A New Hope - January 26, 2026

Eravana Cargo Hold

Welcome to 2026!!!  After a restful holiday break, we're back at it!  And for the new year, we brought along four new characters - Jabba the Hutt, Dr. Evazan, Captain Rex, and Luminara Unduli!

Smile if you plan on releasing the rathtars!

As is often the case with the Eravana Cargo Hold board, things went...slowly.  There were a lot of attacks flying but not a lot of characters dying.  For every Homing Missile Rob/Luminara sent to the dark side, Jordyn/AG Pryde healed her team with The Old Wars.  

But the first opportunity for a flip happened when Rob closed a door that trapped Justin's Jabba the Hutt on the light side.  Rather than join a new alliance, he tried to go it alone against Riley/Yord and other light side friends.  Though he lasted several hours, Justin did end up in last with a recently restored Jar Jar trophy (thanks Caden!!!).

Meanwhile, Michael/Anakin and Ian/Luthen were holding the center four squares of the board.  Both of Ian's characters were banged up, though.  Seemingly out of nowhere the dark side decided to eat one of their own:  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde!  That was RUTHLESS considering Jordyn had healed her team twice, keeping them strong.  Poor Jordyn!!!  James' Darth Maul made the kill shot.

Ian and Michael hold center court...

Though the dark side was now down two characters, Alex's Orson Krennic had kinda joined them.  That was enough for Michael to make a bold decision - he Wrathed over to Eric's Chirrut & Baze!  David/Rex, Rob/Luminara, and Eric didn't appreciate that.  They took the next six actions to attack Michael, and Eric finished him off with a little Staccato Lightning!

Mark/Dr. Evazan were running around the board all night, in constant danger but also hard to finish off.  Rob/Luminara became obsessed with eliminating them, spending wayyyy too many cards to do so.  "Oatmeal Face," as Rob rudely began referring to the doctor, finally ran out of cards and Riley/Yord sent him back to Brooks in ninth.

Whose side will they take in Ian vs. Rob???

Rob was bothered all night that Michael and Ian had moved so quickly into the center squares, releasing the rathtars but safe from their damaging pathways.  The top two ranked Duelers in the league officially locked horns, and they threw everything they had at each other, all while trying to convince everyone else to help them.  They both got down to their last few health points, thanks in large part to Luthen's Exit Strategy exploding on Luminara.  The Andor spy won the day, sending the newly created Jedi Luminara and Rob to the showers in eighth.

Ian won the battle but lost the war.  David's 501st Clone Trooper Made His Own Decision by shooting Ian into seventh place.  David was bopping around everywhere, trying to find a new port in the storm.

Cold Storage!!!

That left us with six Duelers to go...and well past midnight.  Rough!  It looked like Alex/Krennic, Grant/Wampa, and James/Maul were going to stick together.  Riley made one final attack run on Maul, and surprisingly for the ill-fated Acolyte Jedi, she did some real damage.  But James looked like a killing machine, determined to spend all of his attacks before reshuffling his deck.  Two Athletic Surges later, Yord had his proverbial neck snapped in sixth.

Somehow Eric and his double-minor duo of Chirrut and Baze were still in the game.  Credit Eric for deftly moving a less-than-desirable deck into the top five.  But as his last character was nearly dead, he chose death by rathtar instead of a fellow Dueler, crawling in front of a closed gate until CJ gobbled him up in fifth.

The alliance that stuck together.

The last remaining new character in the game was David's Captain Rex.  David was doing well, especially considering this was only his third career Duel.  But no matter how many For The Republics he played, it wasn't enough to save Rex from Maul.  It was good night early morning for David.

We should take a moment of pause and admire Grant, who was playing the Wampa for the second time of the Wampa's three career games.  Though he was bummed to pick him, the experience was clearly paying off.  And it was his Viper Droid who shot Maul at third place.  James had a great night, though!

The last few beings left in the Eravana...

And then there were two!  It looked like Grant/Wampa had the health advantage over Alex/Krennic, but Krennic was able to start healing since both of his minors were destroyed.  Grant still had his Viper Droid.  It took nearly an hour of slow but intentional chess play, but turn by turn Alex made Krennic stronger while whittling down the Wampa.  Grant made one last charge with his snow beast, but Alex won the day (seriously, it was almost daytime...) with Hero of the Empire!!!

