Barbarian magic suppression skills...

This is effective when you have "meat," which the Warlock simply lacks as a faction (well, except for Hydras, of course). There wouldn't be a stopper that could gather even a weakened and slowed, but still formidable, Horde army. The Phoenix fulfilled this role.
In general, of course, you can argue endlessly about what is better, but the numbers clearly show that schools of magic based on developed Sorcery are weakened more effectively. And these are Chaos and Summoning. Light and Darkness are weakened less effectively.

But the consequences of unsuppressed Darkness are much more noticeable;)
In your friend's place, I would attack anyone but the Phoenix (since he is so cool); let him fly, no matter how powerful he is, he will need at least 3-4 turns (correct me if I'm wrong) to eliminate even a single stack – he won't have time. By the way, I have a few questions (if I understand correctly, you played at very high levels, at least 30, I suppose):
1) By how much did your "Strength against Magic" skill reduce your defense? Or did you have 51 after the reduction?:eek:
2) What was the Attack-Defense ratio? If I understand something correctly, if not in Attack, then in Defense, the Orc should have been MUCH stronger than you:rolleyes:
3) Who was the Orc playing as? (Hero)
4) Does "Frightful Roar" affect the Phoenix (I forgot:smile32: )
And also... it's probably silly, but what about a Tilshek and a well-developed Ballista? She doesn't care about the Phoenix's armor.

Added after 7 minutes

You're awesome:D It's better to just forget about all the suppressions in the late game and get Special Attack. And besides, without normal combat skills, you can be torn apart by other combat factions.

But not by the Elves! They are cool, but few in number. And besides, if it's such a long battle, you can develop combat skills in parallel, sacrificing, say, Logistics. And regarding Special Attack - it's good, but not reliable; what if you don't get the skills you need?
And then, you've developed Special Attack - so what?! They will immediately cast 3-4 general Darkness spells on him, and then they will start pitting him against others!