Preview: Twin Sun Slam - June 16, 2018

This June a group of hardcore Duelers tried to organize the "Holy Grail" of our league: holding twelve 12-Way Duels...in a row!  This insane idea has long gestated in the hopeful minds of the most psychotic Duelers, but alas, we couldn't find enough people to pull it off this summer, so the idea will continue to percolate.  Perhaps it will reemerge in the future?  Time will tell...

But with all the frenzied interest in trying to Duel this month, the masses asked...why not a summer Duel?  July features the Singles Tournament, and August has both the CL Training match as well as the Doubleheader.  June has always been dormant in our league, but if Dueling is what the people want, Dueling is what the people get!

So here we are, the first official Twin Sun Slam!  And since the word "Twin" is in the title, we figured we might as well play two!  We're going to tailgate at Rob's house beforehand and grill some burgers.  The Yoda Soda will flow.  Summer Dueling, had me a blast...Summer Dueling, happened so fast...

MEET THE DUELERS:

Alex - the amateur Dueler finally turns professional this Saturday!  And with a more than respectable average, the only question will be how high in the rankings he debuts.

Ben - nobody has had a more scorching 2018 in terms of average finish, but Ben would turn in all of those top five finishes for his first career victory.  He has two shots this weekend to pull it off.

Chris - well look at what the cat dragged in!  The cagey old veteran didn't play much this past year, but as Chris likes to say, "Sun's out, guns out!"  And by guns he means blaster rifles.

Courtney - she made her debut at the Let the Wookie Win Duel last month, and placed admirably in seventh.  That's not too shabby for a first Duel!  However, her husband did pass on his Han Solo curse with her character pick.

Grant - Grant moved into sole possession of second place on the career victory list at Let the Wookie Win.  His first place victory with Count Dooku gives him six total wins and now he sits squarely in second place in the Dueler rankings.

Heidi - nearly two years ago Heidi played in the 2016 Doubleheaders...and hasn't been seen since!  But her long absence is no more!  Perhaps she only wants to play when there are two games a night?  That's hardcore, and I admire it!

Jonathan - the retired Dueler is coming to the table one more time to finally secure that first career victory.  Or he's using these two Duels as a warm-up for his Singles Tournament title defense.  Either way, nobody counts cards better than Jonathan.

Kaleb - the retired Hall of Famer is squeezing two more games onto his resume!  He's looking to recover from a career-worst ninth place finish at Let the Wookie Win.  Still, how sick is it that his worst finish is only ninth?!?

Kat - the word on the street is that Kat stayed on campus this summer solely to train and prepare for the coming Dueling season.  You can't teach heart, Duelers!  She's looking to recover from her last place finish at May the 4th Be With You.

Rob - the number one ranked Dueler nearly accomplished the impossible at Let the Wookie Win - win two Duels in a row with the same character!  He nearly made it, finishing second place with Mace Windu after his first place at May the 4th.

Sam - and here's another blast from the past!  Retired amateur Sam had a short but furious run of Duels in our league and he's been chomping at the bit to get back into the game.  Here's his chance!

Stephen - it looked like his swan song was going to be his tenth place finish at the May the 4th Duel, but this Hall of Famer ain't going out like that!  Stephen's history of success at doubleheaders shouldn't be ignored either.

There you have it folks - the Twin Sun Slam is locked and loaded!  No Pez Vader prediction this time around, but fear not - we have a new prognosticator for next season.  You won't be disappointed!  Feel free to stop by Saturday if you're around!

Let the Wookie Win - May 24, 2018

Geonosis Arena

We usually get a preview post before a known 12-Way, but the week got away from me before the first ever Let the Wookie Win Duel, in honor of the new movie in the Star Wars cinematic universe.  That's right, Solo: A Star Wars Story, tells the tale of a young Han Solo and his new sidekick, Chewbacca.  After the Duel many of us made it to the theater.  It's definitely a fun movie, though it's hard to move past the fact you're not watching Harrison Ford in his 20's. 

