2023 Singles Tournament - July 30, 2023

 

Yikes!  I'm a week late, but here is your glorious (and very brief) recap of the 2023 Singles Tournament!  Pictured above are the 32 brave souls who each got four chances to traverse a field 128 entries to become the last person standing.  After a great day of Dueling it would be...KALEB AND OBI-WAN KENOBI who came out victorious!!!

Way to make the drive worth it, Kaleb!  We've never had the same person win the Singles tournament twice, which is just the absolute coolest little bit of trivia.  It just goes to show it's anybody's game!  Props to Brannon too, who took two characters into the Final Four!  Click below the page break to see the final brackets and a bunch of fun pictures from the day...

Thanksdueling! - November 6, 2021

 

Rancor Dungeon

It was mentioned during the preview but we need to mention it again here.  The 2021 Thanksdueling! battle marked Alex's last Duel in the league.  He's moving down to Austin and plans to start wearing a lot of ugly orange in his wardrobe.  But we can't fault him for his new career opportunity - we wish you well, Alex!  In his time in the league he played 33 times (tied for 11th all-time) and won six times (tied for 7th all-time).  He also retires as the top ranked Dueler!  For all of these reasons we inducted Alex into the Duels Hall of Fame.  Congrats!!!

Two grown men trying not to cry.

Ok, ok, enough with the mushy stuff.  We have a Duel to recap!  We were playing in the Rancor Dungeon, and Rob came with a fresh new Rancor t-shirt along with matching stickers for all the Duelers.  The big intrigue, though, was who would be randomly picked for the Rancor!  After entering all of the names in the random list generator, the lucky Dueler was...Evan!!!  This was supposed to be his sixth/professional debut Duel, but he got the Rancor instead!!!

Evan wearing a Jabba shirt - he must have known!

The rest of the Duelers took their seat, knowing Evan/Rancor couldn't join them until a character died.  Surely nobody would want to do that early in the game...right?!?  Wrong!  To absolutely nobody's surprise, Miguel (The Emperor) just couldn't help himself.  He got a Force Lightning right out of the gate, and decided to fry one of Kevin's (Maul) Battle Droids!  The gate opened and The Rancor was loose!  He immediately ate one of Karson's (Mace) Clone Troopers.

In one of the more ironic moments in league history, Ian (Dooku) took great offense at Miguel's shenanigans.  The same Ian who did the exact same thing as Miguel at the last Thanksdueling! in the Rancor Dungeon!  He, combined with an outraged Kevin (who had ever seen someone so attached to a measly Battle Droid before???) lobbied the board to go after the Emperor.  Despite being in the best position on the board, Miguel had his hands full as the attacks started coming from everywhere.  He retaliated by...using Force Lightning on the other Battle Droid!  God bless Miguel, he was entertaining all the way to his last place finish - a kill shot of retribution from Kevin's Maul.

The rest of the board did little to stop the Rancor, so it made it's way into the center of the board and kept eating minor characters and attacking majors.  On one end of the board Karson/Mace and Rylie/Grievous found themselves fully carded and needing to attack.  They took out their aggression on an unlucky Juan/Beckett.  Juan couldn't do anything, stuck between a Rancor and the Whirling Arms of Grievous.  Poor Juan was out in 11th.

Behold the Rancor buffet!

JD/Boba finally started talking sense into the rest of the Duelers, encouraging them to band together to take care of the elephant Rancor in the room.  Folks complied and the Rancor started taking damage...but not before he ate two Clone Troopers, a Super Battle Droid, Lobot, and Padme!  My goodness, that guy's appetite is disgusting.  But after Rob's Lando got the Rancor within a point of dying, it would be Alex's Clone Trooper #1 that killed him with a one point attack.  Well played, Evan!

Remember that time we were friends, lol?!?

With the Rancor mercifully off the board, the next phase of the game commenced.  Peach/Han and Fiona/Anakin had been whispering furiously for most of the game.  A lot of folks assumed they were thick as thieves, so Ian's Count Dooku Force Pushed Han into a kill corner at the other end of the board while Rob's Lando took a shot at Anakin, followed by a Maul attack.  While it looked like both of them were in trouble, only one would fall...and that was Peach!  She took hits from Obi-Wan and then was shocked to see her tablemate Rylie move in to attack with Grievous!  Han fell to the Whirling Arms in 10th.

Fiona went next, and she used a Wrath to get the heck out of Dodge.  Some folks thought she was still the target...but then a surprise occurred!  A group of Duelers had conspired to go after Ian's Dooku!  Obi used a Force Control to place Ian in a custom-made kill box!  It was a shocking turn of events, and Ian had no hope for survival.  In what would be a theme for the night, Rylie's Grievous delivered the final blow and Ian, out of nowhere, was gone in 9th!

A doomed Dooku.

JD's Boba had made it known earlier he was keen on working with Ian, but he suddenly found himself without an alliance.  Rob was equally nervous, having been unaware that the hit was on for Ian.  So he positioned himself near the leftover kill box and attacked Boba with an Altered the Deal, meaning he could switch places with the Fett!  The lingering kill box participants thought, "eh, why not?", and roughed up JD's Boba.  Alex's Clone, the same one who killed the Rancor, eliminated Boba Fett too!  JD was ousted in 8th, but Boba Fett has a new series coming out on Disney+ so I think he'll be fine.

That left seven to go, and folks were getting antsy.  Kaleb (Leia) casually threw out Rob's Lando, but in a surprise twist, the majority of folks remaining went after Kevin's Darth Maul!  Kevin wasn't expecting it, and got caught low carded.  It would be Fiona's Anakin, who once looked doomed for 10th, that landed the elimination.  Kevin was gone in 7th.

