12x12-Way Weekend Episode IV: Very Little Hope - June 20, 2025 (8AM)

Geonosis Arena (via Hoth 3D board)

Several Duelers played well past midnight the evening before, so the 8AM kickoff was particularly brutal.  Ian's Sol immediately defected from the light side, leaving a pocket of defense-first light side characters hiding behind the snowbanks.  The dark side whittled them down, and lo and behold...the last one standing was the previous nights' winner - Jonathan!!!  He started the weekend with zero career wins and suddenly had back to back victories!!!

Episode 4 - randomized characters and starting spaces.

 

The Imperial March - March 22, 2025

Conveyex Train

Sometimes in this league, things are so serendipitous it makes you believe in a higher power...like THE FORCE!  Sacrilege and pending lightning strikes aside, what if I were to tell you the last two characters standing in The Imperial March were also the two big characters from the scene in the movie that the playing board was based on???   Read on for the details!

All aboard the choo-choo train!

Eric (Chirrut & Baze) became the early target with his double-minor combo of Rogue One rebels, and that included Elliot using his tow cable to jump back onto their speeder to commence attacks.  But Eric was one with the Force and the Force was with him, so the attention, almost out of nowhere, shifted to Jonah's The Stranger on the other end of the board.  Riley B/Jyn Erso, Riley E/Han Solo, and CJ/Darth Maul managed to avoid a huge infight and direct their collective ire against poor Jonah.  The Stranger was the top ranked character heading into the Duel, and folks were clearly uninterested in keeping him around.  Even Jonah's Teal bestie Alex/Reva was forced to join in.  It would be CJ's Maul who got the glory of eliminating The Stranger, and Jonah got the glory of holding the Golden Jar Jar.  Brutal!

By this point a lot of folks were fully carded on a crowded board.  Despite some early mistrust Josiah/Captain Phasma and Rob/Mace Windu had stood next to each other peacefully.  But Josiah was in an unintentional kill box and the Duelers sitting after Rob and before Josiah's turn started to give Mace the "let's destroy Phasma" vibes.  Poor Josiah couldn't defend that many enemies.  Jordann/ General Grievous landed the eleventh place blow with Make Them Suffer.  Why is Grievous so mean???

That's the "why did I get Han?" face.

With Phasma gone Chirrut and Baze became the next target.  Chirrut died first and Baze was surrounded with nowhere to run and plenty of people gunning for him.  But Eric was insistent that Elliot's Obi-Wan Kenobi make the final kill shot, and Elliot was happy to oblige.  Eric was gone in tenth.

Elliot ended up using a Force Control, and ended up surrounding Cate's Bo-Katan Kryze, who had made threats of attack to nearly everyone on the board, and everyone on the board basically agreed she should go next.  Cate's blood lust is famous at this point, as her "never have ten cards in your hand" philosophy keeps the game moving.  But the Conveyex was moving too and needed to offboard more characters.  Two attacks from Rob/Mace Windu's Clone Trooper finished the job in ninth.

The Maul-CJ partnership is as terrifying as it is hilarious.

One of the key moments of the game kicked in after Bo-Katan was eliminated.  Jordann/Grievous and Alex/Reva locked horns in a fated battle in the middle of the board.  Nobody but those two knew it was a foregone conclusion they would tangle, and that's just what happened.  The unintentional consequence was that it tipped the scales in the favor of the shooting characters.  CJ was actually next to go, after using two Blinding Surges on defense made her week.  Reva offed her in eighth with Grand Ambition.

Alex's penchant for being wishy-washy on his alliances left him no dancing partners after that move, and it would be Jordann who would secure the upper hand as her MagnaGuard pushed Reva to her demise.  Rob was kicking himself for not interjecting earlier, because with Maul and Reva gone the blades were sledding up hill on a shooter's board with plenty of shooters left.  

Fit check - does your shirt match your light saber?

Rob desperately tried to get Jordann and Elliot to stay loyal with each other, but Jordann wouldn't look Rob in the eye and Elliot was experiencing Jedi mind tricks from Riley E/Han and Riley B/Jyn.  Just as Rob was going to but severe damage on an exposed Han Solo, Riley B. used Jyn's Kyber Krystal luck to dump Mace's Wisdoms and a Whirlwind!  Rob was stunned by his sudden turn of fortunes, and was gone soon after charging in against Jyn in a final attempt to try and get even.  It was nutty!

