May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2020

Kamino Platform

Last year's May the 4th Duel was momentous in that it featured one of the most memorable wins in league history.  Riley, at ten years and 364 days old, shocked the world when her Emperor, about to be destroyed by Ben's Dooku, pulled out a second You Will Die and rode to a win.  It was insane and joyful and maybe the only time the other eleven Duelers didn't mind losing.

This year's May the 4th?

...not so much!

It always starts so innocently...

Right out of the gate, Ryan, using Han and Chewy, targeted lil' Riley's Darth Maul.  He Wookie Tossed her to the edge of the light side alliance, and then Elliot's Yoda further pushed her back to get decimated by the Jedi.  But Rob, whose dad anger was raging, rolled in and Force Pushed her back to the dark side, and then Gave Orders to hide again behind his Super Battle Droids.

The dark side was certainly roughed up at that point, but the scales were balanced again...until Nathan's Jango killed Riley's Maul and then Rocket Retreated to the light side!  Riley, the defending champ, was eliminated first!  The day before her 12th birthday!  May God have mercy on all of our souls...

...but make sure you have a power cord. 

The dark side got cranky after that and tried their best to retaliate.  It wasn't easy.  Rob's Dooku got shot up by Ryan's Han Solo.  That was largely assisted by Christopher's Luke Skywalker, who played his second I Will Not Fight You of the game.  That's when Diego went for the Hail Mary and played his You Will Die on Nathan's Jango, who had betrayed them.  The play worked.  The light side was bottle-necked and fully carded, so they turned on their new teammate.  It was Kaleb's Greedo, though, using a Desperate Shot, that put him down in eleventh!  What is it with Kaleb and Greedo???

Obi looks on.

After that, though, the light side pushed forward to eliminate the light side.  Rob and Kaleb tried to find cracks in the alliance but couldn't get a toehold.  That's when Rob did something so, so dirty.  His Dooku Force Pushed Troy's Darth Vader!  Poor Troy did nothing wrong, but he landed in a light side kill box with very little defense.  It didn't take long for them erase him in tenth.

From there Diego/Emperor, Rob/Dooku, and Kaleb/Boba were huddled behind Jango's ship.  And that was also when Rachel's internet connection went out because her computer ran out of power.  She literally dialed in a Force Control attack that left Diego exposed.  Rylie used her Padme's Shot on the Run and Diego was done in ninth.

The logistical issue with Rachel being out of the loop proved a nightmare.  Just as Kaleb and Rob convinced Elliot to Force Push Ben's Mace back to their corner, Rachel dialed in one last time and laid a hit on Boba before stopping.  We eventually decided to remove her Obi from the game.  As penalty for the "did not finish" we're going to mark her in last place.  You gotta be in it to win it!

LONESTAR!

Rob and Kaleb got their hits in on Ben's Mace, but Mace survived and Whirlwinded Dooku, leaving Rob in eighth.  Kaleb's Boba had Rocket Retreated to the other end of the board, right into the arms of Christopher's Luke and Rylie's Anakin.  They made short work of him, and with that, there were five left!

Ben/Mace and Rylie/Anakin were a little put-off by Elliot's previous Force Push, so the attacks started in on his Yoda.  Elliot went behind the ship to hide, but an unrelenting volley of shots finally landed him in fifth place.  Congrats to Elliot, though - that was his best finish!

That left four Duelers, and in a bit of a surprise move, Rylie's Anakin went after Christopher's Luke.  Ben and Ryan didn't mind the move and started to help.  But Christopher was playing brilliantly as Luke and managed to, at different points, drop a Justice on both Anakin and Han as well as playing another I Will Not Fight You on Mace.  He finally clipped Rylie with a four point attack and she finished in fourth.

Evil will always win, because "good" is dumb!

Christopher's expertise couldn't withstand a two-point attack, though.  While he locked horns with Ryan's Han, Ben's mangled Mace rolled up and put a big hit first on Luke, and then he Whirlwinded them both.  That knocked Christopher our, but he played arguably the best game at the table that night.  Great job Christopher!

