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Personnally my usage of mages in early battle is very dependent of the start spell I get : with Ermor BE for example I put asap a couple Thaums to BE my army. But with Mictlan I don't use any mage for some time, and for Man none other than cheap Bards before I get LB...

As for which kind of mage I rather stick to 1st or 2nd tier mages (Thaums, Mother of Avalon, Seraphs, Theurgs...) which often have sufficient magic for support. But there are exceptions, like Abysia who needs a Anath Dragon to get its Flares out.

So no definite tactics, it all depends on circumstances.