Congrats to Alex, who won his third career Duel and his first since September of 2024.  But this victory was even crazier for Orson Krennic.  Krennic now has five total victories...tying him with Luke Skywalker for twelfth all-time.  This is a big deal because the first few years of the league we only played with the original 12 characters.  Now one of the new decks has caught up to a veteran character!!!

Happy New Year!

Final order of finish:

12.  Justin/Jabba the Hutt

11.  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde

10.  Michael/Anakin Skywalker

9.  Mark/Dr. Evazan

8.  Rob/Luminara Unduli

7.  Ian/Luthen Rael

6.  Riley/Yord Fandar

5.  Eric/Chirrut & Baze

4.  David/Captain Rex

3.  James/Darth Maul

2.  Grant/Wampa

1.  Alex/Orson Krennic

Next month is the Valentine's Duel!  We'll be debuting the newest board in the league - the Death Star!  This thing is GORGOUS!  You won't want to miss it.  It looks like we'll throw down on Friday, February 6th for that one.  Stay tuned for the official invite.

Congrats again, Alex!  That's more hardware for the Teal trophy case!

PEW PEW!

12x12-Way Weekend Episode III: Revenge w/out Sith - June 19, 2025 (8PM)

Eravana Cargo Hold

The Eravana Cargo Hold is always a long Duel due to the roaming rathtars, shifting doors, and limited lanes of attack.  That's why we saved it for the first night - the Duelers would still be fresh enough to go deep into the early hours of the morning.  It was too bad only two people were still awake to witness two incredible firsts in the league - retired professional Jonathan winning his first career Duel, and character Qui-Gon Jinn winning his first Duel too!!!  This was a huge win for both!!!

(pretty sure this finished after 4AM.  BRUTAL.)

Episode 3 - all-light side Duel.

The Fall Brawl - September 21, 2024

Eravana Cargo Hold

It was supposed to be mentioned in the preview blog, but the 2024 Fall Brawl was a historic 12-way Duel for the league because it was our 150th battle!  You have to love big round numbers like that.  Here we are in season 11, still surpassing milestones.  I'm not crying...you're crying!

Smile if you're thinking about releasing the rathtars...

It was nice to be back in our old Dueling headquarters of the North Village Fine Arts Studio.  The room wasn't available to us last year, but setting up was just like slipping into a comfortable set of Mandalorian armor again.  It was much less comfortable playing the Eravana Cargo Hold board, and for two reasons:  RC and CJ - AKA - the two rathtars locked in storage, just waiting for a Dueler to release them into the wild!

Guess how long that took...

Run!!!

...it took no time at all.  Never change, you cutthroat Duelers!!

A lot of positioning for control of the center four squares of the board - the only four squares immune from the path of the rathtars - started just as the rathtars were released.  Connor/Death Trooper #1, Joe/Paz, and Kiera/Mace's Clonetrooper all made it to the middle.  Joe couldn't help it and let out RC, who immediately terrorized the light side of the board...which was Joe's side!  Some Duelers just want to see the world burn.

A secondary door opening by Kiera inadvertently left Alex G.'s Obi-Wan Kenobi open to multiple attacks.  He soon found himself tussling with numerous dark side operatives.  Alex lost a lot of momentum when he attacked James' The Stranger, only to lose an action to Kortosis Armor.  Grant/Tobias Beckett got the kill shot though with a brutal undefended Trust No One.  Alex wanted a third trophy for his collection...but not the Golden Jar Jar!

Duel Arm Rests

Joe's Armorer continued swinging and throwing her hammer and tongs, and there was no rhyme or reason to the violence.  This turned the light side of the board volatile.  It reached a fever pitch when Joe tangled on the board with his real life wife, Michaela/Bo-Katan!  In-fighting had left Bo-Katan weak, but it was quite the shock when Joe knocked out Michaela in eleventh.  We're looking for confirmation Joe spent the night on the couch...

