught in the moving walls.  Then he was relieved - Morgan was still alive!!!  Then he went back to devastated when he realized what Ian was going to do...attack Bekah to kill her, causing the walls to crush his fully healthy Jango!!!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

And that's what happened.  The biggest move of the game, executed perfectly.  Emphasis on EXECUTED.

There's no mercy in Ian's dojo.

I can't say enough about how well both Grant and Ian were playing.  As they were down to the final two Maul had a bit of an advantage, but the dianoga started snacking on Maul, levelling the playing field.  Despite Grant's best efforts, he was losing health points.  Ian was still holding a Blinding Surge, but playing it might mean they both died, leaving no winner for the Duel!  The dianoga then hit Lando twice, leaving him down to his last health point.  Ian used one last attack and won the game!!!

This was career victor #14 for Ian, and it also moved Darth Maul into sole possession of second most career wins among the game characters.  Who knew we could go five hours in the trash compactor???

Final order of finish:

12.  Alex A./Princess Leia

11.  Spencer/Darth Vader

10.  Jordann/Count Dooku

9.  Isaiah/Rey

8.  Riley B./Jyn Erso

7.  Austin E./Bo-Katan Kryze

T5.  Rob/General Grievous

T5.  Jackson/Mace Windu

4.  Bekah/Morgan Elsbeth #witchlady

3.  Elliot/Jango Fett

2.  Grant D./Lando Calrissian

1.  Ian/Darth Maul

Is there a more terrifying player/character combo than Ian and Maul???

We got some good feedback on playing Friday nights, so we'll try that again for our February match, the Valentine's Duel!  Pencil in February 9th, 7PM, until Rob sends out the official invite in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to all who played - what a fun way to kickoff 2024!!!

Twin Suns Slam #2 - June 4, 2022

 

Ewok Village

Before Game 2 started, we ate!  That's the best part of the Twin Suns Slam, the fellowship between hours of backstabbing!  You also capture moments like this, Duncan sitting on a tiny chair:

Anyhoo, after the burgers were grilled and the Yoda Soda was ladled, it was time for the character draft!  That's right, this Duel would be the first ever all-dark side match!  The poor Ewoks of Endor, I'm not sure what they did to deserve this unholy terror in their treetops.  Here is how the draft went:

1.  Kat - Kylo Ren

2.  Natalie - Emperor Palpatine

3.  Karson - General Grievous

4.  Elliot - Supreme Leader Snoke

5.  JD M. - Count Dooku

6.  Duncan - Cad Bane

7.  Ian - Darth Maul

8.  Ben - Tobias Beckett

9.  John - Boba Fett

10.  Evan - Moff Gideon

11.  Riley - Darth Vader

12.  Rob - Orson Krennic

not picked - Jango Fett

Once the characters were picked, the board placement commenced and the minor characters were deposited too.  We actually had to alter the last starting spot on the bridge for Kat, so her Knights of Ren could start adjacent to Kylo.

To the trees!

Elliot predicted before the game even started this would be a fast Duel, and he was mostly right!  After a couple of rounds of carding up, Rob's Death Trooper couldn't resist chucking a Grenade across the length of the bridge, catching damage on JD/Dooku and Kat/Kylo.  That started a chain reaction of chaos.  The early victim was Karson's General Grievous.  He started on the bridge of death, and a couple of Duelers began peppering him, including Elliot's Supreme Leader Snoke, who sent him banged up with a Force Lightning to the back corner of the board.  He took a couple of more hits, and then Natalie's Emperor Palpatine finished him with a Force Lightning of her own!  BRUTAL!!!

Kat's Kylo was a bit feisty with bloodlust after all the early action, and swung here and there at nearby targets.  But out of nowhere, Evan's Dark Trooper Kidnapped Kylo and plopped her down right in front of Ian's fully carded Darth Maul!!!  Kat survived the initial onslaught, but with just a couple of health points left...you guessed it, Natalie's Emperor landed her second Force Lightning kill of the game!  OH THE HUMANITY!!!

