Kristoffer,

I think he main reason you don't hear much about Desert Tombs is it is still semi-decent because of the base strength of the entire Nation (C'tis).

With the new change of having fire instead of nature for the Desert Tombs Sauromancers who knows. I personally like Nature quite a bit for them, but this way they are assured to be able to cast Banefire (which is nice but high on the research chain). Though you still do have Shamans.