Joe was pretty banged up, but he earned as many admirers as he did enemies with his loosey-goosey style of play.  In the end, though, James retired The Armorer in tenth with The Stranger's Force Blast, which all things considered, is a pretty cool way to go out.

What's behind door number two?

Curtis' Cad Bane was taking shots with his Pyke troopers, but he left the safety of the middle four squares to try and collect his bounty on Jonah's Fennec Shand.  Jonah had already lost Black Krrsantan, but he was able to put some surprise damage back on Curtis.  There was fresh blood in the water and Curtis' alliance started chomping at the bit.  Rob/General Grievous made a pact with James/The Stranger and they worked together on Cad.  Curtis was NOT happy about that betrayal.  James' minor character Mae used Deadly Daggers to send Curtis home in ninth.  Rob will try to make nice with him at lunch on Monday...if Curtis will sit with him.  To be continued...

Give credit to Jonah - he was an early target in the game and ignored his moral compass by betraying his light side alliance to push himself deeper into the night.  But when Grant/Beckett popped some shots, Fennec was damaged.  Kiera, whose Mace Windu had to navigate the light side collapse, exacted sweet revenge with a Whirlwind Attack.  Jonah was dust in the...whirlwind.

Bloody nose incoming...

With seven Duelers to go we were dealing with some chaos above the board.  First, poor Connor got a spontaneous bloody nose that was quite severe - Jillian had swung by to check on her dad Grant and played a couple of rounds for Connor while he went into the bacta tank.  Then, rookie Dueler Noah/Rey nervously broke the base of one of the eliminated MagnaGuards!  

But Rob finally called a pause to the game because something happened that had never been considered before when playing in the Eravana Cargo Hold.  By pure coincidence, Jordann's Darth Maul landed on the starting space of one of the rathtars and then was joined on that square by the CJ rathtar.  It was Rob's turn, and he realized, for his two actions, he could close both doors and trap Jordann/Maul with the rathtar!!!  How would that even work??  Would it be a four point attack on Darth Maul each round until a door was open?  Or two points of auto-damage!?!  We had to break out the Jedi Council on the spot to discuss the implications and render a ruling.  As you could imagine, Jordann was NOT happy that her game might be in jeopardy.  We ended with this decision: Jordann would not have reasonably stayed in that square, with the rathtar approaching, if she knew she could be locked there with a rathtar.  So Rob said he wouldn't close the doors but that, moving forward, if it happens again a character CAN be locked in with a rathtar and the rathtar would attack four on their turn until a door is open again or the character is eliminated!

Connor won his own personal Krennic deck.  Game used.

Once that ruling was administered, it was back to Dueling.  Kiera had done a heck of a job to survive the light side implosion, but despite trying to put the target on Rob/Grievous, she found no allies.  James added to his trophy collection with a Trakata Attack.  Kiera took out her homework to be productive while cheering on fellow BRC-er Jordann.

The lone light side character left at that point was Noah, who was playing his first-ever Duel and flying by the seat of his pants trying to avoid rathtars.  One ended up eating his minor character Finn!  Connor decided to spill somebody else's blood instead of his own and blasted Rey with Hero of the Empire.  Noah - you played great!  A top-six finish in your first Duel, on the most complex board in the league - well done!

CJ headed straight for Darth Maul

With five to go, the melee characters had a softly spoken understanding they weren't too keen on working with the shooters (Grant/Beckett and Connor/Krennic) any longer.  That was tough for Connor, who had worked very closely with James/The Stranger all night.  Before the board could eliminate Krennic, though, Connor managed to play Peace and Security, which dumped everyone's hands.  James stayed aggressive, though, and used a four point attack to finally let Connor go to an urgent care.

Rob/Grievous was moving to engage Grant/Beckett when out of nowhere, his alliance partner Jordann/Maul stabbed him in the back with an attack!  Rob was equally miffed and impressed by the blind side.  That basically turned the table into two teams:  Rob and James vs. Grant and Jordann.  But Grant was well protected by closed doors and the repeating loops of the rathtars, forcing Jordann to fight on two fronts.  She couldn't sustain that and James once again used Trakata Attack for the kill.  Jordann has a nice run of high finishes going right now!

