User blog comment:Ncduru/The Erza-Irene Connection/@comment-27792306-20160425124542/@comment-7418318-20160430201656

A holder type mage uses magical items.

Erza throw non-magical swords and even pickaxes. A pure holder mage would by definition be completely unable to elevate and throw a regular pickaxe.

And throwing a weapon to skewer an enemy is the far more logical and economic way to kill them. Hitting a Humn hard enough with a pointy object to punch completely through him is far, faaaar easier than picking up a Human and throwing them... and doing so with enough force to actually hurt them is yet a few magnitutes higher.

Erza is a holder mage because she uses magical objects, but she is also a caster mage for using re-quip and telekinesis. It's not one or the other, it's what they are using.