[Baalz]

Another thing that people tend to overlook is the very strong utility an awake rainbow pretender gives you in a rush situation. For example in the above Marverni example taking an awake sage and you can have either blade wind or destruction in time for an early rush depending on who your neighbors are, or if you were worried about Sauromatian archers then you could get to arrow fend/flaming arrows (cast by your pretender) with just a bit of stalling...and I'm guessing your slingers might fare a bit better. People tend to think that a raindbow leaves you weak in the early game, but what an awake rainbow does is make sure that you've got some decent spells by your first fight which (depending on the situation) can be much more useful than a poorly outfit SC.