i am no expert too but i like tien chi spring + autumn
i would try a strong pretender and go growth 3 but turmoil / sloth 3 + watchtower as castle .
the fire demons are excellent only drawback you can only summon 1 / mage and have a low fire gem income . i would try them mainly as magic power .
if you are lucky and find fire sites early you can summon a nice second army of the fire demons at around turn 10 . i would try a combat pretender and research construction 2 as first and then start forging clams . then conjuration 5 for accashic record . so in the beginning you are weak but if you survive you are one of the best magic races of all . i just love the flying wizards
i think luck 3 is a good idea because your heroes are good and finding some fire gems or 1500 gold luck event are really nice too
only problem ihmo are the quite weak troops of spring + autumn tien chi .
so you are a bit forced to take a SC pretender if you play with strong indies .