Of course we didn't forget to take a group pic!

Once it was down to six Duelers, some folks were back to being fully carded, and Rylie's Grievous decided it was Anakin's turn to walk the plank.  Fiona was outraged but funny about it.  She didn't last long, and using a MagnaGuard, Rylie had yet ANOTHER kill!  Congrats to Fiona, who has played before but never in person.  Top six!

Immediately after Fiona's exit it was Rob's turn, and the board waited to see what he proposed.  A grown man wearing a cape should never be the leader in that type of situation, but alas, that was the predicament.  After some deliberation, Rob's Lando attacked Karson's Mace, noting he still hadn't used his Whirlwinds and he was at full health.  Karson went on the defensive, but his hand was unluckily weak so he had to retreat.  This had the unfortunate effect of making him look vulnerable.  Other Duelers started to attack him too.  Despite his best efforts, Karson had to bow out when - GUESS WHO - a Grievous MagnaGuard took him out in 5th.  (On a side note, Rylie looked like a Duels hustler with her hat pulled low and her eerily silent demeanor all night!)

Final Four Focus

And then there were four!  Rather than stick with his fellow shooter, Kaleb proved the only things certain in life are death, taxes, and Rob and Kaleb not working together at the end of a Duel.  He decided to use Wicket's Whirling Rocks...but rolled a 2-all!  That means they hit Wicket instead of Lando, hahahaha!  Thought it was temporarily three against one, Rob warned Alex's Obi that he would likely land in third without Lando at his side, so it turned into a Rob/Alex vs. Kaleb/Rylie battle.  This went on for quite a while before Alex played Force Balanced and dumped everyone's hand.  Not long after a badly injured Lando once again faced Whirling Rocks, but this time the Ewok's coordination was better and Rob got concussed in 4th.

Meanwhile, Alex's Obi and Rylie's Grievous were trading blows.  They were both weak and starting to turn their attention against Kaleb's Princess Leia.  Kaleb sprung into action and eliminated Rylie's Grievous in 3rd place with a You're Going to Regret This attack.  Alex was also badly wounded and now risked an automatic death if Kaleb defended with an I Know card.  But Obi had his two best attack cards in his hand, so he risked the homerun swing.  Alas...Kaleb had I Know, and Alex, in his last Duel, finished second, eliminated by his BFF and fellow Duel Hall of Famer Kaleb!  Well done to both of them, but especially Kaleb who came out of retirement to pad his resume!  This also marks the first character win for Princess Leia.

Who invited this guy???

Let's see that final order of finish one more time:

12.  Miguel/Emperor

11.  Juan/Beckett

10.  Peah/Han

9.  Ian/Dooku

8.  JD/Boba

7.  Kevin/Maul

6.  Fiona/Anakin

5.  Karson/Mace

4.  Rob/Lando

3.  Rylie/Grievous

2.  Alex/Obi

1.  Kaleb/Leia

The December Duel is the 2021 Championship!  This is a special invite Duel and the biggest Duel of the year!  Any Dueler who won a game in 2021 gets an automatic bid, and the remaining slots will be filled by the top ranked Duelers.  And now that we have 24 characters, we're doing the same for them!  Characters who won in 2021 will be used in the Championship.  Rob will contact those who qualified, but it looks like Saturday, December 4th, will be the date for the best and toughest Duel of 2021!!!

May The 4th Be With You - May 4, 2021

 

The Trash Compactor

Our new board, the Trash Compactor, was designed to create some chaos and a quick Duel.

IT DELIVERED!!!

Not only did we finish in under three hours, this May the 4th Be With You Duel had THE MOST INSANE FINISH IN LEAGUE HISTORY!!!!

I'M NOT EXAGERATING!!!  Read on to get the details...

May the 4th Be With Us!

Right out of the gate the light side and dark side started trading shots across the Compactor.  One of Rob's Death Troopers threw a Grenade, which rattled the light side,  But on the last turn of the first round, it would be the neutral monster on the board, The Dianoga, who would strike for the first time, pulling Riley's Darth Vader under the water for two points of damage!

Both sides stayed aggressive, with Ian/Kylo and Chris K./Maul running in and knocking people around.  Rylie's Dooku also Force Pushed Chewbacca into a dark side kill box.  Miguel's Yoda, meanwhile, was determined to save Chewey and rolled his Yoda forward to try and save the day.

The blows continued on both sides, but Ian's Kylo got caught up front low-carded.  Grant's Mandalorian greeted him with a Disintegration...which Ian didn't block!!!  That was ten points of damage.  Brutal!  Fiona's Mace Windu eventually finished him off with a Clone Trooper attack.  With eleven Duelers left Miguel's Yoda was on life support in the back row, in danger of the closing walls.  But Riley's Vader decided to Throw Debris and that left the board with two main characters dead.  The next main character to die would trigger the two walls to move in by one row each!

If they only knew what was about to happen...

At this point Curtis' Rey and Karson's Lando were calling the shots for the light side from their corner of the board.  Rob stoked the flames of internal strife by pointing out those two characters were the best two defensive characters on the board, a major advantage in the Trash Compactor.  Rachel/Han and Fiona/Mace were starting to have second thoughts about their alliance.  Meanwhile, the Dianoga dragged Karson's Lobot under the water for a kill!

