May The 4th Be With You - May 4, 2025

Rancor Dungeon

My apologies for the delayed recap of our awesome May the 4th Duel!  Playing on Sunday and then jumping into the last week of classes is a bad recipe for blogging productivity!

He's in the niceness HOF too!

Alas, we did Duel on May the 4th...but before the action started, we held a sacred ceremony at the Jedi Temple.  A new Dueler joined the Hall of Fame!  Playing in his last league Duel before moving to North Carolina, Elliot more than earned his spot in the league history books by ranking in the top ten all-time in Duels played, being the first Dueler to win with Bo-Katan Kryze (#foreshadowing!), and winning the 2024 Championship.  We're going to miss all of our departing Duelers, but Elliot certainly holds a special place in all of our hearts! 

May the 4th be with you!

For the last Duel of the academic year we were stuck in the rancor's dungeon!  And Riley B. was gracious enough to stop by and guest star as the rancor!  It wasn't long before the rancor was released, as Kat's (back after a year and a half layoff!) Pyke hoodlum was offed first!  While some folks were focused on attacking the rancor, and the rancor was focused on eating minor characters, Rob's Rey and Finn were creeped out by Justin/Morgan's future zombie night troopers.  The rest of that end of the board, fully carded, took the fight to Morgan herself when the troopers were gone.  HOFer Elliot/Boba Fett used a Kyber Dart for the kill shot!  Poor Justin!!!  He did turn pro though, joining the long line of Duelers whose sixth Duel was also a last place.

But Morgan wasn't the only Dueler bleeding out early.  CJ's Krennic, stuck in the middle of the board and down a minor character thanks to the rancor, took the full force of James' Bowcaster to put her within one health point of death!  She retreated to the control panel and dropped the gate on the rancor, causing ten points of damage.  That enraged the rancor, who crushed Krennic in eleventh.  RAWRRR!!!

The character he was born to play!

Despite a crazy-lucky string of Thick Skin defense cards, the gate crash jacked up the rancor.  The rest of the board realized it was a good time to eliminate the monster from the board.  Jonah's Cara Dune landed the final attack.  Thanks Riley B. for your cameo!

The dungeon is a tough board to navigate because there aren't any easy dividing lines to form sides.  Alex G./Indara found himself on the wrong side of that when a gang of shooters put the target on his Acolyte heroine.  It was once again Elliot's Boba who got the deathblow.  Alex got to leave early to get back to studying after finishing tenth.

Another Dueler caught in the crossfire of bad board position was Riley E.'s Moff Gideon.  Her sister Penny immediately attacked her early in the game, and others joined in on picking on Gideon.  Boba used a Wrist Cable to collect his third major character trophy of the night!

Kat Bane!

James was feeling himself as Han Solo, and in a bold move, began attacking Penny's The Stranger.  In real life that wouldn't end well, but Penny was low carded and not expecting the attacks.  But she moved straight to the source of her problems after that and landed a blow on Han.  That was enough damage to let Rob/Rey use The Last Jedi to finish Solo and the wookie in eighth!

It was about this time in the game Rob realized his melee Rey was surrounded by a LOT of shooters on the board.  Though he had tussled with Josiah's Ahsoka earlier in the game, he made a deal to heal Ahoska if Josiah would attack Jonah's Mandalorian.  The deal was struck and Jonah was in critical health.  ONCE AGAIN Elliot swooped in for the kill shot, using Greedo and a Sudden Arrival to do the deed this time.  Jonah's last Duel of the year netted him a seventh place finish, but he'll be joining eleven others of us for the 12 12-Way in June!

Penny showing James what's up.

Some of the shooters weren't crazy about the Mandalorian being the most recent target, so they returned the focus on Penny's Stranger.  There's nowhere to hide in the dungeon, AND YES AGAIN Elliot took out the trash with a kill shot.  Penny was gone in sixth.

Rob/Rey made his expected social move of the game in the top five.  He tried to rally Elliot/Boba to join himself and Josiah's Ahsoka for a final three, suspecting Grant/Bo-Katan and Kat/Cad Bane were in a tight alliance.  Grant didn't like that kind of talk, so he used the Dark Saber to knock out Josiah in fifth!  But Josiah did turn pro at this Duel.  Congrats, Josiah!

Grant plotting a path forward...

And then there were four!  Elliot decided to stick with Rob, at least at this stage, partnering up against Kat and Grant.  They decided to concentrate their efforts on Kat's Cad Bane.  Despite her fancy Rocket Boots, she couldn't hold out forever.  Kat was done in fourth, but that was a great performance after her prolonged absence from play.  Let's hope we'll see more of her this fall!

Elliot came to his senses at the final three, especially after Rob used the eight points of healing from the Rise of Skywalker.  Boba and Bo-Katan joined Mandalorian forces against Rey.  Rob hung tough for several rounds, but the rancor dungeon is nearly impossible to survive with its lack of raised terrain when facing two shooters at once.  Rob concentrated his attacks on Boba, hoping Elliot would partner with him if he was sufficiently banged up.  But when he used Scavenger Scum to put the heal card back in his hand, Elliot shocked Rob with a Thermal Detonator!  It was adios for Rob after that - he was out in third.

One last Duel together!

That left a final two of a slightly wounded Elliot/Boba Fett and Grant/Bo-Katan.  Rob had peaked at Grant's deck earlier and knew he was loaded with defense cards.  Elliot fought valiantly and they each landed hits, but Bo-Katan proved relentless and an Arial Assault eliminated Elliot in second.  Grant won his tenth career Duel!!!  PEW PEW!!!  He becomes the fourth Dueler in league history to reach double digits in wins.  Well done Grant!  And congrats to Elliot, who wrapped up his league tenure with a second place finish and a killed character graveyard that was enormous.  Elliot is flying back to Texas for the 12 12-way in June, so we still have a dozen more times to enjoy is presence at the table.

