The Imperial March - March 25, 2017

Emperor's Throne Room 

As the twin suns set on the Baylor Campus, twelve brave warriors rendezvoused at the North Village Community Center.  The nice spring weather betrayed the true intent of these combatants...to conquer and kill until the new Emperor's Trophy was theirs and theirs alone!  It was only fitting that Grant picked the Throne Room for the killing field.

The 2017 Imperial March was important for a few reasons.  First - we welcomed two new professionally ranked Duelers into our midst!  Both Liz and Dalton are now officially sanctioned veterans - congrats to both!  We are now at FIFTEEN ranked professionals - a record for our Duels league!  And we also had two Duel debuts - Ethan and Samuel made their first ever 12-Way starts.  One would finish much stronger than the other...  #foreshadowing

JD deploys his Battle Droids

The game started but not without some laughs (at least for eleven of us).  Poor Jonathan, the unluckiest picker of characters ever, landed Han Solo for a second game in a row...this after picking second for characters!  Needless to say, he wasn't happy.  But both he and Dalton's Obi-Wan Kenobi soon defected and all of a sudden it was eight to four in favor of the Dark Side.

Four of the Duelers in this pic are about to stage a coup!

Ian's Yoda was an early victim of Grant's "Throw Debris" and Rob's "Force Lightning," and eventually bowed out in twelfth because of it.  That's the second time in Ian's career he's won one month and finished last the next.  That's a form of consistency with mixed blessings.  

Ethan was awarded Anakin and Padme for his first Duel, but the other Duelers were unforgiving with the novice.  Grant's Vader "Choked" Padme and soon Ani was flying solo.  That's when Ethan got aggressive and "Wrathed" Zam and Greedo in the same turn, killing both.  Despite his valiant efforts, Stevie's Boba Fett sent Ethan packing in eleventh.  Come back next time, Ethan!  Liz/Mace, who had also been loyal to the original Light Side starters, got struck down by Stephen/Dooku in tenth.  That was a career-worst finish for Liz, which her mother quickly pointed out via text message.

With nine to go and facing long odds, Samuel was on the ropes with Luke Skywalker.  He almost played an "I Will Not Fight You" on Rob/Emperor, but didn't realize he would have to discard his own cards too.  A couple of rounds later he decided it was worth the risk, but Rob suggested Jonathan's Han Solo, who was in full health with Chewie on the board and no Bowcaster blasts at that point.  Jonathan was devastated when JD/Maul, Grant/Vader, and Rob/Emperor took him...but not before Han played double "Never Tell Me the Odds" on both of them.

Stephen can't look as he attacks Stevie.

That turned out to be the turning point in the game, because out of nowhere, Ryan/Jango "Fired Up the Jet Pack" and used his "Flamethrower" on the trio of Dark Side characters, who were so comfortable in their back row alliance they didn't realize the Fetts, Obi-Wan, and Dooku had turned on them!  It was a masterful flip with devastating results.  JD's Maul was first to perish, and with a fistful of "Sith Speed" unused.  It was not the night JD hoped for, though he did become just the second Dueler in league history to reach 30 games played during the match.  That left seven Duelers to go, but Grant's Vader ran out of health points when Dalton's Obi-Wan finished him in seventh place.  

The alliance of four, plus Samuel's lone wolf Luke, all stared across the board at Rob's Emperor Palpatine.  As he's prone to do, Rob's mouth went on rapid fire, looking for cracks in the alliance while also whispering strategy suggestions for Samuel in the case of Rob's likely demise.  Rob did bait Ryan/Jango into confirming Stevie was on the bottom of the alliance, and rewarded Rob with the final blow for his efforts.

Stephen still can't look.

That left five Duelers:  Samuel/Luke, Ryan/Jango, Stephen/Dooku, Stevie/Boba, and Dalton/Obi.  Sure enough, the tribe of four ignored Luke Skywalker, injured and alone at the other end of the board, to start in on Stevie.  Boba wouldn't go down without a fight, but accidentally got caught in his own "Thermal Detonator" blast when he tried to blow up Dooku and Obi.  Dalton eventually got the upper hand and removed Stevie in fifth, but not without taking some damage.