The light side, led by Mace, jacked up Rylie's Count Dooku, and he was just a couple of points from dying.  Rachel sensed doom and wanted to wreak havoc, so she surprisingly stepped out onto the back line - in danger of dying by the wall - and popped Karson's Lando for major damage.  Heavily wounded, he ended up using Altered the Deal, meaning he could switch spots with any character on the board.  He was open to a new alliance.  The debate of where he should go lasted for awhile...a fact most everyone would regret after what happened next!

Out of nowhere Kaleb, whose Jango had been chilling largely out of the picture for most of the game, suddenly offered to switch spots with his little brother.  Karson agreed.  Kaleb was next...and he suddenly declared, with a terrifying amount of glee in his voice, "I'm going to win the game!!!"

He rolled towards Rylie's Dooku, Chris' Maul, and Rob's Krennic and played Flame Thrower.  That killed Rylie's Dooku in tenth, which triggered the walls to close in by one space.  But before he did that, he used the Flame Thrower's movement action to push Chris and Rob against the wall!  With Rachel's Han on the back row of the other side of the board...ALL THREE DIED, TIED IN SEVENTH PLACE!

Step two!

And because three characters had just died instantly...THAT MEANT THE WALLS WOULD MOVE AGAIN!!!  KILLING THE REMAINING FIVE DUELERS NOT NAMED JANGO FETT!!!

STEP THREE!!!

That was a five-way tie for second...KALEB/JANGO WON!!!  With a simple Flame Thrower and the dynamics of the Trash Compactor, he KILLED NINE DUELERS IN ONE ACTION!!!  HE BROKE THE GAME!!!  MOST INSANE DUEL EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sneakiest son-of-a-gun EVER!!!

Let's get that completely nuts order of finish:

12.  Ian/Kylo Ren

11.  Miguel/Yoda

10.  Rylie/Count Dooku

T7.  Chris K./Darth Maul

T7.  Rob/Orson Krennic

T7.  Rachel/Han Solo

T2.  Karson/Lando Calrissian

T2.  Riley/Darth Vader

T2.  Grant/The Mandalorian

T2.  Fiona/Mace Windu

T2.  Curtis/Rey

1.  Kaleb/Jango Fett

I can't imagine we will EVER play a Duel that crazy again.  Kaleb deserves ALL THE PRAISE for pulling off the wildest, most dominant win OF ALL-TIME!!!

Thanks to everyone who played this year...our seventh season of Dueling is in the books!!!  In June we often play a doubleheader - THE TWIN SUN SLAM.  Once Rob wraps his brain around the May the 4th Duel he'll start to think about what that one looks like.  Fingers crossed...those could be the last two Duels we every play online again!  In late July we hope to re-start the Singles Tournament again too. More details to come on that later in the summer.

God bless all of you!  If you haven't been vaccinated yet, DO IT!  It will be a requirement for Dueling next year.  Until next time...may the Force be with you.  Always.

Twin Sun Slam - June 13, 2020

Kamino Platform

Zoom fatigue, busy schedules, and tough times in the world hurt us in a real way as, for our third summer in a row, we attempted to host the doubleheader Twin Sun Slam duels.  In the past, Rob has everyone out to his house for burgers and Yoda Soda and a fun night of Dueling.

We just couldn't do that with COVID-19 still out there.

But, we got enough folks interested to play online for at least one game instead of two, and you know what they say.  One Duel is better than no Duels!

To help fill the player ranks we dipped into the retired ranks and, lo and behold, look who came back to play!  Chris K., who played in the very first Duel in league history!  And we also got Stephen to jump in too!  The Hall of Famer married former Dueler Heidi this past December, so it was good see him (and her over his shoulder) logging on from Florida.  Stephen currently serves our country in the Navy, so we thank him for his service too.

As with previous online Duels, chair order, characters, and board were determined ahead of time.  Kamino was the battle ground, and we were off and running!

Your starting 12!

Right out of the gate the light side applied the Kamino-press philosophy by moving towards the dark side.  The dark side countered by starting shoot them, and they focused their attacks on Chris' Han Solo.  He was taking early damage and it didn't look good for the light, but that's when Stephen's Dooku flipped to the light side!  Ryan's Obi-Wan seized that momentum by playing a Force Balance on Ben's Zam Wessell, killing the minor character and pulling Jango into a kill box while pinning Grant's Maul, Riley's Emperor, and Rylie's Boba deep in their own territory.  The light side made quick work of Ben and he had the dubious honor of twelfth place.

You can see why Jango didn't stand a chance.

The light side Clone Troopers and Chewbacca continued their distance attacks against the trapped dark side characters.  Rylie, hoping to change her luck, launched a big attack and Rocket Retreat on alliance partner Elliot!  She flew over to Rob's Yoda and Stephen's Dooku.  Unfortunately for Boba...Yoda and Dooku were fully carded with nobody to attack.  They pummeled her down to one point of health.  Both agreed to stop if she would attack Grant's Maul with her Greedo, who was still on the dark side of the board.  But the rest of the light side got nervous she might eventually chuck a Thermal Detonator at them, so Ryan's Obi picked her off in eleventh place.  The rough finish knocked her out of second place in the Dueler rankings.

That left the trio of Grant/Maul, Riley/Emperor, and Elliot/Vader as the last ones standing on their end of the platform.  Curiously, Emperor and Vader weren't launching many of their distance attacks.  Grant bravely sacrificed his own Maul to help buy the other two time.  Chewbacca eventually eliminated him in tenth, but with a four point attack instead of the Bowcaster everybody knew he was holding.  That would prove pivotal later in the game...  #foreshadowing

The main recipient of Maul's attacks before expiring was Troy's Mace Windu.  Mace bravely rescued Chris' Han by plugging a hole in the light side offensive.  But because he was damaged, Rob saw an opportunity to thin the heard.  He moved to Mace and played a combo Force Lift/Push and sent poor Troy hurtling to an alliance kill box.  Kaleb's Leia eliminated him in ninth place, with significant damage being added by his old CL, Stephen.