Grant wins the Golden Obi!

Final Order of Finish:

12.  Justin/Morgan Elsbeth

11.  CJ/Orson Krennic

10.  Alex G./Indara

9.  Riley E./Moff Gideon

8.  James/Han Solo

7.  Jonah/The Mandalorian

6.  Penny/The Stranger

5.  Josiah/Ahsoka Tano

4.  Kat/Cad Bane

3.  Rob/Rey

2.  Elliot/Boba Fett

1.  Grant/Bo-Katan Kryze

Thanks for an awesome year Dueling, everyone!!!  We aren't playing the June Twin Sun Slam this summer since we're doing the 12 12-way.  Save the date for the last Sunday of July - we'll be playing the Singles Tournament!  We need 32 Duelers to make that work - more details to come.  Until then...

May the Force be with you.  Always.

Duel of the Fates - April 19, 2024

Ewok Village

Friends - we finished a Duel before midnight!  IT'S ABOUT TIME.  What a great pace, people!  We were wrapped up around 11:15, which is a welcome change.  What's that?  You want to know who actually won??  Ok, ok, let's get into it...

Duel of the Fates was played in the treetops of Ewok Village.  Those poor forest dwellers didn't deserve the carnage that was about to take place.  Rob pushed play on "Duel of the Fates" on repeat, and poor CJ was almost immediately plugging her ears.  THAT'S WHY WE DO IT, BWAHAHAHAHA!

Those smiles will soon fade...

As with past Duels, the main bridge area became the spot for early conflict.  Rico/Han and Riley B./Fennec chose to put their respective Wookies facing their light side alliance instead of the threats on the dark side of the board.  That might have been in part because they didn't know Curtis was signaling the desire to flip to the dark side.  Riley B. took one of the first shots of the game, targeting Riley E./Moff Gideon.  The dark side then focused their attacks on Fennec.  It took a couple of rounds, but Moff Gideon blasted Riley B. with Astute Panic and it was a quick night for poor Riley B.

Not going well on the light side of the board...

Curtis' flip to the dark side was solid at that point, making Rico's Han Solo the next easiest target.  Grant D./Kylo Ren managed to march a Knight of Ren to the far end of the bridge, landing a three point attack on poor Han and sending Rico home in eleventh.  This was all in within the first half hour or so!

Bekah/Bo-Katan, who skipped a formal and had homework due at midnight (!!!), was playing in her sixth Duel, meaning she's now a professional.  Congrats Bekah!  Unfortunately, she tried to flip to the dark side a tad too late.  She landed next to Rob/Emperor and Parker/Vader.  They welcomed her with open arms...holding light sabers!  A You Will Die from Rob helped off Bekah in tenth, but she's debuting in the professional rankings in ninth place, and that ain't shabby!

Ahsoka Oh-no!

Julia/Ahsoka and Bella/Luke were hiding around the tree on the light side of the board, but with the rest of their alliance falling, they were suddenly exposed.  Bella played I Will Not Fight You on CJ's General Grievous, who had been stuck on the opposite end of Ewok Village discarding and drawing.  Curtis, meanwhile, used Grappling Line to pull Ahsoka into a dark side kill box.  She took hits from multiple people, and even used a nifty I Choose to Live, but Parker's Storm Trooper blasted her into ninth.

While half of the dark side alliance turned their attention to Bella/Luke, Grant/Kylo was the first to break the dark side bonds.  He began attacking Parker's Darth Vader.  Parker responded with a well-timed Your Skills Are Not Complete.  Ian/Cad stayed in hot pursuit of Luke Skywalker...literally!  Ian used his Flame Gauntlet to finish Bella in eighth place.  This was also Bella's sixth Duel, adding her to the professional level too.  Well done, Bella!

Mandone

Ian wasn't done pulling people's cards.  He used a two-point Pike attack to eliminate Parker in seventh.  Ian did a great job throughout the game keeping Cad Bane on the move and directing the action.

The final six were a very tight unit, but then it was that awkward moment in every Duel when the superior alliance has to start eating itself.  It was Rob's turn and he secretly wanted to go after Curtis' Mandalorian.  He wasn't alone, as Riley E. verbalized the same urge.  Rob promptly used a Force Lightning on Mando and Riley followed with The Great Purge (which that card is SICK, btw...).  The kill shot, however, came from CJ's General Grievous, who had finally crawled out of her back corner to join the action.  She successfully used A Fine Addition, meaning she got to add a five-point Mandalorian attack card to her own hand!  We think that's only the second time in league history Grievous has actually killed somebody with the card.

This board is so sweet!!!

That made it five Duelers left: Rob/Emperor, Grant/Kylo, Ian/Cad, CJ/Grievous, and Riley/Moff Gideon.  It was once again Rob's turn, and he asked for feedback.  Ian bravely put it on CJ's Grievous, who had literally been carding up the whole game.  A half second behind Ian saying that, Grant put his foot in his mouth and named Riley (which was pretty funny as it happened).  Arguments were presented, but Grant and Rob signaled they wanted to stick with blades, so Rob called open season on the remaining shooters.

Rob used a couple of Force Lightnings on Cad Bane, and CJ chased Ian down with Grievous.  Grant/Kylo, meanwhile, engaged with Moff Gideon.  Ian and Riley decided to focus their shared attacks on Grievous, greatly weakening CJ's hand and characters.  Riley, however, finally fell to the combined attacks of Kylo and the Royal Guards.  She was out in fifth.  CJ had Ian pinned in the back corner of the board, and would not accept his overtures to work together as near-dead Duelers.  Cad got chopped down with a five-point attack.  Ian rested in fourth.

The dark side three.

Once Cad Bane was gone the Royal Guards started shooting at Kylo Ren, which did not surprise Grant in the least.  He moved to eliminate CJ next though, and did so in brutal fashion when CJ didn't defend Vader's Bloodline.  This was just CJ's fourth career Duel, and her third place finish is her personal best.  She may have wrestled the "Tiny Titan of Terror" title from her big sister!

