Simon's not at so much of a loss for other templars to spar with, and he's friendly enough with most of them, but a mage partner is quite another matter. Whenever he's found himself up against one of those, the stakes have been gravely real. Were magic not involved, he could pretend for a few minutes that no history or baggage exists here--

--but were magic not involved, this would just be so unfair as to be embarrassing. The barrier makes things interesting. And this guy's got some tricks up his sleeve, such as it is. The rules don't need to be observed right now, really. They're not even rules anymore; it's only that they're both happy enough to cling to the old ways for tradition's sake.

He sizes Myr up for a while, pondering how to account for the blindness. There's no feinting that will really work, no psyching him out. He knows how to use his staff far better than Simon can handle his, even when Simon measures the length of the pole and decides it'll serve all right as a greatsword after all. It would be a dirty trick to try and get through the barrier with anything but clean physical force, so he won't, but how best to start?

Finally, he strikes out, coming at the barrier from a sharp side angle where it looks potentially vulnerable.