It is that time of week again, when words are wielded like swords and egos lie shattered everywhere, all in the name of determining which champions would prevail in a straight up duel. But before I announce this weeks champions, I must announce who won last weeks duel between Katarina and Akali.
This match up was Incredibly close for me. While I initially favored Kat rather heavily, a rather Impassioned and well thought out arguement by Nightstorm 22 in favour of Akali gave me considerable pause. After much Wrestling with myself, I have finally come to a decision (Albeit by a slim margin)
The victer is...(Dramatic Pause)
Akali, The Fist of Shadow.
Now I know many of you will, upon reading this, race to the comments sections to berate me for my poor decision making skills and explain in painful detail how I am wrong. Before you do that I would like you to understand my reasoning on this.
Like I said before, this fight was very close. Both women are incredibly stealthy, quick and capable of performing near-impossible feats. Kat has throwing knives but Akali has smoke bombs Kat can bounce a Knife off of mulitiple targets but Akali can throw her off-balanced Kama accurately. Kat can Shunpo but Akali can dash. Kat is ruthless but Akali is determined. Kat was trained by a master bladesman but Akali was brought up to be one of the Triumverate. The deciding factor ended up being personal strength. While she is no doubt in peak physical condition (and definately stronger than I will ever be), Katarina is nothing more than an ordinary woman with extrordinary skills. Akali was able to break a dangling chain with a karate chop, demonstrating a superhuman ability to project force. Her ninja training would also likley cover unarmed combat far better than Kats swordplay lessons. This gives Akali a definite edge in close quarters, which the city enviroment they were fighting in encourages. And as for The size of Akalis Kama being an impediment? Kats swords are not small themselves and Akali can always hold her weapons closer to the blade to compensate.
Still Disagree? That is acceptable and understandable, but do not expect my mind to change. In any case, it is time to get on with this weeks champions.
Facing these next two champions is like getting caught between a rock and a hard place...Literally. Galio, The Sentinals Sorrow and Malphite, The Shard of the Monolith are our next two contenders. Galio is a Gargoyle created to protect his creater. Malphite is part of a race of rock men who possess massive strength and a collectivist mindset. They are big, tanky and have the stones (literally and euphemistically) for battle.
In this particular fight, our contestants will be fighting in the middle of a multi-level sandstone quarry. There will be some debris to take cover behind and throw, but this is mostly open terrain we are talking about. The upper levels of the quarry are much the same as the bottom, only confined to the outer edges and offeing a height advantage of about 100 metres. Our contestants will start on the second level on opposite ends. each can see the others position from their starting point, ensuring a quick start to the match.
So who will shatter first? Argue about it below!
Oh, and If you are new to this, the rules for competing are in italics below.
Here is how this is going to work. I will select two champions who I feel are similar in power and purpose. Any who want to participate will state which champion would win in the comments section. This is not a straight up vote. The winner will be selected on the best argument presented in their favour. So if you think your selected champion would win, give a detailed explanation why. The winner will be selected by me next Thursday, unless this post gets a lot of attention, in which case I will render judgement sooner. After the winner is picked I will announce the next two champions to go at it, although I am happy to take suggestions.
To make things easier, I will also provide the enviroment in which the two champions will fight. This arena will be around 1 square mile in area, and the terrain and objects the arena consists of will be made to accomodate both champions fighting styles without giving advantage to either. It will also be assumed that both champions know that the other is in the area, but they will sometimes not know their exact position. Finally, neither Champion may use Items that are purchasable ingame (so no health potions or Rabadans deathcap or the like). A couple of rules for your arguments...
Be aware of the practical limitations of the champions arsenal would be outside of the fields of justice. Guns and crossbows have limited ammo and can only fire so fast. Poison would not affect a mechanical being. Swords will not go through a certain thickness of armour and so on.
As I have pointed out above, gameplay is highly unreliable at judging the ability of particular champions. While you can use in game abilities to judge the general things particular champions can do (with some exceptions. I'm looking at you, Miss Fortune), do not take the effectiveness of these abilities as proof. Stick to lore as much as possible (which includes observations, judgements and the journal of justice)
As this occurs in Runeterra, assume that magic exists and can be used.
Aside from the champions, the only otheir beings present may be pets that the champion directly controls (such as Tibbers or Voidlings). Help from sentient allies (such as Gangplanks Cannon Barrage) are forbidden.
Hextech devices are assumed to work. It is pretty obvious that Corkis' ROFLcopter would never get off the ground and The legs on Rumbles mech would never support the rest of its body in our world. But as Runeterra is home to Techmaturgy, which we don't really understand, It can be assumed that Hextech devices find a way to function in a way that is not obvious to the naked eye.
That is all, now get debating!