[thejeff]

Yeah, I've got nothing against AQ and Wrathful Skies.
The retreating mage is a bit tacky, because the spell is supposed to end when he leaves.

Bottom line, you can either kill the AQ or not. If you can, you lose more troops from Wrath, if not you'd lose anyway.
Sure it's harder, but not impossible. You're not going to kill a kitted out AQ with chaff troops anyway and if you're up against an AQ and other high end Air mages your thugs, mages and SC killers better have shock resistance.

MoD is practically impossible to stop once the mage retreats. That's the difference.