Geonosis Arena (via Hoth)
We love to see a huge turnout of students at a Duel, and the Fall Brawl delivered on that front. 8 of the 12 Duelers were students, and three of the four "adults" were in their early 20s...leaving one sad "unc" to navigate gen Z slang all by his lonesome. One thing's for sure: that guy is buns.
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| From Brawler to Bawlers... |
Things started quite spicy in this year's Fall Brawl when Jonah's Captain Phasma shot Riley's Lobot down the Geonosis alley before she and Lando could even flip to the dark side! Similarly, Sam's Jabba the Hutt dispatched his lil' piggies to block Rob's Rey from doing the same. With Lobot on just one point of health, Rob decided he would stick with the light side and used Jedi Healing to bring Lobot back to life! That ensured it would be a true 6v6 match, and poor Junior suffered for it. His Allegiant General Pryde lost his Sith Troopers and his life not long after that. Junior was out in twelfth!
The dark side focused many of their attacks on the over-powered Rey, but Rob managed to use Rise of Skywalker to return to full health, ready to help his alliance continue to press the bad guys. But Emmanuel/Aayla Secura had seen enough, and attacked Rey two different times! Rob's fate was sealed when Sam played My Kind of Scum. Jonah's Captain Phasma (Sam's not-so-secret crush) hit the kill shot and Unc Rob was done in eleventh.
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| We are laughing! |
By this point most of the characters were in the middle of the board, and a light vs. dark alliance was still mostly in place despite Emmanuel betraying Rey. That's when Kaizer's Supreme Leader Snoke pulled a dastardly maneuver. He played his All Is Lost attack on Caden's Bo-Katan, who chose not to defend. That caused Caden to dump the rest of his hand!! A whacky night got even whackier and poor Caden had no cards to defend. Jabba knocked him out in tenth.
After that, the momentum swung back to the light side. James, who was a much appreciated last-minute sub, had been laying nice hits with Reva. But he got caught under multiple attacks, including Emmanuel's wild Aayla Secura. But Mason would use the splash damage of his Clone Commando Grenade Launcher to auto-damage James into ninth. Ka-boom!!
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| Riley always peeps the camera. |
The light side was surging at this point. Sam's Jabba retreated behind the snow mounds, locked into 1v1 battle with Riley's Lando Calrissian. Karis' Jod Na Nawood had deftly sent shots across the board and rehealed by axing Brutus, but she soon found herself the next target. Once again Emmanuel's Aayla delivered big - rolling a "5" for his Acrobatic Attack, making it a ten point swing of his light saber! Karis was benched in eighth.
Her fellow Penland conspirator Poe/Yoyo was delivering nice shots against the dark side, but when mean ol' Jonah killed BB-8, the tide turned against Yoyo. Some of the melee folks started attacking too, and Captain Phasma delivered the death knell when Yoyo only had one card left. That's two seventh place finishes for Yoyo in two career Duels!
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| Supreme Leader Switzerland |
With six Duelers to go, Jonah/Phasma and Sam/Jabba were desperate to get Riley/Lando to join them against the Tealthica power-duo of Kaizer/Snoke and Emmanuel/Aayla. Mason's Clone Commandos were navigating the middle of that alliance switch. In the end, it was once again Emmanuel dictating the next move, as he unloaded on Captain Phasma and blasted Jonah off the board in sixth place with the Rotary Cannon.
There was a LOT of jawing after that, as everyone was pleading with Kaizer to have him join their respective side. But Kaizer treated Supreme Leader Snoke like Switzerland for most of the night. When Emmanuel's Aayla was finally taking damage, Kaizer used a double-dose of Force Lightning to halve Tealthica in two. What a night of chaos and carnage for Emmanuel, though!
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| Aayla wreaking havoc! |
With four Duelers left Mason's last remaining Clone Commando was bruised and battered. Jonah's Phasma had managed to New Recruit the first two. Mason had a chance to Detonate Sam's Jabba, but let the Hutt pass. That proved to be fatal, as Jabba attacked twice. Mason survived those attacks, but Kaizer's Snoke layed two points on the final Clone and Mason was gone in fourth. That's his personal best finish, though. Well done, Mason!
The jig was finally up for Kaizer's Snoke as well. Though he had plenty of cards in his hand, few of them were defensive. He faced an agonizing moment with six points of health left. Riley's Lando was attacking, and Kaizer had to decide whether or not to take one more hit before trying to use I Cannot Be Beaten - his guard resurrecting defense. He chose not to defend...but Riley used her Battle of Tanaab to off Snoke in third! Both Emmanuel and Kaizer have finished in the top five in their first two career Duels - wow! Tealthica has replenished their ranks for sure.
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| Ten round, knockdown fight ahead... |
And then there were two!!! Sam's Jabba and Riley's Lando had largely avoided the chaos of the night and the two wily veterans were just about dead-evenly matched with their characters. And this final two went a LONG TIME...deep into the night, shuffling through their decks MULTIPLE times. This one was no joke - maybe the longest final two in league history because neither character could ever get the upper hand. It was going to come down to one reshuffle being very lucky while the opponent was unlucky...and that's what happened! Poor Riley got caught with nine Lobot cards in her hand while crack Hookah Pipe-loving Jabba had a beautiful run of cards. Give Sam credit, he stayed aggressive the entire time and it paid off! With just two points of health left, Salacious B. Crumb took a bite out of Lando to seal the victory for Sam!!!
This marked Sam's first career win - way to go Sam! He previously held the record for most career Duels without a win, but that monkey is now officially off of his back. Congrats!!! And this is Jabba's second victory in a row - yikes!!! The galactic gangster is a new force to be reckoned with. Riley deserves kudos as well - she nearly won her second Duel in her last three games!
Final order of finish:
12. Junior/AG Pryde
11. Rob/Rey
10. Caden/Bo-Katan
9. James/Reva
8. Karis/Jod
7. Yoyo/Poe
6. Jonah/Phasma
5. Emmanuel/Aayla
4. Mason/Commandos
3. Kaizer/Snoke
2. Riley E./Lando
1. Sam S./Jabba
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| Your 2007 US Open Champion. |
Congrats again to Sam! That win was well deserved and a long time coming. Our streak of no repeat winners in 2026 is still alive!! We'll see if that continues at next month's FIGHT NIGHT! Pencil in Saturday, Oct. 3rd, as the tentative date for that one.
Until then...PEW PEW!