Riley B., who was doing us a big-time solid by subbing for a sick Dueler, was playing a fantastic game as Jyn and Cassian.  But the other Duelers began to fear him and were having a hard time setting up a firm final three.  So Riley B. became the odd Dueler out.  It took quite a bit of work to whittle him down, but Elliot's Obi nailed the final nail in the coffin and Jyn was gone in fifth.

Obi-Gone Kenobi.

The game slowed down quite a bit at this point, which was a bummer because we played pretty quickly at this Duel.  After a lot of haggling, hemming, and hawing, Elliot/Obi became the target.  Curtis flew about as low under the radar as a shooter can this game.  He used a It's Been A Ride Babe! with his Val, which actually didn't kill her but did hurt Obi something fierce.  Elliot would finally go down with a subsequent attack from Val for fourth place.

The biggest move of the game went down next.  Curtis/Beckett and Riley E/Han realized they needed to work together to take oust Jordann's General Grievous.  Riley had already used her Bowcaster earlier in the game (to little effect when Mace blocked all but two points of damage), but had secretly got it again on her reshuffle.  She attacked Jordann twice...but Jordann didn't defend on the second attack...WHICH WAS THE BOWCASTER!!!  ELEVEN POINTS OF DAMAGE!  Jordann was stunned and used a couple of Spare Parts to try and recover, but there was no digging out of that hole.  Curtis used Trust No One to send Jordann out in third.  Her desperate hope to win a Duel before graduating is in jeopardy, but her absolutely stellar finishes this year have actually moved her into the top spot in the Dueler rankings!  Congrats Jordann!

Boom goes the Bowcaster!

And then there were two!!!  And who were the two???  Tobias Beckett and Han Solo...on the Conveyex Train from the Solo movie!!!  How cool was that?!

Curtis definitely had the stronger major, but Riley's Chewbacca was still alive and kicking.  But unfortunately for Riley, so was Val!  And for maybe the first time in league history, Val used It's Been A Ride, Babe! twice in the same game!!!  That was five points of auto-damage to Han, which is too much on an already weak-health character.  Riley managed a final Wookie toss, but Curtis had one last Trust No One that offed Riley in second!  Curtis won with Beckett!!!  On the train!  This broke a three and a half year winless streak for Curtis, to bring his career total to eleven wins.  This was also Beckett's third win.

Final order of finish:

12.  Jonah/The Stranger

11.  Josiah/Captain Phasma

10.  Eric/Chirrut & Baze

9.  Cate/Bo-Katan

8.  CJ/Darth Maul

7.  Alex G./Reva

6.  Rob/Mace Windu

5.  Riley B/Jyn Erso

4.  Elliot/Obi-Wan

3.  Jordann/General Grievous

2.  Riley E/Han Solo

1.  Curtis/Tobias Beckett

That was a great, and relatively quick, night of Dueling!  Next month is DUEL OF THE FATES, our annual April Duel where we listen to "Duel of the Fates" on repeat the entire night.  Pure audio torture.  It's the best.  We're looking at Friday, April 4, for that, but more details are coming.

Until then...congrats again, Curtis!  PEW PEW!

Fight Night - October 21, 2023

 

Geonosis Arena via Hoth

History was made in a few different ways during this Duel, and we'll get to more of that later, but one cool "first" was that eight of the main characters were female!  Adding Ahsoka and Morgan to the league, along with the randomly selected Princess Leia, Bo-Katan, Jyn Erso, Fennec Shand, Captain Phasma, and Reva, the Third Sister, helped us tip the scales.  The original 12 main characters that came with the game were all male.  It's nice the new characters have helped us balanced things out a bit!

Trick or treat...

The game was tight right out of the gate, especially with the weird placement of the light side starting characters on the board.  Parker's Fennec was invited to flip sides out of the traditional Mace Windu starting spot in the elbow of the snow columns, but he retreated deeper into his light side alliance instead.  That left his minor BK the Wookie all alone, and the dark side immediately started shooting him until he was off the board.

That wasn't the only advantage the dark side alliance gained.  Atticus' Count Dooku was feeling spry, so he charged down the narrow side of the columns and engaged Jackson's Mace Windu!  They were both taking damage but Atticus showed a flare for the dramatic when he Force Pushed poor Jackson into a dark side kill box!  Rob, playing the new character Morgan, used an enhanced 4-point attack to finish off Mace in last.  It was a brutal turn of events for Jackson - there was nothing he could do.