So much malice behind these smiles!

JD organized a counter-offensive on the bridge, and that's when Elliot was locked into trouble. There was nowhere to run, and JD's Dooku eventually speared him with a Taunt.  That ended Elliot's day in 10th, a hard fall after second in the first game.

Unfortunately for JD, that also meant he was now exposed to attacks.  The rest of the boar didn't resist, and before he knew it, JD was just a few points from dying.  Tell me if you've heard this one before...THE EMPEROR FORCE LIGHTNINGED HIM TO DEATH.  Natalie is stone cold!!!

This board is legit gorgeous.

Ian's Maul had been running around swinging at different folks, but Riley's Vader had been stuck in her starting position for most of the game.  She was contributing with her distance attacks, but she was itching to do more.  The only character in her range to attack was Natalie's Emperor.  It may not have been the soundest strategy, but she plunged into battle like it was the climatic scene in Return of the Jedi.  Instead of throwing Emperor over the rope bridge, though, she got peppered by a lot of shooters. Ben P., playing his first Duel in a few years (it was great to see you, Ben!), used a combination of attacks from Beckett to end Riley's night in 8th.

Natalie's Emperor was still on the big bridge, and Duncan's Cad Bane had been largely silent all night, minus his strange fascination with Mr. & Mrs. Pike (you had to be there).  He was in perfect position to rain distance shots, and caught her low health.  The first ranked Dueler in the league was out in 7th, but her overall average is still good enough for top of the leaderboard!

Wicket looks on in disgust.

It was around this point of the game Ian had been obsessed with killing John's Boba Fett, who had hit him once or twice.  But that end of the board began debating who should go next.  I don't remember all the details, but Evan's Moff Gideon suddenly found himself without friends.  It was due in part to a shot or two he took on Beckett if I recall.  This was the third time Evan has played with Gideon.  There's some sort of special bond between the two!  Beckett got the final shot and Evan exited in 6th.

Now there were five Duelers left.  It seemed clear Ben/Beckett, Duncan/Cad, and John/Boba were in cahoots, while Ian's Maul and Rob's Krennic were on the outs.  Rob tried to convince Ian they were in trouble and should partner up...but Ian refused!  Rob was bewildered and went on quite the rant.  It wasn't really him talking, it was all of the Raspberry Iced Tea he had been drinking all night.  No matter how many times Rob pledged his loyalties, Ian wasn't interested.  Rob shifted into a new gear, and started poke holes in the alliance of other shooters.  Sure enough, a crack developed when John intimated he may not be secure with one of his alliance partners.  When the dust settled Ben's Beckett, who was in the driver's seat all night, was suddenly turned against and stuck fighting Maul and Cad Bane at the same time.  Maul dropped the 4-point attack, and Ben was done in 5th.  But that was the best ever finish for the retired Dueler, and we'll keep him on the call list for backup Duelers!

Rob gets animated, Ian laughs.

At the final four Rob once again said he was with Ian until the end, something none of the other Duelers would commit to.  Ian still didn't care!  Krennic had been in his starting corner for most of the game, but he moved to start attacking Duncan's Cad Bane, and dumped everyone's hands with Peace and Security.  The card dump switched the current on the board, and John, believing in his partnership with once enemy Ian/Maul, sensed the time was ripe to flip on the still mysterious Cad Bane.  Duncan was taking hits and low carded, and John put the nail in the coffin with a Kyber Dart!  Duncan finished 4th, his second top-5 finish on the night!

Pew pew in the woods!

 That left three Duelers.  Ian's Maul was certainly bleeding, and he still had a Battledroid on the field, meaning he couldn't heal.  Rob's Krennic was running out of defense, but was still annoyingly hard to reach.  John, playing his first in-person Duel (he played with us online last year), was playing great, but Ian finally saw that Boba might be a bigger threat than Rob's Krennic.  It pained him to do it, but an Athletic Surge chopped John down in third.  That's John's best finish, and we're hopeful to see him battle with us again this coming school year!

