[WraithLord]

I have performed a few tests.
First, comparing prod3 to sloth3 early game development. For the prod3 I took a Dom-7 imprisoned lich with D3N4. For the sloth3 I took a sleeping SC chasis, an E4N4 Dom-8 Nataraja.
My setup games all have the same settings, hard research and indep. strength of 9.

The prod3 setup does have better early game results in terms of income and expansion. The sleeping SC doesn't awake early enough to offset the prod3 advantage. I could take an awake SC with sloth3 but I don't think MA TC really needs an awake SC. It has very good army and mage lineup that can stand it's own even in early game.

I then tried a different pretender - a scales astral king pretender and one of my favs for nations that have good military lineups - the oracle. With the oracle I took O3P3H0G3Mf2M1 Dom-9 S6E4. Under this one I got best early game results. It is true that I'm giving up on death and blood (unless I luck out during the game to find the right indie. mages) but what I gain is out of the box (with boosters) wisher/ANer and an awesome master enslaver/undead dominator.