There really IS a wampa in there!

Parker's Fennec was alone and shivering in the cold, and the dark side didn't hesitate.  Parker managed a couple of Body Mods, but it wasn't enough to withstand the onslaught, especially after Rico's Reva pulled a nifty Grand Ambition kill and then used a Honing Beacon to jump back to his dark side alliance.  Parker cratered in eleventh.

Riley E. tried to keep the spirits up of the light side, but Riley B. saw the writing on the wall and defected to the dark side alliance!  That left Curtis/Leia, Riley E./Jyn, and Bella/Ahsoka all by themselves.  Curtis had seen enough and engaged in one vs. one battle with Atticus' Dooku.  Atticus was stunned by all of the auto damage and he was gone soon after, thanks to a Camouflage attack from Curtis.  Atticus was out in tenth, but give him credit, he always gets his money's worth!

Bella, Curtis, and Riley scrambling...

Curtis was lucky to unload so many of his good cards on Dooku, because Kevin ruined his night when the Emperor played You Will Die on Curtis' Leia.  A host of dark side characters took shots down the alley on a defenseless Curtis.  Penny's Beckett used an Improvise for the K.O.  Curtis was gone in ninth.

Bella's Ahsoka Tano was the next target of an air-tight dark side alliance.  She got off some cool shots with her minor character Sabine, but caught on her heels and with dwindling options, Bella couldn't perform any of the cool new attacks Ahsoka brings to the league.  Bella was kaput in eighth.

The Emperor betrayed!

Riley E.'s Jyn Erso was the last remaining non-flipper from the light side, and she was dug in tight behind the snow columns.  Rob's Morgan wandered down, only to see the major character status flipped to Cassian!  The dark side was loaded, and that's when Elliot's Captain Phasma put the target on Kevin's Emperor.  Kevin didn't realize everyone else at the table was ok with it.  He was loyal to the end, but Penny's Beckett put the final nail in the coffin in seventh for a saddened Kevin.

Riley E. was tickled by the stay of execution, but her time was up after Kevin's exit.  Rico moved a Purge Trooper into position and layed a vicious 5 point attack to oust Cassian and Riley in sixth place.

Bo-Katan abandoned!

Rico deserved a comedy award for his less-than-subtle table talking in this match.  He made it known Riley B.'s Bo-Katan was next on the chopping block.  Riley had been whole-hearted in his new dark side alliance, but they didn't return the favor!  Elliot had New Recruited one of Rob's zombie (Rob Zombie?!)  Night Troopers (the new Morgan deck is spooky!), and the zombie trooper ate Riley's brains - figuratively - in fifth place, much to Riley B.'s chagrin.  

There were four left:  Rob/Morgan, Penny/Beckett, Elliot/Phasma, and Rico/Reva.  It was Rob's turn, but the other three were deadly silent.  Rob assumed they were waiting for him to pick the target, but unbeknownst to Rob, the three of them were already aligned to take down his Morgan in fourth place!  They almost got away with it, but at the last second, he caught Elliot winking to Rico after Rob had said he thought they should aim their efforts at Reva!  

Our league does not endorse the dark arts of the Night Sisters

Rob was kicking himself for forgetting one of the golden rules of the league:  if you don't know who's next, it's you!  He pivoted and told Rico they ought to stick together to avoid a final three with two shooters.  Elliot attacked Rob regardless, but Rico chickened out on attacking Rob too after Rob had dumped one of his better cards.  That was all the crack Rob needed to drive a mile-wide wedge between Rico and Elliot.  Penny was also grumpy that Rico had put a homing beacon on her Beckett, implying she was next after Rob was gone.  The combined efforts of the board, but really a double dose of Double Blasters from Penny, sent Rico packing in fourth.  He played great with Reva!

Rob's Morgan and Elliot's Captain Phasma were both battered, especially after Val played a It's Been a Ride, Babe, on Phasma.  They finally held off on attacking each other, but it was too little too late as Penny had reshuffled and pocketed another Double Blasters to off Elliot in third.  Elliot was once again so close to his first win!!!

All in the family.

