Doubleheader #1 - August 29, 2026

Kamino Platform

It was a glorious Saturday afternoon.  The Yoda Soda was flowing, the tie-fighter ties were warm, and the hum of lit lightsabers filled the air.  IT WAS TIME FOR DOUBLEHEADER #1!!!

This should be a quick one.  *gulp*

Is there a reason a game on the Kamino Platform should take 5+ hours?  That's a fair question.  We don't have an answer, but it definitely did.  Curtis/Kit Fisto immediately flipped to the dark side, but Ian/Leia sweet talked James/Beckett to flip to the light side!  It was still 6 vs 6.  No progress!  It was a long stalemate until Eric/Snoke decided to Tied To A String Ian's Leia into a kill box!  Ian couldn't survive, and the longtime pro was in an uncharacteristic last place.

Around the three hour mark we were still eleven strong, but the dark side finally coordinated their attacks enough to isolate Mason's Armorer.  Sam's Sith Apprentice Anakin was no laughing matter, chopping the Mandalorian down in eleventh place.  You should get more than eleventh with that long at the table, unfair!!

Delirium sets in for Karis...

Jonah's Plo Koon was the defacto general leading the light side, but in a bitter backstab, James flipped once again!  And he did it in classic fashion, using Val's It's Been A Ride, Babe, to auto-kill the prequel Jedi into tenth!  Jonah was gob smacked for sure.

It had gotten so late into the afternoon/early evening that Karis had somewhere else to be, so she got more aggressive with her Poe.  She and Rob/Aurra Sing traded shots across the board at each other, but it would be Miles' Morgan Elsbeth, who was all hopped up on Nightsisters magics, that landed the final shot.  Not a bad Duel for Karis' first!

Seriously, let the Wookie win!

Junior had a frustrating game, and not just because he drew Han.  His Chewbacca tried to eliminate Rob's Bossk, only to have the entire Bowcaster shot blocked.  Han hung tough after that, but as the light side crumbled he could no longer defend himself.  Curtis' Kit Fisto used a Form One attack to seal the deal.  Junior was out in eighth.

With the original light side extinguished, the infighting commenced!  Eric's Supreme Leader Snoke was a menace throughout the match, but the group turned against the sequels villain and Aurra Sing put them down in seventh.

Shoot - they figured out we're working together!

The objectively scariest character left at that point was Sam's Sith Ani, though Miles' Morgan was super creepy with her zombie troopers in full effect.  But the table put the target on Sam.  Rob had been the feeder fish swimming under Sam's shark all game and couldn't bear to join in, but Riley's Jabba had no problem and knocked Sam out in sixth.

It looked like Rob's Aurra Sing might be next, but he threw it out there that Miles' Morgan looked unbeatable.  He proceeded to prove it by withstanding several attacks in a row.  But the rest of the Duelers slowly whittled her down.  Miles' own father bestowed the terminating shot with yet another Kit Fisto Form One.  Fifth place in your fifth career Duel ain't bad though, Miles!

Somebody get these beggars off the Kamino Platform!

With four to go we were down to two shooters (Rob/Aurra, James/Beckett) and two melees (Riley/Jabba, Curtis/Kit).  Curtis had prematurely started the attacks against Rob, so he pointed his sniper rifle at the green-dreaded alien in return.  Riley joined in too, and Jabba squished Fisto in fourth place.

James' Beckett was bouncing all over the board for the entire game, flipping sides more than once...basically, playing EXACTLY like his character!  It worked to great success, because despite Rob trying to align with Riley/Jabba, he couldn't survive James' Double Blasters.  The birthday boy was benched in third.

Did we even razz him for his Cowboys shirt?

You know what the worst possible thing is when a game has already taken too long?  The last two characters chasing each other around Slave One!!!  WHEEEE!!!!  And to make matters worse, Riley's Jabba can't move as quickly because Jabba occupies two spaces.  But in the end, after much chasing...Riley played one of the funniest titled attack cards in the league:  "HO HO HO, HA HA HA!"  It was no laughing matter - Riley won her fourth career Duel!!!  That ties her with Kat for the most wins by a woman in league history, woot woot!  This was also Jabba's first career win in just his second career Duel!  James deserves a tip of the cap too - what a great way to play Beckett!

