Carbon Freezing Chamber (Dagobah)
Here we go Dueling fans - season THIRTEEN is underway!!! The 12-way league calendar always starts with the CL Training retreat, and this year was no different. 13!?!
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| You can see Rob off the reflection of the glass! |
We had a good mix of new and returning Duelers to start the evening - that's crucial at the CL Training Duel! And folks didn't take too long to start mixing it up either. After Alex/Saw Gerrera subtly moved from the light side to the dark, and Mason/K-2SO played Switzerland, the remaining light side started taking damage. Yoyo/Krennic was the first to let the lasers start flying. Shang, not a newbie to Dueling but playing his first 12-way, became the early target. Emmanuel's Ponda Baba got the kill shot and Shang and Sol were out first!
The light side was in complete disarray. Mark, playing with Chirut and Baze, tried to flip to the other side too. But Rob had ten cards and a Knight of Ren ready to start swinging. The dark side followed suit and Junior went into self-preservation mode by knocking out his own alliance partner! On the plus side, Mark hasn't snapped a hamstring yet.
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| A drowning Dueler will climb over his alliance to survive! |
Alex used an 8 point attack on David's Chewbacca...who was out of defense cards! The wookie was eliminated and that left his Han Solo exposed. Junior/Kit Fisto kept clawing his way up the death order by attacking and eliminating his second alliance partner! David was out in tenth, but this did serve as his sixth Duel, meaning he's turned professional. Congrats, David!
Time finally ran out for Junior. Mason was keeping a low profile but Kit Fisto was there for an easy elimination. One 4-point K-2SO shot later and Junior was retired in ninth.
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| Tealthica |
Rob/Kylo Ren could sense early in the game that the four members from Teal would likely work together deep into the match. Sure enough, Nayshaun/Grand Moff Tarkin initiated an attack against Kylo! But the sequels-Sith was ready and returned fire with a Force Choke. That left Tarkin weak on health, and Mason used a Sarcastic Kick to "boot" Nayshaun from the game!
Meanwhile, on another area of the board, Kaizer/Reva and Yoyo/Krennic started to tussle. Yoyo was aggressive with her cards earlier in the game and was left a bit short on options, especially as Kaizer was using all of Reva's big attacks. He finally eliminated Yoyo in seventh, but there was no question Yoyo made a big impression in the game!
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| The doctor writing prescriptions... |
The pace of play was great all night (we finished before 12AM!) and before we knew it we were down to six Duelers. Folks were worried about K-2SO and maneuvered to vacate him next. Kaizer's Reva once again dropped a 5-point attack to eject Mason from the game. Kaizer's graveyard for the game was scary!
Rob/Kylo and Eric/Migs & Q9-O could sense the Teal alliance was definitely still a thing, so Kylo swooped in and started swinging at Reva. She got down to three points of health, but her minors were still on the board so she couldn't heal. One turn later Kylo used Force Choke and Kaizer's reign of terror was finally over. What a debut for the rookie, though!
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| Lies? Deception? |
Rob wasn't keen on the two shooters left on the board (Eric and Emmanuel's Dr. Evazan) as the only blade still standing, so he tried to form an alliance with Alex/Saw. Alex was initially receptive to that, but then used a Boom! to damage Kylo and his last Knight of Ren. Rob used a Force Leap to move in and attack Saw!! Alex made a great last stand but was unable to defend against Kylo and the remaining shooters. Rob's Force Dyad parked Alex in fourth. Alex has played well in 2026!
Rob hoped Emmanuel's insane run with Dr. Evazan might include a partnership against Eric, who still had both Migs and Q9-O on the board, but you can't trust anyone with a doctorate in this game (wait a minute...) so Rob dropped the Mos Eisley bully with his 12-point attack! Emmanuel was gobsmacked by the point value, just as the rest of the table was with his amazing rookie debut! Congrats to Emmanuel on third place!
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| Goodluck handshakes at final two! |
Smoking Dr. Evazan looked cool, but Rob/Kylo were in real trouble. Both of Eric's double-minor characters were at full health, standing on either end of a flat map and able to shoot with ease. Rob did his best to isolate his attacks on Migs, but both shooters kept bobbing and weaving. Eric was flawless and Rob was drawing nothing but minor cards after the shuffle. Migs put the final laser into Kylo for the win!!! Congrats to Eric, this was his first career victory in a 12-way!!! This also marked the first career win for Migs and Q9-O!!!
Final order of finish:
12. Shang/Sol
11. Mark/Baze
10. David M./Han
9. Junior/Kit Fisto
8. Nayshaun (CLMentoress)/Tarkin
7. Yoyo/Krennic
6. Mason B/K-2SO
5. Kaizer/Reva
4. Alex/Saw
3. Emmanuel/Dr. Evazan
2. Rob/Kylo
1. Eric/Migs and Q9-O
That was a fantastic kickoff to the new year of Dueling!!! Congrats again to Eric - what a great win. Our next Duel is actually TWO Duels - THE DOUBLEHEADER! We'll play twice in one day. We have a *tentative* date of Saturday, August 29, set for that, but Rob will circle back with more details soon.
Until then...PEW PEW!