The final four was set, which is ironic, because that's what was happening in March Madness at the exact same time.  And for the first time in recent memory, there were no clear alliances.  Suddenly Samuel/Luke had healed a lot of his damage and carded up during the chaos, and he organized Ryan/Jango's ouster in fourth place.  Dalton's Obi-Wan Kenobi was down to just three health points, and just as Luke thought Dooku would help him finish Kenobi off he betrayed him like the Sith he is!  Samuel, who looked like he could win his first ever 12-Way with the only character to have never won, had to stop in third place and with two "Justice" cards still in his hand.  Ouch.

Stephen and Dalton, the two North Village staff members, looked each other in the eye, sized up what needed to be done, and got to work.  Obi was still quite bloody, so he ran away for a stretch to heal up a bit.  Dooku didn't pursue him too quickly, preferring to card up.  But the delay appeared to benefit Obi more than the Count.  Stephen moved in with Dooku and got Obi all the way back down to two health points.  But he had little defense left himself, and rather than turn and run, Obi gambled with two of his own attacks.  It was enough...DALTON WON!  His first game as a professional and he won his first 12-Way!  Congrats Dalton!!!

They're both smiling.

This was a storybook victory for Dalton.  In his previous five Duels, he had placed higher than each of his previous finishes.  Since he was second place at the Valentine's Duel, the only way to maintain the streak was to win...which he did!  This also marks Obi-Wan's sixth career victory, which moves him into FIRST PLACE in career character wins...not to mention making Ackbar's day by fulfilling his prediction!

Final order of finish:

12.  Yoda/Ian

11.  Anakin/Ethan

10.  Mace/Liz

9.  Han/Jonathan

8.  Maul/JD

7.  Vader/Grant

6.  Emperor/Rob

5.  Boba/Stevie

4.  Jango/Ryan

3.  Luke/Samuel

2.  Dooku/Stephen

1.  Obi-Wan/Dalton

Thanks to everyone for playing, and my apologies for those on the wait list who didn't get a chance.  I'm humbled to know so many folks want to partake in this experience.  Stay tuned for next month's Duel...THE DUEL OF THE FATES!

Preview: The Imperial March - March 25, 2017

It's been almost fifty days since our last Duel!  I've got the shakes...I need a fix!!!  Have no fear, fellow Dueling junkies, The Imperial March is here!  On second thought, have a LOT of fear...the IMPERIAL MARCH IS HERE!

HISTORY:

2015 - The craziest ending in Duels history, Grant was "Force Drained" down to one card...his BOWCASTER!  Which Chewie used to kill Ian and give Grant the epic win.

2016 - Alex's Padme used a "Precise Shot" to finish off Chris' Obi-Wan Kenobi to give Anakin the win.

MEET THE DUELERS:

Dalton - Awesome news for Dalton...he reaches professional status with this match!  And he's coming off a second place finish at the Valentine's Duel to boot.

Ethan - What's that smell...? FRESH MEAT!  Ethan is making his rookie debut after playing the role of peaceful observer at the Valentine's Duel.

Grant - Grant has finished in fifth place in three of his last four Duels and has a career average of a perfect 5.00.  Next time you see him, give him a "high five."  HA!  Get it!?!

Ian - He notched his third career victory at the Valentine's Duel with Darth Maul...which also happened to be Maul's third victory but first since...September of 2014!

JD - There are people in this world that will log onto a computer, Google "Star Wars Trophies," find pictures of JD's handiwork, and then commission JD to make them one for a substantial amount of money.  Just when I think this league has reached maximum insanity...

Jonathan - After a nifty second place finish in January, Jonathan took a tumble at the Valentine Duel when he finished in 11th place after drawing yet another bottom ranked character.  He's been assigned a handicapped character in over half of his Duels.

Liz - Dalton isn't the only one going pro!  Liz will try to rebound from her ninth place finish at A New Hope as she enters the hallowed halls of professional ranking.

Rob - Rob's mediocre sixth place finish with Boba Fett at the Valentine's Duel marked only the second time he has played with the bounty hunter in 35 career Duels.

Ryan - Ryan achieved his best finish since the 2016 Doubleheader at the Valentine's Duel by pulling into third place with Count Dooku.  He nearly won the game...

Samuel - Yet another noob is making his first career appearance at a 12-Way Duel.  The Kokernot Kid hopes his small game experience will translate onto the big stage.