Final order of finish:

12.  Ian/Leia

11.  Mason/Armorer

10.  Jonah/Plo Koon

9.  Karis/Poe

8.  Junior/Han

7.  Eric/Snoke

6.  Sam/Sith Ani

5.  Miles/Morgan

4.  Curtis/Kit

3.  Rob/Aurra

2.  James/Beckett

1.  Riley E./Jabba

First win as an ADULT, as a COLLEGE STUDENT...

Well done again, Riley...but there was still another game on the night, on to Doubleheader #2!!!

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!

12x12-Way Weekend Episode VIII: The Gassed Jedi - June 21, 2025 (8AM)

Kamino Platform

Nothing like waking up to the fresh taste of STAR WARS EPIC DUELS in your cup!  Episode VIII was on the Kamino Platform, our first 3D board in league history and still a fan favorite.  This Duel also featured the first player of the weekend to "crack," meaning they lost their cool!!!  Since the internet is forever we won't name names...but if you were there it got a little tense lol!!!  A person can only stand so many backstabs.  This was a hard fought battle that came down to a daddy-daughter final two - Rob and Riley!  Ahsoka and Sabine managed to outlast Riley's Reva though - this marked Ahsoka's first career win!

Episode 8 - randomized characters and starting spots (and all three Wookies!)

 

Duel of the Fates - April 4, 2025

Kamino Platform

Have you ever listened to "Duel of the Fates", on repeat, for five-plus hours?  If so, did it melt your brain?  Were your nerves shot?  Or did you fall into a sort of Stockholm-syndrome scenario and decide you're going to keep listening to it the next day, like Sam said he would do last night?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is a good chance you have played in a DUEL OF THE FATES match before!

Rob hadn't pushed play yet on Duel of the Fates

Things got feisty right out of the gate when Rob's Boba Fett decided to attack Ian/Darth Maul's Battle Droid and Rocket Retreat to flip to the light side!  But the dark side countered by accepting Eric/Ahoska into their midst!  Unfortunately, the dark side didn't close up their ranks well, and that left Eric exposed to multiple diagonal shots.  Grant's Fennec Shand moved in to make the final kill shot, and poor Eric, who had the worst starting spot on Kamino, was quickly out in last.

Grant's bravery was rewarded with evil justice by the dark side.  James/Moff Gideon kidnapped Fennec into a dark side kill box!  Grant nearly survived in time to use a movement card to escape, especially with some well-timed Body Mods, but Curtis moved in his Kelnacca (Possessed) to deliver a five-point death blow.  That wasn't the evening Grant had planned, that's for sure.

Put respect on Jar Jar's name!

It's been a minute since we've had two Duelers offed in under an hour!  But that also meant it was still a 5v5 scenario.  A lot of minor characters were eliminated by both sides, but things ground to a halt when the dark side made sure they weren't bunched for a potential Thermal Detonator from Rob's Boba Fett.  Without a lot of options, Rob tried a high-risk move in the league - the double flip!  He Thermaled a cluster of light side characters in his alliance, and then Rocket Retreated back to the dark side!

In the ensuing chaos, Sam/Mace aligned with Ian's Maul and began attacking the light side too.  Josiah's Anakin took the brunt of that betrayal, and his Anakin was soon eliminated in tenth, but not before he Wrathed over to put a final shot on Rob's Boba!

The only living being in the room unaffected
by the "Duel of the Fates" on repeat...

Michael's Qui-Gon Jinn and Jonah's Bo-Katan were now essentially free agents.  Jonah managed to escape to the back of the board but Qui-Gon got surrounded.  He held on for a couple of rounds, but he eventually got down to his last health point, and was unceremoniously dumped in ninth by a one-point blaster attack from Sam's Clone Trooper.  Gross!

Rob tried to play the prodigal's son when he jumped back to the dark side, but Curtis' MOTHER Koril was uninterested in that reunion, despite Rob's pleas.  He led the charge against Boba, though it was Rob's arch-nemesis Jordann/General Grievous who made the final attack.  Rob was gone in eighth.

