WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Cable #6 by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
The mutants went into the "X of Swords" battle and came out as the victors. However, in the end, two mutants fell way short when it came to their individual battles. Due to their considerable combat experience, both Cable and Gorgon went into the contest as favorites. Neither man lasted long enough to win, although Gorgon was quite impressive before he finally fell.
Still, neither mutant won their battles, and that might be because they were not trained properly with the new system used in Krakoa.
Cable's battle was the harshest. The first of two fights to the death in Cable #6 saw Cable go into battle with Bei the Blood Moon. Arakko was up in the tournament, 17-6, and Cable needed a good showing to help the mutants start to rally. This was a tough fight, and it was one Cable was about to win. The problem is that Doug Ramsey had married Bei in a previous competition, and Cable thought too much about this. It cost him the fight as he didn't want Doug to see him kill Bei, which allowed her to defeat him in battle, although Bei spared his life. Cable was so deflated after this that he reached out to Jean and Scott and asked for help.
The second loss was not as one-sided. Gorgon went into battle against White Sword, and the fight was also to the death. This seemed like a slaughter, as White Sword sent 100 of his swords into battle before him. Gorgon began tearing through the obstacles one by one until he killed 13 of the White Sword's champions. By that time, Krakoa led the challenge, 19-18. White Sword finally killed Gorgon, tying it up, and agreed not to bring him back as a slave. By the end of the issue, it was even with Apocalypse the last to battle.
The mutants in Krakoa are learning how to fight in an entirely new training manner. As shown in Cable #1 by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, and VC's Joe Sabino, mutant training takes place at the Quarry. As a matter of fact, one of the first battles to take place in the Quarry saw Cable taking on Logan. As Wolverine told Cable, this was the new mutant dojo, but it was not as strenuous as past X-Men training methods. Cable used his powers to beat Wolverine and pinned him. Gorgon also picked up a win (albeit by disqualification) when he battled Magik in the Quarry.
These mutants might do well in the Quarry against warriors like Wolverine and Magik, but the failed miserably in the real wars during the X of Swords event. Apparently, fighting in the Quarry was like sparring. This is nothing compared to the Danger Room, where the X-Men trained to become a well-oiled unit and a team that could defeat anyone.
From the start of the X-Men's existence, Charles Xavier sent them into action to battle all sorts of threats in the Danger Room. Often, these threats would be almost innumerable odds, similar to what Gorgon faced before his death. In these training exercises, the X-Men learned how to fight as a team and how to overcome all odds. When Storm lost her powers, she put herself through some of the hardest Danger Room exercises of them all. In the X of Swords tournament, she ended up de-powered again and still managed to defeat Death and win one of the biggest fights of all.
Since the formation of Krakoa, almost everything about the X-Men's world has changed. However, the lessons of the Quarry and teh Danger Room suggest that the X-men shouldn't have tried to fix something that wasn't broken.