Stephen - Poor Stephen has finished last place in three of his last four matches...this after finishing first in two of his previous three Duels.  He is a man of extremes.

Stevie - Stevie looked like the man to beat at the Valentine's Duel until Dalton and Ian betrayed him with four players left.  The soon-to-be-married Dueler would love record his first career victory.

MAGNETIC LEGO ADMIRAL ACKBAR PREDICTS THE WINNER:

Uh-oh.  When a fish starts swimming upside down, they're close to death.  The same might be true for Ackbar.  He hasn't successfully predicted a winner since the Doubleheader.  But he likes Obi-Wan for the March Duel.

Magnetic Lego Admiral Ackbar's Prediction Record:

1-8.

That's all for now - feel free to stop by North Village around 8PM on Saturday to witness the IMPERIAL MARCH for yourself!

Character Analysis - Vol. 1

The Valentine's Duel marked the 35th Duel in league history, if you can believe it.  That's a nice round number to prompt some character analysis.

I decided to see what it would look like if you stacked up each character's individual finishes, in descending order, and compared them to each other.  That would give you 35 "rounds" with a numerical value of 1 (win) through 12 (last).  Is there anything we can learn by comparing character finishes this way?

Click on the chart above to expand its size.  The x-axis represents the number of Duels played (35) while the y-axis represents their best order of finish.  Some things begin to stand out immediately.  That brown/orange line that tends to stay at the bottom of the group?  That's Jango Fett.  Through the first 15 rounds (games) he's no worse than a third place finish.  Throuh 19 rounds he's no worse than fourth.  25 rounds?  He's still a top six finish.  As you can imagine, he holds or shares the leads from rounds 6 through 27.  That's nothing short of incredible, and a clear indication as to why he's the top ranked character.

There's another way to look at this too.  Who are the best and worst characters through all 35 rounds?  That's harder to see on the graph since so many of the 12 lines intersect.  Check this out:

Again, you can click on the image above to get a better view of the data, but the chart is simple.  If your box is highlighted green, it means you lead or are tied for the lead with the best finish in that round.  If your box is red, it means you have the worst (or tied for worst) finish after that round.

Right away you can see Luke's career goose egg for victories hurt him in this graph.  It takes him until round five to get out of the red.  After that, though, you can see he's a pretty average character, even sharing a lead in four subsequent rounds.  Darth Vader has a pretty line.  He leads through six rounds and then leads again in rounds 26 through 30.  In fact, he has the second fewest red bars of the 12 characters.

Who has the fewest red bars?  That would be Mace Windu...with zero!  That's right.  While eight characters have finished last at least three times, Mace never has, with three 11th place finishes his worst performances.  That's outstanding over 35 Duels.

Who has the fewest green bars?  Emperor Palpatine, with 1.  He's a middle-ranked character who, unsurprisingly, finishes in the middle of the pack a lot of the time.  In rounds 8 through 28 he had no color at all.  Another interesting snapshot is Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He's tied for the career lead with victories and has the longest uninterrupted green bar streak through seven rounds, but he falls off a cliff starting in the ninth round. 

What stands out to you in the charts above?  Talk about it in the comments below!

Valentine's Duel - February 4, 2017

Kamino Platform

On a cool winter's night (uh...53 degrees) twelve Duelers gathered to express their love...of destruction and mayhem!  That's right, the third annual Valentine's Duel was a friendly reminder that amorous attitudes are nothing compared to the dark side of EPIC DUELING!  

The calm before the Kamino storm...

JD was running a touch late so we let Ian do the honors of picking the board.  The battleground?  Kamino Platform!  We hadn't played there since Thanksdueling, and the soft rain of Jango's crash pad added to the romantic setting of the Valentine's Duel.  I feel like I just made things weird.  Anyway...  This was the rookie debut of Hailey!  She got Mace in her first ever character pick.  Grant got Jango, and he hadn't picked him since...ever!  It's funny to think somebody with as much logged game time as Grant can still play with somebody he's never used before. 

The game commenced, and for the second Duel in a row, Grant made the first big move.  He used his Zam Wessel to move in and attack Joel's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  The light side responded by killing Zam soon after, but the blood was in the water for poor Obi.  JD's Yoda attacked him in order to flip to the dark side.  Despite repelling numerous attacks, it was Ryan's Super Battle Droid that made the first kill of the night.  Joel played in his fifth Duel, though, so knowing his next match will bring him to professional status might be of small comfort after a disappointing finish.