Because this was a movie Duel the Rey trophy was back up for grabs.  Curtis wasn't happy about that - he only had it since The Last Jedi, a mere six months ago.  The winner will most likely hold onto it until December of 2019...

This might be the first time everyone smiled for the picture.

Because this Duel took place outside of the normal academic year there was concern we wouldn't have enough Duelers in town to play, especially since most of the students were gone.  That turned out to be an unnecessary worry.  If you shine the Duel signal light at the nighttime clouds, the Duelers will come!  Two rookies made their debut for Let the Wookie Win - Courtney, wife of Ben H., and Chase, who will be working in CL&L as a chaplain this fall.  In fact, there were seven former or current chaplains at the table, plus a Dueler who starts seminary in the fall!  There was nothing holy about their play, though...

Nathan, who drove down from the Dallas area to play, picked the number one chair and chose Geonosis Arena for the battleground.  Too bad it wasn't the Carbon Freezing Chamber - that would have been appropriate for the Han Solo movie!  Everyone drew characters and we were ready for play.  Rob got Mace Windu for the second game in a row, and was even wearing purple due to some subconscious connection to the Force.  Grant finally picked a non-shooter (Count Dooku) while JD continued his love affair with Yoda.

Bowcaster:  An Epic Duels Story

The game started with an immediate defection as Rob's Mace Windu retreated to the dark side of the board.  Chase followed suit, moving his Luke and Leia away from the pillars.  The dark side minor characters began shooting at the Nathan/Obi-Wan and JD/Yoda's Clonetroopers and things were looking tough for the remaining Jedi/light side Duelers.

Courtney, controlling Han Solo on the day of his movie debut, decided to rep her character by doing what Han does best - rely on Chewbacca!  She used Wookie Instincts to find the Bowcaster and dropped it on Chase's Princess Leia.  Chase didn't have a defense card and Leia was done!  RAWRRR!!!  (that's was supposed to be a Chewey victory roar).

The dark side kept chipping away at the light side but Chase decided to make his rookie presence known.  He went for a surprise attack on Rob's Mace...and talked trash while announcing his intentions!  Rob was none-to-pleased by the brash padawan, but was even less pleased by the two Justice cards Chase used!  Meanwhile, Nathan, sensing an opportunity to put the finishing shots on Rob, had JD's Yoda Force Push him to the other end of the board to try and attack.  Unfortunately for Nathan, Kaleb's Maul wasn't too keen on Kenobi being that close to him and used an Athletic Surge to eliminate his fellow Hall of Famer.  Poor Nathan drove all the way down only to be treated so rudely!

Chase's Luke was taking damage too as nobody supported him against Rob, so Rob was quite pleased to kill him in eleventh.  You had to admire the rookie's moxie, though.  Elijah, playing with Anakin, tried to roll out from behind the columns and advance on the dark side but he was met with a wall of minor characters.  As lil' Annie kept receiving damage, it was Alex C.'s Darth Vader and a Throw Debris that sent Elijah packing in tenth.  After nearly a year off from playing, it wasn't the finish Elijah wanted.

JD's "why does this keep happening??" face

Courtney's Han and JD's Yoda were securely protected by the Geonosis columns, so the dark side alliance was going to have to move forward to draw them out.  But that same alliance was getting high-carded and not everybody was going to be able to attack Yoda and Han, so something had to give.  Unfortunately for Kaleb's Darth Maul, he became the target.  After some suspicious movement on the board, and discarding a 4-1 attack card, Rob and his banged up Mace Windu lobbied Grant/Dooku, Ben/Boba, and Curtis/Jango to end Kaleb's day.  They agreed to the plan, and after multiple attacks, including a double Whirlwind, Curtis used a Wrist Cable to finish off Kaleb in ninth, his lowest finish ever.  He was a bit salty.

