Games The 25th Jedi Draft - The Silver Anniversary Edition!! (Champion: Point Given!)

...and on that note, sorry I haven't been able to argue. Leaving aside that I don't have the comics at hand myself, I wasn't joking about the job thing. I've not had much time to spend online this week, with the need to keep on pushing to hopefully get the hometown teaching post.

I should hopefully have more time soon. Hopefully.

 

Good luck, dude!

 

lmao, who needs a JOB Sky


Wang, I'm a little confused man. The first panels show Krayt using Cade's ability to basically kill Cade-- that was your original point right, that Krayt beat him there? And there's no question Cade is being ripped apart by his own reverse-shatterpoint ability (Krayt says what it is, it's a callback to Cade in Legacy #16).

But the panels don't end there-- Cade pulls himself together (mirroring Krayt in War #1), fakes like he's made a dark turn, and kills him instead. That part's calculated. He's returned from the precipice of death and flipped control of the situation, which I think he gets credit for. I guess you're saying Krayt could've lopped his head off right then? But Cade had just come back from being ripped apart, and was playing the part of a Sith, so idk why he would. I mean in hindsight sure lol.


However you read it though, I don't see it swinging this match.

Even downplaying Cade deking the Dark Lord in the end, that duel is against a better opponent (Krayt), using a surprise unique technique (Cade's own reverse-healing power) to gain any upper-hand.

Ahsoka Tano is not gonna be in that position here. She's not gonna be able to hit him with his own shatterpoint move like Krayt, so she's gotta incapacitate him another way. She's not gonna be able to overpower him, and if she tries while using any Clone Wars puns he's probably putting her through a wroshyr tree. She could attempt to duel him to death, but Krayt is a pretty baller swordsman and Cade's bladework in that fight (and in their prior meeting) doesn't slip, to say nothing of his other battles or ability to supplement saber with power.

If this was Krayt vs. Cade, totally get that track. I think Skywalker's too much for Ahsoka though, I just do.

Sidenote: the end of that comic is just beautifully-written, thanks for the reason to read that. There's an extra twinge knowing it's not canon anymore, but man it's some of the best stuff regardless. Hope any newer stuff can capture some of that for the next generation of fans.

 

Yikes, been a while. Hope all is well with everyone.

 

I'm not much of a fan of most of the new stuff, but Rebels, to me, is some of the better SW stuff all-time. It's a lot like TCW- sure there are some boring eye-roll/for-kids moments, but when it's good it's good

 

As a fun aside, what would everyone say their absolute fave material is?

 

It was a slow process for me in warming up to both of the animation series. Like DE said so many useless episodes, but too many good ones that gave us many great Clone Wars moments. Darth Maul returning was odd but then really got good when he started his actions, The Ones was pretty cool, Anything with Dooku and Sidious was great, and it gave us Ahsoka who was annoying at first but then I like her in the back half of the series when she grew up. Anakin, Obi, and the Jedi got a lot of love which was cool to see IMO.

Rebels I liked pretty much immediately. Everything about it is great. Main cast. VADER!!, Fulcrum, Maul, Thrawn, Old Ben, Rex, Saw. So good and a lot less throw away episodes. I enjoy the elusiveness of Force mastery and love it when we see it compared to Kanan, Ezra, and even Fulcrum and Maul to a certain extent. (Sorry Wang)

@Yodaminch
@Evil Incarnate

Finish this please.

 

That's similar to my take on Maul's return- the decision itself to bring back Maul is really dumb. Like the dude got chopped in half and dropped down a bottomless shaft, no way he should be alive 10+ years later. That said, the arc they gave him was great and they used him really well

Same- really didn't care much for Ahsoka when the movie came out and early in TCW.....shed some tears when she left at the end of Season 5

 

I may think less of Wolf, but I love Shado. You are correct however that against a prepared Leia, it's not enough. I do feel that poor Wolf has hit some bad opponents and as a result, he's dragged down Shado. In truth, it's a good pairing that has had some spectacularly bad luck in drawing more skilled opponents where Wolf can be taken down quickly and then Shado is outmanned.

I agree with Ken on everyone except I am voting Ahsoka over Cade. Cade has the power, but Ahsoka has the skill. True she left the order, but peak Ahsoka stands toe to toe with Vader. Were his powers more controlled and his training more complete, then yes, I might vote Cade. I just feel that Ahsoka is the smarter, more skilled opponent and location favors her.

 

@Evil Incarnate

Ahsoka vs Cade

 

I've enjoyed Rebels through and through. Really liked Saw and Steela and their connection to the Jedi, making Rogue one even more fun when he appeared.

Btw, I was just watching R1 the other day and noticed the background PA calling for "Commander Syndulla"?? Had one of those OMG moments.