The Bowcaster Debate

With eight Duelers left, the light side refocused their efforts to get Vader and Emperor.  Ian's Anakin made a push into the hiding place behind Jango's ship.  He eventually eliminated Elliot's Darth Vader with an 8-point Anger.  Though it wasn't the finish he hoped for, Elliot did become an official Dueling professional with this match.  Congrats Elliot!  He debuts as the 13th ranked Dueler in the league.

Riley's Emperor was the next target.  She strategically saved her two Meditation cards to counter the effects of her damage, but a Latent Force Ability from Kaleb's Leia eliminated her before she could play it.  That was good for a seventh place finish for the league's youngest Dueler.

Obi flexing.

And then there were six!  Rob was the first to go, which also meant he would help set the table for the end game.  He was about to Insight Han to get rid of the Bowcaster, but Chris made a proposition.  He offered to fire it anybody Yoda wanted.  This intrigued Rob, and they put the target on Kaleb's Luke, who was closest for attack.  But Chewbacca only rolled a three instead of a four, and that led to chaos within the rest of the alliance.  It got back to Kaleb, and Rob said he would follow Luke's lead.  Kaleb played I Will Not Fight You on Stephen, and Rob's Yoda later attacked and Force Pushed him towards Chewbacca, who Bowcasted him to his death.  Nothing's changed in this league, Stephen!

That brought it to five.  The heat started being directed towards Rob's Yoda, but first, the remaining blades wanted Han and Chewy off the board.  It was Ryan's Obi-Wan who made the final attack, and Chris was done in fifth.  That's an awesome finish for Han on the Kamino Platform, which is typically an early death guarantee.

That made it four Duelers to go, and Rob implored Ryan's Obi to stick with his Yoda since they were the two strongest characters left and Anakin and Luke would surely stick together if they killed the pint-sized Jedi master.  Ryan wasn't feeling it, though, so they all started attacking Yoda.  Rob was cranky, but ultimately enjoyed getting to play with his favorite character for only the third time in 89 Duels.  Yoda held them off longer than expected, but Ryan's Obi stabbed him into fourth place.

Sure enough, Ian's Anakin and Kaleb's Luke combined to take on Obi, and they each had their minor character to help.  But Ryan put on quite the display as he deftly held his own against both of them.  In fact, with the threat of playing his Force Balance, he kept Luke and Ani on tilt for a good number of rounds.  Ian's Anakin got a little too ambitious, though, and Ryan was able to eliminate Ian in third place.  For the record, Ian is now ok with playing Duels online.

How appropriate - Luke wins the Twin Suns!

Though Ryan got the drop on Anakin, he was mortally wounded and in trouble with the Luke and Leia twins.  He tried to hold on but it was a combo attack from the siblings that finished Obi-Wan in second.  Ryan has continued his recent string of strong finishes and nearly pulled off an incredible 2 vs. 1 win.

That means all the praise and accolades go to Kaleb!  He becomes just the fourth Dueler to win with Luke Skywalker, and he kept Leia alive the whole time too.  This marks Kaleb's fifth career victory.  Well done to our late add - he wasn't even supposed to Duel this game!

Final order of finish:

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

Well...this is probably our last Dueling action until the CL Training Duel in August.  We normally play the Singles Tournament in July, but with COVID-19, we can't safely pull that off this summer.  We'll try and do that later in the year but I'm not sure it will actually happen.  That's a huge bummer.

BUT!  This August, we start season SEVEN of the league!  SEVEN!!!  Until then...may the force be with you.

Always.

CL Training Duel - August 12, 2019

Emperor's Throne Room

Believe it or not, this was the SEVENTH annual CL Training Duel.  Seventh!  It also marked the kick-off of our sixth season of 12-Way Duels.  SIXTH!!!

Are you ready for more numbers?  The CL Training Duel is the 75th Duel in league history.  We've reached the 3/4 century mark!  When will this insanity stop?  NOBODY KNOWS!  And that's the beauty of all of this.  It's overgrown all expectations.  It can't be stopped!!!

Photo bombers!

This was also an important Duel because the league saw several veteran Duelers graduate this past spring.  We needed an injection of new blood!  The siren call to play a 12-Way Duel fell on five new ears, which was awesome.  Everyone was a rookie Dueler at some point in their career, and CL Training is the perfect time to dive in.  So, welcome aboard David, Christoper, Ryan, Jordan, and Noah!

Mason drew the #1 chair and picked the Emperor's Throne Room for the battleground  It was a fitting selection given the eventual outcome of the game!  #foreshadowing.  The characters were selected next and the Duelers settled in for a night of destruction and betrayal. 

She will not go quietly into the night!

Things got off to a rocky start for the dark side when the light side shooters started roughing up the front line.  Mason's Dooku flirted with going over to the light side, but instead dropped a couple of Tauntings on David's Chewbacca!  Christopher's Greedo ended up finishing off the Wookie and David's Han was in immediate trouble.