JD, meanwhile, was heavily lobbying Ethan/Emperor and Alex/Vader to flip and join him.  It was an interesting notion, but Ethan ultimately played You Will Die on Yoda, which dumped his Force Rebound and two 15 point defense cards.  Grant/Dooku laid two big hits and Rob's Mace filled in the grave for poor JD/Yoda.  Courtney's Chewbacca was dead by that point, and Curtis moved his Zam in on Han with a Sniper Shot.  That finished Courtney off but a tip of the cap to her for her rookie Duel - seventh place was nothing to sneeze at when playing with the lowest ranked character.

We need a Lando expansion character and deck.

Then there were six Duelers left:  Rob/Mace, Ethan/Emperor, Curtis/Jango, Grant/Dooku, Alex/Vader, and Ben/Boba.  All the main characters were basically still at full health with the exception of Rob's Mace, who was still licking his wounds from Chase's double Justice attack.  Ethan made the claim Mace should die next, but Rob countered by saying this was the perfect time to attack the Emperor.  Everyone else seemed to have a different opinion too because an odd round of attacks commenced with no clear cut target.  Alex's Vader choked out Curtis' Zam.  Ben's Boba threw a double Thermal Detonator on Vader and Emperor after Grant Force Pushed them together.  Curtis didn't roll a big enough number to kill both of them with his Flamethrower, so he had to settle with his second Wrist Cable kill of the afternoon on Ethan's Emperor.

Unbeknownst to Rob, Grant and Ben did a silent head nod towards Mace and Curtis attacked.  But when he Rocket Retreated away Dooku and Boba attacked Jango!  Ben used his Kyber Dart and Curtis was suddenly gone in fifth place.

Second Dueler to ever win six games!

Ben then tried to attack Alex/Vader and Grant/Dooku at the same time with Greedo, which only served to paint a target on his jet pack for the two dark lords of the Sith.  They started to whittle him down and Alex, who was just a couple of points from death, smoked the Fett with an All Too Easy!  Ben's average continues to shrink but he's still looking for that first career victory.

Grant dispatched Alex in third very soon after that, and his fully healthy Count Dooku started to chase Rob's Mace around the columns.  Rob fought hard and got some hits in, but Dooku was too strong and Mace's defense cards disappeared as the Taunts rained down.  With just one health point left, Grant dropped a Force Push to seal the victory. 

Congrats Grant!!!  He becomes the second Dueler in league history to reach six wins.  It also marks the fifth win for Count Dooku.  We also want to give a final thank you to Kaleb, Ethan, and Nathan, as this was their last ever Duel...at least for now!  #cliffhanger  The final order of finish:

12. Nathan/Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. Chase/Luke Skywalker
10. Elijah/Anakin Skywalker
9.  Kaleb/Darth Maul
8.  JD/Yoda
7.  Courtney/Han Solo
6.  Ethan/Emperor Palpatine
5.  Curtis/Jango Fett
4.  Ben H./Boba Fett
3.  Alex C./Darth Vader
2.  Rob/Mace Windu
1.  Grant/Count Dooku

This was the last 12-Way Duel until the CL Training match in August...which kicks off our FIFTH season of Dueling!  YEAR FIVE - WE'RE STARTING A YEAR FIVE!!!  Also, the Singles Tournament is coming up in July - more details on that insanity soon.  Thanks to everyone who has made these past four years so fun.  Go see Solo!

May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2018

The 2018 Hall of Fame Dueler Class

Emperor's Throne Room

The greatest day of the year for any Star Wars fan is May the 4th.  It also marks the end of our normal Dueling season.  As such, we use this date in Dueler history to honor those special Duelers who are graduating, leaving Waco, moving on, heading out, etc.  And by special we mean those who have left a lasting impact on the league and in our hearts.  Our smoldering, light saber-stabbed hearts.  Before the May the 4th Be With You Duel we inducted three new members into the Dueler Hall of Fame:

Kaleb Loomis - Kaleb graduates from Truett this month and leaves this Duels league as one of the top ranked Duelers of all time.  In fact, he debuted as a professional at the top of the rankings!  He's a winner of two Duels and has never finished below eighth place, which is sick!