Grant had managed to hold onto his I Know What I Must Do (12 attack), and used it to annihilate one of Rob's Royal Guards while also reshuffling that same card back into his fresh draw pile.  Rob had reshuffled too, but he was quickly in danger as he started pulling Guard cards who were now gone from the board.  A couple of attacks later the Emperor was down to three points of health, and Grant used Choke to win the game!!!  Grant went six years between wins after his last victory, and now he went six DAYS between first place finishes!!!  He played fantastic, and it's a good reminder for the league that, despite his low character ranking, Kylo Ren is a BOSS!

Smiles all around!

Final order of finish:

12.  Riley B./Fennec

11.  Rico/Han

10.  Bekah/Bo-Katan

9.  Julia/Ahsoka

8.  Bella/Luke

7.  Parker/Vader

6.  Curtis/Mandalorian

5.  Riley E./Moff Gideon

4.  Ian/Cad Bane

3.  CJ/General Grievous

2.  Rob/Emperor

1.  Grant D./Kylo

Grant has won the last two Duels in a row, all in the span of a week.  That's a hot Dueler!!!  

Our next Duel is the last of the academic year:  MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU, which will be played on, you guessed it, May the 4th!!!  Invites will go out for that next weekend, and Rob will reserve spots for anybody graduating/leaving Waco to get one last Duel in.  It's a sad time of year for the Dueling league in that regard...

Oh - and next month will be an ALL-SHOOTERS DUEL - pew pew!!!

Power Coupling Duel (surprise bachelor party for Ian) - April 13, 2024

Conveyex Train

With Ian's pending nuptials coming soon, the Jedi Council determined a surprise bachelor's party Duel was in order for one of the legends of the league.  Our only regret?  We didn't invite his lovely fiancé, who for some reason, Ian won't let come and play with us.  I wonder why...?

Surprise, Ian!

Our 12 Duelers spanned the ten-year history of the league, including Hall of Famers (JD! Nathan! Kaleb! Duncan!) and current players, all excited to pepper Ian with awkward questions about his future wife.  We owe a big thanks to JD and Jonathan, who helped orchestrate the surprise.  Speaking of surprises...none of us were when Ian, picking his character last, ended up with his favorite - DARTH MAUL!!!

After explaining the Conveyex Train board to our senior Duelers, we were ch-ch-chugging along (get!?!).  There was a lot of nervous energy thanks to the cramped board, but things got off to a brutal start when Kaleb's Emperor Palpatine dropped JD/Anakin's hand with YOU WILL DIE.  Woof!!!  JD paid for half of the Airbnb and got sent to the (train) rails in last place when Elliot's Greedo finished him off.

Ouch.

Things didn't get any more friendly.  Riley B.'s Jango, caught on one of the side speeders, was taking shots when all of a sudden Ian's Darth Maul laid his tow cable and boarded Riley's area!  I don't have to tell you how that turned out.  Fortunately, though, JD had just bought a new Star Wars card game so he and Riley played that together for the rest of the night.

Hobby Lobby Chic

Rob's Darth Vader was looking for a character on the opposite side of the board to start doing distance damage too, and with a nod of approval from Nathan's Count Dooku, Jonathan/Mace were shelled.  That end of the board collapsed when Elliot/Boba joined in.  The fatality shot came from one of Duncan/Obi's Clone Troopers.  

Despite trying to join the other side of the board, Elliot found himself the next target.  He's had a strong run of late, but his Boba was landlocked for most of the game, and folks weren't excited to see him start using Thermal Detonators.  Fittingly, Michael's Han Solo finished him off with Gambler's luck.

Friends become our chosen Dueling family.

Nathan/Dooku, Ian/Maul, and Grant/Luke looked to be a firm alliance.  Duncan used double Force Controls, however, to isolate Nathan's Count Dooku.  He fought bravely but couldn't withstand the onslaught, especially when Luke and Maul were moved so far away from supporting him.  Kaleb reluctantly used a Force Lightning to stop Nathan in eighth.  It was fun having him back at the table, though!

Duncan thinking about his drive back to Houston...

Ian, the man of the hour, became cranky that his alliance kept shrinking.  He made it known he was headed over to Rob/Vader to pay his respects and share his feelings about it.  But this wasn't Rob's first rodeo with an upset Ian, and he managed to flip the attention to Duncan's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He hated to do it, but Vader isn't known for his sympathy.  Others rallied to that idea, and with Duncan losing a number of his cards, he was blasted into seventh courtesy of Michael's second Bowcaster of the game.

And then there were six!  Nobody was sure which direction to go, and Curtis moved in on Ian's Maul.  He survived a Force Push but, once again, wanted to tangle with Rob's Darth Vader.  Despite Rob's pleas to work with Grant/Luke to eliminate Michael's Han, Ian wasn't having it.  It was his party, and he'll Sith Speed if he wants to!  The kill shot, though, came from a Justice by Grant's Luke Skywalker.

Rob and Ian tangling - some things never change!

That left five and, just as Rob had tried to explain to Ian, Darth Maul was the next target!  Han Solo took shots and nobody else seemed excited to keep him around, bachelor party or not.  It took a couple of rounds, but Kaleb/Emperor made his second Force Lightning kill of the night.  Good game, Ian, we wish you many years of wedded bliss.

The final four players finally realized Kaleb's Emperor Palpatine was sitting pretty.  Despite taking a Bowcaster very early in the game Kaleb had deftly floated into the final four with little attention.  That finally came to an end, though.  There was a lot of haggling and some side-switching, but Curtis/Yoda didn't want to stay united.  His Force Strike parked Kaleb in fourth.  He's so good!

Three married guys at the bachelor party.

