[sector24]

LA and MA is like night and day. I haven't played them in about 6 months, but try something like this:

Awake PoD 4E5D
Order 3, Sloth 3, Growth 1, Misfortune 2, Magic 3

Personally I like the value of the Velites. I hate that the capital only Emerald Guard have map move 1, and yes the other infantry are better but even with sloth 3 you can crank out 20 Velites a turn; instant meatshield. I'll recruit Alae Legionnaires if there's no pressing need for troops, but I usually stay away from the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii because I don't like to waste the extra gold on them.

Arch Theurgs are exceptional mages. You can easily get S4 mages to forge rings of sorcery/wizardry (with Starshine Skullcap), mind hunt, etc. The rare but not impossible to get S4F1 Arch Theurg can wear a Starshine Skullcap, Ring of Sorcery, and Ring of Wizardry to cast Heavenly Choir. No need to create an angel factory pretender, which is nice. You can also get an A4 Arch Theurg rarely, but with the ease of Rings of Wizardry, you don't have to wait for one to show up.

MA Pythium has great communions because your communion masters can cast mistform and mirror image on all the slaves with a single spell. It's not too difficult to get Solar Brilliance and Master Enslave, which are always key spells.

So basically your have 10g 10r units that crush indys, great magic paths and a good shot at air queens, powerful communions, and the PoD (arguably the most powerful SC in the game) has 2 paths that your nation doesn't normally get. The only thing you're missing is nature and blood, but MA Pythium has more than enough strengths to make up for that. Oh, and I forgot to mention you get an insane 5 astral pearls per turn from the capital.