About this same time Ian/Vader and Kaleb/Emperor started distance attacks on JD's Yoda.  He was not tickled by the experience, to say the least.  In an effort to break the cycle of abuse, he attacked Ben P.'s Luke Skywalker and Force Pushed him to a dark side kill box!  Ben P. talked himself out of an immediate death by playing I Will Not Fight You on Katie's Obi-Wan. Katie's hand revealed she had the Force Balance, so Rob's Maul decided to use his hand of attacks to finish off Ben P. before losing his cards.  This marked Ben P.'s fifth Duel - he's one away from going pro!

Sure enough, Katie dumped all hands, which forced everyone to reset and start drawing anew.  As this was occurring Mason didn't think Christopher's Boba Fett was doing anything, so he Force Pushed him to the light side to stir things up.  That made Rob's Maul extra nervous, so he teamed up with Noah's Zam Wessell to eliminate Mason in eleventh. 

Not your average rookies.

Ryan F.'s Mace Windu didn't take too kindly to what JD did to Ben, so he played two attacks but was rudely rebuffed by the Rebound and a Jedi Block.  Alas, Yoda wasn't long for the world as the ranged attacks continued and JD was done in tenth.

From there, the focus turned on Katie's Obi-Wan.  Obi's starting position in the Throne Room is never favorable.  To Katie's credit, she laid a couple of big hits, including a Force Control, but got eliminated by Maul's Athletic Surge for ninth place.  David's Han Solo was next.  It was somewhat miraculous he had lasted that long, and nobody could remember such an entertaining verbal performance by a Dueler, Jordan's testy partnership with him ended after an Anger.

That left seven Duelers, and Ryan and Christopher had formed a partnership at one end of the board while the other five huddled on their half.  They began to advance slowly, but not without Mace and Boba causing some damage, including a Thermal Detonator.  It would be Kaleb's Royal Guard who broke the line, sending Boba to the sidelines with a 5-point attack.  Kudos to Christopher, though, for surviving that early Force Push.  Ryan's Mace had rolled forward and laid one attack on Rob's Maul before switching tactics and shooting at the Emperor.  Rob unloaded all of his Sith Speeds and Ryan got eliminated in sixth.

We're in the end game now.

Noah's Jango, who had previously been aligned with Rob's Maul, took a surprise attack on Maul, which really put Rob on tilt.  Kaleb didn't help when he played You Will Die on Maul.  Rob talked Noah out of continuing to shoot him and redirected the attacks on Jordan.  Well, that made Jordan cranky and he moved in on Maul.  Rob begged and pleaded and tried to paint the target on Kaleb, but Jordan wasn't having it and Rob was out in fifth.

From there Jordan and Noah started taking pot shots at each other while Vader and Emperor slowly advanced.  Pretty quickly Jordan, low carded, fell to a four point attack from Ian's Vader while Noah 's Jango got cornered and eliminated by a two point attack from Emperor.  And then there were two!

I have to say, this final two was one of the most exciting in recent memory.  Ian's Vader was low carded after a second You Will Die and began running away from a pursuing Emperor.  Just as it looked like he could be done for, Vader played Your Skills Are Not Complete and dropped both of Kaleb's Meditations!  The mouse chase reversed as Ian ran after a retreating Emperor.  Kaleb had to draw again, and AGAIN top-decked a You Will Die!  They were both heavily damaged but it would be a final Force Lightning that propelled Kaleb to victory!  That marks his fourth career victory and makes him our new, #1 ranked Dueler.  Congrats Kaleb!

FINAL ORDER OF FINISH:

12.  Ben P. - Luke Skywalker
11.  Mason - Count Dooku
10.  JD - Yoda
9.  Katie - Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  David M. - Han Solo
7.  Christopher - Boba Fett
6.  Ryan F. - Mace Windu
5.  Rob - Darth Maul
4.  Jordan - Anakin Skywalker
3.  Noah - Jango Fett
2.  Ian - Darth Vader
1.  Kaleb - Emperor Palpatine

Stay tuned for details on the DOUBLEHEADER!  August 30 - more info soon!

Duel of the Fates - April 6, 2019

Emperor's Throne Room

I can still hear it ringing in my ears.

No, not the sounds of the mega-dice making clacking noises on the plastic table.  Not the sound of Grant grinding his teeth after drawing Han Solo AGAIN.  Not the sound of Boba Fett's rocket pack, searching for a place to land.

No...I can only hear...DUEL OF THE FATES.  On repeat.  For two and a half hours!  But that's the good news!!!  We proved you can play a Duel in under three hours!

Kaleb trolling us in his "Star Wars" t-shirt

God bless the twelve who played in Duel of the Fates and committed to fast but strategic play.  Especially for those of us who died early.  Ahem.

When Alex picked the Throne Room it was pretty obvious the front row light side characters would defect and that's just what happened.  Grant's Han leapt behind Chewey and Kaleb's Obi-Wan flipped behind his Clones.  Rob's Anakin was cranky for not using Padme cards before the defection so moved in with a double-Wrath to kill Chewbacca...except he miscalculated the Wookie's hit points and he lived with one point of health remaining!  The blunder led to Rob's Padme and Anakin getting jacked up.

The Prodigal Dueler

Viktor's Yoda was also taking hits, especially after Alex's Luke and Leia defected too.  Courtney's Mace was stuck in the back row with them but all indications were she was safe with the dark side alliance.  Rob begged Viktor to throw her into a kill box on the other side of the board, and with a burdened conscience, he did!  Ian's Darth Maul was excited for the fresh meat and Rob was giggling because he thought he escaped last place.  But, after killing Chewbacca (and Grant pulled the Bowcaster right after he died, lol), Grant shot Anakin and Rob died in last.

