CL Training Duel - August 11, 2025

The Kamino Platform

Wake up sleepy heads - the new school year has arrived and that means it's SEASON TWELVE of our 12-way Duels League!!!  TWELVE YEARS OF STAR WARS EPIC DUELS!!!  PEW PEW!!!

An "Honors" Duel...

And for the first time in CL Training Duel history...we had eleven Community Leaders at the table!  Not a hall director or resident chaplain in sight.  Just a crusty old senior associate director and a gaggle of padawans.  The fireworks started fairly early.  When the light side retreated backwards instead of charging forward, Rob's Mace flipped to the dark side!  Then James' Mae used The Acolyte to try and put the kill shot on Caden's Paz...but Caden used a ONE point defense, which was enough to save Paz and auto-kill Mae!!!  BRUTAL start for James!

After a lot of back and forth shots and smack talk, the light side started to implode.  Alex/Plo Koon (new character alert!) flipped too, and Makaelyn/Lando tried to join him.  But Makaelyn became the target when she used Lando's defense card that could switch places with any other character on the board...sending poor Ally and her Darth Vader to the front lines of the light side alliance!  Makaelyn fought valiantly but Mark/Dryden Vos (new character alert!) eventually knocked her out, bestowing Makaelyn with the Goldent Jar Jar trophy for 12th place.

How many actions does Lando have?

Ally couldn't survive her sudden bad luck, despite her dark side alliance trying to clear a path to rescue her.  Caden used an Armorer Hammer Throw to knock her out in eleventh.  Ally said she was going to go home and study Epic Duels on YouTube, so I think it's a safe bet she'll play with us again.

Caden/Armorer had a rough starting spot from the get-go, and he soon found himself peppered from all angles by both light and dark side characters.  But James, seeking revenge for his loss of Mae at the start of the game, got sweet relief when his 5-point attack eliminated the Mandalorian leader in tenth place.

Check out the action from the side game!

Josiah, running on three hours of sleep and blurry interpretations of his card, started playing recklessly with his Luthen Rael (new character alert!).  Lauren/Moff Gideon had been blasting him all game, but as he suspected his end was near, he pulled his big attack, Sacrifice Everything, and did eight points of damage to Lauren!  Rob's Clone Trooper finally took down Josiah/Luthen, but the damage was done to poor Lauren/Moff Gideon.  Justin's Princess Leiah, somehow still alive, used a Camouflage shot to knock out the Penland CLM.  Mad respect for Lauren - she doesn't mess around at the Duel table!

Rob's Mace Windu moved in to try and finish off Justin's Leia, but made the mistake of not using both of his Whirlwind Attacks.  As such, he took four points of auto-damage in return from Justin, weakening the Jedi in the process.  That's when Nayshaun's Jango Fett, finally free to roam about the cabin, swooped in to use his Flamethrower!  But when it caught Rob's Mace for damage too, Rob got cranky and started attacking Jango!  Meanwhile, Mark's Qi'ra offed Justin/Lei in seventh place.

Things getting serious in the middle of the game...

Nayshaun played a great game for his first Duel, especially being stuck in the corner with Jango for half of it, but there were a lot of big blades left, and James had no problem dispatching him in sixth place with his Stranger.  That left five Duelers:  Rob/Mace, James/Stranger, Alex/Plo Koon, Eric/Reva, and Mark/Dryden.  Alex had settled down behind Jango's ship, so Rob put the target on him and the rest of the board followed suit, especially after a really awkward/maybe sincere (?) handshake with Eric (one of those you had to be there moments...).  Alex fought the best he could, further wounding Rob's Mace (who couldn't heal because his Clone was still alive).  

Just as it looked like Alex would die next...Mark attacked Rob!!!  It was a major blindside!!!  Rob's jaw dropped - he was shook.  Mark pulled off a major surprise.  He had already redrawn both Whirlwinds, but when he rolled a two instead of a three or greater, he was forced to dispatch Alex instead of going after Mark.  Alex was done in fifth.

We need more Eric at the table.

As things turned out, there was a Brooks alliance occurring right under everyone's noses!  Mark/Dryden and Eric/Reva were in cahoots.  James was just as surprised as Rob, but not nearly as wounded.  There wasn't much left for Rob to do but bleed out.  James nearly killed Dryden...but just as he was about to die, Mark played Crimson Dawn, killing Dryden himself and making his minor character Qi'ra the main character!  Rob was doomed after that.  Eric's Reva sent him packing in fourth.

Your final three CLs of the CL Training Duel!