It takes two to make a thing go right.

After many hours of Dueling Rob finally needed a bathroom break, knowing good and well Grant would try and persuade James to team with him against Rob.  Rob did a lot of the heavy lifting against Grant since James had done a lot against Maul.  Grant was on his last points of health, pleading with James to let him weaken Rob, but James stuck to his alliance and delivered the kill shot.  Grant was out in third, and we had a Sith-tacular final two of The Stranger vs. General Grievous!

Rob had agreed to card up a round before attacking James when James agreed to off Grant.  With that stipulation, Grievous retreated to the middle four squares on the board just in time to play Reinforcements!  Grievous' minor characters had been a nuisance for many throughout the night, and now The Stranger was going to have to cut through them to get to Rob.  This cat and mouse game lasted a long time, but Rob was able to slowly weaken The Stranger.  James fought valiantly, and even surprised Rob with a Kortosis Armor, but the prequel villain finally laid down a five point attack to win the night!  James is still just an amateur Dueler, but that second place finish was awesome, as was his kill count on the night.  But in the 150th Duel in league history, it would be Rob's night, marking his 30th career win.  That's gross!

Final order of finish:

12.  Alex G./Obi

11.  Michaela/Bo-Katan

10.  Joe H./The Armorer

9.  Curtis/Cad Bane

8.  Jonah/Fennec

7.  Kiera/Mace

6.  Noah C./Rey

5.  Connor A./Krennic

4.  Jordann/Maul

3.  Grant D./Beckett

2.  James/The Stranger

1.  Rob/General Grievous

Next month is extremely busy, but it looks like we can squeeze in the October Duel - FIGHT NIGHT - on Friday, October 4th, at 7PM.  Rob will send out official invites soon.  Until then...here's to the next 150 12-way Duels!  PEW PEW!

2023 Championship - December 2, 2023

Eravana Cargo Hold

The Championship match should be a hard-fought battle of expert Duelers with surprising moves, tactics, and game play.  This Duel did not disappoint!  Read the pictorial recap of eliminations to find out who the winner was!

12th Place - Isaiah

Character - Supreme Leader Snoke

Card that Killed Him - 4 point Princess Leia attack

The best rookie of 2023 came into the Championship looking to turn professional by winning his first league title.  In-fighting on the dark side and the constant trample of rathtars limited what Isaiah could do.  Princess Leia eliminated him in last...but congrats on turning pro!

11th Place - Riley E.

Character - Jango Fett

Card that Killed Her - Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Attack

Riley tried to flip sides once Julia's Boba Fett Rocket Retreated to the middle of the board.  She attacked her own sister (Darth Vader) before getting pulled into a kill box by Isaiah.  She survived the onslaught...only to be killed moments later by her dad (Obi-Wan)!

10th Place - Penny

Character - Darth Vader

Card that Killed Her - 3 point Princess Leia attack

Penny was left reeling when Julia/Boba Fett used a Rocket Retreat on Vader to move to the control panels in the center of the board.  Isaiah/Snoke nearly turned on her too, but she survived temporarily to keep fighting.  In the end there were too many in the light side alliance and she was done in tenth.

9th Place - Kat

Character - Cad Bane

Card that Killed Her - 4 point The Mandalorian attack

Kat did a great job staying out of the path of the rathtars, and she wisely evacuated the dark side of the board when the alliance crumbled.  However, she couldn't get any inroads with the light side alliance and her Cad Bane soon found himself in a kill box after an Obi-Wan Force Control.  There weren't enough Rocket Boots to survive.

8th Place - Curtis

Character - Yoda

Card that Killed Him - 3 point MagnaGuard attack

Curtis was one of the vocal leaders for the light side, giving orders on how to use the walls to move rathtars towards the enemy.  But when Michael/Rey and Miguel/Lando's characters were fully carded with nobody to attack, Curtis unexpectedly found himself the target.  He deployed a nice Force Rebound but nobody came to his side in his time of need.

