IT is good to learn to play without mercs
Though surely TC can use it in the beginning.
IF you are not going for SC I think it is really worth making pretender dormant. You could really use that points. Either earth or nature [or even both] at level 3-4 to cast some globals can really help [you could surely make use of GoH with TC and it is really hard to get it with national mages]. 1-2 levels in fire and death could also help for magic sites and items, but it really depends what you want