Things looked grim for James...but don't count any good Dueler out who has The Stranger!  He and Eric locked horns...and Eric got caught with no defense!  James used a Shoto Sith attack - meaning he got two attacks for one action - and shockingly eliminated Eric in third!  Reva - Third Sister in third place.  How appropriate!

That left two Duelers!  Mark's Qi'ra was surprisingly capable in defending the first barrage from James, forcing James to Levitate his Sith in retreat.  Instead of chasing him, Mark decided to wait and card up.  That might have been the difference, as James was able to cycle through a whole mess of Mae cards to heal and get to the good Stranger attacks.  Mark eventually charged, quite bravely, but two 8-point swings from The Stranger was all James needed - he became the CL Training champion!!!  That's a crazy turnaround from his crashout with Mae to start things off.  Well done, James!!

What a night!!!

Final order of finish:

12.  Makaelyn/Lando

11.  Ally/Darth Vader

10.  Caden/Armorer

9.  Josiah/Luthen

8.  Lauren/Moff Gideon

7.  Justin/Leia

6.  Nayshaun/Jango

5.  Alex/Plo Koon

4.  Rob/Mace

3.  Eric/Reva

2.  Mark/Dryden Qi'ra

1.  James/The Stranger

What a great start to season 12!!!  The tentative date for the next match - THE DOUBLEHEADER - is Sunday, August 31, 2PM & 7PM at Rob's house!  More info to come...  Until then - PEW PEW!

Valentine's Duel - February 7, 2025

Narkina-5 Imperial Prison  

Quick question: how many Golden Oreos can you eat in one sitting?  Follow up question: what if some of them in the package are randomly soggy?  Is that an issue?  Final question: when do candy canes expire?  Is February too late to be eating them?  These were some of the many culinary inquiries our Valentine's Duelers faced, as our annual February Duel encouraged the participants to bring a sweet treat to share!  Kudos to those who remembered - and shame on the league organizer for forgetting!!!

Scared Straight: The Narkina-5 Prison Documentary

The Valentine's Duelers gathered in the Narkina-5 Imperial Prison and, I know you're wondering...how soon did Duelers go off program?  The answer: almost immediately!  And it stayed off program for most of the night...except for two crucial rounds late in the game when the last four Duelers standing were too delirious NOT to raise their hands over their heads!  But I'm getting waaaaay ahead of myself...

Nobody can remember the last time this happened, but the six light side and six dark side Duelers were all sitting six-in-a-row at the table, meaning the respective sides could coordinate extremely well together.  The dark side quickly eliminated Caden's Cara Dune, but the light side hatched a bold plan when The Mandalorian played Grappling Line and pulled Rob's Darth Maul into a kill box!  But Rob somehow used his Martial Defense to completely block Mando's Disintegration!  James/Leia and Elliot/Ahsoka whittled down Maul to near death, but in the first flip of the game (and maybe, maybe aided by Rob running his mouth...), Alex G./Bo-Katan didn't lay the final two hits...and instead joined the dark side!  

Prison sucks!

The light side was equal parts nauseated, disgusted, and disgruntled with Alex, while Rob laughed evilly.  This allowed the dark side to concentrate their fire on The Mandalorian!  Darth Maul got the kill shot with one of his many Sith Speeds, and poor Caden went from hero to the sidelines in last!!!  Rob managed a couple of more hits on Ahsoka too, but with zero cards left in his hand, his blaze of glory left him in eleventh.  What a way to go, though!

Elliot was still gob smacked by Alex's betrayal, and couldn't believe the position he found himself in.  The light side was imploding and he was next to go.  Cate's blood lust was satisfied when her Jango Fett used a three point attack to retire Ahsoka in tenth.  It was a sound tactic, Elliot, don't beat yourself up!

Austin, which Dueler got blind-sided?

The light side tried to rally.  Justin/Mace hopped off the safety of his table to rush Alex's table.  He landed a Whirlwind, but didn't use Wisdom to retreat.  The dark side launched a silo at poor Mace, with Alex using an Ariel Assault for the knockout punch.  Way to go down swinging, Justin!

The only two Duelers left in the light side alliance at that point were James/Princess Leia (Green Leia) and Riley/Luke Skywalker (White Leia).  They were sure they were next, especially once Josiah/The Stranger murdered Wicket.  But everyone knows Cate can only contain her urge to obliterate others for so long, and when she couldn't get an angle on the light side she Missile Launched/Rocket Retreated Mark's Moff Gideon!!!  Alliance disfunction at it's finest!  Mark was bewildered, especially when the rest of his alliance followed suit.  To add insult to compounding injuries, Moff Gideon was eliminated by being electrocuted by the floor!  The next Brooks College staff meeting is going to be AWKWARD.