Nathan Gibbs - Nathan graduates from Baylor this month with four career victories.  One of those includes the 2015 Championship.  He was also the second Dueler to ever win back to back Duels.  He was the consummate smooth operator on the board.

Stephen Buley - Stephen also graduates this month, and he takes with him a distinguished honor.  No student played more games than Stephen.  He also has two career victories.  And let's not forget Stephen was the first, and only one of two Duelers, to have ever won with Emperor Palpatine.

It was a rainy afternoon in Duels land...

It's always sad to see Duelers depart, especially distinguished warriors like these three.  Let's hope they find their way back to the Duels table at some point in the future!

As for the game itself, we had two new Duelers as well as a Dueler going pro!  Madelynn, aka Mad Dog, and Scott debuted in their first ever game.  And Kat was playing her sixth Duel, so she's a professional now.  Congrats Kat!!!

Mad Dog picked the number one chair and chose the Emperor's Throne Room for the battlefield.  She also picked Boba Fett, much to the relief of others.  Grant got Jango Fett again!  The preview jinx worked!  Joel also picked up Darth Vader for the second straight match, and he had to be happy to have the character he won with at the Birthday Surprise.

I'm in your chair, Palpatine!!!

At the start of the game the dark side began to attack Stephen's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Grant's Jango landed a wicked Missle Launch to put Stephen in danger of going out first in his last ever Duel.  But Obi wasn't going out like that.  He found his Force Control and totally disrupted the dark side, all while retreating behind the safety of Chewbacca.  Stephen moved characters up to three spaces each, and managed to pull Kat's Count Dooku down to the light side.  After suffering numerous attacks, it was Daniel's Chewey who marched over and Wookie Tossed Kat into last place!  Poor Kat, that wasn't the way she wanted to reach the professional ranks.

Stephen's Obi was still in trouble.  As it looked like the dark side would soon swarm him and Daniel's Han Solo, a defection occurred!  Mad Dog felt the urge to defect, so she tossed a Thermal Detonator into the heart of the dark side shooter's nest.  But instead of Rocket Retreating, she Kyber Darted Grant's Zam, killing the minor character.  The dark side was outraged and focused on the defector.  Alex C.'s Darth Maul rolled in and dropped many a "does not count as an action" attacks and Mad Dog got sent to the pound in eleventh place.

That's a Bowcaster smile if I've ever seen one.

It looked like the light side would crush the dark at that point, but the bad guys weren't going down without a fight.  Joel's Darth Vader Trew Debris at Obi to end Stephen's game, and probably career, in tenth.  It wasn't the ending he was looking for, but he was scrappy and fought hard until the end.  After Alex's attack on Boba he was low carded, and the light side shooters took advantage.  They kept peppering him with shots until Daniel's Chewbacca dropped the scariest attack card in the game - the Bowcaster!  Alex finished in ninth with a gaping hole in his chest.  With Chewey in position to smoke Maul it left Han exposed to more attacks.  The remaining dark side characters made him pay.  Once he was two points of health away from dying, Joel's Vader used Wrath to kill him in eighth.  Yolo Solo.

Nothing amateur about their play.

The light side shooters started moving into the dark side territory, and Rob's Mace, Scott's Luke, and Luke's Anakin followed in behind them.  They started racking up hits on Grant/Jango and Joel/Vader.  Eventually Joel broke from the pressure as Leia's 2-point attack ended his bid to win back to back games with Lord Vader.

Ian's Yoda was down on the dark side of the board now too, while Luke/Anakin and Scott/Luke hung back in case Grant's Jango Fett Rocket Retreated away.  As it turned out, Grant was stuck with a bunch of useless Zam cards and wasn't able to defend when Yoda cracked him with a Force Strike.  Grant was gone in sixth and left wondering why he keeps getting stuck with shooters.  That left a final five of Luke/Anakin, Rob/Mace, Curtis/Emperor, Scott/Luke, and Ian/Yoda.