The final three had a lot of twists and turns too, and eventually all three of Grant/Luke, Michael/Han, and Curtis/Yoda were damaged.  Michael still had Chewbacca on the board, so he was the only one of the three who couldn't heal.  Over a period of time Michael somehow had the lead.  He was about to finish off a near-dead Grant with a Wookie Toss, but Grant pointed out to Michael he could use both Tosses and kill the healthier - and harder to eliminate - Yoda.  Much to Curtis' dismay, that's what Michael did!  Curtis/Yoda finished with the bronze.

Michael/Han still had the health advantage, though he was low-carded too.  Grant was just two points from dying, and only had a couple of Leia cards in his hand.  In a Hail Mary move, he charged Han with nothing in his hand, and drew for his first action.  He got a 5 point attack for Luke and used it for his second action...killing Han!!!  GRANT WON!!!  GRANT FINALLY WON AGAIN!!!  It had been nearly six years since his last victory, and this one makes it eight for his career.  He also becomes just the fifth Dueler in league history to win with Luke Skywalker, one of the original 12 characters from the game but the one with the least amount of wins.  Congrats to Michael too, who somehow survived with Han on a tough board and nearly took it down.

Together Grant has it all!!!

Final order of finish:

12.  Anakin/JD N.

11.  Jango/Riley B.

10.  Mace/Jonathan

9.  Boba/Elliot

8.  Dooku/Nathan

7.  Obi/Duncan

6.  Vader/Rob

5.  Maul/Ian

4.  Emperor/Kaleb

3.  Yoda/Curtis

2.  Han/Michael

1.  Luke/Grant

What a fun night celebrating our friend and Dueler, Ian!!!

Twin Sun Slam #2 - June 16, 2018

Geonosis Arena

Samuel had to peace-out for game two, but Elijah came to the rescue and Riley was still ten years old and still playing with us.  Also, those cupcakes were still hanging around, taunting Rob.

Chris had Jango, his second Fett of the night, and made an early flip to join the light side.  It looked like the light side would mop the floor but Jonathan, playing with the Emperor, began executing strategic suggestions and the dark side started clawing back.  Ben's Boba Fett chucked a Thermal Detonator and vaporized a bunch of clones.

Rob, playing with Luke, tried to take out one of Maul's (Courtney's) droids but he left himself exposed and, by God, like the cupcakes said, they killed Rob first.  Twice.  In the same night.  At his own house.  So...much...anger...

Kaleb, whose Count Dooku had also flipped to the light side, was also taking damage.  And right around this same time Stephen/Obi and Heidi/Mace decided to flip back to the dark side!  Heidi dropped a Battlemind on Kaleb to give him a career-worst eleventh place.

Just as it looked like the newly strong dark side was going to crush the light...half of them flipped again!  It was all very confusing.  Jonathan went from being the ring leader to dying in tenth at the hands of Courtney's Darth Maul.

That left Stephen/Obi and Riley/Vader as the last two standing on the dark side.  The light side focused their attacks on Obi, and even though he played a Force Balance, he couldn't withstand the onslaught.  Riley was gone after that - she kept trying to chase Elijah's Yoda but couldn't make it happen.

That meant there were seven Duelers left.  Grant's Chewbacca pulled a Bowcaster and used it to kill Heidi's Mace for another trophy.  The remaining crew then flipped on Courtney's Emperor Palpatine.  Even though she bowed out in sixth she now has a sub-5 average finish in her first three Duels!

Elijah's jovial approach to piloting Yoda around the board came to an end in fifth place.  Ben had ignored an earlier suggestion by Grant to go after him and paid the price when they converged on the Fett.  It was Chris' Jango Fett who delivered the kill shot.

That left a final three of Alex/Anakin, Grant/Han, and Chris/Jango.  These three Duelers all had top five finishes in game one and here they were again!  The shooters stuck together and dwindled Alex's health points until there were none.  It might have been to Chris' advantage to partner with Alex before he died because Han had the card and health advantage and, FOR THE THIRD TIME, won a Duel with Han Solo!  That pushes his career total to seven.  He's on quite a roll, winning two of the last three Duels.

The final order of finish:

12  Rob/Luke Skywalker
11.  Kaleb/Count Dooku
10.  Jonathan/Emperor Palpatine
9.  Stephen/Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  Riley/Darth Vader
7.  Heidi/Mace Windu
6.  Courtney/Darth Maul
5.  Elijah/Yoda
4.  Ben/Boba Fett
3.  Alex/Anakin Skywalker
2.  Chris/Jango Fett
1.  Grant/Han Solo

Let the Wookie Win - May 24, 2018

Geonosis Arena

We usually get a preview post before a known 12-Way, but the week got away from me before the first ever Let the Wookie Win Duel, in honor of the new movie in the Star Wars cinematic universe.  That's right, Solo: A Star Wars Story, tells the tale of a young Han Solo and his new sidekick, Chewbacca.  After the Duel many of us made it to the theater.  It's definitely a fun movie, though it's hard to move past the fact you're not watching Harrison Ford in his 20's. 

Because this was a movie Duel the Rey trophy was back up for grabs.  Curtis wasn't happy about that - he only had it since The Last Jedi, a mere six months ago.  The winner will most likely hold onto it until December of 2019...

This might be the first time everyone smiled for the picture.

Because this Duel took place outside of the normal academic year there was concern we wouldn't have enough Duelers in town to play, especially since most of the students were gone.  That turned out to be an unnecessary worry.  If you shine the Duel signal light at the nighttime clouds, the Duelers will come!  Two rookies made their debut for Let the Wookie Win - Courtney, wife of Ben H., and Chase, who will be working in CL&L as a chaplain this fall.  In fact, there were seven former or current chaplains at the table, plus a Dueler who starts seminary in the fall!  There was nothing holy about their play, though...

