[mudhawg]

Getting close to the end! We lost our first #1 seed in the last round, but three are still vying for a spot in the Final Four. Winner from the Mage region will take on the champion of the Mastermind/Leader region, while the top Warrior will match blades with the top Assassin.

Tayschrenn v. Gothos matches old versus new. Shadow Throne is a new god, while Tehol has the backing of an elder. Apsalar is now a carbon copy of the ascendant Dancer turned into. And finally, a walking nuclear bomb versus the man who can send you to the hell he literally carries on his back with one fell swoop.

Let it begin!

This post has been edited by mudhawg: 24 March 2010 - 02:38 AM

[SpectreofEschaton]

Can't see Gothos losing to much of anyone, especially if even Raest+Finnest pales in comparison to dear ol' dad.

Shadowthrone has all of Tehol's genius, plus is insane and immortal. Gotta give it to him.

I can't see Dancer wiping out 300+ Claw in a single night, despite how freakishly good he was.

And if anyone could stop full-rage Iccy, it'd be Rake with Dragnipur, though I could almost see Iccy smashing his way out.

[Silencer]

Voting Dancer on principle. Apsalar would actually kick his ass, but let's not put that in the way.
Gothos > Tay
Shadowthrone > Tehol
Anomander > Icarium, simply because Iccy gets touched once by Dragnipur and he's gone, rage or no rage. Even ignoring that, Rake is a better swordsman, and can turn into a dragon if necessary (and Iccy can't use his arrows on Rake, if he's already rage-style).

Hey, would you look at that! The poll agrees with me on all counts. :S

[Sinisdar Toste]

gotta put apsalar above dancer. her rage would be cold and icy.

gothos takes tays

ST, uh, uhyea. sry Tehol.

and lastly but not leastly! Rake and Icarium. literally had to flip a coin on this one, came up tails. Icarium

[Edonidd]

Spoiler

Tay is probably the most powerful wizard of his age, and I believe that was actually stated somewhere, he seems to be pretty much supremely powerful, and is apparently a specialized battle mage. But elder gods beg and bargain with Gothos for his help, and treat him at least as an equal. And he proceeds to work continent spanning rituals. If this is an all out battle and not magic specefic, I believe he is also mentioned to carry a sword, and has some serious control over the azaths. Those are two nice shaved knuckles to have if he wasn't able to simply out magic.

Tehol managed to bring down an economy and be elected king. ST created a multi continent spanning empire, became a god, and took over a whole warren...

Not-apasalorry gets Dancers memories including some of his godly stuff and shadow dancing. She likely improved and added her own flair to it, and may be better than Dancer was as a mortal, or even an ascendant, which she also apparently has become. Cots is a god though, and seems to share control of a whole warren. Even if you figure Apsalar is Cots equal in shadowdancing, and has become his superior in fighting, I have to give the edge to Cots and his rope of shadow-stuff (I think thats what he called it) over her and a couple of regular knives. Closer than the others though if you give her the benefit of the doubt based on some inferences that can be taken in different ways.

Rake vs Iccy is probably the toughest call to make though. Using some conjecture here, so bear with me. Karsa fights Iccy with his sword once and doesn't seem to be outmatched until his wimpy wood sword breaks. Karsa sees Rake and Traveler go at it, and is in awe of their swordplay. Based on that Rake has the edge in swords, plus definately the edge in weapons with Dragnipur taking out anyone with just a scratch. The problem with fighting Iccy though isn't so much his sword, as several others in this region could have probably bested that, its his rage hurricane. Quick Ben managed to hold off that hurricane for a bit, and attributes that as him stretching which accounts for his power-up. So pre-power-up QB can hold off Iccy for a while. This is where conjecture gets tough, because it involves GotM; Rake magically was able to hold off at least for a bit; High Mage Tay, HM Bellurdan, HM (elder god) sister of the cold nights, and the rest of a mage cadre which included another high mage I think , and Silverfox before she was silverfox (blanking on her name) who was offered a position as high mage too. There are different stories about who was doing what, but regardless Rake held them off for a while, and you would have to assume them combined had more power than Quick Ben (probably even post power up) so Rake can almost certainly hold off Iccy's rage long enough to pur him.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Gothos over Tay: God against High Mage seems dicey. Tay did hold back Anomander Rake though and I kinda picture Anomander Rake being a God killer already after taking out draconus...Maybe I voted to soon.