Final two selfie

Curtis was left as the last dark side member standing, and desperately tried to align himself with any willing partner.  But the remaining light side stayed true to their alliance and commenced attacks on the Emperor.  It was Scott's Princess Leia who hit him with two Latent Force Abilities to send Curtis into fifth place.

And then there were four.  The decision on what to do next wasn't so clear.  Scott and Luke wanted to attack Ian's Yoda, while Rob was more interested in Luke's Anakain Skywalker, especially because Padme was still alive and he feared Luke had been stockpiling shooter cards.  Scott and Rob seemed to be good with each other as Rob went after Luke and Scott went after Ian.  Ian ended up assisting Rob in eliminating Anakin.  In fact, it was Yoda's last remaining clone that put the final nail in the coffin.  Luke was out in fourth, but it was a great showing for the amateur Dueler!

Rob assumed he was solid with Ian's Yoda, but Ian was open to working with Scott's Luke Skywalker.  That was mostly because Yoda's health points were low enough for a double Whirlwind from Mace to kill him.  So Rob offered to spend one of the Whirlwinds on Scott to solidify their standing with each other.  Ian still wasn't a 100% on board but Scott was damaged enough to end his first career Duel in third place.  Congrats Scott - that's quite the debut!

Trophy #4

It looked like, based on health points, Rob's Mace would be able to dominate Ian's Yoda quite quickly, but Yoda proved his mettle by using a Force Lift and a Force Push to start depleting Mace's hand and forced Rob to move Windu away from Ian.   In fact, Rob moved to the further most point away Yoda and his remaining Clone, and it created a stalemate while the Clone prevented Mace from moving but Yoda couldn't move in to attack for fear of dying from the remaining Whirlwind.  This cat and mouse game continued for a good 30 minutes before Yoda retreated far enough away for Rob/Mace to kill the last Clone.  From there they chased each other around the bridges of the Throne Room before Mace finally rolled a four and could move in to use his last Whirlwind and end Ian's afternoon in second place.  Ian put up a heck of a fight with the little green Jedi!  This marked Rob's 12th career victory and his second with Mace Windu, who as a character has now won six times himself.

The final order of finish:

12.  Kat/Count Dooku
11.  Madelynn/Boba Fett
10.  Stephen/Obi-Wan Kenobi
9.  Alex C./Darth Maul
8.  Daniel/Han Solo
7.  Joel/Darth Vader
6.  Grant/Jango Fett
5.  Curtis/Emperor Palpatine
4.  Luke/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Scott/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ian/Yoda
1.  Rob/Mace Windu

Thanks to everyone who played in the 2017-18 season of Epic Duels!  We're going to try and tack on one more Duel the afternoon of May 24th before the movie debut of Han Solo - we're calling it "Let the Wookie Win."  More details to come on that, so stay tuned!  Also, check out the Hall of Fame tab to see the new inductees!

Preview: May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2018

Well, if you're a fan of Star Wars Epic Duels (and why in God's good name would you be reading this blog if you weren't?), Friday is the biggest holiday of the year...

...MAY THE 4th!!!

And like we always do, we'll celebrate with a matinee Duel to acknowledge the end of our Dueling season.  It was a struggle to find 12 Duelers this year!  A convergence of finals, trainings, and other obligations took a lot of our normal Duelers out of play.  But that's the beauty of this Epic Duels league.  If you strike down one Dueler three more appear in their place! 

This Duel is also special because we'll be inducting three new Duelers into the Epic Dueler Hall of Fame.  That ceremony will start at 1:30 right before the Duel.  Bring your Kleenex, Rob is sure to get weepy.

Let's look at the previous May the 4th Duels...