Nathan, who drove down from the Dallas area to play, picked the number one chair and chose Geonosis Arena for the battleground.  Too bad it wasn't the Carbon Freezing Chamber - that would have been appropriate for the Han Solo movie!  Everyone drew characters and we were ready for play.  Rob got Mace Windu for the second game in a row, and was even wearing purple due to some subconscious connection to the Force.  Grant finally picked a non-shooter (Count Dooku) while JD continued his love affair with Yoda.

Bowcaster:  An Epic Duels Story

The game started with an immediate defection as Rob's Mace Windu retreated to the dark side of the board.  Chase followed suit, moving his Luke and Leia away from the pillars.  The dark side minor characters began shooting at the Nathan/Obi-Wan and JD/Yoda's Clonetroopers and things were looking tough for the remaining Jedi/light side Duelers.

Courtney, controlling Han Solo on the day of his movie debut, decided to rep her character by doing what Han does best - rely on Chewbacca!  She used Wookie Instincts to find the Bowcaster and dropped it on Chase's Princess Leia.  Chase didn't have a defense card and Leia was done!  RAWRRR!!!  (that's was supposed to be a Chewey victory roar).

The dark side kept chipping away at the light side but Chase decided to make his rookie presence known.  He went for a surprise attack on Rob's Mace...and talked trash while announcing his intentions!  Rob was none-to-pleased by the brash padawan, but was even less pleased by the two Justice cards Chase used!  Meanwhile, Nathan, sensing an opportunity to put the finishing shots on Rob, had JD's Yoda Force Push him to the other end of the board to try and attack.  Unfortunately for Nathan, Kaleb's Maul wasn't too keen on Kenobi being that close to him and used an Athletic Surge to eliminate his fellow Hall of Famer.  Poor Nathan drove all the way down only to be treated so rudely!

Chase's Luke was taking damage too as nobody supported him against Rob, so Rob was quite pleased to kill him in eleventh.  You had to admire the rookie's moxie, though.  Elijah, playing with Anakin, tried to roll out from behind the columns and advance on the dark side but he was met with a wall of minor characters.  As lil' Annie kept receiving damage, it was Alex C.'s Darth Vader and a Throw Debris that sent Elijah packing in tenth.  After nearly a year off from playing, it wasn't the finish Elijah wanted.

JD's "why does this keep happening??" face

Courtney's Han and JD's Yoda were securely protected by the Geonosis columns, so the dark side alliance was going to have to move forward to draw them out.  But that same alliance was getting high-carded and not everybody was going to be able to attack Yoda and Han, so something had to give.  Unfortunately for Kaleb's Darth Maul, he became the target.  After some suspicious movement on the board, and discarding a 4-1 attack card, Rob and his banged up Mace Windu lobbied Grant/Dooku, Ben/Boba, and Curtis/Jango to end Kaleb's day.  They agreed to the plan, and after multiple attacks, including a double Whirlwind, Curtis used a Wrist Cable to finish off Kaleb in ninth, his lowest finish ever.  He was a bit salty.

JD, meanwhile, was heavily lobbying Ethan/Emperor and Alex/Vader to flip and join him.  It was an interesting notion, but Ethan ultimately played You Will Die on Yoda, which dumped his Force Rebound and two 15 point defense cards.  Grant/Dooku laid two big hits and Rob's Mace filled in the grave for poor JD/Yoda.  Courtney's Chewbacca was dead by that point, and Curtis moved his Zam in on Han with a Sniper Shot.  That finished Courtney off but a tip of the cap to her for her rookie Duel - seventh place was nothing to sneeze at when playing with the lowest ranked character.

We need a Lando expansion character and deck.

Then there were six Duelers left:  Rob/Mace, Ethan/Emperor, Curtis/Jango, Grant/Dooku, Alex/Vader, and Ben/Boba.  All the main characters were basically still at full health with the exception of Rob's Mace, who was still licking his wounds from Chase's double Justice attack.  Ethan made the claim Mace should die next, but Rob countered by saying this was the perfect time to attack the Emperor.  Everyone else seemed to have a different opinion too because an odd round of attacks commenced with no clear cut target.  Alex's Vader choked out Curtis' Zam.  Ben's Boba threw a double Thermal Detonator on Vader and Emperor after Grant Force Pushed them together.  Curtis didn't roll a big enough number to kill both of them with his Flamethrower, so he had to settle with his second Wrist Cable kill of the afternoon on Ethan's Emperor.

Unbeknownst to Rob, Grant and Ben did a silent head nod towards Mace and Curtis attacked.  But when he Rocket Retreated away Dooku and Boba attacked Jango!  Ben used his Kyber Dart and Curtis was suddenly gone in fifth place.

Second Dueler to ever win six games!

Ben then tried to attack Alex/Vader and Grant/Dooku at the same time with Greedo, which only served to paint a target on his jet pack for the two dark lords of the Sith.  They started to whittle him down and Alex, who was just a couple of points from death, smoked the Fett with an All Too Easy!  Ben's average continues to shrink but he's still looking for that first career victory.

Grant dispatched Alex in third very soon after that, and his fully healthy Count Dooku started to chase Rob's Mace around the columns.  Rob fought hard and got some hits in, but Dooku was too strong and Mace's defense cards disappeared as the Taunts rained down.  With just one health point left, Grant dropped a Force Push to seal the victory. 

Congrats Grant!!!  He becomes the second Dueler in league history to reach six wins.  It also marks the fifth win for Count Dooku.  We also want to give a final thank you to Kaleb, Ethan, and Nathan, as this was their last ever Duel...at least for now!  #cliffhanger  The final order of finish:

12. Nathan/Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. Chase/Luke Skywalker
10. Elijah/Anakin Skywalker
9.  Kaleb/Darth Maul
8.  JD/Yoda
7.  Courtney/Han Solo
6.  Ethan/Emperor Palpatine
5.  Curtis/Jango Fett
4.  Ben H./Boba Fett
3.  Alex C./Darth Vader
2.  Rob/Mace Windu
1.  Grant/Count Dooku

This was the last 12-Way Duel until the CL Training match in August...which kicks off our FIFTH season of Dueling!  YEAR FIVE - WE'RE STARTING A YEAR FIVE!!!  Also, the Singles Tournament is coming up in July - more details on that insanity soon.  Thanks to everyone who has made these past four years so fun.  Go see Solo!

