[Karacan]

The one reason why Ermor would still be playing in the middlegame is, for me, because I know I can likely handle them late game (unless I play Ulm, that is).

I find an Evocation-researched mass-communing Pythium, a Vastness-empowering, clam-hoarding R'lyeh or a devil-chainproducing Abysia much more scary in the middle to end-game than the thought of trudging an army of priests through inhospitable terrain. So naturally, those are prime targets I'd invest much more energy in to take out early. Even a Machaka with Flaming Arrows scares me more - but that's probably only because I lost my very first real DomII pbem against them because of underestimation on my part...