[OmikronWarrior]

Well, I messed around with this guide trying to create a pretender to specification. In order to buy all the paths recommended on an Enchantress I had to pick up Heat and Misfortune while leaving dominion at a mere 2. I agree with Endoporez that some scaling back on paths is necessary and you do not loose much in the process. F3 from F4 is obvious, especially when your pretender will already have death to build a flaming skull, and you plan on empowering a Smith with death anyways. I also shudder at the thought of spending the 82 points to give a nation strong with Earth magic E4 on their pretender to help create a marginal thug when there are other ways to get revigoration (items and Earthpower). Similarly, N4 to get 5% regeneration on a low HP unit is probably also a waste. N3 should be all you need for diversity.

When messing around with early expansion, I noticed gold was already almost always a bottle neck. Switching to Turmoil-3 Luck-3 might be viable, and in the long term gives Ulm a lot more magic gems and helps him avoid the crippling plague events. Use the 40 points saved to bring your temp scales closer to normal.

Of course, this is just based on an hour of play last night and I assume Baalz has put a lot more time into developing his strategy.