mc5 - Wizards' Duel

I think I'll just repeat what I said in the chat:

You have two teams of wizards. In order to make a move you must change shape into a creature or thing that beats, defeats or otherwise trumps whatever the other side has just changed into. So you might get a sequence like

Wizards: Elephant
Witches: Mouse
Wizards: Cat
Witches: Dog
Wizards: B - A - T - H
Witches: Telephone

at which point I have to admit I'm stumped so presumably the witches win that round.

Tuj

Lime

A ten-tonne lime

Simons Mith

Puce

The invincibility of the ten-tonne lime is something that surprises me, but I haven't thought of a satisfactory counter. Time to award this one to Tuj … and put the game into storage ready for next time.

Audience

shouts, screams, generally goes wild for Simons Mith

Simons Mith

Puce

… An eleven tonne lime. Dammit, l'esprit d'escalier rides again.

Juxtapose

aqua

All I could think of was Lyme disease.

Tuj

Lime

A million gallons of G&T? But that'd just be getting silly, eh?

Sierra Mike

goldenrod

I'm a tad rusty in my French. I translate l'esprit d'escalier as "the phantom staircase". This is obviously a cunning metaphor for something to do with eleven tonne limes (or perhaps twenty-one tonnes of limes), but the meaning escapes me.

Simons Mith

L'esprit d'escalier

It's an idiom for thinking of some witty retort just after the last moment.

Giertrud

#66FFCC

Isn't it "the spirit of the staircase?"

Simons Mith

Puce

Let's start a new one. An eleven tonne lime

Raak

An industrial lime-squeezer

FGZstar