The final two were quite interesting.  Ryan had healed up but was hurting from the Justice.  Meanwhile, Ben couldn't heal because he still had a Clone Trooper on the board.  Ryan played Heroic Retreat, knocking Mace within three points of death.  Han also ran away.  Ben figured he had one shot left.  So he used a Wisdom and Masterful Fighting, hoping for the knockout.  Ryan just survived it, and that's when he played the two cards he held onto for the entire night - both NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!

Ryan won with Han on Kamino!!!

Your final order of finish, edited to reflect the rankings after the Rachel logoff:

12.  Rachel/Obi-Wan Kenobi*
12. 11.  Riley/Darth Maul
11. 10.  Nathan/Jango Fett
10. 9.  Troy/Darth Vader
9. 8.  Diego/Emperor Palpatine
8. 7.  Rob/Count Dooku
7.  Rachel/Obi-Wan Kenobi*
6.  Kaleb/Boba Fett
5.  Elliot/Yoda
4.  Rylie/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Christopher/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ben H./Mace Windu
1.  Ryan/Han Solo

Congrats again to Ryan - any win with Han is special, but especially on that board.  I need to check the stats, but Ryan might be the first person to win with all three shooters!

Stats won't be updated until after the Birthday Duel...which is later tonight!

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

The Fall Brawl - September 16, 2017

Geonosis Arena

The Duelers gathered in the North Village Community Center to face their worst fears...all in hopes to win the coveted Mace Windu trophy for the Fall Brawl!  But there was an added "pressure."  In their bladders!  An improv group was using the main community area, meaning a pee break would interrupt their show!  Rob didn't care as he drank a tall can of Arnold Palmer.  He would regret that decision about 45 minutes later...

Joel drew the first chair and picked Geonosis.  That means our Carbon Freezing Chamber drought continues - we haven't played there since last spring.  He also grabbed Mace Windu, which was good luck since he was featured on the night's trophy!

JD grabbed Han Solo, as all of the shooters were picked within the first four chairs at the table.  He laughed because of the text exchange he had with Rob earlier in the day (pictured below).  He wanted the scruffy looking nerf herder in order to prove Pez Vader's prediction correct.  If you understood any of that previous sentence I both respect and feel sorry for you.

JD calling his shot!

The game started with a quick flare of action.  Ryan, playing with Luke Skywalker for the billionth time, honored a half-in-jest offer from the Dark Side to switch alliances.  He shot at Kaleb's Anakin and used Children of the Force to do just that!  JD/Han Solo was having none of that.  He marched Chewbacca down to that end of the board and Bowcasted Luke!  Ryan was injured but the rest of his new alliance slowly chipped away at the Wookie, who was the first character to succumb to his injuries.

The 44th time 12 have gathered...

Rob, who had Count Dooku, planned to stick with the Dark Side too from his middle-board starting spot, but Elijah advanced his Greedo up the alley Dooku wanted to occupy.  So he flipped over to the light side and spent several rounds convincing Andrew and his Darth Maul to do the same.

The Dark Side weren't too keen on that turn of events, so Stephen/Vader and Toby/Emperor started riding Rob's Dooku like a pack mule, raining down Force Lightning, Debris, and Wraths.  Rob was quickly approaching his death but he wouldn't end up going out first.  Elijah, who had lost a Thermal Detonator and Greedo's Desperate Shot from a Dooku Force Drain, found himself face to face with Andrew's fully carded Darth Maul.  Three attacks later and Elijah was off the board thanks to the Athletic Surge.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS (I wish I was kidding) transpired before the next death.  The light side clump had pot-shotted the Dark Side for a long time, and the Sith decided it was time to move out.  They tried to isolate Andrew's Maul but Toby's Emperor was getting hit pretty badly.  JD's Han took the mercy shot from long distance to eliminate Toby in eleventh.  Stephen's Vader was next when Andrew threw down another volley of Sith Speed.

Ani and Mace sleeping on the job

Rob's Dooku was still bleeding out, and prior to Vader and the Emperor's deaths he had Force Pushed Kaleb's Anakin because he didn't feel like Kaleb was doing his fair share of the heavy lifting.  That ended up rearranging the rest of the alliances on the board.  Ryan/Luke and Grant/Jango looked like they were going to be the next two to go but suddenly they found themselves flush with suitors.  Their new club turned their attention on Andrew and it was Joel's Mace who delivered the death knell.