Doubleheader #1 - August 27, 2016

The last time the 12 of us would be nice to each other
for the rest of the night.

Kamino Platform

For the first time in a year, we were back on the Kamino Platform for a Duel.  Kamino, the site of the famous battle between Jango Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode II, is easily the most diverse board in Epic Duels.  It's strange starting points, raised terrain, and open bridge shots creates a unique environment to navigate during a Duel.

And as with all Doubleheaders, the Yoda Soda was cold, the Tie-Fighter Ties were warm, and the Wookie Cookies were store bought impostors.  Ryan drew seat number and after picking Kamino the characters were picked and we were off and running.

There were a few rounds of picking up cards before Ian/Vader and Curtis/Emperor started picking on Rob's Obi-Wan Kenobi with their long distance attacks.  Dalton's Zam Wessel was also joining in on the fun.  Fearing an early exit, Rob took the bold strategy of attacking Zam with his card that could move everyone on the board up to three spaces.  Most of the Duelers at the table took this as a good time for a snack break, but Grant/Dooku, who Ryan/Han and Rob/Obi had been trying to woo for a flip to the light side, made the subtle request to be moved into attack position against Vader!

Hello Darth Vader, my name is Count
Dooku.  You chopped my head off.
Prepare to die.

This would prove to be the biggest move of the game.  After Obi had moved everybody the light side had advanced into attack positions and the Emperor/Curtis was dragged away from his hiding spot behind Slave One.  Grant made good on his request to be by Vader, promptly attacking him once and then Force Pushing him into the middle of the pack of Jedi!  It didn't take long for poor Ian to be the first visitor to the Loser's Lounge, as Han/Ryan shot him dead in 12th.  Two weeks ago he won his first ever 12-Way Duel, and then he was at the bottom.  That's Epic Duels in a nutshell.

Curtis wasn't long for the game either, as Nathan/Boba landed a couple of attacks before Rocket Retreating to the light side alliance.  Obi-Wan put the finishing blow on Emperor for an 11th place finish.  Although Nathan had assumed he could be friends in his new landing spots, the Jedi weren't having it and Stephen/Anakin chopped him down in 10th.  Boba Fett's long streak of poor showings continues.  Since Ryan won with him at the 2014 Championship, Boba hasn't placed higher than sixth.

Dalton was navigating the other Fett, Jango, but couldn't find a peaceful spot on his home court board.  He was grounded in 9th when Ryan's Princess Leia blasted him.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I know Han was low carded and injured (did Curtis play "You Will Die" on him before expiring?).  Ryan tried to sweet talk his solid standing in the alliance, but Stevie's Mace Windu could smell his weakness and decided to clear the board of everyone's favorite smuggler.  That meant eighth place for Ryan/Han.

Ducky will not fight Mace.

With seven to go, Heidi's Darth Maul was the only non-member of the current alliance left.  Padme, a Yoda clone trooper, and an Obi-Wan trooper had formed a wall to keep her at bay. but Rob brain farted and approved Joel's Yoda to pull his solider back.  That left an easy path for Heidi to advance and take down Rob's Obi-Wan in seventh.  Low-carded after her big move on Obi, Heidi couldn't take the subsequent attacks and Yoda's clone trooper eliminated her in sixth.  It was a very good rookie debut for Heidi!

With five to go Grant, who had Count Dooku and his two Super Battle Droids camped out behind Slave One, used his Jedi mind persuasion skills on the other Duelers left to team up against Stevie's Mace Windu.  That's when Donald's Luke, who had discarded a card to draw a card more times than I've ever seen in a single game, played "I Will Not Fight You" on Stevie.  Stevie wasn't impressed, but he was also somewhat insulated from the other aggressors.  As folks tried to move in on Mace, Stephen's Anakin decided to make a big move.  He had both of his "Anger" attack cards but not their paired cards, the "Calms."  Tired of waiting for them, he used both on Donald's Luke!  That eliminated Donald in fifth place but also left him without cards.

Around this time Stevie/Mace, Joel/Yoda, and Stephen/Anakin got wise that maybe Grant and his fully healthy Count Dooku was going to win the game.  They started turning on Dooku and chipping away at his damage indicator card.  But Grant got the drop on Stevie, and Mace finished in fourth place.  That left three to go, but instead of continuing their two on one attack against Dooku, Grant again used his powers of influence to get them to start fighting against themselves!  Observers couldn't believe the power Grant was wielding!  Joel's Yoda was the next victim.  A big congrats goes out to Joel, he had a great first official Duel!

Only two were left, and it looked like Stephen's Anakin was going to be victorious, but Grant's deft play and a couple of mistakes and unlucky card draws by Stephen meant...you guessed it, victory for Grant!  He snatched a win out of a Rancor's jaws of defeat.  Stephen was devastated, but he would have another shot at redemption in game two.  #foreshadowing

Grant won his fifth career Duel, moving him into sole possession of second place on the all-time list and just one behind Rob's six.  He's also the leading active Dueler in career win percentage!  I apologize for not having a picture of the victory, Grant deserved it.  I was busy getting game #2 ready and restocking the Yoda Soda and Wookie Cookies.  mmm...Yoda Soda...

Final order of finish:

12. Vader/Ian
11.  Emperor/Curtis
10.  Boba/Nathan
9.  Jango/Dalton
8.  Han/Ryan
7.  Obi-Wan/Rob
6.  Maul/Heidi
5.  Luke/Donald
4.  Mace/Stevie
3.  Yoda/Joel
2.  Anakin/Stephen
1.  Dooku/Grant

Valentine's Duel - February 6, 2016

Carbon Freezing Chamber

This was a historic Duel for multiple reasons, so let's jump into it!