7th Place - Grant

Character - General Grievous

Card that Killed Him - Cara Dune's Heavy Weapon

Grant was left with few options when his dark side teammates collapsed against each other almost immediately.  He did manage to sneak his General Grievous to the middle squares to help control doors.  But once he retreated when the light side alliance advanced, his only other major success was brining his minor characters back on line.

6th Place - Evan

Character - The Mandalorian

Card that Killed Him - 3 point Rey attack

Last year's 2022 Champion hoped to retain his Vader trophy.  He started off strong, as his Mandalorian character established dominance and chased down opponents like General Grievous.  But he also picked up some damage.  When the dark side alliance was eliminated, he became the target thanks to Rob/Obi-Wan.  

5th Place - Michael

Character - Rey

Card that Killed Him - 4 point Obi-Wan Kenobi attack.

After helping take down Curtis' Yoda earlier in the game, he next put a big target on Rob's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He lost any hope of future partnership when he successfully played Rise of Skywalker twice!  Everyone was terrified of Rey, so the rest of the board united and Rob's Obi-Wan scored the knockout punch.

4th Place - Julia

Character - Boba Fett

Card that Killed Her - 3 point Obi-Wan Kenobi attack

The most influential move of the game was Julia shooting Darth Vader to Rocket Retreat to the safety of the inner squares of the cargo hold.  Julia managed to roost there for most of the game.  But when she opened a door to direct the rathtars towards Ian's Princess Leia, she acquired a huge target on her back.  Rob and Ian eliminated her before she could drop her Thermals.

3rd Place - Ian

Character - Princess Leia

Card that Killed Him - Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force Control

Ian played masterfully, ruling a corner of the board in the early going and teaming with Miguel to eliminate Rob in the final three.  But just as Rob was on the cusp of dying, a false promise from Rob prompted Miguel to attack Ian.  Ian and Rob then joined forces, but Miguel's Lando made it hard for Leia and Rob eliminated Ian after he lost both I Know cards.

2nd Place - Miguel

Character - Lando Calrissian

Card that Killed Him - 5 point Obi-Wan Kenobi attack

The retired Dueler, birthday boy, and current Ivy League grad student flew into Waco to play his best personal board - the Eravana Cargo Hold.  Just like the 2022 Valentine's Duel, it got down to Rob, Miguel, and the rathtars.  Rob was just a couple of health points away from dying, but the nimbleness of Obi-Wan allowed him to slowly heal as Miguel's Lando desperately tried to finish off Rob...but he couldn't!

1st Place - Rob

Character - Obi-Wan Kenobi

How He Won - by being a survivor!

Miguel and Ian nearly eliminated Rob, but Rob managed to drop everyone's hands in his most desperate hour.  The redraw saw Rob's Obi get all three Jedi Blocks very early from his new deck.  He slowly healed to stay out of danger of the rathtars, and a late alliance split between Miguel and Ian created the crack Rob needed to win his second-ever Championship!  Rob joins Ben H. as the only Duelers to ever repeat as Championship winners.  Rob also becomes the first Dueler to win a Duel four times with the same character.  The win also moved Obi-Wan Kenobi into a tie for second place for career wins among characters.

What an incredible night of Dueling!!!  Exceptional play from start to (a very late) finish!  You can't ask for much more from a Championship.

We'll kick off 2024 (!!!) with the January Duel - A New Hope - on Friday, January 12th, 7PM, to avoid overlap with a men's basketball game.  Thanks to everyone who sat at a table in 2023!!!  This league continues to thrive because of invested Duelers like you!!!

PEW PEW!

 

Valentine's Duel - February 4, 2023

 

Eravana Cargo Hold

There wasn't love in the air this Valentine's Duel...no, that was smoke from Thermal Detonators, overheating blasters, and rathtar farts!  I know, I know, I paint pretty pictures with my words.  You're welcome.

Before we dive too deep into the recap, let's give a special shoutout to the THREE Duelers who turned professional at the Valentine's Duel!  Andrew R., Michael, and Parker all played in their sixth match, meaning they're seasoned veterans now.  Rob hadn't realized it ahead of the game, so a big shoutout to those three!!!