Ian's Maul used four heavy attack cards to eliminate Mace in eleventh but that resulted in immediate chaos because Joel's Vader immediately petitioned to go after Maul next, and did just that with an attack.  Multiple fights broke out among the alliance while Viktor kept his head down, thankful for his well-timed Force Push.

Grant died in tenth because Chris W., playing with Boba Fett for the second game in a row, was loaded with heavy attacks.  He used the Kyber Dart to send him to the rails.  Meanwhile, Joel/Vader and Ben/Dooku were working over Ian's Maul but not without taking their own licks from the horned Sith.  Riley, hanging tight with Jango, became the rope in a faction tug-of-war.  Joel and Ben wanted her to stay loyal while Ian/Maul and Elijah/Emperor hoped she stay true to them.  It was somewhat shocking when Riley killed Maul in ninth to send Ian packing.

Your final four on Final Four weekend

All eyes turned to Elijah's Emperor after that, and with so many blades surrounding him, he didn't last long, bowing out in eighth.  At that point the Duelers remembered Viktor's Yoda was still hanging on the other end of the board and the dark side began to move in their minor characters to take pot shots.  But it was Chris' Greedo who made the risky kill with the Desperate Shot.  That was a heck of a finish for Viktor, who looked to be a surefire early kill.

The remaining six Duelers had a multitude of perceived and true alliances, but it would be a fateful Thermal Detonator from Chris that would set the final tone.  After a Rocket Retreat he looked for a place to cast the grenade and that's when Kaleb's Obi-Wan made the call to go after Ben/Dooku and Joel/Vader.  The chaos was glorious.  But Riley's Jango saw no loyalty towards Boba and ended Chris' night with her Missile Launch!

You got the sense Kaleb could smell victory because he boldly entered the fray and took down Ben's Dooku in fifth with a 7-point Force Control.  Riley, however, was begging Joel and Alex to help her with Obi-Wan.  While they agreed in theory but Luke and Vader couldn't help but take shots at each other.  Joel couldn't survive so he was done in third.  From there Alex was more or less with Riley's Jango but Kaleb moved in and took out Riley in third.  This marked Riley's sixth Duel - so she's professional now!  The youngest ever to do so!!!

I could write about the final two...but why not watch it for yourself!



That wink at the end!!!  A super big congrats to Kaleb, who hadn't won in two years.  That last victory?  DUEL OF THE FATES!  He recaptured his Maul trophy.  He and Alex both moved into a tie for second as the Dueler rankings were shook up after this one.  They're right behind Grant now.  And Alex almost made Trey Rey's first correct prediction of the year...

Here's your final order of finish:

12.  Rob/Anakin
11.  Courtney/Mace
10.  Grant/Han
9.  Ian/Maul
8.  Elijah/Emperor
7.  Viktor/Yoda
6.  Chris/Boba
5.  Ben/Dooku
4.  Joel/Vader
3.  Riley/Jango
2.  Alex/Luke
1.  Kaleb/Obi

So...big news to announce for the last two Duels of the season!  On the afternoon of May 3rd we'll have a one-time only Duel called "Galactic Credits."  This is a fundraiser Duel for the league - JD bought a brand new copy of the game for $60 off eBay.  We're going to charge $5 a seat to pay and this board will become property of the league.  And, the winner of the game will be able to sign their name on the square of the board they win the match!  That's for all-time, folks!  And then the next day, May 4th, will be the last Duel of the seasong - MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU!  Stay tuned for more details...

Birthday Surprise #2 - April 22, 2017

"Don't worry, Boba.  I got this."

Carbon Freezing Chamber

Despite going MUCH longer than it should have, the first Duel finished around 10PM and once again we gathered around Rob's kitchen table, not to break bread, but to break bones.  We had a change of personnel as the night shift joined those still conscious enough to play round two.  Either folks were getting loopy from being too tired or somebody spiked the Yoda Soda.

So...tired...

Kaleb got chair number one, while Rob was seated in #12, meaning he would get the last character left.  Curtis thought it would be fun for everyone to open their characters all at once.  And he was right, it was fun!  Until Rob realized he was playing with Emperor Palpatine for the FOURTH GAME IN A ROW, having already won with him that night and now stuck towards the front of jealous Sith Lords hungry for their own glory!

As it turns out, though it was thoroughly considered by JD/Dooku and Ryan/Maul, they let the wrinkled old man live.  I'm going to fast forward this recap by two hours...because everyone was still alive and somehow very little had happened.  Until Kaleb/Boba Fett betrayed his alliance, that is!  After Grant, who was wounded early, used a Force Control, the main Sith baddies were stuck in the back two rows.  On Kaleb's turn, he stepped forward two spaces, turned around, and chucked the THERMAL DETONATOR!  He then Rocket Retreated off Curtis/Darth Vader's face and chaos ensued.

WHIRLWIND!!!

Leia was dead at that point so Chris/Luke Skywalker requested Liz/Yoda Force Push him into the wounded pile of dark side characters.  While he originally intended to drop a Justice on Curtis the birthday boy, guaranteeing a last place finish, his guilt overwhelmed him and he turned it on Emperor/Rob, who somehow died first despite playing two hours before expiring.  This is the second time Rob has been first and last with the same character, but the first time to do it on the same day!

While Chris was merciful, Ryan was merciless!  Turning on his own alliance, he dropped an Athletic Surge on poor Curtis -  he was pretty grumpy to finish in eleventh place at his own special double header.  Ryan just giggled as he dropped a load of attacks on Grant's Obi-Wan.