The final two was a daddy-daughter dance between Penny and Rob...just like Penny's first career victory at last year's Thanksdueling!  Rob Reincarnated another zombie Night Trooper for some extra protection, but down to his last health point, he knew he needed to go on the offensive and try and knock Penny off before her second Double Blasters emerged from the new draw pile.  He definitely put damage on her, but he couldn't risk more attacks in fear of not being able to defend himself.  Luck was on Penny's side as she Double Blasted Rob into second place!  Penny won her second Duel in just four career matches!!!  That ties the record Kaleb and Isaiah have both achieved.  Wow!!!  Rob hates finishing second, but it hurts a lot less when it's your offspring claiming the trophy!

Final order of finish:

12.  Jackson/Mace

11.  Parker/Fennec

10.  Atticus/Dooku

9.  Curtis/Leia

8.  Bella/Ahsoka

7.  Kevin/Emperor

6.  Riley E./Jyn

5.  Riley B./Bo-Katan

4.  Rico/Reva

3.  Elliot/Phasma

2.  Rob/Morgan

1.  Penny/Beckett

Congrats again, Penny!!!  She currently has two trophies in her possession.  Crazy!!!  

Our November Duel, Thanksdueling!, will likely be held Saturday, November 11th, at 7PM.  Save the date now!  And for those who qualify for the 2023 Championship in December, we're looking at Saturday, December 2!!!  I can't believe how close we are to that...

The Fall Brawl - September 24, 2022

 

Rancor Dungeon

Perhaps the most easily overlooked aspect of this year's Fall Brawl was that it marked our return to the North Village fine arts studio as our on-campus Dueling spot.  It was the first time since COVID that we had Dueled there, since it was used as a testing center the past couple of years.  No place on the face of the earth has hosted more Duels than the fine arts studio, and it was good to be back in the friendly confines!

The Baker's Dozen

We also played in the Rancor Dungeon!  This meant one Dueler would be randomly selected to play with the Rancor, and amateur Dueler Riley B. got the lucky honors!  Everyone else picked their seat and characters and we were ready to do battle.

It came as a surprise to absolutely no one who has ever Dueled with Miguel before that he couldn't resist killing a character right away to open the dungeon door to let the Rancor out.  His Boba Fett chucked a Thermal Detonator into Mace Windu (JD) and Jango Fett (Rob), instantly killing both of  Mace's clone troopers and releasing the Rancor!

Release the hound!

Riley made his presence known right away, playing Bone Crusher, which reduced everyone's actions on their next turn to one.  He next hurled one of Grievous' (Julia) MagnaGuards across the room to its death.  

Meanwhile, infighting broke out across the board.  Andrew's Cassian shot Rob's Jango with a brutal 8-point attack, severely injuring the elder Fett.  Rob responded by Rocket Retreating to the control panel spot on the board behind the Rancor.  Riley's Rancor had advanced to stand under the gate.  But instead of pushing the button to hurt the Rancor...Rob drew a card!  The board gasped with displeasure as the Rancor moved deeper into the dungeon.

The board finally quieted down a bit and committed to hunting the Rancor.  Though Riley made a valiant stand, the poor beast was no match for the unified front the rest of the Duelers presented.  Riley was done for the night on a 4-point attack from Ian's Beckett.  That won't count against Riley in the rankings, and we thank him for his service in Jabba's Palace.

Curtis explaining how weak Rey is...

Miguel wasn't done being mischievous, though.  He threw his second thermal into one side of the board again, but this time, he didn't retreat afterwards.  Rob's Jango was down to his last point of health as a result, but on his first action, drew his Missile Launch.  He chuckled evilly as he finished Miguel in last place by using it against Boba.  Miguel seemed a little too happy to be reunited with the Golden Jar Jar trophy.

Curtis (Rey) was leading a six-person alliance against the rest of the board, and called out Andrew's Jyn Erso to be the next target.  This was a bit startling as Andrew thought he was part of that group.  Curtis moved Rey in front of Jyn, seemingly trapping her, but Jyn used Jail Break, and in doing so, moved Curtis into a kill box in enemy territory!  That end of the board began attacking him, and he eventually had to use Rise of Skywalker to heal back up.  Just as it was Parker/Fennec's turn to attack him...he instead used Martial Skills to kill Rob/Jango in eleventh!  The weaker alliance was totally confused by the sudden betrayal.

Ian trying to lobby alliances with Parker.

JD's Mace had moved forward to try and eliminate Curtis, but all of a sudden Curtis was still very much alive and Mace was in easy attack range from the dominant alliance.  Poor JD got left hung out to dry, and it would be Finn who got the kill shot of Mace in tenth.

