I don't want to crush anyones dreams about playing S&A in a competitive enviroment. But you are going to run into a situation where it doesn't matter how well your mages reinvigorate, they will die ;/

The only way to prevent this from happening (sometimes) is to have an Astral King. In order to do this, it is best to pick something that is semi-mobile that can equip as many of the path enhancing items as it can.

The other option is to completely ignore your minduelbait mages and focus on your slower mages or less impressive Master's of the Way.

Either way, the forced turmoil leaves you in a bad place and your mages don't do much for you.

I love T'ien Ch'i, and I love Spring and Autumn, but competitive without serious amounts of luck, they are not.