Luke (the Dueler, not the character)/Mace decided to further rock the boat by Whirlwinding his own alliance, which was all kinds of awesome, and then Wisdoming down to the other end of the board.  But when he arrived, he eventually took down JD's Count Dooku!  He also got the drop on Joel's Han Solo, who spent the whole night looking for a Bowcaster buried at the bottom of his deck.

Grant, how many cards do you have?

With eight Duelers left, something bizarre began to happen.  A lightly regarded minor character, perhaps the most teased character in our game, decided to flip his switch to boss mode and take this game over.  I'm not talking about a Storm Trooper or any of the Clones,  Heck, I'm not even talking about droids.

I'M TALKING ABOUT GREEDO!  AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW DANGEROUS GREEDO IS YOU BETTER ASK SOMEBODY!!!

With Luke's Mace running wild and slicing everyone in sight, Greedo capped off a laser and sent Master Windu home in eighth.  Ryan/Darth Maul, who was somehow still alive and scaring people with his defensive rebound card, finally caught the wrong end of a light saber, this time provided by Nathan's Anakin Skywalker, who was flying so far below the radar he was tunneling underground to get places.

That left six Duelers:  Liz/Yoda, Kaleb/Boba Greedo, Grant/Obi-Wan, Nathan/Ani, Chris/Luke, and Ian/Jango.  Grant's Obi-Wan was bleeding pretty badly the entire game, but as the final six were tentative with how to proceed, he took the target off himself and placed it on an unsuspecting Liz/Yoda.  Despite her protests and warnings about Obi-Wan being the bigger threat, they went after her instead.  Luke Skywalker got the final hit on her, but not before Liz played a Force Lift and a Force Rebound on him.  Liz finished the night twice as good as she started it.

Now at five Duelers remaining, the group was once again passive about who to attack, so maestro Grant conducted his hit squad orchestra, this time on Nathan's Anakin.  Nathan begged the group to get Obi-Wan first, but Kaleb's big green bad boy, GREEDO, zapped him for the kill.

Chris, right as he realizes he's getting done dirty.

So...that left four!  And yet again...Grant kept the attention off himself!  This time it was Kaleb, nervous about Chris/Luke's I Will Not Fight You Cards, suggesting the young Skywalker should go next.  Ian/Jango, who survived the dark side collapse, obliged by shooting Luke and handing Chris fourth place.  That was a nice rebound after the first match.

Ian presented the logical argument to Kaleb that the Fetts should combine their powers to take care of the wounded but healing Obi-Wan Kenobi.  BUT GREEDO DOESN'T RECOGNIZE LOGIC!  Not when he's firing cold lasers at warm bodies!  Jango managed some damage on Obi but it was our boy GREEDO who sent Boba's ol' man down in third place!

This looked like a colossal blunder on Kaleb's part, because despite saving all of his best Boba attacks for this final two showdown, Grant played Obi's Force Balance, forcing both Duelers to discard their entire hands and draw three new cards!  Goodbye, Kyber Dart,  Goodbye, Desperate Shot.  Hello Obi-Wan's penchant for stalking bounty hunters!

But if you haven't realized it by now...GREEDO WILL NOT BE DENIED!  I had the privilege of seeing the three cards Kaleb drew: Greedo 4/1 attack, Greedo 3/1 attack, Boba 3/1 attack.  It was the moment of truth for Kaleb - go for the deathblow now and risk exposing Boba, or retreat and hope for Thermals, etc.  That's when the spirit of GREEDO descended upon Kaleb and said, "Kaleb, I've gotten you this far.  Let me take it home."  Kaleb agreed, GREEDO attacked twice, and Obi-Wan died.

GREEDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to Kaleb, who won his second duel in just his fourth match, that's unprecedented in our league!!!  And congrats (technically) to Boba Fett!  He won his third match but his first since the December 2014 Championship!

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob/Emperor
11.  Curtis/Vader - I mean, that was so ruthless Ryan!
10.  JD/Dooku
9.  Joel/Han Solo
8.  Luke/Mace Windu
7.  Ryan/Darth Maul
6.  Liz/Yoda
5.  Nathan/Anakin
4.  Chris/Luke Skywalker
3.  Ian/Jango
2.  Grant/Obi-Wan
1.  Kaleb/Boba

Stay tuned for the invite to our LAST Duel of the season.  That's right - May the 4th Be With You.  That will be on May 4th (duh) at 1PM - that's a Thursday afternoon, FYI.  Block it off now, invites go out next week.

Thanks to everyone who came together to honor our good friend Curtis!!!

Duel of the Fates - April 8, 2017

Geonosis Arena

A nice combination of veterans and newer Duelers gathered Saturday evening for the third annual Duel of the Fates, a lighthearted romp of friendship and strategy, where players conducted themselves with honor and civility.

Two minor characters were dead before
Rob remembered to take the opening picture.

Psych!  IT WAS A BLOODBATH!!!

Jonathan, playing for the ill Ian, drew the number one chair.  His friends crossed their fingers in hopes he would pick Han Solo for the third game in a row.  He didn't!  But he did pick Boba Fett, meaning for the seventh time in his eleven Duels (64%), he chose a bottom three character!  Worst luck ever!!!  He also picked Geonosis for the board.

Things started quickly as Joel/Luke took out Rob/Emperor's Royal Guard for the first character death of the game.  The other Royal Guard retaliated against Nathan/Mace's Clone Trooper as the Light and Dark sides appeared to hold solid, six versus six.  But Joel decided to flip when his Leia attacked JD's Chewbacca, sending the board into chaos.  JD responded by...flipping too???  That's right - he used his Bowcaster on a completely stunned Austin/Anakin and commenced a Heroic Retreat.  Just a few turns later Kaleb/Vader Wrathed Ani to his gut-wrenching twelfth place finish.  Brutal!

