Last round, a lot of people suggested a lot of stuff, which got me thinking, because even if I only did the ones I like (which I am), there were still way to many suggestions to go through, so I decided to kill 3 planes walkers with one stone.

Setting


Previous rounds


Along with voting in the pole, it would be awesome if you posted a response on why you picked that. You may even be able to convince some people (there is revoting)!

... I don't see the thematic connection of Ashiok here.
Kiora and Sarkhan both have a specific ideal creature that they venerate... I guess that counts for Ashiok too, but it's not really the same. Ashiok's nightmares are specifically derivative and unnatural. Way off the same ideal.

Anyways, Kiora calls up the Stormtide Leviathan and knocks Ashiok out of the fight for most of the game anyways. Sarkahn probably goes Form of the Dragon and strafes Kiora until she goes down.

There's only three.

As an addition, while Form of the Dragon is going, Ashiok manages to Nightmare Dragon something up. Next turn Sarkhan Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, ganks his dragon back and swings for kill.

I don't think nightmare dragons would be part dragon.

... I am very confused by this statement.

My expectations of this thread based on the title were disappointed in several ways!!

Okay before I explain what I think, how exsclty does ashiok nightmareify a creature?

It is a conjuration from the target's inner psyche. It's pulled from within that being, meaning that whatever it is in their mind, it is as well as being a nightmare. Otherwise, it would lose all creature types except the nightmare type it gained.

In my defense:


This is how I imagine the fight going. Like others have said, sarkhan would probably go dragonform, while kiora would summon some type of leviathan to match up to him. Now there are 3 ways I think ashiok could handle this. One, he could go with the theme of giant animals and summon a nightmare dragon as others have said, two, he could play it safe, wait out the fight, and slowly invade there minds. The third Idea is that he try's fight them head on. First situation, he kills sarkhan, kiora kills him. Second situation, he kills everybody. Third situation, he dies. Because this forum usually fares brains over brawn, and thats not always true, especially in MTG, I'm going to pick option one, and go with kiora.

I'd like to say Kiora because I like her best but although there are certainly krakens and the like that can go on land, I think she specifically cares about sea creatures and I feel like a dragon could outmaneuver a giant sea creature on land.

Interesting is that Kiora has weird dreams that maybe Ashiok could draw on.

Okay, I'm going to tackle this one in traditional OrcishLibrarian style. In other words, I'm going to start with a baseless pop-culture analog, then proceed onward from there in a rambling stream of consciousness until I either arrive at a conclusion of run out of steam.

To paraphrase my favorite philosopher, Red Green: It's not smart, and it doesn't make sense. It's just the way I do this.

Okay, here's our obvious jumping-off point. Ashiok uses your own dreams to hurt you. So, for all intents and purposes, Ashiok is Magic's Freddy Krueger.

Now, that gives us a clear angle of attack on this problem. As long as Kiora and Sarkhan can just stay awake, Ashiok/Freddy can't hurt them. Which raises the logical follow-up question: Which of Sarkhan or Kiora is less likely to fall asleep?

Kiora, being of the crashing wave and all that, is probably at the greatest risk of being lulled into slumber by soothing ocean sounds. Therefore, one can logically conclude that she's going to eventually take a little nap, and is probably going to be gruesomely and ironically dispatched by some sort of nightmare kraken monster. Which leaves us with one down, and two to go.

Sarkhan is all about his dragon form. And dragons, being among the most metal of all mythical beasties are probably too busy rocking out to get much shuteye. (Except when they sleep on top of giant piles of treasure. Since, to the best of my knowledge, Sarkhan doesn't have such a treasure stash, I'm going to assume that he dodges this bullet.)

Anyway, I assume that Sarkhan dragons-up, put on his Beats, cranks the volume on "Operation Ground and Pound" up to 11, and headbangs the whole time while giving Ashiok an almighty whuppin'.

The final verdict: Ashiok defeats Kiora, Sarkhan defeats Ashiok, Ronnie James Dio rises from the dead and records a concept album about the whole thing.

The only reason I make these things is for orcish librarians response.

I think Sarkhan takes the cake on physical prowess so he would win in this scenario, and Rupture Spire doesn't appear to be near any water so he has an advantage over Kiora. But I don't think Ashiok would ever try to fight them both head on. He/She/It would go for the sneaky approach and take them down when the least expect it. Like when Sarkhan is gloating over his victory, Ashiok would just pop up behind him and poke him with his evil doom finger and drive him (more)insane

@ Squid - I aim to please.

Also, think of all the great metal band/album names which could come out of this battle:

Nightmare Weaver
Dream Kraken
Form Of The Dragon

Obviously, they need some Arbitrary Umlauts (TM) to make them moar metal, but I could totally see Dream Kraken opening for Slayer.

You know, you provide a good point. Ashiok hasn't really, to our knowledge, mucked about with someone who is ALREADY insane.
Given that, I think Sarkhan has an additional edge over it.

But aside from everything else, a very important thing to remember is that Sarkhan was a soldier for who knows how many years before he joined the shamans. He was even given his own command, he has a tactical experience advantage over the other two leagues ahead of what they're capable of.

And really, Ashiok is NOT the head on type.

Oh right ashiok actually makes things on it's card. Lame

Do we have evidence Ashiok needs people asleep in order to work? His known deeds, such as creating horrific two headed leonin, were done while the recipients were awake. Therefore, Kiora and Sarkhan can get insomnia and still get screwed.


I'm voting for Kiora because she has weird dreams and goals, so she can draw on her insanity to go Aracuan bird on Sarkahn and Ashiok.

Ok so I think we can deem the winner sarkhan vol by one vote. Good for him. No suggestions for, now, I already have enough for now. The next thread will come soon.