Look at that face - full of Missile Launch glee!

The crazy twists and turns kept coming.  James and Riley got quiet as mice tiptoeing through a room full of sleeping cats when Josiah threw out Ian/Snoke as the next target.  The debate came fast and furious, as Ian moved the negative attention to Alex/Bo-Katan and his hesitancy to shoot the light side remnants.  Nobody had any idea what to expect from Cate, and Josiah decided her killing spree necessitated the end of her night.  In a risky move, his Mae used A New Acolyte to off Jango.  That was probably just as well - Cate had a 3AM alarm set for her rugby trip!  😦

The animosity towards Alex couldn't be ignored at that point.  He had no friends left on the board.  And in a bit of a control-his-own fate move, he chose to stay off the tables and take his kill shot from the electric floor!  The Narkina-5 Prison fried two Duelers on the night!!!

The wolves circle Austin...

Austin/Cad Bane was a loyal dark side alliance member throughout the night, and it was cool he made it to the final five because he took some damage out of the gate.  But Ian/Snoke didn't look too keen to have extra shooters on the board, so he named Austin as his target of interest.  Austin tried to shake his hand several times to indicate no hard feelings (this is a classic "you had to be there" moment...).  Nobody would rescue Cad Bane, but Austin finished a career-best fifth place.  Nicely done!

Rather than work together as the last two dominant dark side members, Josiah and Ian declared war on each other!  James, who had recently played The Stranger last semester, knew full well Josiah's character was a handful.  He and Riley joined Ian...but it took a LONG time for them to finally oust Josiah.  I'm talking poorly played Tied To A Strings, I Will Not Fight You's...the works!  But Josiah couldn't hold out forever, and James landed the final blow.  There's a reason The Stranger is the top ranked character in the league right now - well done Josiah!

How did these two make it to the final three???

This may not be fully appreciated by those who weren't at the Duel, but it was nothing short of a miracle James/Leia and Riley/Luke went from a seemingly 8th and 7th place finish to the top three.  They worked extremely well together, but the reality was James' Princess Leia had up to 16 points of automatic damage in her deck, and Riley and Ian were roughed up on their damage indicator cards, so they chose to partner against James.  The problem was 8 of those points of auto damage come from Leia's I Know defense cards, so neither wanted to go forward with a frontal assault.

Ian managed to use some Force Lightnings and Riley's minor Leia kept shooting major Leia (yes, it was trippy), but James smartly killed the minors, forcing the issue by making Ian and Riley stand adjacent to Leia.  Ian felt Riley wasn't doing enough, so he ended up turning on Riley, heavily damaging Luke.  It was a controversial move as Riley professed she was still with him.  But the attack allowed James to finish Riley/Luke in third.  Riley had the best hat at the table, though.

The final two was James/Leia and Ian/Snoke!  Both were badly damaged and searching for their automatic damage cards (Covert Operation for Leia, Force Lightning for Snoke).  Ian had some uncharacteristic mistakes throughout the night, but the worst one was when he lost count of Leia's I Know defense cards.  She has two of those - the ones that do four points of damage to whoever attacks - but Ian thought one was already in James' discard pile.  As it turns out, he pulled the second one from his draw pile.  Ian healed enough to take four points from one of them, but his jaw dropped when he attacked a second time only to get four MORE points of auto damage and lose the game!  That's right - James won his first career Duel.  Way to go!!!!  That's another Dueling trophy for the Teal trophy case.  This also marks Princess Leia's second career win.

Final order of finish:

12.  Caden/The Mandalorian

11.  Rob/Darth Maul

10.  Elliot/Ahsoka

9.  Justin/Mace Windu

8.  Mark/Moff Gideon

7.  Cate/Jango Fett

6.  Alex G./Bo-Katan

5.  Austin/Cad Bane

4.  Josiah/The Stranger

3.  Riley E./Luke Skywalker

2.  Ian/Snoke

1.  James/Princess Leia

It's always fun when a Duel produces a first-time winner!  James becomes the 41st Dueler in league history to win a Duel!

Due to the basketball schedule and Spring Break, the March Duel - THE IMPERIAL MARCH - will be played the weekend of March 22nd/23rd.  We'll have to wait for the tournament bracket to figure out which night Baylor plays (stay above the bubble, Bears!!!).  So that means we'll go silent for a few weeks.  

Until then...PEW PEW!