12 Duelers and their sweet treats.

Once the rules of the Eravana Cargo Hold were explained, and the chairs and characters were assigned, we were off and running.  At the start of the game it looked like it would be a traditional light vs. dark battle.  Both sides engaged in trench warfare, trying to secure the middle four squares, which were free from rathtars but controlled the doors of their holding cells.  Ian's Black Krrsantan made it to the middle first, but he was soon joined by Michael's Cad Bane.  They immediately started duking it out, and in the chaos rathar RC was released!  Cad quickly found out, though, that he was no match for the dark Wookie.  Ian hit him with a combo Electric Knuckles/Cannon Blast and Cad was in bad shape.  Though Cad retreated out of the middle row and behind the closed gold door, Miguel suddenly flipped by using Sudden Arrival for Greedo and knocking out Cad in last!  Poor Michael has gone from last to first to last.  What a way to become a new professional!  It also knocked Cad Bane out of the top ranking on the character side.

With Boba jumping sides, the rest of the dark side descended into confusion.  They started attacking each other, and Duncan's Snoke became a target when they suspected he was going to open and close doors for the benefit of the light side alliance.  Parker's Jango Fett started taking shots, but he was startled when Snoke moved adjacent to him, hitting him with a Make Them Suffer and a Force Lightning.  Jango was sent to the opposite corner of the board, and the rest of the light side made short work of him.  The kill shot came from JD M.'s Lando Calrissian.  Parker has been stuck with some rough finishes of late, but he did turn pro, so welcome to that prestigious club at least!

RC on the loose, CJ waiting her turn...

Though the dark side was growing weaker by the minute, the light side of the board found themselves fully carded with few people to attack.  That's when Andrew decided to spend a Yoda Clone Trooper shot on Rob's Rey.  Andrew didn't think it was too big a deal, but Rob responded with two shots on Yoda from Finn.  Unfortunately for Andrew, those led to some significant damage.  Others on the light side joined in.  Yoda was near death, but the light side let up when Andrew agreed to spend an action on opening doors for CJ to join the fray.  However, Miguel made his alliance flip official when he came to the light side and blasted Yoda with a Kyber Dart.  Andrew was done in tenth while also turning pro.  Our three new professionals joined the league in 12th, 11th, and 10th place.  Hazing has no place in our Duel league and the Jedi Council will review these actions...

Ian and JD calling shots from the middle.

Meanwhile, Riley B.'s Orson Krennic was navigating his dwindling odds when he played Peace and Security, dropping everyone else's hands.  That put a pretty big target on his back.  He started receiving damage from multiple characters, but it would be Elliot's Obi-Wan Kenobi that eliminated him in ninth with an efficient 2-point attack.

With eight Duelers left, there was a clear power alliance running the game in Ian/Fennec and JD/Lando.  They controlled the middle of the board and were hard to attack in those middle spaces.  That's when Elliot made the biggest move of the night.  His Obi-Wan played a Force Control, that moved Fennec and Lando out of the middle and replaced them with himself, Rob/Rey, and Julia/Beckett.  It was a bold move and turned everyone's game upside down.  

The tables are turned!

Elliot stayed aggressive, trying to put targets on Lando or Fennec.  However, he inadvertently moved himself into a kill box by standing in one of the rathar spaces.  The whispering grew strong at the table, and all of a sudden, Obi was hurting.  This was especially complicated when Duncan, whose Supreme Leader Snoke had been lurking on the outside track of the board, getting trampled by rathtars, used a combo Tied To A String and Force Lightning on Rob's Rey!  Ian got very nervous when Snoke placed him near Fennec instead of in front of Obi-Wan.  Rob promised he wouldn't go after Fennec, so Ian eventually accepted it.  Even though Rob had told Elliot/Obi earlier in the game they needed to stick together, Rob found himself needing to stay in the good graces of the other Duelers too.  Miguel tipped Rob off, though, that a Thermal Detonator was headed towards Lando/Obi/Beckett.  So instead of joining in against Obi, Rob's Rey opened a door to let his Finn take a shot on a surprised Supreme Leader Snoke!  When it was Miguel's turn the Thermal was indeed chucked, and poor Elliot was done in eighth.