HISTORY:

2017 - JD wins with  Yoda
2016 - Chris wins with Jango Fett
2015 - Rob wins with Jango Fett

MEET THE DUELERS:

Alex C. - he's ending his first year at Baylor with his fourth Duel.  This promising amateur is hoping to at least replicate his October Birthday Surprise finish, when he placed second with Han.

Curtis - Oddly, Curtis has finished in sixth place in three of his last seven Duels.  He'd love to record his second win of 2018, having won A New Hope in January.

Daniel - he's coming off a nice three game stretch where he hasn't finished below sixth place, including a third place finish at The Imperial March.  His recent engagement is impacting his play in a positive way.

Grant - heaven help us if Grant ever gets a force wielding character again!  He's been stuck with a shooter in his last four Duels.  He can't run that streak to five...can he?  #jinx

Ian - everything came up roses for Ian the last time he played.  He finished first with Count Dooku, his favorite character, at the Duel of the Fates.  That makes five career victories.

Joel - everything came up roses for Joel too the last time he played.  He finished first with Darth Vader, his second victory with that character.  That gives the young Dueler three career victories.

Kat - after a break from Dueling, Kat is back!  And this Duel will be her sixth, meaning she's turning professional.  Congrats, Kat!!!

Luke R. - he has two career Duels under his belt, and those include a last place and second place finish.  How will he do this time?  We'll soon find out!

Madelynn - she's about to graduate, but before walking across stage and grabbing that diploma she wanted to cross off the most important item on her Baylor bucket list - play in an Epic Duel.

Rob - two rough finishes in his last two Duels has caused Rob to slide out of first place in the Dueler rankings.  He'll need a strong finish to overtake Kaleb again.

Scott - the husband of Stacey in our central office is doing the league a solid by helping us reach twelve Duelers for the last game of the year.  Thanks, rookie!

Stephen - it hurts to type this, but Stephen, the all-time leader in Duels played by a student, is sitting at the table for his final time before graduation.  We love you Stephen!!!

PEZ VADER PREDICTS THE WINNER:

"You were right.  You were right about me.
Tell your Twizzlers...you were right..."

Oh man - Pez Vader appears to be dying!  But his final vision is that of a win for Jango Fett!  We'll miss you, Pez Vader!

Pez Vader's Prediction Record:  2-9

Folks, please feel free to stop by at 1:30 to honor our newest Hall of Famers.  May the 4th Be With You.  Always.

Birthday Surprise - April 26, 2018

Geonosis Arena/The Ice Planet Hoth

Sith Lordy
Sith Lordy,
Look who's 40!

That's right - Ryan, the most sinister Dueler in the league, celebrated four decades on the third rock from the sun this week, so naturally, we had to hold a surprise Duel!

Well, it was mostly a surprise.  I think he started to figure it out the day of.  Now that we've done this a few times it's getting harder to be clandestine!

Ryan's wife brought Rudy's BBQ and a Star Wars cake, which made the normal pre-game tension a little less severe.  We also had to be beat the clock with this Duel, because most of us had tickets or were trying to get tickets for the opening night of Avengers: Infinity War.  It just proves our nerdery isn't contained to the Star Wars Universe!

It's weird to Duel in the daylight.

Since it was Ryan's birthday we also decided to play on his Hoth board, a replication of the Geonosis arena.  It's a beautiful battlefield.  You practically want to wear mittens while moving your characters around.

Characters and chairs were picked and we were off to the races.  Curtis' Count Dooku stayed loyal to the dark side, so Rob's Luke Skywalker departed the light side to tip the scales.  Ethan's Mace and JD's Obi-Wan tried to hold the line, but Daniel's Boba Fett chucked a thermal detonator that wiped out three Clones and the light side was quickly hurting.  Coleman, playing in his rookie Duel, started moving his Han and Chewie from around the columns...er, snowbank...to move into attack position.  Except...he attacked his own alliance!  Chewie dropped the Bowcaster on Ethan's Mace, and followed up with a three point attack to put Mace in last place for just the second time in 54 league duels.