Luke and Mace in trouble

The next death came completely out of the blue.  Jonathan's Han Solo had defected to the dark side almost immediately after the game started.  But Ian's Darth Maul was full carded and thirsting for blood!  Poor Jonathan never saw it coming - Maul mauled him in eleventh place.  Jonathan's unlucky streak in picking characters continues.  At this point it was obvious Kaleb/Luke, Curtis/Ani, and Hailey/Mace were in a heap of trouble.  Despite successfully damaging JD's treacherous Yoda, they were hurting.  But Curtis attacked Luke and then defected to the dark side alliance!  After that Ryan's Dooku swooped in and Force Pushed Hailey deep into a dark side kill box.  But Ryan's alliance became nervous, knowing Mace had yet to unleash the Whirlwinds.  Rob's Boba shot and Rocket Retreated out of the threat, but thankfully, Dalton's Palpatine used Force Lightning to end Hailey's rookie debut in tenth.  

With three down the large dark side alliance was too big to maintain the status quo.  In the ensuing chaos Grant/Jango did more damage to JD's Yoda.  But it was Ian, once again fully loaded with attack cards, who turned the tables on his new partner, Curtis/Anakin.  He unfurled a slew of attacks, and Rob's Boba put the finishing hit on the exposed Anakin.  That made it a ninth place ending for Curtis, who had Admiral Ackbar's predicted character to win.  Oh well.  While all of this was going on Kaleb's Luke Skywalker was hilariously still alive.  You have to hand it to Kaleb, he was trying his best and keeping his head down in his second ever Duel.  But his time finally expired when Dalton's Royal Guard shot him from across the board.  That left seven to go, Yoda and ALL SIX dark side characters.  Ian was loyal to JD, but the rest of the alliance was no longer comfortable having the diminutive green Jedi walking among the living.  That's when Stevie's Darth Vader, who was full bar health and still had both Storm Troopers, Wrathed and Threw Debris at JD to end his night in seventh.  And that made for another amazing accomplishment.  For the first time in league history (I think), the final six characters were all from the dark side!  You see something new in every Duel you play! 

The final six stared at each other around the table...and nobody knew quite what to do.  The dark side had stayed strong but it was time to start devouring their own.  It happened to be Rob/Boba's turn, so he attacked Stevie's Vader in hopes that the rest of the board would follow suite.  He was wrong!  Stevie compelled the rest of the group to go after Boba, and Ian/Maul and Dalton/Emperor followed suit.  Ryan/Dooku and Grant/Jango loosely defended him, but Rob was shockingly out next in sixth.

Dalton at the crossroads

That made it five to go, and the board started to turn against Ryan's Dooku, who was in great health and still had both Super Battledroids alive.  Grant shot him and Rocket Retreated to behind his ship, where Maul, Vader, and Emperor were lurking.  They rewarded Jango's loyalty, at Ian's suggestion, with an attack!  That's right, Darth Maul claimed another victim.  Amazingly, Grant finished fifth, which also happens to be his exact average career finish.  #consistency

In the meantime, Ryan's Dooku made an expert move by pinning his three remaining foes behind Slave One with his droids.  That forced Dalton into a gut wrenching decision - who would he betray?  The spectators were sure he would play "You Will Die" on Maul so that Stevie could use his "All Too Easy" on Ian...but Dalton attacked Stevie!  Ian didn't immediately have Dalton's back but he didn't defend Vader either.  Stevie was hurting from some of the attacks Greedo and Dooku had caused, and before long, the Emperor killed Vader.  You have to hand it to Stevie, though.  He played in awesome game!

With three to go Ryan's Dooku converged.  Again, the crowd expected Dalton to play "You Will Die" on Maul, but he stayed loyal to Ian and used it on Dooku!  At that point, everyone assumed Ian would back-stab Dalton...but he didn't!  He went after Ryan, who finished in third place, his best results since the Doubleheaders.  With two to go Dalton was in trouble - Maul wasn't damaged enough to give him much hope.  Emperor is a sneaky and tricky character, but his attack values are limited.  Ian chased the Emperor around the board several times before Dalton's luck ran out.  Just as he picked up "You Will Die" again, Maul used his patented "Does Not Count As An Action" cards in succession, killing Dalton in second and giving Ian his third career victory and Darth Maul's first win since 2014!  That's a long time!  And Dalton completed his fifth career Duel, meaning he goes professional next time.  His other amazing feat?  In five career Duels he's improved his final finish each time he's played!

