[DonCorazon]

Just a word of warning: I'm in an MP game now leading in provinces, probably around 40, with a non-astral nation that I am playing for the first time and I went with the conventional strategy/pretender for this specific nation that left me with no access to S. From the start of the game, I have searched extensively with what paths I have, hired Dagan the S1 sage for probably around 7 Arcane Probings so far, and I have yet to find a single recruitable Astral caster - Lizard Shaman or otherwise - and my S income from sites I have found with my non-S casters is a whopping +2. Basically my late game chances are slim to none, with no access to amulets of anti-magic, no protection against mind hunts, no RoW/RoS to get those often critical boosts that help bootstrap other key magic paths, etc. Now this might be an outlier and truly bad luck (though I even have luck scales), but I would never play this nation like this again.

I think a national strategy should prepare you for the endgame, not rely on luck or indies to cover a nation's weakness. I think magical diversity is critical as there are so many permutations of who you might end up fighting in the endgame of a competitive MP game, you had better be prepared for anything.

Also, interesting that a big W bless is chosen here. I would have thought an E bless would have been optimal for enhanced evocatory devastation and more late game usage. I'd think having at least E4 would be almost mandatory as otherwise you are really lacking in 2 critical paths. That seems like really rolling the dice on your strategy.