Yeah that's the thing, if you take high scales, you can start stocking up Mind Lords ASAP. All he has to do is consolidate the oceans if he plays them, then he can really just take his time crawling on land, if he wants. The typical easy way is to plan to Clam like crazy for a few years once you're safe.....
It is true that natively they have the hardest time crawling out onto dry land with their recruitables, but in SP, you have all the time in the world, pretty much (though I had one recent SP ruined by LA Ermor casting Burden of Time
).