Darth Maul, going down in a blaze of glory.

It appeared the Dark Side was going to mop the floor with the remaining Light characters when Jonathan/Boba decided to pop a Thermal Detonator on the front row of the Dark Side, mainly hitting Liz/Dooku and Samuel/Maul.  They were stunned, as was most of the alliance.  Nathan/Mace, already taking damage from the Emperor's Force Lightning, saw an opportunity to drop a combo Whirlwind/Wisdom for an additional four points of damage on the two.  It was an insane turn of events for Liz and Samuel.  Darth Maul began clawing for a higher finish, so he gutted Liz with an Athletic Surge and used the movement to drop Sith Speeds on Mace.  Poor Liz didn't survive and finished eleventh, a new career low.

Daniel/Obi-Wan, who many on the Dark Side assumed was loyal to the Light, had actually been trying to flip the entire game, so he too took a shot on Mace/Nathan, as Nathan threw his hands in the air wondering how this Duel had gotten so crazy.  Jonathan's Greedo eventually used his Desperate Shot and survived, sending Nathan home in tenth, which is also the third straight tenth place finish for Mace Windu.  He's fallen from the number two ranked character to number four in that span.

I wish JD realizing he was about to die
didn't make for such great pics, but they
really do!

At this point Samuel/Maul was running on fumes.  He helped ensure two characters died before he did, but a shot from Stephen/Yoda's Clone Trooper did him in at ninth place.  It was a stunning realization for the poor young Dueler, who had only ever finished in third place before.  There's no guarantee of success in a 12-Way Duel!

There were eight Duelers left at this point, the remaining Dark Side group on one end of the board and Daniel's Obi-Wan on the other.  Folks were trying to figure out who should die next, and JD decided to play with the spirit of his character by shooting first.  In this case, he had his Han Solo start gunning at Jonathan's Boba Fett.  JD hoped to turn everyone else against him too, but his lobbying backfired when all he heard was crickets in return.  Joel ended his day in eighth place, but not before JD was gracious enough to pose for a not-quite-but-almost homicidal grin in the picture to the right.

That brought it to seven Duelers, and at that point the game was flying by.  But that speed came to a grinding halt thanks to Daniel's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Despite his calls for new alliances and willingness to help beat up others, his six foes on the board united to take him down.  So Daniel did the only thing he could do - he played Force Balance, making everyone discard their premium hands to start over with three.  That easily added another 45 minutes to the game, especially because he was hiding behind the Geonosis columns, making it hard to deliver long distance attacks.  Kaleb/Darth Vader finally Wrathed him off the board in seventh place.

With six to go Jonathan/Boba tried to flip the board against Rob/Emperor, who had been loyal to Jonathan the entire game because he felt so guilty about their interactions at the Imperial March.  Rob outmaneuvered him and got the folks scared about Boba's unused Kyber Dart.  Boba was soon dead, with the final blow coming once again from Kaleb/Vader.

Father vs. Son, beard vs. beard,
HRC vs. HRC

 Rob thought he could get Jango/Grant, Stephen/Yoda, and Luke/Joel to focus their attention on Kaleb/Vader, who was full bar health with Darth Vader AND both of his Storm Troopers, Luke and Jango decided the Emperor was the bigger threat and focused their attacks on him instead.  Leia shot him to a fifth place finish, one spot higher from Rob than he got with the Emperor last month.  #consistency

That left four, including Stephen's Yoda, who flew so far under the radar during the whole game most folks thought he had disappeared.  But his three opponents decided to coordinate their attacks on the little green Jedi, and despite a valiant effort, Stephen logged out in fourth place.  Jango was next to go after that, as neither Joel nor Kaleb wanted a shooter moving around the board...and that's when it was revealed that those two had been in an alliance for most of the game!  Vader tallied his fifth major character kill of the game and Grant went out in third...bringing his Dueling average back to an even 5.0.

So the final two was a fantastic pairing - Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker!  Joel was a bit more injured while Vader was rolling strong.  But Luke started to whittle down Vader's health as both exchanged blows like I Will Not Fight You and Your Skills Are Not Complete.  Soon they both had to re-card.  Leia was dead, bringing Luke's Justice cards into play, while Vader was desperate to grab his All Too Easy.  Neither character ran that far away from the other in their desperate attempts to end the game.  But Vader was able to outlast Luke, as Joel had too many Leia cards in his hand with no Luke defense.  Kaleb, in just his third career Duel, was the big winner!!!  And Darth Vader reties Obi-Wan Kenobi for the most career character victories at six!

Easily our most disturbing trophy.

The final order of finish:

12.  Austin/Anakin
11.  Liz/Dooku
10.  Nathan/Mace
9.  Samuel/Maul
8.  JD/Han
7.  Daniel/Obi-Wan
6.  Jonathan/Boba
5.  Rob/Emperor
4.  Stephen/Yoda
3.  Grant/Jango
2.  Joel/Luke
1.  Kaleb/Vader

Congrats again to Kaleb!!!  Winning in just his third Duel - he's in rare air with that kind of achievement and he's the only active amateur Dueler with a victory.

Stay tuned for our last Duel of the year - SAY IT AIN'T SO! - our annual May the 4th Be With You Duel!  That will be on May 4th at 1PM.  Invites will go out for that in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again to all who played and who keep our Duels league alive!