Shadowthrone over Tehol: In a battle of wits I believe the one in the know has the upper hand and lets be honest, right now shadowthrone is all about the knowing. he knows secrets and can manipulate Gods, I'll give him this match.

Dancer vs apsalar...: hmmm.. Dancer as cottilion is like dassem as dassembrae. SOOO much more powerful but SOOO low key as a god. I'd say in cottilion there is the possibility for power that rivals shadowthrone. I wouldn't imagine apsalar winning against her creator, in every department he outranks her.

Rake vs Iccy: give me Rake. I can't really explain why because both are on a new level of powerful. I just feel Anomander has more things going for him than iccy. Who knows what a healed Icarium can do but I know exactly what Rake can do and thats probably why he gets my vote

[Gothos]

with all due respect for ol' Tays, Gothos wins (DOH!).

Tehol may be quite cunning and all, but his little playground is kindergarten compared to what ST has been juggling around lately.

Dancer and Apsalar... I'll go with Dancer here, mostly because we never really get to see what he could do "on screen", and with this world, I'd err to the "more badass" side (mr. Erikson seems to love the "crouching idiot hidden badass" trope and similar stuff...)

Rake wins with Icarium. I can't really imagine anyone beating Rake in single combat, be it melee, magic, or a combination of both, maybe, MAYBE Gothos using a badass finnest (they can have more than one now can't they? ) on top of that.

[Ulrik]

Spoiler

Tay vs. Gothos - Oh ho, what a nice yin and yang... but ice can crush before its melted...Gothos.

ST vs. Tehol - Sorry Tehol, you are brilliant mind, but, well, ST didnt play only in one kingdom, he spread thru mortal realm, warrens, plays with gods...

Dancer vs. Apsalar - God assassin vs clone? I do not believe that she is better than Dancer (despite ST´s words), I do not believe she is worse...so, a lil bit of fanboyism - Dancer. (but he wouldnt fight her)

Icarium vs. Rake - and I smell another fanboyism here (but I like Rake too). If we look ONLY at swordsmanship (which many of us doesnt), Icarium erased whole world...Rake can do same, but with magic and not so fast. IMO is Iccy in his Rage Form (Icarium I choose you!) superior to any entity in Malaz realm. Until she handles "Sleep" spell:) Damn, he kills full grown Azath.

[T'renn]

Gothos is Omtos pellack, Ice, it will melt before the raw power of fully mastered fire. And his mastery over the Azath will only matter if Tays walks into an Azath yard,

Gods rule the field concerning all others, so Dancer ST en Ano

[Ulrik]

Imperial High Mage Tayschrenn, on 24 March 2010 - 11:52 AM, said:

Gothos is Omtos pellack, Ice, it will melt before the raw power of fully mastered fire. And his mastery over the Azath will only matter if Tays walks into an Azath yard,

Gods rule the field concerning all others, so Dancer ST en Ano

When giant piece of frost hit your head, there is no time to melt it And even fire needs oxygen...and frozen air...OK, OK, Im no Sheldon! But I understand that you have to stay at your side

[T'renn]

Fire from the Labyrinth of Telas. Imagine a huge bathtub full of fire in which you only need to make a hole. And Tays can make a very huge one. If Telas were concerned with oxygen, the warren would have snuffed out a few days after K'rul made it.

[Ulrik]

Point for ya! (dont bring physics and climatology to fantasy - golden rule I forgot)

[Dolmen 2.0]

Grantd that telas against omtose phalleck favours telas bt wuld such a principle hold when it comes down 2 elder warrens? Darkness is seen as an open contender 2 light. By al logic light should clean the floor against darkness but it doesn't. I think the quality of telas pales in comparison 2 the quality of omtose phalleck

[Gothos]

By all means I don't think this would be a contest of aspects. Raw brute power would be enough. In them Jaghut wars, I wouldn't say Imass were just frozen in ice or whatever - there were being shattered, torn to pieces, blown apart.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Spoiler

Tay vs Gothos: Tay is the most powerful mortal mage in the world but really, Gothos sneers upon EG and beings like Raest, masters OP to the point of stopping another powerhouse like Hood and seems to have some sort of control over the Azth. Voted Gothos.