Who's next?

Folks assumed Jonah's Bo-Katan would be the next target, but he was on the far end of the board.  Ian/Maul and Sam/Mace started making their way down there, but Ian got nervous about what happened next.  He demanded a secondary target be the focus of the other Duelers on the board, and he surprisingly named James' Moff Gideon!  The dark side alliance was now fractured, but the others obliged.  Curtis/Koril tried to eliminate him with The Thread, but in a super cool move, James used Light Armor to deflect the damage to his minor!  Alas, the next attack landed, and Moff Gideon was eliminated in seventh.

Star Wars sportswear 

Jonah made strong pitches to go against other, stronger characters still on the board, but his reasoning fell on deaf ears.  That might have been because everyone's ears were bleeding from Duel of the Fates on repeat.  Regardless, Bo-Katan chose to go down swinging!  She stabbed Ian's Maul with the Vibroblade, doing six points of damage, but Maul used Blinding Surge to rebound points of damage back to Jonah, ending his night in sixth.  Sam swore those cards were just made-up words.

Tell me if you've heard this before...Curtis became the target with five Duelers left!  People were pretty freaked out by Koril's Vanishing powers, and both of Curtis' characters were at full health.  Though he did manage to disappear for a round, he couldn't escape his fate.  Ian/Maul used a run of Maul attacks and Curtis donned his fifth place title once again.

Final Four weekend?

And then there were four!  Ian/Maul was definitely calling the shots, with Sam/Mace more or less riding shotgun.  Jordann/Grievous grew concerned about Maul, but even Caden/Beckett was worried about General Grievous.  Though it seemed the three Duelers who had never won before could have eliminated Ian, the odd person out became Jordann!  The number one Dueler in the league played strong all night, but nobody can withstand a three-person attack.  Sam used a big Battlemind to knock Grievous out in fourth.

Things got even more frenzied with three left.  There were a lot of proposals for 2 against 1, multiple handshakes, Double Blasters, and so forth.  When the dust settled, Ian gave his (final) word to Caden, and chopped Sam/Mace down in third!  That's right, Sam was betrayed by his favorite Dueler.  He has the text chain to prove it.

Oh Caden...

When Caden had used an Improvise a couple of actions earlier, it was all but guaranteed Tobias Beckett was going to win back to back Duels.  Caden was full health while Ian was near death.  In fact, Caden got Maul down to his last two points of health.  All he needed was a final attack card to finish him off.  There were 13 cards left in his deck.  No problem, right Caden?

Caden?  Why are you still drawing cards?  Caden, no seriously, stop drawing cards and finish off Ian.  What is happening Caden???

In what can only be described as the worst deck luck in the history of the league, 12 of the final 13 cards in Caden's deck were Val cards - his destroyed minor character!!!  Ian was even rolling terribly, giving Caden extra time to find ANY card to finish Maul off.  BUT THEY WEREN'T THERE!!!  BRUTAL!!!!  Ian finally reached Tobias Beckett and played two Athletic Surges - all Caden had were 10 Val cards to defend!  IAN WON WITH DARTH MAUL IN THE ZANIEST COME FROM BEHIND WIN in recent memory.  My goodness!!!  That win also marked Ian's FIFTH victory with Darth Maul!!!  That's the most wins ever for a Dueler with a single character in this league!  

They kinda look like twins...?

Final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Ahsoka

11.  Grant/Fennec

10.  Josiah/Anakin

9.  Michael/Qui-Gon

8.  Rob/Boba Fett

7.  James/Moff Gideon

6.  Jonah/Bo-Katan

5.  Curtis/Mother Koril

4.  Jordann/Grievous

3.  Sam/Mace

2.  Caden/Beckett

1.  Ian/Darth freakin' Maul!  FIVE TIMES!

I still can't get over how crazy that ending was!  Congrats to Ian - truly remarkable.

Our last Duel of the academic year (!!!) will likely go down on Sunday afternoon at 2PM...on May 4th!  That's right - we always try our best to play the MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU Duel on the actual day.  If you know this will be your last Duel in the league because you're graduating, etc., let me know now and I'll save you a seat!