For the third time in six matches we were back in the Carbon Freezing Chamber.  There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  It's the perfect kill box!  So the 12 Duelers, which included super-subs Elysa and Austin, loaded up on sugar (and Valentine cards from JD) and took their seats.  And not the comfy, stuffed seats we're used too.  We had to sit on the smaller, harder, wooden chairs because our table was too small because a group of international students may or may not have stolen our larger table for their program.  But I digress...

This Duel began with one of the most insane starts I've ever seen.  JD, controlling Anakin and Padme, was loaded up on Padme cards right out of the gate.  So he swung her out to the side alley and put a quick nine points of damage on poor David's Boba Fett!  There was an audible gasp and visual grimace as folks realized there was already significant blood in the water.

"Copeland, welcome back!
Enjoy the complimentary Precise Shot!"

And it didn't stop there!  Many folks began the game with their most powerful cards in their starting hand.  Grant's Chewbacca took a couple of steps forward and lined up rookie Dueler Austin in his sights.  You know what was next...BOWCASTER!  And Austin didn't defend...because he couldn't!  He had ten cards in his hand but NONE of them had a single defensive point.  It was all specials, storm trooper cards, and attack cards without a blue number.  Brutal!  David, not wanting to be the first Dueler to die, unloaded on Vader to send Austin to the sidelines in twelfth place.  I mentioned at the start of this entry it was a historic night - in the nearly 50 12-Way Duels I've seen, Darth Vader had never finished in last place...until now!  And please don't blame Austin, he was a rookie but in no way could have prevented what happened.  That is one of the most unlucky shuffle jobs I've ever seen.  A true Valentine's Day Massacre.

David rocket-retreated to the light side of the board, where Daniel's Jango had already done the same thing.  But Rob/Mace thought that was one too many Fetts, and knocked out the crippled Boba in eleventh.

"Psst, Julio...I just died."

By this point Curtis/Maul, Elysa/Emperor, and Julio/Dooku were huddled on the dark side of the board with a line of droids and guards protecting their main characters.  It looked grim as the light side alliance was chipping away at their human shield.  Elysa introduced some chaos, though, when she played the "You Will Die" card on Ryan's Luke Skywalker, right after she hit him with a round of Force Lightning.  Out of nowhere Grant/Han, Daniel/Jango, and Ian/Yoda descended upon the exposed Jedi.  A stunned Ryan was gone in tenth, mockingly killed by Ian's clone trooper, leaving Rob/Mace and Stevie/Obi-Wan wondering what the heck was going on with their supposed light side alliance.

Curtis, sleeping on the job.

The attention shifted back to the dark side of the board, where Curtis realized it was time for Custer's last stand.  He rallied Elysa and Julio to join him as they charged the front ranks of the light side.  Around this same time Stevie, who had been virtually incognito the entire game with Obi-Wan, went three kinds of crazy and attacked everyone in his reach, including moving everyone on the board up to three spaces.  Elysa fell away in ninth during the shakeup at the hands of Chewey/Grant.  Curtis' Darth Maul was the next to go, having never found his bank of Sith Speed cards in his deck.

Julio, controlling Count Dooku, Force Pushed both Ian/Yoda and Rob/Mace into the corner where Stevie's Obi-Wan was hiding.  It took a few rounds, but they eventually eliminated Stevie in seventh place with Yoda getting the death stroke.  Ian played aggressively all night with Yoda, a style you don't usually associate with the defensive wizard.
At this point it was down to six Duelers.  Julio seemed to be the obvious target, as the lone remaining dark side figure, but Rob/Mace sensed an opportunity.  He shocked Daniel/Jango by moving into attack position.  Daniel declined to defend the first strike, which happened to be a nine-point Battlemind!  Jaw agape, he was hit with a second Battlemind and went from full health to out of the game within two cards.  The cupcakes he brought, though, were both delicious and visually stunning.  Well done, Daniel!

As Ian admires his trophies,
Grant hatches a plan...

With five to go JD/Anakin finally put poor Julio out of his misery, but it was a great turnaround for the padawan after his disastrous last place finish at the Fall Brawl.  That left a final four of Rob/Mace, JD/Ani, Ian/Yoda, and Grant/Han. JD got the jump on Grant by Wrathing Chewbacca, and it soon became apparent JD and Rob were up against Ian and Grant.  Anakin, though, was pretty banged up.  Rob had the chance to double-Whirlwind both Ian and JD, but opted to use a Wisdom card to keep JD safe from the four points of automatic damage.  It didn't matter, though, because Yoda finished him in fourth.  JD had Anakin in back to back games, going from first to fourth.  Not too shabby!

Rob and Ian were bleeding out, so Rob desperately tried to get Ian to flip on Grant.  Han had slowly recovered health and was holding onto a big hand.  Ian wasn't having it, though, even as Grant began positioning himself for the final kills.  The final sequence was as beautiful as it was deadly.  Mace and Yoda were standing side by side, with Ian's clone troopers shielding them to a degree from Han. Grant, using the Heroic Retreat card (in a way I have never seen and certainly didn't mention in the recent Card Appreciation post), killed a clone trooper and used the five bonus spaces of movement to run towards Mace and Yoda instead of away.  With both of them now in Han's attack range and having only one or zero health points apiece, Grant made history by SIMULTANEOUSLY killing two characters at the same time...and for the win no less!!!

Congrats to Grant, who is now in sole possession of second place in career victories with four, and two of those wins are with Han Solo...in the Carbon Freezing Chamber!  Han moved into a tie for second place in wins as well, now with three.

Obviously he's never seen a Duel before.

