[MaxWilson]

I haven't gotten to the Ophanim in a real game yet, but yeah, I suspect they're going to be devastatingly cost-effective in SP. On the other hand, so are Wraith Lords, so it might just be the age-old issue the AI has with SCs. But on the other hand, they're resistant to almost everything so all the counters I can think of to Wraith Lords wouldn't work against Ophanim (with a ring for cold resistance). On the gripping hand, I'm not experienced at countering SCs either--I tend to reach for spells and in this case you'd probably want a thug with quickness + flying + Axe of Cleaving instead--so it may be they're okay, especially compared with other Level 8 conjurations like air queens and earth kings. The main cost of summons at that level is the research cost.

That doesn't change the fact that I'm salivating over the idea of getting to Conj 9 for Call Merkavah.

-Max

P.S. Oh yeah, in most cases Ophanim will need to use one of their slots for a reinvig item since they're enc 1 and not enc 0. Nice touch, there--it's one area where they're clearly inferior to the elementals, and for tramplers it does make a big difference.