Tehol vs ST: They are on the same level of geius but ST is without doubt much more powerful(duh!). Sure Tehol can call on Mael(who I sort of see as the most powerful god around, don't really know why) but we have seen twice in the series that Mael can arrive late. Voted ST.

Dancer vs Apsalar: Apsalar is his copy. It's like saying that one of those Elvis sosias in Las Vegas can sing better than the original. Ok, maybe it's a bad analogy. Lets just say I'm a fan . Voted Dancer.

Icarium vs Rake: Icarium is a walking death machine, seems to be completely immune to magic, stronger than Karsa and unstopable. Rake on the other is the son of the Supposed ceator of the universe, possesses uncomaparable magical powers, wileds a soul-snatching sword, can turn into a dragon and is possibly the greatest swordsman alive. If there is one who can beat Icarium it's him(and no It's not a fan's vote, I much prefer Icarium to Lord Emo). Voted Rake

[rhulad]

Gothos - I don't think there is anyone that he couldn't kill.
Shadowthrone - Tehol is awesome and all but Shadowthrone has an entire warren at his disposal
Dancer - Teacher > student.
Icarium - Just cause everyone seems to be more terrified of him...

[The Seguleh 46th]

Went Gothos over Tays, for the simple fact that i think Gothos is one of the very few elite select players behind everything going on in the series (can't really pinpoint why, just a nagging hunch...), so Tays would have been one of his pawns anyways

Shadowthrone over Tehol for ST's sheer mad genuis (although if he's worried over his own Magi, then maybe this could be a very close battle) and having a warren at his disposal (big fragment anyhow)

I went Apsalar for the showdown with Dancer. She's got his memories and virtually all, if not in fact all. of his deadly skills. She uses this to her advantage in one nasty and epic Shadowdance. Although a fight between them two would most likely end up with BOTH dead when its said and done!

Icarium gone Chernobyl would fuck Rake up from what i see. Although Rake with Dragnipur in his hands.....
Still, didn't do him much good when fighting Dassembrae, and EVERYONE seems to be scared of full-rage Iccy! Really hard to vote against Rake, as he's one of my favorite characters, but still, there it is!

[Tool]

The Seguleh 46th, on 26 March 2010 - 12:25 AM, said:

Went Gothos over Tays, for the simple fact that i think Gothos is one of the very few elite select players behind everything going on in the series (can't really pinpoint why, just a nagging hunch...), so Tays would have been one of his pawns anyways

Shadowthrone over Tehol for ST's sheer mad genuis (although if he's worried over his own Magi, then maybe this could be a very close battle) and having a warren at his disposal (big fragment anyhow)

I went Apsalar for the showdown with Dancer. She's got his memories and virtually all, if not in fact all. of his deadly skills. She uses this to her advantage in one nasty and epic Shadowdance. Although a fight between them two would most likely end up with BOTH dead when its said and done!

Icarium gone Chernobyl would fuck Rake up from what i see. Although Rake with Dragnipur in his hands.....
Still, didn't do him much good when fighting Dassembrae, and EVERYONE seems to be scared of full-rage Iccy! Really hard to vote against Rake, as he's one of my favorite characters, but still, there it is!

Remember that Rake was not trying to win his fight over Dassembrae and strategically controlled the fight to the point where he positioned his own blade to be driven into himself by Dassem's blade. I think that Dragnipur when would in fact give him a good chance of defeating Icarium, but you are right about his rage, it could be unstoppable. Very close in any respect.

[Gothos]

Trull managed to hold a raging Iccy back for a considerable while. I doubt the bigger badasses in the series couldn't do way more than that.

[End of Disc One]

Gothos, on 26 March 2010 - 09:50 AM, said:

Trull managed to hold a raging Iccy back for a considerable while.

It confuses me how people always say this. I got the impression it was more like 15 seconds.