Dooku begged an approaching Jango Fett to spare his life as he was hoping to go after Anakin, but Grant wasn't having it and Rob bowed out in eighth with a Wrist Cable.  The remaining seven stared at each other until the suggestion was made to converge on rookie Dueler Ben and his fully healthy Yoda.  Ben put up a heck of a fight.  He dropped three Force Lifts, including two at the same time on Anakin/Kaleb and Mace/Joel!  But eventually the gang of six wore him down.  He got off his Force Rebound on JD's Han before Ethan's Obi-Wan clone blasted him for good.  It was a great debut for the rookie Dueler!

Kaleb and Ethan in deep doo-doo

What transpired next was another key moment of the game.  Ryan, who looked mortally wounded at the start of the game, was thriving with his new partnerships.  And then he dropped a bomb on Kaleb/Anakin and Ethan/Obi-Wan...DOUBLE "I WILL NOT FIGHT YOU."  Kaleb basically lost his entire hand while Ehtan, holding all three of his 12 defense cards, lost two big attacks.  That's when JD stepped up in a big way.  He used two Gambler's Luck cards to not only kill Kaleb but also steal cards from Obi-Wan!  This was Kaleb's sixth Duel, meaning he's a professional now!  You'll want to check the Dueler rankings too because he's making an unprecedented debut.

That meant there were five Duelers left:  Ryan/Luke, Joel/Mace, Ethan/Obi, JD/Han, and Grant/Jango.  Ethan realized he was the next target so he played the nuclear option by dropping his Force Balance card.  That was a crazy move to make with two of his 12 defense cards still in his hand.  The move would prove to be unlucky as Ryan's Leia smoked him with a seven point attack.  That set up the final kill for Grant's Jango.  This was Ethan's career best finish, though, and he'll go professional in his next match.

A real nail biter...

The final four salvaged what was an obnoxiously tedious Duel up to that point.  JD's Han was the only character without a minor still alive, as Leia, Sha-ZAM, and a purple Clone were still alive and kicking.  Folks were wanting to eliminate Joel's Mace Windu, but there were several subtle changes in partnerships and strategies in the ensuing play.  Joel eventually got the drop on Grant's Jango, though, which I just realized happened in the REAL Geonosis Arena!  Dang it, wish we had realized that at the time...  It was another stellar finish for both Grant and Jango.

That meant three were left and Ryan's Luke gravitated towards JD's Han Solo.  But Joel wouldn't rest without voicing all of his strategic opinions.  For a brief moment Ryan actually flipped, which would have been disaster for JD's Han.  He was nearly fully recovered health-wise, while his two opponents still couldn't heal because of their living minor characters.  Ryan ended up switching back, though, and it was Luke who dropped the ax on Mace.  That's not a bad run for Joel!  He finished first at CL Training and third in his next match.

That meant Luke Skywalker, who has never won a Duel in the Waco league but leads the league in second place finishes, was once again in the final two.  And who was he facing?  Pez Vader's pick to click, Han Solo!  Even more crazy?  Ryan and JD had the first major tussle of the match, when  his Chewbacca bowcasted Luke and then his Wookie died.  Who could have predicted they would be the last two standing!?

Once Joel was gone, though, the match didn't last long.  Ryan was down to his final health point when JD finally shot and killed Leia with his first action to remove Luke's human shield.  And in a dramatic chorus, the rest of the spectators echoed JD as he said, "And for my second action, NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!"  That was the automatic damage JD needed to make Luke the bridesmaid and Han the bride.  That marks JD's fifth career win, which ties him with Grant for second all time.  It was also Han's fourth career victory even  though he's the last ranked character.  Anyone can win a Duel!  Except Luke, apparently...  And we'd be remiss not to point out that Kaleb debuts in the TOP SPOT of the Professional Dueler rankings!  Well done Kaleb!

