[quote=@Forsythe]
I'm sorry is it just me or are maiden powers really overrated by their guardian group? I mean Amber wasn't able to take on 3 people (+ maybe Neo). Not that impressive, I think she should be afraid of the termite.
[/quote]

Mercury is worth at least a team's worth of first years. He was trained from birth by a top notch assassin to end human life with ease, and is expert in a fighting style that revolves around a pair of legs that can take an Ember Celica blast at point blank and come out no worse for wear. Emerald is a master thief who has displayed, in her only instances of combat, zero signs of wear, a talent for psych warfare, and a devastating ability at mid to long range. Even in the fights they've thrown to put the heroes at ease, they've dominated until it was convenient not to. In the one fight we've seen them go full speed on, the only reason they didn't straight up murder Coco and Yatsu - the two strongest fighters we've seen out of Beacon students - was because it was too soon in the plan.

Judging Amber by the most hardcore badasses in the show, especially after she was ready to kill one, PLUS the current candidate for Big Bad, isn't exactly fair. Even if discounting the point above about dramatic tension in a narrative.