Valentine's Duel - February 9, 2024

Kamino Platform

Before we jump into the recap...Elliot, one of our seasoned Duelers, is doing something truly sacrificial at the end of the month.  He's donating one of his kidneys to his uncle!  We said a prayer for him last night, but we'd ask you be thinking about him as he does this incredibly daunting thing.  We already know Elliot is an incredible person, so here's to a speedy recovery!!!  We're sending lots of Wookie Healing his way.

February has proven to be a busy time of year.  Many of our Dueling regulars found themselves stuck with other obligations, so we had FIVE newbies join our ranks to get the Valentine's Duel off the ground.  We want to offer a big thanks to everyone who made their debut last night!  It sure looks like they enjoyed themselves...let's get into it!

Not pictured:  the table of sweet treats!

Kamino historically plays as a tricky map at the start of the game.  Do the light and dark sides stay true to each other?  Do smaller fights break out?  Julia/Jyn Erso made the first move in this regard.  She quietly slid over to the dark side, since her starting spot was essentially on their end of the board.  Elliot/Bo-Katan was cranky when she shot at one of his Night Owls...so he decided to join her!  He used an Ariel Assault to rocket deep into dark side territory.  Rob's Armorer became the target for that, especially after his Paz had shredded Sam L.'s Super Battle Droids.  The light side was in complete disarray, capped off by Jordan's Obi-Wan Kenobi finishing off Rob in last place!  That did allow Rob to use Instagram Live for our first official live broadcast of a Duel, though!  #littlevictories

Hunter itching to reach the Emperor.

With Rob gone and Julia/Elliot defecting, the negative attention was focused on Samuel/Han and Jackson/Lando.  However, Hunter's Reva was buried deep on the back line.  When he casually asked about being able to shoot the Emperor - his own alliance mate! - others in the back of the dark side put the target on the rookie Dueler.  While Reva has an impressive offensive skillset, her defense is lacking.  Caleb, also playing his first Duel, used Kylo Ren's Laserguard to make the kill!  The bonus damage put Reva on tilt, and Hunter was gone in eleventh.

Samuel M. learned the hard way Han is hard to protect in a 12-way.  Despite some nice attacks from Chewbacca, the onslaught was too much.  Michael maneuvered a Royal Guard to put the final hit on everyone's favorite smuggler.  No worries Samuel - there's nothing you can do in that situation!

Deflecting attention away from the power couple.

There were nine Duelers left, and eight of them wanted poor Jackson's Lando Calrissian off the board.  Everyone knows Lando is a tenacious defender.  Jackson proved it by lasting several rounds, pinned down on the far side of the board.  He eventually succumbed to his injuries after trading spots with Count Dooku.  But congrats to Jackson - by playing his sixth 12-way, he's turned professional in the rankings!

A big swing came after Lando's ouster.  Ian/Captain Phasma and Michael/Emperor Palpatine declared war against each other, and tried to rally everyone else to their respective sides.  The tide turned when Michael played You Will Die on Phasma.  The other Duelers couldn't resist the unblocked attacks.  Caleb finished him off with a Kylo Force Choke.  Last month's big winner was gone in eighth.

A post-Phasma world...

The next stretch of game reallllllllyyyyyyyyy dragged on.  I mean close to two hours, it was silly.  There was a ton of debate on how to proceed, alliances formed and disappeared like the swirling Kamino seas.  By the end of it Sam L.'s Count Dooku was in trouble.  Up to that point he had implemented a brilliant floating Switzerland strategy, never staying one place too long and always malleable to what was happening around him.  But he got caught in the middle of a loose alliance, led largely by Elliot/Bo-Katan and Julia/Jyn.  Cassian delivered the kill shot and Sam was gone in seventh.  It was a heck of a debut, Sam!

Obi-Wan emerging as a force on the board.

