One Boss Leaves: Mal'ganis chops Ormorok
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble!
With a decisive 63 percent of the vote, Mal'ganis made firewood of Ormorok the Tree-Shaper in this week's Two Bosses Enter deathmatch. The matchup demonstrated the division between the two camps who vote in this series: those who base their decisions more on lore, and those who base their decisions more on the bosses and their mechanics as they are presented in the match itself.
"Even though Mal'ganis' abilities pose much less of a threat than Ormorok's do in this case ... I couldn't vote against him, because he's Mal'ganis," confessed andrewlnagy. "Lore-wise, I just don't think he'd lose." Tridus countered, "How so? In lore, there's no fight he actually wins. He's a commander and a manipulator, not a direct fighter. Forced to fight directly, he's never actually won a battle anywhere in lore. He has lost several, though. This 'Oh, in lore, I'm sure he'd win' stuff isn't grounded in any actual lore. :P"
"Mal'Ganis had to be killed the first time with the most powerful weapon in Azeroth," noted BlazingSky. "Ormorok was killed by five guys with mundane equipment. I'm going to have to go with a character that, while he is the evil version of brave Sir Robin, still required a runeblade to put him down semi-permanently."
Should "having lore" be an advantage in these fights? Does a boss' history dictate how he will react in today's deathmatches? Must these matches rely solely on abilities as set forth in each match? We suspect the best solution to these questions lies in blending these perspectives. We'll leave it to our readers to show us how they balance the mix through their votes.
Let's review a couple of highlights from readers about this fight.
Zasziden: If this were a popularity contest, Ormorok is going to lose by a landslide. Mal'Ganis' guys have been plastering his lousy mug all over the place, despite his horrible loss to Arthas.
In a toe-to-toe fight to the death, Ormorok has the decided advantage, what with spell reflect ability and all. Mind Blast? Reflected. Sleep? Doesn't affect elementals.
The one (and decidedly huge) advantage Mal'Ganis has is his sanity. Ormorok is nuts, having been exposed to a bit too much arcane energy. He's gone off his rocker. The demon, at least, still has his calculating brain. Unfortunately, he lacks any real abilities that could phase the elemental. Knowing that he can't win in a mano et mano (demono et elemento?) match, he'd pack up and leave.
There wouldn't be much of a fight, and in the end Mal'Ganis would run away (like he always does). Ormorok, being the only one left in the arena, wins by default. The judges really can't allow a fight to the death to be awarded to a coward that doesn't even stick around to the end.
Oznak: The problem with saying "Mal'Ganis does nothing but run away" is that his plan required him to. The only time we see him in an out and out fight, Arthas is wielding Frostmourne. At Stratholme the first time and the CoT time, he knew he had to draw Arthas to Northrend. Where he died, we thought. Which still didn't kill him, since we fight him again while he's possessing the Scarlet Admiral. That's the only time he does truly "run away."
As far as fighting Ormorok goes, those wings aren't just for show. While he never flies in an encounter with players, he has no reason to. Ormorok's Crystal Spikes, on the other hand, would give him an excellent reason. And Spell Reflection isn't up constantly. As I see it, Mal'ganis takes some damage from a Spell Reflect and Crystal Spikes, and realizes how he's gonna have to fight this. He takes to the air, throws a few minor spells at Ormorok and watches him waste his Spell Reflect. Mal'ganis quickly sleeps Ormorok, and deals some serious damage while Ormorok can't fight back. Rinse, repeat until dead. Ormorok is so insane he's not likely to catch on to Mal'ganis' strategy."