 

Sorry, been swamped with work.

I'm going to go with Ashoka over Case. Cade had more potential IMO, but legends getting cut short did him no favors. Ashoka on the other hand keeps getting new feats under her belt in the new Canon, and they are fairly impressive.

Evil.

 

Round 1

Location: Shadowlands, Kashyyyk

Final Results

Numbers 1, 4, 7

DarthIntegral (3) vs. The Vanguard (3)

1. Shigar Koshi vs. 1. Vodo Siosk Bass
4. Nomi Sunrider/Thon TRUMPED W/ Tott Donetta/Cay Qel-Droma vs. 4. Tsui Choi/Bultar Swan
7. Kam Solusar vs. 7. Marasiah Fel TRUMPED Azlyn Rae (FORFEIT)

DarkEagle (4) vs. cubman987 (2)

1. Darth Zannah vs. 1. Darth Wyyrlok (III) TRUMPED Darth Talon/Darth Nihl (FORFEIT)
4. Darth Sidious vs. 4. Darth Vitiate
7. Darth Krayt vs. 7. Darth Sion TRUMPED Darth Nihilus

Wang Chi (4) vs. Skywalker_T-65 (2)

1. Leia Organa Solo (PREP) vs. 1. Wolf Sazen/Shado Vao
4. Ahsoka Tano vs. 4. Cade Skywalker
7. Tresina Lobi vs. 7. Celeste Morne TRUMPED with Zayne Carrick

________________________________________________________________________________

Round 1

Location: Shadowlands, Kashyyyk

Numbers 2, 3, 6, 10

@DarthIntegral (3) vs. @The Vanguard (3)

2. Luke Skywalker vs. 2. Kerra Holt
3. Jaden Korr vs. 3. Yoda
6. Tott Donetta/Cay Qel-Droma TRUMPED W/ Nomi Sunrider/Thon (FORFEIT) vs. 6. Quinlan Vos TRUMPED An'ya Kuro (FORFEIT)
10. Satele Shan vs. 10. Rahm Kota

@DarkEagle (4) vs. @cubman987 (2)

2. Sarasu Taalon trumped w/ Viun Gaalan (FORFEIT) vs. 2. Darth Malak
3. Darth Traya (prep) vs. 3. Exar Kun (PREP)
6. Vaylin vs. 6. Darth Nihilus TRUMPED Darth Sion (FORFEIT)
10. Sora Bulq vs. 10. Darth Stryfe TRUMPED Darth Azard/Darth Havok (FORFEIT)

@Wang Chi (4) vs. @Skywalker_T-65 (2)

2. Kit Fisto/Aayla Secura trumped with Ki-Adi Mundi/Oppo Rancisis (FORFEIT) vs. 2. Ben Skywalker
3. Fay vs. 3. Aryn Leneer/Ven Zallow
6. Qui-Gon Jinn trumped with Arca Jeth (FORFEIT) vs. 6. Anakin Skywalker
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. 10. Zayne Carrick TRUMPED with Celeste Morne (FORFEIT)

 

Whew. I was worried how those numbers might shake out. Luke avoiding the forfeit and Satele avoiding Yoda is pretty much the best I could hope for. Looks like Luke and Yoda in no contests, and Satele in a fun one that is never really in doubt, and the double-forfeit ending it before teams. yes?

@The Vanguard - you had me worried. nice team.

 

Rahhhmmm!

Refresher on the grizzly old timer: surviving O-66 and the Great Jedi Purge, Rahm was a brilliant tactician. Coupled with his brilliance, he was a Juyo practitioner which meant his strongest form of lightsaber combat was tailored for one-on-one battles. The Force Unleashed novels shows Rahm at his peak, deflecting lightning attacks with his hand and showing his erratic and unpredictable style of attack against Galen. I need to reiterate, Kota let his guard down when he saw the light in Starkiller. Rahm may as well have handed over his lightsaber at that point because he wasn't going to fight anymore. Satele is a beast-ess but Rahm is the wild card here, pulling moves from up his sleeve to catch her off guard.

Aaaaand back to work.

EDIT: (Had to offer something) Thanks Inty, you too! Your squad is definitely stacked for the playoffs. @DarthIntegral

 

lol forfeit city, this round is easy

Inty vs. Vandy

Luke
Yoda
Double-forfeit
Satele

DE vs. cubby

Malak via forfeit
Kun (prepped)
Vaylin via forfeit
Sora via forfeit

Wang vs. Sky

Ben via forfeit
Aryn/Ven
Skywalker via forfeit
Kenobi via forfeit

 

Back at ya

 

Agreed on all matches.

Let's get this moving again!

Evil.