And then there were two...the old guys, the bitter rivals with nothing but respect for the other!  Rob pulled a couple more tricks out of his bag to delay his demise, but after several minutes of carding and shuffling, Ian was finally ready to move in for the kill.  Rob was hoping for another Peace and Security, but couldn't find it in time.  One more Athletic Surge, and Ian was the winner.  Congrats Ian!!!  That was his tenth career win, moving him into a tie with Curtis for 2nd on the all-time list.  This also marked Maul's 13th win, moving him one behind Vader's all-time lead of 14!

Ian thinking, "I've got this..."

Let's check that final order of finish again:

12.  Karson/Grievous

11.  Kat/Kylo

10.  Elliot/Snoke

9.  JD/Dooku

8.  Riley/Vader

7.  Natalie/Emperor

6.  Evan/Gideon

5.  Ben/Beckett

4.  Duncan/Cad

3.  John/Boba

2.  Rob/Krennic

1.  Ian/Maul

Well...that's the final 12-way until the CL Training retreat in August!  Stay tuned for details on July's Singles Tournament!  We're looking at the final Sunday in July.  We'll need 32 folks for that!!!

Until then...

The Imperial March - March 19, 2022

 

Naboo Reactor Pit

Sometimes in this glorious league of ours, the stars align and we get beautiful, poetic, and historic endings.  This is a major spoiler alert - in the Naboo Reactor Pit, we literally had an Episode I ending!  To the recap!

They're smiling now...

This Duel marked the first time we got to play the Naboo Reactor Pit live and in person.  The previous two Duels on this board were in the online dark-ages.  For some reason we let Miguel control the remote to change the lights of the laser walls, and he promptly tried to start a discotheque.  He finally settled down, put up the red walls, and we were off!

For the first time in quite a few Duels, nobody played a card until everybody was loaded with ten.  Evan went first, so he was the first to have to play a card, and he took a potshot with a Dark Trooper (Evan had Gideon back to back games!) at Corona's Padme.  Rob seized that opportunity and his Snoke Force Lightning-ed Gideon into a kill box on the other end of the board!  The others pounced on poor Evan, and Duncan's Mando used Disintegration to shockingly kill him in last.

This board is beautiful.

The Naboo Reactor Pit is a hard board to navigate natural geographic alliances.  As such, it was hard for Duelers to figure out who they were actually working with.  JD got caught on unsure footing when he sent his Greedo a few spots over to start attacking.  That united a group of Duelers against him, so he Rocket Retreated to the narrow end of the board.  Unfortunately, Miguel's Jango soon joined him on the same end, and was determined to take him out.  A wounded Boba flew back towards Kat's Maul, who was chomping at the bit to unload.  JD was donezo in eleventh.  Prior to that, though, he and Corona introduced a league-first: speaking at the table in another language!  The Spanish speakers elicited nervous laughter as most of us were scared about what they were actually saying.

Rob's Snoke was still stuck in the middle of the corridor, and he caught whispers of a Corona/Anakin, Rico/Yoda, and Miguel/Jango kill box.  So with the invitation of Kevin's Qui-Gon Jinn, Rob used Tied to a String and pulled Yoda into a separate kill box, the same group who dispatched Gideon!  Rico defended to the best of his ability, but it was no match for so many angles of attack.  Curtis' Jyn Erso knocked him out, and Rico was free to drown his sorrows in the 12-pack of Dr. Pepper he generously provided.

Can you spot the sleeping teenager?

Grant H.'s General Grievous was stuck in a tough starting spot, and got caught in the mix with minor attacks throughout the night.  His on again/off again relationship with Maul didn't help either.  It would be a Rocket Retreat from Miguel, who was bouncing around all over the board with Jango, that continued Grant's hard luck streak with a ninth place finish.

