[Dragar]

It is probably atypical to rely on your pretender for early expansion, dormant builds are normal and imprisoned not unusual. Virtually all nations have a way of doing it without, particularly if they have strong blessable sacreds or large units like elephants or hydras. Giant nations find it particularly easy. If you look at the strategy guides for any nation they normally describe typical indie clearing forces.

Note that taking pretender magic to level 10, such as your proposed W10 bless, is rarely worthwhile. The huge cost of the extra level will very rarely be worth it