The final order of finish:

12.  Boba Fett/Elijah
11.  Emperor Palpatine/Toby
10.  Darth Vader/Stephen
9.  Darth Maul/Andrew
8.  Count Dooku/Rob
7.  Yoda/Ben
6.  Anakin Skywalker/Kaleb
5.  Obi-Wan Kenobi/Ethan
4.  Jango Fett/Grant
3.  Mace Windu/Joel
2.  Luke Skywalker/Ryan
1.  Han Solo/ JD

The blog stats are updated!  Our next match will be October 7, 8PM - our fourth annual Fight Night!  Stay tuned for more details.

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!

Fight Night - October 10, 2015

Emperor's Throne Room

This past Saturday night twelve noble warriors once again descended upon the North Village Community Center to do battle in this game we call Epic Duels.  Nate and JD had to cancel, so in their place Chris and Alex stepped in.

Before this recap goes any further, I wanted to take a moment to discuss the history of 12-Way Duels.  The very first 12-Way occurred back in 2002.  It was my birthday, and I got Yoda.  And I won.  I won the first 12-Way Duel ever.  It was quite exciting and insanely fun.  Hence the reason I've kept holding 12-Way Duels.  I don't think there's a more exciting feeling when winning a board game than taking home a victory in Epic Duels.  This Fight Night was the 45th 12-Way I have stats for (I've played a couple of others but didn't save the results).  I've had leagues in Muncie, IN, Knoxville, TN, Grand Rapids, MI, and here in Waco.  And in the 44 duels before Fight Night, I had never finished last.  I had a couple of scares in eleventh place, but never last.

These eleven did what no others had before.

Until Fight Night.

That's right folks - my streak of non-last place finishes is over.  The dark side betrayed my Darth Maul, even though Chris' Obi-Wan was nearly dead and it was a clear light vs. dark dynamic on the board.  I have to hand it to them, they did me dirty.  Jerks.

Chris was indeed next to go, falling at the hands of Ian's Count Dooku.  The mathematician who can figure out how Ian keeps drawing Dooku and Tommy keeps picking Boba will surely win the Nobel Prize.

Let's just say the next segment of the game took a long time.  I mean, a loooooong time.  Like, at least an hour and a half.  The chatter and strategery was incessant.   The action was random and constant.  Minor characters were whittled down.  Alliance strengths were tested.  Eventually, Curtis' Chewbacca wandered towards the dark side while he played the search for the Bowcaster card.  Strangely, he used that as his second action, meaning nine Duelers had a chance to kill Chewie before he cranked those eleven attack points.  Some folks took advantage of that opportunity, and soon Chewie was down to three health points left.  But Ian, who had the proximity and capability to finish him, didn't!  That permitted Curtis too shoot Alex's Emperor Palpatine.

This is Alex's cranky face.

There were other strange plays besides that.  Tommy had a communication breakdown with Ian and used his Boba Fett to throw a thermal detonator on their dark side alliance, further crippling them.  Ian, Tommy, and Alex ended up being the next three to go.  That wasn't a coincidence!

That left seven duelers still in the hunt.  It was around this time Daniel's Mace decided to pay a visit to Stevie's Yoda, who was still sitting in the back corner of the Throne Room.  Stevie was able to block most of Mace's attacks, but he left himself exposed to a long distance attack position by Curtis' Han Solo,  Sure enough, the smuggler hit him with multiple blaster shots, sending Stevie packing in seventh place.  Stevie has played twice and finished seventh twice.  #consistency

...and JUSTICE for all!

Stephen's Darth Vader had managed to lay low while the dark side crumbled, but his back line mate, Ryan/Jango, put the finishing attack on him with assistance from others, including Grant's Anakin and the Wookie.  That left five folks in the game:  David/Luke, Grant/Anakin, Ryna/Jango, Grant/Anakin, and Daniel/Mace.  It had been eleven months since David had played last, but he was making very strong moves.  One of the most exciting moments of the night occurred when Daniel moved in against him just after Leia had been killed.  Experienced duelers know what that means - Luke's "Justice" cards increase in attack value from four to ten.  After Mace attacked, David dropped BOTH Justice cards, dealing Daniel a successful twelve points of combined damage.  And David made another strong play.  Facing an attack by Curtis, David wisely mentioned that he should use one of his "I will not fight you" cards on Grant, since Anakin was in full health and best position to win.  But Curtis disagreed with that strategy and attacked Luke anyway, placing him within one point of his life!  David did use the special card on Grant, dumping most of his hand with the notable exception of two "Counter Attack" defense cards.