With eight Duelers to go, the loose alliance in the pit half of the board were giving the silent head nods to target Riley's Luke Skywalker next.  It was Rob's turn, but he was the only one directly adjacent to her.  He was unsure how to proceed, but reluctantly killed Leia to prove his allegiance.  Sure enough, the laser walls went up, and Snoke was stuck with a JUSTICE seeking Luke.  Snoke took five points of damage, and then Riley dropped an I Will Not Fight You for good measure.  When the walls opened Corona and Miguel allowed Snoke to retreat to the back line.  Riley wasn't as fortunate, and got picked off by Duncan's Mandalorian for an eighth place finish.

Kat surveys the field.

From here it was pretty obvious Duncan/Mando and Curtis/Jyn were working together, and Kat was happy to join along.  Kevin's Qui-Gon, though, was secretly trying to plan his divorce from that duo.  While he waited for the right opportunity, Duncan pulled the move he's famous for with The Mandalorian, the daring Rising Phoenix/Grappling Line combo.  He used it to pull Corona's Anakin into a kill box.  Corona lasted a bit longer than expected, but he finally got offed in seventh when he escaped but got caught in the same laser room as Mando.  The kill shot?  WHISTLING BIRDS.  Brutal!

While this was going down Rob used Force Lightning to bounce Miguel's Jango down to Qui-Gon's side of the board, where they could both start attacking Curtis' Jyn.  Curtis was none too pleased by that turn of events, but Kevin stayed mostly committed to it.  Curtis managed to switch his main character status to Cassian and peel off.  He used the newly minor Jyn to off Jango in sixth place.

The attrition continues...

That left five Duelers, and Rob/Snoke, Kevin/Qui-Gon, and Kat/Maul finally agreed they should work together to eliminate the remaining shooters.  At that point Maul was close to Cassian, and Curtis didn't have much health or defense left.  Kat used an Athletic Surge to knock out Jyn.  Two strong finishes with Jyn by Curtis, though, has sent her rocketing up the character rankings.  Nice job, Curtis.

Duncan was without partners at this point, but still proved dangerous.  He landed a second Disintegration on Rob's Snoke, which badly wounded the already gnarly looking Sith puppet.  Snoke got the last laugh, though, and used a 4-point attack to retire Duncan in fourth place.

Are you kidding me???

Kat was in great position in the final three.  Both Kevin and Rob were badly wounded.  Rob hoped Kevin would partner with him as a result, but he chose to stay loyal to Kat.  Rob thought he was going to pull off some theatrics, though.  He had sneakily got Snoke down to one health point left, hoping he could use his I Cannot Be Beaten defense card to regenerate his Guards and keep playing.  But Kevin, who still had Jar Jar on the board, used Accident Prone to kill him.  Argh!!!

In the final two Kat had the early advantage, but Kevin pulled out There's Always a Bigger Fish to even their hands.  In the end, though, Maul proved too overwhelming, AND JUST LIKE IN EPISODE I, DATH MAUL KILLED QUI-GON JINN IN THE NABOO REACTOR PIT!!!  Hilarious!!!

Let's give a big hand to Kat, who during Women's History Month, becomes the first female Dueler to win multiple Duels!!!  And she won playing mostly as a lone wolf, which was equally impressive in a 12-Way Duel.  Let's also tip our hats to Kevin, who turned pro and finished in a career-best second place.

The final order of finish:

12.  Evan/Moff Gideon

11.  JD M./Boba Fett

10.  Rico/Yoda

9.  Grant H./General Grievous

8.  Riley/Luke Skywalker

7.  Corona/Anakin Skywalker

6.  Miguel/Jango Fett

5.  Curtis/Jyn Erso Cassian Andor

4.  Duncan/The Mandalorian

3.  Rob/Supreme Leader Snoke

2.  Kevin/Qui-Gon Jinn

1.  Kat/Darth Maul

Congrats again, Kat!  Next month's Duel is DUEL OF THE FATES, and we're playing back on Arvala-7.  And if you've never played the April Duel...we play "Duel of the Fates" on a loop for the WHOLE NIGHT.  It's wonderfully stressful.  We've targeted April 9th for that.  Stay tuned for more info!