Riley B./Morgan had long been advocating an anti-shooters alliance, but he was chagrinned to learn some of the blades wanted to join the blasters.  Everyone moved in on Morgan, but Riley activated his zombie Night Troopers, protecting Morgan and frustrating the other Duelers.  Caleb, who had been stalking the board all night with Kylo, finally agreed with Riley and joined with him.  They were crestfallen to learn Michael/Emperor and Jordan/Obi wouldn't join them.  Caleb obliterated Julia's Cassian with an undefended Vader's Bloodline (we think the first time that's worked in league history?), but Kylo was finally caught without defense.  Jyn got revenge and shot Caleb down in sixth.  Caleb looked like a veteran though, and not the rookie he actually was.

Morgan - the alleged least powerful character on the board...

And then there were five!  Unfortunately for Riley B., everyone was sick (and kind of scared) of zombies and Nightsister Magicks.  Riley delivered some masterful taunting, but once the other Duelers finally buckled down with serious attacks, Morgan wasn't long for this world.  The Emperor actually made the deathblow.  Riley expired in fifth.

Cute dog alert.

In a continuing theme of the night, the alliances stayed rather fluid.  Jordan/Obi and Michael/Emperor eventually connected with each other against the shooters, but Michael had caught some damage when the Emperor left the protection of Jango's ship.  He dropped another You Will Die, this time on Elliot's Bo-Katan.  But the shooters rallied.  Julia brilliantly used Kyber Crystal Luck to dump both of the Emperor's Meditation cards!  Jordan sensed this was the time to turn on Emperor too.  But it would be a combo Darksaber - Ariel Attack from Bo-Katan that shockingly eliminated Michael in fourth!

It was nothing short of stunning to see three light side characters as the last ones standing.  That was the side which had imploded at the start of the game, but they managed to oust the entire dark side!  It wasn't surprising when Julia/Jyn and Elliot/Bo-Katan stuck together against Jordan's superior Obi-Wan Kenobi.  This was Jordan's first game, but you never would have known it!  Despite a valiant effort, he couldn't maintain a two-front battle.  The shooters whittled him down to nothing.  But Jordan - third place in your first game!?!  Incredible!

Julia and Elliot - the first two Duelers to attack each other in the game, were the last two!  Elliot had the advantage, as Jyn was without Cassian but undoubtedly burdened with useless Cassian cards in her hand.  Elliot was patient, chose his spots, and with a lightly wounded Jyn he made his move.  He attacked with the Darksaber and Julia...chose not to defend!!!  The eight point attack secured Elliot his first career win!!!  He previously had the league record for most games played without a win, but that is now erased from the history books.  Congrats Elliot!!!  This also marked Bo-Katan Kryze's first victory...in just her fourth Duel!  Big shout-out to Julia too, who stayed one step ahead of trouble all night.

Elliot - our thoughts and prayers are with you this month as you and your uncle head into surgery.  You are amazing - congrats on your first win!!!

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob/The Armorer

11.  Hunter/Reva - Third Sister

10.  Samuel M./Han Solo

9.  Jackson/Lando Calrissian

8.  Ian/Captain Phasma

7.  Sam L./Count Dooku

6.  Caleb/Kylo Ren

5.  Riley B./Morgan Elsbeth

4.  Michael/Emperor Palpatine

3.  Jordan/Obi-Wan Kenobi

2.  Julia/Jyn Erso

1.  Elliot/Bo-Katan Kryze

Next month brings us...THE IMPERIAL MARCH!  We'll need to wait and see where Baylor falls in the NCAA Tournament, but we're looking at either the night of March 22 or 23.  Until then...

PEW PEW!

 

Twin Sun Slam #2 - June 3, 2023

 

Kamino Platform

Game #2 started a bit later than intended thanks to the length of the first Duel and the dramatic ending of Episode III that was playing in the Loser's Lounge during dinner.  But once the burgers were consumed and a fresh vat of Yoda Soda was poured, we were ready for the dark side Duel!

Everyone grumbled when Ian, who had won the first match of the day, once again got the first pick!  The complaints only grew louder when he selected Darth Maul!!  Here's how the draft went down:

1.  Ian picked Maul

2.  Isaiah picked Dooku

3.  Grant D. picked Gideon

4.  Rob picked Captain Phasma

5.  Kat picked Vader

6.  Michael picked Grievous

7.  Riley B. picked Snoke

8.  Curtis picked Krennic

9.  Chris K. picked Palpatine

10.  Grant H. picked Cad Bane (!!!)

11.  Caleb picked Boba

12.  Riley E. picked Kylo

Not picked:  Jango and Beckett

Don't get comfortable, Caleb...