What if, instead of fighting, we just made
snow angels instead?  Who's in?!?

Ryan/Yoda, Kaleb/Anakin, and JD/Obi had retreated behind the snowbank to make the dark side come marching down and enter a bottleneck to try and damage them.  They figured that would improve their defensive hopes.  It was a good strategy, except Coleman's Han was still back there too.  He popped off two more attacks and JD's Obi-Wan was out in eleventh.  It's been a rough stretch for both JD and Obi.

The remaining light side finally had enough of Han and Coleman was ousted them in tenth.  It was a daring, if not confusing, debut for the rookie.  That left Kaleb and Ryan as the focal points for the dark side to attack.  Unfortunately for the birthday boy, Ryan/Yoda were out in ninth, fittingly killed by Curtis, who was and still is fuming from his own birthday ouster at Ryan's hands last year.

Just as it seemed obvious Kaleb/Anakin would be next to go the dark side started squabbling and called out a possible Ben/Emperor, Rob/Luke, and Grant/Jango alliance.  Rob tried to squash that by attacking Jango, but the rest of the alliance didn't follow suit.  Rob tried to backtrack and point out the equally strong power trio of Nathan/Maul, Curtis/Dooku, and Daniel/Boba, but folks weren't interested in keeping Rob or Luke on the board.  Ben's Imperial Guard killed him in eighth.

That left seven to go, and Jango, who had Rocket Retreated after being attacked by Rob, suddenly found himself surrounded by less-than-friendly allies.  They circled and attacked.  Curtis' Dooku dropped the final shot and Grant's evening was done.  His terrible luck at picking shooters, though, remains strongly intact.

Curtis' paranoia ratcheted up to eleven as he saw his former partners starting to circle.  Before he knew it he was the focus of attack and crashed out in sixth.  That left a final five of Ben/Emperor, Daniel/Boba, Nathan/Maul, Kaleb/Anakin, and Joel/Vader...a (mostly) dark side fight!

Multiple alliances formed and changed, and just as it looked like Kaleb's Anakin might be gaining control, Daniel's Boba Fett dropped an un-defended Kyber Dart that shockingly exited Kaleb from the board.  Don't feel too sorry for him, though, because he's reclaimed the #1 Dueler ranking!

After Daniel's fierce firepower the remaining Duelers turned their attention on him.  Joel's Vader eliminated him in fourth.  Daniel's had quite a nice little run as of late!  And then there were three...

Initially it looked like Nathan/Maul and Ben/Emperor would team against Joel's Vader.  But as they worked Vader's health marker toward zero Ben started addressing Maul.  That forced Nathan into attacking the Emperor instead.  Joel's Vader retreated to the snow bank end of the board while Maul and Emperor duked it out.  Ben played extremely well, including dropping a You Will Die on Vader, but Nathan pulled an Athletic Surge at the exact right time to kill Ben in third place.  Ben continues to rise up the Dueler rankings as he continues to stalk his first victory.

Nathan, damaged from the Emperor, had no choice but to advance towards Vader before Joel re-drew a Throw Debris or Wrath.  He got an attack or two in, but Joel rolled out to confront him.  Despite dropping a Blinding Surge to knock Joel down to two points from dying, he didn't have an adequate enough defense to block Vader's second attack.  Joel won his third career Duel!  And that extends Vader's character lead to nine career wins.  The final order of finish:

12.  Ethan/Mace Windu
11.  JD/Obi-Wan Kenobi
10.  Coleman/Han Solo
9.  Ryan/Yoda
8.  Rob/Luke Skywalker
7.  Grant/Jango Fett
6.  Curtis/Count Dooku
5.  Kaleb/Anakin Skywalker
4.  Daniel/Boba Fett
3.  Ben H./Emperor Palpatine
2.  Nathan/Darth Maul
1.  Joel/Darth Vader

Happy birthday again, Ryan!  Thanks to everyone who came out to play.  Now let's start talking Avengers spoilers...