The final order of finish was:

12.  Austin/Darth Vader
11.  David/Boba Fett
10.  Ryan/Luke Skywalker
9.  Elysa/Emperor Palpatine
8.  Curtis/Darth Maul
7.  Stevie/Obi-Wan Kenobi
6.  Daniel/Jango Fett
5.  Julio/Count Dooku
4.  JD/Anakin Skywalker
T2.  Rob/Mace Windu
T2.  Ian/Yoda
1.  Grant/Han Solo

Stay tuned for more details related to next month's Duel:

THE IMPERIAL MARCH!

Doubleheader #2 - August 29, 2015

Green and Mean

Emperor's Throne Room

The second game of the night and third match of the day didn't get started until well after 10PM.  The players looked like they had been through hell...but they were only half way to the finish line...a finish line only one of them would even reach.

dun-Dun-DUNNNN!!!!

Shockingly, three players redrew the same characters they had the match before:  Elysa/Maul, Tommy/Boba, and Stephen/Obi.  Sakina got the Emperor, after already playing Vader and Maul earlier in the day.  That's an evil head space to have to occupy for such a long period of time!  Alex also decided to give up his chair to Grant, who had come to watch the first match.  Grant would take advantage of the opportunity...  #forshadowing

The Throne Room was selected for the second time this season and we were off and running.  Once again, as has been common in the past few Duels, the light side and dark appeared to gravitate towards each other.  But just as alliances were starting to form, side-hopping started to take place.  Stephen took a page out of Curtis' book and had his Obi-Wan run over to the dark side.  Similarly, Ethen flipped to the light side with Dooku.  What happened next was quite comical.  With Chewbacca holding his bowcaster, JD forced Tommy's Boba to defect as well by threat of 11 points of damage.  Tommy knew what to do - let the Wookie win!

The Throne Room stayed congested and after a lot of shots across the board, Elysa was once again isolated and attacked out of fear of the Sith-Speed wielding menace.  Poor Elysa had a repeat twelfth place finish, a cruel reminder on how vicious this game can be.  That shouldn't be a reflection on Elysa's skills, though.  It was much more circumstantial than anything else.  We hope she'll be back out there the next time we play!

The dominoes continued to fall after that.  Stephen discovered a move too late that his Obi-Wan was exposed to a long diagonal shot from Rob's Padme, and sure enough, she delivered 15 attack points in two actions.  Obi perished soon after.  Ethen, fighting valiantly but stuck in the middle of the board, was next to go as the dark side were too persistent in their revenge on Dooku.  Curtis/Jango were next to fall, marking a day Curtis would just as soon forget.  With the dark side players disappearing, Grant/Yoda and Rob/Anakin sensed Ryan/Luke might have been making nice with the remaining dark side characters.  Despite Ryan's efforts to prove his loyalty by attacking Vader, Grant ultimately "Force Lifted" him and threw him across the board to Sakina.  Sakina, though, decided to make nice with Ryan.  As Chris/Mace marched down to attack Luke, Ryan suggested Sakina discard three of her cards to stand him up.  Sakina obliged!

Behold!  Ryan's Evil Giggle

What happened next will be a move that lives in infamy.  Sweet, hilarious, infamy.  After Sakina discarded from her own deck to help Ryan...he attacked her!!!  You could argue he was simply reestablishing his commitment to his original alliance, but that picture says it all!  Sakina perished soon after, and then the rest of the board struck down Tommy/Boba, who had stayed loyal to his light side switch.

With five to go a pecking order needed to be established, and that's where Grant/Yoda made the next move.  He went after JD/Han, who had been hanging out near Yoda for most of the game.  JD didn't survive, but he had a heck of a day - first, second, and fifth place finishes.  Amazing!  And well deserved. 

Things got dicey when the final four were left.  Rob left the table for a minute to let his dog outside, and heard the treacherous whispers behind his back.  Saboteurs!!!  That's a big lesson for any of you rookie duelers reading this blog:  NEVER LEAVE THE TABLE.  Rob confronted them immediately and their nervous laughter confirmed his suspicions.  Chris/Mace proposed it would take a unified effort to oust Grant/Yoda, and as everyone agreed he attacked Rob/Anakin!  The conniving continued, but it was Ryan/Luke who fell first.  Like JD, Ryan had a truly epic day, finishing first, second, and fourth in the duels.

Despite Rob's incessant verbal temptations to form a two-on-one alliance with Chris and Grant, neither caved and Anakin petered out in third.  That left two.  Though Chris/Mace looked like he had the early advantage, Grant leveraged incredible dice rolls with perfectly timed card plays.  Mace could never get fully comfortable, and was finally force pushed to his death!  Congrats to Grant, who becomes just the second player to win three duels...and he wasn't even supposed to be playing!!!  It also marks Yoda's second career victory.  Yoda rules.

Thanks to everyone who played two, and in some cases, three duels on the day!  I love that interest in the league continues to grow.  Mark your calendars now, the next Duel, "The Fall Brawl," is tentatively scheduled for September 19th.  More details and official invitations will come out in a few weeks. 

In the meantime, I'm working to update the stat tabs.  I can tell you the most exciting news is that Ryan has eked past Rob by just .01 percent to retake the top ranked player title!  I should also note Daniel became a professionally ranked dueler by playing his sixth Duel at the Birthday Surprise.  Congrats Daniel!  Also, the there's a shakeup in the bottom three characters, as the Emperor has moved up to eighth place and Han has fallen into the bottom three.  That impacts the handicap points for our rankings, but like I said, I'll get that updated/better explained on the blog in the coming days.

Order of finish for this Duel:

12.  Elysa - Darth Maul

11.  Stephen - Obi-Wan Kenobi

10.  Ethen - Count Dooku

9.  Curtis - Jango Fett

8.  Nathan - Darth Vader

7.  Sakina - Emperor Palpatine

6.  Tommy - Boba Fett

5.  JD - Han Solo

4.  Ryan - Luke Skywalker

3.  Rob - Anakin Skywalker

2.  Chris - Mace Windu

1.  Grant - Yoda