When everyone had placed their characters on the Kamino Platform...history was made in the first round of play.  It's not an official record, but Caleb, big brother to Miles and padawan of Curtis, had his Boba Fett attacked by Ian's Maul right out of the gate!  Sith Speed, a 4-point attack, and Athletic Surge killed the rookie in less than 5 minutes of game play!!!  It was the fastest (most brutal?) elimination ever seen!  It was so mean, which is to say, so like Darth Maul.  BRUTAL!!!

As you could imagine Curtis was quite ticked to see his progeny destroyed that fast, so he took out his anger by destroying the Super Battle Droids of Isaiah's Count Dooku.  But a series of minor characters from the other end of the board started whittling Krennic down, which enabled Riley E.'s Knight of Ren to come out of hiding behind Jango's ship (can you believe nobody picked Jango on Jango's board?) and strike him down in eleventh.  Not a great day of Dueling for Clan Curtis!

School's in session and Chris is teaching!

It was great to have retired Dueler Chris K. play with us in game 2!  He's soon to depart to visit the studios where they shot the original Star Wars, and though he wasn't pleased to see all the new characters, he had no problem schooling newer Duelers on the ways of Emperor Palpatine.  Riley B. used Snoke's Tied To A String and Force Lightning to send Chris/Emperor to a kill box on the other side of the board.  Folks got nervous when Chris didn't look at all fazed.  On his turn he used Royal Command and You Will Die to go right back to his hiding spot behind the ship while dumping Riley B.'s hand!!!  *insert laughing Emperor GIF*  The side Riley B. tried to defect to turned on him after that catastrophic sequence and Riley was out in tenth.

Ian's early aggression against Boba, combined with a dust-up against Riley E.'s Kylo Ren, had him retreat deep towards his alliance but banged up and low carded.  He slowly realized he was in trouble, and Grant D.'s Dark Trooper proved it when a Concussive Punch put the game one winner down in ninth.

The Dark Troopers weren't done, though.  On that same turn they managed to kidnap Chris' Emperor and bring him into a kill box.  That's where Isaiah's Dooku used a 5-point attack to end the Emperor's reign.

The end of the table that was having the most fun.

We were quickly down to seven Duelers (we should have played Kamino first!).  Grant H. hilariously was playing with Cad Bane AGAIN, but not having as much fun as he had hoped.  He was pinned in the back corner with both Michael/Grievous and Riley E./Kylo bearing down on him.  He was desperate to find Rocket Boots but his card luck wasn't there for him.  When he was down to two health points Kat's Vader Wrathed him into seventh place.  Grant H. still reserves the right to play with Cad Bane at all future Duels, though.

Riley E.'s Kylo Ren was the last character standing from her end of the board.  She tussled with numerous folks throughout, but her luck was finally running out.  Grant D.'s Moff Gideon used Astute Panic to end Ben Solo's night in sixth.

Isaiah dictating the flow!

The final five would prove to be new Dueler Isaiah's coming out party!  Michael/Grievous and Kat/Vader had put the target on Grant's Gideon, and Rob's Captain Phasma followed suit by making an attack.  But when it came time for Isaiah to join in...he didn't!  He passed on his first round by drawing, and then on his next turn he made it be known he was more worried about Michael's General Grievous.  This caused a lot of unrest on the board.  When Michael's Grievous started moving toward Rob's Phasma, Rob took that as a sign of aggression and used a Let's Make This Hurt on one of Grievous' minor characters.  That further muddied the waters, but eventually, largely by Isaiah's will, Michael became the target and was out in fifth, killed by a Storm Trooper.

With four to go it became quite clear that Isaiah/Dooku and Grant D./Moff Gideon were sticking together, which forced Rob and Kat to align.  They managed to concentrate their efforts on a loaded Dooku, thanks in part to Kat playing Your Skills Are Not Complete on Gideon.  Captain Phasma, playing just her second Duel, finally got to play New Recruit on the last remaining minor character on the board, Kat's Storm Trooper.  But Rob was loaded with minor character cards, and now that FN-216 was on his team, he fired a volley of shots that finally ended the wily Isaiah's night in fourth!  Holy cow we have a great new Dueler in our ranks, folks!