Duncan was desperate to claw his way into the top half of the finishers, and it looked like Julia's Beckett might be next.  But Grant's Padme avoided Snoke's I Cannot Be Beaten defense and eliminated Duncan with a Precise Shot in seventh.  The I Cannot Be Beaten still hasn't been successfully played in a Duel!

Your top six.

Julia's Beckett still looked like the odd-Dueler out, but Rob's Rey was itching to make a big move.  Ian's Fennec had received damage against Elliot's Obi-Wan, making her vulnerable.  Black Krrsantan was still on the board too, so on Rob's next turn, he used a Backflip for four automatic points of damage on Fennec, and then attacked with Last Jedi Standing, which was just big enough to eliminate Ian in sixth!  

Luck had finally run out for Julia.  JD's Lando was in no mood to negotiate, as Beckett had put the target on him more than once.  Once Beckett had two health points left, Miguel's Boba used a Wrist Cable to send her packing in fifth.  But that tied for Julia's best finish, and her next Duel will put her in the professional ranks too!

Three, oh three, it's the magic number...

And then there were four!  At this point Rob couldn't believe he had made it this deep with Rey, the same character/board combo he won last year's Valentine's Duel with.  And though the remaining three put a soft target on Rob, Miguel sensed he would be better off without the other shooter on the board, so he committed to eliminating Lando and put the final shot on him with a 3-point attack.  JD was out in fourth, but he played a heck of a game considering all of the chaos he was in the middle throughout the Duel.

I won't bore you, dear reader, with too many details on what happened next, but I will say Miguel/Boba and Grant/Anakin agreed to work together to eliminate Rob's Rey...and it took a loooooong time to do it, lol.  He played every sneaky card in Rey's deck (and some more than once), but the two-pronged attack and roving rathtars eventually proved too much.  It would be Padme, still on the board, who got the kill shot on Rob in third place.

It all came down to this!

What a final two!  Miguel's previous best finish was second place on this board at last year's Valentine's Duel, and he had never won a game.  Grant is one of the best and most respected Duelers in the league, but he's been on a frustrating winless streak going back to the Han Solo movie Duel.  

Boba and Anakin were right next to each other after eliminating Rob's Rey.  Miguel deployed another Thermal Detonator, moving Grant to within two points of death.  Grant moved in for the kill, dropping an Anger on Miguel's already injured Boba Fett.  He brought Boba to within a point of dying!  Grant had to drop all of his cards but one.  Most veterans know the best card to have is Calm, so you can retreat and draw five new cards.  But Grant was holding both of his Counterattacks, which would have put an auto-kill on Boba should Boba attack with a non-special card.  Grant didn't think about that option, though, and stuck to keeping the Calm.  Miguel rolled a 4, enabling him to move into attack position on a bloodied Anakin.  He didn't have anything to attack with, though, so he drew a card for his first action.  That card?  DEADLY AIM.  He played it against Grant but Anakin no longer had a big enough defense card to block it.  MIGUEL WON!!!  I wish more folks could have seen Miguel's emotions as the reality of a win washed over him.  Well done Miguel!  This marks the fourth Duel in a row where a first-time winner was crowned.  Unbelievable!  

Final order of finish:

12.  Michael B./Cad Bane

11.  Parker/Jango Fett

10.  Andrew R./Yoda

9.  Riley B./Orson Krennec

8.  Elliot/Obi-Wan Kenobi

7.  Duncan/Supreme Leader Snoke

6.  Ian/Fennec Shand

5.  Julia/Tobias Beckett

4.  JD M./Lando Calrissian

3.  Rob/Rey

2.  Grant D./Anakin Skywalker

1.  Miguel/Boba Fett

Well friends, that was an awesome night of Dueling.  It was great to see Miguel take home a trophy that didn't feature Jar Jar Binks!  Our next Duel, The Imperial March, will likely take place on Saturday, March 25.  That's quite a long time from now, but have no fear, Rob will keep you posted via the email list and Instagram account.  He's also working on a NEW BOARD for the May Duel, and this could be the most diabolical one yet...MWAHAHAHAHA!!!