Chick Fight!

Well, when he was blaming Lumiya for Mara's death...it went about like you're describing, only more brutal. I kept waiting for her to use the 'strike me down with all of your hatred' line in that duel, but she apparently didn't think of it.

She came out on top of Vader when she successfully spied on him for months at Palpatine's order. Mind you, she was a teenage padawan at the time.

She overcame Sidious by defying the Last Command, killing the clone instead of the genuine article. If that doesn't sound like much of an overcoming, it's as well as anybody not named Luke does against Sidious. Again, this is LONG before her prime.

Didn't Ben think it was Jacen the whole time, but Luke was like "Nah, you're just letting emotion cloud your judgement."

It's amusing how often that happens, a younger Jedi realizing a significant truth, only for another Jedi to completely dismiss it on the grounds that the younger Jedi is "just being emotional."

Originally posted by Angelalex242
Practically speaking, Mara has encountered 4 Sith more powerful then Shan.

Vader, Sidious, Lumiya, Caedus.

Lumiya isn't powerful like Shan. Vader's superiority is also in doubt.

Caedus performed badly due to his poor judgment and arrogance. Mara fought him in a setting of her choice but she still failed.

I don't get the lowballing of Shan. Her powers and feats are very impressive.

Originally posted by Angelalex242
For all that C'baoth was a nuisance, however, he probably can't take Shan.

Originally posted by Angelalex242
This doesn't count any jedi she's sparred against for practice and training, notably her husband. Sparring against one that can take out Team 1 by himself is sure to be good for her. At the very least, it means Team 1 can throw nothing at her she hasn't seen before. She's going to have tactics prepared for what happens when she's outgunned as a force user, as a duelist, or both. She uses many of these against Caedus, and it works well enough he's forced to rely on a dirty trick to get her.

Also, sparring sessions aren't a good measure of competence and power of a character, they are conducted for training purposes. The game really changes when intentions are lethal.

Mara lured Caedus in to a cave where she took advantage of Caedus's arrogance and her knowledge of the setting. Caedus ended up badly injured even before he had the chance to fight her.

Originally posted by Angelalex242
None of her her opponents in this match have a poison dart gauntlet to kill her off with.

Originally posted by Angelalex242
Speaking of which, let's not underestimate Mrs. Fel and her Boba Fett training. Boba's one of the best jedi killers ever for a guy with no force powers. And he taught Jaina pretty much everything he knew, on the theory that no matter who won between herself and Caedus, Han Solo was going to hurt. He was right, naturally.

Also, versus scenarios aren't typically circumstances driven and/or story-oriented. They represent highly risky confrontations unless defined otherwise. In raw versus scenarios, certain competencies and strong points of characters become a non-factor.

Originally posted by Angelalex242
Leia's battle meditation is an adequate counter for Team 1's use of the same.

Neph doesn't know what he's talking about as usual, Shan has never beaten anyone of note. Lumiya has contended with Luke 4 times and in their final duel the text says they outright fought to a standstill. Shan doesn't even come close to that level of skill.

Also, sparring matters more then you think. Luke outclasses everyone so badly that he can put just enough effort into a fight to help his students grow and become better.

Even in RL sports it's a byword. Show me a championship team, and I'll show you a great coach.

This is one of the reasons why the NJO in general kicks lots of hindquarters.