I know that the cloud-variant tangle or earthgrip proved too strong, but how about a cloud-variant slime spell? You could do just about anything with the flavour text, anything from timeslow to lesser-entanglement, as well as just clouds of slime ^_^
I'm not too sure about the name or path combo, but if you need ideas, there's one.
Otherwise, I too have been enjoying using this mod and the HolyWar mod, I think they both add a nice chunk of diversity. Actually, I wished that NvV2 had HolyWar on just recently turn, as I had a H2 priest I wasn't entirely sure how to use for best effect.
Anyway - I agree with you on Blessing of the Desert Wind. I tried it out with Jomon, who can (with the right combination) manage F2A1 semi-often, and while I thought it was going to be utterly amazing, it wasn't. It was nice, and added a good chunk of damage, but the AoEs are still small enough to make it niche, where it should be.
Perhaps if you custom built a pretender to cast it, it would be powerful, but people -usually- have better things to do with their pretender than F9 A1