 

So we have TEAMS

@Wang Chi

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ahsoka Tano
Saba Sebatyne
Leia Organa-Solo
Kit Fisto/Oppo Rancisis
Arca Jeth
Ki-Adi Mundi/Aayla Secura
Qui-Gon Jinn
Tresina Lobi
Fay

@Skywalker_T-65

1. Anakin Skywalker
2. Ulic Qel-Droma
3. Cade Skywalker
4. Ben Skywalker
5. Aryn Leneer/Ven Zallow
6. Wolf Sazen/Shado Vao
7. Nat Skywalker
8. Gnost Dural
9. Celeste Morne
10. Zayne Carrick

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano vs. Anakin Skywalker



that is why I will always love the drafts.

 

I'll have a short and sweet arg for the team battle up tomorrow.

As for the other question: I can't really pinpoint a single favorite piece of EU material, but I can easily state a timeframe (one that I think might be a lot of peoples' faves as well). That whole period between AotC and RotS for me was, hands down, the most fun I had as a SW geek. My passion for it has gone down quite a bit these days, but man... even if they weren't all masterpieces, I was super into every one of those CW novels, from Shatterpoint to LoE and the RotS novelization. The Republic series was at its best, I loved the style of that CW micro series, the NJO was winding down (I had gotten a little burnt out on it towards the end, though) and it's also when we got KotOR.

Not to mention the tail end of that era is also when I first got into these drafts as well. Good times.

 

Okay, Judges let us finish this.

@KenKenobi
@Yodaminch
@Evil Incarnate

 

Sorry, just straight up forgot.

As much as part of me hates to boil what is such a great match down to a couple simple things, they really do make all the difference.

I'm not going to do an individual matchup breakdown, but if I did, there's lot of great matches down the line that could go either way.

I would give power to them, what with all dem Skywalkers, but I'd give a bit of a skill edge to my crew. Experience is nice on both teams. Kind of a wash, IMO.

Cohesion is firmly in my squad's favor, despite their's being not bad at all. In fact it's quite good. Anakin's a solid leader for this bunch, you of course have that Legacy crew, Celeste and Zayne, and presumably Gnost and Aryn/Ven are at least somewhat familiar (you'll have to forgive my general ignorance of that era).

But even if I can look at the personality types and say that they'd mesh well in all likelihood, the fact that Anakin, the leader of the team, has never once actually met (let alone fought with) a single member of his crew is at least a bit of a problem, wouldn't you say? Yeah, there's the whole "OMG you're a Skywalker?! lol me too!" thing, it's not a substitute for actual shared combat experience and genuine familiarity.

Again, must stress, their cohesion is far from bad, but it's not stellar. On my squad, only Arca is on an island of unfamiliarity. On the other hand, it's not just Anakin, but also Ulic and Ben over on the other side. And aside from the arguably the Wolf/Shado duo, there's nothing there that even approaches the Saba/Leia, Kenobi/Jinn, Kit/Aayla levels of cohesion.

And then comes the battle meditation. Not to mention the meld. Yes, in theory, Ben could teach his team the meld and most would likely pick it up quickly, but neither he, nor anyone on the team he's giving a crash course to, is a master of it in the way that either Kenobi or Saba is. And there is no answer on their squad for the BM. Just... none.

Take all those individual matchups that were so close before, and... yep, they almost all swing in favor of my team now. Most of them very solidly. Prime example would be that, under normal circumstances:

Obi-Wan => Anakin - Even if you think it swings in Anakin's favor (though I personally think Kenobi's peak makes it decisive enough to where I almost would take away the =), there's no denying it's one of the best matchups we could possibly get. But then, adding BM to Kenobi makes it...

Obi-Wan > Anakin - I mean, I couldn't and wouldn't ever go >>, but the match is just no longer in doubt. A BM-boosted Kenobi beats Anakin 10/10. He already has, I think, a decent edge, but then we've seen just how incredible and game-changing the ability can be in small group combat. Hell... yeah, to hell with it. I'll go on record saying, based on how she did against Vader, and based on how much stronger it made the likes of Lsu, Xaj and Farfalla and their ability to take on and nearly defeat opponents who would normally be waaaay out of their league, Ahsoka might, MIGHT be able to take Anakin one-on-one. I know. Blasphemy, right? Welp, I went there. I think with the evidence we have at hand, we already know it'd be a really decent fight under normal circumstances.

Anyways, long story short, BM turns what would be an absolute barnburner into a fairly clear match. And my squad is too cohesive and too strategically sound not to take full advantage of their advantages.

 

You know what? I'm convinced. Only one side having battle meditation really makes it lopsided IMO.

Team battle goes to @Wang Chi

Evil.