Ian/Beckett, Elliot/Snoke, Andrew/Jyn, and kind of Parker/Fennec decided to keep the pressure up against Curtis.  It proved to be too much for Curtis, who got stuck loaded with a hand full of Finn cards just as Andrew's Kyber Crystal Luck took him out of the game in eighth.  It became Jyn's last hoorah.  After the stronger alliance put Cassian in an unnecessarily large kill box, Michael's Han Solo ended Andrew's run in eighth place.

Momentum shifting...

We were down to the last seven Duelers and a smoldering Rancor corpse at this point.  Parker's Fennec was the keystone, as both sides continually sent overtures to him to remain true to their respective sides.  In that unstable environment Michael's Han Solo suddenly found himself Tied to a String, and placed in a kill box after not being willing to switch sides.  Though he survived the original capture with a nice Wookie Toss for the rescue, Duncan/Dooku and Evan/Leia were suddenly willing to switch sides!  Supreme Leader Snoke landed the final blow, and Michael peaced-out in seventh.

Julia and her General Grievous went from an early favorite to win the match to suddenly being without any alliance partners.  She played Grievous deftly, including regenerating her MagnaGuards, but she could only hold out so long before the piper came piping.  Elliot's Snoke once again scored the final hit and Julia bowed out in sixth.

Final Four negotiations.

Now there were only five Duelers:  previous dominant alliance members Duncan/Dooku and Evan/Leia, free agent Parker/Fennec, and amazingly, the short-sticked Ian/Beckett and Elliot/Snoke.  Evan had been playing so far below the radar I'm not sure everyone even realized he was at the table, but in the final five, the others became keenly aware of him.  Duelers misconstrued previous comments about Leia's card strength and started inventing imaginary cards in Evan's hand that would strike them all down in one fell swoop.  Poor Evan was the target, and a self-healing Improvise from Ian's Tobias Beckett punched Evan's card in fourth place.

A remarkable final three.

With Evan off the board, Parker made a bit of a social gaff by saying those with minor characters should work against those without.  He was trying to put the target on Elliot's Snoke, but Ian was without Val at that point, and he didn't take too kindly to the implication.  Parker was just playing his second Duel, and it's hard to remember a more plot-twisting night than what he achieved with Fennec.  However, he soon found himself the odd Dueler out, and rested in fourth.  Well done, Parker!

And then there were three!  Elliot and Ian had been partners the whole evening, but Elliot was concerned about going against a shooter at the end, so he tried to align with Duncan's Dooku.  However, that proved disastrous, as Duncan ultimately chose to partner with Ian's Beckett instead.  Try as Elliot might, he couldn't get Duncan to join him.  Once his Snoke was on his last line of health, he got a final attack in on Duncan's Dooku, who had been mostly healthy prior to that.  It included using his Force Lightning to push him to Ian's Beckett.  Ian stayed true to his alliance, though, and finished off Elliot in third.  Both he and Snoke were so close to their first-ever victory!

"The worst" is where the money is.

The final two was quite interesting, as Dooku was the superior character but Ian's veteran status was surely its own advantage.  He and Duncan traded blows, and both characters took their lumps for sure.  But Ian used his second Improvise of the night to heal, do major damage to Dooku, and recover cards for his last stand.  Duncan didn't know it, but Ian only had one non-Val card left in his hand, a 4-point attack for Beckett.  Ian used it and it was enough to finish off Duncan in second!  Ian won!!!

This was the first victory for the character of Beckett.  The win was also Ian's eleventh, moving him into second place on the all-time list!  Ian also moved into second place in the Dueler rankings.  Though Duncan didn't get the win, there's no denying he's on a major role right now with high finishes.  

Let's check the final order of finish again:

Unofficial 13.  Riley B./Rancor

12.  Miguel/Boba Fett

11.  Rob/Jango Fett

10.  JD/Mace Windu

9.  Curtis/Rey

8.  Andrew/Jyn Erso

7.  Michael/Han Solo

6.  Julia/General Grievous

5.  Evan/Princess Leia

4.  Parker/Fennec Shand

3.  Elliot/Supreme Leader Snoke

2.  Duncan/Count Dooku

1.  Ian/Tobias Beckett

Our next Duel is the October FIGHT NIGHT.  Based on the Baylor football schedule, it looks like Saturday, October 8th, will be the date.  Official confirmation and email for sign-ups should go out next Sunday.  Until then...may all your Rancors stay caged.