To the victor goes the spoils!

The final order of finish:

12.  Joel/Obi

11.  Jonathan/Han Solo

10.  Hailey/Mace

9.  Curtis/Anakin

8.  Kaleb/Luke

7.  JD/Yoda

6.  Rob/Boba

5.  Grant/Jango

4.  Stevie/Vader

3.  Ryan/Dooku

2.  Dalton/Emperor

1.  Ian/Maul

Thanks to everyone who played - it was a good Duel!  We'll be back next month for...THE IMPERIAL MARCH!

Preview: Valentine's Duel - February 4, 2017

Ahh February, a month to express your love for the most important people in your life.  Family, friends, significant others, minor characters with cool "Special" cards...you know, the people you care about!

It's hard to believe, but we're already playing our second Duel of 2017 - the Valentine's Duel!  It's a bit ironic that the eleven friends you have before the game starts become the targets for the hearts you hope to break!  Because in the end, there's only one love...THE LOVE OF WINNING A 12-WAY DUEL!  On to the preview, you sentimental saps...

HISTORY:

2015 - Rob's Darth Vader, with help from Grant's Luke, outlasts Kristen's Yoda for the win.

2016 - The only Duel in the history of the league to feature a tie for second - Grant's Han played "Never Tell Me The Odds" on Rob and Ian, killing them both in one shot for the win.

MEET THE DUELERS:

For this month's preview, we'll reveal the things our Duelers love about the game...

Curtis - he loves...his Darth Vader trophy!  That's right, the winner of the 2016 Championship has secretly been observed whispering sweet nothings into Vader's gold-plated ears...

Dalton - he loves...a good comeback!  After reeling off four consecutively better Duels at the start of the school year, Dalton disappeared.  But he's back and ready to rumble...

Grant - he loves...the Valentine's Duel!  He got third place two years ago and first last year.  Clearly he has a heart for February fracases...

Hailey - she loves...rookie debuts!  That's right friends, Hailey is playing in her first ever Duel.  We'll have to see if she's ready to tussle with the professionals...

Ian - he loves...running underground Duel leagues!  The word on the street is that North Village has become a hive of scum and villainy, crawling with new Duelers.  We must be cautious...

JD - he loves...trophies!  If you haven't been to the last couple of Duels, you may not know that JD has started making a traveling trophy for each of the 12 annual Duels we play during the year.  And he's really outdone himself for the Valentine's Duel...

Joel - he loves...the mental warfare!  You don't get to be a CL in the Honors College without having a brain to match.  Though he had a rough go of it last time, Joel is ready to set his psychological traps on unsuspecting Duelers...

Jonathan - he loves...good characters!  He's had a run of bad character picks, but when he got the top ranked Jango at the New Hope Duel, he shot up to a second place finish, his best ever...

Kaleb - he loves...poker faces!  A New Hope was his first career Duel, but he was faking veterans out left and right with his theatrics at the table.  You would never have guessed he was a rookie...

Rob - he loves...second chances!  After winning Rogue Won in December, he bottomed out in eleventh place at A New Hope.  He'll try to rebound this time around...

Ryan - he loves...Luke Skywalker!  Seriously you two, get a room...

Stevie - he loves...going big!  There will be a moment during every Duel where Stevie is ready to make a big splash.  Just pray you aren't on the receiving end of it...

MAGNETIC LEGO ADMIRAL ACKBAR PREDICTS THE WINNER:

"The shield is down!  Anakin, commence attack!"

A bold choice!  Ackbar likes Anakin to pull this one out.  But let's be honest, Ackbar doesn't exactly have the Midas touch...

Magnetic Lego Admiral Ackbar's prediction record:  1-7.

Well folks, one of the brave souls above will be struck by cupid's arrow.  Everyone else will get hit with light sabers and blasters.  As always, all are welcome to come and watch!  This Saturday, 8PM, in the North Village Community Center.  See you then!!!

(And don't forget to vote in the new poll on the right hand side of the page!)