Final three silliness.

Rob and Kat were galvanized to stay together against Moff Gideon.  Rob was in rougher shape than Kat but kept popping shots, and Kat stayed active too.  She eventually knocked out Gideon in third.  Grant played a heck of a game, though.

At the final two it looked like Vader would trounce Captain Phasma, but Vader wasn't pulling great cards and Phasma had a few tricks up her sleeve.  Rob managed to start docking health points on Kat's Vader, but Kat stayed calm and collected, and eventually landed a Dark Side Drain for the win!  Kat becomes the first woman in league history with three wins!!!  Congrats, Kat!  Vader's win increases his league-leading total to 16.  

Like a boss.

With all the new boards in the league, it's nice to be reminded how fun the original four arenas can be!  Kamino was a great battleground for the dark side to do combat.  Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Caleb/Boba

11.  Curtis/Krennic

10.  Riley B./Snoke

9.  Ian/Maul

8.  Chris K./Emperor

7.  Grant H./Cad

6.  Riley E./Kylo

5.  Michael/Grievous

4.  Isaiah/Dooku

3.  Grant D./Gideon

2.  Rob/Phasma

1.  Kat/Vader

Our next 12-way Duel will be in August, when we kick off year ten (!!!) at CL Training.  Before that, though, we have our annual Singles Tournament!  It looks like we'll play that on Sunday, July 30, starting at 2PM.  We need 32 Duelers to sign up!  It's one of the coolest things we do each year, and it uses a very different part of your Dueling brain.  Stay tuned for more info on that, but mark your calendars now!

Congrats again to Kat! 

CL Training Duel - August 8, 2022

 

Kamino Platform

Holy smokes and gee whiz, we're off and running for our NINTH season of 12-Way Duels!  How is that even possible!?!

As always, we begin at the CL Training retreat, and this game was actually the TENTH time we've played in that environment (the league didn't start in full until the 2nd Training Duel).  12 brave souls rushed to the table after lip sync, and we had even more playing on the side table.  It was quite the turnout!

Where else would you want to be on a Monday night?

The Kamino Platform was the randomly selected board to kick off our season, and we had three brand-spanking-new Duelers debut, which made for a healthy mix of veterans and newbies.  John won the right to roll first, and we were off and running.  It didn't take long for Drue's Black Krrsantan to rip the arm off one of Parker's Dark Troopers!

The craziest move of the first round of play, however, belonged to the Godfather himself, Rob.  He was once again playing with The Mandalorian, and just like last season, he had Whistling Birds in his first four cards!  And once again...he couldn't resist playing them right out of the gate!  He used Rising Phoenix to defect deep into the dark side of the board, and unleashed 22 points of frustrating damage to the light side!  This time, though, he didn't die first.  (Rob stands by his actions in both cases - if you have Whistling Birds in your first four cards, YOU HAVE PLAY IT!)

Curse you, Jar Jar!!!

Drue's Fennec Shand was taking hits from all sides of the board, and it didn't help that Black Krrsantan died early too.  It would be a final Astute Panic card from Parker's Moff Gideon that left Drue frustrated but the proud, temporary holder of the Golden Jar Jar trophy, given to the Dueler who finished last.  Drue, you get him for a couple of weeks until we play the Doubleheader on the last Saturday of August!

Evan's Jyn Erso was also getting jacked up by the dark side, but in a surprise twist, he was attacked from behind by his supposed alliance partner Juan/Luke Skywalker.  Princess Leia dealt a lot of early damage, including a 3-point attack to park Evan in 11th.  Ouch

Half the lights still work!

The light side was in complete chaos at this point, as those remaining on that side were trying to flip to the dark side too.  Kevin's Obi-Wan Kenobi thought he was coming over for just that purpose when he was suddenly surrounded and attacked by the dark side alliance.  He was shook and perturbed when Kat's Beckett booted him in 10th with a 2-point attack.  

