[WraithLord]

It sounds reasonable but I'd very much like to see how it holds up in a real MP game.

Had I faced MA O. that opted for mass transformation. I'd have probed all the castles with MH. Every castle that didn't have an astral mage or dome would immediately get MH raining down on it. I'd move a host of assassins with heart finder to its castles. I'd cast leprosy on the castles. Hell, I'd open the manual and look for all the MR check spells, attacks and weapons and I'd bring all that I can get to bear.

In battles I'd use any of a host of spells:
paralyze, mind burn, soul slay, enslave mind, master enslave, charm, sleep, nether darts, disintegrate, astral fires, petrify and I'm sure the list is way longer but my memory ain't.

As I see it, this saves gold (which is not even the main resource in late game dominions, which is of course gems) and opens a huge weakness, just waiting to be exploited.

Bottom line, I have a hard time believing this is viable. Some hard MP proof is required IMHO.