The four players not named Grant decided it was time to end Anakin's reign of leadership within the alliance, but Curtis' Wookie toss inadvertently sent Grant away from the remaining shooters, including Ryan's Jango and both of Daniel's clone troopers.  As the attacks came at Grant, some infighting broke out among the gang of four, resulting in Mace finishing off Luke in fifth place and then Daniel being flame throwered by Ryan/Jango for fourth.

Never tell Curtis the odds.

Grant withstood a ton of punishment, but his number was finally up when Curtis moved Han into position to play the "Never tell me the odds" card on both Jango and Anakin.  Grant bowed out in third for the second game in a row...with Anakin both times.  That left a shooting match between Curtis and Ryan.  Little did Curtis know, but Ryan was frustratingly holding mostly Zam cards.  Zam was the first character dead in the game, courtesy of Chris' Obi-Wan.  To add to Jango's misery, Han had pulled many of his four point attack cards.  It wasn't long before Jango ran out of defense and Curtis navigated Han to victory in one of the screwiest 12-Way Duels I've ever seen.  Congrats to Curtis, who becomes the third Dueler to reach three career victories, tying him with Grant for second place on the career victory list.  And lets make sure Han freakin' Solo gets some credit too.  That's win #2 for him, which is two more than Anakin, Emperor, Dooku, and Luke combined.  #makesnosense

November will be the annual Thanksdueling match - stay tuned!  Thanksdueling will also be the last qualifying match before December's 2015 Championship.  The Championship game is reserved for the top twelve ranked Duelers.  More details to come as we look towards the end of our calendar Dueling year...

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob - Darth Maul
11.  Chris - Obi-Wan Kenobi
10.  Ian - Count Dooku
9.  Tommy - Boba Fett
8.  Alex - Emperor Palpatine
7.  Stevie - Yoda
6.  Stephen - Darth Vader
5.  David - Luke Skywalker
4.  Daniel - Mace Windu
3.  Grant - Anakin Skywalker
2.  Ryan - Jango Fett
1.  Curtis - Han Solo

Imperial March - March 28, 2015

Carbon Freezing Chamber

For the first time ever, we finally picked the Carbon Freezing Chamber!!!  This duel happened after a seven week break, so folks were ready to throw down...the results were:

12.  Simeon - Boba Fett
11.  Kristin - Emperor Palpatine
10.  Mackenzie - Jango Fett
9.  Alex - Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  Elijah - Luke Skywalker
7.  David G. - Yoda
6.  Molly - Darth Maul
5.  Ryan - Anakin Skywalker
4.  Curtis - Mace Windu
3.  Rob - Darth Vader
2.  Ian - Count Dooku
1.  Grant - Han Solo (and Chewbacca!!!)

Key Moments:

• Alex twice used the force balance card to move folks around the board.  That put Rob in the back row with the Jedi and Kristin in the middle of those same Jedi.  And yes, Rob was Vader AGAIN...
• Molly was playing her first 12-way Duel...and of course got Darth Maul.  Hence, Darth Molly.
• Molly and Ian, also playing his first Duel, made a strained alliance. 
• Ryan went in to kill Ian's Dooku, but wasn't anticipating the double taunting attack from Dooku, which ended up ending Ryan's duel.
• Curtis saw the writing on the wall and flipped on his alliance with Rob.  Rob convincingly argued for Grant to take down Curtis first, which he did!
• It got down to Ian's Dooku and Grant's Han and Chewey.  Ian force drained Grant's hand down to one card.  That one card left?  THE BOWCASTER!!!  On Grant's turn he shot Dooku in the face, POINT BLANK FOR THE WIN!!!
• This is probably the most exciting win we've had in this league.
• This was Grant's second win and Han's first!