With nine Duelers left at the table, rookie Andrew learned the brutal lesson of the dreaded kill box.  He thought he was surrounded by a friendly alliance, but they quickly turned on his Krennec and attacked!  The final blow was delivered by one of Duncan's MagnaGuards.  Andrew, not too bad a job for your first Duel.  Play with us again!!!

Parker, another new Dueler, was turning paranoid as his Moff Gideon was bouncing from one flashpoint to the next.  But the remaining Duelers soon set their sights on him too.  Parker pulled some pretty good moves with Gideon, but he couldn't withstand the onslaught and was eliminated in 8th by a 5-point attack from Juan's Luke.

The poo is about to hit the fan...

John's Qui-Gon and Jar Jar somehow survived multiple waves of attacks up to this point.  He also pulled off a crafty There's Always A Bigger Fish special that jacked up JD's Darth Maul hand.  But once Jar Jar was killed, it was open season on John's Qui-Gon.  It was a faster than anticipated elimination, though, because Rob used the 10-point Disintegration card from The Mandalorian for the kill shot.

At this point we were down to the final six, and Grant H.'s Darth Vader was in fantastic shape, lurking behind Jango's ship and running his portion of the alliance.  At the same time, Duncan's General Grievous, who was playing aggressively, became a target for the remaining Duelers. Grievous' frustrating retreat tactics caused Vader to finally move from behind the ship.  Rob immediately pounced on the attack angles and suggested he, JD/Maul and Beckett/Kat, work to take down Vader.  Duncan helped by not moving and forcing Vader to confront the multi-front attack.  Juan further backstabbed Grant by not killing off Grievous and letting Grant's Vader escape.  Grant was quite cranky, as he had been running up that hill all night, but it would be Duncan, playing for a higher finish, landing the elimination blow.

And then there were five!  Duncan's Grievous was the obvious target, and he was gone right after Duncan when Juan's Luke Skywalker diced him into 4th place.  The biggest moment of the game came next...who to go after next???

This is the way.

JD/Maul threw out Rob/Mandalorian as a target, but Rob immediately returned and said Juan should play I Will Not Fight You on JD and let Rob and Kat finish Maul off with their shooters.  But after the haggling the unofficial alliance of Rob/Kat/JD was formed, and they were united in getting Luke.  Juan was deft in running away from everyone else, but he eventually fell in 4th thanks to an Athletic Surge from Dark Maul.

This left it at three Duelers, and Rob/Mando and Kat/Beckett knew, as two shooters, they should stick together and go after JD's Maul.  Kat, however, would go on to experience one of the worst streak of minor cards in the draw deck EVER!  She counted 17 straight minor character cards between the end of the first deck and the reshuffled draw pile.  BRUTAL!!!  Kat got a pinch too close to JD's Maul, who had been hiding behind Jango's ship.  Kat was left mortally wounded, so Rob's Mandalorian took the final shot since he was at ten cards.  Poor Kat!!!

This left an EPIC final two of Rob/The Mandalorian and JD/Darth Maul.  Both players at different times chased and ran away from their remaining opponent.  Mando took damage but Maul really started to look worse for the wear.  Rob finally ended the evening by using a two-card action of another Disintegration and 5-point attack.  This bonkers win gives Rob 22 victories in his career!  It also marks the first-ever win for The Mandalorian!!!  Congrats to JD, whose Darth Maul did brilliantly too.

The final order of finish:

12.  Drue/Fennec Shand

11.  Evan/Jyn Erso

10.  Kevin/Obi-Wan Kenobi

9.  Andrew/Orson Krennec

8.  Parker/Moff Gideon

7.  John/Qui-Gon Jinn

6.  Grant H./Darth Vader

5.  Duncan/General Grievous

4.  Juan/Luke Skywalker

3.  Kat/Tobias Beckett

2.  JD M./Darth Maul

1.  Rob/The Mandalorian

Thanks again to all who came out to watch and/or play!  We'll play TWO games at the Doubleheader next, which should be the last Saturday of August.  Rob's hosting folks at his house, where there will be TONS of treats and his world famous YODA SODA!  More details to emerge.

Season 9 is up, up, and away!!!